scene of
confusion and slaughter, the remnants of the vanguard were forced to
surrender also. Nicias and Demosthenes were put to death; great numbers
were seized as private spoil by their captors, the rest of the
prisoners--more than 7,000--were confined for weeks under the most
noisome conditions in the quarries, and finally the survivors were sold
as slaves. So pitiably ended that once magnificent enterprise in the
nineteenth year of the war.

The terrific disaster filled every enemy of Athens with confident
expectation of her immediate and utter ruin. Lacedaemonians anticipated
an unqualified supremacy. At Athens there was a stubborn determination
to prepare for a desperate stand; but half the islanders were intriguing
for Lacedaemonian or Persian aid in breaking free, while Alcibiades
became extremely busy.

The first Peloponnesian squadron which attempted to move was promptly
driven into Piraeus by an Athenian fleet and blockaded. On the open
revolt of some of the states, the Athenians for the first time brought
into play their reserve fund and reserve navy--the emergency had arisen.
While one after another of the subject cities revolted, the Athenians
struck hard at Chios, and especially Miletus, and obtained marked
successes. Meanwhile, a revolution in Samos had expelled the oligarchy
and re-established the democracy, to which the Athenians accorded
freedom, thereby securing an ally. In Lesbos also they recovered their
challenged supremacy.

Phrynicus now came into prominence as a shrewd commander and a crafty
politician, while the intricate intrigues of Alcibiades, whose great
object was to recover his position at Athens, created perpetual
confusion. These events took place in the twentieth year of the war, and
to them must be added a Lacedaemonian treaty with Persia through the
satrap Tissaphernes. All the leading men, however, were engaged in
playing fast and loose, each of them having his personal ambitions in
view. Of this labyrinth of plots and counter-plots, the startling
outcome was the sudden abrogation of the constitution at Athens and the
capture of the government by a committee of five with a council of four
hundred and a supplementary assembly of five thousand--in place of the
whole body of citizens as formerly. The Five and the Four Hundred in
effect were the Government, and established a reign of terror.

At Athens, the administration thus formed was effective; but the army
and fleet at Satnos