Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/166

148 [48 HISTORY OF (5KKKCK. tjean envoys again renewed their petitions and representation a, confidently appealing to the scrutiny which they had undergone, when the distress of the suppliant Leontines was again de- picted, the Athenian assembly no longer delayed coming to a final decision. They determined to send forthwith sixty triremes to Sicily, under three generals with full powers, Nikias, Alki- biades, and Lamachus ; for the purpose, first, of relieving Egesta ; next, as soon as that primary object should have been accom- plished, of reestablishing the city of Leontini ; lastly, of further- ing the views of Athens in Sicily, by any other means which they might find practicable. 1 Such resolution being passed, a fresh assembly was appointed for the fifth day following, to settle the details. We cannot doubt that this assembly, in which the reports from Egesta were first delivered, was one of unqualified triumph to Alkibiades and those who had from the first advocated the expe- dition, as well as of embarrassment and humiliation to Nikias, who had opposed it. He was probably more astonished than any one else at the statements of the commissioners and seamen, because he did not believe in the point which they went to establish. Yet he could not venture to contradict eye-witnesses speaking in evident good faith, and as the assembly went heartily along with them, he labored under great difficulty in repeating his objections to a scheme now so much strengthened in public favor. Accordingly, his speech was probably hesitating and inef- fective ; the more so, as his opponents, far from wishing to make good any personal triumph against himself, were forward in pro- posing his name first on the list of generals, in spite of his own declared repugnance. 2 But when the assembly broke up, he be- 1 Thucyd. vi, 8 ; Diodor. xii, 83. 2 Thucyd. vi, 8. 'O <5e Nt/u'af, uitovaioe [lev yp^uevot apxtiv, etc. The reading u/cotwoc appears better sustained by MSS., and intrinsically more suitable, than UKOVGCII;, which latter word probably arose from the correc- tion of some reader who was surprised that Nikias made in the second assembly a speech which properly belonged to the first, and who explained this by supposing that Nikias had not been present at the first assembly That he was not present, however, is highly improbable. The matter, nevertheless, does require some cxplaration; aid I have endeavored to Hupply one in the text.