He had kept himself well informed of what was going on at Magnesia. The immediate future, perhaps the long-distant future, for both Athens and Sparta depended at this moment on Tissaphernes. The two Greek fleets balanced each other pretty evenly. Any addition to either would turn the scale. An addition of three hundred, or even one hundred, big warships to either side must swamp the other hopelessly. So now, when on the tenth of August, according to our style, 411 years before our era, Agrestides came with secret intelligence that Tissaphernes, at length seriously frightened by threats of Spartan commissioners to break off the alliance and return to Sparta and leave Athens to recover her old dependencies, had actually set off himself for Aspendos to fetch the Persian fleet, and had taken the commissioner Lichas and the commander Philippos with him, that they might see for themselves that he really was this time in earnest, then Alkibiades felt he must act at once, and with the greatest speed and energy, if this decisive action was by any means to be prevented. When Agrestides left the mainland for Samos with the news, Tissaphernes, in his state long-ship, followed by the Spartans in two triremes, had also left Miletos, and was now coasting down the Asiatic continent, and must, by the time the message reached Alkibiades, have got some distance on his way. The general knew Persian habits, and that Persians were not fond of moving too rapidly. He knew it took some time to overcome the _vis inertiæ_ that was in their nature, and that in the case of Tissaphernes the habitual deliberation which marked their movements would not be easily startled into action on a business which, for more than one reason, he wished to be indefinitely postponed. Alkibiades knew, too, that there were no three hundred ships lying off Aspendos, and that Persian authorities did not waste their wealth on ships of war, which might never be wanted after all. He knew how many and great were the opportunities of spending their revenues in a way which more nearly concerned their own enjoyments. So he guessed that the voyage of Tissaphernes to Aspendos would not be rapid if he were left to himself. But there were two energetic Spartans with the satrap, and these might urge him on. So Agrestides had hardly finished his disquieting news before orders had been given to get thirteen of the quickest triremes in readiness to start in pursuit of the satrap and the persistent Spartans. It was a hot, dreamy day when the _Eros_, followed by the twelve swift Athenian ships, stood out of the harbour of Samos. They gave Miletos a wide berth. This was not a time for fighting; the general had other cares just now, and though his oarsmen pulled their hardest, the pace seemed all too slow for Alkibiades. His first object was to get to Kaunos, in Karia, before Tissaphernes left that port. Tissaphernes, he believed, must stop at Kaunos for water.