History of the Peloponnesian War

and if there had been any curtailment with a view to economy, so that the soldiers in the field might have better maintenance, he quite approved of that. As for the rest, he bade them not yield a step to the enemy;

for so long as the city was saved there was great hope of a reconciliation among themselves, but if once one party or the other should go to the ground, whether the one at Samos or that at Athens, there would be no one left to be reconciled with. Envoys from the Argives also came to Samos with offers of assistance to the Athenian democracy there; but Alcibiades dismissed them with words of commendation, telling them to come when summoned.

Now the Argives had come with the crew of the Paralus, who at the time above mentioned[*](cf. 8.74.2.) had been sent out in the troop-ship with instructions to cruise round Euboea and to convey to Lacedaemon the three Athenian envoys from the Four Hundred, Laespodias, Aristophon and Melesias. But when they had got as far as Argos on their voyage, the crew had seized the envoys and delivered them to the Argives, on the ground that they were among those who had been chiefly instrumental in overthrowing the democracy. They themselves, however, did not go back to Athens thereafter, but came from Argos to Samos, bringing with them the envoys in their trireme.

During the same summer, at the very moment when, for various other reasons and especially because of the recall of Alcibiades, the Peloponnesians were vexed with Tissaphernes, feeling that he was now openly favouring the Athenians, he, wishing, as it seemed, to clear himself in their eyes of these calumnies, prepared to go to Aspendus after the Phoenician ships, and bade Lichas accompany him; but as regards the army he would appoint Tamos in his place, so as to ensure supplies during his own absence. But the story is told in different ways, and it is not easy to be certain what motive he had for going to Aspendus, and why, after going, he did not bring back the ships.

For that the Phoenician ships, one hundred and forty-seven in number, came as far as Aspendus is certain;

but the reason why they did not finish the journey is variously conjectured. Some say that his purpose was to accomplish by his absence what he actually designed—to exhaust by delay the resources of the Peloponnesians (at any rate supplies were furnished no better, but even worse than before, by Tamos, to whom this duty had been assigned); others say that it was with the idea of bringing the Phoenician ships as far as Aspendus and then exacting money from them for their discharge (for in any case he was not intending to make any use of them); and still others say that it was because lie was being denounced at Lacedaemon, and wanted the report to go out that he was not acting wrongly but, as everybody could see, had gone for the ships and these were really manned for service.

To me, however, it seems perfectly clear that it was with the purpose of wearing out the resources of the Hellenes and keeping matters in suspense that he did not bring the fleet—of exhausting them while he was making the journey to Aspendus and delaying there, and also of equalizing them, that he might make neither side stronger by joining it. For if he had indeed wished it, he could, it seems plain, by appearing on the scene have brought the war to a definite conclusion; for by bringing his fleet he would in all probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians, who, in fact, even as it was were confronting the Athenians with a fleet that fully matched theirs and was not inferior to it.

But that which convicted him most clearly was the excuse he gave for not bringing the ships, when he said that they were not so many as the King had ordered to be collected; but he, on the contrary, would surely have won all the more gratitude in such a case, by saving a great deal of the King's money and obtaining the same results with smaller outlay.

At any rate, whatever his intentions, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and conferred with the Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians by his orders sent Philippus, a Lacedaemonian, with two triremes to bring the ships back.

But Alcibiades, when he learned that Tissaphernes as well was on his way to Aspendus, sailed thither himself with thirteen ships, promising the army at Samos a sure and great benefit; for he would either secure the ships himself for the Athenians, or else at any rate prevent their joining the Peloponnesians. It is likely that he had long been aware of the purpose of Tissaphernes —that he had no intention of bringing the ships— and wished to prejudice him as much as possible in the eyes of the Peloponnesians on the score of his friendship for himself and the Athenians, that so he might be under greater compulsion to join the Athenian side. So he put to sea, laying his course eastward, straight toward Phaselis and Caunus.

When the envoys sent by the Four Hundred arrived at Athens on their return from Samos and reported what Alcibiades had said— urging them to hold out and make no concessions to the enemy, and saying that he had great hopes both of reconciling the army to the people at home and of prevailing over the Peloponnesians—most of those who shared in the oligarchy,[*](Referring, not only to the Four Hundred, but especially to the rest of the citizens who, in 8.69.2, are designated as οἱ ἐν τῇ ξυνωμοσίᾳ.) who were even before this in distress, and would have been glad to be safely rid of the business in any way, were far more encouraged.