liberty the free-born captives; the Athenian garrison with the
captured slaves he sold.[6] To Conon he sent word:--He would put a
stop to his strumpeting the sea.[7] And catching sight of him, as he
put out to sea, at break of day, he gave chase, hoping to cut him off
from his passage to Samos, and prevent his taking refuge there.

[5] About 4d.

[6] Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 224 (2d ed.), thinks that
    Callicratidas did not even sell the Athenian garrison, as if the
    sense of the passage were: "The next day he set at liberty the
    free-born captives with the Athenian garrison, contenting himself
    with selling the captive slaves." But I am afraid that no
    ingenuity of stopping will extract that meaning from the Greek
    words, which are, {te d' usteraia tous men eleutherous apheke tous
    de ton 'Athenaion phrourous kai ta andrapoda ta doula panta
    apedoto}. To spare the Athenian garrison would have been too
    extraordinary a proceeding even for Callicratidas. The idea
    probably never entered his head. It was sufficiently noble for him
    to refuse to sell the Methymnaeans. See the remarks of Mr. W. L.
    Newman, "The Pol. of Aristotle," vol. i. p. 142.

[7] I.e. the sea was Sparta's bride.

But Conon, aided by the sailing qualities of his fleet, the rowers of
which were the pick of several ships' companies, concentrated in a few
vessels, made good his escape, seeking shelter within the harbour of
Mitylene in Lesbos, and with him two of the ten generals, Leon and
Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with one hundred and seventy
sail, entered the harbour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered from
further or final escape by the too rapid movements of the enemy, was
forced to engage inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships,
though the crews escaped to land. The remaining, forty in number, he
hauled up under the walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side,
came to moorings in the harbour; and, having command of the exit,
blocked the Athenian within. His next step was to send for the
Methymnaeans in force by land, and to transport his army across from
Chios. Money also came to him from Cyrus.

Conon, finding himself besieged by land and sea, without means of
providing himself with corn from any quarter, the city crowded with
inhabitants, and aid from Athens, whither no news of the late events
could be conveyed, impossible, launched two of the fastest sailing
vessels of his squadron. These he manned, before daybreak, with the
best rowers whom he could pick out of the fleet, stowing away the
marines at the same time in the hold of the ships and closing the port
shutters. Every day for four days they held out in this fashion, but
at evening as soon as it was dark he disembarked his men, so that the
enemy might not suspect what they were after. On the fifth day, having
got in a small stock of provisions, when it was already mid-day and
the blockaders were paying little or no attention, and some of them
even were taking their siesta, the two ships sailed out of the
harbour: the one directing her course towards the Hellespont, whilst
her companion made for the open sea. Then, on the part of the
blockaders, there was a rush to the scene of action, as fast as the
several crews could get clear of land, in bustle and confusion,
cutting away the anchors, and rousing themselves from sleep, for, as
chance would have it, they had been breakfasting on shore. Once on
board, however, they were soon in hot pursuit of the ship which had
started for the open sea, and ere the sun dipped they overhauled her,
and after a successful engagement attached her by cables and towed her
back into harbour, crew and all. Her comrade, making for the
Hellespont, escaped, and eventually reached Athens with news of the
blockade. The first relief was brought to the blockaded fleet by
Diomedon, who anchored with twelve vessels in the Mitylenaean
Narrows.[8] But a sudden attack of Callicratidas, who bore down upon
him without warning, cost him ten of his vessels, Diomedon himself
escaping with his own ship and one other.

[8] Or, "Euripus."

Now that the position of affairs, including the blockade, was fully
known at Athens, a vote was passed to send out a reinforcement of one
hundred and ten ships. Every man of ripe age,[9] whether slave or
free, was impressed for this service, so that within thirty days the
whole one hundred and ten vessels were fully manned and weighed
anchor. Amongst those who served in this fleet were also many of the
knights.[10] The fleet at once stood out across to Samos, and picked
up the Samian vessels in that island. The muster-roll was swelled by
the addition of more than thirty others from the rest of the allies,
to whom the same principle of conscription applied, as also it did to
the ships already engaged on foreign service. The actual total,
therefore, when all the contingents were collected, was over one
hundred and fifty vessels.

[9] I.e. from eighteen to sixty years.

[10] See Boeckh. "P. E. A." Bk. II. chap. xxi. p. 263 (Eng. trans.)

