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

THE WAR IN THE AEGEAN 3 5
part, must have come from his intelligent appraisal of the military and
diplomatic situation, but Alcibiades was always in a precarious situation
in Sparta. He needed to prove his value to his ever-suspicious
hosts, and the campaign in Ionia implied by the support of a Chian
revolt offered him a unique opportunity. He had important friends at
Miletus, Ephesus, and Chios in the Ionian region, where he might
hope to present himself to the Spartans as an "indispensable man. '?4 5
The Spartans, though inclined toward the view of Alcibiades and
Endius, proceeded with caution. They sent a perioikos (a non-Spartan
Laconian) named Phrynis to Chios to see if the Chian navy was as
large and the city's power as great as the Chians claimed. When he
returned with affirmative answers, the Spartans voted to take the
Chians and the Erythraeans, who lived across the bay from them, into
their alliance. They decided to send forty triremes of which ten should
sail immediately under their admiral, or navarch, Melanchridas to join
the Chian fleet of sixty ships. Before they could leave, however, toward
the end of the winter, perhaps in late February of 4 I 3, an earthquake
occurred. Taking this as a bad omen, they reduced the preliminary
mission to five ships and appointed Chalcideus to its command. 46 Even
then, they acted with characteristic deliberateness, for well into the
spring of 4 I 2 they had launched no fleet and had taken no other action.
The Chians, in fear that the Athenians would learn of the secret negotiations
and take steps to prevent the rebellion, pressed the Spartans
to send out a fleet at once. 47
45
The term is used by Hatzfeld, Alcibiade, 217. For Alcibiades' influence at Miletus,
see 8. 17.2. Andocides (Against Alcibiades 30) and Plutarch (Ale. 12. r) mention the honor
shown to Alcibiades by the Chians and Ephesians at the Olympic games. They also
mention the Lesbians in this connection. Satyrus (apud Ath. 12. 534d), a biographer
of the third century A.D., includes Cyzicus in the list of those paying tribute to
Alcibiades on this occasion. Lesbos is irrelevant to the choice before Alcibiades. Even
if Satyrus is right to include Cyzicus among the places where Alcibiades was influential
(pace Hatzfeld, Alcibiade, 217, n. 2), his influence there could not be as important as
his many connections in lonia, especially Chios.
46
8.6.4-5. Andrewes points out that earthquakes were taken seriously at Sparta and
normally would be enough to postpone an expedition entirely. He suggests that this
time "the omen was interpreted as showing divine displeasure with Melanchridas personally,
not with the enterprise as such" (HCT V, 19-20). Very likely that is the
interpretation that won out, but Spartan history is full of evidence indicating that the
interpretation of omens and other divine signs depended on the reigning political
climate. The determination to proceed with the expedition even in the face of so serious
an evil omen powerfully reveals the strength of the militant forces in Sparta and the
weakness of Pleistoanax and the conservative forces.
47
8.7. MS B offers the reading, &J..La 8€ T