Horsemen contrary to their custome carried their victuals vnder their Armes partly for want partly for distrust of their seruants who from time to time ran ouer to the enemy but at this time went the greatest number and yet what they carried was not enough to serue the turne For not a iot more prouision was left remaining in the Campe. Neither were the sufferings of others and that equal diuision of misery which neuerthelesse is wont to lighten it in that we suffer with many at this time so much as thought light in it selfe And the rather because they considered from what splendor and glory which they enioyed before into how low an estate they were now falne For neuer Grecian Army so differed from it selfe For whereas they came with a purpose to enslaue others they departed in greater feare of being made slaues themselues and in stead of Prayers and Hymnes with which they put to Sea they went backe againe with the contrary maledictions and whereas they came out Sea-men they departed Land-men and relyed not vpon their Nauall forces but vpon their men of Armes Neuerthelesse in respect of the great danger yet hanging ouer them these miseries seemed all but tolerable Nicias perceiuing the Armie to be deiected and the great change that was in it came vp to the Rankes and encouraged and comforted them as far as for the present meanes he was able And as he went from part to part he exalted his voyce more then euer before both as being earnest in his exhortation and because also he desired that the benefit or his words might reach as farre as might be THE ORATION OF NICIAS to his afflicted Army AThenians and Confederates we must hope still euen in our present estate Men haue beene saued ere now from greater dangers then these are Nor ought you too much to accuse your selues either for your losses past or the vndeserued miseries we are now in Euen I my selfe that haue the aduantage of none of you in strength of body you see how I am in my sicknesse nor am thought inferiour to any of you for prosperity past either in respect of mine owne priuate person or otherwise am neuerthelesse now in as much danger as the meanest of you And yet I haue worshipped the Gods frequently acording to the Law and liued iustly and vnblamably towards men For which cause my hope is still confident of the future though these calamities as being not according to the measure of our desert doe indeed make me feare But they may perhaps cease For both the Enemies haue already had sufficient fortune and the Gods if any of them haue beene displeased with our Voyage haue already sufficiently punished vs. Others haue inuaded their neighbours as well as wee and as their offence which proceeded of humane infirmity so their punishment also hath beene tolerable And we haue reason now both to hope for more fauour from the Gods for our case deserueth their pitty rather then their hatred and also not to despaire of our selues seeing how good and how many men of Armes you are marching together in order of Battell Make account of this that wheresoeuer you please to sit downe there presently of your selues you are a City such as not any other in Sicily can either easily sustaine if you assault or remoue if you be once seated Now for your March that it may be safe and orderly looke to it your selues making no other account any of you but what place soeuer he shall be forced to fight in the same if he win it must be his Country and his Walles March you must with diligence both night and day alike for our victuall is short and if we can but reach some amicable Territory of the Siculi for these are still firme to vs for feare of the Syracusians then you may thinke your selues secure Let vs therefore send before to them and bid them meete vs and bring vs forth some supplies of victuall In summe Souldiers let me tell you it is necessary that you be valiant for there is no place neere where being cowards you can possibly be saued Whereas if you escape thorow the Enemies aâ— this time you may euery one see againe whatsoeuer any where he most desires and the Athenians may re-erect the great power of their City how low soeuer falne For the men not the Walles nor the empty Gallies are the Citie Nicias as he vsed this hortatiue went withall about the Armie and where he saw any man straggle and not march in his Ranke he brought him about and set him in his place Demosthenes hauing spoken to the same or like purpose did as much to those Souldiers vnder him and they marched forward those with Nicias in a square Battallion and then those with Demosthenes in the Rere And the men of Armes receiued those that carried the Baggage and the other multitude within them When they were come to the Foord of the Riuer Anapus they there found cettaine of the Syracusians and their Confederates embattelled against them on the banke but these they put to flight and hauing wonne the passage marched forward But the Syracusian Horsemen lay still vpon them and their Light-armed plyed them with their Darts in the flanke This day the Athenians marched forty Furlongs and lodged that night at the foot of a certaine Hill The next day as soone as it was light they marched forwards about 20 Furlongs and descending into a certaine Champaigne ground encamped there with intent both to get victuall at the houses for the place was inhabited and to carry water with them thence for before them in the way they were to passe for many Furlongs together there was little to bee had But the Syracusians in the meane time got before them and cut off their passage with a wall This was at a steepe Hill on either side wherof was the Channel of a torrent with steep and rocky banks and it is called Acraeum Lepas The next day the Athenians went on And the Horsemen and Darters of the Syracusians and their Confederates being a great number of both pressed them so with their Horses and Darts that the Athenians after long fight were compelled to retire againe into the same Campe But now with lesse victuall then before because the Horsemen would suffer them no more to straggle abroad In the morning betimes they dislodged and put themselues on their march againe and forced their way to the Hill which the Enemy had fortified where they found before them the Syracusian Foot embattelled in great length aboue the Fortification on the Hils side for the place it selfe was but narrow The Athenians comming vp assaulted the Wall but the shot of the Enemy who were many and the steepnesse of the Hill for they could easily cast home from aboue making them vnable to take it they retired againe and rested There hapned withall some claps of Thunder and a showre of Raine as vsually falleth out
This was the issue of this Expedition of Sitalces The same Winter after the Fleet of the Peloponnesians was dissolued the Athenians that were at Naupactus vnder the conduct of Phormio sayled along the Coast to Astacus and disbarking marched into the inner parts of Acarnania Hee had in his Army 400. men of Armes that hee brought with him in his Gallies and 400. more Messenians With these he put out of Stratus Corontae and other places all those whose fidelity hee thought doubtfull And when he had restored Cynes the sonne of Theolytus to Corontae they returned againe to their Gallies For they thought they should not be able to make Warre against the Oeniades who onely of all Acarnania are the Athenians Enemies in respect of the Winter For the Riuer Achelous springing out of the Mountaine Pindus and running through Dolopia and through the Territories of the Agraeans and the Amphilochians and through most part of the Champaigne of Acarnania passing aboue by the City of Stratus and falling into the Sea by the Citie of the Oeniades which also it moateth about with Fens by the abundance of Water maketh it hard lying there for an Army in time of Winter Also most of the Ilands Echinades lye iust ouer against Oenia hard by the mouth of Achelous And the Riuer being a great one continually heapeth together the grauell insomuch that some of those Ilands are become Continent already and the like in short time is expected by the rest For not onely the streame of the Riuer is swift broad and turbidous but also the Ilands themselues stand thicke and because the Grauell cannot passe are ioyned one to another lying in and out not in a direct line nor so much as to giue the Water his course directly forward into the Sea These Ilands are all Desart and but small ones It is reported that Apollo by his Oracle did assigne this place for an habitation to Alcmaeon the sonne of Amphiraus at such time as he wandred vp and downe for the killing of his Mother telling him That he should neuer be free from the terrours that haunted him till he had found out and seated himselfe in such a Land as when he slew his Mother the Sunne had neuer seene nor was then Land because all other Lands were polluted by him Hereupon being at a Non-plus as they say with much adoe hee obserued this ground congested by the Riuer Achelöus and thought there was enough cast vp to serue his turne already since the time of the slaughter of his Mother after which it was now a long time that hee had beene a Wanderer Therefore seating himselfe in the places about the Oeniades hee reigned there and named the Countrey after the name of his sonne Acarnas Thus goes the report as we haue heard it concerning Alcmaeon But Phormio and the Athenians leauing Acarnania and returning to Naupactus in the very beginning of the Spring came backe to Athens and brought with them such Gallies as they had taken and the Free-men they had taken Prisoners in their fights at Sea who were againe set at liberty by exchange of man for man So ended that Winter and the third Yeere of the Warre written by THVCYDIDES THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF THVCYDIDES The principall Contents Attica inuaded by the Peloponnesians The Mitylenians reuolt and are receiued by the Peloponnesians at Olympia into their league The Athenians send Paches to Mitylene to besiege it Part of the besieged Plataeans escape through the fortifications of the