Hellenica

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[6] The citadel quarter of Piraeus.

[7] Named after the famous architect Hippodamus, who built the town.
It was situated near where the two long walls joined the wall of
Piraeus; a broad street led from it up to the citadel of Munychia.

[8] I.e. the temple of Bendis (the Thracian Artemis). Cf. Plat. "Rep."
327, 354; and Prof. Jowett, "Plato," vol. iii. pp. 193, 226.

[9] Lit. "Enyalius," in Homer an epithet of Ares; at another date (cf.
Aristoph. "Peace," 456) looked upon as a distinct divinity.

Having so spoken, he turned round, facing the foemen, and kept quiet,
for the order passed by the soothsayer enjoined on them, not to charge
before one of their side was slain or wounded. "As soon as that
happens," said the seer, "we will lead you onwards, and the victory
shall be yours; but for myself, if I err not, death is waiting." And
herein he spoke truly, for they had barely resumed their arms when he
himself as though he were driven by some fatal hand, leapt out in
front of the ranks, and so springing into the midst of the foe, was
slain, and lies now buried at the passage of the Cephisus. But the
rest were victorious, and pursued the routed enemy down to the level
ground. There fell in this engagement, out of the number of the
Thirty, Critias himself and Hippomachus, and with them Charmides,[10]
the son of Glaucon, one of the ten archons in Piraeus, and of the rest
about seventy men. The arms of the slain were taken; but, as fellow-
citizens, the conquerors forebore to despoil them of their coats. This
being done, they proceeded to give back the dead under cover of a
truce, when the men, on either side, in numbers stept forward and
conversed with one another. Then Cleocritus (he was the Herald of the
Initiated,[11] a truly "sweet-voiced herald," if ever there was),
caused a deep silence to reign, and addressed their late combatants as
follows: "Fellow-citizens--Why do you drive us forth? why would you
slay us? what evil have we wrought you at any time? or is it a crime
that we have shared with you in the most solemn rites and sacrifices,
and in festivals of the fairest: we have been companions in the
chorus, the school, the army. We have braved a thousand dangers with
you by land and sea in behalf of our common safety, our common
liberty. By the gods of our fathers, by the gods of our mothers, by
the hallowed names of kinship, intermarriage, comradeship, those three
bonds which knit the hearts of so many of us, bow in reverence before
God and man, and cease to sin against the land of our fathers: cease
to obey these most unhallowed Thirty, who for the sake of private gain
have in eight months slain almost more men than the Peloponnesians
together in ten years of warfare. See, we have it in our power to live
as citizens in peace; it is only these men, who lay upon us this most
foul burthen, this hideous horror of fratricidal war, loathed of God
and man. Ah! be well assured, for these men slain by our hands this
day, ye are not the sole mourners. There are among them some whose
deaths have wrung from us also many a bitter tear."

[10] He was cousin to Critias, and uncle by the mother's side to
Plato, who introduces him in the dialogue, which bears his name
(and treats of Temperance), as a very young man at the beginning
of the Peloponnesian War. We hear more of him also from Xenophon
himself in the "Memorabilia," iii. 6. 7; and as one of the
interlocutors in the "Symposium."

[11] I.e. of the Eleusinian mysteries. He had not only a loud voice,
but a big body. Cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 1237.

So he spoke, but the officers and leaders of the defeated army who
were left, unwilling that their troops should listen to such topics at
that moment, led them back to the city. But the next day the Thirty,
in deep down-heartedness and desolation, sat in the council chamber.
The Three Thousand, wherever their several divisions were posted, were
everywhere a prey to discord. Those who were implicated in deeds of
violence, and whose fears could not sleep, protested hotly that to
yield to the party in Piraeus were preposterous. Those on the other
hand who had faith in their own innocence, argued in their own minds,
and tried to convince their neighbours that they could well dispense
with most of their present evils. "Why yield obedience to these
Thirty?" they asked, "Why assign to them the privilege of destroying
the State?" In the end they voted a resolution to depose the
government, and to elect another. This was a board of ten, elected one
from each tribe.

