Stories From Thucydides by H. L. Havell

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Late on the same day Thucydides sailed into the harbour of Eion, the
port of Amphipolis, and learning that Brasidas was already in
possession of the inland city, took all necessary precautions to
provide against an immediate attack. He was only just in time; for on
the very next day Brasidas carried his troops down the river on a
flotilla of boats, and tried to establish himself in a strong
position, commanding the mouth of the river, and at the same time sent
a storming party to make an assault on the land side. But the attempt
was frustrated, and Eion at least was saved to Athens.

The fall of Amphipolis, which occurred shortly after the crushing
defeat at Delium, caused great consternation among the Athenians.
Apart from the wound to their pride, they were deprived by this loss
of a large portion of their revenue, and cut off from the principal
source of their timber supply. And there were still further grounds
for alarm. For Amphipolis was now an open door, through which the
Spartans could send troops into eastern Thrace, and carry the war to
the entrance of the Euxine. For a moment it seemed as if all their
fears would be realized. The gentle manners of Brasidas--his fairness,
modesty, and strict regard for the rights of all men--had won the
hearts of the Athenian allies in Thrace, and secret agents were
constantly arriving at his head-quarters on the Strymon, inviting him
to come and help them to recover their liberty. He had skilfully
appealed to the most deeply-rooted instinct of the Greek, the desire
for unfettered action in his own city, free from all interference from
outside. This instinct, long held in abeyance, first by the necessity
for protection from Persia, and when that danger was removed, by the
habits acquired under the mild rule of Athens, was now awakened into
new life by the influence of the great warrior and accomplished
statesman, whose watchword was "Liberty for Greeks!" The recent
reverses of Athens had excited a feeling of contempt among her
subjects, and led them greatly to under-estimate her real power; and
Brasidas himself, by a not over-scrupulous perversion of facts, had
been careful to encourage this belief. All these causes produced a
burst of enthusiasm throughout Thrace, and if the Spartans had
supported Brasidas with vigour, a general insurrection would have
followed among the Athenian allies. But the authorities of Sparta were
jealous of their brilliant officer, and their chief anxiety was to
recover the prisoners taken at Sphacteria.

In the same winter the indefatigable Spartan effected the capture of
Torone, a town situated on the second of the three headlands which
project, like the prongs of a fork, from the peninsula of Chalcidice.
As in the case of Amphipolis, Torone fell into his hands by treachery;
but he had now made good his title as the champion of Greek
independence, and early in the following spring the citizens of
Scione, on the first or westernmost headland, invited him to come over
and take command of their town. On receiving this welcome summons
Brasidas lost no time, and crossed over by night in a skiff, which was
convoyed by a trireme, so that if any hostile vessel appeared in
sight, it might be engaged by the trireme, and leave him free to
escape. He reached Scione in safety, and having convened a general
assembly of the citizens, addressed them in flattering terms, praising
their high courage and patriotic spirit. "You," he said, "have set a
noble example to your oppressed brethren: isolated as you are, and cut
off from all succour from the mainland, you have defied all perils,
and thrown in your lot, for better or for worse, with the friends of
liberty. Your gallantry and self-devotion has given you a just claim
to the gratitude of Sparta and of all Greece." The revolt of Scione
was indeed a daring defiance of the Athenian power, for since the
capitulation of Potidaea, which occurred seven years before, the
inhabitants had been in the position of islanders, exposed to the
whole maritime power of Athens. For the moment, however, the people
were carried away by a transport of enthusiasm, and little dreaming of
the terrible vengeance which was to overtake them two years later,
they greeted Brasidas as a deliverer, and vied with one another who
should honour him most. He was publicly presented with a crown of
gold, as the liberator of Greece; and in private houses he was
wreathed with garlands, and surrounded with worship, like a victorious
athlete.

