operations both by land and sea to be then commenced; all these allies being prepared to do their best, in hopes that this effort would be the last required from them, and the most richly rewarded. A fleet of 100 triremes was directed to be prepared against the spring; 50 of these being imposed in equal proportion on the Lacedæmonians themselves and the Boeotians-15 on Corinth-15 on the Phocians and Lokrians-10 on the Arcadians, with Pellênê and Sikyon-10 on Megara, Trozen, Epidaurus, and Hermionê. It seems to have been considered that these ships might be built and launched during the interval between September and March'. The same large hopes, which had worked upon men's minds at the beginning of the war, were now again rife in the bosoms of the Peloponnesians; the rather as that powerful force from Sicily, which they had then been disappointed in obtaining, might now be anticipated with tolerable assurance as really forthcoming3.

From the smaller allies, contributions in money were exacted for the intended fleet by Agis, who moved about during this autumn with a portion of the garrison of Dekeleia. In the course of his circuit, he visited the town of Herakleia, near the Maliac Gulf, and levied large contributions on the neighbouring Etæans, in reprisal for the plunder which they had taken from that town, as well as

1 Thucyd. viii. 2, 3. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τὴν πρόσταξιν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἕκατον νεῶν τῆς ναυπηγίας ἐποιοῦντο, &c. : compare also c. 4-παρεσκευάζοντο τὴν ναυπηγίαν, &c.

2 Thucyd. viii. 5 ὄντων οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἡ ὥσπερ ἀρχομένων ἐν κατασκευῇ τοῦ πολέμου: compare ii. 7.

3 Thucyd. viii. 2: compare ii. 7; iii. 86.

Motions of

King Agis.

The Eubœans apply to

in revolting

from Athensthe Lesbians also apply, and are pre

ferred.

from the Phthiot Achæans and other subjects of the Thessalians, though the latter vainly entered their protest against his proceedings1.

It was during the march of Agis through Boeotia Agis for aid that the inhabitants of Euboea (probably of Chalkis and Eretria) applied to him, entreating his aid to enable them to revolt from Athens; which he readily promised, sending for Alkamenês at the head of 300 Neodamode hoplites from Sparta, to be despatched across to the island as Harmost. Having a force permanently at his disposal, with full liberty of military action, the Spartan king at Dekeleia.was more influential even than the authorities at home, so that the disaffected allies of Athens addressed themselves in preference to him. It was not long before envoys from Lesbos visited him for this purpose. So powerfully was their claim enforced by the Boeotians (their kinsmen of the Æolic race), who engaged to furnish ten triremes for their aid, provided Agis would send ten others -that he was induced to postpone his promise to the Euboeans, and to direct Alkamenês as harmost to Lesbos instead of Euboea, without at all consulting the authorities at Sparta.

The Chians, with

the same view, make application to Sparta.

The threatened revolt of Lesbos and Euboea, especially the latter, was a vital blow to the empire of Athens. But this was not the worst. At the same time that these two islands were negotiating with Agis, envoys from Chios, the first and most powerful of all Athenian allies, had gone to Sparta for the same purpose. The government of Chiosan oligarchy, but distinguished for its prudent Thucyd. viii. 5.

1

Thucyd. viii. 3.

2

management and caution in avoiding risks-considering Athens to be now on the verge of ruin, even in the estimation of the Athenians themselves, thought itself safe, together with the opposite city of Erythræ, in taking measures for achieving independence'.

from Tissa

and Pharnabazus

come to

Sparta at

the same

time.

Besides these three great allies, whose example Envoys in revolting was sure to be followed by others, phernês Athens was now on the point of being assailed by other enemies yet more unexpected-the two Persian satraps of the Asiatic seaboard, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. No sooner was the Athenian catastrophe in Sicily known at the court of Susa, than the Great King claimed from these two satraps the tribute due from the Asiatic Greeks on the coast; for which they had always stood enrolled in the tribute records, though it had never been actually levied since the complete establishment of the Athenian empire. The only way to realise this tribute, for which the satraps were thus made debtors, was to detach the towns from Athens, and break up her empire2; for which purpose Tissaphernes sent an envoy to Sparta, in conjunction with those of the Chians and Erythræans. He invited the Lacedæmonians to conclude an alliance with the Great King, for joint operations against

