138 HISTORY OF GREECE. rendered still more important by the character cf the Lacedaemo- nian admiral Lysander, with whom the young prince first came into contact on reaching Sardis. Lysander had come out to supersede Kratesippidas, about De- cember, 408 B.C., or January, 407 B.C. 1 He was the last, after Brasidas and Gylippus, of that trio of eminent Spartans, from whom all the capital wounds of Athens proceeded, during the course of this long war. He was born of poor parents, and is even said to have been of that class called mothakes, being only ena- bled by the aid of richer men to keep up his contribution to the public mess, and his place in the constant drill and discipline. He was not only an excellent officer, 2 thoroughly competent to the 1 The commencement of Lysander's navarchy, or year of maritime com- mand, appears to me established for this -winter. He had been some time actually in his command before Cyrus arrived at Sardis : Of 6e Aaicedaifio- vioi, TrpoTepov TOVTUV ov 7roAA, x P o v V KpaTijatiririda TTJS vavap- X'tas irapehijfar&viae, Avoavdpov t!;Ttepl>av vavapxov. 'O 6e uQiKopevof f 'Podov, Kai vavf EKeWiv Aa/3wv, if K.& KOI Mt'A^rov InXevasv eneidev 6e Is 'E^eow Kai inei eficive, vavf -e^wv tfidopTjKOVTa, pexpLf ov Kv- poc is Sap<5eif a$i K era (Xenoph. Hellen. i, 5, 1). Mr. Fynes Clinton (Fast. H. ad ann. 407 B.C.) lias, I presume, been mis- led by the first words of this passage, n-porepov TOVTUV ov Tro/lAcj xpwu, when he says : " During the stay of Alcibiades at Athens, Lysander is sent as vavapxos, Xen. Hell, i, 5, 1. Then followed the defeat of Antiochus, the depo- sition of Alcibiades, and the substitution of aAAouf dtna, between September 407 and September 406, when Callicratidas succeeded Lysander." Now Alkibiades came to Athens in the month of Thargelion, or about the end of May, 407, and stayed there till the beginning of September, 407. Cyrus arrived at Sardis before Alkibiades reached Athens, and Lysander iad been some time at his post before Cyrus arrived ; so that Lysander was not sent out " during the stay of Alcibiades at Athens," but some months before. Still less is it correct to say that Kallikratidas succeeded Lysander in September, 406. The battle of Arginnsae, wherein Kallikratidas perished, was fought about August, 406, after he had been admiral for several months. The words irpoTepov TOVTUV. when construed along with the context which succeeds, must evidently be understood in a large sense ; " these event*" mean the general series of events which begins i, 4, 8 ; the proceedings of Alkibiades, from the beginning of the spring of 407.
- _&lian, V. H. xii, 43 ; Athenaeus, vi, p. 271. The assertion that Lysander
belonged to the class of mothakes is given by Athenaius as coming from Phylarchus, and I see no reason for calling it in question. ./Elian states the same thing respecting Gylippns and Kallikntidas, also ; I do not know on what authority.
