416 fflSTORY OF GREECE. overwhelmed by a superior force ? Were they distracted by simultaneous revolts in different places, or assailed by enemiea unknown or unforeseen ? Not one of these grounds for acquittal can be pleaded. First, their position was of all others the most defensible : they had only to keep the bridge over the Strymon adequately watched and guarded, or to retain the Athenian squadron at Eion, and Amphipolis was safe. Either one or the other of these precautions would have sufficed ; both together would have sufficed so amply, as probably to prevent the scheme of attack from being formed. Next, the force under Brasidas was in noway superior, not even adequate to the capture of the inferior place Eion, when properly guarded, much less to that of Amphipolis. Lastly, there were no simul- taneous revolts to distract attention, nor unknown enemies to confound a well-laid scheme of defence. There was but one enemy, in one quarter, having one road by which to approach ; an enemy of surpassing merit, indeed, and eminently dangerous to Athens, but without any chance of success except from the omissions of the Athenian officers. Now Thucydides and Eukles both knew that Brasidas had prevailed upon Akanthus and Stageirus to revolt, and that too in such a way as to extend his own personal influence materially : they knew that the population of Argilus was of Andrian origin, 1 like that of Akanthus and Stageirus, and therefore peculiarly likely to be tempted by the example of those two towns. Lastly, they knew, and Thucydides himself tells us, 2 that this Argilian population whose territory bordered on the Strymon and the western foot of the bridge, and who had many connections in Amphipolis had been long disaffected to Athens, and especially to the Athenian possession of that city. Yet, having such fore- knowledge, ample warning for the necessity of a vigilant defence, Thucydides and Eukles withdraw, or omit, both the two precau- 1 Compare Thucyd. iv, 84, 88, 103.
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