Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (106 page)

“He pointed out to me, further, although I knew it before, that he already had as subjects the Maracians, the Dolopians, and Alcetas, the ruler in Epirus. `Therefore,’ he said, `what have I to fear that I should not expect to subdue you easily? To be sure, one who did not know me might perhaps retort, “Then why do you delay, instead of prosecuting your campaign against the Pharsalians at once?” Because, by Zeus, it seems to me to be altogether better to bring you over to my side willingly rather than unwillingly. For if you were constrained by force, you, on the one hand, would be planning whatever harm you could against me, and I, on the other, should be wanting to keep you as weak as I could; but if it was through persuation that you joined with me, it is clear that we should advance one another’s interests to the best of our ability.
[8]
Now I know, Polydamas, that your city looks to you, and if you make her friendly to me I promise you,’ he said, `that I will make you the greatest, next to myself, of all the men in Greece; and what manner of fortune it is wherein I offer you the second place, hear from me, and believe nothing that I say unless upon consideration it appears to you true. Well, then, this is plain to us, that if Pharsalus and the cities which are dependent upon you should be added to my power, I could easily become Tagus of all the Thessalians; and, further, that whenever Thessaly is under a Tagus, her horsemen amount to six thousand and more than ten thousand men become hoplites.
[9]
And when I see both their bodies and their high spirit, I think that if one should handle them rightly, there would be no people to whom the Thessalians would deign to be subject. Again, while Thessaly is an exceedingly flat land, all the peoples round about are subject to her as soon as a Tagus is established here; and almost all who dwell in these neighbouring regions are javelin-men, so that it is likely that our force would be far superior in peltasts also.
[10]
Furthermore, the Boeotians and all the others who are at war with the Lacedaemonians are my allies, and they are ready to be my followers, too, if only I free them from the Lacedaemonians. The Athenians also, I know very well, would do anything to become allies of ours, but I do not think it best to establish a friendship with them; for I believe that I could obtain empire by sea even more easily than by land.
[11]

“`To see whether my calculations are reasonable, he said, `consider these points also. With Macedonia in our possession, the place from which the Athenians get their timber, we shall of course be able to construct far more ships than they. Again, who are likely to be better able to supply these ships with men, the Athenians or ourselves, who have so many serfs of so excellent a sort? And who are likely to be better able to maintain the sailors, we, who on account of our abundance even have corn to export to other lands, or the Athenians, who have not even enough for themselves unless they buy it?
[12]
Then as for money, we surely should be likely to enjoy a greater abundance of it, for we should not be looking to little islands for our revenues, but drawing upon the resources of peoples of the continent. For of course all who are round about us pay tribute as soon as Thessaly is under a Tagus. And you certainly know that it is by drawing upon the resources, not of islands, but of a continent, that the King of the Persians is the richest of mortals; and yet I think that it is even easier to reduce him to subjection than to reduce Greece. For I know that everybody there, save one person, has trained himself to servitude rather than to prowess, and I know what manner of force it was — both that which went up with Cyrus and that which went up with Agesilaus — that brought the King to extremities.’
[13]

“Now in answer to these statements I replied that while the other matters which he mentioned were worth considering, nevertheless for people who were friends of the Lacedaemonians to secede and go over to their enemies without having any charge to bring against them — this, I said, seemed to me to be impracticable. He thereupon, after commending me and saying that he must cling to me the more because I was that sort of a man, permitted me to come to you and say the truth, that he was intending to undertake a campaign against the Pharsalians if we did not yield to him. Therefore he bade me ask assistance from you. `And if,’ said he, `the gods grant that you persuade them to send a supporting force large enough to make war with me, so be it,’ he said, `and let us abide by whatever may be the result of the war; but if it seems to you that they do not give you adequate assistance, would you not justly be blameless thenceforth if you should follow the course that is best for your city, which honours you?’
[14]