enemie The Commons of Mitylene armed by the Nobility for a sally on the enemy deliuer the towne to the Athenians The residue of the Plataeans yeeld to the besiegers and are put to the sword The proceedings vpon the Mitylenians and their punishment The sedition in Corcyra Laches is sent by the Athenians into Sicily And Nicias into Melos Demosthenes fighteth against the Aetolians vnfortunately and afterwards against the Ambraciotes fortunately Pythadorus is sent into Sicily to receiue the Fleet from Laches This in other three yeeres of this Warre THe Summer following the Peloponnesians and their Confederates at the time when Corne was at the highest entred with their Army into Attica vnder the Conduct of Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamus King of the Lacedaemonians there set them downe and wasted the Territory about And the Athenian horsemen as they were wont fell vpon the enemy where they thought fit and kept backe the multitude of light-armed Souldiers from going out before the men of Armes and infesting the places neere the Citie And when they had stayed as long as their victuall lasted they returned and were dissolued according to their Cities After the Peloponnesians were entred Attica Lebsos immediately all but Methymne reuolted from the Athenians which though they would haue done before the Warre and the Lacedaemonians would not then receiue them yet euen now they were forced to reuolt sooner then they had intended to doe For they stayed to haue first straightened the mouth of their Hauen with Dammes of Earth to haue finished their Walles and their Gallies then in building and to haue gotten in all that was to come out of Pontus as Archers and Victuall and whatsoeuer else they had sent for But the Tenedians with whom they were at oddes and the Methymnians and of the Mitylenians themselues certaine particular men vpon Faction beeing Hostes to the Athenians made knowne vnto them that the Lesbians were forced to goe all into Mitylene that by the helpe of the Lacedaemonians and their Kindred the Boeotians they hastned all manner of prouision necessary for a Reuolt and that vnlesse it were presently preuented all Lesbos would be lost The Athenians afflicted with the Disease and with the Warre now on foot and at the hottest thought it a dangerous matter that Lesbos which had a Nauie and was of strength entire should thus bee added to the rest of their Enemies and at first receiued not the accusations holding them therefore the rather feigned because they would not haue had them true But after when they had sent Ambassadours to Mitylene and could not perswade them to dissolue themselues and vndoe their preparation they then feared the worst and would haue preuented them And to that purpose suddenly sent out the 40. Gallies made ready for Pelopōnesus with Cleippedes and 2. other Commanders For they had bin aduertised that there was a Holiday of Apollo Maloeis to be kept without the Citie and that to the celebration thereof the Mitylenians were accustomed to come all out of the Towne and they hoped making haste to take them there vnawares And if the attempt succeeded it was well if not they might command the Mitylenians to deliuer vp their Gallies and to demollish their Walles or they might make Warre against them if they refused So these Gallies went their way And tenne Gallies of Mitylene which then chanced to be at Athens by vertue
one with such Armes as he had being all that rowed except only the Thalamij eight hundred Arâ—hers Targuetiers as many all the Messenians that came to aide them and as many of them besides as held any place about Pylus except onely the Garrison of the Fort it selfe Demosthenes then disposing his Army by two hundred and more in a company and in some lesse at certaine distances seazed on all the higher grounds to the end that the enemies compassed about on euery side might the lesse know what to doe or against what part to set themselues in battel and be subiect to the shot of the multitude from euery part and when they should make head against those that fronted them be charged behind and when they should turne to those that were opposed to their flancks be charged at once both behind and before And which way soeuer they marched the light-armed and such as were meanliest prouided of Armes followed them at the backe with Arrowes Darts Stones and Slings who haue courage enough afarre off and could not be charged but would ouercome flying and also presse the enemies when they should retyre With this designe Demosthenes both intended his landing at first and afterwards ordered his forces accordingly in the action Those that were about Epitadâ—s who were the greatest part of those in the Iland when they saw that the formost guard was slaine and that the Army marched towards them put themselues in array and went towards the men of Armes of the Athenians with intent to charge them for these were opposed to them in front and the light-armed Souldiers on their flancks and at their backs But they could neither come to ioyne with them nor any way make vse of their skill For both the light-armed Souldiers kept them off with shot from either side and the men of Armes aduanced not Where the light-armed Souldiers approached neerest they were driuen backe but returning they charged them afresh being men armed lightly and that easily got out of their reach by running especially the ground being vneasie and rough by hauing been formerly desert so that the Lacedaemonians in their Armour could not follow them Thus for a little while they skirmished one against another a farre off But when the Lacedaemonians were no longer able to run out after them where they charged these light-armed Souldiers seeing them lesse earnest in chasing them and taking courage chiefly from their sight as being many times their number and hauing also been vsed to them so much as not to thinke them now so dangerous as they had done for that they had not receiued so much hurt at their hands as their subdued mindes because they were to fight against the Lacedaemonians had at their first landing pre-iudged contemned them and with a great cry ran all at once vpon them casting Stones Arrowes and Darts as to euery man came next to hand Vpon this cry and assault they were much terrified as not accustomed to such kind of fight and withall a great dust of the woods lately burnt mounted into the ayre so that by reason of the Arrowes and Stones that together with the dust flew from such a multitude of men they could hardly see before them Then the battell grew sore on the Lacedaemonians side for their Iackes now gaue way to the Arrowes and the Darts that were throwne stucke broken in them so as they could not handle themselues as neither seeing before them nor hearing any direction giuen them for the greater noyse of the enemy but danger being on all sides were hopelesse to saue themselues vpon any side by fighting In the end many of them being now wounded for that they could not shift their ground they made their retreat in close order to the last guard of the Iland and to the watch that was there When they once gaue ground then were the light-armed Souldiers much more confident then before and pressed vpon them with a mighty noyse And as many of the Lacedaemonians as they could intercept in their retreat they slew but the most of them recouered the Fort and together with the watch of the same put themselues in order to defend it in all parts that were subiect to assault The Athenians following could not now encompasse and hemme them in for the strong situation of the place but assaulting them in the face sought onely how to put them from the wall And thus they held out a long time the better part of a day either side tyred with the fight and with thirst and with the Sunne one endeauouring to driue the enemy from the top the other to keepe their ground And the Lacedaemonians defended themselues easilier now then before because they were not now encompassed vpon their flancks When there was no end of the businesse the Captaine of the Messenians said vnto Cleon and Demosthenes that they spent their labour there in vaine and that if they would deliuer vnto him a part of the Archers and light-armed Souldiers to get vp by such a way as he himselfe should find out and come behinde vpon their backes hee thought the entrance might bee forced And hauing receiued the Forces hee asked hee tooke his way from a place out of sight to the Lacedaemonians that hee might not be discouered making his approach under the Cliffes of the Iland where they were continuall In which part 〈…〉 the naturall strength therof they kept no watch and with much labour and hardly vnseene came behinde them And appearing suddenly from aboue at their backes both terrified the Enemies with the sight of what they expected not and much confirmed the Athenians with the sight of what they expected And the Lacedaemonians being now charged with their shot both before and behind were in the same case to compare small matters with great that they were in at Thermopylae For then they were slaine by the Persians shut vp on both sides in a narrow path And these now being charged on both sides could make good the place no longer but fighting few against many and beeing weake withall for want of foode were at last forced to giue ground and the Athenians by this time were also Masters of all the entrances But Cleon and Demosthenes knowing that the more they gaue backe the faster they would bee killed by their Armie staid the fight and held in the Souldiers with desire to carry them aliue to Athens in case their spirits were so much broken and their courage abated by this miserie as vpon Proclamation made they would bee content to deliuer vp their Armes So they proclaimed that they should deliuer vp their Armes and themselues to the Athenians to be disposed of as to them should seeme good Vpon hearing heereof the most of them threw downe their Bucklers and shooke their hands aboue their heads signifying their acceptation of what was proclaimed Whereupon a Truce was made and they came to treat Cleon and
