Hellenica | Page 8

was a cousin and fellow-exile of Alcibiades. Him
Thrasylus released.[3] From Methymna Thrasylus set sail to Sestos to
join the main body of the army, after which the united forces crossed to
Lampsacus. And now winter was approaching. It was the winter in
which the Syracusan prisoners who had been immured in the stone
quarries of Piraeus dug through the rock and escaped one night, some
to Decelia and others to Megara. At Lampsacus Alcibiades was anxious
to marshal the whole military force there collected in one body, but the
old troops refused to be incorporated with those of Thrasylus. "They,
who had never yet been beaten, with these newcomers who had just
suffered a defeat." So they devoted the winter to fortifying Lampsacus.
They also made an expedition against Abydos, where Pharnabazus,
coming to the rescue of the place, encountered them with numerous
cavalry, but was defeated and forced to flee, Alcibiades pursuing hard
with his cavalry and one hundred and twenty infantry under the
command of Menander, till darkness intervened. After this battle the
soldiers came together of their own accord, and freely fraternised with
the troops of Thrasylus. This expedition was followed by other
incursions during the winter into the interior, where they found plenty
to do ravaging the king's territory.

[3] Reading {apelusen}. Wolf's conjecture for the MSS. {katelousen} =
stoned. See Thirlwall, "Hist. Gr." IV. xxix. 93 note.
It was at this period also that the Lacedaemonians allowed their
revolted helots from Malea, who had found an asylum at Coryphasium,
to depart under a flag of truce. It was also about the same period that
the Achaeans betrayed the colonists of Heracleia Trachinia, when they
were all drawn up in battle to meet the hostile Oetaeans, whereby as
many as seven hundred of them were lost, together with the governor[4]
from Lacedaemon, Labotas. Thus the year came to its close--a year
marked further by a revolt of the Medes from Darius, the king of Persia,
followed by renewed submission to his authority.
[4] Technically {armostes} (harmost), i.e. administrator.

III
B.C. 408. The year following is the year in which the temple of Athena,
in Phocaea, was struck by lightning and set on fire.[1] With the
cessation of winter, in early spring, the Athenians set sail with the
whole of their force to Proconnesus, and thence advanced upon
Chalcedon and Byzantium, encamping near the former town. The men
of Chalcedon, aware of their approach, had taken the precaution to
deposit all their pillageable property with their neighbours, the
Bithynian Thracians; whereupon Alcibiades put himself at the head of a
small body of heavy infantry with the cavalry, and giving orders to the
fleet to follow along the coast, marched against the Bithynians and
demanded back the property of the Chalcedonians, threatening them
with war in case of refusal. The Bithynians delivered up the property.
Returning to camp, not only thus enriched, but with the further
satisfaction of having secured pledges of good behaviour from the
Bithynians, Alcibiades set to work with the whole of his troops to draw
lines of circumvallation round Chalcedon from sea to sea, so as to
include as much of the river as possible within his wall, which was
made of timber. Thereupon the Lacedaemonian governor, Hippocrates,
let his troops out of the city and offered battle, and the Athenians, on
their side, drew up their forces opposite to receive him; while
Pharnabazus, from without the lines of circumvallation, was still
advancing with his army and large bodies of horse. Hippocrates and
Thrasylus engaged each other with their heavy infantry for a long while,

until Alcibiades, with a detachment of infantry and the cavalry,
intervened. Presently Hippocrates fell, and the troops under him fled
into the city; at the same instant Pharnabazus, unable to effect a
junction with the Lacedaemonian leader, owing to the circumscribed
nature of the ground and the close proximity of the river to the enemy's
lines, retired to the Heracleium,[2] belonging to the Chalcedonians,
where his camp lay. After this success Alcibiades set off to the
Hellespont and the Chersonese to raise money, and the remaining
generals came to terms with Pharnabazus in respect of Chalcedon;
according to these, the Persian satrap agreed to pay the Athenians
twenty talents[3] in behalf of the town, and to grant their ambassadors a
safe conduct up country to the king. It was further stipulated by mutual
consent and under oaths provided, that the Chalcedonians should
continue the payment of their customary tribute to Athens, being also
bound to discharge all outstanding debts. The Athenians, on their side,
were bound to desist from all hostilities until the return of their
ambassadors from the king. These oaths were not witnessed by
Alcibiades, who was now in the neighbourhood of Selybria. Having
taken that place,