Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/181

TREATMENT OF THE CAPTIVE DORIEUS. 159 ten new generals to replace him He was not brought to trial, nor do we know whether any such step was proposed. 5Tet his proceedings at Kyme, if they happened as we read them, richly deserved judicial animadversion ; and the people, had they ,<*o dealt with him, would only have acted up to the estimable func- tion ascribed to them by the oligarchical Phrynichus, " of serving as refuge to their dependent allies, and chastising the high-handed oppressions of the optimates against them." J In the perilous position of Athens, however, with reference to the foreign war, such a political trial would have been productive of much dissen- sion and mischief. And Alkibiades avoided the question by not coming to Athens. As soon as he heard of his dismissal, he re- tired immediately from the army to his own fortified posts on the Chersonese. The ten new generals named were Konon, Diomedon, Leon. Perikles, Erasinides, Aristokrates, Archestratus, Protomachus. Thrasyllus, Aristogenes. Of these, Konon was directed to pro- ceed forthwith from Andros with the twenty ships which he had there, to receive the fleet from Alkibiades ; while Phanosthenes proceeded with four triremes to replace Konon at Andros. 2 In his way thither, Phanosthenes fell in with Dorieus the Rhodian and two Thurian triremes, which he captured, with every man aboard. The captives were sent to Athens, where all were placed in custody, in case of future exchange, except Do- rieus himself. The latter had been condemned to death, and lianished from his native city of Rhodes, together with his kin- Ired, probably on the score of political disaffection, at the time when Rhodes was a member of the Athenian alliance. Having since then become a citizen of Thurii, he had served with distinc- tion in the fleet of Mindarus, both at Miletus and the Helles- pont. The Athenians now had so much compassion upon him that they released him at once and unconditionally, without even demanding a ransom or an equivalent. By what particular cir- cumstance their compassion was determined, forming a pleasing 1 Thucyd viii, 48. rbv 61 Srjfiov, a<j>uv re, of the allied dependencies, Kara- fvyi/v, nal lueivuv, i.e. of the high persons called AraAo/tuyatfo?, or optimates 'XenopV Hellen. i, 5, 18; Diodor. xiii, 74-