of hire; we will suffice to ourselves, and from a source
to which honour pre-eminently invites us; since, I need not remind you,
abundance won from the enemy in war furnishes forth not bodily nutrition
only, but a feast of glory the wide world over."

So he spoke, and with one voice they all shouted to him to issue what
orders he thought fit; they would not fail him in willing service. The
general's sacrifice was just concluded, and he answered: "Good, then, my
men; go now, as doubtless you were minded, and take your evening meal,
and next provide yourselves, please, with one day's food. After that
repair to your ships without delay, for we have a voyage on hand,
whither God wills, and must arrive in time." So then, when the men
returned, he embarked them on their ships, and sailed under cover of
night for the great harbour of Piraeus: at one time he gave the rowers
rest, passing the order to take a snatch of sleep; at another he pushed
forward towards his goal with rise and fall of oars. If any one supposes
that there was a touch of madness in such an expedition--with but
twelve triremes to attack an enemy possessed of a large fleet--he should
consider the calculations of Teleutias. He was under the firm persuasion
that the Athenians were more careless than ever about their navy in the
harbour since the death of Gorgopas; and in case of finding warships
riding at anchor--even so, there was less danger, he conjectured, in
attacking twenty ships in the port of Athens than ten elsewhere; for,
whereas, anywhere outside the harbour the sailors would certainly be
quartered on board, at Athens it was easy to divine that the captains
and officers would be sleeping at their homes, and the crews located
here and there in different quarters.

This minded he set sail, and when he was five or six furlongs (10)
distant from the harbour he lay on his oars and rested. But with the
first streak of dawn he led the way, the rest following. The admiral's
orders to the crews were explicit. They were on no account to sink any
merchant vessel; they were equally to avoid damaging (11) their own
vessels, but if at any point they espied a warship at her moorings they
must try and cripple her. The trading vessels, provided they had got
their cargoes on board, they must seize and tow out of the harbour;
those of larger tonnage they were to board wherever they could and
capture the crews. Some of his men actually jumped on to the Deigma
quay, (12