History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (free ebooks for android .txt) 📕

to be betrayed to them by one party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what

was formerly called the Minyan, now the Boeotian, Orchomenus) to be

put into their hands by another from that town, whose exiles were

very active in the business, hiring men in Peloponnese. Some Phocians

also were in the plot, Chaeronea being the frontier town of Boeotia

and close to Phanotis in Phocia. Meanwhile the Athenians were to

seize Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the territory of Tanagra

looking towards Euboea; and all these events were to take place

simultaneously upon a day appointed, in order that the Boeotians

might be unable to unite to oppose them at Delium, being everywhere

detained by disturbances at home. Should the enterprise succeed, and

Delium be fortified, its authors confidently expected that even if no

revolution should immediately follow in Boeotia, yet with these

places in their hands, and the country being harassed by incursions,

and a refuge in each instance near for the partisans engaged in them,

things would not remain as they were, but that the rebels being

supported by the Athenians and the forces of the oligarchs divided,

it would be possible after a while to settle matters according to

their wishes.

Such was the plot in contemplation. Hippocrates with a force

raised at home awaited the proper moment to take the field against the

Boeotians; while he sent on Demosthenes with the forty ships above

mentioned to Naupactus, to raise in those parts an army of Acarnanians

and of the other allies, and sail and receive Siphae from the

conspirators; a day having been agreed on for the simultaneous

execution of both these operations. Demosthenes on his arrival found

Oeniadae already compelled by the united Acarnanians to join the

Athenian confederacy, and himself raising all the allies in those

countries marched against and subdued Salynthius and the Agraeans;

after which he devoted himself to the preparations necessary to enable

him to be at Siphae by the time appointed.

About the same time in the summer, Brasidas set out on his march for

the Thracian places with seventeen hundred heavy infantry, and

arriving at Heraclea in Trachis, from thence sent on a messenger to

his friends at Pharsalus, to ask them to conduct himself and his

army through the country. Accordingly there came to Melitia in

Achaia Panaerus, Dorus, Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and Strophacus, the

Chalcidian proxenus, under whose escort he resumed his march, being

accompanied also by other Thessalians, among whom was Niconidas from

Larissa, a friend of Perdiccas. It was never very easy to traverse

Thessaly without an escort; and throughout all Hellas for an armed

force to pass without leave through a neighbour’s country was a

delicate step to take. Besides this the Thessalian people had always

sympathized with the Athenians. Indeed if instead of the customary

close oligarchy there had been a constitutional government in

Thessaly, he would never have been able to proceed; since even as it

was, he was met on his march at the river Enipeus by certain of the

opposite party who forbade his further progress, and complained of his

making the attempt without the consent of the nation. To this his

escort answered that they had no intention of taking him through

against their will; they were only friends in attendance on an

unexpected visitor. Brasidas himself added that he came as a friend to

Thessaly and its inhabitants, his arms not being directed against them

but against the Athenians, with whom he was at war, and that although

he knew of no quarrel between the Thessalians and Lacedaemonians to

prevent the two nations having access to each other’s territory, he

neither would nor could proceed against their wishes; he could only

beg them not to stop him. With this answer they went away, and he took

the advice of his escort, and pushed on without halting, before a

greater force might gather to prevent him. Thus in the day that he set

out from Melitia he performed the whole distance to Pharsalus, and

encamped on the river Apidanus; and so to Phacium and from thence to

Perrhaebia. Here his Thessalian escort went back, and the

Perrhaebians, who are subjects of Thessaly, set him down at Dium in

the dominions of Perdiccas, a Macedonian town under Mount Olympus,

looking towards Thessaly.

In this way Brasidas hurried through Thessaly before any one could

be got ready to stop him, and reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice. The

departure of the army from Peloponnese had been procured by the

Thracian towns in revolt against Athens and by Perdiccas, alarmed at

the successes of the Athenians. The Chalcidians thought that they

would be the first objects of an Athenian expedition, not that the

neighbouring towns which had not yet revolted did not also secretly

join in the invitation; and Perdiccas also had his apprehensions on

account of his old quarrels with the Athenians, although not openly at

war with them, and above all wished to reduce Arrhabaeus, king of

the Lyncestians. It had been less difficult for them to get an army to

leave Peloponnese, because of the ill fortune of the Lacedaemonians at

the present moment. The attacks of the Athenians upon Peloponnese, and

in particular upon Laconia, might, it was hoped, be diverted most

effectually by annoying them in return, and by sending an army to

their allies, especially as they were willing to maintain it and asked

for it to aid them in revolting. The Lacedaemonians were also glad

to have an excuse for sending some of the Helots out of the country,

for fear that the present aspect of affairs and the occupation of

Pylos might encourage them to move. Indeed fear of their numbers and

obstinacy even persuaded the Lacedaemonians to the action which I

shall now relate, their policy at all times having been governed by

the necessity of taking precautions against them. The Helots were

invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who

claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in

order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to

test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom

would be the most high-spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many

as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves

and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The

Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever

knew how each of them perished. The Spartans now therefore gladly sent

seven hundred as heavy infantry with Brasidas, who recruited the

rest of his force by means of money in Peloponnese.

