Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/203

THE GENERALS EXAMINED AT ATHENS. lg] summoned before the senate to give their formal exposition re- gpecting the recent battle, and the subsequent neglect of tho drowning men. And it might almost seem as if Archedemus wished to impute to Erasinides exclusively, apart from the other generals, the blame of that neglect ; a distinction, as will here- after appear, not wholly unfounded. If, however, any such design was entertained, it did not succeed. When the generals went to explain their case before the senate, the decision of that body was decidedly unfavorable to all of them, though we have no particulars of the debate which passed. On the proposition of the senator Timokrates, 1 a resolution was passed that the other five generals present should be placed in custody, as well as Erasinides, and thus handed over to the public assembly for consideration of the case. 2 The public assembly was accordingly held, and the generals were brought before it. We are here told who it was that appeared as their principal accuser, along with several others ; though unfortunately we are left to guess what were the topics on which they insisted. Theramenes was the man who denounced them most vehemently, as guilty of leaving the crews of the dis- abled triremes to be drowned, and of neglecting all efforts to res- cue them. lie appealed to their own public letter to the people, officially communicating the victory ; in which letter they made no mention of having appointed any one to undertake the duty, nor of having any one to blame for not performing it. The omission, therefore, was wholly their own : they might have per- formed it, and ought to be punished for so cruel a breach of duty. The generals could not have a more formidable enemy than Theramenes. We have had occasion to follow him, during the revolution of the Four Hundred, as a long-sighted as well as tortuous politician : he had since been in high military command, a partaker in victory with Alkibiades at Kyzikus and elsewhere ; and he had served as trierarch in the victory of Arginusrc itself. His authority therefore was naturally high, and told for much, 1 Xenoph. Ilcllcn. i, 7, 3. Ti/zoA-punn>f 6 eltr6t>TOf, 5n K al rovf u A - lovf XPV d E & tvTdf e f Tbv 6f/p&, irapafio&iivai, i) Idvat. Xenoph Ilcllcn. i, 7, 4