Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/237

 64-66] THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE 229 many of the Catanaeans were in the plot ; from them he came. The Syracusan generals were already in high spirits, and 65 before this proposal reached them had, ., , . . ,11. while they qutetly sad made up their mmds to have all thmgs „^^,ay ^y „i^^/,( and in readiness for a march to Catana. disembark at Syra- So they trusted the man the more "'^^* recklessly, and at once fixed the day on which they would arrive. They then sent him back, and issued orders for an expedition to their whole army, including the Selinun- tians and the rest of the allies, who had now joined them. When they were ready and the appointed day drew near they marched towards Catana, and encamped by the river Symaethus in the Leontine territory. The Athenians, aware of the approach of the Syracusans, took all their own army and Sicel or other allies on board their ships and smaller craft, and sailed away at nightfall to Syracuse. At dawn they disembarked opposite the temple of Olympian Zeus, intending to seize a place for their camp ; almost at the same moment the Syracusan horse who had advanced before the rest to Catana discovered that the whole Athenian army had put out to sea, whereupon they returned and told the infantry : and then all together hurried back to protect the city. The march from Catana to Syracuse was long, and 66 in the meantime the Athenians had _, ., . . i'"'y occupy a strong quietly established themselves in an position. The Syra- advantageous position, where they cnsans return from could give battle whenever they pleased, and the Syracusan horse were least likely to harass them either before or during the engagement. On one side they were protected by walls, and houses, and trees, and a marsh ; on another by a line of cliffs. They felled the trees near, and bringing them down to the sea made a palisade to protect their ships ; on the shore of Dascon too they hurriedly raised a fortification of rough stones and logs at a point where the ground was most accessible to