Callias: A Tale of the Fall of Athens

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XVI.

  TO PHARNABAZUS.

  There was little sleep that night for the inhabitants of the castle ofBisanthe. Every one felt that the situation was full of peril. If it hadnot been for the confidence which every one brought into contact withAlcibiades felt in his capacities of leadership there would have beensomething like a panic. As it was, the garrison awaited with calmness,though not without intense anxiety, the course of action which theircommander would take for himself, and recommend to them. They were notkept long in suspense.

  Shortly after dawn the notes of a trumpet were heard through the castlegiving the well known signal by which a general assembly of the garrisonwas called. A few minutes sufficed to collect the men. The meeting washeld in the central court of the castle, and Alcibiades, taking hisstand on the topmost step of an outside staircase which led up to one ofthe chambers, addressed them.

  "Comrades," he said, "you have heard of the disaster by which Athens haslost its last fleet. I will blame no man for what happened or inquirewhether it might not have been averted--"

  The speaker was interrupted by loud cries of "Long live Alcibiades, theinvincible!"

  A flush of pleasure passed over the speaker's face, but he made agesture imperative of silence, and continued.

  "The only thing that remains for us is to consider what it is mostexpedient to do. Here, my friends, we cannot stay. Bisanthe indeed,protected by its situation, its walls, and stout hands and tried valor,it would not be easy to take. But, with both sea and land hostile, withall the country and cities from which we have drawn our supplies in thehands of the Spartans, we cannot long continue to hold it. What thenshall we do? You, my friends, I can only advise, for from this day I ofnecessity cease to command. Go, then, I would say, to King Seuthes, andoffer yourselves to him. He will receive you kindly. Brave men--and yourvalor has been shown times without number--are always valued and honoredby him, and now that, for a time at least, the Spartans and their allieshave became supreme in these parts, he will want men more than ever. Ifyou require it, you shall have my good word; but your reputation willspeak for you more effectually than I can. My gratitude to you, who haveserved me so well, I can never express. Yet such return as I can makeshall not be left undone. The paymaster will pay you all arrears of pay,with a donation of thrice as much again."

  A loud burst of applause followed this announcement.

  The speaker continued: "This gift would be many times greater, if mymeans were equal to my sense of your courage and your services. Fromsome of you I have a favor to ask. It is not expedient publicly todeclare my plans; but I may say that I shall need a few associates inthem. For these I shall not ask you, not because I am doubtful ofraising them, but because I know that you would all offer yourselves--"

  A roar of assent went up from the whole assembly.

  "I have already exercised the choice which in any case I should havebeen compelled afterwards to make. Twelve companions--more I amforbidden by circumstances to take--will go with me. To the rest I say,'Farewell.' The gods grant that at some happier time we may again renderour service to Athens and to Greece. Till then, Farewell!"

  A loud answering cry of farewell went up from the men, which was renewedagain and again as the speaker entered the room at the head of thestaircase. Here the twelve chosen associates were assembled, Callias andHipparchus, the messenger from the scene of the late conflict, making upthe number to fourteen. Alcibiades addressed them:

  "I have long since anticipated and prepared myself for this misfortunewhich has now overtaken us, though the blow has fallen more suddenly andmore heavily than I had feared. To you, my chosen friends, I reveal thecounsels which it would not have been expedient to publish to amultitude. Briefly they are these: Lysander has conquered by the help ofthe Persians, for had it not been for the gold of Cyrus, his fleet couldnever have been kept together. We also must go to the Persians for help.It is an evil necessity, I confess, that makes free-born Greeks courtthe favor of their slaves; but a necessity it is. And the time favors usfor using it. Cyrus covets the throne of Persia which he claims againsthis elder brother Artaxerxes as having been born after his father'saccession whereas Artaxerxes was born before it. As Lysander, then, hasused Cyrus against us, so we must use Artaxerxes against Cyrus. 'How,'you will ask, 'is Artaxerxes to be approached?' Through Pharnabazus, theSatrap, with whom I have a warm friendship of now some years' standing.To Pharnabazus, therefore, I now purpose to go. I shall demand of himthat which he will himself be most willing to grant--for he is no friendto Cyrus--that he send me up to Susa. This Themistocles did before me;but he, at least in word, went as the enemy of his country, thoughindeed he was unwilling to harm it. I shall go, both in word and indeed, as its friend. And now for other things. For my most valuablepossessions I have prepared hiding-places. Much I shall leave to KingSeuthes, to whom I sent a message concerning my immediate departure.This morning, my friends, I would ask you to receive at my hands ayear's pay. Do not hesitate to receive it; I can give it now, I may notbe able so to do a year hence. We will start this day at sunset. Thereis no time to be lost. To-morrow, I doubt not, or the next day at thelatest, Lysander will be here."

  With Callias, after the rest had departed to make preparations for theirdeparture, Alcibiades had some private conversation as to the subject ofways and means.

  "You must let me be your banker," he began by saying.

