Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/247

229 HKSULTS OF DKL AY. SPEECHES AT KAMAK1XA. 229 construct, that Gylippus had time to arrive before it was finished. But there was one farther precaution which the Syracusan? omitted at this moment, when it was open to them without any hindrance, to occupy and fortify the Euryalus, or the summit of the hill of Epipolae. Had they done this now, probably the Athenians could never have made progress with their lines of circumvallation : but they did not think of it until too late, as we shall presently see. Nevertheless it is important to remark, in reference to the general scheme of Athenian operations in Sicily, that if Nikias had adopted the plan originally recommended by Lamachus, or if he had begun his permanent besieging operations against Syra- cuse in the summer or autumn of 415 B.C., instead of postponing them, as he actually did, to the spring of 414 B.C., he would have found none of these additional defences to contend against, and the line of circumvallation necessary for his purpose would have been shorter and easier. Besides these permanent and irreparable disadvantages, his winter's inaction at Naxos drew upon him the farther insult, that the Syracusans marched to his former quarters at Katana and burned the tents which they found standing, ravaging at the same time the neighboring fields. 1 Kamarina maintained an equivocal policy which made both parties hope to gain it ; and in the course of this winter the Athe- nian envoy Euphemus with others was sent thither to propose a renewal of that alliance, between the city and Athens, which had been concluded ten years before. Hermokrates the Syracusan went to counteract his object ; and both of them, according to Grecian custom, were admitted to address the public assembly. Hermokrates began by denouncing the views, designs, and past history of Athens. He did not, he said, fear her power, provided the Sicilian cities were united and true to each other: even against Syracuse alone, the hasty retreat of the Athenians after the recent battle had shown how little they confided in their own strength. What he did fear, was, the delusive promises and insinuations of Athens, tending to disunite the island, and to paralyze aU joint resistance. Every one knew that her purpose in this expedition was to subjugate all Sicily, that Leontini and 1 Thucyd. vi, 75.