Hellenica

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Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz.

Hellenica

By Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns

Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.

The Hellenica is his chronicle of the history of
the Hellenes from 411 to 359 B.C., starting as a
continuation of Thucydides, and becoming his own
brand of work from Book III onwards.

PREPARER'S NOTE

This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
there is doubt about some of these) is:

Work Number of books

The Anabasis 7
The Hellenica 7
The Cyropaedia 8
The Memorabilia 4
The Symposium 1
The Economist 1
On Horsemanship 1
The Sportsman 1
The Cavalry General 1
The Apology 1
On Revenues 1
The Hiero 1
The Agesilaus 1
The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2

Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into
English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The
diacritical marks have been lost.

Hellenica

by Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns

HELLENICA

BOOK I

I

B.C. 411. To follow the order of events[1]. A few days later
Thymochares arrived from Athens with a few ships, when another sea
fight between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians at once took place, in
which the former, under the command of Agesandridas, gained the victory.

[1] Lit. "after these events"; but is hard to conjecture to what
events the author refers. For the order of events and the
connection between the closing chapter of Thuc. viii. 109, and the
opening words of the "Hellenica," see introductory remarks above.
The scene of this sea-fight is, I think, the Hellespont.

Another short interval brings us to a morning in early winter, when
Dorieus, the son of Diagoras, was entering the Hellespont with
fourteen ships from Rhodes at break of day. The Athenian day-watch
descrying him, signalled to the generals, and they, with twenty sail,
put out to sea to attack him. Dorieus made good his escape, and, as he
shook himself free of the narrows,[2] ran his triremes aground off
Rhoeteum. When the Athenians had come to close quarters, the fighting
commenced, and was sustained at once from ships and shore, until at
length the Athenians retired to their main camp at Madytus, having
achieved nothing.

[2] Lit. "as he opened" {os enoige}. This is still a mariner's phrase
in modern Greek, if I am rightly informed.

Meanwhile Mindarus, while sacrificing to Athena at Ilium, had observed
the battle. He at once hastened to the sea, and getting his own
triremes afloat, sailed out to pick up the ships with Dorieus. The
Athenians on their side put out to meet him, and engaged him off
Abydos. From early morning till the afternoon the fight was kept up
close to the shore.[3] Victory and defeat hung still in even balance,
when Alcibiades came sailing up with eighteen ships. Thereupon the
Peloponnesians fled towards Abydos, where, however, Pharnabazus
brought them timely assistance.[4] Mounted on horseback, he pushed
forward into the sea as far as his horse would let him, doing battle
himself, and encouraging his troopers and the infantry alike to play
their parts. Then the Peloponnesians, ranging their ships in close-
packed order, and drawing up their battle line in proximity to the
land, kept up the fight. At length the Athenians, having captured
thirty of the enemy's vessels without their crews, and having
recovered those of their own which they had previously lost, set sail
for Sestos. Here the fleet, with the exception of forty vessels,
dispersed in different directions outside the Hellespont, to collect
money; while Thrasylus, one of the generals, sailed to Athens to
report what had happened, and to beg for a reinforcement of troops and
ships. After the above incidents, Tissaphernes arrived in the
Hellespont, and received a visit from Alcibiades, who presented him
with a single ship, bringing with him tokens of friendship and gifts,
whereupon Tissaphernes seized him and shut him up in Sardis, giving
out that the king's orders were to go to war with the Athenians.
Thirty days later Alcibiades, accompanied by Mantitheus, who had been
captured in Caria, managed to procure horses and escaped by night to
Clazomenae.

[3] The original has a somewhat more poetical ring. The author uses
the old Attic or Ionic word {eona}. This is a mark of style, of
which we shall have many instances. One might perhap produce
something of the effect here by translating: "the battle hugged
the strand."

[4] Or, "came to their aid along the shore."

