Thucydides 1.115.2-117
(ed. Jones )

(115.2) ἕκτῳ δὲ ἔτει Σαμίοις καὶ Μιλησίοις πόλεμος ἐγένετο περὶ Πριήνης, καὶ οἱ Μιλήσιοι ἐλασσούμενοι τῷ πολέμῳ παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίους ἐλθόντες κατεβόων τῶν Σαμίων. ξυνεπελάβοντο δὲ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς Σάμου ἄνδρες ἰδιῶται νεωτερίσαι βουλόμενοι τὴν πολιτείαν. (3) πλεύσαντες οὖν Ἀθηναῖοι ἐς Σάμον ναυσὶ τεσσαράκοντα δημοκρατίαν κατέστησαν, καὶ ὁμήρους ἔλαβον τῶν Σαμίων πεντήκοντα μὲν παῖδας, ἴσους δὲ ἄνδρας, καὶ κατέθεντο ἐς Λῆμνον, καὶ φρουρὰν ἐγκαταλιπόντες ἀνεχώρησαν. (4) τῶν δὲ Σαμίων ἦσαν γάρ τινες οἳ οὐχ ὑπέμειναν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔφυγον ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον, ξυνθέμενοι τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει τοῖς δυνατωτάτοις καὶ Πισσούθνῃ τῷ Ὑστάσπου ξυμμαχίαν, ὃς εἶχε Σάρδεις τότε, ἐπικούρους τε ξυλλέξαντες ἐς ἑπτακοσίους διέβησαν ὑπὸ νύκτα ἐς τὴν Σάμον, (5) καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τῷ δήμῳ ἐπανέστησαν καὶ ἐκράτησαν τῶν πλείστων, ἔπειτα τοὺς ὁμήρους ἐκκλέψαντες ἐκ Λήμνου τοὺς αὑτῶν ἀπέστησαν, καὶ τοὺς φρουροὺς τοὺς Ἀθηναίων καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας οἳ ἦσαν παρὰ σφίσιν ἐξέδοσαν Πισσούθνῃ, ἐπί τε Μίλητον εὐθὺς παρεσκευάζοντο στρατεύειν. ξυναπέστησαν δ᾽ αὐτοῖς καὶ Βυζάντιοι. (116.1) Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ὡς ᾔσθοντο, πλεύσαντες ναυσὶν ἑξήκοντα ἐπὶ Σάμου ταῖς μὲν ἑκκαίδεκα τῶν νεῶν οὐκ ἐχρήσαντο (ἔτυχον γὰρ αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ Καρίας ἐς προσκοπὴν τῶν Φοινισσῶν νεῶν οἰχόμεναι, αἱ δὲ ἐπὶ Χίου καὶ Λέσβου περιαγγέλλουσαι βοηθεῖν), τεσσαράκοντα δὲ ναυσὶ καὶ τέσσαρσι Περικλέους δεκάτου αὐτοῦ στρατηγοῦντος ἐναυμάχησαν πρὸς Τραγίᾳ τῇ νήσῳ Σαμίων ναυσὶν ἑβδομήκοντα, ὧν ἦσαν αἱ εἴκοσι στρατιώτιδες (ἔτυχον δὲ αἱ πᾶσαι ἀπὸ Μιλήτου πλέουσαι), καὶ ἐνίκων Ἀθηναῖοι. (2) ὕστερον δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐβοήθησαν ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν νῆες τεσσαράκοντα καὶ Χίων καὶ Λεσβίων πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι, καὶ ἀποβάντες καὶ κρατοῦντες τῷ πεζῷ ἐπολιόρκουν τρισὶ τείχεσι τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἐκ θαλάσσης ἅμα. (3) Περικλῆς δὲ λαβὼν ἑξήκοντα ναῦς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐφορμουσῶν ᾤχετο κατὰ τάχος ἐπὶ Καύνου καὶ Καρίας, ἐσαγγελθέντων ὅτι Φοίνισσαι νῆες ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς πλέουσιν: ᾤχετο γὰρ καὶ ἐκ τῆς Σάμου πέντε ναυσὶ Στησαγόρας καὶ ἄλλοι ἐπὶ τὰς Φοινίσσας. (117.1) ἐν τούτῳ δὲ οἱ Σάμιοι ἐξαπιναίως ἔκπλουν ποιησάμενοι ἀφάρκτῳ τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ἐπιπεσόντες τάς τε προφυλακίδας ναῦς διέφθειραν καὶ ναυμαχοῦντες τὰς ἀνταναγομένας ἐνίκησαν, καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς καθ᾽ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκράτησαν ἡμέρας περὶ τέσσαρας καὶ δέκα, καὶ ἐσεκομίσαντο καὶ ἐξεκομίσαντο ἃ ἐβούλοντο. (2) ἐλθόντος δὲ Περικλέους πάλιν ταῖς ναυσὶ κατεκλῄσθησαν. καὶ ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν ὕστερον προσεβοήθησαν τεσσαράκοντα μὲν αἱ μετὰ Θουκυδίδου καὶ Ἅγνωνος καὶ Φορμίωνος νῆες, εἴκοσι δὲ αἱ μετὰ Τληπολέμου καὶ Ἀντικλέους, ἐκ δὲ Χίου καὶ Λέσβου τριάκοντα. (3) καὶ ναυμαχίαν μέν τινα βραχεῖαν ἐποιήσαντο οἱ Σάμιοι, ἀδύνατοι δὲ ὄντες ἀντίσχειν ἐξεπολιορκήθησαν ἐνάτῳ μηνὶ καὶ προσεχώρησαν ὁμολογίᾳ, τεῖχός τε καθελόντες καὶ ὁμήρους δόντες καὶ ναῦς παραδόντες καὶ χρήματα τὰ ἀναλωθέντα ταξάμενοι κατὰ χρόνους ἀποδοῦναι. ξυνέβησαν δὲ καὶ Βυζάντιοι ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον ὑπήκοοι εἶναι.

