III

B.C. 408. The year following is the year in which the temple of
Athena, in Phocaea, was struck by lightning and set on fire.[1] With
the cessation of winter, in early spring, the Athenians set sail with
the whole of their force to Proconnesus, and thence advanced upon
Chalcedon and Byzantium, encamping near the former town. The men of
Chalcedon, aware of their approach, had taken the precaution to
deposit all their pillageable property with their neighbours, the
Bithynian Thracians; whereupon Alcibiades put himself at the head of a
small body of heavy infantry with the cavalry, and giving orders to
the fleet to follow along the coast, marched against the Bithynians
and demanded back the property of the Chalcedonians, threatening them
with war in case of refusal. The Bithynians delivered up the property.
Returning to camp, not only thus enriched, but with the further
satisfaction of having secured pledges of good behaviour from the
Bithynians, Alcibiades set to work with the whole of his troops to
draw lines of circumvallation round Chalcedon from sea to sea, so as
to include as much of the river as possible within his wall, which was
made of timber. Thereupon the Lacedaemonian governor, Hippocrates, let
his troops out of the city and offered battle, and the Athenians, on
their side, drew up their forces opposite to receive him; while
Pharnabazus, from without the lines of circumvallation, was still
advancing with his army and large bodies of horse. Hippocrates and
Thrasylus engaged each other with their heavy infantry for a long
while, until Alcibiades, with a detachment of infantry and the
cavalry, intervened. Presently Hippocrates fell, and the troops under