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

380 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN FMPIRE
and the mainland cities friendly to Sparta without opposition. 7 The
allies, therefore, had met at Ephesus to take concerted action. Their
ambassadors reported the situation and asked the Spartans to restore
Lysander to the navarchy, and they were joined in their mission by
representatives of Cyrus who made the same request. 8 Since the war
must continue and the support of the allies and the Persians was necessary,
the Spartans could not refuse. Athens' rejection of the peace
probably discredited the opponents of Lysander and his policy in any
case, so most Spartans would have supported his restoration. A constitutional
difficulty, however, stood in the way. The law forbade
anyone to hold the powerful navarchy twice, but the Spartans got
around it easily enough by appointing Aracus navarch and Lysander
as his epistoleus. Normally, the epistoleus was the navarch's secretary,
as the word implies, and vice-admiral, taking command in case of the
death of the admiral. On this occasion, the appointments were a legal
fiction and reality the reverse of appearances. There was no doubt that
Lysander was in command of the fleet!
Lysander set out toward the end of the winter of 406/5 with a force
of thirty-five ships collected from the Peloponnesus. He landed not at
Miletus but at his old headquarters on Ephesus, ordered Eteonicus to
bring his fleet there from Chios, and sent word to collect any other
allied ships that might be available. At the same time, he ordered new
ships to be built at Antandrus and set to work repairing and improving
his fleet at Ephesus.'" The shift of bases had the same significance as
in his previous command: Ephesus was better located in respect to
access to the Hellespont, it provided easier communication with Cyrus,
and it was friendly both to Sparta and Lysander." At this moment,
however, it had still a further meaning, marking the first of a series
of departures from the policy of Callicratidas. Lysander's first need
was money, and he wasted little time before going to Sardis to see
Cyrus. The prince was compelled to report that all of the money
provided by the Great King had been spent. In fact, Cyrus had spent
7 0iod. IJ.IOO.
8
Xen. z.1.6-7; Diod. q.wo.]-8; Plut. Lys. ].I.
9 Xen. 2. 1.7; Diod. IJ.Ioo.S; Plut. Lys. 7.2. Xenophon says "nevertheless they gave
the ships over to Lysander"; Plutarch says "in reality he was in command of everything";
Diodorus says the Spartans "ordered Aracus to obey Lysander in everything." Diodorus
makes a mistake in saying that Lysander went along as a private citizen.
10
Xen. 2.1.10; Diod. IJ-104-J.
11 See above 1 JOI-JOZ.