B.C. 403. As to the Thirty, they retired to Eleusis; but the Ten,
assisted by the cavalry officers, had enough to do to keep watch over
the men in the city, whose anarchy and mutual distrust were rampant.
The Knights did not return to quarters at night, but slept out in the
Odeum, keeping their horses and shields close beside them; indeed the
distrust was so great that from evening onwards they patrolled the
walls on foot with their shields, and at break of day mounted their
horses, at every moment fearing some sudden attack upon them by the
men in Piraeus. These latter were now so numerous, and of so mixed a
company, that it was difficult to find arms for all. Some had to be
content with shields of wood, others of wicker-work, which they spent
their time in coating with whitening. Before ten days had elapsed
guarantees were given, securing full citizenship, with equality of
taxation and tribute to all, even foreigners, who would take part in
the fighting. Thus they were presently able to take the field, with
large detachments both of heavy infantry and light-armed troops,
besides a division of cavalry, about seventy in number. Their system
was to push forward foraging parties in quest of wood and fruits,
returning at nightfall to Piraeus. Of the city party no one ventured
to take the field under arms; only, from time to time, the cavalry
would capture stray pillagers from Piraeus or inflict some damage on
the main body of their opponents. Once they fell in with a party
belonging to the deme Aexone,[12] marching to their own farms in
search of provisions. These, in spite of many prayers for mercy and
the strong disapprobation of many of the knights, were ruthlessly
slaughtered by Lysimachus, the general of cavalry. The men of Piraeus
retaliated by putting to death a horseman, named Callistratus, of the
tribe Leontis, whom they captured in the country. Indeed their courage
ran so high at present that they even meditated an assault upon the
city walls. And here perhaps the reader will pardon the record of a
somewhat ingenious device on the part of the city engineer, who, aware
of the enemy's intention to advance his batteries along the
racecourse, which slopes from the Lyceum, had all the carts and
waggons which were to be found laden with blocks of stone, each one a
cartload in itself, and so sent them to deposit their freights
"pele-mele" on the course in question. The annoyance created by these
separate blocks of stone was enormous, and quite out of proportion to
the simplicity of the contrivance.

[12] On the coast south of Phalerum, celebrated for its fisheries. Cf.
"Athen." vii. 325.

But it was to Lacedaemon that men's eyes now turned. The Thirty
despatched one set of ambassadors from Eleusis, while another set
representing the government of the city, that is to say the men on the
list, was despatched to summon the Lacedaemonians to their aid, on the
plea that the people had revolted from Sparta. At Sparta, Lysander,
taking into account the possibility of speedily reducing the party in
Piraeus by blockading them by land and sea, and so cutting them off
from all supplies, supported the application, and negotiated the loan
of one hundred talents[13] to his clients, backed by the appointment
of himself as harmost on land, and of his brother, Libys, as admiral
of the fleet. And so proceeding to the scene of action at Eleusis, he
got together a large body of Peloponnesian hoplites, whilst his
brother, the admiral, kept watch and ward by sea to prevent the
importation of supplies into Piraeus by water. Thus the men in Piraeus
were soon again reduced to their former helplessness, while the ardour
of the city folk rose to a proportionally high pitch under the
auspices of Lysander.

[13] 24,375 pounds, reckoning one tal. = 243 pounds 15 shillings.

Things were progressing after this sort when King Pausanias
intervened. Touched by a certain envy of Lysander--(who seemed, by a
final stroke of achievement, about to reach the pinnacle of
popularity, with Athens laid like a pocket dependency at his feet)--
the king persuaded three of the ephors to support him, and forthwith
called out the ban. With him marched contingents of all the allied
States, except the Boeotians and Corinthians. These maintained, that
to undertake such an expedition against the Athenians, in whose
conduct they saw nothing contrary to the treaty, was inconsistent with
their oaths. But if that was the language held by them, the secret of
their behaviour lay deeper; they seemed to be aware of a desire on the
part of the Lacedaemonians to annex the soil of the Athenians and to
reduce the state to vassalage. Pausanias encamped on the
Halipedon,[14] as the sandy flat is called, with his right wing
resting on Piraeus, and Lysander and his mercenaries forming the left.
His first act was to send an embassage to the party in Piraeus,
calling upon them to retire peacably to their homes; when they refused
to obey, he made, as far as mere noise went, the semblance of an
attack, with sufficient show of fight to prevent his kindly
disposition being too apparent. But gaining nothing by the feint, he
was forced to retire. Next day he took two Laconian regiments, with
three tribes of Athenian horse, and crossed over to the Mute[15]
Harbour, examining the lie of the ground to discover how and where it
would be easiest to draw lines of circumvallation round Piraeus. As he
turned his back to retire, a party of the enemy sallied out and caused
him annoyance. Nettled at the liberty, he ordered the cavalry to
charge at the gallop, supported by the ten-year-service[16] infantry,
whilst he himself, with the rest of the troops, followed close,
holding quietly back in reserve. They cut down about thirty of the
enemy's light troops and pursued the rest hotly to the theatre in
Piraeus. Here, as chance would have it, the whole light and heavy
infantry of the Piraeus men were getting under arms; and in an instant
their light troops rushed out and dashed at the assailants; thick and
fast flew missiles of all sorts--javelins, arrows and sling stones.
The Lacedaemonians finding the number of their wounded increasing
every minute, and sorely called, slowly fell back step by step, eyeing
their opponents. These meanwhile resolutely pressed on. Here fell
Chaeron and Thibrachus, both polemarchs, here also Lacrates, an
Olympic victor, and other Lacedaemonians, all of whom now lie entombed
before the city gates in the Ceramicus.[17]

[14] The Halipedon is the long stretch of flat sandy land between
Piraeus Phalerum and the city.

