Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/340

 318 HISTORY OF GREECE. ardor of the soldiers, partly by the natural difficulties of the ground, which hardly required fortification except at particular points ; the work was completed in a rough way in six days, and Demosthenes was left in garrison with five ships, while Euryme- don ith the main fleet sailed away to Korkyra. The crews of the five ships, two of which, however, were sent away to warn Eurymedon afterwards, would amount to about one thousand in all : but there presently arrived two armed Messenian priva- teers, from which Demosthenes obtained a reinforcement of forty Messenian hoplites, together with a supply of wicker shields, though more fit for show than for use, wherewith to arm his rowers. Altogether, it appears that he must have had about two hundred hoplites, besides the half-armed seamen. 1 Intelligence of this attempt to plant, even upon the Lacedae- monian territory, the annoyance and insult of a hostile post, was soon transmitted to Sparta, yet no immediate measures were taken to march to the spot ; as well from the natural slowness of the Spartan character, strengthened by a festival which happened to be then going on, as from the confidence entertained that, whenever attacked, the expulsion of the enemy was certain. A stronger impression, however, was made by the news upon the Lacedaemonian army invading Attica, who were at the same time suffering from want of provisions, the corn not being yet ripe, and from an unusually cold spring: accordingly, Agis marched them back to Sparta, and the fortification of Pylus thus produced the effect of abridging the invasion to the unusually short period of fifteen days. It operated in like manner to the protection of Korkyra : for the Peloponnesian fleet, recently arrived thither, or still on its way, received orders immediately to return for the attack of Pylus. Having avoided the Athenian fleet by trans- porting the ships across the isthmus at Leukas, it reached Pylus about the same time as the Lacedaemonian land-force from Sparta, composed of the Spartans themselves and the neighbor- ing Perioeki : for the more distant Periceki, as well as the Pelopon- 1 Thucyd. iv, 9. DemosthenSs placed the greater number (rovf 7ro/./.ot'f ) of his hoplites round the walls of his post, and selected sixty of them to march down to the shore. This implies a total which can hardly be less than two hundred.