[6] The people of Pallas Athene seem to dwell upon sunlit heights too far removed from the darkling ways of humanity. The picture of their life is like the fabric of a vision, and they themselves partake of its unreality. But the feeling vanishes when we see them in the grip of fate. Pity, akin to love, takes the place of admiration, and we follow their fortunes with sympathy as keen and active as that which swayed the spectators of the final battle in the great harbour of Syracuse. So it may be that we get nearer to them in the closing scene than we have ever been before."
When the news reached Athens, even though the actual soldiers who had escaped from the action itself gave a clear report, they for long refused to believe that the armament could have been so utterly destroyed. When, however, they were convinced, they were angry with the orators who had taken part in promoting the expedition—as though they had not voted for it themselves—and they were also enraged at the oracle-mongers and soothsayers and whoever at that time by any practice of divination had led them to hope that they would conquer Sicily.