Diodorus Siculus 12.27-28
(ed. Oldfather)

(27.1) ἐπ᾽ ἄρχοντος δ᾽ Ἀθήνησι Τιμοκλέους Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Λαρῖνον Ἑρμίνιον καὶ Τίτον Στερτίνιον Στρούκτορα. ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Σάμιοι μὲν πρὸς Μιλησίους περὶ Πριήνης ἀμφισβητήσαντες εἰς πόλεμον κατέστησαν, ὁρῶντες δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ταῖς εὐνοίαις διαφέροντας πρὸς Μιλησίους, ἀπέστησαν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν. οἱ δὲ Περικλέα προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαμίους ἔχοντα τριήρεις τετταράκοντα. (2) οὗτος δὲ πλεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν Σάμον παρεισελθὼν δὲ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος κατέστησε δημοκρατίαν ἐν αὐτῇ. πραξάμενος δὲ παρὰ τῶν Σαμίων ὀγδοήκοντα τάλαντα, καὶ τοὺς ἴσους ὁμήρους παῖδας λαβών, τούτους μὲν παρέδωκε τοῖς Λημνίοις, αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἅπαντα συντετελεκὼς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. (3) ἐν δὲ τῇ Σάμῳ στάσεως γενομένης, καὶ τῶν μὲν αἱρουμένων τὴν δημοκρατίαν, τῶν δὲ βουλομένων τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν εἶναι, ταραχὴ πολλὴ τὴν πόλιν ἐπεῖχε. τῶν δ᾽ ἐναντιουμένων τῇ δημοκρατίᾳ διαβάντων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ πορευθέντων εἰς Σάρδεις πρὸς Πισσούθνην τὸν τῶν Περσῶν σατράπην περὶ βοηθείας, ὁ μὲν Πισσούθνης ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς στρατιώτας ἑπτακοσίους, ἐλπίζων τῆς Σάμου διὰ τούτου κυριεύσειν, οἱ δὲ Σάμιοι μετὰ τῶν δοθέντων αὐτοῖς στρατιωτῶν νυκτὸς πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Σάμον ἔλαθόν τε τὴν πόλιν παρεισελθόντες, τῶν πολιτῶν συνεργούντων, ῥᾳδίως τ᾽ ἐκράτησαν τῆς Σάμου, καὶ τοὺς ἀντιπράττοντας αὐτοῖς ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως: τοὺς δ᾽ ὁμήρους ἐκκλέψαντες ἐκ τῆς Λήμνου καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σάμον ἀσφαλισάμενοι, φανερῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἀπέδειξαν πολεμίους τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. (4) οἱ δὲ πάλιν Περικλέα προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαμίους μετὰ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα. μετὰ δὲ ταῦθ᾽ ὁ μὲν Περικλῆς ναυμαχήσας πρὸς ἑβδομήκοντα τριήρεις ἐνίκησε τοὺς Σαμίους, μεταπεμψάμενος δὲ παρὰ Χίων καὶ Μυτιληναίων ναῦς εἴκοσι πέντε μετὰ τούτων ἐπολιόρκησε τὴν Σάμον. (5) μετὰ δέ τινας ἡμέρας Περικλῆς μὲν καταλιπὼν μέρος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τῆς πολιορκίας ἀνέζευξεν, ἀπαντήσων ταῖς Φοινίσσαις ναυσίν, ἃς οἱ Πέρσαι τοῖς Σαμίοις ἦσαν ἀπεσταλκότες. (28.1) οἱ δὲ Σάμιοι διὰ τὴν ἀνάζευξιν τοῦ Περικλέους νομίζοντες ἔχειν καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον εἰς ἐπίθεσιν ταῖς