ΑΛΚΙΒΙΑΔΗΣ

Bust of Alcibiades.

CHAPTER XXX.

PELOPONNESIAN WAR CONTINUED.

THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION.

§ 1. Armament mustered at Corcyra. § 2. Its reception in Italy. Proceedings at Syracuse. § 3. Plans of the Athenian generals. § 4. The advice of Alcibiades adopted. He gains over Naxos and Catana. § 5. Proceedings at Athens respecting the mutilation of the Hermæ, and the profanation of the mysteries. § 6. Alcibiades accused, and ordered to return to Athens. § 7. Proceedings of Nicias in Sicily. § 8. Preparations of the Sicilians for defence. § 9. Nicias lays siege to Syracuse. § 10. He seizes Epipolæ and constructs a fort at Syké. Attempt of the Syracusans against it. § 11. Arrival of the Spartan general Gylippus. Change in the Athenian prospects. § 12. Invasion of Attica by the Lacedæmonians. They fortify Deceleia. 13. The Syracusans defeat the Athenians at sea. § 14. Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrive in Sicily with reinforcements. Reverses. The Athenians resolve to retreat. § 15. Naval engagement in the Great Harbour. Victory of the Syracusans. § 16. Its effects. Disastrous retreat of the Athenians. Surrender of Demosthenes. § 17. Surrender of Nicias. Treatment of the prisoners. Death of Nicias and Demosthenes. § 18. Their characters.

§ 1. THE Athenian fleet destined for Sicily was joined at Corcyra by the other allies in the month of July, 415 B.C. The whole armament when mustered consisted of 134 triremes and two Rhodian penteconters, and had on board 5100 hoplites, 480 bowmen, of whom 80 were Cretans, 700 Rhodian slingers, and

120 Megarian exiles, who served as light-armed troops. The fleet was accompanied by no fewer than 500 transports, carrying provisions, warlike stores, and artificers, as well as by a great many private trading vessels. Three fast-sailing triremes were sent ahead to ascertain the disposition of the Italian and Sicilian towns, and to notify to the Egestæans the approach of assistance The fleet then made for the Iapygian promontory, in three divisions, commanded by Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus.

§ 2. Their reception in Italy was far from encouraging. The utmost they could obtain was permission to take in water, and even this was refused by the Tarentines, and by the Epizephyrian Locrians. At Rhegium, however, they were allowed to land and to purchase provisions; but they were not permitted to enter the town, and the citizens refused to join or assist them. Here, therefore, they awaited the return of the three exploring vessels.

Rumours of the intended expedition prevailed at Syracuse, but were treated as incredible. Hermocrates, however, was better informed than his fellow-citizens. He urged them to summon their allies and to prepare for defence, and even exhorted them to sail at once to the friendly harbour of Tarentum, and from thence to offer battle to the Athenian fleet in the Ionian gulf. But the demagogue Athenagoras treated the whole matter as a fiction invented to serve the interests of the oligarchical party. At last one of the generals put an end to the debate by undertaking to place the city in a posture of defence.

§ 3. Meantime the three vessels which had been sent to Egesta returned to Rhegium, with the discouraging news that the accounts respecting the wealth of Egesta were entirely fictitious, and that the sum of thirty talents was all the assistance that could be hoped for from that quarter. A council of war was now held. It appears that the Athenian generals had proceeded thus far without having formed any definite plan, and each now proposed a different one. Nicias was of opinion that, since no effectual help could be expected from the Egestæans, the objects of the expedition should be confined to the narrowest possible limits, and with that view that they should sail at once against the Selinuntines, obtain from them the best terms possible, and then return home. Alcibiades, whose hopes of glory and profit would have been ruined by this plan, proposed to gain as many allies as they could among the Greek cities in Sicily, and, having thus ascertained what assistance they could rely upon, to attack Syracuse and Selinus. Lamachus was for bolder measures. He recommended an immediate attack upon Syracuse, whilst it was yet unprepared for defence. The terror of the

Syracusans would probably cause them to surrender, and the capture of their city would determine the conduct of the rest of Sicily; but, if they lingered, negotiated, and did nothing, they would first be regarded with indifference and then with contempt.

§4. The advice of Lamachus was the most soldierlike, and, though seemingly the boldest, would undoubtedly have been the safest and most prudent in the end. But neither of his colleagues approved of it, and, as Lamachus was poor, and possessed no great political interest, he was obliged to give way. The counsel of Alcibiades was adopted as a mean between the other two. Messana refused his solicitations, but Naxos cordially joined the Athenians. Alcibiades then sailed southwards with a considerable portion of the fleet, and, passing Syracuse, despatched ten triremes into the Great Harbour, for the purpose of surveying its docks and fortifications. Nothing further was attempted; but as they sailed back the Athenians obtained possession by surprise of the important city of Catana, which was now made the head-quarters of the armament.

