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

THE FALL OF ATHENS 393
have helped Lysander if the Athenians had performed as they should.
Had they been ready to move as soon as Lysander attacked Philocles'
squadron, their stratagem could have worked. It was not a breach of
security that decided the battle of Aegospotami but the training, discipline,
and execution made possible by a unified conunand under a
talented leader.
There is evety reason to think that Lysander had hoped to be presented
with an opportunity like the one he had been given at Notium,
and when it arose, he was quick to seize it. He set out quickly to cut
off Philocles' route to Sestos, so that when he attacked and routed
Philocles' squadron, the pursuit was toward the rest of the Athenian
fleet at Aegospotami (see Map I 3). The Athenians there were taken
by surprise; they had not expected to see the Spartan fleet bearing
down on their base, chasing the squadron of Philocles before it. Confusion
struck the Athenian camp, and many ships were still on the
beach without men or only partially manned. Lysander, quickly grasping
the situation, put ashore a corps of soldiers under the command
of Eteonicus, and they were able to gain control of part of the Athenian
camp. Meanwhile, Lysander had defeated whatever Athenian ships
had come out against him and had begun to drag away the beached
Athenian ships with grappling hooks. Since the Athenians had no
organized land force with which to resist Eteonicus, and most of their
fleet could not get out to sea, they had no chance. After a brief resistance,
they ran from the camp and the ships, fleeing to safety in
every direction, most of them ultimately getting away to Sestos. Ten
Athenian ships managed to escape. Conon commanded one of them;
remembering the generals of Arginusae and "fearing the anger of the
people," he did not return to Athens but sought asylum at Cyprus
with his personal friend, the tyrant Evagoras. The remaining I 70
Athenian triremes were destroyed or captured. 59 Lysander had won a
"Cyzicus" in reverse, but the Athenians, unlike the Spartans in 410,
had no ally to whom they could turn for help in restoring their fortunes.
The Athenians' resources were exhausted; they could not again build
a fleet to replace the one lost at Aegospotami. Athens had lost the war;
the only questions that remained were how long it would hold out
before surrendering and what terms the Athenians could obtain.
After the battle, Lysander returned to Lampsacus with his captured
19
Diod. 13.106.•-6.