Hellenica | Page 5

left there under the
two generals, Theramenes and Eubulus, with instructions not only to
keep a look-out on the port itself and on all traders passing through the
channel, but generally to injure the enemy in any way which might
present itself. This done, the rest of the generals hastened back to the
Hellespont.
[5] This is the common spelling, but the coins of Calchedon have the
letters {KALKH}, and so the name is written in the best MSS. of
Herodotus, Xenophon, and other writers, by whom the place is named.
See "Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog." "Chalcedon."
Now a despatch from Hippocrates, Mindarus's vice-admiral,[6] had
been intercepted on its way to Lacedaemon, and taken to Athens. It ran
as follows (in broad Doric):[7] "Ships gone; Mindarus dead; the men
starving; at our wits' end what to do."
[6] "Epistoleus," i.e. secretary or despatch writer, is the Spartan title of
the officer second in command to the admiral.

[7] Reading {'Errei ta kala} (Bergk's conjecture for {kala}) = "timbers,"
i.e. "ships" (a Doric word). Cf. Aristoph., "Lys." 1253, {potta kala}.
The despatch continues: {Mindaros apessoua} (al. {apessua}), which is
much more racy than the simple word "dead." "M. is gone off." I
cannot find the right English or "broad Scotch" equivalent. See
Thirlwall, "Hist. Gr." IV. xxix. 88 note.
Pharnabazus, however, was ready to meet with encouragement the
despondency which afflicted the whole Peloponnesian army and their
allies. "As long as their own bodies were safe and sound, why need
they take to heart the loss of a few wooden hulls? Was there not timber
enough and to spare in the king's territory?" And so he presented each
man with a cloak and maintenance for a couple of months, after which
he armed the sailors and formed them into a coastguard for the security
of his own seaboard.
He next called a meeting of the generals and trierarchs of the different
States, and instructed them to build just as many new ships in the
dockyards of Antandrus as they had respectively lost. He himself was
to furnish the funds, and he gave them to understand that they might
bring down timber from Mount Ida. While the ships were building, the
Syracusans helped the men of Antandrus to finish a section of their
walls, and were particularly pleasant on garrison duty; and that is why
the Syracusans to this day enjoy the privilege of citizenship, with the
title of "benefactors," at Antandrus. Having so arranged these matters,
Pharnabazus proceeded at once to the rescue of Chalcedon.
It was at this date that the Syracusan generals received news from home
of their banishment by the democratic party. Accordingly they called a
meeting of their separate divisions, and putting forward Hermocrates[8]
as their spokesman, proceeded to deplore their misfortune, insisting
upon the injustice and the illegality of their banishment. "And now let
us admonish you," they added, "to be eager and willing in the future,
even as in the past: whatever the word of command may be, show
yourselves good men and true: let not the memory of those glorious sea
fights fade. Think of those victories you have won, those ships you
have captured by your own unaided efforts; forget not that long list of
achievements shared by yourselves with others, in all which you
proved yourselves invincible under our generalship. It was to a happy
combination of our merit and your enthusiasm, displayed alike on land

and sea, that you owe the strength and perfection of your discipline."
[8] Hermocrates, the son of Hermon. We first hear of him in Thuc. iv.
58 foll. as the chief agent in bringing the Sicilian States together in
conference at Gela B.C. 424, with a view to healing their differences
and combining to frustrate the dangerous designs of Athens. In 415
B.C., when the attack came, he was again the master spirit in rendering
it abortive (Thuc. vi. 72 foll.) In 412 B.C. it was he who urged the
Sicilians to assist in completing the overthrow of Athens, by sending a
squadron to co-operate with the Peloponnesian navy--for the relief of
Miletus, etc. (Thuc. viii. 26, 27 foll.) At a later date, in 411 B.C., when
the Peloponnesian sailors were ready to mutiny, and "laid all their
grievances to the charge of Astyochus (the Spartan admiral), who
humoured Tissaphernes for his own gain" (Thuc. viii. 83), Hermocrates
took the men's part, and so incurred the hatred of Tissaphernes.
With these words they called upon the men to choose other
commanders, who should undertake the duties of their office, until the
arrival of their successors. Thereupon the whole assembly, and more
particularly the captains and masters of vessels and marines, insisted
with loud cries on their continuance in command. The generals replied,
"It was not for