adopted in preference to fighting at close quarters, as to risk a
struggle with desperate men was now more for the advantage of the
Athenians than for their own; besides, their success had now become so
certain that they began to spare themselves a little in order not to
be cut off in the moment of victory, thinking too that, as it was,
they would be able in this way to subdue and capture the enemy.
In fact, after plying the Athenians and allies all day long from
every side with missiles, they at length saw that they were worn out
with their wounds and other sufferings; and Gylippus and the
Syracusans and their allies made a proclamation, offering their
liberty to any of the islanders who chose to come over to them; and
some few cities went over. Afterwards a capitulation was agreed upon
for all the rest with Demosthenes, to lay down their arms on condition
that no one was to be put to death either by violence or
imprisonment or want of the necessaries of life. Upon this they
surrendered to the number of six thousand in all, laying down all
the money in their possession, which filled the hollows of four
shields, and were immediately conveyed by the Syracusans to the town.
Meanwhile Nicias with his division arrived that day at the river
Erineus, crossed over, and posted his army upon some high ground
upon the other side. The next day the Syracusans overtook him and told
him that the troops under Demosthenes had surrendered, and invited him
to follow their example. Incredulous of the fact, Nicias asked for a
truce to send a horseman to see, and upon the return of the
messenger with the tidings that they had surrendered, sent a herald to
Gylippus and the Syracusans, saying that he was ready to agree with
them on behalf of the Athenians to repay whatever money the Syracusans
had spent upon the war if they would let his army go; and offered
until the money was paid to give Athenians as hostages, one for
every talent. The Syracusans and Gylippus rejected this proposition,
and attacked this division as they had the other, standing all round
and plying them with missiles until the evening. Food and
necessaries were as miserably wanting to the troops of Nicias as
they had been to their comrades; nevertheless they watched for the
quiet of the night to resume their march. But as they were taking up
their arms the Syracusans perceived it and raised their paean, upon
which the Athenians, finding that they were discovered, laid them down
again, except about three hundred men who forced their way through the
guards and went on during the night as they were able.
As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as
before, by the Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side
by their missiles, and struck down by their javelins. The Athenians
pushed on for the Assinarus, impelled by the attacks made upon them
from every side by a numerous cavalry and the swarm of other arms,
fancying that they should breathe more freely if once across the
river, and driven on also by their exhaustion and craving for water.
Once there they rushed in, and all order was at an end, each man
wanting to cross first, and the attacks of the enemy making it
difficult to cross at all; forced to huddle together, they fell
against and trod down one another, some dying immediately upon the
javelins, others getting entangled together and stumbling over the
articles of baggage, without being able to rise again. Meanwhile the
opposite bank, which was steep, was lined by the Syracusans, who
showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them drinking
greedily and heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed of the
river. The Peloponnesians also came down and butchered them,
especially those in the water, which was thus immediately spoiled, but
which they went on drinking just the same, mud and all, bloody as it
was, most even fighting to have it.
At last, when many dead now lay piled one upon another in the
stream, and part of the army had been destroyed at the river, and
the few that escaped from thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias
surrendered himself to Gylippus, whom he trusted more than he did
the Syracusans, and told him and the Lacedaemonians to do what they