Brasidas had long since recovered from the wounds received at Pylos.
The deep humiliation of Sparta, now reduced to become a suppliant for
peace, filled him with shame and sorrow, and in the eighth year of the
war he formed the bold design of organizing a campaign against the
coast-towns of Thrace, which were among the most important of the
Athenian tributaries. Having obtained the necessary commission from
Sparta, he collected a force of seventeen hundred heavy-armed
infantry, and in the summer following the disaster at Sphacteria,
turned his steps northward, and arrived without mishap at the borders
of Thessaly. The Thessalians generally were then on friendly terms
with Athens, and, apart from this, the passage of so large a force
through their territory caused suspicion and alarm among the
inhabitants. But Brasidas was a man of rare gifts: endowed with more
than a full share of the typical Spartan virtues, he combined with
these a graciousness of manner, and a winning eloquence, which made
him an equal of the most accomplished Athenian. He had, moreover,
friends among the powerful nobles of Thessaly, who undertook to guide
him in safety to the Macedonian frontier. On reaching the river
Enipeus, he found his passage barred by a Thessalian force, who seemed
resolved to dispute his progress.
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