§ 5. An unwelcome message greeted Alcibiades at Catana. After his departure from Athens fresh inquiries were instituted respecting the mutilation of the Hermæ, and the offer of large rewards brought forward additional evidence. The public agitation and anxiety were kept alive by the demagogues Pisander and Charicles, two of the commissioners of inquiry, who denounced the affair not only as a sacrilege, but also as a conspiracy for putting down the democracy and establishing a tyranny. Numerous arrests were made, and citizens of the highest character were thrown into prison on the testimony of hireling wretches. Terror reigned in the city, and the fear of being informed against rose to such a pitch that the convocation of the senate by the herald was a signal to the crowd which filled the market-place to disperse. Among the persons arrested was Andocides, the orator, who was induced by his fellow-prisoners to come forward and state what he knew of the affair. He was a young man of rank, and his evidence was implicitly believed, especially as it was confirmed by his slaves, who were put to the torture. Those whom he denounced were executed. He saved his own life by turning informer, but the hatred he incurred was such that he was obliged to leave the city. His evidence was most probably false, and the whole affair has ever remained involved in mystery.

§ 6. The execution of the supposed criminals had the effect of tranquillizing the city respecting the mutilation of the Hermæ ; but the profanation of the Eleusinian mysteries, a rite regarded

with the deepest reverence at Athens, still remained unexpiated. The Eumolpidæ, and other great families who held hereditary offices in the celebration of the mysteries, looked upon themselves as personally insulted. The public excitement was increased by the appearance of a Lacedæmonian force on the frontier, which, it was suspected, might be connected with some internal conspiracy. Both oligarchs and democrats were loud in demanding the arrest of Alcibiades; and Thessalus, the son of Cimon, who belonged to the former party, preferred an indictment against him. In pursuance of this step the Salaminian trireme was despatched to Sicily, carrying the decree of the assembly for Alcibiades to come home and take his trial, and which met him, as before related, on his arrival at Catana. The commander of the Salaminia was, however, instructed not to seize his person, but to allow him to sail in his own trireme. Alcibiades availed himself of this privilege to effect his escape. When the ships arrived at Thurii in Italy, he absconded, and contrived to elude the search that was made after him. Nevertheless, though absent, he was arraigned at Athens, and condemned to death; his property was confiscated, and the Eumolpids pronounced upon him the curses of the gods. On hearing of his sentence Alcibiades is said to have exclaimed, "I will show them that I am still alive."

§ 7. Three months had now been frittered away in Sicily, during which the Athenians had done little or nothing, if we except the acquisition of Naxos and Catana. The Syracusans began to look upon them with contempt. They even meditated an attack upon the Athenians at Catana; and Syracusan horsemen rode up and insulted them in their camp. Nicias was thus absolutely shamed into undertaking something, and resolved to make an attempt upon Syracuse. By a false message that the Catanæans were ready to assist in expelling the Athenians, he induced the Syracusans to proceed thither in great force, and he availed himself of their absence to sail with his whole fleet into the Great Harbour of Syracuse, where he landed near the mouth of the Anapus, in the neighbourhood of the temple of the Olympian Jove. Here he intrenched himself in a strong position, on the right bank of the Anapus, breaking down the bridge over the river. The Syracusans, when they found that they had been deceived at Catana, marched back and offered Nicias battle in his new position. The latter accepted it, and gained the victory; after which he retired to Catana, and subsequently to Naxos into winter quarters. He then sent messages to Athens for fresh supplies of cavalry and money, and to his Sicilian allies for reinforcements.

§ 8. The Syracusans employed the winter in preparations for defence. They built a new wall, covering both their inner and outer town to the westward (See Plan, G, H, I), and rendering any attempt at circumvallation more difficult. They fortified and garrisoned the temple and grove of the Olympian Jove, in the neighbourhood of the city. They despatched envoys to Corinth and Sparta to solicit assistance, in the latter of which towns they found an unexpected advocate. Alcibiades, having crossed from Thurii to Cyllené in Peloponnesus, received a special invitation to proceed to Sparta. Here he revealed all the plans of Athens, and exhorted the Lacedæmonians to frustrate them. For this purpose he advised them to send an army into Sicily, under the command of a Spartan general, and by way of causing a diversion, to establish a fortified post at Decelea in the Attic territories. The Spartans fell in with these views, and resolved to send a force to the assistance of Syracuse in the spring, under the command of Gylippus.

§ 9. Nicias, having received a reinforcement of cavalry from Athens, as well as 300 talents in money, recommenced hostilities as soon as the season allowed of it, and resolved on besieging Syracuse. That town consisted of two parts-the inner and the outer city. The former of these-the original settlement-was comprised in the island of Ortygia; the latter, afterwards known by the name of Achradina, covered the high ground of the peninsula north of Ortygia, and was completely separate from the inner city. The island of Ortygia, to which the modern city is now confined, is of an oblong shape, about two miles in circumference, lying between the Great Harbour on the west, and the Little Harbour on the east, and separated from the mainland by a narrow channel. The Great Harbour is a splendid bay, about five miles in circumference, the entrance of which is protected on the left hand by the promontory Plemmyrium, and on the right hand by a projecting cape of the island of Ortygia. The little port, also called Laccius, which lay between Ortygia and the outer city, was spacious enough to receive a large fleet of ships of war. The outer city was surrounded on the north and east by the sea, and by sea-walls which rendered an assault on that side almost impracticable. On the land side it was defended by a wall, and partly also by the nature of the ground, which in some parts was very steep. The low ground between the outer city and Ortygia seems not to have been included in the fortifications of either, but was employed partly as a burial ground, partly for games and religious processions. West and north-west of the wall of the outer city stood two unfortified suburbs, which were at a later time included within the walls of Syracuse under the