Book 7
So there were manned altogether about one hundred and ten ships; and they put on board a large number of archers and javelin-men, both of the Acarnanians and of the other foreigners,The reference is to contingents from peoples who, like the Acarnanians, were not under the Athenian empire but served for pay; cf. 7.57.10. and in general they made such provision as was possible under the stress of necessity and with the object they had in view.
But when almost all their preparations were ready, Nicias, seeing that the soldiers were not only discouraged, because contrary to their wont they had been badly beaten at sea, but that they also, on account of the scarcity of provisions, were anxious to risk a battle as soon as possible, called them all together before giving the order for battle and exhorted them, speaking as follows:
"Soldiers of Athens and of our allies, the impending contest will concern you all alike—a contest both for salvation and for fatherland for each of you no less than for the enemy; for if we win the present battle with our fleet, it is possible for everyone to live to see his own city, wherever it may be.
And we ought not to be discouraged, much less feel as do the rawest recruits, who, when they have been defeated in their first contests, cherish ever afterwards a foreboding, inspired of their fear, that takes on the colour of their disasters.
But as many of you here present as are Athenians, and have already had experience in many wars, and you our allies, who always take part in our campaigns, remember the unexpected turns in war, and in hope that fortune may take her stand on our side also, and with the resolve to retrieve your defeat in a manner worthy of this vast multitude of your army that you see before you, make ready for battle.
"But as regards anything that could be helpful to us, in view of the narrowness of the harbour, in combating such a throng of ships as will fill it and the forces which the enemy has placed on their decks—conditions which injured us before —all this has now been made ready by us also, as far as our circumstances permit, after consultation with our pilots.
Indeed, many bowmen and javelin-men will go on board, and a multitude such as we should not use if we were making a fight in the open sea, because they would hamper our skill by increasing the weight of our ships, whereas in the land-battle that we are forced to fight here from the decks of our ships they will be of advantage.
And we have contrived whatever counter-devices were necessary in the construction of our ships, and especially to combat the thickness of the enemy's catheads, a device from which we suffered most injury, we have provided grappling-irons, which will prevent the ship that has rammed us from backing off again, if the marines perform the service that will then devolve upon them.ie. if they board the hostile ships and fight hand to hand.
For we have been forced to the extremity of having to fight a land-battle on shipboard, and it is manifestly to our interest neither to back water ourselves nor to suffer them to do so, especially since the whole shore, except the small part of it that our land-force holds, is hostile.
"Remembering these things, you must fight to the last with all your strength and not allow yourselves to be driven ashore, but when ship collides with ship be resolved never to separate until you have swept into the sea the hoplites on the enemy's decks.
And these things I urge upon the hoplites not less than upon the sailors, inasmuch as such work belongs rather to those on deck; and, besides, we still have the better of the enemy in most points with our land-force.
As for the sailors, I exhort them, and at the same time I even implore them, not to be overmuch dismayed by our calamities, since the forces we now have on the decks are better and our ships more numerous; and I would have you—those of you that is who have hitherto been accounted Athenians without being soReferring to the resident aliens; cf. Schol. τοὺς μετοίκους λέγει—reflect how well worth preserving is the proud feeling that because of your knowledge of our language and your imitation of our ways you have been admired through. out Hellas, and in point of advantage have had no less a share in our empire than ourselves, while as regards the fear you inspired in our subjects and the freedom from injury you enjoyed you have had a much greater share.
Do you, therefore, who alone are partners with us in our empire as free men, be just and do not utterly betray it; but with scorn both for the Corinthians, whom you have frequently beaten, and for the Siceliots, not one of whom, when our navy was at its best, ever presumed even to stand up against us, ward them off; and show that even amid weakness and misfortune your skill is more than a match for the strength and good fortune of your opponents.
“As to those of you who are Athenians, I remind you once more that you left behind you in your docks at home no other ships like these nor hoplites of military age, and if the outcome shall be aught else but victory for you, your enemies here will straightway sail yonder, and our fellow-citizens who are left at home will be unable to ward off both the enemies there and the new invaders. Those of you who are here would at once come under the power of the Syracusans—and you yourselves know with what purpose you came against them—and those who are there under the power of the Lacedaemonians.