was present at the Actions of both parts and no lesse at those of the Peloponnesians by reason of his exile then those of the Athenians During this time also he perfected his History so far as is now to be seene nor doth it appeare that after his exile he euer againe enioyed his Countrey It is not cleere in any Author where or when or in what yeere of his owne Age he dyed Most agree that he dyed in Banishment yet there be that haue written that after the defeat in Sicily the Athenians decreed a generall reuocation of all banished persons except those of the Family of Pisistratus and that he then returned and was afterwards put to death at Athens But this is very vnlikely to be true vnlesse by after the defeat in Sicily he meant so long after that it was also after the end of the Peloponnesian Warre because Thucydides himselfe maketh no mention of such returne though he out-liued the whole War as is manifest by his words in the fift Booke For he saith he liued in banishment twenty yeeres after his charge at Amphipolis which happened in the eighth yeere of this Warre which in the whole lasted but 27 yeeres compleat And in another place he maketh mention of the razing of the Long-walles betweene Peiraeus and the Citie which was the last stroke of this Warre They that say he dyed at Athens take their coniecture from his Monument which was there But this is not a sufficient Argument for he might bee buried there secretly as some haue written he was though he dyed abroad or his Monument might be there and as others haue affirmed he not buried in it In this variety of coniecture there is nothing more probable then that which is written by Pausanias where he describeth the Monuments of the Athenian Citie and saith thus The worthy Act of Oenobius in the behalfe of Thucydides is not without honour meaning that he had a Statue For Oenobius obtained to haue a Decree passed for his returne who returning was slaine by treachery and his Sepulchre is neere the Gates called Melirides He dyed as saith Marcellinus after the seuen and fiftieth yeere of his Age. And if it be true that is written by A. Gellius of the Ages of Hellanicus Herodotus and Thucydides then died he not before the sixty eighth yeere For if he were forty when the Warre began and liued as he did certainly to see it ended he might be more when he dyed but not lesse then sixty eight yeeres of Age. What children be left is not manifest Plato in Menone maketh mention of Milesias and Stephanus sonnes of a Thucydides of a very Noble Family but it is cleere that they were of Thucydides the Riuall of Pericles both by the name Milesias and because this Thucydides also was of the Family of Miltiades as Plutarchâ—fieth â—fieth in the Life of Cimon That he had a sonne is affirmed by Marcellinus out of the authority of Polemon but of his name there is no mention saue that a learned man readeth there in the place of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ... which is in the imperfect Copie Timotheus Thus much of the person of Thucydides Now for his writings two things are to bee considered in them Truth and Eloquution For in Truth consisteth the Soule and in Eloquution the Body of History The latter without the former is but a picture of History and the former without the latter vnapt to instruct But let vs see how our Author hath acquitted himselfe in both For the Faith of this History I shall haue the lesse to say in respect that no man hath euer yet called it into question Nor indeed could any man iustly doubt of the truth of that Writer in whom they had nothing at all to suspect of those things that could haue caused him either voluntarily to lie or ignorantly to deliuer an vntruth He ouertasked not himselfe by vndertaking an History of things done long before his time and of which he was not able to informe himselfe He was a man that had as much meanes in regard both of his dignity and wealth to find the truth of what he relateth as was needfull for a man to haue He vsed as much diligence in search of the truth noting euery thing whilest it was fresh in memory and laying out his wealth vpon intelligence as was possible for a man to vse He affected least of any man the acclamations of Popular Auditories and wrote not his History to win present applause as was the vse of that Age but for a Monument to instruct the Ages to come Which he professeth himselfe and Entitleth his Booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Possesâ—ion for euerlasting He was farre from the necessity of seruile Writers either to feare or flatter And whereas he may peraduenture be thought to haue beene maleuolent towards his Countrey because they deserued to haue him so yet hath he not written any thing that discouereth any such passion Nor is there any thing written of them that tendeth to their dishonour as Athenians but onely as People and that by the necessity of the narration not by any sought digression So that no word of his but their own actions do sometimes reproach them In summe if the truth of a History did euer appeare by the manner of relating it doth so in this History So cohaerent perspicuous and perswasiue is the whole Narration and euery part therof In the Eloquution also Two things are considerable Disposition or Method and Stile Of the Disposition here vsed by Thucydides it will be sufficient in this place briefly to obserue onely this That in his first Booke first he hath by way of Exordium deriued the State of Greece from the Cradle to the vigorous stature it then was at when he began to write and next declared the causes both reall and pretended of the Warre hee was to write of In the rest in which hee handleth the Warre it selfe he followeth distinctly and purely the order of time throughout relating what came to passe from yeere to yeere and subdiuiding each yeere into a Summer and Winter The grounds and motiues of euery action he setteth down before the action it selfe either Narratiuely or else contriueth them into the forme of Deliberatiue Orations in the persons of such as from time to time bare sway in the Common-wealth After the actions when there is iust occasion he giueth his iudgement of them shewing by what meanes the successe came either to be furthered or hindered Digressions for instructions cause and other such open conueyances of Precepts which is the Philosophers part he neuer vseth as hauing so cleerely set before mens eyes the wayes and euents of good and euill counsels that the Narration it selfe doth secretly instruct the Reader and more effectually then possibly can be done by Precept For his Stile I referre it to the iudgement of diuers antient and competent Iudges Plutarch in his Booke De gloria Atheniensium saith of
to them and declared how the first Founder of it was a Corinthian and what answer the Oracle had giuen them intreating their helpe and that they would not stand by beholding their destruction And the Corinthians vndertooke their defence not onely for the equity of the cause as thinking them no lesse their owne then the Corcyraeans Colonie but also for hatred of the Corcyraeans who being their Colony yet contemned them and allowed them not their due honour in publique meetings nor in the distribution of the Sacrifice began at a Corinthian as was the custome of other Colonies but being equall to the richest Graecians of their time for store of money and strongly furnished with ammunition of Warre had them in contempt Also they sticked not sometimes to boast how much they excelled in shipping and that Corcyra had beene once inhabited by the Phaeaceâ— who flourished in glory of nauall affaires which was alâ—so the cause why they the rather prouided themselues of a Nauie and they were indeed not without power that way for when they began this Warre they had 120. Gallies The Corinthians therefore hauing all these criminations against them relieued Epidamnus willingly not only giuing leaue to whosoeuer would to goe and dwell there but also sent thither a Garrison of Ambraciotes Leucadians and of their owne Citizens which succours for feare the Corcyraeans should haue hindred their passage by Sea marched by Land to Apollonia The Corcyraeans vnderstanding that new inhabitants and a Garrison were gone to Epidamnus and that the Colonie was deliuered to the Corinthians were vexed extremely at the same and sayling presently thither with 25. Gallies and afterwards with another Fleet in an insolent manner coÌ„manded them both to recall those whom they had banished for these banished men of Epidamnus had beene now at Corcyra and pointing to the Sepulchers of their Ancestors and claiming kindred had intreated the Corcyraeans to restore them and to send away the Garrison and Inhabitants sent thither by the Corinthians But the Epidamnians gaue no eare to their commandements Whereupon the Corcyraeans with forty Gallies together with the banished men whom they pretended to reduce and with the Illyrians whom they had ioyned to their part warred vpon them and hauing laid Siege to the Citty made Proclamation that such of the Epidamnians as would and all strangers might depart safely or otherwise were to bee proceeded against as Enemies But when this prevailed not the place being an Isthmus they enclozed the Citty in on euery side The Corinthians when newes was brought from Epidamnus how it was besieged presently made ready their Armie and at the same time caused a Proclamation to bee made for the sending thither of a Colony and that such as would goe should haue equall and like priuiledges with those that were there before and that such as desired to bee sharers in the same and yet were vnwilling to goe along in person at that present if they would contribute 50. Corinthian Drachmaes might stay behind And they were very many both that went and that laid downe their siluer Moreouer they sent to the Megareans for feare of being stopped in their passage by the Corcyraeans to ayde them with some Gallies who accordingly furnished out 8. the Citizens of Pale in Cephalonia 4. They also required Gallies of the Epidaurians who sent them 