MASSACRE AT MYKALE3SUS. 357 cred them all. This scene of bloodshed, committed by barbarians who had not been seen in Greece since the days of Xerxes, was recounted with horror and sympathy throughout all Grecian communities, though Mykalessus was in itself a town of second- rate or third-rate magnitude. 1 The succor brought from Thebes, by Mykalessian fugitives, arrived unhappily only in time to avenge, but not to save, the inhabitants. The Thracians were already retiring with the booty which they could carry away, when the bceotarch Skirphondas overtook them, both with cavalry and hoplites, after having put to death some greedy plunderers who tarried too long in the town. He compelled them to relinquish most of their booty, and pursued them to the sea-shore ; not without a brave resistance from these peltasts, who had a peculiar way of fighting which disconcerted the Thebans. But when they arrived at the sea- shore, the Athenian ships did not think it safe to approach very close, so that not less than two hundred and fifty Thracians were slain before they could get aboard ; 2 and the Athenian com- mander, Diitrephes was so severely wounded that he died shortly afterwards. The rest pursued their voyage homeward. Meanwhile, the important station of Naupaktus and the mouth of the Corinthian gulf again became the theatre of naval encoun- ter. It will be recollected that this was the scene of the memo- rable victories gained by the Athenian admiral Phormion in the second year of the Peloponnesian war, 3 wherein the nautical superiority of Athens over her enemies, as to ships, crews, and admiral, had been so transcendently manifested. In that respect matters had now considerably changed. While the navy of Athens had fallen off since the days of Phormion, that of her enemy had improved : Ariston, and other skilful Corinthian steersmen, 1 Thucyd. vii. 29, 30, 31. I conceive that ovcy ov /ueyuAp is the right reading, and not ovaiy [le-yahy, in reference to Mykalessus. The words <if i7(l fieyefiei, in c. 31, refer to the size of the city. The reading is, however, disputed among critics. It is evident from tho tenguage of Thucydides that the catastrophe at Mykalessus made a pro> found impression throughout Greece, a Thucyd. vii, 30 ; Pansnnias. i, 23, 3. Compare Meincke, ad Ar 1 * tophanis Fragment. "H.ower, vol. ii, p. 1069.
Sec above, vol vi, rh. xlix. p. .9f> of this HL-lorv