ἀπολελειμμέναις ναυσίν, ἐπέπλευσαν ἐπ᾽ αὐτάς, καὶ νικήσαντες τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ φρονήματος ἐπληροῦντο. (2) ὁ δὲ Περικλῆς ἀκούσας τὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἧτταν, εὐθὺς ὑπέστρεψε καὶ στόλον ἀξιόλογον ἤθροισε, βουλόμενος εἰς τέλος συντρῖψαι τὸν τῶν ἐναντίων στόλον. ταχὺ δ᾽ ἀποστειλάντων Ἀθηναίων μὲν ἑξήκοντα τριήρεις, Χίων δὲ καὶ Μυτιληναίων τριάκοντα, μεγάλην ἔχων δύναμιν συνεστήσατο τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, συνεχεῖς ποιούμενος προσβολάς. (3) κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ μηχανὰς πρῶτος τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ τούς τε ὀνομαζομένους κριοὺς καὶ χελώνας, Ἀρτέμωνος τοῦ Κλαζομενίου κατασκευάσαντος. ἐνεργῶς δὲ πολιορκήσας τὴν πόλιν καὶ ταῖς μηχαναῖς καταβαλὼν τὰ τείχη κύριος ἐγένετο τῆς Σάμου. κολάσας δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους ἐπράξατο τοὺς Σαμίους τὰς εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν γεγενημένας δαπάνας, τιμησάμενος αὐτὰς ταλάντων διακοσίων. (4) παρείλετο δὲ καὶ τὰς ναῦς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τείχη κατέσκαψε, καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν καταστήσας ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. Ἀθηναίοις δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις μέχρι τούτων τῶν χρόνων αἱ τριακονταετεῖς σπονδαὶ διέμειναν ἀσάλευτοι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.

Plutarch, Pericles 25-28
(ed. Perrin )

(25.1) τὸν δὲ πρὸς Σαμίους πόλεμον αἰτιῶνται μάλιστα τὸν Περικλέα ψηφίσασθαι διὰ Μιλησίους Ἀσπασίας δεηθείσης. αἱ γὰρ πόλεις ἐπολέμουν τὸν περὶ Πριήνης πόλεμον, καὶ κρατοῦντες οἱ Σάμιοι, παύσασθαι τῶν Ἀθηναίων κελευόντων καὶ δίκας λαβεῖν καὶ δοῦναι παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς, οὐκ ἐπείθοντο. πλεύσας οὖν ὁ Περικλῆς τὴν μὲν οὖσαν ὀλιγαρχίαν ἐν Σάμῳ κατέλυσεν, τῶν δὲ πρώτων λαβὼν ὁμήρους πεντήκοντα καὶ παῖδας ἴσους εἰς Λῆμνον ἀπέστειλε. (2) καίτοι φασὶν ἕκαστον μὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ὁμήρων διδόναι τάλαντον ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα τοὺς μὴ θέλοντας ἐν τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι δημοκρατίαν. ἔτι δὲ Πισσούθνης ὁ Πέρσης ἔχων τινὰ πρὸς Σαμίους εὔνοιαν ἀπέστειλεν αὐτῷ μυρίους χρυσοῦς, παραιτούμενος τὴν πόλιν. οὐ μὴν ἔλαβε τούτων οὐδὲν ὁ Περικλῆς, ἀλλὰ χρησάμενος ὥσπερ ἐγνώκει τοῖς Σαμίοις καὶ καταστήσας δημοκρατίαν ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας. (3) οἱ δ᾽ εὐθὺς ἀπέστησαν, ἐκκλέψαντος αὐτοῖς τοὺς ὁμήρους Πισσούθνου καὶ τἆλλα παρασκευάσαντος πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. αὖθις οὖν ὁ Περικλῆς ἐξέπλευσεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς οὐχ ἡσυχάζοντας οὐδὲ κατεπτηχότας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ προθύμως ἐγνωκότας ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τῆς θαλάττης. γενομένης δὲ καρτερᾶς ναυμαχίας περὶ νῆσον ἣν Τραγίας καλοῦσι, λαμπρῶς ὁ Περικλῆς ἐνίκα, τέσσαρσι καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ναυσὶν ἑβδομήκοντα καταναυμαχήσας, ὧν εἴκοσι στρατιώτιδες ἦσαν. (26.1) ἅμα δὲ τῇ νίκῃ καὶ τῇ διώξει τοῦ λιμένος κρατήσας ἐπολιόρκει τοὺς Σαμίους, ἁμῶς