Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/293

275 DESPATCH. OF. NIKIAS. 275 !iems to Lave reached Athens about the end of November, and was read formally in the public assembly by the secretary of the city. Preserved by Thucydides verbatim, it stands as one of the most interesting remnants of antiquity, and -well deserves a literal translation. " Our previous proceedings have been already made known to you, Athenians, in many other despatches ; l but the present crisis is such as to require your deliberation more than ever, when you shall have heard the situation in which we stand. After we had overcome in many engagements the Syracusans, against whom we were sent, and had built the fortified lines which we now occupy, there came upon us the Lacedaemonian Gylippus, with an army partly Peloponnesian, partly Sicilian. Him too we defeated, in the first action ; but in a second, we were overwhelmed by a crowd of cavalry and darters, and forced to retire within our lines. And thus the superior number of our enemies has compelled us to suspend our circumvallation, and remain inactive ; indeed, we cannot employ in the field even the full force which we possess, since a portion of our hoplites are necessarily required for the protection of our walls. Meanwhile the enemy have carried out a single intersecting counter-wall beyond our line of circumvallation, so that we can no longer con- tinue the latter to completion, unless we have force enough to 1 Thucyd. vii, 9. iv u/./laif TroTiTicu^ tirtar6%aif. The word despatches, which I use to translate t-Trtoro^atf, is not inapplicable to oral, as well as to written messages, and thus retains the ambiguity involved in the original ; for lTuaTo7.aif, though usually implying, docs not necessarily imply, written communications. The words of Thucydides (vii, 8) may certainly be construed to imply that Nikias had never on any previous occasion sent a written communication to Athens ; and so Dr. Thirl wall understands them, though not without iiesitation (Hist. Gr. ch. xxvi, vol. iii, p. 418). At the same time, I think them. reconcilable with the supposition that Nikias may previously have sent written despatches, though much shorter than the present, leaving details and particulars to be supplied by the officer who carried them. Mr. Mitford states the direct reverse of that which Dr. Thirlwall under- stands : " Nicias had used the precaution of frequently sending despatches in writing, with an exact account of every transaction." (Ch. xviii, scot. ? Tol. iv, p. 100.) Certainly, the statement of Thucydidcs does not imply this