Hellenica

Xenophon

Xenophon, creator; Xenophon in Seven Volumes Vol 1 and Vol 2; Brownson, Carleton L. (Carleton Lewis), b. 1866, editor; Brownson, Carleton L. (Carleton Lewis), b. 1866, editor, translator

These, then, were the considerations which he had weighed before he sailed; and when he was distant from the harbour five or six stadia, he remained quiet and let his men rest. Then, as day was dawning, he led on and they followed. Now he forbade them to sink or harm any merchant vessel with their own ships; but if they saw a trireme at anchor anywhere, he ordered them to try to make her unseaworthy, and furthermore, to bring out in tow the merchant ships which were loaded, and to board the larger ones wherever they could and take off their people. Indeed, there were some of his men who even leaped ashore on to the Deigma,[*]( A quay where merchants displayed (cp. δείκνυμι) their wares.) seized merchants and owners of trading vessels, and carried them aboard the ships.

He, then, succeeded in accomplishing these things. But as for the Athenians, some of them, upon hearing the uproar, ran from their houses into the streets to see what the shouting meant, others ran from the streets to their homes to get their weapons, and still others to the city to carry the news. Then all the Athenians, hoplites and horsemen, rushed to the rescue, thinking that Piraeus had been captured.

But Teleutias sent off the captured merchant vessels to Aegina and gave orders that three or four of the triremes should convoy them thither, while with the rest of the triremes he coasted along the shore of Attica and, inasmuch as he was sailing out of the harbour, captured great numbers of fishing craft and ferryboats full of people as they were sailing in from the[*](388 B.C.) islands. And on coming to Sunium he captured trading vessels also, some of them full of corn, others of merchandise.

Having done all these things he sailed back to Aegina, and when he had sold his booty he gave the soldiers a month’s pay in advance. He likewise from that time forth cruised round and captured whatever he could. And by doing these things he maintained his ships with full complements of sailors, and kept his soldiers in a state of glad and prompt obedience.

And now Antalcidas returned with Tiribazus from[*](387 B.C.) the Persian capital, having effected an agreement that the King should be an ally of the Lacedaemonians if the Athenians and their allies refused to accept the peace which he himself directed them to accept. But when Antalcidas heard that Nicolochus with his ships was being blockaded at Abydus by Iphicrates and Diotimus, he went overland to Abydus. And from there he set out during the night with the fleet, after spreading a report that the Calchedonians were sending for him; then he came to anchor at Percote and remained quiet there.

Now the Athenian forces under Demaenetus, Dionysius, Leontichus, and Phanias, upon learning of his departure, followed after him in the direction of Proconnesus; and when they had sailed past him, Antalcidas turned about and came back to Abydus, for he had heard that Polyxenus was approaching with the ships from Syracuse and Italy, twenty in number, and he wished to join these also to his command. But soon after this Thrasybulus, of the deme Collytus, came sailing from Thrace with eight ships, desiring to unite with the other Athenian ships.

And Antalcidas, when his scouts signalled to[*](387 B.C.) him that eight triremes were approaching, embarked the sailors on twelve of his fastest ships, gave orders that if anyone was lacking men, he should fill up his crew from the ships left behind, and lay in wait with the utmost possible concealment. Then, as the enemy were sailing past him, he pursued; and they, upon seeing him, fled. Now he speedily succeeded in overhauling the slowest of the enemy’s ships with his fastest; but giving orders to the leaders of his own fleet not to attack the hindmost ships, he continued the pursuit of those which were ahead. And when he had captured them, those who were behind, upon seeing that the leaders of their fleet were being taken, out of discouragement were themselves taken even by the slower ships of Antalcidas; and the result was that all the ships were captured.

And after the twenty ships from Syracuse had come and joined Antalcidas, and the ships from all that part of Ionia of which Tiribazus was master had also come, and more still had been manned from the territory of Ariobarzanes — for Antalcidas was an old friend of Ariobarzanes, and Pharnabazus had at this time gone up to the capital in response to a summons, this being the occasion when he married the King’s daughter — then Antalcidas, the whole number of his ships amounting to more than eighty, was master of the sea, so that he also prevented the ships from the Pontus from sailing to Athens, and compelled them to sail to the ports of his people’s allies.