  Callias thanked him heartily, but declined to receive anything more thanwould suffice for immediate needs.

  "You may as well take it," returned his host, "there is a good deal morehere than I can take with me; and why should you not? For myself, Icarry most of my possessions about with me in this fashion,"--and heshowed a leather purse filled with pearls and precious stones. "Gold istoo cumbrous to carry in any quantity. This no man will take as long asI am alive. Besides this, my worthy friend Hippocles, who, as you know,is as trustworthy as the treasury of Delphi, has most of my property inhis hands. And, if we once get safely to Pharnabazus, we need nottrouble any more about this matter. I must do the Persians the justiceto say that they are always open-handed. And they can afford to be. Itis not too much to say that for one talent of gold that we have inGreece they have at least a hundred. Any one who should have theransacking of one of their great treasure cities--and they have othersbesides Susa; Babylon, for instance, and Persepolis and Pasargadae--wouldsee something that would astonish them. And"--he added, with a profoundsigh--"if only things had gone straight, I might have been the man."

  The journey along the northern shore of the Propontis was accomplishedin safety. No Spartan ship had as yet made its way so far eastward. At alittle town on the Asiatic shore Alcibiades provided his party withhorses for riding and serviceable mules for the conveyance of theirbaggage and of such a selection of his own possessions as he had thoughtit well to take with him. The old sailor Hipparchus here wanted to leavethem, and to make his way to Byzantium, where he had relatives. Theremainder Alcibiades addressed before setting out, to the followingeffect:

  "We have to make our way to Gordium in Phrygia, for it is there that, ifhe keeps to his usual habits, we shall find the Satrap Pharnabazus. Heis accustomed to winter there. But we shall not find it easy to getthere. These Bithynians are not effeminate Asiatics, a hundred of whomwill fly before five stout Greeks. They are Thracians from the otherside of the sea, and we all know how hard are their heads, and howstrong their arms. We cannot force our way through them; we must eludethem if we can."

  The route which the party followed lay for some time within sight of thesea. This was commonly followed by travellers, as the mountaineersseldom ventured within the border of the maritime plain. When they hadreached the head of the Gulf of Olbia they struck inland. The roadusually followed would have taken them by the valley of Sangarius, ariver which divides the great chain of the Mysian Olympus. Their guidestrongly dissuaded them from taking it. It was constantly watched, hesaid, by the mountaineers. No one could hope to escape them, and only av
ery strong party could force its way through. The safest plan would beby certain paths which he knew, and by which they might hope to crossOlympus unmolested. Only hunters and shepherds know them, or a chancetraveller on foot for whom it would not be worth the robbers' while towait. It was a toilsome and even dangerous journey. The first snows ofAutumn had began to fall, and even the practical eye of the guide foundit difficult to discover the path, while the sufferings of thetravellers, who had to bivouac for several nights in the open air, withbut scanty fire to warm them, were exceedingly severe. Still, but forone unlucky incident, it would have been accomplished in safety. Theparty was now half-way down the southern slopes of Olympus when theyhalted for the night at a roadside inn, or rather caravansary. Theyfound the large reception chamber--it contained two only--alreadyoccupied by a party of the vagrant priests of Cybele. While Alcibiadesand Callias found accommodation, such as it was, in the smaller room,the rest of the party were thrown upon the hospitality of the priests,unless indeed, they chose to bivouac outside. Unluckily, the priestswere only too hospitable. They invited the new comers to anentertainment which was prolonged into a revel. During the passage ofthe mountains the allowances of food had been small, and for drink theparty had had perforce to be satisfied with the wayside springs or evenwith melted snow. When they found themselves under shelter, in a roomwhich was at least weather-tight, and warmed with a blazing fire, thesense of contrast tended to relax their powers of self-restraint. Thepriests had roasted a couple of sheep, and broached a cask of the headywine of Mount Tmolus, with which a wealthy devotee had presented them.This they drank, and insisted on their guests drinking, unmixed. By thetime the mutton bones had been picked bare, and the cask drained to itsdregs, not a man out of the twelve was sober. A heavy slumber, lastinglate into the morning, was the natural consequence of this debauch, andwhen the sleepers were at last aroused, they set about the preparationfor a start in a very languid fashion. It was nearly noon before theparty was fairly on its way. Darkness came on before the next stagecould be reached. It was while the travellers were bivouacking in awholly unprotected situation that a company of marauders, who had indeedbeen watching their movements for some days in the hopes of finding suchan opportunity, fell upon them. The result was disastrous. Alcibiadesand Callias, who had been sleeping with their horses picketed close totheir camp fire, were roused by the noise, and springing to theirsaddles made their escape. Not one of their followers was equallyfortunate. Some were cut down in their sleep, others as they wereendeavoring to collect their senses. The sumpter-horses and theirburdens of course fell into the hands of the assailants. It was onlywith what they carried on their own persons that the two survivors ofthe party made their way about six days afterward to the Satrap's winterpalace at Gordium.