But a few days before the defection of Scione all the ambitious
schemes of Brasidas had been checkmated by the action of his own
countrymen at home. For some time past negotiations had been in
progress between Athens and Sparta; and since the battle of Delium,
and the rapid successes of their great enemy in Thrace, the Athenians
had been more disposed to come to terms. In this altered mood they
agreed to make a truce for one year with Sparta, which would give time
to arrange the conditions of a lasting peace, and leave them at
leisure to repair the shattered fabric of their empire. Two
commissioners, an Athenian and a Spartan, were at once despatched to
announce the conclusion of the truce to Brasidas. They found him at
Torone, preparing to set out a second time for the western peninsula,
and continue his intrigues against the subjects of Athens. In the
interview which followed a dispute arose between Brasidas and the
commissioners, as to whether Scione should be admitted into the truce.
Brasidas asserted that the city had joined the Spartan alliance before
the truce was signed; but the Athenian commissioner loudly protested
that the revolt occurred after the conclusion of the truce,--and such,
indeed, was the fact. Brasidas, however, was bound in honour to defend
the hapless community which had been drawn by his fatal influence into
so fearful a peril; and in the existing confusion of the Greek
calendar it was not easy to establish a date with perfect exactitude.
Accordingly Brasidas refused to surrender Scione to the vengeance of
Athens, and placed the town in a state of defence. Not content with
this, he extended the same measures of protection to Mende, which
revolted after the arrival of the commissioners. This was an open
violation of the truce, and the Athenians, in great fury, immediately
prepared to send a fleet against these audacious rebels, and passed a
savage decree, condemning the whole adult male population of Scione to
death.

III

During the following summer Mende was recovered by Nicias for the
Athenians, Scione was closely invested, and Perdiccas, who had
quarrelled with Brasidas, once more became an ally of Athens, and gave
proof of his sincerity by preventing the passage of Spartan
reinforcements to Thrace. The Athenians were thus left free to turn
their attention to Amphipolis, and at the beginning of the tenth year
of the war, the truce having now expired, Cleon was sent with a fleet
of thirty ships to conduct the siege of this important place. That so
weighty a charge should have been entrusted to hands so incompetent
argues a degree of infatuation in the Athenians which is very hard to
understand. On his voyage Cleon succeeded in retaking Torone by a
sudden assault, and then proceeding northwards dropped anchor at Eion,
where he remained inactive, after despatching messengers to Perdiccas,
and to a friendly Thracian prince, to ask for reinforcements.

Meanwhile Brasidas, who some time before had returned to Amphipolis,
was waiting to strike a blow at his unwarlike enemy. His own troops,
though about equal in numbers to the force under Cleon, were far
inferior in equipment and discipline; but he counted on some
incautious movement on the part of the Athenian general, which would
throw the picked infantry of Athens into disorder, and place them at a
disadvantage. So he left Clearidas, a young Spartan, whom he had
appointed governor of Amphipolis, in charge of the garrison, and
taking with him fifteen hundred men occupied a position on the right
bank of the river, where the ground rises abruptly to a considerable
height, affording a wide view over the city to the country beyond, as
far as Eion. From this point, which is called Cerdylium, he could
watch the proceedings of the enemy, and still have ample time to
rejoin Clearidas in Amphipolis, if, as he expected, Cleon should leave
his defences and advance upon the town.

He had not long to wait. The Athenian soldiers stationed at Eion were
chafing at their inaction, and mutinous speeches were heard on all
sides. What a man was this Cleon, this cowardly braggart, under whom
they were to take the field against the most daring and skilful leader
in Greece! They had known what to expect from such a general, since
the day when they sailed for Thrace. These murmurs reached the ears of
Cleon, and he saw that something must be attempted, or his men would
be totally demoralized. So he gave the order to march, and led his
troops up the ridge of hills which slope down towards Amphipolis on
the eastern side, where the town was defended by a single line of
wall, reaching from the northern to the southern bend of the river. He
was far from supposing that anyone would come out to attack him; he
only wanted, he said, to take a good view of the place, and when his
reinforcements arrived, he would surround the city on all sides, and
carry it by assault. For his wonderful good fortune at Pylos had given
him unbounded confidence in his powers as a strategist, and he thought
that Amphipolis would prove a second Pylos, forgetting that here he
had a Brasidas to deal with, and no Demosthenes to do the work for
him. When he reached the top of the ascent, he called a halt, and took
a leisurely survey of the wide sweep of country spread below him,--to
the north, the broad, marshy waters of Lake Cercynitis, from which the
river issues just above the town,--eastwards, the towering summit of
Mount Pangaeus,--and on the other side, just beneath his feet, the
devoted city, which now seemed cowering, silent and deserted, as if
conscious of Cleon's eagle glance. The gates were closed, and not a
man was to be seen on the battlements. "What a pity," remarked Cleon,
"that we brought no siege-engines with us! We might have battered down
the wall, and marched in at once,--there is none to oppose us."

