Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/28

 20 THE ATIIEMANS AND THEIR SICILIAN ALLIES [iV Athenians, and at length made their way into the harbour at Messene. The Athenians, hearing that Camarina was to be betrayed ,, J-, ,, ^, to the Syracusans by a certain Archias Unsuccessful attempts -^ -^ of the Mcsscniatts upon and his Confederates, sailed thither. Naxos,a>tdoftheLcon. Meanwhile the Messenians, with their tines and Athenians ^^,^^j^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^j^,^ ^j^^ upon Messene. I he ' -^ Athenians for a time allied fleet, made war upon Naxos, withdraw from the con- ^ Chalcidian city which was their '"'• neighbour. On the first day they forced the Naxians to retire within their walls and ravaged the country; on the morrow they sailed round to the mouth of the river Acesines, again ravaged the countr}^, and with their land-forces made incursions right up to the city. But in the meantime a large body of Sicels came down over the heights to assist the Naxians against the Messenians. Perceiving this the besieged took heart, and shouting to one another that the Leontines and their other Hellenic allies were coming to succour them, they sallied out of the city, charged the Messenians, and put them to flight with a loss of more than a thousand men ; the rest with difficulty escaped, for the barbarians fell upon them in the roads and destroyed most of them. The allied fleet, putting into Messene, broke up and returned home. Whereupon the Leontines and their allies, in concert with the Athenians, marched against the now enfeebled Messene. The Athenian fleet attempted an assault of the harbour while the army attacked the city. But the Messenians and a Locrian garrison under Demoteles, which after their disaster at Naxos had been left to protect the place, suddenly falling upon them put to flight the main body of the Leontines with great loss ; whereupon the Athenians disembarked, came to their aid, and, falling on the Messenians while they were still in confusion, chased them back to the city. They then erected a trophy and retired to Rhegium. After this the Hellenes in Sicily went on fighting against one another by land • but the Athenians took no part in their operations.