Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/37

35 .37] PARLEY WITH THE ENEMY 29 although suffering from the battle and thirst and the heat of the sun, held their own ; the one endeavouring to thrust their opponent's from the high ground, the other determined not to give way. But the Lacedaemonians now defended themselves with greater ease, because they were not liable to be taken in flank. There was no sign of the end. At length the general of 3^ the Messcnian contingent came to Cleon _, ,, ° The Messetttan geit- and Demosthenes and told them that cial finds a -way the army was throwing away its pains, round by the rocks and , ^ . ^ , , ,1 • , • reappears suddenly in but if they would give him some ,, v -' •J _ ° ilieir rear. archers and light-armed troops and let him find a path by which he might get round in the rear of the Lacedaemonians, he thought that he could force the approach. Having obtained his request he started from a point out of sight of the enemy, and making his way wherever the broken ground afforded a footing and where the cliff was so steep that no guards had been set, he and his men with great difficulty got round unseen and suddenly appeared on the summit in their rear, striking panic into the astonished enemy and redoubling the courage of his own friends who were watching for his reappearance. The Lacedaemonians were now assailed on both sides, and to compare a smaller thing to a greater, were in the same case with their own countrymen at Thermopylae. For as they perished when the Persians found a way round by the path, so now the besieged garrison were attacked on both sides, and no longer resisted. The disparity of numbers, and the failure of bodily strength arising from want of food, compelled them to fall back, and the Athen- ians were at length masters of the approaches. Cleon and Demosthenes saw that if the Lacedaemonians 37 gave way one step more they would be ^,^,^^^ ^,,j ^^,,^^^. destroyed by the Athenians; so they sthenes invite the Lace- stopped the engagement and held back (ioenwnians to sur- their own army, for they wanted, if possible, to bring them alive to Athens. They were in