γέ πως ἔτι τολμῶντας ἐπεξιέναι καὶ διαμάχεσθαι πρὸ τοῦ τείχους. ἐπεὶ δὲ μείζων ἕτερος στόλος ἦλθεν ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν καὶ παντελῶς κατεκλείσθησαν οἱ Σάμιοι, λαβὼν ὁ Περικλῆς ἑξήκοντα τριήρεις ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὸν ἔξω πόντον, ὡς μὲν οἱ πλεῖστοι λέγουσι, Φοινισσῶν νεῶν ἐπικούρων τοῖς Σαμίοις προσφερομένων ἀπαντῆσαι καὶ διαγωνίσασθαι πορρωτάτω βουλόμενος, ὡς δὲ Στησίμβροτος (FHG II 55 fr. 7 = FGrH 107 F 8), ἐπὶ Κύπρον στελλόμενος: ὅπερ οὐ δοκεῖ πιθανὸν εἶναι. (2) ὁποτέρῳ δ᾽ οὖν ἐχρήσατο τῶν λογισμῶν, ἁμαρτεῖν ἔδοξε. πλεύσαντος γὰρ αὐτοῦ Μέλισσος ὁ Ἰθαγένους, ἀνὴρ φιλόσοφος στρατηγῶν τότε τῆς Σάμου, καταφρονήσας τῆς ὀλιγότητος τῶν νεῶν ἢ τῆς ἀπειρίας τῶν στρατηγῶν, ἔπεισε τοὺς πολίτας ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ γενομένης μάχης νικήσαντες οἱ Σάμιοι, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἄνδρας ἑλόντες, πολλὰς δὲ ναῦς διαφθείραντες, ἐχρῶντο τῇ θαλάσσῃ καὶ παρετίθεντο τῶν ἀναγκαίων πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ὅσα μὴ πρότερον εἶχον. (3) ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ Μελίσσου καὶ Περικλέα φησὶν αὐτὸν Ἀριστοτέλης (F 577 Rose³ ) ἡττηθῆναι ναυμαχοῦντα πρότερον (cf. Plut., Them. 2.3; Ael., VH 7.14). οἱ δὲ Σάμιοι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀνθυβρίζοντες ἔστιζον εἰς τὸ μέτωπον γλαῦκας: καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνους οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι σάμαιναν. ἡ δὲ σάμαινα ναῦς ἐστιν ὑόπρωρος μὲν τὸ σίμωμα, κοιλοτέρα δὲ καὶ γαστροειδής, ὥστε καὶ ποντοπορεῖν καὶ ταχυναυτεῖν. (4) οὕτω δ᾽ ὠνομάσθη διὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἐν Σάμῳ φανῆναι, Πολυκράτους τυράννου κατασκευάσαντος. πρὸς ταῦτα τὰ στίγματα λέγουσι καὶ τὸ Ἀριστοφάνειον (CAF I fr. 64 ) ᾐνίχθαι: Σαμίων ὁ δῆμός ἐστιν ὡς πολυγράμματος. (27.1) πυθόμενος δ᾽ οὖν ὁ Περικλῆς τὴν ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου συμφορὰν ἐβοήθει κατὰ τάχος καὶ τοῦ Μελίσσου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀντιταξαμένου κρατήσας καὶ τρεψάμενος τοὺς πολεμίους εὐθὺς περιετείχιζε, δαπάνῃ καὶ χρόνῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τραύμασι καὶ κινδύνοις τῶν πολιτῶν περιγενέσθαι καὶ συνελεῖν τὴν πόλιν βουλόμενος. (2) ἐπεὶ δὲ δυσχεραίνοντας τῇ τριβῇ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ μάχεσθαι προθυμουμένους ἔργον ἦν κατασχεῖν, ὀκτὼ μέρη διελὼν τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος ἀπεκλήρου, καὶ τῷ λαβόντι τὸν λευκὸν κύαμον εὐωχεῖσθαι καὶ σχολάζειν παρεῖχε τῶν ἄλλων μαχομένων. διὸ καί φασι τοὺς ἐν εὐπαθείαις τισὶ γενομένους λευκὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ἀπὸ τοῦ λευκοῦ κυάμου προσαγορεύειν. (3) Ἔφορος (FHG I 265 fr. 117 = FGrH 70 F 194) δὲ καὶ μηχαναῖς χρήσασθαι τὸν Περικλέα, τὴν καινότητα θαυμάσαντα, Ἀρτέμωνος τοῦ μηχανικοῦ παρόντος, ὃν χωλὸν ὄντα καὶ φορείῳ πρὸς τὰ κατεπείγοντα τῶν ἔργων προσκομιζόμενον ὀνομασθῆναι περιφόρητον. