CHAPTER XXI
‘The fish swam by the castle wall,And they seemed joyous each and all;The eagle rode the rising blast:Methought he never flew so fastAs then to me he seemed to fly;And then new tears came in my eye.’Prisoner of Chillon.
‘The fish swam by the castle wall,And they seemed joyous each and all;The eagle rode the rising blast:Methought he never flew so fastAs then to me he seemed to fly;And then new tears came in my eye.’Prisoner of Chillon.
‘The fish swam by the castle wall,And they seemed joyous each and all;The eagle rode the rising blast:Methought he never flew so fastAs then to me he seemed to fly;And then new tears came in my eye.’Prisoner of Chillon.
‘The fish swam by the castle wall,And they seemed joyous each and all;The eagle rode the rising blast:Methought he never flew so fastAs then to me he seemed to fly;And then new tears came in my eye.’Prisoner of Chillon.
‘The fish swam by the castle wall,
And they seemed joyous each and all;
The eagle rode the rising blast:
Methought he never flew so fast
As then to me he seemed to fly;
And then new tears came in my eye.’
Prisoner of Chillon.
Strangeevents were happening at home while Alkibiades was successfully chasing the Persian satrap and his Spartan companions. When the envoys of the four hundred to Samos returned to Athens, the account they gave of the force they found there, its strength and unity, and thecomplete confidence of all in their commander, revived the slumbering or drooping energy of the Athenian people, and roused them to do something more than sigh for their lost liberties. It also alarmed the usurpers, and the more moderate or more timid among them began to tremble for themselves. Alkibiades, they in their guilty consciences thought, with his stalwart hoplites and his gallant sailors, might be on them any day, and they dreaded what would come from the pent-up anger of the people when it was once set free.
Theramenes, one of the earliest promoters of the new order, was the first to desert his colleagues. He was followed by a large number of the four hundred. These reformers of the others proposed a constitution which would allow all citizens capable of bearing arms to be joined to the new government. Antiphon, Phrynichos, and Peisandros opposed this proposition with all their might. To save themselves from their impending doom, Antiphon and Phrynichos went off in haste to Sparta, empowered to offer the most shameful terms to the old inveterate enemy of Athens.
There is a point of land called Eetiôneia, which, starting from the spot where the long walls endedat the Peiræus, juts out some way into the harbour. This piece of land the four hundred had been for some time mysteriously fortifying by erecting a wall along it on the harbour side, and connecting it with another wall already existing on the other side at its extreme point, where they met and ended in a tower. They also enclosed the great granary and warehouse at the harbour, and compelled the corn ships coming from Euboia to unload there.
These fortifications were pushed on apace, but not without exciting the suspicions of the people. It was spread about—and Theramenes was at the bottom of the rumour—that the real design of this new fort was to give the four hundred, as they were still called, absolute command of Athens, and power to admit a Spartan force, whenever it might come to help them. Theramenes, more and more breaking away from the others, as he found the people willing to listen to him, at length declared, without disguise, what the object of the new wall at Eetiôneia was. He told them that Antiphon and Phrynichos had gone to Sparta to implore the Spartans to send a fleet to Athens, to make the people the slaves of the usurpers and their enemy, who had combined together for their ruin.
This so enraged the people against Phrynichos that, soon after his return, he was openly slain in daylight by a young soldier in the market-place, and his bones were afterwards cast out of Attika as being those of a traitor and unworthy of sepulture within that territory, and the soldier was rewarded for the deed.
The hoplites who were engaged upon the building of the defence-works rose against the government, and began to demolish the new walls they had been ordered to construct, and imprisoned one of the officers set over them. Then news came that a Spartan fleet was actually approaching, and that forty-two ships were seen off the coast of Salamis. The whole city rushed down to the Peiræus to defend it, got together as many ships as they could find, and, hastily arming, followed the enemy’s fleet, which, passing Sunion, put in at Orôpos.
The Athenian armament, with its sailors hurriedly got together and for the most part inexperienced, were no match for their opponents. They were utterly defeated. Twenty-two ships of the small remnant of Athens’ fleet were lost, and their crews were either killed or taken prisoners. The Lakedaimonians got possession of Euboia, the granary of Athens—a blow almost as fatal as if they hadtaken the town itself. No greater consternation ever seized upon the city. This was worse than the loss of her fleet and men at Syrakuse.