5. the Citizens of Hermione 1. the Traezenians 2. the Leucadians 10. the Ambraciotes 8. Of the Thebans and Phliasians they required money of the Eleans both money empty Gallies and of the Corinthians themselues there were ready 30. Gallies and 3000. men of Armes The Corcyraeans aduertised of this preparation went to Corynth in company of the Ambassadors of the Lacedaemonians of the Sycionians whom they took with them and required the Corinthians to recall the Garrison and Inhabitants which they had sent to Epidamnus as being a City they said wherwith they had nothing to do or if they had any thing to alledge they were content to haue the cause iudicially tryed in such Citties of Peloponnesus as they should both agree on and they then should hold the Colonie to whom the same should be adiudged They said also That they were content to referre their cause to the Oracle at Delphi that Warre they would make none but if they must needes haue it they should by the violence of them be forced in their owne defence to seeke out better friends then those whom they already had To this the Corinthians answered that if they would put off with their Fleet and dismisse the Barbarians from before Epidamnus they would then consult of the matter for before they could not honestly doe it Because whilest they should bee pleading the case the Epidamnians should be suffering the misery of a Siege The Corcyraeans replyed to this That if they would call backe those men of theirs already in Epidamnus that then they also would doe as the Corinthians had required them or otherwise they were content to let the men on both sides stay where they were and to suspend the Warre till the cause should be decided The Corinthians not assenting to any of these propositions since their Gallies were manned and their Confederates present hauing defyed them first by a Herald put to Sea with 75. Gallies and 2000. men of Armes and set sayle for Epidamnus against the Corcyraeans Their Fleet was commanded by Aristaeus the sonne of Pellicas Callicrates the sonne of Callias and Timanor the sonne of Timanthes and the Land Forces by Archetimus the sonne of Eurytimus and Isarchidas the sonne of Isarchus After they were come as farre as Actium in the Territory of Anactorium which is a Temple of Apollo and ground consecrated vnto him in the mouth of the Gulfe of Ambracia the Corcyraeans sent a Herauld to them at Actium to forbid their comming on and in the meane time manned out their Fleet and hauing repaired and made fit for seruice their old Gallies and furnished the rest with things necessary shipped their Munition and went aboard The Herauld was no sooner returned from the Corinthians with an answer not inclining to peace but hauing their Gallies already manned and furnished to the number of 80. Sayle for forty attended alwayes the Siege of Epidamnus they put to Sea and arranging themselues came to a Battell In which the Corcyraeans were cleerely Victors and on the part of the Corinthians there perished 15. Gallies And the same day it happened likewise that they that besieged Epidamnus had the same rendred vnto them with Conditions That the Strangers therein found should be ransomed and the Corinthians kept in bonds till such time as they should be otherwise disposed of The Battell being ended the Corcyraeans after they had set vp their Trophie in Leucimna a Promontory of Corcyra slew their other prisoners but kept the Corinthians still in bonds After this when the Corinthians
Naupactus which Citie they had lately taken from the Locrians of Ozolae The Megareans also reuolted from the Lacedaemonians and came to the League of the Athenians because they were holden downe by the Corinthians with a Warre about the limits of their Territories Wherevpon Megara and Pegae were put into the hands of the Athenians who built for the Megareans the long Walles from the Citie to Nisaea and maintained them with a Garrison of their owne And from hence it was chiefly that the vehement hatred grew of the Corinthians against the Athenians Moreouer Inarus the sonne of Psammetticus an African King of the Africans that confine on Aegypt making Warre from Marea aboue Pharus caused the greatest part of Aegypt to rebell against the King Artaxerxes and when hee had taken the gouernment of them vpon himselfe hee brought in the Athenians to assist him who chancing to be then warring on Cyrus with 200. Gallies part their owne and part their Confederates left Cyrus and went to him And going from the Sea vp the Riuer of Nilus after they had made themselues Masters of the Riuer and of two parts of the Citie of Memphis assaulted the third part called the White-Wall Within were of the Medes and Persians such as had escaped and of the Aegyptians such as had not revolted amongst the rest The Athenians came also with a Fleet to Halias and landing their Souldiers fought by Land with the Corinthians and Epidaurians and the Corinthians had the Victory After this the Athenians fought by Sea against the Fleet of the Peloponnesians at Cecryphalea and the Athenians had the Victory After this againe the Warre being on foot of the Athenians against the Aeginetae a great Battell was fought betweene them by Sea vpon the Coast of Aegina the Confederates of both sides being at the same in which the Athenians had the Victory and hauing taken 70. Gallies landed their Armie and besieged the Citie vnder the Conduct of Leocrates the sonne of Straebus After this the Peloponnesians desiring to ayde the Aeginetae sent ouer into Aegina it selfe three hundred men of Armes of the same that had before ayded the Corinthians and Epidaurians and with other Forces seazed on the top of Geranea And the Corinthians and their Confederates came downe from thence into the Territory of Megara supposing that the Athenians hauing much of their Armie absent in Aegina and in Aegypt would be vnable to ayde the Megareans or if they did would be forced to rise from before Aegina But the Athenians stirred not from Aegina but those that remained at Athens both yong and old vnder the conduct of Myronides went to Megara and after they had fought with doubtfull victory they parted asunder againe with an opinion in both sides not to haue had the worse in the Action And the Athenians who notwithstanding had rather the better when the Corinthians were gone away erected a Trophie But the Corinthians hauing beene reviled at their returne by the ancient men of the Citie about 12. dayes after came againe prepared and set vp their Trophie likewise as if the Victorie had beene theirs Heerevpon vpon the Athenians sallying out of Megara with a huge shout both slew those that were setting vp the Trophie and charging the rest got the victory The Corinthians being ouercome went their way but a good part of them being hard followed and missing their way lighted into the inclosed ground of a priuate man which fenced with a great Ditch had no passage through which the Athenians perceiuing opposed them at the place by which they entred with their men of Armes and encompassing the ground with their light armed Souldiers killed those that were entred with stones This was a great losse to the Corinthians but the rest of their Armie got home againe About this time the Athenians began the building of their long Walles from the Citie downe to the Sea the one reaching to the Hauen called Phaleron the other to Peiraeus The Phoceans also making Warre vpon Bocum Cytinium and Erineus Townes that belonged to the Doreans of whom the Lacedaemonians are descended and hauing taken one of them The Lacedaemonians vnder the conduct of Nicomedes the sonne of Cleombrotus in the place of Pleistoanactes sonne of King Pausanias who was yet in minority sent vnto the ayde of the Doreans 1500. men of Armes of their owne and of their Confederates tenne thousand And when they had forced the Phoceans vpon composition to surrender the Towne they had taken they went their wayes againe Now if they would goe home by Sea through the Crissaean Gulfe the Athenians going about with their Fleet would bee ready to stop them and to passe ouer Geranea they thought vnsafe because the Athenians had in their hands Megara and Pegae For Geranea was not onely a difficult passage of it selfe but was also alwayes guarded by the Athenians They thought good therefore to stay amongst the Boeotians and to consider which way they might most safely goe through Whilest they were there there wanted not some Athenians that priuily sollicited them to come to the Citie hoping to haue put the people out of gouernment and to haue demolished the Long Walles then in building But the Athenians with the whole power of their Citie and 1000. Argiues and other Confederates as they could be gotten together in all 14000. men went out to meet them for there was suspition that they came thither to depose the Democracie There also came to the Athenians certaine Horsemen out of Thessaly which in the Battell turned to the Lacedaemonians They fought at Tanagra of Boeotia and the Lacedaemonians had the Victory but the slaughter was great on both sides Then the Lacedaemonians entring into the Territories of Megara and cutting downe the Woods before them returned home by the way of Geranea and the Isthmus Vpon the two and sixtieth day after this Battell the Athenians vnder the conduct of Myronides made a Iourney against the Boeotians and ouerthrew them at Oenophyta and brought the Territories of Boeotia and Phocis vnder their obedience and withall razed the Walles of Tanagra and tooke of the wealthiest of the Locrians of Opus 100. Hostages and finished also at the same time their long Walles at home After this Aegina also yeelded to the Athenians on these conditions That they should haue their Walles pulled downe and should deliuer vp their Gallies and pay their taxed tribute for the time to come Also the Athenians made a Voyage about Peloponnesus wherein they burnt the Arsenall of the Lacedaemonians Nauie tooke Chalcis a Citie of the Corinthians and landing their Forces in Sycionia ouercame in fight those that made head against them All this while the Athenians stayed still in Aegypt and saw much variety of Warre First the Athenians were Masters of Aegypt And the King of Persia sent one Megabazus a Persian with money to Lacedaemon to
