Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/351

 IO-I2] ALCIBIADES AND HIS FRIEND ENDIUS 343 to assist the Peloponnesian ships, and the other inhabi- tants of the country quickly followed them. Foreseeing how great would be the labour of keeping guard on so desolate a spot, the Peloponnesians knew not what to do ; they even entertained the idea of burning their ships, but on second thoughts they determined to draw them high up on shore, and to keep guard over them with their land- forces stationed near, until some good opportunity of escape should occur. Agis was informed of their condition, and sent Thermon, a Spartan, to them. The first tidings which had reached Sparta were to the effect that the ships had left the Isthmus (the Ephors having told Alcamenes to send a horseman announcing the fact), and immediately they determined to send out the five ships of their own which they had ready, under the command of Chalcideus, who was to be accompanied by Alcibiades. But when they were on the point of departure, a second messenger re- ported that the other squadron had been chased into Piraeum ; and then, disheartened by finding that they had begun the Ionian war with a failure, they determined to give up sending the ships from Laconia, and even to recall some others which had already sailed. Alcibiades, seeing the state of affairs, advised Endius 12 and the Ephors to persevere in the 7-, •. , _ ^ "^ ^ / hey are going to do expedition. They would arrive, he nothing -, bitt Alcibiades said, before the Chians had heard of insists that the Lacedae- -u„-j 1 Ti-u L" TT nionian contingent shall the misadventure of the ships. He, ^ , , ' at once put to sea, would himself, as soon as he reached Ionia, represent to the cities the weakness of the Athenians and the alacrity of the Lacedaemonians, and they would revolt at once; for they would believe him sooner than any one. To Endius he argued in private '•''that he would win honour if he were the instrument of effecting a revolt in Ionia, and of gaining the alliance of the King*^; he " Or, ' that he would win honour by effecting through his (Alcibiades') agency a revolt in Ionia and gaining the alliance of the King.' VOL. II. A a