Thucydides, Book 7

T H U C Y D I D E S BOOK V11 -- 1893 -- CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUOTION- 1. The Siege-Works of the Athenians, with plan . ix 5 2. Nicias. A Sketch . . . xvii 3 . The MSS. and Text of the Seventh Rook . xxxix TEXT . . . . . . . . . . 1 APPENDIX I. On the first harangue of Nicias . . . 213 11. On the text of certain passages . . . 216 111. Events at Athens, July 414-Sept. 413 . . 218 INDEX-Greek . . . . . . . . 223 English . . 251 MAP-Syracuse . . Frontispiece KEY TO PLAN A sb rpbs rdv pqpvbv . . . . Introd. p. xi l First Syracuaan Counter-work . . BD P-I a Second, , l . ., , P Third, , I . . . . ch. 4. 4 7h rpta mparbns8a . . . . . oh. 43, 4. 6-76 rfL wpu rb a r h TA P Ei1p6-qAov. ., ch. 43, 3, INTRODUCTION S I. THE SIEGE-WORKS OF THE ATHXNIANS AT SYRACUSE BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS I As soon as the Athenians had obtained possession of 414 c. Epipolae, they fortified a point known as Labdalum, which looked from the north side of the cliff towards Megara. From Labdalum they marched down Epipolae towards the walls of the city, searching for a site suitable for the building of a central fort which might serve them as a base of operations while engaged in circumvallating the city. Presently they found themselves in a broad open table-land which descended by a barely perceptible incline to the walls of Achradina. In selecting. the site for this central fortress. the Athenian generals had to look for a point which lay about half-way between the Great Harbour and the northern sea-since to those limits their projected lines were to be carried northward and southward. The fort must not be very near to the city itself 1 For the convenience of junior students and of those who prefer to avoidcontroversy, I have relegated to the end of the sectio th e arguments on which these remarks are based. but, at the same time, the question of the distance to be covered with their lines was, of course, of extreme importance. They fixed on a site due south of Trogilus, and distant from the north coast about a mile and a half or rather less. Reckoning together the wall which would have to be built on the southern cliff from the central fort and that which would run from the southern cliff to the Great Harbour, about the same distance would have to be covered south of the fort-that is to say about a mile and a half. This point was thus north of the Portella del Fusco, and a short distance from the spot at which the southern wall would touch the edge of the cliff. In this place, then, they built a large round fort-or circle-protected in front by an outwork. Soon, when the fortress stood finished, they began building out from it towards Trogilus. Meantime the Syracusans knew well that the object of the enemy was to hem them in, and they determined, by building a counter-work, to prevent him from reaching the Great Harbour. The besieged knew better than the besiegers that safe communication with the harbour was to the Athenian a matter of vital importance. This safe communication he should not obtain without a struggle. Now he was at present thinking only of his communication with his naval station at Thapsus. Accordingly the Syracusans built out a wall towards the Portella del Fusco, intending to carry it immediately south of and past the Athenian Lcircle...