Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/243

 fERROR AND SORROW AT ATHENS. 221 Adeimantus to this effect, 1 probably by letter written home from Cyprus, and perhaps by some formal declaration made several years afterwards, when he returned to Athens as victor from the battle of Knidus. The truth of the charge cannot be positively demonstrated, but all the circumstances of the battle tend to ren- der it probable, as well as the fact that Konon alone among all the generals was found in a decent state of preparation. Indeed we may add, that the utter impotence and inertness of the numerous Athenian fleet during the whole summer of 405 B.C. conspire to suggest a similar explanation. Nor could Lysander, master as he was of all the treasures of Cyrus, apply any por- tion of them more efficaciously than in corrupting the majority of the six Athenian generals, so as to nullify all the energy and ability of Konon. The great defeat of .ZEgospotami took place about September 405 B.C. It was made known at Peiraaus by the paralus, which arrived there during the night, coming straight from the Helles- pont. Such a moment of distress and agony had never been experienced at Athens. The terrible disaster in Sicily had become known to the people by degrees, without any authorized reporter ; but here was the official messenger, fresh from the scene, leaving no room to question the magnitude of the disaster or the irreparable ruin impending over the city. The wailing and cries of woe, first beginning in Peirteus, were transmitted by the guards stationed on the Long Walls up to the city. " On that night (says Xenophon) not a man slept ; not merely from sorrow for the past calamity, but from terror for the future fate with which they themselves were now menaced, a retribution for what they had themselves inflicted on the JEginetans, Melians, Skionasans, and others." After this night of misery, they met in public assembly on the following day, resolving to make the best Cornelius Ncpos (Lysand. c. 1 ; Alcib. c. 8) notices only the disorder of the Athenian armament, not the corruption of the generals, as having caused the defeat. Nor does Diodorus notice the corruption (xiii, 105). Both these authors seem to have copied from riicopompus, in describ- ing the battle of JEgospotami. His descriptor dilLrs on many point! from that of Xenophon (Theopomp. Fragm. 8, ed Didot) 1 Dcmosthen. dc Fals. Lcgat. p. 401, c. 57