Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/311

 51 -53] DEATH OF EURYMEDON 303 sufficient. When the time came they began by attacking the Athenian lines. A small number both of the hoplites and of the cavalry came out of some of the gates to meet them ; they cut off however a portion of the hoplites, and, putting the main body to flight, drove them within their walls. The entrance was narrow, and the Athenians lost seventy horses and a few infantry. The Syracusan army then retired. On the morrow their 52 ships, in number seventy-six, sailed -n ■ j c 1, » ' . . 1 liird sea-fight in forth, and at the same time their land- the harbour. Euryme- forces marched against the walls. The don is cut off and the A. 1 • i.u • -A i. 4. •*-! yithenians are defeated. Athenians on then- side put out with -^ eighty-six ships ; and the two fleets met and fought. Eurymedon, who commanded the right wing of the Athenians, hoping to surround the enemy, extended his line too far towards the land, and was defeated by the Syracusans, who, after overcoming the Athenian centre, cooped him up in the inner bay of the harbour. There he was slain, and the vessels which were under his command and had followed him were destroyed. The Syracusans now pursued and began to drive ashore the rest of the Athenian fleet. Gylippus, observing the discomfiture of the enemy, who 53 were being defeated and driven to land -rr j r ,■ j. ,- ^ ® _ 1 he defeat IS partially beyond their own palisade and the compensated by an ad- lines of their camp, hastened with a vantage which the Tyr- . r u • i i.t 1*1 rheniaus and Atlten- part of his army to the causeway which „ ,. t^ J -^ Kjiis gain over Oytifi- ran along the harbour, intending to p„s near the marsh. kill all who landed, and to assist the ^ Syracusan fireship Syracusans in capturing the ships, ■'"'*■ which could be more easily towed away if the shore was in the hands of their friends. The Tyrrhenians, who guarded this part of the Athenian lines, seeing Gylippus and his forces advance in disorder, rushed out, and attacking the foremost put them to flight, and drove them into the marsh called Lysimelea. But soon the Syra- cusans and their allies came up in greater numbers. The