The government was at its wits’ end, and the members of it were divided amongst themselves. Their overtures to Sparta being spurned, they trembled for their lives. The people met, as though by inspiration, in their old meeting-place, and, without a sign from their late tyrants, proceeded to depose them. So they disappeared after a reign of barely five miserable months. Many of them went over to the enemy at Dekeleia, and did what further injury they could to Athens. Others were allowed, with ignominy, to return to their former obscurity. Only Antiphon, perhaps the best among them, and one other publicly suffered the death they all deserved. The spot where their houses once stood was marked by a stone recording that there had lived a traitor. Athens again enjoyed the constitution, with the assembly, the senate and the executive, which had been given to it by Perikles.
Samos was still jubilant at the fall of the four hundred and the restoration of the democratic government at home when theEros, at the head of the twelve other ships, rowed into the port.The good tidings of the exciting and successful chase had scarce been told before an Athenian messenger came from the restored senate and Ekklesia to the commander of the forces at Samos, confirming him in the high office already conferred upon him by the Samian garrison. But he found the main fleet he had left behind with Thrasyllos gone. In his absence Mindaros, the new Spartan admiral, had stolen quietly out of Miletos, but Thrasyllos, having had notice of his going, had followed in his wake with fifty-five warships, had picked up Thrasyboulos with his five triremes at Eresos, and had met Mindaros and had a brush with him already in the Hellespont.
A despatch soon came from Thrasyllos describing these movements, and imploring the chief to come without delay and bring them reinforcements, as a serious conflict was every day expected. For, when Philippos returned to Miletos and exposed the way in which the Spartans had been cheated by the fickle Tissaphernes at Pharselis, Mindaros, despairing of getting aid from the Lydian satrap, made overtures to Pharnabazos, the powerful viceroy of the Propontine provinces, offering to join him in his province. Alkibiades knew that the offer would be accepted, and that Pharnabazos had beenendeavouring for the last four years to make alliance with the Spartans against Athens. He had not much doubt that the sudden departure of the Spartan fleet northward to the Hellespont was for the purpose of joining Pharnabazos. The combined forces, unless they were successfully opposed, would have little difficulty in getting possession of the Hellespontine towns which were still faithful to Athens. Abydos and Lampsakos had already fallen off; a little show of power on the Spartan side would decide the rest.
It was a time of great anxiety, and it would be of the utmost importance if the coalition forming in the north could be destroyed. He had confidence in Thrasyllos, but one false step, one check, at this moment would be well-nigh fatal. He was working night and day getting supplies together. There were only fifteen ships in all now left at Samos. It was of no use to attempt to go to reinforce Thrasyllos with so small a squadron. He managed to get seven more together from Kos, and to obtain a large sum of money from Halikarnassos, when a fresh despatch came from Thrasyllos, who had come up with Mindaros between Troas and the Thrakian Chersonese. There a stubborn action had been fought, the Athenian line stretching from Sestos round the promontory of Kynossema.At first the Spartans and Syrakusans had the best of it, but in the end the Athenians destroyed thirty ships of the hostile fleet, took eight others, and forced the rest to retreat into the harbour of Abydos.
News of this victory came to Alkibiades at the very moment when an embassy arrived from Athens, formally announcing to him that, on the motion of Kritias and Theramenes, the people had decreed his recall to Athens, and praying him to return at once to save her. Had this announcement come at any other time, it would have been difficult to describe the joy with which it was received. Was it not this he had been living for every day since that withering sentence had been passed upon him? Now his desire was accomplished. He was not ungrateful. Great as was his power of resentment, his generosity was greater. He could forgive as greatly as he could punish.
But the message came to him when he was resisting the final blow aimed at the heart of Athens. He showed his gratitude to her by his noble refusal of her invitation. The time had not yet come. With Mindaros and Pharnabazos combined, the victory of his lieutenants could only postpone a more serious attack, and they were not strongenough to meet it. So he must stay at his post in this supreme hour of danger, and, if necessary, die in defence of Athens, and could not obey her voice calling on him to return.
It was, indeed, a time for straining every nerve. He saw in his mind’s eye his triremes in the Hellespont ranged against a united force of nearly twice their number, perhaps even now engaging, perhaps smashed and destroyed, before he could get to their assistance. Doing all he could, by the middle of October he had collected only two and twenty ships altogether, and, despairing of being able to get more, he set their prows northward.