“It is about these matters, then, that I have come to you, and I tell you the whole situation there as I myself see it and have heard it from his lips. And I believe that this is the case, men of Lacedaemon, that if you send thither a force such as shall seem, not to me only, but also to the rest of the Thessalians, large enough to make war upon Jason, the cities will revolt from him; for all of them are afraid of the lengths to which the man’s power will go. But if you imagine that emancipated Helots and a private individual as commander will suffice, I advise you to remain quiet.
[15]
For, be well assured, the war will be against strong forces and against a man who is so sagacious a general that whatsoever he undertakes to accomplish, whether it be by secrecy, or by getting ahead of an enemy, or by sheer force, he is not very apt to fail of his object. For he is able to make as good use of night as of day, and when he is in haste, to take breakfast and dinner together and go on with his labours. And he thinks it is proper to rest only after he has reached the goal for which he had set out and has accomplished the things that are needful; moreover, he has accustomed his followers also to the same habits. Yet he also knows how to satisfy the wishes of his soldiers when by added toils they have achieved some success; so that all who are with him have learned this lesson too, that from toils come indulgences.
[16]
Again, he has greater self-control than any man I know as regards the pleasures of the body, so that he is not prevented by such things, either, from doing always what needs to be done. Consider, therefore, and tell me, as beseems you, what you will be able to do and intend to do.”
[17]

Thus he spoke. As for the Lacedaemonians, at the time they deferred their answer; but after reckoning up on the next day and on the third their regiments abroad, to see how many they numbered, and the regiments which were in the vicinity of Lacedaemon to be employed against the triremes of the Athenians and for the war upon their neighbours, they replied that at present they could not send him an adequate supporting force, and told him to go home and arrange his own affairs and those of his city as best he could.
[18]
He, then, after commending the straightforwardness of the state, departed. And he begged Jason not to force him to give over the Acropolis of the Pharsalians, his wish being that he might still keep it safe for those who had put it into his hands; but he gave his own children to Jason as hostages, with the promise not only to win over the city and make it his willing ally, but also to help in establishing him as Tagus. When, accordingly, they had exchanged pledges with one another, the Pharsalians at once observed peace, and Jason was speedily established by common consent as Tagus of the Thessalians.
[19]
Having become Tagus, he assessed the contingents of cavalry and hoplites that the cities were to furnish, according to the ability of each. And the result was that he had more than eight thousand horsemen, including the allies, his hoplites were reckoned at not fewer than twenty thousand, and there were peltasts enough to be set in array against the whole world; for it is a task even to enumerate the cities which furnished them. Further, he sent orders to all who dwelt round about to pay the same tribute as had been fixed in the time of Scopas. Thus these events were proceeding to their issue; I now return to the point at which I digressed when I took up the story of Jason.

2.

The Lacedaemonians, then, and their allies were gathering together in Phocis, and the Thebans had withdrawn to their own country and were guarding the passes. As for the Athenians, since they saw that the Thebans were growing in power through their help and still were not contributing money for their fleet, while they were themselves being worn out by extraordinary taxes, by plundering expeditions from Aegina, and by guarding their territory, they conceived a desire to cease from the war, and sending ambassadors to Lacedaemon, concluded peace.
[2]

Two of the Athenian ambassadors, acting in accordance with a decree of the state, sailed directly from there and gave orders to Timotheus to sail back home, inasmuch as there was peace; as he was sailing back, however, he landed in their country the exiles of the Zacynthians.
[3]
And when the Zacynthians in the city sent to the Lacedaemonians and told them the sort of treatment they had received at the hands of Timotheus, the Lacedaemonians immediately deemed the Athenians guilty of wrong-doing, set about preparing a fleet again, and fixed the proportionate contingents, for a total of sixty ships, from Lacedaemon itself, Corinth, Leucas, Ambracia, Elis, Zacynthus, Achaea, Epidaurus, Troezen, Hermion, and Haliae.
[4]
Then they put Mnasippus in command of this fleet as admiral and directed him to look after all their interests in that part of the sea, and especially to make an expedition against Corcyra. They likewise sent to Dionysius, pointing out that it was advantageous to him also that Corcyra should not be under the Athenians.
[5]