B.C. 410. And now the Athenians at Sestos, hearing that Mindarus was
meditating an attack upon them with a squadron of sixty sail, gave him
the slip, and under cover of night escaped to Cardia. Hither also
Alcibiades repaired from Clazomenae, having with him five triremes and
a light skiff; but on learning that the Peloponnesian fleet had left
Abydos and was in full sail for Cyzicus, he set off himself by land to
Sestos, giving orders to the fleet to sail round and join him there.
Presently the vessels arrived, and he was on the point of putting out
to sea with everything ready for action, when Theramenes, with a fleet
of twenty ships from Macedonia, entered the port, and at the same
instant Thrasybulus, with a second fleet of twenty sail from Thasos,
both squadrons having been engaged in collecting money. Bidding these
officers also follow him with all speed, as soon as they had taken out
their large sails and cleared for action, Alcibiades set sail himself
for Parium. During the following night the united squadron, consisting
now of eighty-six vessels, stood out to sea from Parium, and reached
Proconnesus next morning, about the hour of breakfast. Here they
learnt that Mindarus was in Cyzicus, and that Pharnabazus, with a body
of infantry, was with him. Accordingly they waited the whole of this
day at Proconnesus. On the following day Alcibiades summoned an
assembly, and addressing the men in terms of encouragement, warned
them that a threefold service was expected of them; that they must be
ready for a sea fight, a land fight, and a wall fight all at once,
"for look you," said he, "we have no money, but the enemy has
unlimited supplies from the king."

Now, on the previous day, as soon as they were come to moorings, he
had collected all the sea-going craft of the island, big and little
alike, under his own control, that no one might report the number of
his squadron to the enemy, and he had further caused a proclamation to
be made, that any one caught sailing across to the opposite coast
would be punished with death. When the meeting was over, he got his
ships ready for action, and stood out to sea towards Cyzicus in
torrents of rain. Off Cyzicus the sky cleared, and the sun shone out
and revealed to him the spectacle of Mindarus's vessels, sixty in
number, exercising at some distance from the harbour, and, in fact,
intercepted by himself. The Peloponnesians, perceiving at a glance the
greatly increased number of the Athenian galleys, and noting their
proximity to the port, made haste to reach the land, where they
brought their vessels to anchor in a body, and prepared to engage the
enemy as he sailed to the attack. But Alcibiades, sailing round with
twenty of his vessels, came to land and disembarked. Seeing this,
Mindarus also landed, and in the engagement which ensued he fell
fighting, whilst those who were with him took to flight. As for the
enemy's ships, the Athenians succeeded in capturing the whole of them
(with the exception of the Syracusan vessels, which were burnt by
their crews), and made off with their prizes to Proconnesus. From
thence on the following day they sailed to attack Cyzicus. The men of
that place, seeing that the Peloponnesians and Pharnabazus had
evacuated the town, admitted the Athenians. Here Alcibiades remained
twenty days, obtaining large sums of money from the Cyzicenes, but
otherwise inflicting no sort of mischief on the community. He then
sailed back to Proconnesus, and from there to Perinthus and Selybria.
The inhabitants of the former place welcomed his troops into their
city, but the Selybrians preferred to give money, and so escape the
admission of the troops. Continuing the voyage the squadron reached
Chrysopolis in Chalcedonia,[5] where they built a fort, and
established a custom-house to collect the tithe dues which they levied
on all merchantmen passing through the Straights from the Black Sea.
Besides this, a detachment of thirty ships was left there under the
two generals, Theramenes and Eubulus, with instructions not only to
keep a look-out on the port itself and on all traders passing through
the channel, but generally to injure the enemy in any way which might
present itself. This done, the rest of the generals hastened back to
the Hellespont.

[5] This is the common spelling, but the coins of Calchedon have the
letters {KALKH}, and so the name is written in the best MSS. of
Herodotus, Xenophon, and other writers, by whom the place is
named. See "Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog." "Chalcedon."

Now a despatch from Hippocrates, Mindarus's vice-admiral,[6] had been
intercepted on its way to Lacedaemon, and taken to Athens. It ran as
follows (in broad Doric):[7] "Ships gone; Mindarus dead; the men
starving; at our wits' end what to do."

[6] "Epistoleus," i.e. secretary or despatch writer, is the Spartan
title of the officer second in command to the admiral.

[7] Reading {'Errei ta kala} (Bergk's conjecture for {kala}) =
"timbers," i.e. "ships" (a Doric word). Cf. Aristoph., "Lys."
1253, {potta kala}. The despatch continues: {Mindaros apessoua}
(al. {apessua}), which is much more racy than the simple word
"dead." "M. is gone off." I cannot find the right English or
"broad Scotch" equivalent. See Thirlwall, "Hist. Gr." IV. xxix. 88
note.