The Athenians, therefore, seeing that the enemy’s ships were many, fearing that they might be completely subdued, as they had been before, now that the King had become an ally of the Lacedaemonians, and being beset by the raiding parties from Aegina, for[*](387 B.C.) these reasons were exceedingly desirous of peace. On the other hand the Lacedaemonians, what with maintaining a garrison of one regiment at Lechaeum and another at Orchomenus, keeping watch upon their allied states — those which they trusted, to prevent their being destroyed, and those which they distrusted, to prevent their revolting — and suffering and causing trouble around Corinth, were out of patience with the war. As for the Argives, knowing that the Lacedaemonian ban had been called out against them, and being aware that their plea of the sacred months[*](cp. IV. vii. 2 f. and note.) would no longer be of any help to them, they also were eager for peace.

So that when Tiribazus ordered those to be present who desired to give ear to the peace which the King had sent down, all speedily presented themselves. And when they had come together, Tiribazus showed them the King’s seal and then read the writing. It ran as follows:

King Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia should belong to him, as well as Clazomenae and Cyprus among the islands, and that the other Greek cities, both small and great, should be left independent, except Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros; and these should belong, as of old, to the Athenians. But whichever of the two parties does not accept this peace, upon them I will make war, in company with those who desire this arrangement, both by land and by sea, with ships and with money.

Upon hearing these words the ambassadors from the various states reported them to their own several states. And all the others swore that they would[*](387 B.C.) steadfastly observe these provisions, but the Thebans claimed the right to take the oath in the name of all the Boeotians. Agesilaus, however, refused to accept their oaths unless they swore, just as the King’s writing directed, that every city, whether small or great, should be independent. But the ambassadors of the Thebans said that these were not the instructions which had been given them. Go then, said Agesilaus, and ask your people; and report to them this also, that if they do not so act, they will be shut out from the treaty. The Thebans ambassadors accordingly departed.

Agesilaus, however, on account of his hatred for the Thebans, did not delay, but after winning over the ephors proceeded at once to perform his sacrifices. And when the offering at the frontier proved favourable, upon his arrival at Tegea he sent horsemen hither and thither among the Perioeci to hasten their coming, and likewise sent mustering officers[*]( Lacedaemonian officers who assembled and commanded the contingents of the allies.) to the various cities of the allies. But before he had set out from Tegea, the Thebans arrived with word that they would leave the cities independent. And so the Lacedaemonians returned home and the Thebans were forced to accede to the treaty, allowing the Boeotian cities to be independent.

But the Corinthians, on the other hand, would not dismiss the garrison maintained in their city by the Argives. Agesilaus, however, made proclamation to these peoples also, saying to the Corinthians that if they did not dismiss the Argives, and to the Argives that if they did not depart from Corinth, he would make war upon them. And when, as a result of the fear which seized both peoples, the Argives departed and the state of the Corinthians regained its self-government,[*](387 B.C.) the authors of the massacre[*](cp. IV. iv. 2.) and those who shared the responsibility for the deed withdrew of their own accord from Corinth, while the rest of the citizens willingly received back the former exiles.

When these things had been accomplished and the states had sworn that they would abide by the treaty which the King had proposed, thereupon the armies were disbanded and the naval armaments were likewise disbanded. Thus it was that this peace was established between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians and their allies, the first since the outbreak of the war which followed the destruction of the walls of Athens.

Now while in the war the Lacedaemonians were no more than holding their own with their antagonists, yet as a result of the so-called Peace of Antalcidas they gained a far more distinguished position. For by having become champions of the treaty proposed by the King and by establishing the independence of the cities they gained an additional ally in Corinth, made the Boeotian cities independent of the Thebans, a thing which they had long desired, and also put a stop to the doings of the Argives in appropriating Corinth as their own, by threatening to call out the ban against them if they did not depart from Corinth.