Second expedition

against Syracuse, under Demosthenês.

posed of contingents relieving each other at intervals, under the command of king Agis himself. Dekeleia was situated on an outlying eminence belonging to the range called Parnês, about fourteen miles to the north of Athens-near the termination of the plain of Athens, and commanding an extensive view of that plain as well as of the plain of Eleusis. The hill on which it stood, if not the fort itself, was visible even from the walls of Athens. It was admirably situated both as a central point for excursions over Attica, and for communication with Boeotia; while the road from Athens to Orôpus, the main communication with Euboea, passed through the gorge immediately under it'.

We read with amazement, and the contemporary from Athens world saw with yet greater amazement, that while this important work was actually going on, and while the whole Peloponnesian confederacy was renewing its pressure with redoubled force upon Athens-at that very moment, the Athenians sent out, not only a fleet of thirty triremes under Chariklês to annoy the coasts of Peloponnesus, but also the great armament which they had resolved upon under Demosthenês, to push offensive operations against Syracuse. The force under the latter general consisted of 60 Athenian and 5 Chian triremes; of 1200 Athenian hoplites of the best class, chosen from the citizen muster-roll; with a considerable number of hoplites besides, from the subjectallies and elsewhere. There had been also engaged

Thucyd. vii. 19-28, with Dr. Arnold's note.

2 Thucyd. vii. 20. ἅμα τῆς Δεκελείας τῷ τείχισμα, &c. Compare Isokratês, Orat. viii. De Pace, s. 102. p. 236 Bekk.

on hire 1500 peltasts from Thrace, of the tribe called Dii; but these men did not arrive in time, so that Demosthenês set sail without them'. Chariklês having gone forward to take aboard a body of allies from Argos, the two fleets joined at Ægina, inflicted some devastations on the coasts of Laconia, and established a strong post on the island of Kythêra to encourage desertion among the Helots. From hence Chariklês returned with the Argeians, while Demosthenês conducted his armament round Peloponnesus to Korkyra2. On the Eleian coast, he destroyed a transport carrying hoplites to Syracuse, though the men escaped ashore: next he proceeded to Zakynthus and Kephallenia, from whence he engaged some additional hoplites-and to Anaktorium, in order to procure darters and slingers from Akarnania. It was here that he was met by Eurymedon with his ten triremes, who had gone forward to Syracuse in the winter with the pecuniary remittance urgently required, and was now returning to act as colleague of Demosthenês in the commands. The news brought by Eurymedon from Sicily was in every way discouraging Yet the two admirals

1 Thucyd. vii. 20-27.

2 Thucyd. vii. 26.

3 Thucyd. vii. 31. "Ovтɩ d' avt♣ (Demosthenês) Teρì тaûтa (Anaktorium) Εὐρυμέδων ἀπαντᾷ, ὃς τότε τοῦ χειμῶνος τὰ χρήματα ἄγων τῇ στρατιᾷ ἀπεπέμφθη, καὶ ἀγγέλλει, &c.

The meaning of this passage appears quite unambiguous, that Eurymedon had been sent to Sicily in the winter to carry the sum of 120 talents to Nikias, and was now on his return (see Thucyd. vii. 11). Nevertheless we read in Mr. Mitford-" At Anactorium Demosthenês found Eurymedon collecting provisions for Sicily," &c. Mr. Mitford farther says in a note (quoting the Scholiast-"Нтоι тà проя трopηv χρήσιμα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ συντείνοντα αὐτοῖς, Schol.)—“This is not the only occasion on which Thucydidês uses the term xpýμara for necessaries in general. Smith has translated accordingly: but the Latin has

Operations of Gylippus

He deter

mines to

attack the Athenians at sea.

were under the necessity of sparing ten triremes from their fleet to reinforce Konon at Naupaktus, who was not strong enough alone to contend against the Corinthian fleet which watched him from the opposite coast. To make good this diminution, Eurymedon went forward to Korkyra, with the view of obtaining from the Korkyræans fifteen fresh triremes and a contingent of hoplites—while Demosthenes was getting together the Akarnanian darters and slingers'.

