A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

2 20 Sicilian Expedition to End of War
A talent was
about $1,200.
The departure.
A paean of
this kind
was a battle
song, generally
sung at
the opening
of the engagement.
voyage which every one may be supposed to have carried
over with him over and above his pubHc pay, and what
soldiers or traders may have taken for purposes of exchange,
he would have found that altogether an immense
sum amounting to many talents was withdrawn from the
city. Men were quite amazed at the boldness of the
scheme and the magnificence of the spectacle, which
were everywhere spoken of, no less than at the great disproportion
of the force when compared with that of the
enemy against whom it was intended. Never had a
greater expedition been sent to a foreign land; never was
there an enterprise in which the hope of future success
seemed to be better justified by actual power.
When the ships were manned and everything required
for the voyage had been placed on board, silence was
proclaimed by the sound of the trumpet, and all with
one voice before setting sail offered up the customary
prayers; these were recited not in each ship, but by a
single herald, the whole fleet accompanying him. On
every deck both officers and men, mingling wine in bowls,
made libations from vessels of gold and silver. The
multitude of citizens and other well-wishers who were
looking on from the land joined in the prayer. The crews
raised the Paean, and when the libations were completed
put to sea. After sailing out for some distance in single
file, the ships raced with one another as far as .^gina;
thence they hastened onward to Corcyra, where the allies
who formed the rest of the army were assembling.
II.
The Ruin of the Expedition
Athenian
defeat.
Thucydides
vii. 72.
Thus, after a fierce battle and a great destruction of
ships and men on both sides, the Syracusans and their
allies gained the victory. They gathered up the wrecks