of light-armed Souldiers but when the men of Armes had receiued them it retyred againe with the losse of a few whom they also rifled of their Armes And the Athenians after they had erected a Trophie put off againe and went to Cythera From thence they sayled about to Epidaurus called Limera and hauing wasted some part of that Territory came to Thyrea which is of the Territory called Cynuria but is neuerthelesse the middle border betweene Argia and Laconia The Lacedaemonians possessing this Citie gaue the same for an habitation to the Aeginetae after they were driuen out of Aegina both for the benefit they had receiued from them about the time of the Earthquake and of the insurrection of the Helotâ—s and also for that being subiect to the Athenians they had neuerthelesse gone euer the same way with the Lacedaemonians When the Athenians were comming towards them the Aeginetae left the Wall which they hapned to be then building toward the Sea-side and retired vp into the Citie aboue where they dwelt and which was not aboue tenne Furlongs from the Sea There was also with them one of those Garrisons which the Lacedaemonians had distributed into the seuerall parts of the Countrey and these though they helped them to build the Fort below yet would not now enter with them into the Towne though the Aeginetae intreated them apprehending danger in being coopt vp within the Walles and therefore retiring into the highest ground lay still there as finding themselues too weake to giue them Battell In the meane time the Athenians came in and marching vp presently with their whole Armie won Thyrea and burnt it and destroyed whatsoeuer was in it The Aeginetae as many as were not slaine in the affray they carried prisoners to Athens amongst whom Tantalus also the sonne of Patroclus Captaine of such Lacedaemonians as were amongst them was wounded and taken aliue They carried likewise with them some few men of Cythera whom for safeties sake they thought good to remoue into some other place These therefore the Athenians decreed should be placed in the Ilands And that the rest of the Cythereans at the Tribute of foure Talents should inhabite their owne Territorie That the Aeginetae as many as they had taken out of former inueterate hatred should bee put to death And that Tantalus should be put in bonds amongst those Lacedaemonians that were taken in the Iland In Sicily the same Summer was concluded a cessation of Armes first betweene the Camarinaeans and the Geloans But afterwards the rest of the Sicilians assembling by their Ambassadours out of euery City at Gela held a Conference amongst themselues for making of a Peace wherein after many opinions deliuered by men disagreeing and requiring satisfaction euery one as hee thought himselfe preiudiced Hermocrates the sonne of Hermon a Syracusian who also preuailed with them the most spake vnto the Assembly to this effect THE ORATION OF HERMOCRATES for Peace MEN of Sicily I am neither of the least Citie nor of the most afflicted with Warre that am now to speake and to deliuer the opinion which I take to conduce most to the common benefit of all Sicily Touching Warre how calamitous a thing it is to what end should a man particularizing the euils thereof make a long speech before men that already know it For neither doth the not knowing of them necessitate any man to enter into Warre nor the feare of them diuert any man from it when he thinkes it will turne to his aduantage But rather it so falles out that the one thinkes the gaine greater then the danger and the other prefers danger before present losse But least they should both the one and the other doe it vnseasonably exhortations vnto peace are profitable and will be very much worth to vs if we will follow them at this present For it was out of a desire that euery Citie had to assure their owne both that we fell our selues into the Warre and also that wee endeuour now by reasoning the matter to returne to mutuall amity Which if it succeed not so well that we may depart satisfied euery man with reason wee will be at Warres againe Neuerthelesse you must know that this Assembly if we be wise ought not to bee onely for the commodity of the Cities in particular but how to preserue Sicily in generall now sought to bee subdued at least in my opinion by the Athenians And you ought to thinke that the Athenians are more vrgent perswaders of the Peace then any words of mine who hauing of all the Grecians the greatest power lye here with a few Gallies to obserue our errours and by a lawfull title of alliance hansomely to accommdate their naturall hostility to their best aduantage For if wee enter into a Warre and call in these men who are apt enough to bring their Armie in vnâ—called and if we weaken our selues at our owne charges and withall cut out for them the dominion here it is likely when they shall see vs spent they will sometime hereafter come vpon vs with a greater Fleet and attempt to bring all these States into their subiection Now if we were wise we ought rather to call â—n Confederates and vndergoe dangers for the winning of somewhat that is none of ours then for the empayring of what we already haue and to beleeue that nothing so much destroyes a Citie as Sedition and that Sicily though wee the inhabitants thereof bee insidiated by the Athenians as one body is neuerthelesse Citie against Citie in Sedition within it selfe In contemplation whereof wee ought man with man and Citie with Citie to returne againe into amity and with one consent to endeuour the safety of all Sicily and not to haue this conceit that though the Dorians be the Athenians enemies yet the Chalcideans are safe as being of the race of the Ionians For they inuade not these diuided races vpon hatred of a side but vpon a couetous desire of those necessities which we enioy in common And this they haue proued themselues in their comming hither to ayde the Chalcideans For though they neuer receiued any aide by vertue of their League from the Chalcideans yet haue they on their part beene more forward to helpe them then by the League they were bound vnto Indeed the Athenians that couet and meditate these things are to be pardoned I blame not those that are willing to reigne but those that are most willing to be subiect For it is the nature of man euery where to command such as giue way and to be shye of such as assaile Wee are too blame that know this and doe not prouide accordingly and make it our first care of all to take good order against the common feare Of which wee should soone bee deliuered if wee would agree amongst our selues For the Athenians come not against vs out of their owne Countrey but from theirs here that haue called them in And
Brasidas should assault it and for the future and tooke into it such as according to the Proclamation made came downe from Amphipolis Brasidas with many Boats came suddenly downe the Riuer to Eion and attempted to seaze on the point of the ground lying out from the wall into the Sea and thereby to command the mouth of the Riuer he assayed also the same at the same time by Land and was in both beaten off but Amphipolis hee furnished with all things necessary Then reuolted to him Myrcinus a City of the Edonians Pittacus the King of the Edonians being slaine by the sons of Goaxis and by Braure his owne wife And not long after Gapselus also and Oesyme Colonies of the Thasians Perdiccas also after the taking of these places came to him and helped him in assuring of the same After Amphipolis was taken the Athenians were brought into great feare especially for that it was a City that yeelded them much profit both in Timber which is sent them for the building of Gallies and in reuenue of money and because also though the Lacedaemonians had a passage open to come against their Confederates the Thessalians conuoying them as farre as to Strymon yet if they had not gotten that Bridge the Riuer being vpwards nothing but a vast Fenne and towards Eion well guarded with their Gallies they could haue gone no further which now they thought they might easily doe and therefore feared lest their Confederates should reuolt For Brasidas both shewed himselfe otherwise very moderate and also gaue out in speech that he was sent forth to recouer the liberty of Greece And the Cities which were subiect to the Athenians hearing of the taking of Amphipolis and what assurance he brought with him and of his gentlenesse besides were extremely desirous of innouation and sent Messengers priuily to bid him draw neere euery one striuing who should first reuolt For they thought they might doe it boldly falsely estimating the power of the Athenians to be lesse then afterwards it appeared and making a iudgment of it according to blind wilfulnesse rather then safe forecast It being the fashion of men what they wish to be true to admit euen vpon an vngrounded hope and what they wish not with a Magistrall kind of arguing to reiect Withall because the Athenians had lately receiued a blow from the Boeotians and because Brasidas had said not as was the truth but as serued best to allure them that when he was at Nisaea the Athenians durst not fight with those forces of his alone they grew confident thereon and beleeued not that any man would come against them But the greatest cause of all was that for the delight they tooke at this time to innouate and for that they were to make triall of the Lacedaemonians not till now angry they were content by any meanes to put it to the hazzard Which being perceiued the Athenians sent Garrison Souldiers into those Cities as many as the shortnesse of the time and the season of Winter would permit And Brasidas sent vnto Lacedaemon to demand greater forces and in the meane time prepared to build Gallies on the Riuer of Strymon But the Lacedaemonians partly through enuy of the principall men and partly because they more affected the redemption of their men taken in the