Story of the Greek and the Roman People

A NAVAL BATTLE.

The Syracusans were no longer afraid of losing their city. Now they were in quest of glory, and they planned to capture the whole fleet of the invaders. Then followed a most terrible battle. The Syracusan ships blocked the entrance of the harbor; the Athenian triremes could not escape to the open sea. Two hundred vessels were crowded into the narrow space. Ships were driven against ships, sometimes two or three dashed into one. "Force your way or never see Greece again!" cried the Athenian generals to their men. "Win the victory! Make your city glorious!" shouted the Syracusan officers; but the creaking, the crashing, the screeching, the groaning, the clanking of chains, the sound of savage blows, and the heavy thud of men falling dead upon the decks—these were so loud that only those nearest could hear the words of their officers. Except for the troops on board the two fleets, all Syracuse was on one part of the shore, and all the Greeks on another. The Greeks pressed down to the water's edge; they groaned and sobbed and shrieked in agony when one of their vessels was disabled; they shouted with joy when one appeared for a moment to have escaped; they swayed to and fro; they threw themselves on the ground; they stretched up their arms in prayer to the gods. The Syracusan ships were here, there, and everywhere. The Athenians rowed frantically toward the entrance to the harbor; they were thrust back upon the shore; they threw themselves headlong from their ships and dashed through the water to the land and their camp. "They now suffered what they had done to others at Pylos," wrote Thucydides. "Even now there is a chance," declared the Athenian generals, "even now we have more vessels than the enemy. At break of day we will man them and try to force the passage." But the horrors of the battle had thrown the men into a panic; they refused to go on board the ships.

The Greeks' only hope of safety was to retreat, and perhaps make their way to some friendly city; and they began their sorrowful march. The dead lay unburied, the wounded and dying cried to their old friends by name as they passed, and prayed to be taken with them; then called down the anger of the gods upon them as they paid no heed to the appeals. The whole army were in tears; they were in the utmost misery. Demosthenes and part of the army became separated from the rest; but Nicias pushed on. Food gave out, water could not be found. At last they came to a river. They were so wild from thirst that they plunged into it and stood in the shallows, drinking again and again, even though the Syracusans were shooting at them and hurling darts and spears and stones. Men were trampled under foot; they were pierced by the spears of their friends, even by their own spears; they were struck by masses of baggage and swept down stream. Heaps of dead bodies lay where the water was shallow, and the river ran red with blood. Then Nicias yielded. "Do what you please with me," he begged, "but spare my men."

A GREEK SOLDIER LEAVING FOR BATTLE.

Both Nicias and Demosthenes were put to death. The whole Grecian army was captured, save a few who had succeeded in escaping to some friendly city. The prisoners, seven thousand or more, were crowded into the stone quarries. The sun beat down upon them by day; at night they shivered with the cold. Half a pint of water and a pint of food were given them daily. They died by scores, and the dead bodies lay heaped one upon another. At the end of ten weeks, those who still lived were sold as slaves. Thus ended the expedition that was to have made Athens the ruler of the Mediterranean world. Such is the glory and the splendor of warfare.

Summary

Many leagues were formed among the states.

The Athenians took Melos. They planned an expedition against Sicily under Alcibiades.

To help Egesta was the pretext of the expedition. The Egestæans deceived the Athenians by showing them borrowed treasures.

The ships sailed. At Rhegium the deceit of the Egestæans was discovered The question was whether to collect what the Egestæans had promised, force Selinus to terms, and go home; whether to attack Syracuse at once; or whether to win Sicilian allies and then make an attack.

Alcibiades was recalled to be tried for mutilating the Hermæ, but fled to Sparta and became a traitor to his country.

Sparta came to aid Syracuse.

The Athenians waited, as the soothsayer advised, and their attack failed. They made a disastrous retreat, and the whole army was captured.

Suggestions For Written Work

Why did the Athenians wish to overcome Sicily?

A boy describes the sailing of the fleet for Sicily.

What the Syracusans talked about the day before the Corinthian Ship arrived.