Mnasippus, accordingly, as soon as his fleet had been gathered together, set sail to Corcyra; and besides the troops from Lacedaemon who served with him he also had no fewer than one thousand five hundred mercenaries.
[6]
Now when he had disembarked he was master of the country, laid waste the land, which was most beautifully cultivated and planted, and destroyed magnificent dwellings and wine-cellars with which the farms were furnished; the result was, it was said, that his soldiers became so luxurious that they would not drink any wine unless it had a fine bouquet. Furthermore, very many slaves and cattle were captured on the farms.
[7]
Afterwards he encamped with his land forces on a hill which was distant from the city about five stadia and situated between the city and the country, so that he might from there intercept any of the Corcyraeans who might try to go out to their lands; then he had the sailors from his ships encamp on the other side of the city, at a point from which he thought they would observe in good time any vessels that approached and prevent their coming in. In addition he also maintained a blockade at the mouth of the harbour when the weather did not interfere.
[8]
In this way, then, he held the city besieged.

When the Corcyraeans found themselves unable to get anything from their farms because they were overmastered by land, while on the other hand nothing was brought in to them by water because they were overmastered by sea, they were in great straits.
[9]
Accordingly, sending to the Athenians, they begged them to come to their assistance, and pointed out that they would lose a great advantage if they were deprived of Corcyra, and would add great strength to their enemies; for from no other state, they said, except Athens, could come a greater number of ships or a greater amount of money. Further, Corcyra was situated in a favourable position with respect to the Corinthian Gulf and the states which reach down to its shores, in a favourable position for doing damage to the territory of Laconia, and in an extremely favourable position with respect to Epirus across the way and the coastwise route from Sicily to Peloponnesus.
[10]
When the Athenians heard these things they came to the conclusion that they must give serious care to the matter, and they sent out Ctesicles as general with about six hundred peltasts and requested Alcetas to help to convey them across.
[11]
Accordingly these troops were brought across by night to a place in the country of Corcyra, and made their way into the city. The Athenians also voted to man sixty ships, and elected Timotheus as commander of them.
[12]
But he was unable to man his ships at Athens, and therefore set sail for the islands and endeavoured to complete his crews there, thinking that it was a serious matter to sail light-heartedly around Peloponnesus to attack ships with well-trained crews.
[13]
The Athenians, however, believing that he was using up the time of the year which was favourable for his voyage, did not pardon him, but deposed him from his office and chose Iphicrates in his place.
[14]
As soon as he assumed office, he proceeded to man his ships expeditiously, and compelled his captains to do their duty. He also obtained from the Athenians whatever war-ships were cruising here or there in the neighbourhood of Attica, as well as the Paralus and the Salaminia, saying that if matters in Corcyra turned out successfully, he would send them back many ships. And his ships amounted in all to about seventy.
[15]

Meanwhile the Corcyraeans were suffering so greatly from hunger that on account of the number of the deserters Mnasippus issued a proclamation directing that whoever deserted should be sold into slavery. And when they kept on deserting none the less, at last he even tried to drive them back with the scourge. Those in the city, however, would not admit the slaves within the wall again, and many died outside.
[16]
Now Mnasippus, seeing these things, and believing that he all but had possession of the city already, was trying innovations with his mercenaries. He had before this dismissed some of them from his service, and he now owed those who remained as much as two months’ pay. This was not, so it was said, because he lacked money, for most of the states had sent him money instead of men, because it was an overseas expedition.
[17]
Now the people in the city, observing from their towers that the enemy’s posts were less carefully guarded than formerly, and that the men were scattered through the country, made a sally, capturing some of them and cutting down others.
[18]
When Mnasippus perceived this, he put on his armour and went to the rescue himself, with all the hoplites he had, and at the same time ordered the captains and commanders of divisions to lead forth the mercenaries.
[19]
And when some captains replied that it was not easy to keep men obedient unless they were given provisions, he struck one of them with a staff and another with the spike of his spear. So it was, then, that when his forces issued from the city with him they were all dispirited and hostile to him — a situation that is by no means conducive to fighting.
[20]