They were
distributed among the captains of the fleet for transportation to
Athens. Dating from the first sea-fight, the siege had lasted
altogether seventy-two days; and during seven weeks of this period
they had subsisted on the casual supplies smuggled over by the
blockade-runners from the mainland. Great was the joy at Athens when
that costly freight was brought safely into the harbour of Peiraeus;
and Cleon, whose bustling energy had really helped to precipitate a
crisis, was the hero of the hour. He had promised to settle the
business, one way or the other, within twenty days, and this promise,
which had been laughed at as a piece of crazy vanity, was fulfilled to
the letter. The whole merit of the performance, however, belonged to
Demosthenes, who had planned the attack on Sphacteria with admirable
sagacity, and led the operations from first to last.
The surrender of a picked troop of Spartan warriors caused a
revolution of feeling throughout Greece. Hitherto it had been assumed
as a matter of course that no Spartan soldier, in any circumstances,
would yield to an enemy; but now more than a hundred Spartans had
preferred life to honour. It was generally believed that the survivors
were inferior in valour to those who had fallen; and some time
afterwards one of the captives was asked this insulting question by
one of the Athenian allies: "Your _brave_ comrades were buried on
the field, I suppose?" The Spartan's answer was couched in a riddle:
"It would be a mighty clever spindle, [Footnote: Arrow.
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