At the head of a hundred triremes he set sail at the dawn of a mid-September day. Shading his eyes from the rising sun, he looked onward, as if trying to wrest its secret from the future. Then he turned towards Athens. He saw the uplifted hands of thousands praying for blessings on him as he went. He knew he might have been their king, perhaps the founder of a kingly race, and the saviour of the people from themselves. But the splendour of his Athens, the largeness of her arts and literature, her greatness, which was to live for ever in the wonder of the ages and the races yet to come—these things had been grown and nurtured, they had flourished, in her free soil; they would be cramped and would perish under a fat and lazy despotism. His hand should never be the hand that killed them. He stamped his foot upon the deck to check—his anger, disappointment? No, only his emotion. He was never prouder of himself than at that moment; he was proud of what he had done for Athens; proud of what he was going to strive to do for her; prouder, much prouder, of what he had refused to do. Thousands were waving hands to him, and bidding him gratefully adieu. How many knew what he had renounced for them? How many knew that they would never look upon his face again? He saw the _Eros_ lying in the harbour, grown too old for the hard service on which he is bound. He gazed at the citadel, and at the helmed Athene. Did any sad foreboding cross his mind that he should never more behold that much-loved place? He passed by Aigina, where his ancestor was once king—there might be kings in those days—his royal body lying in its sanctuary, surrounded by white marble walls. Strange the thought that for a moment glanced across his mind, that he might soon see that ancient king now a judge in Hades, but might never see his land again. He made first for the isle of Andros, where the inhabitants had revolted and received a Spartan garrison. He dispersed the native troops and the Spartan soldiers, who attempted to resist his landing, chased them through the island, posted an Athenian garrison at Gaurion, and left Konon, one of his best officers, with twenty triremes to reduce the capital; and then set sail for Samos, which became again his base of operations.