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

32 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
motion-news of the Athenian disaster in Sicily. There is no chronological
barrier to such an interpretation, which seems far more attractive
than an unsupported reliance on Andocides. The Sicilian
defeat came in September, and the Persian mission to Sparta could
have come as late as March in the following year, a period of at least
five months, which was plenty of time for the Great King to get the
news, to decide on a change of policy, to communicate it to his satraps,
and for them to send embassies to Sparta. 33 If we accept the significance
of the Sicilian disaster in the Persian decision, the date of the Athenian
treaty with Amorges in relation to the Persian negotiations with Sparta
becomes less important, and we can better understand Thucydides'
lack of interest in precision on this point. After the news of Sicily
reached Persia, the Great King could be expected to seek the recovery
of his lost domain from a badly wounded Athens and to join with
Sparta to achieve those ends. If Amorges sought Athenian help in the
autumn or winter of 413!I2, the Athenians would not have been reckless
or foolish to accept. "It was their best chance of keeping the
Persians busy and giving them no opportunity to assist Sparta in 'liberating'
the cities of lonia. " 34 Whether the Persians had already begun
discussions with Sparta, as the silence of Thucydides powerfully argues,
or would do so soon, as acceptance of the chronology of Andocides
indicates, makes little difference. Reality required a positive
response. "In the desperate situation in which the Athenians found
themselves their decision to cooperate with Amorges was not foolhardy
but perfectly reasonable. " 35
That the envoys from the Persian satraps went not to Agis but
directly to Sparta was, no doubt, both normal and natural, although
they may also have learned of Agis' negotiations with the Euboeans
and Lesbians. They were not, in any case, acting in concert but as
rivals, each trying to win Spartan support for a rebellion against Athens
in his own province. Each wanted to bring back the Greek cities under
33
Lewis (Sparta and Persia, 87, n. 25) says of the chronology proposed here that "it
is likely to be a tight fit" and leans toward the theory of the Athenian treaty with
Amorges as a cause of the Persian volte face. He concedes that the other interpretation
"is perhaps possible," but his arguments against it are limited to the following assertion:
"it seems unlikely that the King can have had reliable news of it until well on in
November." On the contrary, such astonishing and important news would probably
have traveled faster than most. In any case, a November date for the king's reception
of the information in no way excludes the chronology suggested here.
34
A. G. Woodhead, Thucydides on the Nature of Power (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), I47·
35
Westlake, Phoenix XXXI (1977), 329.