[15] Perhaps the landlocked creek just round the promontory of
Eetioneia, as Leake conjectures, "Topog. of Athens," p. 389. See
also Prof. Jowett's note, "Thuc." v. 2; vol. ii. p. 286.

[16] I.e. who had already seen ten years of service, i.e. over twenty-
eight, as the Spartan was eligible to serve at eighteen. Cf. Xen.
"Hell." III. iv. 23; VI. iv. 176.

[17] The outer Ceramicus, "the most beautiful spot outside the walls."
Cf. Thuc. ii. 34; through it passes the street of the tombs on the
sacred road; and here was the place of burial for all persons
honoured with a public funeral. Cf. Arist. "Birds," 395.

Watching how matters went, Thrasybulus began his advance with the
whole of his heavy infantry to support his light troops and quickly
fell into line eight deep, acting as a screen to the rest of his
troops. Pausanias, on his side, had retired, sorely pressed, about
half a mile towards a bit of rising ground, where he sent orders to
the Lacedaemonians and the other allied troops to bring up
reinforcements. Here, on this slope, he reformed his troops, giving
his phalanx the full depth, and advanced against the Athenians, who
did not hesitate to receive him at close quarters, but presently had
to give way; one portion being forced into the mud and clay at
Halae,[18] while the others wavered and broke their line; one hundred
and fifty of them were left dead on the field, whereupon Pausanias set
up a trophy and retired. Not even so, were his feelings embittered
against his adversary. On the contrary he sent secretly and instructed
the men of Piraeus, what sort of terms they should propose to himself
and the ephors in attendance. To this advice they listened. He also
fostered a division in the party within the city. A deputation, acting
on his orders, sought an audience of him and the ephors. It had all
the appearance of a mass meeting. In approaching the Spartan
authorities, they had no desire or occasion, they stated, to look upon
the men of Piraeus as enemies, they would prefer a general
reconciliation and the friendship of both sides with Lacedaemon. The
propositions were favourably received, and by no less a person than
Nauclidas. He was present as ephor, in accordance with the custom
which obliges two members of that board to serve on all military
expeditions with the king, and with his colleague shared the political
views represented by Pausanias, rather than those of Lysander and his
party. Thus the authorities were quite ready to despatch to Lacedaemon
the representatives of Piraeus, carrying their terms of truce with the
Lacedaemonians, as also two private individuals belonging to the city
party, whose names were Cephisophon and Meletus. This double
deputation, however, had no sooner set out to Lacedaemon than the "de
facto" government of the city followed suit, by sending a third set of
representatives to state on their behalf: that they were prepared to
deliver up themselves and the fortifications in their possession to
the Lacedaemonians, to do with them what they liked. "Are the men of
Piraeus," they asked, "prepared to surrender Piraeus and Munychia in
the same way? If they are sincere in their profession of friendship to
Lacedaemon, they ought to do so." The ephors and the members of
assembly at Sparta[19] gave audience to these several parties, and
sent out fifteen commissioners to Athens empowered, in conjunction
with Pausanias, to discover the best settlement possible. The
terms[20] arrived at were that a general peace between the rival
parties should be established, liberty to return to their own homes
being granted to all, with the exception of the Thirty, the Eleven,
and the Ten who had been governors in Piraeus; but a proviso was
added, enabling any of the city party who feared to remain at Athens
to find a home in Eleusis.

[18] Halae, the salt marshy ground immediately behind the great
harbour of Piraeus, but outside the fortification lines.

[19] Cf. "Hell." VI. iii. 3, {oi ekkletoi}.

[20] Cf. Prof. Jebb, "Orators," i. 262, note 2.

