320 HISTORY OF GREECE. impossibility of obtaining new provisions, every man was anxioui to hurry on the struggle. 1 But Isikias, as he mustered them on the shore immediately before going aboard, saw but too plainly that it was the mere stress of desperation which impelled them ; that the elasticity, the disciplined confidence, the maritime pride, habitual to the Athenians on shipboard, was extinct, or dimly and faintly burning. He did his best to revive them, by exhortations unusually emphatic and impressive. " Recollect (he said) that you too, not less than the Syracusans, are now fighting for your own safety and for your country ; for it is only by victory in the coming struggle that any of you can ever hope to see his country again. Yield not to despair like raw recruits after a first defeat ; you, Athenians and allies, familiar with the unexpected revolu- tions of war, will hope now for the fair turn of fortune, and fight with a spirit worthy of the great force which you see here around you. We generals have now made effective provision against our two great disadvantages, the narrow circuit of the harbor, and the thickness of the enemy's prows. 2 Sad as the necessity is, we have thrown aside all our Athenian skill and tactics, and have prepared to fight under the conditions forced upon us by the enemy, a land-battle on shipboard. 3 It will be for you to conquer in this last desperate struggle, where there is no friendly shore to receive you if you give way. You, hoplites on the deck, as soon as you have the enemy's trireme in contact, keep him fast, and relax not until you have swept away his hoplites and mastered his deck. You, seamen and rowers, must yet keep up your courage, in spite of this sad failure in our means, and subversion of our tactics. You are better defended on deck above, and you have more triremes to help you, than in the recent defeat. Such of you, as are not Athenian citizens, I entreat to recollect the valuable privileges which you have hitherto enjoyed from serving in the navy of Athens. Though ' Thucyd. vii, 60. 1 Thucyd. vii, 62. "A tie upuyii iveidofiev IKI ry TOV 3. 'fievog OT>jri?n pdf TOV fi&tovTa o^Xov TUV vsdv iaecr&ai, etc. 3 Thucyd. vii, 62. 'Ef TOVTO yap 6?) 7ivayK.dope&a, UOTE Tre^b/zo^c.v uni
Civ veuv, xo2 rb pr/re avrovf u^aKpovear&ai, IIIJTE txeivovt ipv, ufeAifto.
