Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/26

X8 AFFAIRS OF SICILY [iV ships according to the agreement. But the Athenians accused them of making an assault upon the fort, and of some other petty infractions of the treaty which seemed The Athemans refuse hardly vvorth mentioning. Accord- to restore the Peiopon- jngiy they refused to restore them, nesian fleet. xHsistiii" on ..^. ., , i-v -i , ■ ■ , ■ f r insisting upon the clause which said some trivial mfractton o ^ of the treaty. They that if ' in any particular, however blockade Sphacteiia. slight,' the agreement were violated, the treaty was to be at an end. The Lacedaemonians remon- strated, and went away protesting against the injustice of detaining their ships. Both parties then renewed the war at Pylos with the utmost vigour. The Athenians had two triremes sailing round Sphacteria in opposite directions throughout the day, and at night their whole fleet was moored about the island, except on the side towards the sea when the wind was high. Twenty additional ships had come from Athens to assist in the blockade, so that the entire number was seventy. The Peloponnesians lay encamped on the mainland and made assaults upon the fort, watching for any opportunity which might present itself of rescuing their men. 24 Meanwhile in Sicily the Syracusans and the allies brought up the fleet which they had The Syracusans and . . n * « 1 Loa-ians renew the war been equipping'^ to Messcne, and against Rhegiunt from joining the Other fleet which was keep- Messene. Hopes of the jpg gu^j-d there, carried on the war from thence. They were instigated chiefly by the Locrians, who hated the Rhegians, and had already invaded their territory with their whole force. They were eager to try their fortune in a naval engagement, for they saw that the Athenians had only a few ships actually on the spot, the larger portion of the fleet which had been despatched to Sicily being, as they heard, engaged in the siege of Sphacteria. If they conquered at sea they hoped to blockade Rhegium both by sea and land ; they would " Cp. iv. I fin.