Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/193

 ORDER OF THE TWO FLEETS. 171 fleet had the advantage of thirty triremes over him in number. He replied that flight was disgraceful, and that Sparta would be no worse off, even if he should perish. 1 The answer was one congenial to his chivalrous nature ; and we may well conceive, that, having for the last two or three months been lord and mas- ter of the sea, he recollected his own haughty message to Konon, and thought it dishonor to incur or deserve, by retiring, the like taunt upon himself. "We may remark too that the disparity of numbers, though serious, was by no means such as to render the contest hopeless, or to serve as a legitimate ground for retreat, to one who prided himself on a full measure of Spartan courage. The Athenian fleet was so marshalled, that its great strength was placed in the two wings ; in each of which there were sixty Athenian ships, divided into four equal divisions, each division commanded by a general. Of the four squadrons of fifteen ships each, two were placed in front, two to support them in the rear. Aristokrates and Diomedon commanded the two front squadrons of the left division, Perikles and Erasinides the two squadrons in the rear: on the right division, Protomachus and Thrasyllus commanded the two in front, Lysias and Aristogenes the two in the rear. The centre, wherein were the Samians and other allies, was left weak, and all in single line : it appears to have been exactly in front of one of the isles of Arginusae, while the two other divisions were to the right and left of that isle. We read with some surprise that the whole Lacedaemonian fleet was arranged by single ships, because it sailed better and manoeuvred better than the Athenians; who formed their right and left divisions in deep order, for the express purpose of hindering the enemy from performing the nautical manoeuvres of the diekplus and the periplus. 2 It would seem that the Athenian centre, hav- 1 Xcnoph. Hellcn.i, 6, 32 ; Diodor. xiii, 97, 98 ; the latter reports terrific omens beforehand for the generals. The answer has been a memorable one, more thr.n once adverted to, Plu- tarch. Laconic. Apophthegm, p. 832 ; Cicero, De Offh. i, 24. didotev x e 'P v yu-P Iftfaov. A/ 6e TUV tuautetfuviuif UVTITC- r t oav a-aaai M ^'c, wf Trpdc iiiKn7.ovv Kal TrepM.ovv Kapcantv- i, did. rO p&nov irfaiv. Contrast liis with Thueyd. ii, 84-89 (the speech of Thonnion), iv, 12; ii, 3C.
 * Xenoph. Hellcn. i, 6, 31. OVTU <F irdx^oav (ol 'Adrjvaioi) Iva pi)