So readily did this holiday general fall into the trap which Brasidas,
with a just estimate of his capacity, had set for him. As soon as he
saw that Cleon had started from Eion, the Spartan general left his
post in Cerdylium, and led his men back into Amphipolis. Here he made
such a disposition of his forces as to give the place that peaceful
and innocent appearance which deceived Cleon's unpractised eye. Then
he took up his station with a picked troop of a hundred and fifty
hoplites at the southern gate of Amphipolis, leaving Clearidas in
charge of the main body, and awaited a favourable moment to attack.

But these preparations could not be made without exciting some
attention among the more experienced of the Athenian officers. They
had seen Brasidas entering the city, and observed him offering
sacrifice, as for battle, before the temple of Athene; and Cleon, who
was standing, lost in his contemplations, some distance in advance of
his forces, suddenly received the alarming intelligence that the enemy
were on the point of making a sally. "The whole garrison is in
motion," said the messenger, "and we have caught sight of the feet of
many horses and men under the gates: evidently they mean to attack
us." Thus rudely startled from his meditations, Cleon went to look for
himself, and seeing that the messenger had spoken the truth he gave
the order for a retreat in the direction of Eion. This movement should
have begun from the left wing, but there was some delay in executing
the order, and Cleon, who was in a great hurry to reach a place of
safety, led the way with his own division, which, being on the right,
ought to have closed the retreat. The consequence was that the whole
Athenian army was thrown into confusion, and Brasidas, who was
watching from his station at the gate, saw by the irregular motion of
their spears and helmets that all discipline was at an end. "Now is
our time," he cried to his men: "Open the gates! The day is ours."
With these words he rushed out with his troops, and fell upon the
Athenian centre; and at the same moment the main body under Clearidas
poured out from the northern gate, and attacked them in the rear.

The effect of this sudden assault was to cut the Athenian army in
half: the left wing, which was nearest to Eion, fled without striking
a blow, but the right made a vigorous resistance, though abandoned by
their cowardly general, who was cut down by a Thracian spearman as he
tried to make good his escape. A far nobler name was also added to the
death-roll of that fatal day: Brasidas, fighting at the head of his
troop, received a mortal wound, and was carried, unobserved by the
Athenians, into the city. He lived long enough to hear that his men
had gained a decisive victory, and then passed away, the purest and
the most heroic spirit among all those who played their part in this
unhappy war. After his death he received divine honours at Amphipolis,
and was worshipped as the second founder of the city.

THE HOLLOW PEACE

I

The negotiations for peace, begun in the previous year; had been
interrupted by the brilliant successes of Brasidas, and the factious
opposition of Cleon, and after their death the main obstacle to a
pacific understanding was removed. The high hopes conceived by the
Athenians after the capture of the Spartans at Pylos had been damped
by their disastrous defeat at Delium, and by the revolt of their
allies in Thrace; and, above all, they were anxious to recover
Amphipolis. Still more depressed was the temper of the Spartans. They
had entered on the war in a spirit of sanguine confidence, expecting
to make an end of the conflict by a single invasion of Attica; and
now, after ten years of fighting, their great rival remained almost
untouched in the chief sources of her power. Their coasts were exposed
to continual ravage by the Athenian fleets, and Pylos was still
occupied by their bitter enemies, the Messenians, attracting all the
discontented elements in Sparta, and keeping the Helots in a continual
ferment. And finally a hundred and twenty of their noblest citizens
were immured in the dungeons of Athens, and they were ready to make
great sacrifices to procure their release.

Accordingly, in the winter after the battle of Amphipolis,
negotiations were resumed, and early in the following spring a treaty
of peace was concluded between Athens and Sparta, on the understanding
that all places taken by force of arms should be restored, and all
prisoners set at liberty. Such was the Peace of Nicias, named after
its chief promoter, the former rival of Cleon, and now the leading
politician at Athens. It was really a private agreement between Athens
and Sparta, for the most important of the Spartan allies, who thought
that their interests were neglected, refused to sign the treaty.
Alarmed by this, the Spartans immediately concluded a second treaty
with Athens, binding both sides to mutual aid and defence, in case
their territories were attacked. The prisoners taken at Sphacteria
were now restored, but owing to the bungling of Nicias, the Athenians
failed to regain Amphipolis.

