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

360 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN FMPIRE
captains gave orders to their crews to begin the operation but encountered
resistance. The men, Diodorus tells us, "because of their suffering
in the battle and because of the great size of the waves, argued
against picking up the corpses."" It is tempting to believe that here
his source has preserved the words spoken, for it would be natural for
men, worn out after a lengthy battle and frightened by a storm growing
stronger by the minute, to put the best face on their reluctance by
speaking as if there were no survivors any longer but only corpses for
which no lives should be risked. Perhaps this is what led Diodorus to
write only of corpses throughout his account. However that may be,
the captains were unable to get the men to move before the storm grew
so violent as to prevent any attempt to go to sea. The early appearance
and severity of the storm would be a key element in later discussions
of who was responsible for the failure of rescue and recovery, and
Grote has doubted both: "There exists here strong presumptive proof
that the storm on this occasion was not such as would have deterred
any Grecian seamen animated by an earnest and courageous sense of
duty. nis
The proof that Grote adduces is that when Eteonicus got word of
the Athenian victory, he sailed safely from Mytilene to Chios with the
help of a "fair wind. " 19 If the weather was good between Mytilene and
Chios, a route bringing his ships close by Arginusae, how could there
have been a storm near Arginusae violent enough to prevent the rescue?
There is, however, no contradiction; in fact, the evidence supports the
idea that a storm arose near Arginusae at a time and with such a violence
that it prevented attempts to recover men and corpses. Both ancient
accounts describe a storm gradually increasing in severity. Xenophon
reports heavy rain and a thunderstorm that prevented Callicratidas
from launching an attack the night before the battle and a wind and
"a great storm" that prevented the Athenians from rescuing their men
and from attacking Eteonicus at Mytilene. According to Xenophon,
Conon made his way from Mytilene to meet the forces at Arginusae
CXXX (1919), 21, n. 1. Since there were thousands of men who knew the truth, the
generals could not have misrepresented it.
17 13. 100.2. Diodorus places this before the return to Arginusae, which is impossible.
We should not, however, reject his evidence on that account. l-Ie might well have
confused, as he often does, the time that the events really took place. I accept the
historicity of his narrative here but put it in what seems to be its proper context.
18
Vlll, t89.
I'JXen. 1.6.37: -"l)v 8~ TO 'li"V€Uf.Lct oUpwv.