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

THE WAR IN THE HELLESPONT 217
confidence he sailed along the coast to Methymna and ordered food
to be prepared for a long stay during which he would use Lesbos as
a base for attacking the Spartans at Chi os."
In his inexperience and his eagerness to accomplish everything at
once, Thrasyllus failed to carry out his major responsibility. As the
Athenians attacked the walls of Eresus in leisurely fashion, never thinking
that the Spartans could pass them unnoticed, Mindarus used his
opportunity." He stayed at Chios for only two days, just long enough
to take on food and some money for the dash northward. Well before
dawn on the third day, he sailed not in a westerly direction toward
the open sea, where the Athenians at Eresus would be more likely to
detect him, but eastward, toward the narrow waters between Lesbos
and the mainland." By noon he was safely at the Phocaean coast; he
had his evening meal opposite Mytilene, stopped again briefly in the
dark opposite Methymna, and about midnight dropped anchor safely
at Rhoeteum and Sigeum, at the mouth of the Hellespont. He had
traveled some 1 10 miles in about twenty hours, eluded the Athenians,
changed the theater of operations, and altered the course and nature
of the war. His was a daring and imaginative achievement worthy of
the highest praise. The Athenians' failure to prevent it was a serious
error that endangered the very existence of their city.
The eighteen Athenian ships stationed at Sestos received the news
of the Spartan fleet's arrival by fire signals from their lookouts on the
heights of Gallipoli, and the blaze of the Peloponnesian campfires on
the Asian shore opposite them confirmed it (see Map 8). 29 Confronted
by overwhelming numerical superiority, they had no choice but to try
to escape as quickly as possible before their path was blocked. They
set out at once under cover of darkness, keeping close to the European
shore of the straits, in the direction of Elaeus and the open sea. They
succeeded in escaping the notice of the sixteen Peloponnesian ships on
guard at Abydos, even though these ships had been alerted in advance
by a messenger ship sent by Mindarus to keep watch and prevent their
26
8.100. Diodorus (I].J8.7-39·•) offers a different explanation for the Athenians'
action. He says they went to Lesbos with only sixty ships and waited there for reinforcements
to arrive from their allies. Only three had arrived when they learned that
Mindarus had passed them, so they pursued him to the Hellespont. Thucydides'
account here is detailed and informed, and we should prefer it.
27 8.IOJ.2.
29
We must accept Haacke's emendation ,mJ, 1reA..&:yuu (8.101.1) with most editors
and against Grote. Sec Busolt, GG Ill:2, 1516, n. 2.
19 8.102.2.