1 Thucyd. viii. 7-24.

2 Thucyd. viii. 5. Ὑπὸ βασιλέως γὰρ νεωστὶ ἐτύγχανε πεπραγμένος (Tissaphernes) τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀρχῆς φόρους, οὓς δι' ̓Αθηναίους ἀπὸ τῶν ̔Ελληνίδων πόλεων οὐ δυνάμενος πράσσεσθαι ἐπωφείλησε. Τούς τε οὖν φόρους μᾶλλον ἐνόμιζε κομιεῖσθαι κακώσας τοὺς ̓Αθηναίους, &c.

I have already discussed this important passage at some length, in its bearing upon the treaty concluded thirty-seven years before this time between Athens and Persia. See the note to volume v. chap. xlv. p. 458 of this History.

the Athenian empire in Asia; promising to furnish pay and maintenance for any forces which they might send, at the rate of one drachma per day for each man of the ships' crews1 He farther hoped by means of this aid to reduce Amorgês, the revolted son of the late satrap Pissuthnês, who was established in the strong maritime town of Iasus, with a Grecian mercenary force and a considerable treasure, and was in alliance with Athens. The Great King had sent down a peremptory mandate, that Amorgês should either be brought prisoner to Susa or slain.

At the same moment, though without any concert, there arrived at Sparta Kalligeitus and Timagoras-two Grecian exiles in the service of Pharnabazus, bringing propositions of a similar character from that satrap, whose government 2 comprehended Phrygia and the coast lands north of Æolis, from the Propontis to the north-east corner of the Elæatic Gulf. Eager to have the assistance of a Lacedæmonian fleet in order to detach the Hellespontine Greeks from Athens, and realise the tribute required by the court of Susa, Pharnabazus was at the same time desirous of forestalling Tissaphernes as the medium of alliance between Sparta and the Great King. The two missions having thus arrived simultaneously at Sparta, a strong competition arose between them-one striving to attract the projected expedition to Chios, the other to the

1 Thucyd. viii. 29. Καὶ μηνὸς μὲν τροφὴν, ὥσπερ ὑπέστη ἐν τῇ Λακεδαίμονι, ἐς δραχμὴν ̓Αττικὴν ἑκάστῳ πάσαις ταῖς ναυσὶ διέδωκε, τοῦ δὲ λοιποῦ χρόνου ἐβούλετο τριώβολον διδόναι, &c.

2 The satrapy of Tissaphernes extended as far north as Antandrus and Adramyttium (Thucyd. viii. 108).

Hellespont' for which latter purpose, Kalligeitus had brought twenty-five talents, which he tendered as a first payment in part.

at Sparta

mendations

the Lace

to send aid

to Chios.

From all quarters, new enemies were thus spring- Alkibiadês ing up against Athens in the hour of her distress, his recomso that the Lacedæmonians had only to choose determine which they would prefer; a choice in which they demonians were much guided by the exile Alkibiadês. It so happened that his family friend Endius was at this moment one of the Board of Ephors; while his personal enemy King Agis, with whose wife Timæa he carried on an intrigue2, was absent in command at Dekeleia. Knowing well the great power and importance of Chios, Alkibiadês strenuously exhorted the Spartan authorities to devote their first attention to that island. A Perickus named Phrynis, being sent thither to examine whether the resources alleged by the envoys were really forthcoming, brought back a satisfactory report, that the Chian fleet was not less than sixty triremes strong upon which the Lacedæmonians concluded an alliance with Chios and Erythræ, engaging to send a fleet of forty sail to their aid. Ten of these triremes, now ready in the Lacedæmonian ports (probably at Gythium), were directed immediately to sail to Chios, under the admiral Melanchridas. It seems to have been now midwinter-but Alkibiadês, and still more the Chian envoys, insisted on the necessity of prompt action, for fear that the Athenians should detect the intrigue. However,

1 Thucyd. viii. 6.

2 Thucyd. viii. 6-12; Plutarch, Alkibiad. c. 23, 24; Cornelius Nepos, Alkibiad. c. 3.