Iland and the ending of the Warre refused to furnish him The same Winter the Megareans hauing recouered their Long-walls holden by the Athenians rased them to the very ground Brasidas after the taking of Amphipolis hauing with him the Confederates marched with his Army into the Territory called Acte This Acte is that prominent Territorie which is disioyned from the Continent by a Ditch made by the King And Athos a high mountaine in the same determineth at the Aegean Sea Of the Cities it hath one is Sane a Colony of the Andrians by the side of the said Ditch on the part which looketh to the Sea towards Euboea The rest are Thyssus Cleonae Acrothoi Olophyxus and Dion and are inhabited by promiscuous Barbarians of two languages some few there are also of the Chalcidean Nations but the most are Pelasgique of those Tyrrhene Nations that once inhabited Athens and Lemnos and of the Bisaltique and Chrestonique Nations and Edonians and dwell in small Cities the most of which yeelded to Brasidas But Sane and Dion held out for which cause he stayed with his Army and wasted their Territories But seeing they would not hearken vnto him he led his Army presently against Torone of Chalcidea held by the Athenians He was called in by the Few who were ready withall to deliuer him the Citie and arriuing there a little before breake of day he sate downe with his Army at the Temple of Castor and Pollux distant about three Furlongs from the Citie So that to the rest of the City and to the Athenian Garrison in it his comming was vnperceiued But the Traitors knowing hee was to come some few of them being also priuily gone to him attended his approach and when they perceiued he was come they tooke in vnto them seuen men armed onely with Daggers for of twenty appointed at first to that seruice seuen only had the courage to go in and were led by Lysistratus of Olynthus which getting ouer the wal towards the main Sea vnseen went vp for the Towne standeth on a hils side to the watch that kept the vpper end of the Towne and hauing slaine the watchmen brake open the Posterne Gate towards Canastraea Brasidas this while with the rest of his Army lay still and then comming a little forward sent 100 Targettiers before who when the Gates should be opened and signe agreed on be set vp should run in first These men expecting long and wondering at the matter by little and little were at length come vp close to the City Those Toroneans within which helped the men that entred to performe the enterprize when the Posterne Gate was broken open and the Gate leading to the Market place opened likewise by cutting asunder the Barre went first and fetch some of them about to the Posterne to the end that they might suddenly affright such of the Towne as knew not the matter both behind and on either side and then they put vp the signe appointed which was fire and receiued the rest of the Targettiers by the Gate that leadeth to the Market place Brasidas when he saw the signe made his Army rise and with a huge cry of all at once to the great terrour of those within entred into the City running Some went directly in by the Gate and some by certaine squared Timber-trees which lay at the wall which hauing been lately downe was now againe in building for the drawing vp of Stone Brasidas therefore with the greatest number betooke himselfe to the highest places of the City to make sure the winning of it by possessing the places of aduantage But
hauing placed there the Argiue Outlawes left with them a few others of the rest of the Armie and then making a composition for a certaine time that they of Orneae and those Argiues should not wrong each other they carried their Armie home But the Athenians arriuing not long after with 30. Gallies and 600. men of Armes the people of Argos came also forth with their whole power and ioyning with them sate downe betimes in the morning before Orneae But when at night the Army went somewhat farre off to lodge they within fled out and the Argiues the next day perceiuing it pulled Orneae to the ground and went home and so also did the Athenians not long after with their Gallies Also the Athenians transported certaine Horsemen by Sea part of their owne and part Macedonian fugitiues that liued with them into Methone and rauaged the Territorie of Perdiccas And the Lacedaemonians sent vnto the Chalcideans vpon Thrace who held Peace with the Athenians from ten dayes to ten dayes appointing them to ayde Perdiccas But they refused And so ended the Winter and the sixteenth yeere of this Warre written by Thucydides The next Summer early in the Spring the Athenian Ambassadours returned from Sicily and the Ambassadors of Egesta with them and brought in siluer vncoined sixtie Talents for a moneths pay of sixtie Gallies which they would intreat the Athenians to send thither And the Athenians hauing called an Assembly and heard both from the Egestaean and their own Ambassadors amongst other perswasiue but vntrue Allegations touching their Money how they had great store ready both in their Treasurie and Temples decreed the sending of sixtie Gallies into Sicily and Alcibiades the sonne of Clinias Nicias the sonne of Niceratus and Lamachus the sonne of Xenophanes for Commanders with authority absolute the which were to ayde the people of Egesta against the Selinuntians and withall if they had time spare to plant the Leontines anew in their Citie and to order all other the affaires of Sicily as they should thinke most for the profit of the Athenians Fiue dayes after this the people assembled againe to consult of the meanes how most speedily to put this Armada in readinesse and to decree such things as the Generals should further require for the Expedition But Nicias hauing heard that himselfe was chosen for one of the Generals and conceiuing that the State had not well resolued but affected the Conquest of all Sicily a great matter vpon small aed superficiall pretences stood forth desiring to haue altred this the Athenians purpose and spake as followeth THE ORATION OF NICIAS THough this Asembly was called to deliberate of our preparation of the maner how to set forth our Fleet for Sicily yet to me it seemeth that we ought rather once again to consult whether it be not better not to send it at all then vpon a short deliberation in so weighty an affaire and vpon the credit of strangers to draw vpon our selues an impertinent Warre For my owne part I haue honour by it and for the danger of my person I esteeme it the least of all men not but that I thinke him a good member of the Common-wealth that hath regard also to his owne person and estate for such a man especially will desire the publike to prosper for his owne sake But as I haue neuer spoken heretofore so nor now will I speake any thing that it against my conscience for gaining to my selfe a preheminence of honour but that onely which I apprehend for the best And although I am sure that if I goe about to perswade you to preserue what you already hold and not to hazard things certaine for vncertaine and future my words will bee too weake to preuaile against your humour yet this I must needes let you know that neither your haste is seasonable nor your desires easie to be atchieued For I say that going thither you leaue many Enemies heere behinde you and more you endeuour to draw hither You perhaps thinke that the League will bee firme that you haue made with the Lacedaemonians which though as long as you stir not may continue a League in name for so some haue made it of our owne side yet if any considerable forces of ours chance to miscary our enemies will soone renew the Warre as hauing made the peace constrained by calamities and vpon termes of more dishonor 〈…〉 then our selues Besides in the League it selfe we haue many things controuerâ—ed and some there be that refuse vtterly to accept it and they none of the weakest whereof some are now in open Ware against vs and others because the Lacedaemonians stir not maintaine onely a Truce with vs from ten to ten dayes and so are contented yet to hold their hands But peraduenture when they shall heare that our power is distracted which is the thing wee now hasten to doe they will bee glad to ioyne in the Warre with the Sicilians against vs the confederacy of whom they would heretofore haue valued aboue many other It behoueth vs therefore to consider of these things and not to run into new dangers when the state of our owne Citie hangeth vnsettled nor seeke a new dominion before we assure that which we already haue For the Chalcideans of Thrace after so many yeeres reuolt are yet vnreduced and from others in diuers parts of the Continent we haue but doubtfull obedience But the Egestaeans being forsooth our Confederates and wronged they in all haste must be ayded though to right vs on those by whom we haue a long time our selues beene wronged that wee deferre And yet if we should reduce the Chalcideans into subiection wee could easily also keepe them so But the Sicilians though wee vanquish them yet being many and farre off wee should haue much adoe to hold them in obedience Now it were madnesse to inuade such whom conquering you cannot keepe and failing should lose the meanes for euer after to attempt the same againe· As for the Sicilians it seemeth vnto me at least as things now stand that they shall bee of lesse danger to vs if they fall vnder the Dominion of the Syracusians then they are now And yet this is it that the Egestaeans would most affright vs with for now the States of Sicily in seuerall may perhaps be induced in fauour of the Lacedaemonians to take part against vs whereas then being reduced into one it is not likely they would hazard with vs state against state For by the same meanes that they ioyning with the Peloponnesians may pull downe our Dominion by the same it would bee likely that the Peloponnesians would subuert theirs The Grecians there will feare vs most if we goe not at all next if we but shew our Forces and come quickly away But if any misfortune befall vs they will presently despise vs and ioyne with the Grecians here to inuade vs. For wee all know that those things are most admired which
