G R E 
lofty margin of tins rapid flream ; and a herald was 
/ent to Nicias, exhorting him to imitate the example of 
his colleague, ;md to furrender, without faither blood- 
hied, to the irrefidible valour of his victorious purfiiers. 
Nicias difoelieved, or aft'eCted to dilbelieve, the report j 
but when a confidential meirenger, whom he was allowed 
to difpatch for information, brought certain intelligence 
of the furrender and difgrace of Demofthenes, he alfo 
condefeended to propofe terms, in the name of the Athe¬ 
nians, engaging, on the immediate celfation of hoflilities, 
to reimburfe the maglifrates of Syracufc for the expence 
of the war, and to deliver Athenian hoftages until the 
debt fliould be liquidated. 
Thcfe terms were rejefted by the Syracufans with 
difdain ; and Gylippus, having occupied the mod ad¬ 
vantageous pods on every fide, attacked the army of 
Nicias with the fame mode of warfare, which, two days 
before, had proved fo dedruCfive to their unfortunate 
companions. During the whole day they bore, with ex¬ 
traordinary patience, the hodile aliault, dill expecting, 
under cover of the night, to efcape the cruel vigilance 
of the enemy. But that hope was vain : Gylippus per¬ 
ceived their departure ; and although three hundred 
men of determined courage gallantly broke through the 
guards, and efl'eCted their efcape, the red were no Tooner 
difeovered than they returned to their former dation. 
Yet the return of the morning brought back their cou¬ 
rage. They marched towards the river, miferably 
galled by the hodile archers and cavalry. Their dif- 
trefs was mod lamentable and incurable : yet hope did 
not totally forfake them ; tiiey dill entertained an idea 
that their fuderings would end, could they but reach 
the oppodte banks of the neighbouring river. The de¬ 
fine of nffuaging their third encouraged this bold defign. 
They rufhed into the rapidity of the dr^am ; the pur- 
fuing Syracufans, who had occupied the I'ocky banks, 
dedroying them with innumerable volleys of midile wea¬ 
pons. In the Adinaros, many tvere borne down the 
dream. At length the weight of their numbers redded 
the violence of the torrent ; but a new horror prefented 
itfelf to the eyes of Nicias. Ills foldiers turned their 
fury againd each ether, difputing, with the point of tlie 
fword, the unwholefome drauglits of the turbid cur¬ 
rent. This fpeCtacle melted the dnnnefs of Ids foul. 
He furrendcred to Gylippus, and afked quarter for th.c 
miferable remnant ot his troops. Before the commands 
of the Lacediemonian general could pervade the army, 
many ot the foldiers had, according to the barbarous 
pradiice of the age, feized their prifoners and flaves ; 
fo that the Athenian captives were afterwards didri- 
buted among feveral communities of Sicily. 1 lie red, 
upon laying down their arms, were entitled to the pro- 
teiiion ol Gylippus; who, after fending proper detach¬ 
ments to intercept and colletf tlie dragglers, returned 
in triumph to Syracufe, with the unfading trophies of 
his valour and conduct. 
Nicias had little to expe6l from the humanity of a 
proud and viftorious Spartan; but Demodhenes might 
naturally flatter liimfelf with the hope of judice. He 
urged with energy, but urged in vain, the obfervance 
of the capitulation which had been ratified in due form, 
on the faith of which he had furrendered himfelf and 
the troops entrnded to his command. The public pri- 
foners, conduced fuccedively to Syracufe, and exceed¬ 
ing together the number of feven thoufand, were treated 
with the fame inhuman cruelty. They were univerfally 
condemned to labour in the mines and quarries of Si. 
cily : their w hole fiidenance was bread and water : they 
fuflered alternately the ardours of a fcorching fun, and 
the chilling damps of autumn. For feventy days and 
nights they languifhed in this dreadful captivity, during 
■which, tlie difeafes incident to their manner of life were 
rendered inteCtious by the dench of the dead bodies, 
which corrupted the purity of the fiirrounding air. 
At length an eternal feparation was made between thofe 
yoL. VIII. No. 55ii. 