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς (F 60 Wehrli) ἐλέγχει τοῖς Ἀνακρέοντος ποιήμασιν (PMG fr. 27), ἐν οἷς ὁ περιφόρητος Ἀρτέμων ὀνομάζεται πολλαῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἡλικίαις τοῦ περὶ Σάμον πολέμου καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων (4) ἐκείνων: τὸν δ᾽ Ἀρτέμωνά φησι τρυφερόν τινα τῷ βίῳ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς φόβους μαλακὸν ὄντα καὶ καταπλῆγα τὰ πολλὰ μὲν οἴκοι καθέζεσθαι, χαλκῆν ἀσπίδα τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ δυεῖν οἰκετῶν ὑπερεχόντων, ὥστε μηδὲν ἐμπεσεῖν τῶν ἄνωθεν, εἰ δὲ βιασθείη προελθεῖν, ἐν κλινιδίῳ κρεμαστῷ παρὰ τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν περιφερόμενον κομίζεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κληθῆναι περιφόρητον. (28.1) ἐνάτῳ δὲ μηνὶ τῶν Σαμίων παραστάντων ὁ Περικλῆς τὰ τείχη καθεῖλε καὶ τὰς ναῦς παρέλαβε καὶ χρήμασι πολλοῖς ἐζημίωσεν, ὧν τὰ μὲν εὐθὺς εἰσήνεγκαν οἱ Σάμιοι, τὰ δ᾽ ἐν χρόνῳ ῥητῷ ταξάμενοι κατοίσειν ὁμήρους ἔδωκαν. Δοῦρις δ᾽ ὁ Σάμιος (FHG II 483 fr. 60 = FGrH 76 F 67 = BNJ 76 F 67) τούτοις ἐπιτραγῳδεῖ πολλὴν ὠμότητα τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τοῦ Περικλέους κατηγορῶν, ἣν οὔτε Θουκυδίδης (1.115.2-117) ἱστόρηκεν οὔτ᾽ (2) Ἔφορος (FHG I 265 fr. 117 = FGrH 70 F 195) οὔτ᾽ Ἀριστοτέλης (F 578 Rose³ ): ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀληθεύειν ἔοικεν, ὡς ἄρα τοὺς τριηράρχους καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβάτας τῶν Σαμίων εἰς τὴν Μιλησίων ἀγορὰν καταγαγὼν καὶ σανίσι προσδήσας ἐφ᾽ ἡμέρας δέκα κακῶς ἤδη διακειμένους προσέταξεν ἀνελεῖν, ξύλοις τὰς κεφαλὰς συγκόψαντας, εἶτα προβαλεῖν ἀκήδευτα τὰ σώματα. (3) Δοῦρις (FHG II 483 fr. 60 = FGrH 76 F 67 = BNJ 76 F 67) μὲν οὖν οὐδ᾽ ὅπου μηδὲν αὐτῷ πρόσεστιν ἴδιον πάθος εἰωθὼς κρατεῖν τὴν διήγησιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, μᾶλλον ἔοικεν ἐνταῦθα δεινῶσαι τὰς τῆς πατρίδος συμφορὰς ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ὁ δὲ Περικλῆς καταστρεψάμενος τὴν Σάμον ὡς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ταφάς τε τῶν ἀποθανόντων κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐνδόξους ἐποίησε καὶ τὸν λόγον εἰπών, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἐστίν, ἐπὶ τῶν σημάτων ἐθαυμαστώθη. (4) καταβαίνοντα δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι γυναῖκες ἐδεξιοῦντο καὶ στεφάνοις ἀνέδουν καὶ ταινίαις ὥσπερ ἀθλητὴν νικηφόρον, ἡ δ᾽ Ἐλπινίκη προσελθοῦσα πλησίον: ‘ταῦτ᾽,’ ἔφη, ‘θαυμαστά, Περίκλεις, καὶ ἄξια στεφάνων, ὃς ἡμῖν πολλοὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ἀπώλεσας πολίτας οὐ Φοίνιξι πολεμῶν οὐδὲ Μήδοις, ὥσπερ οὑμὸς ἀδελφὸς Κίμων, ἀλλὰ σύμμαχον καὶ συγγενῆ πόλιν καταστρεφόμενος.’ (5) ταῦτα τῆς Ἐλπινίκης λεγούσης ὁ Περικλῆς μειδιάσας ἀτρέμα λέγεται τὸ τοῦ Ἀρχιλόχου (F 205 West) πρὸς αὐτὴν εἰπεῖν: οὐκ ἂν μύροισι γραῦς ἐοῦσ᾽ ἠλείφεο. θαυμαστὸν δέ τι καὶ μέγα φρονῆσαι καταπολεμήσαντα τοὺς Σαμίους φησὶν αὐτὸν ὁ Ἴων (FHG II 48 fr. 8 = FGrH 392 F 16 = BNJ 392 F 16), ὡς τοῦ μὲν Ἀγαμέμνονος ἔτεσι δέκα βάρβαρον πόλιν, αὐτοῦ δὲ μησὶν ἐννέα τοὺς πρώτους καὶ δυνατωτάτους Ἰώνων ἑλόντος (cf. Plut., Mor. 350e). (6) καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄδικος ἡ ἀξίωσις, ἀλλ᾽ ὄντως πολλὴν ἀδηλότητα καὶ μέγαν ἔσχε κίνδυνον ὁ πόλεμος, εἴπερ, ὡς Θουκυδίδης (8.76.4) φησί, παρ᾽ ἐλάχιστον ἦλθε Σαμίων ἡ πόλις ἀφελέσθαι τῆς θαλάττης τὸ κράτος Ἀθηναίους.

Thucydides 1.115.2-117
