Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/311

 17-19] BLOCKADE OF MYTILENt I95 the end ». The sailors in the fleet all received the same pay as the soldiers. So great was the drain on the resources of the Athenians in the early part of the war, and such was the largest number of ships which they ever manned. While the Lacedaemonians were at the isthmus, the 18 Mytilenaeans and their auxiliaries marched asrainst Methymna, which ,"^ ytcuaeans they expected to be betrayed to them, aUc»i/>i upon Methym- but, making an assault, and finding '"'• TheMethymnacans ., . . t • , 1 ,1 i. rr attack Antissa, but arc that they were mistaken, they went of! , r, j ^ r •> ' •' dcjeatea. Kctnjorce- to Antissa, Pyrrha, and Eresus ; and, ments from Athens having strengthened the walls of these «-"'"'^ "»*'' Pachcs,^, J .ii-ijii'-, .• ivho blockades Mytilene places and established their interest in ^ ^^^^^ them, they hastily returned. As soon as they had retired, the Methymnaeans retaliated by making an expedition against Antissa ; but the people of Antissa and their auxiliaries sallied out and defeated them with heavy loss ; the survivors made a hasty retreat. The Athenians heard that the Mytilenaeans were masters of the country, and that their own troops in Lesbos were not sufificient to confine them within the walls. So about the beginning of autumn they sent to Mytilene, under the command of Pachcs the son of Epicurus, a thousand Athenian hoplites who handled the oars themselves. On arriving, they surrounded the town with a single line of wall ; and in some strong places forts were erected which formed part of the wall. Thus Mytilene was effectually blockaded both by sea and by land. The winter now began to set in. The Athenians, being in want of money to carry on the 19 siege, raised among themselves for the ^,^^ Athenians raise first time a property-tax of two hun- a property-tax; and dred talents i and sent out twelve Lysides is sent to coi.'e^t ,, ., ,, ,,. tribute : he is killed in ships to collect tribute among the allies, (-^,.;^ under the command of Lysicles and four others. He sailed to various places and exacted O 2
 * Cp. i. 64 med. ; ii. 58 med. '' /;40,ooo.