History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides [best free ebook reader TXT] 📗
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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
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