The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

I68
THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
victory at Athens was not at hand and that serious negotiations might
be desirable, but any hope that the Four Hundred could easily make
peace depended on the unlikely possibility that the government at
Sparta would be willing to accept the terms so swiftly rejected by
Agis.
Not long after the skirmish with Agis' army, the Four Hundred
turned to the problem of relations with the Athenian forces on Samos. 39
The plot to overthrow the Athenian democracy had originated there
and included a design to establish an oligarchy on Samos as well, but
things had not gone according to plan. Even before the coup in Athens,
perhaps in March of 4 I I, Peisander had persuaded some of the leading
men on Samos to try to set up an oligarchy on the island."" These men
had taken part in the democratic revolution of the previous year, but
now Peisander was able to convince them to change sides. They formed
themselves into a conspiracy of Three Hundred, took a common oath,
and planned an attack on their former collaborators in the democratic
faction that ruled Samos. It would be interesting to know why they
were willing to turn against the new Samian democracy so soon after
they had taken part in its establishment, but neither Thucydides nor
any other ancient writer tells us. Perhaps they merely sought to increase
their own power and advantage within the Samian ruling group,
or perhaps they judged that the future of Athens lay witli the oligarchs
and wanted to gain favor and advantage by joining them." In any
case, they proceeded in the same way as the oligarchic conspirators at
Athens: by means of terror. Acting in concert with the general Charminus
and other Athenian oligarchs on Samos, they murdered Hyperbolus,
who had lived on the island since his ostracism in 4I6. The
infamous Athenian demagogue must have had some prominent place
in the democratic movement on Samos, because Thucydides says that
the Samian Three Hundred regarded their role in the assassination as
"giving a pledge of good faith" to the Athenian oligarchs!'
This was only one of several similar acts, but instead of paralyzing
their opponents with fear, these acts of terror alerted them to the danger
and moved them to defend themselves. The Samian democrats went
for help to those Athenians whom they trusted above all others to be
l 9 8.72.1-2. For the timing of their action, see 86.3; and HCT V, 184, 285.
40
8.6J.J; 73·2-J. For the date, see HCT V, 154.
41
For a discussion of the motives of the Samian Three Hundred, seeR. P. Legon,
Historia XXI (1972), 156.
428·73·3·