Pharnabazus, however, was ready to meet with encouragement the
despondency which afflicted the whole Peloponnesian army and their
allies. "As long as their own bodies were safe and sound, why need
they take to heart the loss of a few wooden hulls? Was there not
timber enough and to spare in the king's territory?" And so he
presented each man with a cloak and maintenance for a couple of
months, after which he armed the sailors and formed them into a
coastguard for the security of his own seaboard.

He next called a meeting of the generals and trierarchs of the
different States, and instructed them to build just as many new ships
in the dockyards of Antandrus as they had respectively lost. He
himself was to furnish the funds, and he gave them to understand that
they might bring down timber from Mount Ida. While the ships were
building, the Syracusans helped the men of Antandrus to finish a
section of their walls, and were particularly pleasant on garrison
duty; and that is why the Syracusans to this day enjoy the privilege
of citizenship, with the title of "benefactors," at Antandrus. Having
so arranged these matters, Pharnabazus proceeded at once to the rescue
of Chalcedon.

It was at this date that the Syracusan generals received news from
home of their banishment by the democratic party. Accordingly they
called a meeting of their separate divisions, and putting forward
Hermocrates[8] as their spokesman, proceeded to deplore their
misfortune, insisting upon the injustice and the illegality of their
banishment. "And now let us admonish you," they added, "to be eager
and willing in the future, even as in the past: whatever the word of
command may be, show yourselves good men and true: let not the memory
of those glorious sea fights fade. Think of those victories you have
won, those ships you have captured by your own unaided efforts; forget
not that long list of achievements shared by yourselves with others,
in all which you proved yourselves invincible under our generalship.
It was to a happy combination of our merit and your enthusiasm,
displayed alike on land and sea, that you owe the strength and
perfection of your discipline."

[8] Hermocrates, the son of Hermon. We first hear of him in Thuc. iv.
58 foll. as the chief agent in bringing the Sicilian States
together in conference at Gela B.C. 424, with a view to healing
their differences and combining to frustrate the dangerous designs
of Athens. In 415 B.C., when the attack came, he was again the
master spirit in rendering it abortive (Thuc. vi. 72 foll.) In 412
B.C. it was he who urged the Sicilians to assist in completing the
overthrow of Athens, by sending a squadron to co-operate with the
Peloponnesian navy--for the relief of Miletus, etc. (Thuc. viii.
26, 27 foll.) At a later date, in 411 B.C., when the Peloponnesian
sailors were ready to mutiny, and "laid all their grievances to
the charge of Astyochus (the Spartan admiral), who humoured
Tissaphernes for his own gain" (Thuc. viii. 83), Hermocrates took
the men's part, and so incurred the hatred of Tissaphernes.

With these words they called upon the men to choose other commanders,
who should undertake the duties of their office, until the arrival of
their successors. Thereupon the whole assembly, and more particularly
the captains and masters of vessels and marines, insisted with loud
cries on their continuance in command. The generals replied, "It was
not for them to indulge in faction against the State, but rather it
was their duty, in case any charges were forthcoming against
themselves, at once to render an account." When, however, no one had
any kind of accusation to prefer, they yielded to the general demand,
and were content to await the arrival of their successors. The names
of these were--Demarchus, the son of Epidocus; Myscon, the son of
Mencrates; and Potamis, the son of Gnosis.

The captains, for their part, swore to restore the exiled generals as
soon as they themselves should return to Syracuse. At present with a
general vote of thanks they despatched them to their several
destinations. It particular those who had enjoyed the society of
Hermocrates recalled his virtues with regret, his thoroughness and
enthusiasm, his frankness and affability, the care with which every
morning and evening he was wont to gather in his quarters a group of
naval captains and mariners whose ability he recognised. These were
his confidants, to whom he communicated what he intended to say or do:
they were his pupils, to whom he gave lessons in oratory, now calling
upon them to speak extempore, and now again after deliberation. By
these means Hermocrates had gained a wide reputation at the council
board, where his mastery of language was no less felt than the wisdom
of his advice. Appearing at Lacedaemon as the accuser of
Tissaphernes,[9] he had carried his case, not only by the testimony of
Astyochus, but by the obvious sincerity of his statements, and on the
strength of this reputation he now betook himself to Pharnabazus. The
latter did not wait to be asked, but at once gave him money, which
enabled him to collect friends and triremes, with a view to his
ultimate recall to Syracuse. Meanwhile the successors of the
Syracusans had arrived at Miletus, where they took charge of the ships
and the army.

