"Hell." IV. iii. 3.

(6) Lit. "harmosts."

(7) Or, "we are beaten, ergo, it is all over with us."

To this the Abydenians lent no deaf ears, but rather responded with
willingness approaching enthusiasm--extending the hand of fellowship
to the ex-governors, some of whom were already flocking to Abydos as a
harbour of refuge, whilst others they sent to summon from a distance.

So when a number of efficient and serviceable men had been collected,
Dercylidas ventured to cross over to Sestos--lying, as it does, not more
than a mile (8) distant, directly facing Abydos. There he not only
set about collecting those who held lands in the Chersonese through
Lacedaemonian influence, but extended his welcome also to the governors
(9) who had been driven out of European states. (10) He insisted
that, if they came to think of it, not even was their case desperate,
reminding them that even in Asia, which originally belonged to the
Persian monarch, places were to be found--such as the little state of
Temnos, or Aegae, and others, capable of administering their affairs,
unsubjected to the king of Persia. "But," he added, "if you want a
strong impregnable position, I cannot conceive what better you can find
than Sestos. Why, it would need a combined naval and military force to
invest that port." By these and such like arguments he rescued them from
the lethargy of despair.

(8) Lit. "eight stades."

(9) Lit. "harmosts."

(10) See Demos. "de Cor." 96.

Now when Pharnabazus found Abydos and Sestos so conditioned, he gave
them to understand that unless they chose to eject the Lacedaemonians,
he would bring war to bear upon them; and when they refused to obey,
having first assigned to Conon as his business to keep the sea closed
against them, he proceeded in person to ravage the territory of the men
of Abydos. Presently, finding himself no nearer the fulfilment of his
object--which was their reduction--he set off home himself and left it
to Conon the while so to conciliate the Hellespontine states that as
large a naval power as possible might be mustered against the coming
spring. In his wrath against the Lacedaemonians, in return for the
treatment he had received from them, his paramount object was to invade
their territory and exact what vengeance he could.

B.C. 393. The winter was thus fully taken up with preparations; but with
the approach of spring, Pharnabazus and Conon, with a large fleet fully
manned, and a foreign m