And now that everything was happily concluded, Pausanias disbanded his
army, and the men from Piraeus marched up under arms into the
acropolis and offered sacrifice to Athena. When they were come down,
the generals called a meeting of the Ecclesia,[21] and Thrasybulus
made a speech in which, addressing the city party, he said: "Men of
the city! I have one piece of advice I would tender to you; it is that
you should learn to know yourselves, and towards the attainment of
that self-knowledge I would have you make a careful computation of
your good qualities and satisfy yourselves on the strength of which of
these it is that you claim to rule over us. Is it that you are more
just than ourselves? Yet the people, who are poorer--have never
wronged you for the purposes of plunder; but you, whose wealth would
outweight the whole of ours, have wrought many a shameful deed for the
sake of gain. If, then, you have no monopoly of justice, can it be on
the score of courage that you are warranted to hold your heads so
high? If so, what fairer test of courage will you propose than the
arbitrament of war--the war just ended? Or do you claim superiority of
intelligence?--you, who with all your wealth of arms and walls, money
and Peloponnesian allies, have been paralysed by men who had none of
these things to aid them! Or is it on these Laconian friends of yours
that you pride yourselves? What! when these same friends have dealt by
you as men deal by vicious dogs. You know how that is. They put a
heavy collar round the neck of the brutes and hand them over muzzled
to their masters. So too have the Lacedaemonians handed you over to
the people, this very people whom you have injured; and now they have
turned their backs and are gone. But" (turning to the mass) "do not
misconceive me. It is not for me, sirs, coldly to beg of you, in no
respect to violate your solemn undertakings. I go further; I beg you,
to crown your list of exploits by one final display of virtue. Show
the world that you can be faithful to your oaths, and flawless in your
conduct." By these and other kindred arguments he impressed upon them
that there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were
the ancient laws ready for use. And so he broke up[22] the assembly.

[21] I.e. the Public Assembly, see above; and reading with Sauppe
after Cobet {ekklesian epoiesan}, which words are supposed to have
dropt out of the MSS. Or, keeping to the MSS., translate "When the
generals were come down, Thrasybulus," etc. See next note.

[22] The Greek words are {antestese ten ekklesian} (an odd phrase for
the more technical {eluse} or {dieluse ten ekklesian}). Or,
accepting the MSS. reading above (see last note), translate "he
set up (i.e. restored) the Assembly." So Mr. J. G. Philpotts, Mr.
Herbert Hailstone, and others.

At this auspicious moment, then, they reappointed the several
magistrates; the constitution began to work afresh, and civic life was
recommenced. At a subsequent period, on receiving information that the
party at Eleusis were collecting a body of mercenaries, they marched
out with their whole force against them, and put to death their
generals, who came out to parley. These removed, they introduced to
the others their friends and connections, and so persuaded them to
come to terms and be reconciled. The oath they bound themselves by
consisted of a simple asseveration: "We will remember past offences no
more;" and to this day[23] the two parties live amicably together as
good citizens, and the democracy is steadfast to its oaths.

[23] It would be interesting to know the date at which the author
penned these words. Was this portion of the "Hellenica" written
before the expedition of Cyrus? i.e. in the interval between the
formal restoration of the Democracy, September B.C. 403, and March
B.C. 401. The remaining books of the "Hellenica" were clearly
written after that expedition, since reference is made to it quite
early in Bk. III. i. 2. Practically, then, the first volume of
Xenophon's "History of Hellenic Affairs" ends here. This history
is resumed in Bk. III. i. 3. after the Cyreian expedition [of
which episode we have a detailed account in the "Anabasis" from
March B.C. 401 down to March B.C. 399, when the remnant of the Ten
Thousand was handed over to the Spartan general Thibron in Asia].
Some incidents belonging to B.C. 402 are referred to in the
opening paragraphs of "Hellenica," III. i. 1, 2, but only as an
introduction to the new matter; and with regard to the historian
himself, it is clear that "a change has come o'er the spirit of
his dream." This change of view is marked by a change of style in
writing. I have thought it legitimate, under the circumstances, to
follow the chronological order of events, and instead of
continuing the "Hellenica," at this point to insert the
"Anabasis." My next volume will contain the remaining books of the
"Hellenica" and the rest of Xenophon's "historical" writings.

BOOK III

I

B.C. 403-402. Thus the civil strife at Athens had an end. At a
subsequent date Cyrus sent messengers to Lacedaemon, claiming requital
in kind for the service which he had lately rendered in the war with
Athens.[1] The demand seemed to the ephorate just and reasonable.
Accordingly they ordered Samius,[2] who was admiral at the time, to
put himself at the disposition of Cyrus for any service which he might
require. Samius himself needed no persuasion to carry out the wishes
of Cyrus. With his own fleet, accompanied by that of Cyrus, he sailed
round to Cilicia, and so made it impossible for Syennesis, the ruler
of that province, to oppose Cyrus by land in his advance against the
king his brother.

[1] Lit. "what Cyrus himself had been to the Lacedaemonians let the
Lacedaemonians in their turn be to Cyrus."

