Note 391 — Chapter L · FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR DOWN TO THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMOTIONS AT KORKYRA.
Reading edition
Thucyd. iii, 22. φρυκτοί τε ᾔροντο ἐς τὰς Θήβας πολέμιοι, etc. It would seem by this statement that the blockaders must have been often in the habit of transmitting intelligence to Thebes by means of fire-signals; each particular combination of lights having more or less of a special meaning. The Platæans had observed this, and foresaw that the same means would be used on the night of the outbreak, to bring assistance from Thebes forthwith. If they had not observed it before, they could not have prepared for the moment when the new signal would be hoisted, so as to confound its meaning—ὅπως ἀσαφῆ τὰ σημεῖα ᾖ....
Compare iii, 80. I agree with the general opinion stated in Dr. Arnold’s note respecting these fire-signals, and even think that it might have been sustained more strongly.
“Non enim (observes Cicero, in the fifth oration against Verres, c. 36), sicut erat nuper consuetudo, prædonum adventum significabat ignis è speculà sublatus aut tumulo: sed flamma ex ipso incendio navium et calamitatem acceptam et periculum reliquum nuntiabat.”