Laches

Family: Athenian · Role: commander · First appears: Book 3 · Chapter 10 · Part 6

At the close of the summer, Laches, son of Melanopus, sailed to Sicily with Charoeades and twenty Athenian ships, establishing themselves at Rhegium and fighting alongside their allies. During the same summer, Charoeades was killed in battle, leaving Laches in sole command. His forces routed the Messinese garrison at Mylae and compelled it to surrender the Acropolis; Messina then submitted and gave hostages and other securities.

In the ensuing winter, an attack on Inessa failed, and the retreating allies suffered heavy losses. Laches and the Athenians later defeated Locrians led by Proxenus at the river Caicinus, took arms, and departed. Back at Rhegium, he was superseded by Pythodorus.

Later, in the Athenian assembly, Laches moved for an armistice on the terms agreed with the Lacedaemonians and their allies; the assembly approved a one-year truce. The Lacedaemonians had negotiated a treaty through Laches and Nicias, a matter that offended Alcibiades. Laches later commanded Athenian infantry and cavalry with Nicostratus, and a subsequent account compared another armament with the force under Laches and Eurymedon.