ause he wished to wear out and paralyse
the Hellenic forces, that is, to waste their strength by the time lost
during his journey to Aspendus, and to keep them evenly balanced by not
throwing his weight into either scale. Had he wished to finish the war,
he could have done so, assuming of course that he made his appearance in
a way which left no room for doubt; as by bringing up the fleet he would
in all probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians, whose
navy, even as it was, faced the Athenian more as an equal than as an
inferior. But what convicts him most clearly, is the excuse which he put
forward for not bringing the ships. He said that the number assembled
was less than the King had ordered; but surely it would only have
enhanced his credit if he spent little of the King's money and effected
the same end at less cost. In any case, whatever was his intention,
Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and saw the Phoenicians; and the
Peloponnesians at his desire sent a Lacedaemonian called Philip with two
galleys to fetch the fleet.

Alcibiades finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, himself
sailed thither with thirteen ships, promising to do a great and
certain service to the Athenians at Samos, as he would either bring the
Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at all events prevent its
joining the Peloponnesians. In all probability he had long known that
Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet at all, and wished to
compromise him as much as possible in the eyes of the Peloponnesians
through his apparent friendship for himself and the Athenians, and thus
in a manner to oblige him to join their side.

While Alcibiades weighed anchor and sailed eastward straight for
Phaselis and Caunus, the envoys sent by the Four Hundred to Samos
arrived at Athens. Upon their delivering the message from Alcibiades,
telling them to hold out and to show a firm front to the enemy, and
saying that he had great hopes of reconciling them with the army and
of overcoming the Peloponnesians, the majority of the members of the
oligarchy, who were already discontented and only too much inclined to
be quit of the business in any safe way that they could, were at once
greatly strengthened in their resolve. These now banded together and
strongly criticized the administration, their leaders being some of
the principal generals and men in office under the oligarchy, such as
Theramenes, son of Hagnon, Aristocrates, son of Scellias, and