On the other side was duty—his devotion to his country, and his willingness to renounce for her his own particular plans of personal advantage. Was this the time to stir up civil war, to leave Samos and the other islands to the mercy of the enemy? Athens had but one army left, and one navy; both were under his command at Samos, guarding the remnant of her Ionian possessions. To take that force to Athens would be to leave all outside Attica without any defence to her enemies. Could he be right in doing that, even for the holy purpose of restoring liberty and vitality to Athens? Was this a time to gratify ambition and aggrandize himself, and wreak his vengeance on his enemies, when Byzantion, Abydos, Lampsakos, were falling off? He thrust the temptation from him. He refused to purchase his return to Athens at such a price; he determined he would never set his foot upon his country’s soil until he came with hands full of blessings to her. When he returned to Samos he found his forces had been gaining strength. Some had come who had escaped from the tyranny at home, others from the islands. Among these arrivals was an embassy from the four hundred formally announcing the change in the government, and seeking to gain the army at Samos to its side. These deputies were received in open assembly, but the Athenian soldiers were so much enraged they could hardly be persuaded to listen to them. When they heard their excuses for the wrongs that had been inflicted on the people at home their anger became fiercer; it required all the power of Alkibiades to save the deputation from his soldiers’ violence. As soon as they were gone, the whole army once more entreated him to take them forthwith to Athens. They declared that the four hundred could not prevent their landing or their march from the Peiræus; that the people would hail them as deliverers, and that the hoplites serving under the usurpers would immediately desert their detested paymasters. For a moment he paused. The anger of the troops was overwhelming and dangerous. Had he power to restrain them any longer? If he refused to lead them, might they not depose him and choose a more pliant leader? So near the completion of his work, was he to see it all destroyed? His hopes so nearly realized—were they all to be abandoned? And for what? For a too sensitive regard for a place and people which had thrust him from them as an evildoer. Must he stay there always to protect her outposts when, by a word, he might be ruling in her midst? How long was he to watch over her here at Samos, while miscreants ate her life out of her at home, and were even now negotiating with her enemies to come and enslave her—enslave his Athens—if only for a little while they might so prop up their falling tyranny? Was it not his duty to put a stop to that? The temptation was getting too strong for him.