into the great Hauen from Thapsus but the Syracusians were masters of the places neere the Sea and the Athenians brought their prouision to the Army from Thapsus by land The Syracusians when they thought both their Palizadoe and wall sufficient and considering that the Athenians came not to empeach them in the worke as they that feared to diuide their Army and to be therby the more easie to be fought withall that also hasted to make an end of their owne wall wherewith to encompasse the Citie left one squadron for a guard of their workes and retyred with the rest into the Citie And the Athenians cut off the Pipes of their Conduits by which their water to drinke was conueyed vnder-ground into the Towne And hauing obserued also that about noone the Syracusians kept within their Tents and that some of them were also gone into the Citie and that such as were remaining at the Palizado kept but negligent watch they commanded three hundred chosen men of Armes and certaine other picked out and Armed from amongst the vnarmed to runne suddenly to that Counterwall of the Syracusians The rest of the Army diuided in two went one part with one of the Generals to stop the succour which might be sent from the Citie and the other with the other Generall to the Palizado next to the Gate of the Counterwall The three hundred assaulted and tooke the Palizado the guard whereof forsaking it fled within the wall into the Temple ground and with them entred also their pursuers but after they were in were beaten out againe by the Syracusians and some slaine both of the Argiues and Athenians but not many Then the whole Army went backe together and pulled downe the wall and plucked vp the Palizado the Pales whereof they carried with them to their Campe and erected a Trophie The next day the Athenians beginning at their Circular wall built onwards to that Cragge ouer the Marishes which on that part of Epipolae looketh to the great Hauen and by which the way to the Hauen for their wall to come through the Plaine and Marish was the shortest As this was doing the Syracusians came out againe and made another Palizado beginning at the Citie through the middle of the Marish and a Ditch at the side of it to exclude the Athenians from bringing their wall to the Sea But the Athenians when they had finished their worke as farre as to the Cragge assaulted the Palizado and Trench of the Syracusians againe And hauing commanded their Gallies to be brought about from Thapsus into the great Hauen of Syracusa about breake of day went straight downe into the Plaine and passing through the Marish where the ground was Clay and firmest and partly vpon Boards and Planckes won both the Trench and Palizado all but a small part betimes in the morning and the rest not long after And here also they fought and the victory fell to the Athenians The Syracusians those of the Right-wing fled to the City and they of the Left to the Riuer The three hundred chozen Athenians desiring to cut off their passage marched at high speed towards the Bridge but the Syracusians fearing to be preuented for most of the Horsemen were in this number set vpon these three hundred and putting them to flight draue them vpon the right Wing of the Athenians and following affrighted also the formost guard of the Wing Lamachus seeing this came to aide them with a few Archers from the left Wing of their owne and with all the Argiues and passing ouer a certaine Ditch hauing but few with him was deserted and slaine with some sixe or seuen more These the Syracusians hastily snatched vp and carried into a place of safety beyond the Riuer And when they saw the rest of the Athenian Army comming towards them they departed In the meane time they that fled at first to the Citie seeing how things went tooke heart againe and reimbattailed themselues against the same Athenians that stood ranged against them before and withall sent a certaine portion of their Armie against the circular Fortification of the Athenians vpon Epipolae supposing to finde it without defendants and so to take it And they tooke and demolished the out-worke tenne Plethers in length but the Circle it selfe was defended by Nicias who chanced to be left within it for infirmity For he commanded his seruants to set fire on all the Engines and whatsoeuer woodden matter lay before the Wall knowing there was no other possible meanes to saue themselues for want of men And it fell out accordingly For by reason of this fire they came no neerer but retired For the Athenians hauing by this time beaten backe the Enemie below were comming vp to relieue the Circle and their Gallies withall as is before mentioned were going about from Thapsus into the great Hauen Which they aboue perceiuing speedily made away they and the whole Armie of the Syracusians into the Citie with opinion that they could no longer hinder them with the strength they now had from bringing their Wall through vnto the Sea After this the Athenians erected a Trophie and deliuered to the Syracusians their dead vnder Truce and they on the other side deliuered to the Athenians the body of Lamachus and of the rest slaine with him And their whole Armie both Land and Sea-forces being now together they began to incloze the Syracusians with a double Wall from Epipolae and the Rockes vnto the Sea-side The necessaries of the Army were supplyed from all parts of Italy and many of the Siculi who before stood aloofe to obserue the way of Fortune tooke part now with the Athenians to whom came also three Penteconteri long-boates of 50. Oares apiece from Hetruria and diuers other wayes their hopes were nourished For the Syracusians also when there came no helpe from Peloponnesus made no longer account to subsist by Warre but conferred both amongst themselues and with Nicias of composition for Lamachus being dead the sole command of the Armie was in him And though nothing were concluded yet many things as was likely with men perplexed and now more straitely besieged then before were propounded vnto Nicias and more amongst themselues And the present ill successe had also bred some iealousie amongst them one of another And they discharged the Generals vnder whose conduct this hapned as if their harme had come either from their vnluckinesse or from their perfidiousnesse and chose Heraclides Eucles and Tellias in their places Whilest this passed Gylippus of Lacedaemon and the Corinthian Gallies were already at Leucas purposing with all speed to goe ouer into Sicily But when terrible reports came vnto them from all hands agreeing in an vntruth That Syracuse was already quite enclosed Gylippus had hope of Sicily no longer but desiring to assure Italy he and Pythen a Corinthian with two Laconicke and two Corinthian Gallies with all speede crossed the Ionique Sea to Tarentum
hee wrote vnto them a Letter Conceauing that thus the Athenians should best know his minde whereof no part could now be suppressed by the Messenger and might therefore enter into deliberation vpon true grounds With these Letters and other their instructions the Messengers tooke their Iourney and Nicias in the meane time hauing a care to the well guarding of his Campe was wary of entring into any voluntarie dangers In the end of this Summer Euetion Generall for the Athenians with Perdiccas together with many Toâ—acians warring against Amphipolis tooke not the Citie but bringing his Gallies about into Strymon besieged it from the Riuer lying at Imeraeum And so this Summer ended The next Winter the Messengers from Nicias arriued at Athens and hauing spoken what they had in charge and answered to such questions as they were asked they presented the Letter which the Clerke of the Citie standing foorth read vnto the Athenians containing as followeth THE LETTER OF NICIAS to the People of Athens ATHENIANS You know by many other my Letters what hath passed formerly nor is it lesse needfull for you to bee informed of the state we are in and to take counsell vpon it at this present When we had in many Battels beaten the Syracusians against whom we were sent and had built the Walles within which we now lye came Gylippus a Lacedaemonian with an Armie out of Peloponnesus and also out of some of the Cities of Sicily and in the first Battell was ouercome by vs but in the second forced by his many Horsemen and Darters we retired vvithin our Workes Whereupon giuing ouer our vvalling vp of the Citie for the multitude of our enemies we now sit still Nor can vve indeed haue the vse of our vvhole Army because some part of the men of Armes are employed to defend our Walles And they haue built a single Wall vp to vs so that now vve haue no more meanes to encloze it except one should come with a great Army and vvinne that crosse-wall of theirs by assault And so it is that wee vvho seemed to besiege others are besieged our selues for so much as concerneth the Land For wee cannot goe farre abroad by reason of their Cauallery They haue also sent Ambassadours for another Armie into Peloponnesus and Gylippus is gone amongst the Cities of Sicily both to sollicite such to ioyne with him in the Warre as haue not yet stirred and of others to get if he can both more Land-souldiers and more munition for their Nauie For they intend as I haue beene informed both to assault our Wall by Land with their Armie and to make tryall what they are able to doe with their Nauy by Sea For though our Fleet vvhich they also haue heard were vigorous at first both for soundnesse of the Gallies and entirenesse of the men yet our Gallies are now soaked with lying so long in the water and our men consumed For vve vvant the meanes to hale aland our Gallies and trim them because the Gallies of the Enemie as good as ours and more in number doe keepe vs in a continuall expectation of assault which they manifestly endeuour And seeing it is in their owne choice to attempt or not they haue therefore liberty to dry their Gallies at their pleasure For they lye not as we in attendance vpon others Nay vve could hardly doe it though we had many Gallies spare and vvere