Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/399

 75, 76] THE PATRIOTISM OF THE FLEET 391 There was now an obstinate struggle ; the one party 76 determined to force democracy upon the city, the other to force oHgarchy ^J'"";^/'" /^ -^ ^ » J Ilirasybulus are elected upon the fleet. The soldiers proceeded qcnemls. The sailors to summon an assembly, at which they < "courage one another. deposed their former generals, and any '^"■ «'-^ /""' /" "^ .' o ; J iiiaiiv. They have re- trierarchs whom they suspected, and voitalfroynus,notive chose others. Among the new generals /'"'" ^"'"'- ^« receive Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus naturally '^'^ "'*'" "'' ^'"^'^^ •' •> J .Santos ; ive guard found a place. One after another the Piraeus; we can drive men rose and encouraged their com- 'hem off the sea. They rades by various arguments. 'We ""^"0 loss; they have •' ° neither ttwney iwr sense ought not to despond,' they said, ' be- norvirtue. AndAldb- cause the city has revolted from us, for ^"^l<-'s i-Hl gam over the they are few and we are many; they ^'"^' have lost us and not we them, and our resources are far greater. Having the whole navy with us we can compel the subject-states to pay us tribute as well as if we sailed forth from the Piraeus ; Samos is our own — no weak city, but one which in the Samian war all but wrested from Athens the dominion of the sea ; and the position which we hold against our Peloponnesian enemies is as strong as heretofore. And again, with the help of the fleet we are better able to obtain supplies than the Athenians at home. Indeed the only reason why the citizens have so long retained the command of the Piraeus is that we who are stationed at Samos are the advanced guard of the Piraeus itself And now if they will not agree to give us back the constitution, it will come to this — that we shall be better able to drive them off the sea than they us. 'I'he help which the city gives us against our enemies is poor and worthless; and we have lost nothing in losing them. They have no longer any money to send * (the soldiers were supplying themselves). 'They cannot aid us by good counsel ; and yet for what other reason do states exercise authority over armies? But in this respect too they are useless. They have gone altogether astray, and over- V01-. II. D d