[2] Samius (Diod. Sic. xiv. 19). But see "Anab." I. iv. 2, where
Pythagoras is named as admiral. Possibly the one officer succeeded
the other.

B.C. 401. The particulars of the expedition are to be found in the
pages of the Syracusan Themistogenes,[3] who describes the mustering
of the armament, and the advance of Cyrus at the head of his troops;
and then the battle, and death of Cyrus himself, and the consequent
retreat of the Hellenes while effecting their escape to the sea.[4]

[3] Lit. "as to how then Cyrus collected an army and with it went up
against his brother, and how the battle was fought and how he
died, and how in the sequal the Hellenes escaped to the sea (all
this), is written by (or 'for,' or 'in honour of') Themistogenes
the Syracusan." My impression is that Xenophon's "Anabasis," or a
portion of the work so named, was edited originally by
Themistogenes. See "Philol. Museum," vol. i. p. 489; L. Dindorf,
{Xen. Ell.}, Ox. MDCCCLIII., node ad loc. {Themistogenei}. Cf.
Diod. Sic. xiv. 19-31, 37, after Ephorus and Theopompus probably.

[4] At Trapezus, March 10, B.C. 400.

B.C. 400. It was in recognition of the service which he had rendered
in this affair, that Tissaphernes was despatched to Lower Asia by the
king his master. He came as satrap, not only of his own provinces, but
of those which had belonged to Cyrus; and he at once demanded the
absolute submission of the Ionic cities, without exception, to his
authority. These communities, partly from a desire to maintain their
freedom, and partly from fear of Tissaphernes himself, whom they had
rejected in favour of Cyrus during the lifetime of that prince, were
loth to admit the satrap within their gates. They thought it better to
send an embassy to the Lacedaemonians, calling upon them as
representatives and leaders[5] of the Hellenic world to look to the
interests of their petitioners, who were Hellenes also, albeit they
lived in Asia, and not to suffer their country to be ravaged and
themselves enslaved.

[5] {Prostatai}, "patrons and protectors."

In answer to this appeal, the Lacedaemonians sent out Thibron[6] as
governor, providing him with a body of troops, consisting of one
thousand neodamodes[7] (i.e. enfranchised helots) and four thousand
Peloponnesians. In addition to these, Thibron himself applied to the
Athenians for a detachment of three hundred horse, for whose service-
money he would hold himself responsible. The Athenians in answer sent
him some of the knights who had served under the Thirty,[8] thinking
that the people of Athens would be well rid of them if they went
abroad and perished there.

[6] "As harmost." See "Anab." ad fin.

[7] See "Hell." I. iii. 15; Thuc. vii. 58.

[8] See "Hell." II. iv. 2.

B.C. 400-399. On their arrival in Asia, Thibron further collected
contingents from the Hellenic cities on the continent; for at this
time the word of a Lacedaemonian was law. He had only to command, and
every city must needs obey.[9] But although he had this armament,
Thibron, when he saw the cavalry, had no mind to descend into the
plain. If he succeeded in protecting from pillage the particular
district in which he chanced to be, he was quite content. It was only
when the troops[10] who had taken part in the expedition of Cyrus had
joined him on their safe return, that he assumed a bolder attitude. He
was now ready to confront Tissaphernes, army against army, on the
level ground, and won over a number of cities. Pergamum came in of her
own accord. So did Teuthrania and Halisarna. These were under the
government of Eurysthenes and Procles,[11] the descendants of
Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, who in days of old had received this
territory as a gift from the Persian monarch in return for his share
in the campaign against Hellas. Gorgion and Gongylus, two brothers,
also gave in their adhesion; they were lords, the one of Gambreum and
Palae-Gambreum, the other of Myrina and Gryneum, four cities which,
like those above named, had originally been gifts from the king to an
earlier Gongylus--the sole Eretrian who "joined the Mede," and in
consequence was banished. Other cities which were too weak to resist,
Thibron took by force of arms. In the case of one he was not so
successful. This was the Egyptian[12] Larisa, as it is called, which
refused to capitulate, and was forthwith invested and subjected to a
regular siege. When all other attempts to take it failed, he set about
digging a tank or reservoir, and in connection with the tank an
underground channel, by means of which he proposed to draw off the
water supply of the inhabitants. In this he was baffled by frequent
sallies of the besieged, and a continual discharge of timber and
stones into the cutting. He retaliated by the construction of a wooden
tortoise which he erected over the tank; but once more the tortoise
was burnt to a cinder in a successful night attack on the part of the
men of Larisa. These ineffectual efforts induced the ephors to send a
despatch bidding Thibron give up Larisa and march upon Caria.

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