Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/173

SYRACUSAN SQUADRON. 151 on ward to Korkyra ; where the squadron of ten triremes from Syracuse was now on the point of arriving ; sent by Dionysius tc aid the Lacedaemonians, but as yet uninformed of their flight. Iphikrates, posting scouts on the hills to give notice of their ap- proach, set apart twenty triremes to be ready for moving at the first signal. So excellent was his discipline, (says Xenophon,) that " the moment the signal was made, the ardor of all the crews was a fine thing to see ; there was not a man who did not hasten at a run to take his place aboard." l The ten Syracusan triremes, after their voyage across from the lapygian cape, had halted to rest their men on one of the northern points of Korkyra ; where they were found by Iphikrates and captured, with all their crews and the admiral Anippus ; one alone escaping, through the strenuous efforts of her captain, the Ehodian Melanopus. Iphikrates re- turned in triumph, towing his nine prizes into the harbor of Kor- kyra. The crews, being sold or ransomed, yielded to him a sum of sixty talents ; the admiral Anippus was retained in expectation of a higher ransom, but slew himself shortly afterwards from mortification. 2 Though the sum^thus realized enabled Iphikrates for the time to pay his men, yet the suicide of Anippus was a pecuniary dis- appointment to him, and he soon began to need money. This consideration induced him to consent to the return of his colleague Kallistratus ; who, an orator by profession, and not on friendly terms with Iphikrates, had come out against his own consent. Iphikrates had himself singled out both Kallistratus and Chabrias as his colleagues. He was not indifferent to the value of their advice, nor did he fear the criticisms, even of rivals, on what they 1 Xen. Hellen. vi, 2, 34. 2 Xcn. Hellen. vi, 2, 35, 38 ; Diodor. xv, 47. We find a story recounted by Diodorus (xvi, 57), that the Athenians un- der Iphikrates captured, off Korkyra, some triremes of Dionysius, carrying sacred ornaments to Delphi and Olympia. They detained and appropri- ated the valuable cargo, of which Dionysius afterwards loudly complained. This story (if there be any truth in it) can hardly allude to any other triremes than those under Anippus. Yet Xenophon would probably havo mentioned the story, if he had heard it ; since it presents the enemies of Sparta as committing sacrilege. And whether the triremes were carrying sacred ornaments or not, it is certain that they were coming to lake part '.n the war, and were therefore legitimate prizes.