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

8o
THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
tan fleet at Miletus, he barely missed disaster. An Athenian fleet of
thirty ships was sailing northward to Chios from Samos. 45 Their paths
would have crossed with dire results for Astyochus, who had only
sixteen ships, had not luck intervened. The two fleets anchored one
night at Corycus, near Erythrae, separated only by a headland that
concealed them from one another. Morning would have revealed their
presence, but a false rumor of treason at Erythrae drew Astyochus
away and caused him narrowly to escape running into the Athenians,
who suffered losses in a storm before making their way to Lesbos. 46
At Miletus Astyochus found morale good. The troops were still
enjoying the booty they had taken from Amorges, the Milesians were
cheerfully making their contribution to their maintenance, and "the
Peloponnesians still had everything they needed for their camp. " 47
Tissaphernes had paid a full month's salary, and the time must not
yet have come for a second installment. The satrap, moreover, had
caused a rebellion at Cnidus, and a Peloponnesian force under the
Spartan Hippocrates had arrived there. 48 Half of this force was put on
patrol duty at nearby T riopium to prey on merchant ships coming
from Egypt to Athenian ports, and the others remained to defend
Cnidus. The Athenians at Samos got word of the newly arrived fleet
and its intentions and launched an attack. They destroyed the ships
at Triopium, but their attacks on Cnidus failed. Cnidus remained in
the hands of Sparta and its allies, strategically situated to cause trouble
for Athens.
Even before Astyochus' arrival in Miletus the Spartans had been
negotiating a second agreement with Tissaphemes that came to be
known as the "treaty of Therimenes. " 49 Thucydides tells us that the
initiative for negotiating a new agreement came from the Spartans,
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48
8.35. 1. With him came a fleet of ten· ships from Thurii, which had lately fallen
into the hands of the anti-Athenian faction (Plut. Mor. SJsd-e), of which the Rhodian
exile and famous athlete Dorieus was the chief captain. In addition, there was one
Laconian ship and one from Syracuse, for a total of twelve.
49
8. 36.2; 43· J; 52. Scholars have had some difficulty with the notion that Therimenes,
apparently a subordinate official, should have negotiated a treaty that was then called
by his name. But the status of Therimenes does not seem to have been lower than that
of Chalcideus, whose role as negotiator of the previous treaty is not in doubt, and the
language of Thucydides indicates clearly his belief that Therimenes was responsible
for the agreement. There is no evidence that Astyochus or any other Spartan present
objected to any part of it.