So, therefore, since you are constrained to fight this one battle on behalf of both yourselves and them, be steadfast now, if ever you were, and remember, one and all, that those of you who will now be aboard the ships are for the Athenians both army and navy, and all that is left of the State and the great name of Athens. For her sake, if anyone surpasses another in skill or in courage, he will never find a better occasion for displaying them, at once for his own advantage and for the salvation of us all.”
After making this exhortation Nicias immediately gave orders to man the ships. Gylippus and the Syracusans, on the other hand, observing the actual preparations which they were making, could easily perceive that the Athenians were going to fight at sea;
furthermore, the device of the grappling-irons had already been reported to them, and while they were equipping their ships to meet every other contingency, they also took precautions against this. For they stretched hides over the prows and a considerable portion of the upper works of the ships, in order that when the grapnel was thrown it might slip off and not get hold.
And when all was ready, Gylippus and his generals exhorted their men as follows:
"That the deeds which have already been achieved are glorious and that the contest will be for glories still to come, you, Syracusans and allies, seem to us most of you to be aware—otherwise you would not have laid your hands to the task so zealously; but if anyone has not perceived this as clearly as he should, we will make it plain.
The Athenians came against this country in the first place for the enslavement of Sicily, and after that, if they should be successful, for that of the Peloponnesus also and the rest of Hellas, having already acquired a dominion greater than that of any Hellenes either of the past or of the present time; but you, the first men who ever withstood their fleet, with which they had obtained the mastery everywhere, have already defeated them on the sea and in all probability will defeat them in this present battle.
For when men have once suffered abatement just where they claim to be superior, what is left of their self-esteem is weaker than it ever was —than if they had never thought themselves superior at all—and their pride being mortified by the disappointment,Or “unexpectedly deceived in their self-confidence.” they give way out of all proportion to their actual strength. And at the present moment this is what the Athenians have probably suffered.
"With us, however, the feeling that before animated us, which led us, even though we were inexperienced, to venture our all, is now more fully confirmed; and since there has been added to it the conviction that we are strongest, because we have defeated the strongest, the hope of each man is doubled. And, generally speaking, the greatest hope inspires in men the greatest zeal for their undertakings.
Furthermore, as regards their imitation of our arrangements, whereas these are familiar to us as a part of our manner of fighting and we shall be able to adapt ourselves to meet each one of them, yet from their point of view, as soon as they find many hoplites upon their decks, contrary to their established usage, and many javelin-men also, landlubbers so to speak—Acarnanians and others— put aboard ships, men who will not even know how to discharge their darts sitting down,For such men would not be able to stand up on deck. will they not inevitably imperil their ships and all be in confusion among themselves, as they move about in a fashion not their own?
Even by the superior number of their ships they will not be profited—in case any one among you has become afraid from the fact that he will have to fight against an unequal number; for in a small space a large number of ships will be slower to carry out any action they may plan, but very easily damaged by the devices which we have adopted. But if you seek the absolute truth, learn it from intelligence which we consider certain:
it is through the overwhelming character of their misfortunes and because they are compelled by their present difficulties, that they have reached the desperate resolution—trusting more to fortune than to their own preparation—of risking a battle in whatever way they can, in order that they may either force their way out and sail away, or after defeat may make their retreat by land; for they know that in any case they could not fare worse than at present.
“Against a disorderly array like this, therefore, and against the fortune of our bitterest foes that has surrendered itself into our hands, let us give battle with fury; and let us consider that against enemies it is a most lawful act if for the punishment of the aggressor anyone thinks fit to glut his heart's animosity; and again, that vengeance on foes will be within our power—and that, as the proverb has it, is of all things the sweetest.
And that they are enemies, and the worst of enemies, you all know; since they came against our land to enslave it, and, if they had succeeded in that, would have inflicted upon our men all that is most painful, upon our women and children the worst indignities, and upon the city as a whole the most shameful of appellations.That of subject or slave.
Wherefore it is fitting that no one of us should be soft-hearted, or count it a gain that they should depart without risk to us. For this, even if they win the victory, they will do all the same; whereas if we accomplish, as it is likely we shall, that which we wish—that these men be punished, and that we hand over to Sicily, which enjoyed it before, a liberty still more secure— how glorious the prize! And of all hazards those are rarest which harm least in consequence of failure but benefit most because of success.”
Gylippus and the Syracusan generals also, after they in their turn had thus exhorted their soldiers, began immediately to man their ships as soon as they saw that the Athenians were doing so.