(trans. Crawley)

(115.2) In the sixth year of the truce, war broke out between the Samians and Milesians about Priene. Worsted in the war, the Milesians came to Athens with loud complaints against the Samians. In this they were joined by certain private persons from Samos itself, who wished to revolutionize the government. (3) Accordingly the Athenians sailed to Samos with forty ships and set up a democracy; took hostages from the Samians, fifty boys and as many men, lodged them in Lemnos, and after leaving a garrison in the island returned home. (4) But some of the Samians had not remained in the island, but had fled to the continent. Making an agreement with the most powerful of those in the city, and an alliance with Pissuthnes, son of Hystaspes, the then satrap of Sardis, they got together a force of seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover of night crossed over to Samos. (5) Their first step was to rise on the commons, most of whom they secured, their next to steal their hostages from Lemnos; after which they revolted, gave up the Athenian garrison left with them and its commanders to Pissuthnes, and instantly prepared for an expedition against Miletus. The Byzantines also revolted with them. (116.1) As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty ships against Samos. Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for the Phoenician fleet, and to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders for reinforcements, and so never engaged; but forty-four ships under the command of Perikles with nine colleagues gave battle, off the island of Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of which twenty were transports, as they were sailing from Miletus. Victory remained with the Athenians. (2) Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens, and twenty-five Chian and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and having the superiority by land invested the city with three walls; it was also invested from the sea. (3) Meanwhile Perikles took sixty ships from the blockading squadron, and departed in haste for Caunus and Caria, intelligence having been brought in of the approach of the Phoenician fleet to the aid of the Samians; indeed Stesagoras and others had left the island with five ships to bring them. (117.1) But in the meantime the Samians made a sudden sally, and fell on the camp, which they found unfortified. Destroying the look-out vessels, and engaging and defeating such as were being launched to meet them, they remained masters of their own seas for fourteen days, and carried in and carried out what they pleased. (2) But on the arrival of Perikles, they were once more shut up. Fresh reinforcements afterwards arrived — forty ships from Athens with Thucydides, Hagnon, and Phormio; twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty vessels from Chios and Lesbos. (3) After a brief attempt at fighting, the Samians, unable to hold out, were reduced after a nine months' siege, and surrendered on conditions; they razed their walls, gave hostages, delivered up their ships, and arranged to pay the expenses of the war by instalments. The Byzantines also agreed to be subject as before.