II

Six years elapsed after the conclusion of the Peace of Nicias, before
war was again openly declared; but it was a peace only in name, and
was broken by many acts of hostility on both sides. During this period
the principal states of Greece were involved in a network of political
intrigue, treaty following treaty, and alliance succeeding to
alliance, for the most part with no result. To this statement, there
is, however, one important exception. A year after the signing of the
second treaty between Athens and Sparta, a coalition was formed,
including Athens, Elis, and Mantinea, under the leadership of Argos;
and in mentioning this event we have to usher on to the stage one of
the most extraordinary characters in history. This was Alcibiades, a
young Athenian noble, endowed with every advantage of mind, person,
and fortune, whose fatal gifts, and lawless ambition, made him the
evil genius of his country. His high birth, his wealth, his wit, and
his wonderful beauty, attracted to him a host of flatterers, who fed
his vanity with soft adulation, and led him to believe that nothing
was too great for such powers as his. Like most of the brilliant young
men of his day, he attached himself for a time to the philosopher
Socrates, for whom he seems to have felt a warm admiration. But his
connexion with that great teacher and thinker, though it served to
sharpen his understanding, could not eradicate the effects of evil
habit and example. His wilful, selfish, and despotic temper soon broke
loose from that salutary restraint, and henceforth we find him
pursuing a course of action which brought ruin on his people, and on
himself a traitor's death and a dishonoured name.

Much irritation had been caused among the Athenians by the shifting
and treacherous conduct of the Spartans, who had failed to redeem
their sworn pledges, and had excited great suspicion at Athens by
repeated intrigues with Argos, and with their own offended allies of
the Peloponnesian League. Alcibiades had a private grudge against the
Spartans, to whom he had made overtures of friendship and service at
the time when the treaty was under discussion, only to be set aside as
a profligate and frivolous youth, unfit to meddle with serious matters
of state. He now placed himself at the head of the party hostile to
Sparta, and it was not long before he had an opportunity of revenging
the insult to his pride. He used all his influence to promote an
alliance with Argos, the ancient enemy and rival of Sparta in
Peloponnesus; and when envoys arrived from Sparta to remonstrate
against this proceeding, and reassure the Athenians as to their
intentions, he contrived by a masterpiece of low cunning to cover them
with shame and contempt. When the envoys were introduced to the senate
they declared that they had come with full powers to settle all
differences, and Alcibiades feared that if they made the same
statement to the general assembly of the citizens, they might induce
the Athenians to renounce their alliance with Argos. So, after the
senate had risen, he took the envoys aside, and with an air of great
candour and friendliness warned them that they must conceal the extent
of their powers when they appeared before the popular assembly. "You
do not understand," he said, "how to deal with the mob of Athens; if
you show your hand, they will force you into extravagant concessions.
Leave the matter to me, and everything will turn out as you wish."

The simple Spartans fell into the snare. They were not at all startled
by the proposal that they should eat their own words, for in
dishonesty they were not behind Alcibiades himself, though they were
no match for him in cunning. Being brought before the people, and
asked whether they had come with full powers, they answered bluntly
"No!" Great was the amazement at this flat contradiction of the avowal
which they had made before the senate, and Alcibiades, giving voice to
the general indignation, overwhelmed the astonished envoys with a
torrent of invective and abuse. The Spartans were dumb-foundered by
his perfidy, and looked helplessly at Nicias, the staunch friend and
supporter of Sparta, whom they had forsaken for this shameless young
reprobate. Nicias, who of course knew nothing of the trick, was
utterly confounded by the double-dealing of the envoys, and could do
nothing to relieve their embarrassment. The result was that the envoys
were abruptly dismissed, and after a fruitless mission of Nicias to
Sparta, which only served to lower his own reputation, the Athenians
entered heart and soul into the Argive alliance.

