Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/211

 DOUBTS ABOUT 11IE STORM 18fj would probably be found officers and men to volunteer, against the most desperate risks, in a cause so profoundly moving all their best sympathies. Now, unfortunately for the character of Athe- nian generals, otllcers, and men, at Arginusae, for the blame belongs, though in unequal proportions, to all of them, thero exists here strong presumptive proof that the storm on this occa- sion was not such as would have deterred any Grecian seamen animated by an earnest and courageous sense of duty. "We have only to advert to the conduct and escape of Eteonikus and the Peloponnesian fleet from Mitylene to Chios ; recollecting that Mitylene was separated from the promontory of Kane on the Asiatic mainland, and from the isles of Arginusoe, by a channel only one hundred and twenty stadia broad, 1 about fourteen Eng- lish miles. Eteonikus, apprized of the defeat by the Peloponne- sian official signal-boat, desired that boat to go out of the harbor, and then to sail into it again with deceptive false news, to the effect that the Peloponnesians had gained a complete victory : he then directed his seamen, after taking their dinners, to depart immediately, and the masters of the merchant vessels silently to put their cargoes aboard, and get to sea also. The whole fleet, triremes and merchant vessels both, thus went out of the harbor of MitylenS and made straight for Chios, whither they arrived in safety; the merchant vessels carrying their sails, and having what Xenophon calls " a fair wind." 2 Now it is scarcely possi- him, forcing them to adhere to the statement first made, of the all-suffi- ciency of the storm. The main facts which we here find established, even by the enemies of Theramenus, are: 1. That Theramenes accused the generals because ho found himself in danger of being punished for the neglect. 2. That his ene- mies, who charged him with the breach of duty, did not admit the storm as an excuse for him. l Strabo, xiii, p. 617. 1 Xcnoph. Hellen. i, 6, 37. 'EreovtKOf 6c, eneidri tKdvoi (the signal-boat, with news of the pretended victory) KdTETrheov, K-&VE rd tfayyffaatt Kal roif OTpaTiuratf irapTjyyE&E 6EiirvoxoiEif4VT)v, rd orpaTo-edov t/iirpqffaf. Kovuv 6e Kaddifvaaf Tuf rai;, incl ol TE Ttohifuoi fazo6E6piiKE ffav t K a I 6 uvsfiof EvdiaiTEpof r) v, unavTqaaf Toif 'At?;/. vaioif i/tir/ avijy/tEVOif f/c TUV 'Apyivovauv, tQpaac TU TEpl 'ErEovinov. One sees, by the expression used by Xenophon respcctins the proceedings