But Nicias, dismayed by the situation that confronted him and realizing the nature of the struggle and how near at hand it was now, since in a moment more they would put to sea, and thinking, as men usually do on the eve of great battles, that everything that had been done on their side was still incomplete, and what had been said by the generals was not yet adequate to the occasion, again called up the trierarchs one by one, addressing them by their father's name, their own name, and that of their tribe,In this fashion, e.g. θησεῦ αἰγέως αἰγείδη. There were ten Attic tribes at that time. and admonished them: if anyone had any claim to distinction, he urged him not to prove false to his own reputation; if any had illustrious ancestors, they should not dim the glory of their fathers' deeds of valour; he also reminded them of their fatherland, the freest in the world, and of the uncontrolled liberty in daily life that all possessed in it; and then went on to add whatever else men would be likely to say at so critical a moment, when they do not guard themselves against uttering what might to some seem trite and commonplace—appeals to wives and children and ancestral gods such as are put forward in almost the same words in support of every cause—but in the dismay of the moment, thinking that these sentiments will be useful, shout them at the top of their voices.
And when he thought that he had exhorted them, not enough, but as much as the scanty time allowed, he withdrew, and leading the infantry down to the sea drew them up so as to cover as large a space as possible, in order that they might render the greatest possible service in inspiring courage in the men on board the ships.
But Demosthenes and Menander and Euthydemus—for these went on board to take command—putting off from the Athenian camp, sailed at once to the barriercf. 7.59.2. of the harbour and the outlet that had been left in it, wishing to force their way to the outer sea.
But the Syracusans and their allies, who had already put out with about the same number of ships as before, were now on guard at the exit with a squadron of them and also round the rest of the harbour, their purpose being to fall upon the Athenians simultaneously from all directions; and at the same time their troops on land came up to help them wherever the Athenians' ships put to shore. In command of the Syracusan fleet were Sicanus and Agatharchus, each having a wing of the main fleet, while Pythen and the Corinthians held the centre.
Now when the Athenian fleet drew near the barrier they charged and in the first onset had the better of the ships stationed there, and they set about trying to break the chains which fastened the boats together; but afterwards, when the Syracusans and their allies bore down upon them from all directions, the battle no longer raged next to the barrier only, but was becoming general all over the harbour. And it was obstinately fought, beyond any of the battles that had gone before.
For on both sides much zeal was shown on the part of the sailors to make the charge whenever the order was given, and on the part of the pilots much pitting of skill against skill and mutual rivalry; and the marines took good care, whenever ship collided with ship, that the service on deck should not fall short of the skill of the rest; and everyone was eager to show himself foremost at the post of duty to which he had himself been assigned.
And since many ships had come into conflict in a small space—for never did so many ships fight in so small a space, both sides together falling little short of two hundred—attacks with the beak were few because it was not possible to back water or to break through the line.On the manoeuvre διέκπλους, see note on 7.36.4. But chance collisions were more frequent, as ship fell foul of ship in the attempt to flee or in making a charge upon another ship. And as long as a ship was bearing down, the men on the decks of the opposing ship used against it javelins and arrows and stones without stint;
but when they came to close quarters, the marines fought hand to hand in the attempt of each side to board the ships of the other.
And it happened in many places, on account of the narrowness of the space, that while the ships of one side were ramming the enemy they were also being rammed themselves, and that two ships, sometimes even more, had unavoidably got entangled about one; it also devolved upon the pilots to make defence on one side and plan attack on the other, not at one point at a time, but at many points and in every direction; and the great din arising from the collision of many ships not only caused consternation, but also prevented the men from hearing the orders of their boatswains. For there was constant exhortation and shouting on the part of the boatswains on either side, both in carrying out their duties and as the rivalry of the moment inspired them;
on the Athenian side they shouted to their men to force the passage out, and, if they would win a safe return to their fatherland, now, if ever hereafter, to set themselves zealously to the task; on the side of the Syracusans and their allies they cried that it would be glorious to prevent the enemy's escape, and, by winning the victory, to exalt the honour each of his own native land.
Moreover, the generals on each side, if they saw any ship in any part of the field drawing back when it was not absolutely necessary to do so, would call out the name of the trierarch and demand, the Athenian generals whether they were withdrawing because they considered the land of bitterest foes to be now more their own than the sea which Athens had acquired with no little toil, and the Syracusan, whether, when they knew clearly that the Athenians were eager to escape no matter how, they would themselves flee before men who were in flight.