Diodorus Siculus 12.27-28
(trans. Oldfather)

(27.1) When Timocles was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lar Herminius and Titus Stertinius Structor. In this year the Samians went to war with the Milesians because of a quarrel over Priene, and when they saw that the Athenians were favouring the Milesians, they revolted from the Athenians, who thereupon chose Perikles as general and dispatched him with forty ships against the Samians. (2) And sailing forth against Samos, Perikles got into the city and mastered it, and then established a democracy in it. He exacted of the Samians eighty talents and took an equal number of their young men as hostages, whom he put in the keeping of the Lemnians; then, after having finished everything in a few days, he returned to Athens. (3) But civil discord arose in Samos, one party preferring the democracy and the other wanting an aristocracy, and the city was in utter tumult. The opponents of the democracy crossed over to Asia, and went on to Sardis to get aid from Pissuthnes, the Persian satrap. Pissuthnes gave them seven hundred soldiers, hoping that in this way he would get the mastery of the island, and the Samians, sailing to Samos by night with the soldiers which had been given them, slipped unnoticed into the city with the aid of the citizens, seized the island without difficulty, and expelled from the city those who opposed them. Then, after they had stolen and carried off the hostages from Lemnos and had made everything secure in Samos, they publicly declared themselves to be enemies of the Athenians. (4) The Athenians again chose Perikles as general and dispatched him against the Samians with sixty ships. Thereupon Perikles fought a naval battle against seventy triremes of the Samians and defeated them; and then, summoning twenty-five ships from the Chians and Mytilenaeans, together with them he laid siege to the city of Samos. (5) But a few days later Perikles left a part of his force to continue the siege and set out to sea to meet the Phoenician ships which the Persians had dispatched to the aid of the Samians. (28.1) The Samians, believing that because of the departure of Perikles they had a suitable opportunity to attack the ships that had been left behind, sailed against them, and having won the battle they were puffed up with pride. (2) But when Perikles received word of the defeat of his forces, he at once turned back and gathered an imposing fleet, since he desired to destroy once and for all the fleet of the enemy. The Athenians rapidly dispatched sixty triremes and the Chians and Mytilenaeans thirty, and with this great armament Perikles renewed the siege both by land and by sea, making continuous assaults. (3) He built also siege machines, being the first of all men to do so, such as those called “rams” and “tortoises,” Artemon of Clazomenae having built them; and by pushing the siege with energy and throwing down the walls by means of the siege machines he gained the mastery of Samos. After punishing the ringleaders of the revolt he exacted of the Samians the expenses incurred in the siege of the city, fixing the penalty at two hundred talents. (4) He also took from them their ships and razed their walls; then he restored the democracy and returned to his country. As for the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, the thirty-year truce between them remained unshaken to this time. These, then, were the events of this year.

Plutarch, Pericles 25-28
(trans. Perrin )

(25.1) But to return to the war against the Samians, they accuse Perikles of getting the decree for this passed at the request of Aspasia and in the special behalf of the Milesians. For the two cities were waging their war for the possession of Priene, and the Samians were getting the better of it, and when the Athenians ordered them to stop the contest and submit the case to arbitration at Athens, they would not obey. So Perikles set sail and broke up the oligarchical government which Samos had, and then took fifty of the foremost men of the state, with as many of their children, as hostages, and sent them off to Lemnos. (2) And yet they say that every one of these hostages offered him a talent on his own account, and that the opponents of democracy in the city offered him many talents besides. And still further, Pissouthnes, the Persian satrap, who had much good-will towards the Samians, sent him ten thousand gold staters and interceded for the city. However, Perikles took none of these bribes, but treated the Samians just as he had determined, set up a democracy and sailed back to Athens. (3) Then the Samians at once revolted, after Pissouthnes had stolen away their hostages from Lemnos for them, and in other ways equipped them for the war. Once more, therefore, Perikles set sail against them. They were not victims of sloth, nor yet of abject terror, but full of exceeding zeal in their determination to contest the supremacy of the sea. In a fierce sea-fight which came off near an island called Tragia, Perikles won a brilliant victory, with four and forty ships outfighting seventy, twenty of which were infantry transports. (26.1) Close on the heels of his victorious pursuit came his seizure of the harbor, and then he laid formal siege to the Samians, who, somehow or other, still had the daring to sally forth and fight with him before their walls. But soon a second and a larger armament came from Athens, and the Samians were completely beleaguered and shut in. Then Perikles took sixty triremes and sailed out into the main sea, as most authorities say, because he wished to meet a fleet of Phoenician ships which was coming to the aid of the Samians, and fight it at as great a distance from Samos as possible; but according to Stesimbrotus (FHG II 55 fr. 7 = FGrH 107 F 8), because he had designs on Cyprus, which seems incredible. (2) But in any case, whichever