Eurymedon not only brought back word of the at Syracuse. distressed condition of the Athenians in the harbour of Syracuse, but had also learnt, during his way back, their heavy additional loss by the capture of the fort at Plemmyrium. Gylippus returned to Syracuse early in the spring, nearly about the time when Agis invaded Attica and when Demosthenês quitted Peiræus. He returned with fresh reinforcements from the interior, and with redoubled ardour for decisive operations against Nikias before aid could arrive from Athens. It was his first care, in conjunction with Hermokratês, to inspire the Syracusans with courage for fighting the Athenians on shipboard. Such was the acknowledged superiority of the latter at sea, that this was a task of some difficulty, calling for all the eloquence and

pecuniam, which does not express the sense intended here" (ch. xviii. sect. vi. vol. iv. p. 118).

There cannot be the least doubt that the Latin is here right. The definite article makes the point quite certain, even if it were true (which I doubt) that Thucydidês sometimes uses the word xpηpara to mean "necessaries in general." I doubt still more whether he ever uses ayov in the sense of "collecting."

1 Thucyd. vii. 31.

ascendency of the two leaders: "The Athenians (said Hermokratês to his countrymen) have not been always eminent at sea as they now are: they were once landsmen like you, and more than you— they were only forced on shipboard by the Persian invasion. The only way to deal with bold men like them, is to show a front bolder still. They have often by their audacity daunted enemies of greater real force than themselves, and they must now be taught that others can play the same game with them. Go right at them before they expect it— and you will gain more by thus surprising and intimidating them, than you will suffer by their superior science." Such lessons, addressed to men already in the tide of success, were presently efficacious, and a naval attack was resolved'.

The town of Syracuse had two ports, one on each side of the island of Ortygia. The lesser port (as it was called afterwards, the Portus Lakkius) lay northward of Ortygia, between that island and the low ground or Nekropolis near the outer city: the other lay on the opposite side of the isthmus of Ortygia, within the Great Harbour. Both of them (it appears) were protected against attack from without, by piles and stakes planted in the bottom in front of them. But the lesser port was the more secure of the two, and the principal docks of the Syracusans were situated within it; the Syracusan fleet, eighty triremes strong, being distributed be

1 Thucyd. vii. 21. Among the topics of encouragement dwelt upon by Hermokratês, it is remarkable that he makes no mention of that which the sequel proved to be the most important of all-the confined space of the harbour, which rendered Athenian ships and tactics unavailing.

Naval comharbour of

bat in the

Syracuse

the Athenians vic

torious.

tween them. The entire Athenian fleet was stationed under the fort of Plemmyrium, immediately opposite to the southern point of Ortygia.

Gylippus laid his plan with great ability, so as to take the Athenians completely by surprise. Having trained and prepared the naval force as thoroughly as he could, he marched out his landforce secretly by night, over Epipolæ and round by the right bank of the Anapus, to the neighbourhood of the fort of Plemmyrium. With the first dawn of morning, the Syracusan fleet sailed out, at one and the same signal, from both the ports; 45 triremes out of the lesser port, 35 out of the other. Both squadrons tried to round the southern point of Ortygia, so as to unite and to attack the enemy at Plemmyrium in concert. The Athenians, though unprepared and confused, hastened to man 60 ships; with 25 of which they met the 35 Syracusans sailing forth from the Great Harbour-while with the other 35 they encountered the 45 from the lesser port, immediately outside of the mouth of the Great Harbour. In the former of these two actions the Syracusans were at first victors; in the second also, the Syracusans from the outside forced their way into the mouth of the Great Harbour, and joined their comrades. But being little accustomed to naval warfare, they presently fell into complete confusion, partly in consequence of their unexpected success; so that the Athenians, recovering from the first shock, attacked them anew, and completely defeated them; sinking or disabling eleven ships, of three of which the crews were made prisoners, the rest being