Brasidas himself was sent out by the Lacedaemonians mainly at his

own desire, although the Chalcidians also were eager to have a man

so thorough as he had shown himself whenever there was anything to

be done at Sparta, and whose after-service abroad proved of the utmost

use to his country. At the present moment his just and moderate

conduct towards the towns generally succeeded in procuring their

revolt, besides the places which he managed to take by treachery;

and thus when the Lacedaemonians desired to treat, as they

ultimately did, they had places to offer in exchange, and the burden

of war meanwhile shifted from Peloponnese. Later on in the war,

after the events in Sicily, the present valour and conduct of

Brasidas, known by experience to some, by hearsay to others, was

what mainly created in the allies of Athens a feeling for the

Lacedaemonians. He was the first who went out and showed himself so

good a man at all points as to leave behind him the conviction that

the rest were like him.

Meanwhile his arrival in the Thracian country no sooner became known

to the Athenians than they declared war against Perdiccas, whom they

regarded as the author of the expedition, and kept a closer watch on

their allies in that quarter.

Upon the arrival of Brasidas and his army, Perdiccas immediately

started with them and with his own forces against Arrhabaeus, son of

Bromerus, king of the Lyncestian Macedonians, his neighbour, with whom

he had a quarrel and whom he wished to subdue. However, when he

arrived with his army and Brasidas at the pass leading into Lyncus,

Brasidas told him that before commencing hostilities he wished to go

and try to persuade Arrhabaeus to become the ally of Lacedaemon,

this latter having already made overtures intimating his willingness

to make Brasidas arbitrator between them, and the Chalcidian envoys

accompanying him having warned him not to remove the apprehensions

of Perdiccas, in order to ensure his greater zeal in their cause.

Besides, the envoys of Perdiccas had talked at Lacedaemon about his

bringing many of the places round him into alliance with them; and

thus Brasidas thought he might take a larger view of the question of

Arrhabaeus. Perdiccas however retorted that he had not brought him

with him to arbitrate in their quarrel, but to put down the enemies

whom he might point out to him; and that while he, Perdiccas,

maintained half his army it was a breach of faith for Brasidas to

parley with Arrhabaeus. Nevertheless Brasidas disregarded the wishes

of Perdiccas and held the parley in spite of him, and suffered himself

to be persuaded to lead off the army without invading the country of

Arrhabaeus; after which Perdiccas, holding that faith had not been

kept with him, contributed only a third instead of half of the support

of the army.

The same summer, without loss of time, Brasidas marched with the

Chalcidians against Acanthus, a colony of the Andrians, a little

before vintage. The inhabitants were divided into two parties on the

question of receiving him; those who had joined the Chalcidians in

inviting him, and the popular party. However, fear for their fruit,

which was still out, enabled Brasidas to persuade the multitude to

admit him alone, and to hear what he had to say before making a

decision; and he was admitted accordingly and appeared before the

people, and not being a bad speaker for a Lacedaemonian, addressed

them as follows:

“Acanthians, the Lacedaemonians have sent out me and my army to make

good the reason that we gave for the war when we began it, viz.,

that we were going to war with the Athenians in order to free

Hellas. Our delay in coming has been caused by mistaken expectations

as to the war at home, which led us to hope, by our own unassisted

efforts and without your risking anything, to effect the speedy

downfall of the Athenians; and you must not blame us for this, as we

are now come the moment that we were able, prepared with your aid to

do our best to subdue them. Meanwhile I am astonished at finding

your gates shut against me, and at not meeting with a better

welcome. We Lacedaemonians thought of you as allies eager to have

us, to whom we should come in spirit even before we were with you in

body; and in this expectation undertook all the risks of a march of

many days through a strange country, so far did our zeal carry us.

It will be a terrible thing if after this you have other intentions,

and mean to stand in the way of your own and Hellenic freedom. It is

not merely that you oppose me yourselves; but wherever I may go people

will be less inclined to join me, on the score that you, to whom I

first came—an important town like Acanthus, and prudent men like the

Acanthians—refused to admit me. I shall have nothing to prove that

the reason which I advance is the true one; it will be said either

that there is something unfair in the freedom which I offer, or that

I am in insufficient force and unable to protect you