III

We have seen how much the credit of Sparta had been injured in the
eyes of Greece by the capture of her chosen warriors at Pylos, and by
her subsequent behaviour during the negotiations which led to the
peace of Nicias. Spartan valour was seen to be not above reproach, and
the Peloponnesian allies had still better reason to complain of the
hollowness of Spartan faith. The high reverence which had long been
attached to the name of Sparta had given place to something like
contempt, and the Eleans, who had an old grudge against her, took
advantage of this feeling to exclude her citizens from taking public
part in the Olympic festival, which was celebrated with great pomp and
splendour in the second year of the peace. And the degradation of the
proud Dorian city seemed to be complete, when a Spartan named Lichas,
who had entered for the chariot-race under another name, was driven
with blows from the racecourse. So deep was the abasement to which the
great name of Sparta had now sunk.

The Spartans saw that a vigorous effort must be made, if they would
recover their lost ascendancy; and two years later the opportunity
occurred for which they were waiting. On the northern side of the
Argolic peninsula lies the ancient city of Epidaurus, famous for its
rich vineyards, and its great temple of Asclepius, [Footnote:
Aesculapius.] the god of healing. For some time past, the Epidaurians,
who were in alliance with Sparta, had been involved in a dispute,
arising out of some obscure question of ritual, with Argos; and they
were now in sore straits, being hard pressed by the whole weight of
the Argive power, backed by the new confederacy. This was the pretext
needed by the Spartans, and mustering their whole forces they marched,
under the command of their king Agis, against Argos.

The Argives had received notice of the advance of Agis, and they
immediately marched out to meet him, wishing to engage the Spartans
before they had united with their allies from Corinth, Boeotia, and
elsewhere, who were assembling in great force at Phlius. The two
armies confronted each other for a moment at Methydrium, in Arcadia;
but Agis succeeded in avoiding an engagement, and breaking up his camp
under cover of darkness pushed on to Phlius. Thereupon the Argives,
who were accompanied by their allies from Mantinea and Elis, returned
in haste to Argos, and then, marching northwards, took up their
position at Nemea, which commanded the ordinary route from Phlius to
the Argive territory. But they were again outmanoeuvred by the skilful
dispositions of Agis. Avoiding the road by Nemea, which led through a
narrow and dangerous pass, he led his Spartans over the mountains and
descended into the plain which surrounds the city of Argos. One
contingent of his allies had orders to proceed in the same direction
by another mountain-path, while the Boeotians, who numbered no less
than ten thousand infantry, and five hundred cavalry, were directed to
take the high road by Nemea; for Agis expected that by threatening the
cultivated lands around Argos he would draw the Argives from their
position, and bring them down in haste to the defence of their
estates.

The plan was completely successful. As soon as the Argives learnt that
Agis was ravaging their fields they set out with all speed towards
Argos, and finding Agis engaged in the work of pillage, they drew up
their forces, and offered battle. Their situation was in the highest
degree perilous. In front of them, cutting them off from the city of
Argos, was the flower of the Spartan army, reinforced by the troops of
Tegea and Arcadia; on their right flank the mountain slopes swarmed
with the infantry of Corinth and Phlius; and in the rear their retreat
was cut off by the thronging masses of Boeotians, who were now pouring
along the road from Nemea. They were fairly cut off, and seemed
delivered over to destruction; nevertheless, such was the presumptuous
confidence which possessed them, that they awaited eagerly the signal
for battle, crying out that they had caught the Spartans in a trap.

Fortunately for them there were two men among their leaders who took a
wiser view of the position; one of these was Alciphron, an official
who represented the interests of Sparta at Argos, [Footnote: The Greek
word is _Proxenos_,--a sort of consul.] and the other was
Thrasyllus, one of the five generals. These two men entered into a
parley with Agis, and by promising to satisfy the demands of Sparta
induced him to grant a truce. Agis then drew off his forces, and
returned by way of Nemea to Sparta; and the allies, much against their
will, were compelled to follow his example. Loud were the murmurs
among the confederates, and even among the Spartan soldiers, against
Agis, who had thrown away this golden opportunity of humbling the
pride of Argos, and brought dishonour on one of the finest armies that
had ever been led into the field by a Grecian general. Strange to say,
the Argives were not less indignant against the two men who had saved
them from overwhelming disaster; and Thrasyllus, the general, narrowly
escaped being stoned to death.

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