Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/393

375 KEVOLT OF MILE 1' US. 375 now took advantage of their forwardness in the cause to make n,n attempt on Miletus. He was eager to acquire this important city, the first among all the continental allies of Athens, by his own resources and those of Chios, before the fleet could arrive from Peiraum ; in order that the glory of the expkit might be insured to Endius, and not to Agis. Accordingly, he and Chal- kideus left Chios with a fleet of twenty-five triremes, twenty of them Chian, together with the five which they themselves had brought from Laconia : these last five had been remanned with Chian crews, the Peloponnesian crews having been armed as hoplites and left as garrison in the island. Conducting his voyage as secretly as possible, he was fortunate enough to pass unob- served by the Athenian station at Samos, where Strombichides had just been reinforced by Thrasykles with the twelve fresh triremes from the blockading fleet at Peiraeum. Arriving at Mi- letus, where he possessed established connections among the leading men, and had already laid his train, as at Chios, for revolt, Alkibiades prevailed on them to break with Athens forth- with : so that when Strombichides and Thrasykles, who came in pursuit the moment they learned his movements, approached, they found the port shut against them, and were forced to take up a station on the neighboring island of Lade. So anxious were the Chians for the success of Alkibiades in this enterprise, that they advanced with ten fresh triremes along the Asiatic coast as far as Anasa, opposite to Samos, in order to hear the result and to render aid if required. A message from Chalkideus ap- prized them that he was master of Miletus, and that Amorges, the Persian ally of Athens at lasus, was on his way at the head of an army ; upon which they returned to Chios, but were unexpectedly seen in the way oft' the temple of Zeus, between Lebedos and Kolophon and pursued, by sixteen fresh ships just arrived from Athens, under the command of Diomedon. Of the ten Chian triremes, one found refuge at Ephesus, and five at Teos : the remaining four were obliged to run ashore and became prizes, though the crews all escaped. In spite of this check, how- ever, the Cliians came out again with fresh ships and some land- forces, as soon as the Athenian fleet had gone back to Samos, and procured the revolt both of Lebedos and Era frori Athens. 1 1 Thuovfl. viii. 17-19.