Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/199

181 DEPARTURE OF THE AfiMAMEN'l. Igl tfiat the succor solicited was now on its way, requiring at the same time that the money promised by the Egestteans should be produced. Having then distributed by lot the armament intc three divisions, one under each of the generals, Nikias, Alkibi- ades, and Lamachus, they crossed the Ionic gulf from Korkyra to the lapygian promontory. In their progress southward along the coast of Italy to Rhe- gium, they met with a very cold reception from the various Gre- cian cities. None would receive them within their walls or even sell them provisions without. The utmost which they would grant was, the liberty of taking moorings and of watering ; and even thus much was denied to them both at Tarentum and at the Epizephyrian Lokri. At Rhegium, immediately on the Sicilian strait, though the town-gate was still kept shut, they were so far more hospitably treated, that a market of provisions was furnished to them, and they were allowed to encamp in the sacred precinct of Artemis, not far from the walls. They here hauled their ships ashore and took repose until the return of the three scout-ships from Egesta; while the generals entered into negotiation with the magistrates and people of Rhegium, endeavoring to induce them to aid the armament in reestablishing the dispossessed Leontines, who were of common Chalkidian origin with them- selves. But the answer returned was discouraging. The Rhe- ginei would promise nothing more than neutrality, and coopera- tion in any course of policy which it might suit the other Italian Greeks to adopt. Probably they, as well as the other Italian Greeks, were astonished and intimidated by the magnitude of the newly-arrived force, and desired to leave themselves open latitude of conduct for the future, not without mistrust of Athens and her affected forwardness for the restoration of the Leontines. To the Athenian generals, however, such a negative from Rhegium was an unwelcome disappointment ; for that city had been the ally of Athens in the last war, and they had calculated on the operation of Chalkidic sympathies. 1 It Avas not until after the muster of the Athenians at Korkyra, about July 415 B.C., that the Syracusans became thoroughly con- vinced both of their approach, and of the extent of their designs 1 Thucyd. vi- 44- 46.