design he cherished, he seems to have made a mistake. For no sooner had he sailed off than Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a philosopher who was then acting as general at Samos, despising either the small number of ships that were left, or the inexperience of the generals in charge of them, persuaded his fellow-citizens to make an attack upon the Athenians. In the battle that ensued the Samians were victorious, taking many of their enemy captive, and destroying many of their ships, so that they commanded the sea and laid in large store of such necessaries for the war as they did not have before. (3) And Aristotle (F 577 Rose³) says that Perikles was himself also defeated by Melissus in the sea-fight which preceded this. The Samians retaliated upon the Athenians by branding their prisoners in the forehead with owls; for the Athenians had once branded some of them with the samaena. Now the samaena is a ship of war with a boar's head design for prow and ram, but more capacious than usual and paunchlike, so that it is a good deep-sea traveller and a swift sailor too. (4) It got this name because it made its first appearance in Samos, where Polycrates the tyrant had some built. To these brand-marks, they say, the verse of Aristophanes (CAF I fr. 64) made riddling reference:— For oh! how lettered is the folk of the Samians! (27.1) Be that true or not, when Perikles learned of the disaster which had befallen his fleet, he came speedily to its aid. And though Melissus arrayed his forces against him, he conquered and routed the enemy and at once walled their city in, preferring to get the upper hand and capture it at the price of money and time, rather than of the wounds and deadly perils of his fellow-citizens. (2) And since it was a hard task for him to restrain the Athenians in their impatience of delay and eagerness to fight, he separated his whole force into eight divisions, had them draw lots, and allowed the division which got the white bean to feast and take their ease, while the others did the fighting. And this is the reason, as they say, why those who have had a gay and festive time call it a ‘white day,’ — from the white bean. (3) Ephorus (FHG I 265 fr. 117 = FGrH 70 F 194) says that Perikles actually employed siege-engines, in his admiration of their novelty, and that Artemon the engineer was with him there, who, since he was lame, and so had to be brought on a stretcher to the works which demanded his instant attention, was dubbed Periphoretus. Heracleides Ponticus (F 60 Wehrli), however, refutes this story out of the poems of Anacreon (PMG fr. 27), in which Artemon Periphoretus is mentioned many generations before the Samian War and its events. (4) And he says that Artemon was very luxurious in his life, as well as weak and panic-stricken in the presence of his fears, and therefore for the most part sat still at home, while two servants held a bronze shield over his head to keep anything from falling down upon it. Whenever he was forced to go abroad, he had himself carried in a little hammock which was borne along just above the surface of the ground. On this account he was called Periphoretus. (28.1) After eight months the Samians surrendered, and Perikles tore down their walls, took away their ships of war, and laid a heavy fine upon them, part of which they paid at once, and part they agreed to pay at a fixed time, giving hostages therefor. To these details Douris the Samian (FHG II 483 fr. 60 = FGrH 76 F 67 = BNJ 76 F 67) adds stuff for tragedy, accusing the Athenians and Perikles of great brutality, which is recorded neither by Thucydides (1.115.2-117), nor Ephorus (FHG I 265 fr. 117 = FGrH 70 F 195), nor Aristotle (F 578 Rose³). (2) But he appears not to speak the truth when he says, forsooth, that Perikles had the Samian trierarchs and marines brought into the market-place of Miletus and crucified there, and that then, when they had already suffered grievously for ten days, he gave orders to break their heads in with clubs and make an end of them, and then cast their bodies forth without burial rites. (3) At all events, since it is not the wont of Douris (FHG II 483 fr. 60 = FGrH 76 F 67 = BNJ 76 F 67), even in cases where he has no private and personal interest, to hold his narrative down to the fundamental truth, it is all the more likely that here, in this instance, he has given a dreadful portrayal of the calamities of his country, that he might calumniate the Athenians. When Perikles, after his subjection of Samos, had returned to Athens, he gave honorable burial to those who had fallen in the war, and for the oration which he made, according to the custom, over their tombs, he won the greatest admiration. (4) But as he came down from the bema, while the rest of the women clasped his hand and fastened wreaths and fillets on his head, as though he were some victorious athlete, Elpinice drew nigh and said: ‘This is admirable in thee, Perikles, and deserving of wreaths, in that thou hast lost us many brave citizens, not in a war with Phoenicians or Medes, like my brother Cimon, but in the subversion of an allied and kindred city.’ (5) On Elpinice's saying this, Perikles, with a quiet smile, it is said, quoted to her the verse of Archilochus (F 205 West): — Thou hadst not else, in spite of years, perfumed thyself. Ion (FHG II 48 fr. 8 = FGrH 392 F 16 = BNJ 392 F 16) says that he had the most astonishingly great thoughts of himself for having subjected the Samians; whereas Agamemnon was all of ten years in taking a barbarian city, he had in nine months time reduced the foremost and most powerful people of Ionia. (6) And indeed his estimate of himself was not unjust, nay, the war actually brought with it much uncertainty and great peril, if indeed, as Thucydides (8.76.4) says, the city of Samos came within a very little of stripping from Athens her power on the sea.