Greek Texts & Translations

ch. 15 13.15.1At this time Nicias, the general of the Athenians, as he surveyed the ships and measured the magnitude of the struggle, could not remain at his station on shore, but leaving the land troops he boarded a boat and passed along the line of the Athenian triremes. Calling each captain by name and stretching forth his hands, he implored them all, now if ever before, to grasp the only hope left to them, for on the valour of those who were about to join battle at sea depended the preservation both of themselves, every man of them, and of their fatherland. 13.15.2Those who were fathers of children he reminded of their sons; those who were sons of distinguished fathers he exhorted not to bring disgrace upon the valorous deeds of their ancestors; those who had been honoured by their fellow citizens he urged to show themselves worthy of their crowns; and all of them he reminded of the trophies erected at Salamis and begged them not to bring to disrepute the far-famed glory of their fatherland nor surrender themselves like slaves to the Syracusans.

13.15.3After Nicias had spoken to this effect, he returned to his station, and the men of the fleet advanced singing the paean and broke through the barrier of boats before the enemy could prevent them. But the Syracusans, putting quickly out to sea, formed their triremes in battle order and coming to grips with the enemy forced them to withdraw from the barrier of boats and fight a pitched battle. 13.15.4And as the ships backed water, some toward the beach, others toward the middle of the harbour, and still others in the direction of the walls, all the triremes were quickly separated from each other, and after they had got clear of the boom across its entrance the harbour was full of ships fighting in small groups. 13.15.5Thereupon both sides fought with abandon for the victory. The Athenians, cheered by the multitude of their ships and seeing no other hope of safety, carried on the fight boldly and faced gallantly their death in battle, and the Syracusans, with their parents and children as spectators of the struggle, vied with one another, each man wishing the victory to come to his country through his own efforts.

ch. 16 13.16.1Consequently many leaped on the prows of the hostile ships, when their own had been damaged by another, and were isolated in the midst of their enemies. In some cases they dropped grappling-irons ^note and forced their adversaries to fight a land-battle on their ships. 13.16.2Often men whose own ships had been shattered leaped on their opponents' vessels, and by slaying the defenders or pushing them into the sea became masters of their triremes. In a word, over the entire harbour came the crash of ship striking ship and the cry of desperately struggling men slaying and being slain. 13.16.3For when a ship had been intercepted by several triremes and struck by their beaks from every direction, the water would pour in and it would be swallowed together with the entire crew beneath the sea. Some who would be swimming away after their ship had been sunk would be wounded by arrows or slain by the blows of spears. 13.16.4The pilots, as they saw the confusion of the battle, every spot full of uproar, and often a number of ships converging upon a single one, did not know what signal to give, since the same orders were not suitable to all situations, nor was it possible, because of the multitude of missiles, for the oarsmen to keep their eyes upon the men who gave them their orders. 13.16.5In short, not a man could hear any of the commands amid the shattering of boats and the sweeping off of oars, ^note as well as amid the uproar of the men in combat on the ships and of their zealous comrades on land. 13.16.6For of the entire beach a part was held by the Athenian infantry and a part by the Syracusans, so that at times the men fighting the sea-battle had as helpers, when along the shore, the soldiers lined up on the land.