History of The Peloponnesian War - Book V   

Thrace. He thought to retire at pleasure without fighting, as there
was no one to be seen upon the wall or coming out of the gates, all of
which were shut. Indeed, it seemed a mistake not to have brought
down engines with him; he could then have taken the town, there
being no one to defend it.

As soon as Brasidas saw the Athenians in motion he descended himself
from Cerdylium and entered Amphipolis. He did not venture to go out in
regular order against the Athenians: he mistrusted his strength, and
thought it inadequate to the attempt; not in numbers- these were not
so unequal- but in quality, the flower of the Athenian army being in
the field, with the best of the Lemnians and Imbrians. He therefore
prepared to assail them by stratagem. By showing the enemy the
number of his troops, and the shifts which he had been put to to to
arm them, he thought that he should have less chance of beating him
than by not letting him have a sight of them, and thus learn how
good a right he had to despise them. He accordingly picked out a
hundred and fifty heavy infantry and, putting the rest under
Clearidas, determined to attack suddenly before the Athenians retired;
thinking that he should not have again such a chance of catching
them alone, if their reinforcements were once allowed to come up;
and so calling all his soldiers together in order to encourage them
and explain his intention, spoke as follows:
"Peloponnesians, the character of the country from which we have
come, one which has always owed its freedom to valour, and the fact
that you are Dorians and the enemy you are about to fight Ionians,
whom you are accustomed to beat, are things that do not need further
comment. But the plan of attack that I propose to pursue, this it is
as well to explain, in order that the fact of our adventuring with a
part instead of with the whole of our forces may not damp your courage
by the apparent disadvantage at which it places you. I imagine it is
the poor opinion that he has of us, and the fact that he has no idea
of any one coming out to engage him, that has made the enemy march
up to the place and carelessly look about him as he is doing,
without noticing us. But the most successful soldier will always be
the man who most happily detects a blunder like this, and who
carefully consulting his own means makes his attack not so much by
open and regular approaches, as by seizing the opportunity of the
moment; and these stratagems, which do the greatest service to our
friends by most completely deceiving our enemies, have the most
brilliant name in war. Therefore, while their careless confidence
continues, and they are still thinking, as in my judgment they are now
doing, more of retreat than of maintaining their position, while their
spirit is slack and not high-strung with expectation, I with the men
under my command will, if possible, take them by surprise and fall
with a run upon their centre; and do you, Clearidas, afterwards,
when you see me already upon them, and, as is likely, dealing terror
among them, take with you the Amphipolitans, and the rest of the
allies, and suddenly open the gates and dash at them, and hasten to
engage as quickly as you can. That is our best chance of
establishing a panic among them, as a fresh assailant has always
more terrors for an enemy than the one he is immediately engaged with.
Show yourself a brave man, as a Spartan should; and do you, allies,
follow him like men, and remember that zeal, honour, and obedience
mark the good soldier, and that this day will make you either free men
and allies of Lacedaemon, or slaves of Athens; even if you escape
without personal loss of liberty or life, your bondage will be on
harsher terms than before, and you will also hinder the liberation
of the rest of the Hellenes. No cowardice then on your part, seeing
the greatness of the issues at stake, and I will show that what I
preach to others I can practise myself."
After this brief speech Brasidas himself prepared for the sally, and
placed the rest with Clearidas at the Thracian gates to support him as
had been agreed. Meanwhile he had been seen coming down from Cerdylium