BOOK    VIII.
 

VIII. I.     The news was brought to Athens, but the Athenians B.C. 413.
At first the could not bellcve that the armament had been so com-    ' ^^' '^*
will not      pletely  annihilated,   although   they   had   the   positive
tmth^nd   assuranccs of ^ the very soldiers who * had escaped from
^^^ ^^"u°^^  the scene  of  action.     At  last they knew  the  truth;

when they                                                                                       -^

know it. and then they were furious with the orators who had
pects are joined hi promoting the expedition—as if they had not
Howc^ver, votcd It themsclves ^—and with the soothsayers, and
they deter- prophets, and all who by the influence of religion had

mine not       ir     jr          '                                     j                                                  &

to yield. at the time Inspired them with the belief that they would
point a conquer Sicily. Whichever way they looked there was
elders! ° trouble ; they were overwhelmed by their calamity, and
dis^os^ed to ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ constcrnatlon unutterable. The citizens
economise   mourned and the city mourned ; they had lost a host of

and to be-                           iii-                    in

have well, cavalry and hoplites and the flower of their youth, and
there were none to replace them °. And when they saw
an Insufficient number of ships in their docks, and no
crews to man them, .nor money in the treasury, they
despaired of deliverance. They had no doubt that their
enemies In Sicily, after the great victory which they had
already gained, would at once sail against the Piraeus.
Their enemies In Hellas, whose resources were now
doubled, would likewise set upon them with all their
might both by sea and land, and would be assisted by
their own revolted allies. Still they determined under
any circumstances not to give way.   They would procure

^ Or, taking ndw with crrpanaircov : ' trustworthy soldiers who.'
^ Cp. ii. 60 med., 61 med.                         c Cp. vii. 64.