The two Athenian commanders, since their victory at Kynossema, had stood watching their opponents, while gathering what supplies they could find with which they might support their crews. Their opponents were repairing their damaged ships and collecting others from friendly ports. While both sides were thus engaged, one morning at daybreak a squadron of fourteen Syrakusan vessels, on their way to reinforce the enemies of Athens, entered the Hellespont. The Athenian fleet weighed anchor, and bore down upon them before they could join the Spartan fleet lying off Abydos. The Syrakusan admiral,finding he could not avoid the Athenians, ran his ships ashore, disembarked, and posted a number of his men in a good position on the Trojan coast, in order to protect the ships. The Athenians attacking were kept off by the hoplites on the ships, and assailed by darts and arrows from the men posted on the high, rocky shore.
Now, it so happened that Mindaros had gone that morning to Ilion to offer sacrifices to Athene. Thence he saw the Syrakusan vessels entering the Hellespont and the Athenians coming down upon them. He sent off at once to Pharnabazos, and, getting his own ships together, eighty-four in all, hastened to relieve the Syrakusans. Thrasyllos saw this great fleet coming, and, drawing his own ships off into the open, ranged them in line of battle. He held the left wing, Thrasyboulos the right.
Mindaros came up with his fleet, more than covering the whole length of the Athenian line; the Athenians were on the west, or Thrakian, side; the Spartans, and the Syrakusans, who by this time had got their ships afloat again and joined their allies, on the east, near the Dardanian shore. Shouts and paeans arose on either side as the oars lashed the water into foam; trumpets sounded as the great ships dashed at one another. Incourage and determination the combatants were equal, but the Athenians were fighting for existence, the Lakedaimonians for victory, the Syrakusans only for revenge.
The Lakedaimonians had a far larger number of ships, but the Athenians were superior in the management of theirs. At that time much depended on the management of vessels. It was a warfare of ramming and avoiding, but it was a splendid warfare. When ship grappled ship, the very attitude in hurling the javelin was graceful and healthy. With open chest, and every muscle starting, with the body set well back upon the legs, the air of heaven was breathed more fully than nowadays as we fight. Then was the noble tug and tussle, where man clasped man, and where individual strength exhibited called forth the admiration of opponents.
All that day the battle raged with varying success. The Spartans lost more than the Athenians; they could afford to lose more. As the October day was drawing in, and the Athenians showed signs of wavering, and their commanders began to fear the enemy would prevent them from carrying off the remnant of their disabled triremes—just in their final struggle, the full sails of a fresh squadron were seen coming,with a fair wind, round the Sigeion Cape. Mindaros thought it must be the reinforcement he was expecting from Miletos, but as it came on before the wind, with all sails set, a purple ensign was run up—the well-known purple ensign—and theEroscame bursting through the waves, and on its prow, in shining panoply, thirsting for the fight, stood Alkibiades, his armour flashing in the red rays of the setting sun.
Onward they came, and when the Athenians recognised their general, they plucked up heart and redoubled all their efforts, and sent up such a cry of joy and thanks, that the Spartans and Syrakusans, when they heard it and saw who it was that came speeding through the sea against them, lost their courage, and before Mindaros could rally his astonished crews the Athenian leader was upon them, breaking through their line and scattering their ships on all sides in disorder.
Mindaros sounded a retreat, and his fleet made for Abydos. Most of the triremes ran ashore; the crews and soldiers leapt out, and ranged themselves upon the bank. The Athenians followed, and, notwithstanding the darts and arrows from the shore, they were in the act of grappling the deserted triremes, when Pharnabazos rode up with all his cavalry and charged the Athenians, the satraphimself leading his men and fighting in the sea, with the water up to his horse’s girths. But for this barbaric aid the whole of the Spartan fleet would have been lost. As it was, the Athenians took more than thirty of their big ships and carried them off in triumph.
Great was the rejoicing of the victors when they got back to Sestos, bringing their spoils with them. Fresh hope and confidence sprang up amongst them—hope, which had been a stranger to Athenian arms for many a day, and confidence, which seemed to have abandoned them. They had shown themselves worthy sons of Athens, able to hold their own, and to protect their liberated mother from the force of Lakedaimôn and Persian barbarian combined against her. They raised a trophy on the promontory of Kynossema by the side of that one which Thrasyboulos and Thrasyllos had placed there more than a month before, and then, with games and feasts, they celebrated the funeral rites of those who had fallen in the fray.