Callicratidas, hearing that the relief squadron had already reached
Samos, left fifty ships, under command of Eteonicus, in the harbour of
Mitylene, and setting sail with the other one hundred and twenty, hove
to for the evening meal off Cape Malea in Lesbos, opposite Mitylene.
It so happened that the Athenians on this day were supping on the
islands of Arginusae, which lie opposite Lesbos. In the night the
Spartan not only saw their watch-fires, but received positive
information that "these were the Athenians;" and about midnight he got
under weigh, intending to fall upon them suddenly. But a violent
downpour of rain with thunder and lightning prevented him putting out
to sea. By daybreak it had cleared, and he sailed towards Arginusae.
On their side, the Athenian squadron stood out to meet him, with their
left wing facing towards the open sea, and drawn up in the following
order:--Aristocrates, in command of the left wing, with fifteen ships,
led the van; next came Diomedon with fifteen others, and immediately
in rear of Aristocrates and Diomedon respectively, as their supports,
came Pericles and Erasinides. Parallel with Diomedon were the Samians,
with their ten ships drawn up in single line, under the command of a
Samian officer named Hippeus. Next to these came the ten vessels of
the taxiarchs, also in single line, and supporting them, the three
ships of the navarchs, with any other allied vessels in the squadron.
The right wing was entrusted to Protomachus with fifteen ships, and
next to him (on the extreme right) was Thrasylus with another division
of fifteen. Protomachus was supported by Lysias with an equal number
of ships, and Thrasylus by Aristogenes. The object of this formation
was to prevent the enemy from manouvring so as to break their line by
striking them amidships,[11] since they were inferior in sailing
power.

[11] Lit. "by the diekplous." Cf. Thuc. i. 49, and Arnold's note, who
    says: "The 'diecplus' was a breaking through the enemy's line in
    order by a rapid turning of the vessel to strike the enemy's ship
    on the side or stern, where it was most defenceless, and so to
    sink it." So, it seems, "the superiority of nautical skill has
    passed," as Grote (viii. p. 234) says, "to the Peloponnesians and
    their allies." Well may the historian add, "How astonished would
    the Athenian Admiral Phormion have been, if he could have
    witnessed the fleets and the order of battle at Arginusae!" See
    Thuc. iv. 11.

The Lacedaemonians, on the contrary, trusting to their superior
seamanship, were formed opposite with their ships all in single line,
with the special object of manouvring so as either to break the
enemy's line or to wheel round them. Callicratidas commanded the right
wing in person. Before the battle the officer who acted as his pilot,
the Megarian Hermon, suggested that it might be well to withdraw the
fleet as the Athenian ships were far more numerous. But Callicratidas
replied that Sparta would be no worse off even if he personally should
perish, but to flee would be disgraceful.[12] And now the fleets
approached, and for a long space the battle endured. At first the
vessels were engaged in crowded masses, and later on in scattered
groups. At length Callicratidas, as his vessel dashed her beak into
her antagonist, was hurled off into the sea and disappeared. At the
same instant Protomachus, with his division on the right, had defeated
the enemy's left, and then the flight of the Peloponnesians began
towards Chios, though a very considerable body of them made for
Phocaea, whilst the Athenians sailed back again to Arginusae. The
losses on the side of the Athenians were twenty-five ships, crews and
all, with the exception of the few who contrived to reach dry land. On
the Peloponnesian side, nine out of the ten Lacedaemonian ships, and
more than sixty belonging to the rest of the allied squadron, were
lost.

[12] For the common reading, {oikeitai}, which is ungrammatical,
    various conjectures have been made, e.g.

      {oikieitai} = "would be none the worse off for citizens,"
      {oikesetai} = "would be just as well administered without him,"

    but as the readings and their renderings are alike doubtful, I
    have preferred to leave the matter vague. Cf. Cicero, "De Offic."
    i. 24; Plutarch, "Lac. Apophth." p. 832.

After consultation the Athenian generals agreed that two captains of
triremes, Theramenes and Thrasybulus, accompanied by some of the
taxiarchs, should take forty-seven ships and sail to the assistance of
the disabled fleet and of the men on board, whilst the rest of the
squadron proceeded to attack the enemy's blockading squadron under
Eteonicus at Mitylene. In spite of their desire to carry out this
resolution, the wind and a violent storm which arose prevented them.
So they set up a trophy, and took up their quarters for the night. As
to Etenoicus, the details of the engagement ware faithfully reported
to him by the express despatch-boat in attendance. On receipt of the
news, however, he sent the despatch-boat out again the way she came,
with an injunction to those on board of her to sail off quickly
without exchanging a word with any one. Then on a sudden they were to
return garlanded with wreaths of victory and shouting "Callicratidas
has won a great sea fight, and the whole Athenian squadron is
destroyed." This they did, and Eteonicus, on his side, as soon as the
despatch-boat came sailing in, proceeded to offer sacrifice of
thanksgiving in honour of the good news. Meanwhile he gave orders that
the troops were to take their evening meal, and that the masters of
the trading ships were silently to stow away their goods on board the
merchant ships and make sail as fast as the favourable breeze could
speed them to Chios. The ships of war were to follow suit with what
speed they might. This done, he set fire to his camp, and led off the
land forces to Methymna. Conon, finding the enemy had made off, and
the wind had grown comparatively mild,[13] got his ships afloat, and
so fell in with the Athenian squadron, which had by this time set out
from Arginusae. To these he explained the proceedings of Eteonicus.
The squadron put into Mitylene, and from Mitylene stood across to
Chios, and thence, without effecting anything further, sailed back to
Samos.

[13] Or, "had changed to a finer quarter."

VII

All the above-named generals, with the exception of Conon, were
presently deposed by the home authorities. In addition to Conon two
new generals were chosen, Adeimantus and Philocles. Of those concerned