Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/406

 884 HISTORY OF GREECE. proved a great impediment to this measure, the king was farthei induced to invite the satrap Pharnabazus up to court, and to honor him with his daughter in marriage ; leaving the satrapy of Das- kylium under the temporary administration of Ariobarzanes, a personal friend and guest of Antalkidas. 1 Thus armed against all contingencies, Antalkidas and Tiribazus returned from Susa to the coast of Asia Minor in the spring of 387 B. c., not only bearing the formal diploma ratified by the king's seal, but commanding ample means to carry it into effect ; since, in addition to the full forces of Persia, twenty additional triremes were on their way from Syracuse and the Greco-Italian towns, sent by the despot Diony- sius to the aid of the Lacedaemonians. 2 On reaching the coast, Antalkidas found Nikolochus with his fleet of twenty-five sail blocked up in Abydos by the Athenians under Iphikrates ; who with thirty-two sail were occupying the European side of the Hellespont. He immediately repaired to Abydos by land, and took an early opportunity of stealing out by night with his fleet up the strait towards the Propontis ; spreading the rumor that he was about to attack Chalkedon, in concert with a party in the town. But he stopped at Perkote, and lay hid in that harbor until he saw the Athenian fleet (which had gone in pursuit of him upon the false scent laid out) pass by towards Pro- konnesus. The strait being now clear, Antalkidas sailed down it again to meet the Syracusan and Italian ships, whom he safely joined. Such junction, with a view to which his recent manoeuvre had been devised, rendered him more than a match for his enemies. He had further the good fortune to capture a detached Athenian squadron of eight triremes, which Thrasybulus (a second Athenian citizen of that name) was conducting from Thrace to join the main Athenian fleet hi the Hellespont. Lastly, additional reinforce- ments also reached Antalkidas from the zealous aid of Tiribazus and Ariobarzanes, insomuch that he found himself at the head of no less than eighty triremes, besides a still greater number which were under preparation in the various ports of Ionia. 3 Such a fleet, the greatest which had been seen in the Hellespont 1 Xen. Hellen. v, 1, 28. 2 Xen. Hellen. v, 1, 25-27. the prosecution of the war against Evagoras.
 * Diodor. xv, 2. These triremes were employed in the ensuing year foi