It was not a time, though, to indulge long in feasts and triumphing. The enemy was still strong and not far off, while they were poor, wanting in almost everything except in courage and in hope. Next day Thrasyllos went off toAthens to carry tidings of the fight and victory, and to get, if possible, some reinforcements. Thrasyboulos visited the cities on the coast, collecting tribute and provisions for the fleet, and going as far south as was consistent with his duties as its commander. Alkibiades accompanied him so far, and then went on to Paniônion. He had heard that Tissaphernes had returned from his journey to Aspendos, and was at Magnesia purposing to come north to visit Pharnabazos. Alkibiades saw that this meeting of the two satraps must be stopped at any hazard.
TheEros, decked out in its best array, with the ensign of the strategos flying at its masthead, looked like itself again as it coasted the Ionian shore and entered the little harbour near Paniônion. Alkibiades received information that Tissaphernes was at Magnesia still, but that he was just on the point of leaving on his progress to visit Pharnabazos, if he had not already started. A Persian friend he met at Paniônion warned him somewhat mysteriously that it would be wiser not to venture inland, or trust himself at all just now in Persian territory. But he believed still in his influence with Tissaphernes, and was sure that, if he could but see him before he left, all would be right; and though the significance ofthe warning he had just received did not escape him, it made him the more determined to push on without delay to Magnesia.
Taking, therefore, only a lieutenant named Mantitheos with him, and a couple of sailors to carry some presents he was bringing for his old friend, he set off at full speed for the place he knew so well. He reached in good time the paradeisos or park of the satrap. Tissaphernes was not there, but was said to be at the castle of Magnesia, just about to start. He hurried on. The castle was surrounded by a force of Persian cavalry. The whole place was full of soldiers.
As Alkibiades and Mantitheos, followed by the sailors bearing the presents, came near the citadel, they saw the guard was in marching order. There was a busy look on every face, a feeling of movement and bustle in the air, very different from the ordinary sleepy quiet of the town. They made their way through the crowd of soldiers outside the gate and the mounted guard within. Alkibiades congratulated himself that he had come just in time to catch the satrap before he left, and so perhaps would be able to stop his going, or, at least, might be able to ride with him on his journey. Who could tellwhat the effect of his persuasion might be now that he had such an opportunity?
They were received by the well-known Nubian chamberlain with his usual deference. He did not seem astonished. He must have heard that they were coming. The sailors remained in the outer hall; the strategos and his lieutenant were ushered into the state room of the castle. This reception was so unusual that Alkibiades began to wonder what it meant. On former occasions Tissaphernes had always come out to meet him, and with emotion and many fond caresses had hung about his neck in long, if not to the Athenian very agreeable, embraces. Still they waited, and no satrap came.
At length an official entered, followed by some young slaves bearing an elegant repast, with flowers and fruit and the choicest shiraz cooled in the snow, which was lying thick upon the mountains, but still no satrap. Alkibiades asked the official when the viceroy of the King of Kings would deign to receive his servants. The official answered him that the viceroy of the King of Kings was busily engaged just then with orders from the King of Kings, and could not yet have the pleasure of visiting his illustrious guests, and then retired with a lowly reverence.
Just then a loud blast from a broad-mouthed Persian trumpet sounded, and there was a clatter of horses’ feet. From the high windows a cavalcade was seen passing through the courtyard, and out by the castle gate.
‘By the gods!’ cried Alkibiades, ‘there is that rascally Tissaphernes in the middle of them. He shall not escape me yet. I will be after him and astonish the Spartans, who think they have got him from me.’
He clapped his hands, but no one came.
He sent Mantitheos to call the slaves. The door was fastened.
Great drops stood on the pale face of Mantitheos. He was for rushing to the windows and escaping by them.
Alkibiades laughed savagely.
‘With a troop of Persians to cut you to pieces when you fall down, with broken bones, among them. Keep still. This is a conspiracy between Mindaros and Pharnabazos. They have brought Tissaphernes round to their side before I could get hold of him. Poor Tissaphernes! he is more unhappy at this moment than I am. We can but die once, though I confess I should have liked to live a little longer.’
They tried the inner rooms. Two were fittedup with couches, one sumptuously. The hours went by. It grew dark. The trumpets sounded. Guard relieved guard. The neighing of horses was heard. Lights began to twinkle in the town and camp. Still no one came. All was silent.
