History of the Peloponnesian War

And they were already beginning to form groups and criticize the state of affairs, having as their leaders some of the very men who were members of the oligarchy and held office, such as Theramenes son of Hagnon, Aristocrates son of Scelias, and others. These had been among the foremost of those who had taken an active part in the revolution, but being afraid in real earnest, as they said, of the army at Samos and of Alcibiades, as well as of those who were sending envoys to Lacedaemon, who they thought might, by acting without the sanction of the greater number, work some harm to the city, they did not indeed openly profess that they wanted to avoid reducing the government to an extreme oligarchy, but maintained that they ought to appoint the Five Thousand in fact and not merely in name, and to establish the government on the basis of a greater equality.

Now this phrase of theirs was a mere political catchword, and in their personal ambitions most of them eagerly pursued the sort of methods by which an oligarchy formed out of a democracy is most sure to come to ruin; for all demand forthwith, not equality, but each that he shall be quite the first himself; whereas under a democracy an election is held and every man acquiesces more readily in the result because he feels that those to whom he owes his defeat[*](ie. the majority.) are not his equals.[*](ie. in an oligarchy all are of the same class, and the promotion of one is a slight upon the rest; but in a democracy the defeated candidate may claim that the electors were ignorant or prejudiced, that he was not beaten on his merits, and so pass the matter over.)

But what most evidently encouraged these men was the fact that Alcibiades' position at Samos was so strong, and their opinion that the power of the oligarchy would not last long. Each one, therefore, strove to become the foremost leader of the people himself.

But those of the Four Hundred who were most opposed to such a course—the leading spirits like Phrynichus, who had been general at Samos and had then quarrelled with Alcibiades,[*](cf. chs. xlviii., l.) and Aristarchus, a man who had been conspicuously and for the longest time opposed to the democracy, and Peisander,[*](cf. chs. xlix., liii.) Antiphon,[*](cf. ch. lxviii. l.) and other men of the greatest influence—before this time, that is, as soon as they were established in power and then when the army at Samos had revolted from them in favour of a democratic form of government, had been sending ambassadors of their own to Lacedaemon[*](cf. 8.71.3; 8.86.9.) and making earnest efforts to come to an understanding, and had also been constructing their fort in the place called Eetioneia; and now far more than ever, when their ambassadors returned from Samos, did they bestir themselves, seeing that not only the majority of the people but also men of their own party who had before been esteemed trustworthy were changing their views.

So they despatched Antiphon, Phrynichus, and ten others in all haste, since they were alarmed by the situation both at home and at Samos, enjoining upon them to effect a reconciliation with the Lacedaemonians on any terms that would be at all tolerable.

And they set to work with greater zeal than ever building their fort at Eetioneia.[*](See map at end.) And the purpose of this fort was, as Theramenes and his adherents said, not that they might prevent the Samian fleet from entering the Peiraeus in case they should attempt to force their way in, but rather that they might admit the enemy whenever they wished with both his army and fleet. For Eetioneia is a mole extending out from the Peiraeus, and immediately beside it is the entrance to the harbour.

It was therefore being connected by a wall with the wall which already existed somewhat inland, and in such a way that if only a few men were stationed inside it would control the entrance; for both the old wall running inland and the new inner wall that was being built facing the sea came to an end in the second of the two towers, the one that lay exactly at the mouth of the harbour, which was narrow.

They also cut off with a wall inside the harbour a portico which was very large and immediately adjoined this inland wall; and this they controlled themselves, and compelled everybody to deposit in it the corn that was already on hand as well as to discharge there that which came in by sea, and to take it from there if they wished to sell it.

Now Theramenes had been freely talking about these proceedings for some time, and after the ambassadors came back from Lacedaemon without having accomplished anything toward an agreement for the people as a whole, he kept saying that this fort would in all probability bring ruin upon the city.

For at this very time it so happened that, on the invitation of the Euboeans, ships from the Peloponnesus to the number of forty-two, among which were Italian vessels from Tarentum and Locri and some from Sicily, were already lying off Las in Laconia and preparing for their passage to Euboea, under the command of Hegesandridas son of Hegesander, a Spartan; and Theramenes declared that these were on their way, not to Euboea, but to Eetioneia to help the men who were fortifying it, adding that unless they immediately took precautions their cause would be lost before they knew it.

And in fact there was something of the kind afoot on the part of those whom he thus accused, and what he said was not altogether mere calumny. For the persons in question wished above all, preserving their oligarchy, to rule both Athens and the allies, but, failing in that, to keep their ships at least and their fortifications and be independent; and if they were debarred from this course also, at any rate not to be themselves the first to meet with destruction at the hands of the restored democracy, but actually to bring in the enemy and, giving up walls and ships, make any sort of terms as to the fate of the city, if only they might have immunity for their own persons.