ved the
people, and the appointment of proper securities for their persons until
the trial was over. Callixenus was one of those committed for trail.
There were, besides Callixenus, four others against whom true bills were
declared, and they were all five imprisoned by their sureties. But all
subsequently effected their escape before the trial, at the time of the
sedition in which Cleophon (13) was killed. Callixenus eventually came
back when the party in Piraeus returned to the city, at the date of
the amnesty, (14) but only to die of hunger, an object of universal
detestation.

(13) Cleophon, the well-known demagogue. For the occasion of his death
see Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. pp. 166, 310 (2d ed.);
Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," i. 266, ii. 288. For his character,
as popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 677.

(14) B.C. 403.

BOOK II

I

To return to Eteonicus and his troops in Chios. During summer they
were well able to support themselves on the fruits of the season, or
by labouring for hire in different parts of the island, but with the
approach of winter these means of subsistence began to fail. Ill-clad at
the same time, and ill-shod, they fell to caballing and arranging plans
to attack the city of Chios. It was agreed amongst them, that in order
to gauge their numbers, every member of the conspiracy should carry a
reed. Eteonicus got wind of the design, but was at a loss how to deal
with it, considering the number of these reed-bearers. To make an open
attack upon them seemed dangerous. It would probably lead to a rush
to arms, in which the conspirators would seize the city and commence
hostilities, and, in the event of their success, everything hitherto
achieved would be lost. Or again, the destruction on his part of many
fellow-creatures and allies was a terrible alternative, which would
place the Spartans in an unenviable light with regard to the rest of
Hellas, and render the soldiers ill-disposed to the cause in hand.
Accordingly he took with him fifteen men, armed with daggers, and
marched through the city. Falling in with one of the reed-bearers, a man
suffering from ophthalmia, who was returning from the surgeon's house,
he put him to death. This led to some uproar, and people asked why the
man was thus slain. By Eteonicus's orders the answer was set afloat,
"because he carried a reed." As the explanation circulated, one
reed-bearer after another threw away the