11. some time with much equality. At length Calli- SECT. cratidas, who commanded in the right wing of his fleet, in the shock of his galley striking an enemy with the beak, fell overboard and perished. About the same time the Athenian right, commanded by Protomachus, made an impression upon the Peloponnesian left: confusion spred to the right, no longer directed by the orders, or animated by the exertion, of the commander-in-chief; and shortly the whole fled. Above seventy triremes were either destroyed or taken: of the Lacedæmonian squadron, consisting of ten, only one escaped. Twenty-five Athenian ships were sunk or disabled. 1. 1. c. 6. s. 25. & & 10. When pursuit ended, the Athenian admirals held Xen. Hel. a council of war, to consider of measures next to be taken. To collect the wreck and the dead, but c. 7. 3. more especially to relieve the living, who might be floating on the ruins of galleys, or endevoring to save themselves by swimming, was commonly an important business after naval action. Diomedon proposed that this should be the first concern of the whole fleet. Erasinides, on the contrary, was for proceeding immediately with the whole fleet to the relief of Conon, the primary object of their instructions. The enemy's fleet under Eteonicus, he said, were due diligence used, might be taken intire; the destruction of their navy would thus be nearly complete; and the exigencies of the commonwealth required that such an opportunity should not be lost, in the endevor to save the wrecked, which the 8 In Xenophon's account of the battle, twenty-five is the number of ships mentioned as lost, together with their crews. In a following passage (c. 7. s. 10.) twelve only are stated to have been lost; and the context proves that in the latter passage there has been no error in transcription. Unable more satisfactorily to reconcile the contradiction, I have stated the twenty-five as sunk or disabled. XX. CHAP. growing roughness of the weather would render utterly unavailing. Thrasyllus differed from both : he insisted that, as the fleet was equal to both services, neither the relief of the wrecked should be neglected, nor assistance to Conon delayed. His opinion prevailed; and it was resolved that fortysix ships should remain to collect the wreck, while the rest of the fleet proceeded to Mitylenë. 1. 1. c. 6. 8. 25. There is in this affair, which had important consequences, some mystery, of which, whether partyspirit or private friendship, or whatever may have caused the reserve, it may be suspected that Xenophon knew more than he has chosen to unfold. Xen. Hel. None of the generals took the command of the large squadron appointed to the relief of the wrecked: it was committed to Theramenes and Thrasybulus, who both had held high naval commands, but were then only in the situation of captains of triremes. To make the appointment more respectable, some of the taxiarcs were ordered upon the duty with them. All the generals were in the meantime to go, with the main body of the fleet, to Mitylenë. Neither measure however could be executed. The increasing violence of the storm compelled all to seek the shelter which the Argis. 24, 25, nusan ilands afforded; and the unfortunate crews of twelve ships, wrecked in the battle, were thus left to perish. 26. In the night, nevertheless, one of those small light vessels called keletes, which had attended the Peloponnesian fleet for the purpose of carrying intelligence or orders, reached Mitylene with news of its disaster. Eteonicus, who commanded the blockade, ordered the captain to go immediately to sea again, observing the most careful secrecy, and to return into the harbor by broad daylight, with II. 1. 1. c. 6. his crew wearing chaplets, as was usual for the SECT. messengers of victory, and proclaiming that Callicratidas had destroyed the Athenian fleet. This was punctually executed. Eteonicus then, assem- Xen. Hel. bling his troops in sight of the Mitylenæan ramparts, .7. performed the evangelian sacrifice, the thanksoffering for good news, and, at the conclusion of the ceremony, ordered that all should immediately take their supper. Meantime he caused his principal stores to be imbarked in the vessels of burden attending his fleet: the crews of the triremes were then hastened aboard: and, the wind being favorable, all sailed for Chios, while, after setting fire to his camp, he led the infantry to Methymnë. These unexpected motions of the besieging arm- c.6... 28. ament, which were so ably conducted as to give no opportunity for advantage against it, first intimated to Conon the defeat of Callicratidas. Hastening to launch his triremes, he met the victorious fleet already approaching from Arginusæ, and himself communicated the information that his deliverance was already complete. The fleet then went to Chios; but, no opportunity offering for any blow against the enemy, it proceeded to Samos, the usual station. SECTION III. Impeachment of the Generals who commanded at the Battle of Argi nusa. III. THE Victory of Arginusa, the greatest obtained by SECT. the Athenians during the war, in which, with above seventy ships, more than ten thousand men must have been lost by the enemy, might have gone far XX. CHAP. to procure final success to Athens, had Athens had a government capable of any steddiness, or even secure against acts of madness. Fruitful of superior men, she never had more citizens equal to the conduct of the greatest affairs than at this time. At least three, Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, and Conon, already of large experience in great commands, and yet in the prime of life, were scarcely inferior to any known in her annals. But, since the restoration of democracy, the people, frantic with the wild joy of recovered power, and not less mad with jealousy of superior men, were more than ever dupes to the arts of designing orators: and, like a weak and fickle tyrant, whose passion is his only law, tho no single tyrant can reälly be so lawless, were led as the flattery, or the stimulation, most in consonance with the passion of the moment, pointed the way. Xen. Hel. f. 1. Hence followed one of the most extraordinary, most disgraceful, and most fatal strokes of faction recorded in history. Of the eight generals who commanded at the battle of Arginusæ, Protomachus and Aristogenes only remained with Conon at Samos: Diomedon, Pericles, Lysias, Aristocrates, Erasinides, and Thrasyllus, went home; little expecting what was to meet them there. Matters had been prepared by intrigues, which are known to us only by their effects. A decree of the people had deprived all the generals of their command, Conon only excepted, to whom Adeimantus and Philocles were given for new collegues. As soon as the six arrived, Erasinides was arrested. Archedemus, then the popular orator, and considered as head of the democratical interest, had preferred an accusation against him, for imbeziling public effects out of ships in their passage from the Hel lespont, and for other misconduct in his command; and the court, before which the charge was exhibited, ordered the victorious general to prison. It remained then for the other five to give, before the council, an account of transactions under their orders. At the conclusion it was moved by Timocrates, that all should be put in safe custody, to answer before the people for their conduct. The council accordingly ordered all the five into confine ment. SECT. III. When the assembly of the people met, Theramenes came forward as the principal accuser; Theramenes, to whom, with Thrasybulus, when in the situation of simple trierarcs, the accused generals had intrusted the command of a fleet of forty-six triremes, with the charge of saving those wrecked in the battle of Arginusæ; yet the crime now alleged against the generals was the neglect of that very duty. Xenophon has not accounted for this apparent contradiction 10. The council, however, was evidently guilty of the grossest and most tyrannical oppression. The accused were not allowed Xen. Hel. to conduct their defence in the usual form: advan- 1.1. c.7. tages which the law positively prescribed were denied them and each was permitted only to make a short speech to the people. Thus restricted, all made nearly the same apology. 'After a most glorious victory,' they said,' they had 'taken upon themselves a very important and urgent duty, the pursuit of the enemy, and the relief of 9 Τὸ Δικαςήριον. 10 The account of Diodorus, differing in some small circumstances from Xenophon's, agrees in the result. It assists indeed little to explain; but it tends to establish the fairness of Xenophon, who, as a cotemporary, acquainted with some of the persons concerned, and interested in the event, might otherwise be supposed liable to some partiality. S. 3. |