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 him fled into the city; at the same instant
Pharnabazus, unable to effect a junction with the Lacedaemonian leader,
owing to the circumscribed nature of the ground and the close proximity
of the river to the enemy's lines, retired to the Heracleium, (2)
belonging to the Chalcedonians, where his camp lay. After this success
Alcibiades set off to the Hellespont and the Chersonese to raise money,
and the remaining generals came to terms with Pharnabazus in respect
of Chalcedon; according to these, the Persian satrap agreed to pay the
Athenians twenty talents (3) in behalf of the town, and to grant their
ambassadors a safe conduct up country to the king. It was further
stipulated by mutual consent and under oaths provided, that the
Chalcedonians should continue the payment of their customary tribute
to Athens, being also bound to discharge all outstanding debts. The
Athenians, on their side, were bound to desist from all hostilities
until the return of their ambassadors from the king. These oaths
were not witnessed by Alcibiades, who was now in the neighbourhood of
Selybria. Having taken that place, he presently appeared before the
walls of Byzantium at the head of the men of Chersonese, who came out