XXVIII.  Thirty days afterwards, Alkibiades by some means obtained a horse, eluded his guards, and fled for refuge to Klazomenae.  He gave out that he had been privately released by Tissaphernes himself, in order to disgrace that satrap, and at once sailed to the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont.  Learning that Mindarus and Pharnabazus were both in the city of Kyzikus, he encouraged his soldiers by a speech, in which he told them that they would have to fight at sea, on land, and against the town walls too, for that if they were not completely victorious they could get no pay.  He manned his ships and proceeded to Prokonessus, ordering all small vessels which they met to be seized and detained in the interior of the fleet, in order that the enemy might not learn his movements.  It happened also that a heavy thunderstorm with rain and darkness assisted his design, as he not only was unseen by the enemy, but was never suspected of any intention of attack by the Athenians themselves, who had given up any idea of going to sea when he ordered them on board.  Little by little the clouds cleared away, and disclosed the Peloponnesian fleet cruising off the harbour of Kyzikus.  Alkibiades, fearing that if the enemy saw how numerous his own fleet was, they would take refuge on shore, ordered the other commanders to remain behind under easy sail, and himself with forty ships went on ahead to entice them to an engagement.  The Peloponnesians, deceived by this manoeuvre, at once attacked these few ships, despising their small numbers.  But the little squadron engaged them until the rest came up, when they fled ashore in terror.  Alkibiades with twenty of the fastest sailing ships broke through the enemy’s line, ran his ships ashore, landed their crews, and attacked the fugitives from the enemy’s fleet with terrible slaughter.  Mindarus and Pharnabazus now came to the rescue, but they were beaten back; Mindarus died fighting bravely, and Pharnabazus only saved himself by flight.  By this battle the Athenians obtained possession of many dead bodies of their enemies,[A] many stand of arms, the whole of the hostile fleet, and the town of Kyzikus, which they took by storm, putting its Peloponnesian garrison to the sword, as soon as Pharnabazus withdrew his troops.  They now not merely obtained a firm hold on the Hellespont, but were able to drive the Lacedaemonians from the sea in all quarters.  A despatch was captured, written in the Laconian fashion, informing the Ephors of the disaster.  “Our ships are gone; Mindarus is slain; the men are starving; we know not what to do.”

[Footnote A:  The Greeks attached great importance to the burial of the dead.  The usual test of which party had won a battle was, which side after it demanded a truce for the burial of the dead.  Here the possession of the dead bodies of the enemy is enumerated as one of the proofs of victory.]