[9] The matter referred to is fully explained Thuc. viii. 85.

It was at this same season that a revolution occurred in Thasos,
involving the expulsion of the philo-Laconian party, with the Laconian
governor Eteonicus. The Laconian Pasippidas was charged with having
brought the business about in conjunction with Tissaphernes, and was
banished from Sparta in consequence. The naval force which he had been
collecting from the allies was handed over to Cratesippidas, who was
sent out to take his place in Chios.

About the same period, while Thrasylus was still in Athens, Agis[10]
made a foraging expedition up to the very walls of the city. But
Thrasylus led out the Athenians with the rest of the inhabitants of
the city, and drew them up by the side of the Lyceum Gymnasium, ready
to engage the enemy if they approached; seeing which, Agis beat a
hasty retreat, not however without the loss of some of his supports, a
few of whom were cut down by the Athenian light troops. This success
disposed the citizens to take a still more favourable view of the
objects for which Thrasylus had come; and they passed a decree
empowering him to call out a thousand hoplites, one hundred cavalry,
and fifty triremes.

[10] The reader will recollect that we are giving in "the Deceleian"
period of the war, 413-404 B.C. The Spartan king was in command of
the fortress of Deceleia, only fourteen miles distant from Athens,
and erected on a spot within sight of the city. See Thuc. vii. 19,
27, 28.

Meanwhile Agis, as he looked out from Deceleia, and saw vessel after
vessel laden with corn running down to Piraeus, declared that it was
useless for his troops to go on week after week excluding the
Athenians from their own land, while no one stopped the source of
their corn supply by sea: the best plan would be to send
Clearchus,[11] the son of Rhamphius, who was proxenos[12] of the
Byzantines, to Chalcedon and Byzantium. The suggestion was approved,
and with fifteen vessels duly manned from Megara, or furnished by
other allies, Clearchus set out. These were troop-ships rather than
swift-sailing men-of-war. Three of them, on reaching the Hellespont,
were destroyed by the Athenian ships employed to keep a sharp look-out
on all merchant craft in those waters. The other twelve escaped to
Sestos, and thence finally reached Byzantium in safety.

[11] Of Clearchus we shall hear more in the sequel, and in the
"Anabasis."

[12] The Proxenus answered pretty nearly to our "Consul," "Agent,"
"Resident"; but he differed in this respect, that he was always a
member of the foreign State. An Athenian represented Sparta at
Athens; a Laconian represented Athens at Sparta, and so forth. See
Liddell and Scott.

So closed the year--a year notable also for the expedition against
Sicily of the Carthaginians under Hannibal with one hundred thousand
men, and the capture, within three months, of the two Hellenic cities
of Selinus and Himera.

II

B.C. 409. Next year[1] . . . the Athenians fortified Thoricus; and
Thrasylus, taking the vessels lately voted him and five thousand of
his seamen armed to serve as peltasts,[2] set sail for Samos at the
beginning of summer. At Samos he stayed three days, and then continued
his voyage to Pygela, where he proceeded to ravage the territory and
attack the fortress. Presently a detachment from Miletus came to the
rescue of the men of Pygela, and attacking the scattered bands of the
Athenian light troops, put them to flight. But to the aid of the light
troops came the naval brigade of peltasts, with two companies of heavy
infantry, and all but annihilated the whole detachment from Miletus.
They captured about two hundred shields, and set up a trophy. Next day
they sailed to Notium, and from Notium, after due preparation, marched
upon Colophon. The Colophonians capitulated without a blow. The
following night they made an incursion into Lydia, where the corn
crops were ripe, and burnt several villages, and captured money,
slaves, and other booty in large quantity. But Stages, the Persian,
who was employed in this neighbourhood, fell in with a reinforcement
of cavalry sent to protect the scattered pillaging parties from the
Athenian camp, whilst occupied with their individual plunder, and took
one trooper prisoner, killing seven others. After this Thrasylus led
his troops back to the sea, intending to sail to Ephesus. Meanwhile
Tissaphernes, who had wind of this intention, began collecting a large
army and despatching cavalry with a summons to the inhabitants one and
all to rally to the defence of the goddess Artemis at Ephesus.

