Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/320

302 302 HISTORY OF GREECE. pursued his voyage southward along the coast of Italy, touching at the various towns, all except the hostile Lokri. 1 His entry into the harbor of Syracuse, 2 accomplished in the most ostentatious trim, with decorations and musical accompani- ments, was no less imposing from the magnitude of his force than critical in respect to opportunity. Taking Athenians, allies, and mercenary forces, together, he conducted seventy-three triremes, five thousand hoplites, and a large number of light troops of every description, archers, slingers, darters, etc., with other requisites for effective operation. At the sight of such an arma- ment, not inferior to the first which had arrived under Nikias, the Syracusans lost for a moment the confidence of their recent triumph, and were struck with dismay as well as wonder.3 That Athens could be rash enough to spare such an armament, at a mo- ment when the full burst of Peloponnesian hostility was reopen ing upon her, and when Dekeleia was in course of being fortified, was a fact out of all reasonable probability, and not to be credited unless actually seen. And probably the Syracusans, though they knew that Demosthenes was on his way, had no idea beforehand of the magnitude of his armament. On the other hand, the hearts of the discomfited and beleaguered Athenians again revived as they welcomed their new comrades. They saw themselves again masters by land as well as by sea ; and they displayed their renewed superiority by marching out of their lines forthwith and ravaging the lands near the Anapus ; the Syracusans not venturing to engage in a general action, and merely watching the movement with some cavalry from the Olympieion. But Demosthenes was not imposed upon by this delusive show of power, so soon as he had made himself master of the full state of affairs, and had compared his own means with those of the enemy. He found the army of Nikias not merely worn down with long-continued toil, and disheartened by previous defeat, but also weakened in a terrible degree by the marsh fever general towards the close of summer, in the low ground where they were en- camped. 4 1 Thucyd. vii, 35. * Plutarch, Nikias, c. 21 3 Thucyil. vii, 42. * Thucyd. vii, 47-50.