kept back rather than openly avowed, and that they acceded to all the immense preparations demanded by Nikias'. Moreover we shall see presently that even the armament which was despatched had conceived nothing beyond vague and hesitating ideas of something great to be achieved in Sicily. But if the Athenian public were rash and ignorant, in contemplating the conquest of Sicily, much more extravagant were the views of Alkibiadês: though I cannot bring myself to believe that even he (as he afterwards asserted) really looked beyond Sicily to the conquest of Carthage and her empire. It was not merely ambition which he desired to gratify. He was not less eager for the immense private gains which would be consequent upon success, in order to supply those deficiencies which his profligate expenditure had occasioned". 1 Thucyd. vi. 6. ἐφιέμενοι μὲν τῇ ἀληθεστάτῃ προφάσει, τῆς πάσης (Σικελίας) ἄρξειν, βοηθεῖν δὲ ἅμα εὐπρεπῶς βουλόμενοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ξυγγένεσι καὶ τοῖς προσγεγενημένοις ξυμμάχοις. Even in the speech of Alkibiadês, the conquest of Sicily is only once alluded to—and that indirectly; rather as a favourable possibility, than as a result to be counted upon. 2 Thucyd. vi. 15. Καὶ μάλιστα στρατηγῆσαί τε ἐπιθυμῶν καὶ ἐλπίζων Σικελίαν τε δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ Καρχηδόνα λήψεσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἴδια ἅμα εὐτυχήσας χρήμασί τε καὶ δόξῃ ὠφελήσειν. "Ων γὰρ ἐν ἀξιώματι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀστῶ, ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις μείζοσιν ἢ κατὰ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν οὐσίαν ἐχρῆτο ἔς τε τὰς ἱπποτροφίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας δαπάνας, &c. Compare vi. 90. Plutarch (Alkib. c. 19; Nikias, c. 12). Plutarch sometimes speaks as if, not Alkibiadês alone (or at least in conjunction with a few partisans), but the Athenians generally, set out with an expectation of conquering Carthage as well as Sicily. In the speech which Alkibiadês made at Sparta after his banishment (Thucyd. vi. 90), he does indeed state this as the general purpose of the expedition. But it seems plain that he is here ascribing, to his countrymen generally, plans which were only fermenting in his own brain-as we may discern from a careful perusal of the first twenty chapters of the sixth book of Thucydidês. In the Oratio de Pace of Andokidês (sect. 30), it is alleged that the When we recollect how loudly the charges have been preferred against Kleon-of presumption, of rash policy, and of selfish motive, in reference to Sphakteria, to the prosecution of the war generally, and to Amphipolis; and when we compare these proceedings with the conduct of Alkibiadês as here described-we shall see how much more forcibly such charges attach to the latter than the former. It will be seen, before this volume is finished, that the vices of Alkibiadês, and the defects of Nikias, were the cause of far greater ruin to Athens than either Kleon or Hyperbolus, even if we regard the two latter with the eyes of their worst enemies. Syracusans sent an embassy to Athens, a little before this expedition, entreating to be admitted as allies of the Athenians, and affirming that Syracuse would be a more valuable ally to Athens than Egesta or Katana. This statement is wholly untrue. CHAPTER LVIII. FROM THE RESOLUTION OF THE ATHENIANS TO ATTACK April. tions for tion against general en Sicily thusiasm and san guine hopes at Athens. For the two or three months immediately succeed- B.c. 415. ing the final resolution taken by the Athenians to invade Sicily (described in the last chapter), the whole city was elate and bustling with preparation. I have already mentioned that this resolution, though long opposed by Nikias with a considerable Preparaminority, had at last been adopted (chiefly through the expedithe unforeseen working of that which he intended as a counter-manœuvre) with a degree of enthusiasm and unanimity, and upon an enlarged scale, which surpassed all the anticipations of its promoters. The prophets, circulators of oracles, and other accredited religious advisers, announced generally the favourable dispositions of the gods, and promised a triumphant result'. All classes in the city, rich and poor-cultivators, traders, and seamen-old and young-all embraced the project with ardour; as requiring a great effort, yet promising unparalleled results, both of public aggrandisement and individual gain. Each man was anxious to put down his own name