Piraeus by blockading them by land and sea, and so cutting them off
from all supplies, supported the application, and negotiated the loan
of one hundred talents[13] to his clients, backed by the appointment
of himself as harmost on land, and of his brother, Libys, as admiral
of the fleet. And so proceeding to the scene of action at Eleusis, he
got together a large body of Peloponnesian hoplites, whilst his
brother, the admiral, kept watch and ward by sea to prevent the
importation of supplies into Piraeus by water. Thus the men in Piraeus
were soon again reduced to their former helplessness, while the ardour
of the city folk rose to a proportionally high pitch under the
auspices of Lysander.

[13] 24,375 pounds, reckoning one tal. = 243 pounds 15 shillings.

Things were progressing after this sort when King Pausanias
intervened. Touched by a certain envy of Lysander--(who seemed, by a
final stroke of achievement, about to reach the pinnacle of
popularity, with Athens laid like a pocket dependency at his feet)--
the king persuaded three of the ephors to support him, and forthwith
called out the ban. With him marched contingents of all the allied
States, except the Boeotians and Corinthians. These maintained, that
to undertake such an expedition against the Athenians, in whose
conduct they saw nothing contrary to the treaty, was inconsistent with
their oaths. But if that was the language held by them, the secret of
their behaviour lay deeper; they seemed to be aware of a desire on the
part of the Lacedaemonians to annex the soil of the Athenians and to
reduce the state to vassalage. Pausanias encamped on the
Halipedon,[14] as the sandy flat is called, with his right wing
resting on Piraeus, and Lysander and his mercenaries forming the left.
His first act was to send an embassage to the party in Piraeus,