Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/499

 FAULTS OF KLEON. 477 as a double compliment to the judgment as well as boldness of Brasidas, that no other Lacedaemonian general of that day perhaps, not even Demosthenes, the most enterprising general of Athens, would have ventured upon an attack with so very small a band, re- lying altogether upon the panic produced by his sudden movement. But the absence of military knowledge and precaution is not the worst of Kleon's faults on this occasion. His want of cour- age at the moment of conflict is yet more lamentable, and divests his end of that personal sympathy which would otherwise have accompanied it. A commander who has been out-generalled is under a double force of obligation to exert and expose himself, to the uttermost, in order to retrieve the consequences of his own mistakes. He will thus at least preserve his own personal honor, whatever censure he may deserve on the score of deficient knowl- edge and judgment. 1 What is said about the disgraceful flight of Kleon himself, must be applied, with hardly less severity of criticism, to the Athenian hoplites under him. They behaved in a manner alto- gether unworthy of the reputation of their city ; especially the left wing, which seems to have broken and run away without waiting to be attacked. And when we read in Thucydides, that the men who thus disgraced themselves were among the best, and the best-armed hoplites in Athens ; that they came out un- willingly under Kleon ; that they began their scornful murmurs against him before he had committed any fault, despising him for backwardness when he was yet not strong enough to attempt anything serious, and was only manifesting a reasonable prudence in waiting the arrival of expected reinforcements ; when we read this, we shall be led to compare the expedition against Amphip- olis with former manoeuvres respecting the attack of Sphakteria, and to discern other causes for its failure besides the military incompetence of the commander. These hoplites brought out with them from Athens the feelings prevalent among the political adversaries of Kleon. The expedition was proposed and carried by him, contrary to their wishes : they could not prevent it, but 1 Contrast the brave death of the Lacedaemonian general Anaxibius, when he found himself out-generallcd and surprised by the Athenian Iphikrates (Xenooh. Hellen. iv, 8, 38).