Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/90

82 BRASIDAS AT TORONil [iv no Finding that they would not yield, he promptly made Brasidas makes an an expedition against Torone in Chalcid- expedition against To- ice, which was held by the Athenians. rone. He halts outside tt ••^jl c r.i ,, , J . ■ He was mvited by a few of the m- the town, and contrives -' to introduce a few of his habitants, wlio Were ready to deliver soldiers. the city into his hands. Arriving at night, or about daybreak, he took up a position at the temple of the Dioscuri, which is distant about three furlongs from the city. The great body of the inhabitants and the Athenian garrison never discovered him ; but those Toronaeans who were in his interest, and knew that he was coming, were awaiting his approach ; some few of them had privately gone to meet him. When his confederates found that he had arrived, they introduced into the city, under the command of Lysistratus an Olynthian, seven light-armed soldiers carrying daggers (for of twenty who had been originally appointed to that service, only seven had the courage to enter). These men slipped in undiscovered by way of the wall where it looks towards the sea. They ascended the side of the hill on the slope of which the city is built, and slew the sentinels posted on the summit ; they then began to break down the postern-gate towards the promontory of Canastraeum. Ill Meanwhile Brasidas advanced a little with the rest of They and his par- ^is army, and then halting, sent forward tisans in Torone break a hundred targctccrs, that as soon as open a postern -gate. ^^^y ^f f)-,^ g^^j^g were Opened, and the signal agreed upon displayed, the}^ might rush in first. There was a delay, and they, wondering what had happened, drew by degrees nearer and nearer to the city. Their partisans in Torone, acting with the soldiers who had already got inside, had now broken through the postern- gate, and proceeded to cut the bar which fastened the gates near the market-place. They then brought round some of the targeteers by way of the postern-gate, and introduced them into the city, hoping to strike panic into