their dominion over the many. As to the barbarians As he began his retreat, the barbarians came up with their usual clamour, expecting an easy victory over a yielding foe. But when they found their first onset steadily repulsed, and were repeatedly charged by the parties in reserve, while in the intervals of quiet they gained the army continued to retreat in good order, they were soon dispirited; and, leaving a small part of their force to hover on the rear of the Greeks, the main body pushed forward to overtake the flying Macedonians, and to secure the defile through which Brasidas was to pass. They made such speed as to cut off many of the Macedonian stragglers; and when Brasidas came up, he saw the heights which bordered each side of the pass already occupied by a small body of the barbarians, while the rest were proceeding to surround him. But before they had quite completed this movement, he ordered his band of 300 to go before at full speed and dislodge the party which had possession of one of the heights. This was happily accomplished; and before the barbarians had recovered from the confusion into which they were thrown by this attack, the Greeks, under cover of their victorious comrades, had cleared the defile, and, having crossed the Lyncestian border, prosecuted their march un CHAP. XXIII. CHAP. XXIII. molested through the dominions of Perdiccas, and the same day reached the Macedonian town of Arnissa. On the road they now overtook a part of the baggage which had been left behind by the fugitives, whose desertion had exposed them to their recent peril, and they at once gratified their resentment and their love of plunder, by slaughtering the oxen which drew the carts, and by seizing every thing of value that fell in their way. This hostile proceeding made a deeper impression than might have been expected on the mind of Perdiccas, who, probably coupling it with the disregard which Brasidas had shown to his interests, and ascribing it to his animosity, began to conceive a jealousy and aversion toward his Peloponnesian allies, which nearly balanced his inveterate hatred and dread of the Athenians, and disposed him to seek a reconciliation with his old enemy, which might rid him of his dangerous friends. Brasidas led his army back to Torone; and on his arrival learnt that Mende was already taken by an Athenian armament, which had been conducted against it in his absence by Nicias and Nicostratus. The Athenian generals had suffered a check before Mende in an attempt to dislodge Polydamidas from a strong position; but within the town the two parties soon began to disclose the opposite feelings with which they viewed the approach of the Athenians ; and when the Spartan commander attempted, somewhat roughly, to enforce obedience, the bulk of the citizens flew to their arms, fell upon the foreigners and their oligarchical partizans, and opened their gates. The Peloponnesians and all who adhered to them, supposing that the tumult was preconcerted with the enemy, took refuge in the citadel. The Athenians, who were close at hand, rushed into the town and plundered it, as one taken by storm; and it was with difficulty that the generals succeeded in preserving the lives of the inhabitants. They might indeed think themselves treated with unwonted clemency; for they were permitted, after having punished the authors of the revolt who remained in their power, to retain their ancient constitution. The citadel was invested, and the Athenian generals then marched against Scione. Here they succeeded in dislodging the enemy from a strong position outside the walls, and immediately began to break ground for a siege. While they were thus employed, the garrison of the citadel at Mende, having forced their way through the Athenian intrenchments, reached the sea-side, and under cover of night, with a slight loss, threw themselves into Scione. While the siege was in progress, Perdiccas concluded a negotiation, which he began soon after his return from Lyncestis, with Nicias and his colleague, who immediately called upon him for a proof of his sincerity. A reinforcement, under the command of Ischagoras, was known to be on its march to join Brasidas; and Nicias required the king to exert his influence in Thessaly to intercept it. This Perdiccas was now disposed to do for his own sake; and he induced his Thessalian friends-the same powerful men, who, against the general wishes of the nation, had conducted Brasidas through the country-to stop the passage of the troops. Ischagoras himself was allowed to proceed, accompanied by two colleagues, and by several other Spartans, who were sent to take the command in the revolted towns. Thucydides remarks, that these officers were all young men, and that to appoint persons of their age to such stations was a breach of the Spartan law or usage. The ephors probably perceived, and Brasidas himself may have suggested, that the service was one which required the energy of the prime of life, rather than the tardy prudence of a more advanced age; CHAP. XXIII. CHAP. XXIII. and perhaps the elder Spartans generally viewed his expedition, and the contest which he had begun in so remote a quarter, with no favourable eye. He entrusted the government of Amphipolis to Clearidas, and that of Torone to Pasitelidas. Nicias and his colleague, when they had completely invested Scione, leaving a sufficient garrison in the camp, led their armament home. The truce expired in the spring of 422; but hostilities were suspended, and negotiation carried on, some months longer. Brasidas seems never to have thought himself bound by the truce; for before the end of the winter, he made an attempt to surprise Potidea, by night; but was baffled by the vigilance of the Athenian garrison. He would have been glad to throw an additional obstacle in the way of peace, which threatened to interrupt his brilliant career and to consign him to a state of irksome inaction. From selfish motives of a baser kind, Cleon was no less desirous of prolonging the war, which afforded him constant opportunities of exciting the passions of the multitude, calumniating his adversaries, and enriching himself by extortion or peculation. After his fortunate adventure at Pylus, his influence had risen at home; and though in the same year his character and artifices were laid bare by the comic poet Aristophanes, in a dramatic satire which it might have seemed impossible for any reputation to sustain; and though, soon after, chiefly through a combination of the higher classes who formed an equestrian order which included a large share of the wealth and of the best spirit of the city, he was compelled by a legal prosecution to disgorge a sum of five talents, which he had extorted from some of the insular subjects of Athens; still in the assembly he was able to efface the impression which had been made at the theatre and in court, and continued to sway the counsels of the state. Fortunately he was himself intoxicated with his success, and had begun to conceive a high opinion of his own military talents. He had probably more than once contrasted the energy which he had displayed in his famous expedition with the negligence of Thucydides, and the tardiness of Nicias, and had persuaded both himself and others that he was the only man capable of arresting the progress of Brasidas, and of recovering the ground which had been lost in the north. He no longer desired the aid of a more experienced general, but persuaded the people to entrust him with the sole command of a squadron of 30 galleys, with 1200 heavy-armed, and 300 horse, the flower of the Athenian troops, and a still larger force of Lemnians and Imbrians, the finest men that the islands could furnish. Amphipolis was his ultimate and principal destination; but in his way he touched at Scione, and having taken on board a part of the besieging force, he crossed over to a port not far from Torone. Here he discovered that Brasidas was not in the town, and that the garrison left in it was inadequate to its defence; and he immediately landed with his main body, and marched against it, while ten galleys sailed round to surprise it on the side of the harbour. The enemy's weakness favoured him in both operations. He first assaulted a new wall with which Brasidas had enclosed a part of the outskirts. Pasitelidas and his little garrison were almost overpowered by superior numbers, when they were alarmed by the approach of the squadron which was entering the harbour, and, as the less important post, abandoned the suburb. But they were not in time to prevent the Athenians from landing, while the assailants scaled the unguarded wall, and poured into the heart of the town. Cleon sold the women and children as slaves, but sent all the men who survived the first CHAP. XXIII. |