Callias: A Tale of the Fall of Athens by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XIV.

  BISANTHE.

  Life at Bisanthe would, in any case, have been remarkably attractive toCallias. The taste for sport was hereditary with him, as it was withmost Athenians of his class. But, ever since his boyhood, circumstanceshad been altogether adverse to any indulgence of it. For a quarter of acentury an Athenian's life had been perforce a city life.[49] Thecountry outside the walls was not available for when it was not actuallyin the occupation of a hostile army, it was still in a state ofdesolation. Game, it is probable, had almost disappeared from it. It hadlong been too thickly populated for the larger animals to exist in it.These the sportsman had been obliged to seek in the mountain regions ofPhocis, Doris, and Thessaly. Now the smaller such as the hare, alwaysreckoned a special dainty in Athens, could scarcely be found, even whenit was possible to seek for it. Callias was delighted to find a totallydifferent condition of things at Bisanthe. Here there were to be foundfierce and powerful animals the pursuit of which gave something of thedelightful excitement of danger, the bear, the wild-boar, and the wolf.Lion, too, could be sometimes seen, though they were not so common asthey had been some eighty years before when the army of Xerxes, marchingthrough this very region, had had so many of the camels attacked andkilled by them. Our young Athenian highly appreciated this abundance ofnoble game. He had had no experience, indeed, in the huntsman's craft,but he became fairly expert at it. He was an excellent rider; thisaccomplishment was a necessary part of the education of a well-bornAthenian. He was expert in all martial exercises, especially in the useof the javelin and the spear; and, above all, he had a cool couragewhich his warlike experience by land and sea had admirably developed.

  But there were more serious matters than sport to occupy him. Therelation of his host to his neighbors, both Greek and barbarian, was ofcurious interest to a thoughtful young man. He had heard something of itat Athens, for Alcibiades was a much talked of personage, all of whosemovements were earnestly, even anxiously, discussed both by friends andfoes. Now he was, so to speak, behind the scenes, and saw and heard muchthat the outside world did not know or did not understand. The neighborswith whom his host came in contact, friendly or unfriendly, were three.There were the Greek cities along the northern coast of the Propontis;there was Seuthes, the king of Thrace; a potentate whose kingdom hadmany uncertain and varying boundaries, and there were the free orindependent Thracians. Between these last and Alcibiades there wasconstant war. Accustomed for centuries to plunder their neighbors, theynow found themselves repaid in their own coin. At the head of a pickedforce, highly disciplined and admirably armed, Alcibiades harried theircountry with an audacity and a skill which made his name a constantterror to them. The Greek cities, on the other hand, were uniformlyfriendly. Before his coming they had been sadly harrassed and distressedby their barbarian neighbors. They had not been able to call anythingbeyond their walls exactly their own, and even their walls had sometimesscarcely sufficed to protect them. All this was altered by the militarygenius of this remarkable man. The robber bands which had beenaccustomed to ride unchecked up to their fortifications were nowcompelled to keep at a respectful distance from them, and not only thecities themselves but their territories were practically safe. Landwhich it had been impossible to cultivate at all, or from which only aprecarious crop could be snatched with imminent danger to thecultivator, was now covered with prosperous farms and pleasanthomesteads. For this protection, enabling them as it did to save theexhausting expense of imported food, the cities were willing to pay, andconsiderable sums which were practically a tribute, only much morecheerfully paid, came regularly into the treasury at Bisanthe, andenabled its master to keep up a numerous and efficient force.

  As for King Seuthes, his relations with the powerful stranger who hadsettled on these his territories were more doubtful. He was not anenemy, but he certainly was not a friend. All that Alcibiades could doin weakening the independent Thracians was altogether to his mind. Letthem be weakened enough, and they would gladly seek protection bybecoming his subjects. On the other hand he did not approve the idea ofany one but himself becoming the patron of the Greek cities on hiscoast. What they were willing to pay for protection ought to come, hefelt, into his coffers, not into those of an interloping adventurer.Meanwhile he was content to remain on outwardly good terms with themaster of Bisanthe, and to await the development of events.

