THE FIRST DIVERS 29 



horses. The other on his side leapt from his chariot to the 

 ground, in the left hand a spear and in the right a stone. 

 Nor did he cast the missile in vain, since he smote Hector's 

 charioteer, Cebriones, a bastard son of famous Priam, as 

 he held the reins of the steeds, striking him on the brow 

 with the sharp stone. Then in taunt thou didst address 

 him, Oh, knightly Patroclus: *Ah, ah! How nimble is he, 

 since he so easily tumbles. Yea, perchance were he on the 

 teeming sea, this man would sate many by diving for sea- 

 food, leaping from the ship even in rough weather, so 

 lightly now he dives from the chariot to the plain. Verily, 

 there are divers even among the Trojans.' " 



The first account of diving used in warfare is the real- 

 istic narration of the siege of Syracuse by the Greeks in 

 414 B.C., given us by Thucydides: 



"There was some skirmishing in the harbour about the 

 palisades which the Syracusans had fixed in the sea in front 

 of their old dock-houses, that their ships might ride at 

 anchor in the enclosed space, where they could not be 

 struck by the enemy, and would be out of harm's way. 

 The Athenians brought up a ship of about 250 tons bur- 

 den, which had wooden towers and bulwarks; and from 

 their boats they tied cords to the stakes and wrenched and 

 tore them up; or dived and sawed them through under- 

 neath the water. Meanwhile the Syracusans kept up a 

 shower of missiles from the dock-houses, which the men 

 in the ship returned. At length the Athenians succeeded 

 in pulling up most of the palisade. The stakes which were 