‘Ye gods, we have been caught this time in a trap!’ So saying, with a short laugh he threw himself down upon a sumptuous couch and slept. In the morning he and Mantitheos were awakened by a polite chamberlain. He was followed by a guard of finely-dressed and well-armed cavalry officers. The chamberlain inclined with deep respect, and made many apologies if any inconvenience had been suffered by the distinguished strategos. ‘It grieved him to the heart to be obliged to inform the distinguished strategos that his master Tissaphernes had been obliged to set out only the day before for his capital of Sardis, there to receive a special envoy from the King of Kings, and, as his master had been unable to receive his noble guest in his castle at Magnesia, he prayed that he would honour him by a visit at his castle at Sardis; and, as an escort for the journey, a guard of horsemen were at his service, and were now, in fact, awaiting his pleasure in the court below.’
Alkibiades bowed and smiled. Neither was taken in. The one knew the whole meaning of the message, and its depth of treachery; the other was perfectly aware that it was known. They descended into the courtyard. Alkibiades was assisted to mount an Arab horse; another was provided for Mantitheos. On asking for the sailors who had come with him, he was told they had returned to Paniônion. The two travellers were preceded by twenty horsemen armed with spears. On each side of them rode an officer with drawn sword; in the rear came twenty other horsemen with spears. So they started from Magnesia.
At mid-day they halted. An ample meal was served. They pursued their way, along the banks of the Hermos, to the fertile plains where the old town of Sardis stood beneath its lofty citadel. They passed the new paradeisos that Tissaphernes had lately finished. Through its wooden palings they could see its various wonders, its splendid trees, and its pavilions, and the fountains and curious waterworks and lakes which the satrap had formed from the gold-bearing Paktôlos, which ran through it. On account of its grace and beauty, as well as with a view to the pleasant hours he had hoped to spend there with his friend, Tissaphernes had named this paradise ‘Alkibiades.’
The prisoners were received with every mark of courtesy and with real kindness by the governor of the citadel. Alkibiades was cheerful. There was still some chance of hearing news of Tissaphernes. After a week of close confinement they were allowed to take as much exercise as they liked in the governor’s garden, shut in only by the high outer wall, and closed by the great gate near which the governor lodged. Alkibiades soon won the affections of his keeper. He had noticed from the first the kindness with which he treated him. As the time hung heavily upon him, he was glad to talk to the old officer, who at last confided to him the cause of his imprisonment.
Orders had come some time ago from the Great King to take Alkibiades, alive or dead. The affair of the fleet had got Tissaphernes into terrible trouble with the Spartans. By taking their fleet away from the Ionian coast to the Hellespont they enabled Pharnabazos to collect the tribute for the Persian king from the Greek cities in that part. Tissaphernes knew that if Pharnabazos sent his tribute to Suza, the king would hear no excuse why the rest of the Ionian tribute should not be paid. If one satrap could collect and pay it, then the other must do so, or make it up out of his own property. This question of the tributehad been a long-standing trouble. While Athens was mistress of the sea there was a good reason why the Lydian satrap could not enforce it; but when Athens was weakened, and could no longer hold her own or protect her colonies, this excuse must cease.
The Athenian victory at Abydos frightened Tissaphernes still more. It now seemed that the balance of power between the two chief Greek states would not be maintained. The Athenians would preponderate if many more victories such as that were gained.
It was the Persian policy to keep them at war, weakening one another, until they were reduced to such weakness that they might both be driven from the sea. To take Alkibiades away, to keep him in confinement at this time, would stop any more Athenian victories for the present. At any rate, it would show to the Spartans, Tissaphernes thought, how sincerely he was on their side, and to the king, his master, that he was ready to sacrifice his personal affection for his friend to that master’s service.
It was time to do something to pacify both. The Lakedaimonians were threatening to end the war, and retire with the remnant of their force to Sparta, while the king was growing somethingmore than suspicious of his satrap’s fidelity. These, then, were the reasons why he had ordered the arrest of his dearest friend. And when the friend had so unexpectedly run into the snare, he had left without seeing him, for fear his resolution might be shaken, and he tried to soothe his own regret at having to treat so badly one he sincerely loved by giving commands that every attention should be paid the Athenian strategos while he was in captivity.