[1] The MSS. here give a suspected passage, which may be rendered
thus: "The first of Olympiad 93, celebrated as the year in which
the newly-added two-horse race was won by Evagorias the Eleian,
and the stadion (200 yards foot-race) by the Cyrenaean Eubotas,
when Evarchippus was ephor at Sparta and Euctemon archon at
Athens." But Ol. 93, to which these officers,and the addition of
the new race at Olympia belong, is the year 408. We must therefore
suppose either that this passage has been accidentally inserted in
the wrong place by some editor or copyist, or that the author was
confused in his dates. The "stadium" is the famous foot-race at
Olympia, 606 3/4 English feet in length, run on a course also
called the "Stadion," which was exactly a stade long.

[2] Peltasts, i.e. light infantry armed with the "pelta" or light
shield, instead of the heavy {aspis} of the hoplite or heavy
infantry soldiers.

On the seventeenth day after the incursion above mentioned Thrasylus
sailed to Ephesus. He disembarked his troops in two divisions, his
heavy infantry in the neighbourhood of Mount Coressus; his cavalry,
peltasts, and marines, with the remainder of his force, near the marsh
on the other side of the city. At daybreak he pushed forward both
divisions. The citizens of Ephesus, on their side, were not slow to
protect themselves. They had to aid them the troops brought up by
Tissaphernes, as well as two detachments of Syracusans, consisting of
the crews of their former twenty vessels and those of five new vessels
which had opportunely arrived quite recently under Eucles, the son of
Hippon, and Heracleides, the son of Aristogenes, together with two
Selinuntian vessels. All these several forces first attacked the heavy
infantry near Coressus; these they routed, killing about one hundred
of them, and driving the remainder down into the sea. They then turned
to deal with the second division on the marsh. Here, too, the
Athenians were put to flight, and as many as three hundred of them
perished. On this spot the Ephesians erected a trophy, and another at
Coressus. The valour of the Syracusans and Selinuntians had been so
conspicuous that the citizens presented many of them, both publicly
and privately, with prizes for distinction in the field, besides
offering the right of residence in their city with certain immunities
to all who at any time might wish to live there. To the Selinuntians,
indeed, as their own city had lately been destroyed, they offered full
citizenship.

The Athenians, after picking up their dead under a truce, set sail for
Notium, and having there buried the slain, continued their vogage
towards Lesbos and the Hellespont. Whilst lying at anchor in the
harbour of Methymna, in that island, they caught sight of the
Syracusan vessels, five-and-twenty in number, coasting along from
Ephesus. They put out to sea to attack them, and captured four ships
with their crews, and chased the remainder back to Ephesus. The
prisoners were sent by Thrasylus to Athens, with one exception. This
was an Athenian, Alcibiades, who was a cousin and fellow-exile of
Alcibiades. Him Thrasylus released.[3] From Methymna Thrasylus set
sail to Sestos to join the main body of the army, after which the
united forces crossed to Lampsacus. And now winter was approaching. It
was the winter in which the Syracusan prisoners who had been immured
in the stone quarries of Piraeus dug through the rock and escaped one
night, some to Decelia and others to Megara. At Lampsacus Alcibiades
was anxious to marshal the whole military force there collected in one
body, but the old troops refused to be incorporated with those of
Thrasylus. "They, who had never yet been beaten, with these newcomers
who had just suffered a defeat." So they devoted the winter to
fortifying Lampsacus. They also made an expedition against Abydos,
where Pharnabazus, coming to the rescue of the place, encountered them
with numerous cavalry, but was defeated and forced to flee, Alcibiades
pursuing hard with his cavalry and one hundred and twenty infantry
under the command of Menander, till darkness intervened. After this
battle the soldiers came together of their own accord, and freely
fraternised with the troops of Thrasylus. This expedition was followed
by other incursions during the winter into the interior, where they
found plenty to do ravaging the king's territory.

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