History of the Peloponnesian War

Now when Alcibiades learned of this, he again urged Endius and the other ephors not to shrink from the expedition, saying that their fleet would have completed the voyage before the Chians could hear of the disaster to their ships, and that he himself, when he reached Ionia, would easily persuade the cities to revolt by telling them of the weakness of the Athenians and the zeal of the Lacedaemonians; for he would be more readily believed than others.

And to Endius he said privately that it would be an honour for him, through the agency of Alcibiades, to cause Ionia to revolt and to make the King an ally to the Lacedaemonians, urging him not to let this become the achievement of Agis;

for he happened himself to be at variance with Agis.[*](He was suspected of an intrigue with the wife of Agis (Plutarch, Alcib. 23).) So having persuaded Endius and the other ephors, he put to sea with the five ships in company with Chalcideus the Lacedaemonian, and they made the voyage with all speed.

About the same time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships, which had served with Gylippus in Sicily throughout the war, were on their way home; and as they were off Leucadia they were intercepted and roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian ships under the command of Hippocles son of Menippus, who was on the look-out for the ships from Sicily; but all except one escaped the Athenians and sailed into Corinth.

Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades as they sailed for Chios seized all whom they encountered, that their coming might not be reported. The first point on the mainland at which they touched was Corycus,[*](There were several places called Corycus. This one was the southernmost point of the Erythraean peninsula, about forty miles from Chios. Cf. Livy xxxvii. 12, Corycum Teiorum promonturium.) where they released their captives; then after a conference with some Chians who were co-operating with them and who urged them to sail to Chios without giving any notice, they arrived at Chios suddenly.