Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/381

51, 5=] ALCIBIADES yLD PlIRYNICHUS 373 ought therefore to fortify the place as quickly as they could, and to take every precaution. As he was a general he could execute his proposals by his own authority. So they set to work, and in consequence Samos, which would have been fortified in any case, was fortified all the sooner. Not long afterwards the expected letter came from Alcib- iades warning the Athenians that the armj was being betrayed by Phrynichus, and that the enemy were going to make an attack. But Alcibiades was not trusted ; he was thought to have attributed to Phrynichus out of personal animosity complicity in the enemy's designs, with which he was himself acquainted. Thus he did him no harm, but rather strengthened his position by telling the same tale. Alcibiades still continued his practices with Tissaphernes, 52 whom he now sought to draw over to Tissaphcnus u.nhr the Athenian interest. But Tissa- the influence of Aidh- phernes was afraid of the Peloponne- «^« «'«" '"'^'^ ^^ , , , , . .1 .to join the Athenians. sians, who had more ships on the spot ^^^ ^^^ ,,^^ eiuanelkd than the Athenians. And yet he would ivith ihc Peloponncsiaus have liked, if he could, to have been ^'M *'"^ protest of , , . ,, , , ,, Liclias at Cnicins, and persuaded ; especially when he saw the -, ,onf,nned the zcam- opposition which the Peloponnesians ing nhkh he had re- raised at Cnidus to the treaty of caved from Alcibiades. ,„, T^ 1 ■ 1 • 1 Dili he is afraid. riieramenes". ror his quarrel with them had broken out before the Peloponnesians went to Rhodes, where they were at present stationed; and the words of Alcibiades, who had previously warned Tissaphernes that the Lacedaemonians were the liberators of all the cities of Hellas, were verified by the protest of Lichas, who declared that ' for the King to hold all the cities which he or his ancestors had held was a stipulation not to be endured.' So Alcibiades, who was playing for a great stake, was very assiduous in paying his court to Tissaphernes. " Cp. viii 43. ^ Cp. viii 45 iiiit.