E C E. 8 S 5 
wlio diould enjoy tlie liappier lot of being fold as flaves 
into didant lands, and (hole who (lioiild for ever he 
confined to their ten ible,,dungeons. The Athenians, 
with fucli Iirtlians aiui Siciliiu s as liad embraced their 
canfe, were referved for the latter doom. Their gene¬ 
rals, Nicias and Dcmodlienes, had not lived to behold 
this melancholy hour. Gylipjms would have fparsd 
their lives, not from any motives of humanity and 
edeem, but that his jot'ous rctui'ii to Sparta iiii'glit have 
been graced by their prefence. But the refentment of 
tlie Syracufans loudly demanded ihe immediate execu¬ 
tion of the captive generals. The Athenian date judly 
regretted tlie lofs of Demodhenes, a gallant and enter- 
priiing commander; but podeiity will for ever lament 
the fate of Nicias, the mod pious, the mod virtuous, 
and the mod unfortunate, man of the age in which he 
lived. 
Amidd this dreadful feene of cruelty, we mud not 
omit to mention one fingular example of humanity, 
wiiich broke fortii like a meteor in.the gloom of a noc¬ 
turnal temped. Tl'ie Syracufans, wlio could punilh 
their hclplefs captives- with fiicit unrelenting feverity, 
had often melted at the ad'eCting drains of Euripides, 
an Athenian poet, who was regarded as tite mod tender 
and pathetic of all the tragic writers. '1 lie pleafure 
whicli the Syracufans had derived from his inimitable 
poetry, made them long to hear it rehearfed by the 
flexible voices and liarmonious pronunciation of the 
Athenians, fo unlike, and fo fuperior, to the rudenefs 
of their own Doiic dialccf. They defired their captives 
to repeat the plaintive feenes of their favourite bard. 
The captives obeyed ; and affedting to reprefent the 
woes of ancient kings and heroes, mod faithfully ex- 
■preded their own. Their fade and fenfibility endeared 
them to the Syracufans, who leleafed their bonds, re¬ 
ceived them with kindnefs into tlieir families, and, after 
treating them with all the honourable didindlions of 
ancient hofpitality,,redored them to their afflifbed coun¬ 
try, as a fmall but precious wreck of the mod formi¬ 
dable armament that had ever failed from a Grecian 
harbour. At their return to Athens, the grateful cap¬ 
tives walked in folemn proceflion to the houfe of Enri-- 
pides, whom they hailed and thanked as their deliverer 
from llavery and death. 
The didrefs of the Athenian nation was too great to 
admit the comfort of fympathy ; yet with one mind and 
refolution they determined to brave the feverity of for¬ 
tune, and to -vvithdand the ad'aults of tlieir enemies. In 
the year following the unfortunate cxpeditioirimb Sicily, 
the Spartans prepared a deet of an luindred fail, dcl- 
tined to tempt and encourage the revolt o! the Afiatic 
fubjetls of the Athenians. Tlie illands of Chios and 
Lefnos, as well as the city of Erytluae, at once folicited 
tlie Spartans to join them with their naval force. Tlieir 
requed was enforced by the Perfian general Tid'aphernes, 
who promifed to pay the failors, and to vidhial the (hips. 
At the fame time, an ambad'ador from Cyzicus, en¬ 
treated the Lacedtemonian armament to f'dl to the capa-- 
cioiis harbours which liad long formed the wealth of 
that city, and to expel the Athenian gairifons, to whom 
the Cyzicenes and their neighbours rcludlantly fubmii- 
ted. I'he Perfian general Pliarnabazus feconded their 
propofal ; odered the (ame conditions with Tid'aphernes; 
and fo litile harmony fiiblided between tlie two lieute¬ 
nants of the great king, tliat each urged his particular 
demand with a total unconcern about the important in- 
tereds of their common niader. I'lie-Laceclaenioiiians 
held many confultations among theiiilelves, and with 
their allies ; liedtated, deliberated, rcfolved, and chang¬ 
ed their reloliition ; and at length were perfuaded by. 
Alcibiades to prefer tlie overlure of ”1 ilfapliernes and the 
loniatis, to that of the Hellelponunes and Phainabazus. 
The delay occafioned by this deliberaiion was the 
principal, but not the only, cattle which hindered the 
allies from ading expeditioudy, at a time when expedi- 
ioQ, tied 
