Expedition to Disaster by Matyszak Philip

Author:Matyszak, Philip
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781783036271
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2013-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

Diplomats abroad

Other ambassadors went even further afield. The Athenians made goodwill visits to Carthage and Etruria to see how much anti-Syracusan feeling they could stir up in each region. In fact both Etruscans and Carthaginians were already keen to see Syracuse crushed, but each had their own ideas of how to go about it. Like the Greeks, the Etruscans lived in city states that frequently warred with one another. Therefore though several spontaneously offered to declare war on Syracuse, fear of their immediate neighbours meant that they could devote few resources to a faraway conflict. In the end only some three or so shiploads of Etruscan warriors turned up later to support the Athenian cause the following spring.

The Carthaginians were politically united, and had a large army that they were ready to use. However, they were playing a different game, and saw little point in helping one lot of Greeks beat up another equally annoying lot of Greeks. Rather, Carthage planned to watch and hoard its resources while Athens and Syracuse fought it out. Once the dust had settled, Carthage intended to execute its own plans for Sicily, especially if the fight had left the winner severely weakened. In short, Carthage intended nothing but harm for Greeks of any persuasion. Consequently, the city encouraged the Athenian ambassadors to continue the fight and to devote all possible resources to it, but they themselves stayed well clear of the war – for now.

If the Athenian ambassadors enjoyed limited success in their excursions abroad, Syracusan ambassadors did a lot better in the Greek homeland itself. One of the first ports of call was Corinth. Corinth had little love for Athens in any case and was determined to give Syracuse all possible support – although as the Spartans had already discovered, ‘all possible support’ usually stopped short of actually getting involved in bloodshed. And in fact it turned out that the Corinthians intended to support Syracuse’s ambassadors by getting behind them in urging Sparta to do the fighting.

The Spartan leaders received the mixed Syracusan – Corinthian delegation without much enthusiasm. The recent clash with Athens had not gone well, and though the current peace more resembled low-tempo warfare, it was better than the full-scale variety. Nevertheless, despite their scepticism, the Spartans listened carefully to an unexpected advocate for the Syracusan cause – Alcibiades of Athens.

Alcibiades had made his way to Sparta. Once there, he deeply impressed the inhabitants by becoming more Spartan than the Spartans. ‘He was all for physical exercise, a simple lifestyle and a humourless expression,’ remarks Plutarch. ‘Seeing him with untrimmed hair in a cold bath, or slurping down black broth [the notoriously ghastly Spartan national dish], or getting familiar with coarse bread, it was hard to imagine that the man once had an in-house chef and personal perfumer.’[1] Alcibiades’ passion for all things Spartan included Timaea, wife of the Spartan king Agis. With Agis out of town on state business, Alcibiades filled in for the absent king in the royal bedchamber.

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