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290 iSO HISTORY OF GREECE. brought uy Eurymedon from Sicily was in every way discour- aging. Yet the two admirals were under the necessity of sparing ten triremes from their fleet to reinforce Konon at Naupaktus, who was not strong enough alone to contend against the Corin- thian fleet which watched him from the opposite coast. To make good this diminution, Eurymedon went forward to Korkyra, with the view of obtaining from the Korkyrseans fifteen fresh triremes and a contingent of hoplites, while Demosthenes was getting to- gether the Akarnanian darters and slingers. 1 Eurymedon not only brought back word of the distressed con dition of the Athenians in the harbor of Syracuse, but had also learned, during his way back, their heavy additional loss by the capture of the fort at Plemmyrium. Gylippus returned to Syr- acuse early in the spring, nearly about the time when Agis in- vaded Attica and when Demosthenes quitted Peiroeus. He returned with fresh reinforcements from the interior, and with redoubled ardor for decisive operations against Nikias before aid could arrive from Athens. It was his first care, in conjunction with Hermokrates, to inspire the Syracusans with courage for fighting the Athenians on shipboard. Such was the acknowledged supe- riority of the latter at sea, that this was a task of some difficulty, calling for all the eloquence and ascendency of the two leaders : " The Athenians (said Hermokrates to his countrymen) have not been always eminent at sea as they now are : they were once landsmen like you, and more than you, they were only forced on shipboard by the Persian invasion. The only way to deal with bold men like them, is to show a front bolder still. They have often by their audacity daunted enemies of greater real force than themselves, and they must now be taught that others can play the same game with them. Go right at them before they expect it ; and you will gain more by thus surprising and intimi- dating them, than you will suffer by their superior science." Such lessons, addressed to men already in the tide of success, were presently efficacious, and a naval attack was resolved. 2 general." I doubt still more whether he ever uses ayuv in the sense of " collecting." ' Thucvd. vii, 31. 8 Thucvd. vii, 21. Among the topics of encouragement dwelt upon by llermokrates, it i/; romnrkftb'.c that he makes no mention of that which tho