Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/346

328 328 HISTORY OF GREECE. has imparted to the final battle at Syracuse, he has not explained the causes upon which its ultimate issue turned. Considering that the Athenians were superior to their enemies in number, as one hundred and ten to seventy-six triremes, that they fought with courage not less heroic, and that the action was on their own element, we might have anticipated for them, if not a victory, at least a drawn battle, with equal loss on both sides. But we may observe, 1. The number of one hundred and ten triremes was formed by including some hardly seaworthy. 1 2. The crews were composed partly of men not used tc sea-service ; and the Akarnanian darters, especially, were for this reason unhandy with their missiles. 2 3. Though the water had been hitherto the element favorable to Athens, yet her superiority in this respect was declining, and her enemies approaching nearer to her, even in the open sea. But the narrow dimensions of the harbor would have nullified her superiority at all times, and placed her even at great disadvantage, without the means of twisting and turning her triremes so as to strike only at a vulnerable point of the enemy, compared with the thick, heavy, straightforward butting of the Syracusans ; like a nimble pugilist of light weight con- tending, in a very confined ring, against superior weight and muscle. 3 For the mere land-fight on shipboard, Athenians had not only no advantage, but had on the contrary the odds against them. 4. The Syracusans enjoyed great advantage from having nearly the whole harbor lined round with their soldiers and friends ; not simply from the force of encouraging sympathy, no 1 Thncyd. vii, 60. ruf vai'f unuoaf oaai fyaav KOI ivvaral icai air ho- ur e pa i. 2 Thucyd. vii, 60. iruvra nva iopiftu&vTff irfajpuaac uvayKaaavref iffjSaivetv 8ffTtf Kal bir&aovv i 66 net fj 7* IK las fiere^uv tirirrj- deiof elvai. Compare also the speech of Gylippus, c. 67. 3 The language of Theokritus, in describing the pugilistic contest bo tween Pollux and the Bebrykian Amykus, is not inapplicable to the posi tion of the Athenian ships and seamen when cramped up in this harboi (Idyll, xxii. 91): in (5' krepu'&ev "Hpwff Kparcpbv IloZvSevKea -dapavveaKov, A? 5wrf ftfj Trwf (iiv iri(3piaaf da/iao-ftev, X <,')/) ivl areiv, Tirva foakiyKtof uvrjp. Compare Virgil's picture of Entellus and Dares, JEneid, v, 430.