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

CYRUS, LYSANDER, AND THE FALL OF ALCIBIADES
pi
battle order. But the Cymaeans refused the challenge, the Alcibiades
had to content himself with some further pillaging of the neighborhood
before sailing to Mytilene. This fiasco not only compounded the defeat
at Notium but also provided additional charges for his enemies to use
against him. n 2
Meanwhile, events in Attica had undermined the confident and
hopeful mood that had raised Alcibiades to the heights of popularity.
Some time after Alcibiades' departure in October, Agis had learned
that the best Athenian soldiers had gone to Asia with him and had
decided to attack Athens in their absence. He may have been moved
by the fear that another Atiienian naval victory might bring the faction
in Sparta favoring peace to power and that tiiis time they might offer
terms that would give Athens victory. Perhaps he thought only of
taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the city when a significant
force of hoplites and cavalrymen were away. In any case, he garnered
a large force of Peloponnesian and Boeotian hoplites, light-armed
troops, and cavalry at Decelea and marched from there to the walls
of Athens on a dark night."' The Athenians repelled the attack and
forced the large enemy force to be satisfied with ravaging Attica before
dispersing, 114 but it must have caused some nervousness.
In this mood the Athenians received the news of the defeat at Notium
and me complaints of an embassy from Cyme. The time had come
for Alcibiades' enemies to have their day. One of the most notorious
of them was Thrasybulus, me son of Thraso. 115 He came from the
camp on Samos, where, as we have seen, morale was low. The trierarchs
must have been outraged at being passed over in favor of a
kybernetes who had brought disaster, and they bitterly blamed the man
responsible. No doubt their anger spread to the men, and we need not
think that Thrasybulus spoke only for himself when he attacked Alcibiades.
In the Athenian assembly, he blamed the disaster at Notium
on the supreme commander of the expedition. Alcibiades, he claimed,
112Diod. 13·73·J-6.
wDiod. IJ-72-J-4· Neither Xenophon nor any other ancient writer mentions this
attack. Since it failed and had no material effect on the course of the war, its omission
is not surprising. As Hatzfeld (Alcibiade, 3 16, n. 1) says, there is no reason to confound
this large undertaking with the small raid Agis undertook in 410, which is mentioned
o~r, br Xenophon (1. '- 33-34).
Dtod. IJ-72-4-73·2.
wPiut. Ale. 36.1. This man is not to be confused with the famous Thrasybulus of
Steiria, the son ofLycus, general at Cynossema, Abydos, and Cyzicus, and supporter
of Alcibiades.