Six of the generals, including Thrasyllos, to whom the people owed so much, and the son of Perikles and Aspasia, were poisoned. Thus the transient success at Arginousai robbed the Athenians of those who might still have done something towards saving them. We have seen how at this time Alkibiades was helping his fellow-countrymen in Thrace. Nor was Lysandros idle. With the assistance of his friend Kyros, in a year’s time he was able to raise the Spartan fleet to more than its wonted strength. In September, 405, he appeared at the head of one hundred and twenty triremes before Lampsakos, which was still held by an Athenian garrison. He was soon followed by Konon and five other generals with one hundred and eighty ships, the last fleet which Athens had sent out having been increased by the vessels of the enemy she had captured off the Arginousan islands the year before. But they came too late for the relief of Lampsakos. It had already fallen. So they crossed the Hellespont, and anchored at the mouth of the Aigos Potamoi. It is difficult to understand how anyone with any knowledge of naval tactics could have chosen to anchor in that unsheltered place, with an enemy so near at hand. Ships of war at that time were constructed to carry men rather than provisions, so that, except on short cruises, the crews were obliged to land day by day to obtain their daily food. There was no town near the station the generals had chosen where they could procure anything. They had to leave their ships and go some way inland, or along the coast, to buy such things as they were constantly in need of. From his fortress Alkibiades saw the arrival of the Lakedaimonians, followed later by the Athenians. He watched the siege of Lampsakos, which he had taken from the enemy; he saw it fall again into the hands of that same enemy. He saw his countrymen approach the base of his high rock, and take up a position where, if they should be attacked, they must inevitably be destroyed. To him, with his quick perception, and with the experienced eye of a strategist, it appeared a token of mere madness in the commanders to have selected such a spot. His first impulse was to leave them there to take the consequence of their stupidity. But there were serving under them many whom he had himself commanded in past years, who had fought bravely under him, and with whom he had shared dangers, men whom he loved and had often led to victory. He was acquainted with the skill and cunning of Lysandros, and the cat-like cruelty of his nature. He saw him preparing for a final blow. He could stand by no longer, nor restrain his compassion for his country and his old comrades-in-arms, whose lives were every moment in such jeopardy, and who, if he did not interfere, must soon be slaughtered through the incapacity of those who led them.