  In the little town of the same name that was dominated by the castle ofBisanthe, the young Athenian found some pleasant society. He was themore at home in it because it was an Ionian colony, and the inhabitantswere akin to him in race and sympathies. They had the same culture, aquality that always flourished more kindly in the Ionic branch of theHellenic race. Plays of the great dramatists of his own country wereperformed in a small but well appointed theatre, and there was at leastone circle in the town in which literary topics were discussed withinterest and intelligence.

  The resources available in the way of native society were not great.Thracian habits in general were not unfairly represented by the behaviorof the chief to whom my readers were introduced in the last chapter.Their hard drinking habits had already made them notorious throughoutGreece. Our hero accordingly kept away from the entertainments which hishost felt it a matter of policy to attend. The one great social functionat which he assisted was the marriage of a prince who was nearly relatedto King Seuthes. Athenian habits were commonly frugal. Their publicbuildings, whether for political or religious purposes, were splendid inthe extreme. On these, and on the ceremonies of worship, they wereaccustomed to spare no expense. But their private expenditure was, as arule, not large. Our hero was proportionately astonished at theprofusion which prevailed at the wedding festivities of the ThracianCaranus. There were twenty guests. Each as he entered the banquetingchamber had a circle of gold put upon his head, and in taking his placewas presented with a silver cup. These and indeed all the dishes,plates, and cups with which the guests were furnished during theentertainment, were supposed to become their actual property. A brassplatter, covered with pastry, on which were birds of various kinds, wasput before each, and after this another of silver, furnished with avariety of fresh meats. These disposed of--they were just tasted andhanded to the slaves who stood behind the guests--two flasks of perfume,one of silver, the other of gold, fastened together with a link of gold,were distributed. Each flask held about half a pint. Then came a pieceof quite barbarous extravagance--a silver gilt charger, large enough tohold a porker of considerable size. The creature lay on its back withits belly stuffed with thrushes, the yolks of eggs, oysters, scollops,and other dainties. The carrying capacity of the slaves was nearlyexhausted, and the bridegroom received a hearty round of applause whenhe ordered his guests to be supplied with baskets, themselves richlyornamented with silver in which they might carry away his bounty.

  At this point Alcibiades and his friend made an excuse to depart."Caranus," said the former, as they returned to Bisanthe, "must haveembarassed himself for life by this silly extravagance. He must haveborrowed money largely before he could indulge in all this silver-ware,for though his estates are large, he is far from being wealthy. But itis a point of honor with these people to go as near to ruiningthemselves as the money-lender will permit them, when they celebrate abirth, a wedding, or a funeral."

  But Callias found the chief interest of the months which he spent atBisanthe in the frequent conversations which he held with his host. Inthese Alcibiades expressed himself with the utmost freedom andfrankness. What he said was in fact at once a confession and an apology,the substance of them may be given as follows:

  "You have heard I dare say very much evil of me, and I cannot deny thatmuch of it is perfectly true. It ill becomes a man to complain ofcircumstances, for everyone, I take it, can make his own life and if hegoes to ruin has only himself to blame for it. Yet the gods, or fate, orwhatever it is that rules the world, were certainly adverse to me fromthe beginning. My father fell at Coronea when I was but a mere child,and the loss of a fathe
r is especially damaging when his son is rich andnoble. Every one seems to agree in spoiling the boy, the lad, the youngman, who is the master of his own fortune. I know that I was fooled tothe top of my bent. However, that is all past, and the free man who letsothers turn him about to their own purposes has nothing to say in hisown defence; and I had at least one good thing on my side of which if Ihad been so minded I might have made good use. Socrates never wearied ofconvicting me out of my own mouth of folly and ignorance, and he knew mygreat weakness and told me of it in the most unsparing fashion. Iremember once how he convicted me of what I know has been the greatfault of my life. 'If,' he said, 'you can convince the Athenians thatyou deserve to be honored as no man, not even Pericles himself deserved,if you gain an equal name among the other Greeks and barbarians, if youcross over from Europe and meddle with matters in Asia, all these thingswill not satisfy you. You desire to be nothing less than master of thewhole human race.' That perhaps was somewhat exaggerated, but Icertainly have had big schemes in my head, bigger than I ever had, orcould hope to have, the means of carrying out. My hopes took in allGreece, Persia, Carthage, the Western barbarians who inhabit the shoresof the ocean, and I know not what else. It was too great a structure tobuild on the slight foundation of an Athenian dock-yard; it was pilingOlympus and Ossa and Pelion on the hill of Hymettus, and such structuresare sure to fall even without the thunder-bolt of Zeus. Yet it is onlyfair to myself to say that in my ambitions I did think of my country aswell as of myself; and I think that I have not always had fair play incarrying them out. There was the expedition to Sicily, for instance. Isuppose that no one will ever speak of it but as a piece of hair-brainedfolly into which I was the means of leading Athens. Looked at by theevent, it seems so, I allow, and yet it might have succeeded. Indeed itwas within an iota of succeeding, and this though the people showed theincredible folly of putting as senior in command, a man who hated thewhole business. Even Nicias almost took Syracuse. If they had only leftme without a colleague or with colleagues who would have yielded to mycounsels! But what did they do? Just at the critical time they recalledthe man whom everyone in the expedition, from the first to the last,identified with its success; and why did they recall me? On thattrumpery charge of having broken the Hermae.[50] You would like to askme, I know, whether I had anything to do with the matter. No; I had not,but I could have told them all about it if I had had the chance. As itwas, they were ready to listen to any one but me. Why, there was anoutrageous liar came forward, and declared he had seen the whole thingdone by the light of the moon; and on the night it was done there was nomoon at all. But I had enemies, personal enemies who would stick atnothing as long as they could injure me. And here I must confess afault, a fault that has been fatal to me. I deserved to have enemies. Imade them by my annoyance and insolence; and if they ruined me, and, asI think, my country with me, I have only myself to blame. You would liketo know how I justify myself for what I did after my banishment, forgetting Sparta to help Syracuse against my own country? I do not justifymyself at all. It was madness, tho' it was only too successful. But itmade me frantic to think what a chance, what a splendid opportunity formyself and for Athens, the fools who were in power at home were throwingaway. No; on that point I have nothing to say for myself. But since thenI have honestly tried to do the best that I could for the city. And ifthe Athenians could only have trusted me and had had a little morepatience, I believe that I could have saved them. But it is always thesame story with them; they must have what they want at once, and if theydon't get it, some one has to suffer. How could they expect that I couldput right at once all that had been going wrong for years?"

  Such was the substance of what Alcibiades said to his guest on the manyoccasions on which they discussed these matters, said of course, with avariety of details and a wealth of illustration, which it is impossibleto reproduce. More than once Callias asked his host what were his viewsand expectations of the future of the war. He found that Alcibiades didnot take a cheerful view of the prospects of the campaign that would besoon beginning.

  "I was always afraid," he said, "that the victory at Arginusae would beonly a reprieve, a postponing of the evil day. The effort which Athensthen made was too exhausting to be repeated--her next fleet will benothing like as good as the last, and the last had hard enough work towin the day. And then there was the disastrous folly and crime ofputting the generals to death. Mind, I don't say that they were not toblame; but I do say that to kill the only good officers the city had,even if they had deserved death ten times more than they did, was meremadness. Whom have they got to put in their place? Conon is a man whoknows his business and would do his duty, but as for the rest," he wenton, anticipating a witticism which was made many hundred yearsafterwards by an English statesman, "I can only say that I hope theywill inspire the enemy with half the terror with which they inspireme."

  FOOTNOTES:

  [49] From 431 to 406 (the year of which I am now writing). The eightyears from 424-416, during which the peace of Nicias and the truce thatfollowed it were in force, must be excepted.

  [50] A day or two before the expedition started the pedestal statues ofHermes which stood at the street corners were broken down. Alcibiadeswas charged with being an accomplice in this outrage, refused anopportunity of defending himself, sent out in joint command, andrecalled when the campaign was in progress.