not constrained as now to keepe watch vpon them vvith our whole number For should we abate though but a little of our obseruance vve should want prouision vvhich as vve are being to passe so neere their Citie is brought in with difficulty and hence it is that our Mariners both formerly haue beene and are now wasted For our Mariners fetching wood and water and forraging farre off are intercepted by the Horsemen and our Slaues now wee are on equall termes runne ouer to the Enemie As for strangers some of them hauing come aboard by constraint returne presently to their Cities and others hauing beene leuied at first with great wages and thinking they came to enrich themselues rather then to fight now they see the Enemie make so strong resistance both otherwise beyond their expectation and especially with their Nauie partly take pretext to bee gone that they may serue the Enemie and partly Sicily beeing large shift themselues away euery one as hee can Some there are also who hauing bought heere Hyccarian slaues haue gotten the Captaines of Gallies to accept of them in the roome of themselues and thereby destroyed the purity of our Nauall strength To you I write who know how small a time any Fleet continueth in the height of vigour and how few of the Mariners are skilfull both how to hasten the course of a Gallie and how to containe the Oare But of all my greatest trouble is this that being Generall I can neither make them doe better for your natures are hard to be gouerned nor get Mariners in any other place which the Enemy can doe from many places but must of necessity haue them from whence wee brought both these we haue and those we haue lost For our now Confederate Cities Naxus and Catana are not able to supply vs. Had the Enemie but this one thing more that the Townes of Italy that now send vs prouision seeing what estate we are in and you not helpe vs would turne to them the Warre were at an end and wee expugned without another stroke I could haue written to you other things more pleasing then these but not more profitable seeing it is necessary for you to know certainely the affaires heere when you goe to councell vpon them withall because I know your natures to bee such as though you loue to heare the best yet afterwards when things fall not out accordingly you will call in question them that write it I thought best to write the truth for my owne safeties sake And now thinke thus that though we haue carried our selues both Captaines and Souldiers in that for which we came at first hither vnblameably yet since all Sicily is vnited against vs and another Army expected out of Peloponnesus you must resolue for those we haue here are not enow for the Enemies present forces eyther to send for these away or to send hither another Army both of Land and Sea-souldiers no lesse theâ— the former and money not a little and also a Generall to succeed me who am able no longer to stay heere being troubled with the stone in the Kidney I must craue your pardon I haue done you many good seruices in the conducts of your Armies when I had my health What you will doe doe in the very beginning of Spring and delay it not For the Enemie will soone haue furnished himselfe of his Sicilian aydes And though those from Peloponnesus will bee later yet if you looke not to it they will get hither partly vnseene as before and partly by preuenting you with
at this time of the yeere being now neere Autumne which further disheartened the Athenians who thought that also this did tend to their destruction Whilst they lay still Gylippus and the Syracusians sent part of their Army to raise a Wall at their backs in the way they had come but this the Athenians hindred by sending against them part of theirs After this the Athenians retiring with their whole Army into a more Champaigne ground lodged there that night and the next day went forward againe And the Syracusians with their Darts from euery part round about wounded many of them and when the Athenians charged they retired and when they retired the Syracusians charged and that especially vpon the hindmost that by putting to flight a few they might terrifie the whole Army And for a good while the Athenians in this manner withstood them and afterwards being gotten fiue or six Furlongs forward they rested in the Plaine and the Syracusians went from them to their owne Campe. This night it was concluded by Nicias and Demosthenes seeing the miserable estate of their Army and the want already of all necessaries and that many of their men in many assaults of the Enemy were wounded to lead away the Army as farre as they possible could not the way they purposed before but toward the Sea which was the contrary way to that which the Syracusians guarded Now this whole iourney of the Army lay not towards Catana but towards the other side of Sicily Camarina and Gela and the Cities as well Grecian as Barbarian that way When they had made many fires accordingly they marched in the night and as vsually it falleth out in all Armies and most of all in the greatest to be subiect to affright and terrour especially marching by night and in hostile ground and the enemy neere were in confusion The Army of Nicias leading the way kept together and got farre afore but that of Demosthenes which was the greater halfe was both seuered from the rest and marched more disorderly Neuerthelesse by the morning betimes they got to the Sea side and entring into the Helorine way they went on towards the Riuer Cacyparis to the end when they came thither to march vpwards along the Riuers side through the heart of the Countrey For they hoped that this way the Siculi to whom they had sent would meet them When they came to the Riuer here also they found a certaine guard of the Syracusians stopping their passage with a Wall and with Pyles When they had quickly forced this guard they passed the Riuer and againe marched on to another Riuer called Erineus for that was the way which the Guides directed them In the meane time the Syracusians and their Confederates as soone as day appeared and that they knew the Athenians were gone most of them accusing Gylippus as if he had let them go with his consent followed them with speed the same way which they easily vnderstood they were gone and about dinner time ouertooke them When they were come vp to those with Demosthenes who were the hindmost and had marched more slowly and disorderly then the other part had done as hauing been put into disorder in the night they fell vpon them and fought And the Syracusian Horsemen hemmed them in and forced them vp into a narrow compasse the more easily now because they were diuided from the rest Now the Army of Nicias was gone by this time 150 Furlongs further on For he led away the faster because he thought not that their safety consisted in staying and fighting voluntarily but rather in a speedy retreat and then onely fighting when they could not choose But Demosthenes was both in greater and in more continuall toyle in respect that he marched in the Reere and consequently was pressed by the Enemy And seeing the Syracusians pursuing him he went not on but put his men into order to fight till by his stay he was encompassed and reduced he and the Athenians with him into great disorder For being shut vp within a place enclosed round with a Wall and which on either side had a way open amongst abundance of Oliue trees they were charged from all sides at once with the Enemies shot For the Syracusians assaulted them in this kind and not in close battell vpon very good reason For to hazzard battell against men desperate was not so much for theirs as for the Athenians aduantage Besides after so manifest successes they spared themselues somewhat because they were loth to weare themselues out before the end of the businesse and thought by this kind of fight to subdue and take them aliue Whereupon after they had plyed the Athenians their Confederates all day long from euery side with shot and saw that with their wounds and other annoyance they were already tired Gylippus and the Syracusians and their Confederates first made Proclamation that if any of the Ilanders would come ouer to them they should be at liberty And the men of some few Cities went ouer And by and by after they made agreement with all the rest that were with Demosthenes That they should deliuer vp their Armes and none of them be put to death neither violently nor by bonds nor by want of the necessities of life And they all yeelded to the number of 6000 men and the siluer they had they laid it all downe casting it into the hollow of Targets and filled with the same foure Targets And these men they carried presently into the Citie Nicias and those that were with him attained the same day to the Riuer Erineus which passing he caused his Armie to sit downe vpon a certaine ground more eleuate then the rest where the Syracusians the next day ouertooke and told him That those with Demosthenes had yeelded themselues and willed him to do the like But he not beleeuing it tooke Truce for a Horseman to enquire the truth Vpon returne of the Horseman and word that they had yeelded he sent a Herald to Gylippus and the Syracusians saying That he was content to compound on the part of the Athenians to repay whatsoeuer money the Syracusians had laid out so that his Army might be suffered to depart And that till payment of the money were made he would deliuer them Hostages Athenians euery Hostage rated at a Talent But Gylippus and the Syracusians refusing the condition charged them and hauing hemmed them in plyed them with shot as they had done the other Army from euery side till euening This part of the Armie was also pinched with the want both of victuall and other necessaries Neuerthelesse obseruing the quiet of the night they were about to march But no sooner tooke they their Armes vp then the Syracusians perceiuing it gaue the Alarme Whereupon the Athenians finding themselues discouered sate downe againe all but 300 who breaking by force through the guards marched as farre as they could that night And Nicias when it was day led his