Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/276

258 258 HISTORY OF GREECE. to pass by the high and narrow pass of Euryalus, and might thus be rendered unavailable to the besieged, whenever Nikias thought fit to occupy and fortify that position. Unfortunately for himself and his army, he omitted this easy but capital precaution, even at the moment when he must have known Gylippus to be ap- proaching. In regard to the works actually undertaken, the order followed by Nikias and Lamachus can be satisfactorily explained. Having established their fortified post on the centre of the slope of Epi- polae, they were in condition to combat opposition and attack any counter-wall on whichever side the enemy might erect it. Com- mencing in the first place the execution of the northern portion of the blockading line, they soon desist from this and turn their attention to the southern portion, because it was here that the Syracusans carried their two first counter-works. In attacking the second counter-work of the Syracusans, across the marsh to the Anapus, they chose a suitable moment for bringing the main fleet round from Thapsus into the Great Harbor, with a view to its cooperation. After clearing the lower ground, they probably deemed it advisable, in order to establish a safe and easy com- munication with their fleet, that the double wall across the marsh, from Epipolas to the Harbor, should stand next for execution ; for which there was this farther reason, that they thereby blocked up the most convenient exit and channel of supply for Syracuse. There are thus plausible reasons assignable why the northern portion of the line of blockade, from the Athenian camp on Epi- polae to the sea at Trogilus, was left to the last, and was found open, at least the greater part of it, by Gylippus. While the Syracusans thus began to despair of their situation, the prospects of the Athenians were better than ever, promising certain and not very distant triumph. The reports circulating through the neighboring cities all represented them as in the full tide of success, so that many Sikel tribes, hitherto wavering, came in to tender their alliance, while three armed pentekonters also arrived from the Tyrrhenian coast. Moreover, abundant supplies wei e furnished from the Italian Greeks generally. Nikias, now sole commander since the death of Lamachus, had even the glory of recrtiving and discussing proposals from Syracuse for capitula- tion, a necessity which was openly and abundantly canvassed