41 9 HISTORY OF GREECE. remahu.d so for twenty years, is certain from his own statement : anl we hear, upon what in this case is quite sufficient authority, that the Athenians condemned him, probably Eukles also, to banishment, on the proposition of Kleon. 1 In considering this sentence, historians 2 commonly treat Thu- cydides as an innocent man, and find nothing to condemn except the calumnies of the demagogue along with the injustice of the people. But this view of the case cannot be sustained, when we bring together all the facts even as indicated by Thucydides himself. At the moment when Brasidas surprised Amphipolis, Thucydides was at Thasos ; and the event is always discussed as if he was there by necessity or duty ; as if Thasos was his special mission. Now we know from his own statement that his command was not special or confined to Thasos : he was sent as joint commander along with Eukles generally to Thrace, and 1 Thucyd. v, 26. See the biography of Thucydides by Marcellinus. pre- fixed to all the editions, p. 19, ed. Arnold.
- I transcribe the main features from the account of Dr. Thirlwall, whose
judgment coincides on this occasion with what is generally given (Hist. of Greece, ch. xxiii, vol. iii, p. 268). " On the evening of the same day Thucydides, with seven galleys which he happened to have with him at Thasos, when he received the despatch from Eucles, sailed into the mouth of the Strymon, and learning the fall of Amphipolis proceeded to put Eion in a state of defence. His timely arrival saved the place, which Brasidas attacked the next morning, both from the river and the land, without effect : and the refugees who retired b'y virtue of the treaty from Amphipolis, found shelter at Eion, and con- tributed to its security. The historian rendered an important service to his country : and it does not appear that human prudence and activity could have accomplished anything more under the same circumstances. Yet his unavoidable failure proved the occasion of a sentence, under which he spent twenty years of his life in exile : and he was only restored to his country in the season of her deepest humiliation by the public calamities. So much only can be gathered with certainty from his language : for he has not conde- scended to mention either the charge which was brought against him, or the nature of the sentence, which he may either have suffered, or avoided by a voluntary exile. A statement, very probable in itself, though resting on slight authority, attributes his banishment to Cleon's calumnies : that the irritation produced by the loss of Amphipolis should have been so directed against an innocent object, uvuld perfectly accord with the character of the people and of
the demagogue. Posterity has gained by the injustice of his contempora-