for personal service; so that the three generals, Nikias, Alkibiadês, and Lamachus, when they proceeded to make their selection of hoplites, instead of being forced to employ constraint or 1 Thucyd. viii. 1. incur ill-will, as happened when an expedition was adopted reluctantly with many dissentients, had only to choose the fittest among a throng of eager volunteers. Every man provided himself with his best arms and with bodily accoutrements, useful as well as ostentatious, for a long voyage and for the exigencies of a varied land and sea-service. Among the trierarchs (or rich citizens who undertook each in his turn the duty of commanding a ship of war) the competition was yet stronger. Each of them accounted it an honour to be named, and vied with his comrades to exhibit his ship in the most finished state of equipment. The state indeed furnished both the trireme with its essential tackle and oars, and the regular pay for the crew; but the trierarch, even in ordinary cases, usually incurred various expenses besides, to make the equipment complete and to keep the crew together. Such additional outlay, neither exacted nor defined by law, but only by custom and general opinion, was different in every individual case according to temper and circumstances. But on the present occasion, zeal and forwardness were universal. Each trierarch tried to procure for his own ship the best crew, by offers of additional reward to all, but especially to the Thranite or rowers on the highest of the three tiers' and it seems that 1 Thucyd. vi. 31. ἐπιφοράς τε πρὸς τῷ ἐκ δημοσίου μισθῷ διδόντων τοῖς θρανίταις τῶν ναυτῶν καὶ ταῖς ὑπηρεσίαις, καὶ τἄλλα σημείοις καὶ κατασκευαῖς πολυτελέσι χρησαμένων, &c. Dobree and Dr. Arnold explain vηpeσíais to mean the petty officers, such as κυβερνήτης, κελευστής, &c. Göller and Poppo construe it to mean "the servants of the sailors." Neither of the two explanations seems to me satisfactory. I think the word means "to the crews generally;" the word vnnpería being a perfectly general word, comprising the seamen were not appointed especially to one ship, but were at liberty to accept these offers and to serve in any ship they preferred. Each trierarch spent more than had ever been known before-in pay, outfit, provision, and even external decoration of his vessel. Besides the best crews which Athens herself could furnish, picked seamen were also required from the subject-allies, and were bid for in the same way by the trierarchs'. Such efforts were much facilitated by the fact, that five years had now elapsed since the peace of Nikias, without any considerable warlike operations. While the treasury had become replenished with fresh accumulations2, and the triremes increased in all who received pay in the ship. All the examples produced in the notes of the commentators testify this meaning, which also occurs in the text itself two lines before. To construe rais vrηpeσíais as meaning "the crews generally, or the remaining crews, along with the Thranita"-is doubtless more or less awkward. But it departs less from ordinary construction than either of the two senses which the commentators propose. 1 Thucyd. vii. 13. οἱ ξένοι, οἱ μὲν ἀναγκαστοὶ ἐσβάντες, &c. Thucyd. vi. 26. I do not trust the statement given in Eschinês De Fals. Legat. c. 54, p. 302, and in Andokidês, De Pace, sect. 8, that 7000 talents were laid by as an accumulated treasure in the acropolis during the peace of Nikias, and that 400 triremes, or 300 triremes, were newly built. The numerous historical inaccuracies in those orations, concerning the facts prior to 400 B.C., are such as to deprive them of all authority, except where they are confirmed by other testimony. But there exists an interesting Inscription which proves that the sum of 3000 talents at least must have been laid by, during the interval between the conclusion of the peace of Nikias and the Sicilian expedition, in the acropolis; that over and above this accumulated fund, the state was in condition to discharge, out of the current receipts, sums which it had borrowed during the previous war from the treasury of various temples and that there was besides a surplus for docks and fortifications. The Inscription above named records the vote passed for discharging these debts, and for securing the sums so paid in the Opisthodomus or back-chamber of the Parthenon, for account of those gods to whom they respectively belonged. See Boeckh's Corp. Inscr. part Q VOL. VII. Abundance nian treadisplay of wealth as force in the in the Athe well as of armament. |