§7.47.1οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐβουλεύοντο πρός τε τὴν γεγενημένην ξυμφορὰν καὶ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ κατὰ πάντα ἀρρωστίαν.
this time, the Athenian generals held a council, looking to the disaster that had occurred and the present exhaustion in every respect within the camp.
τοῖς τε γὰρ ἐπιχειρήμασιν ἑώρων οὐ κατορθοῦντες καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀχθομένους τῇ μονῇ· §7.47.2νόσῳ τε γὰρ ἐπιέζοντο κατ’ ἀμφότερα, τῆς τε ὥρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ταύτης οὔσης ἐν ᾗ ἀσθενοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι μάλιστα, καὶ τὸ χωρίον ἅμα ἐν ᾧ ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο ἑλῶδες καὶ χαλεπὸν ἦν, τά τε ἄλλα ὅτι ἀνέλπιστα αὐτοῖς ἐφαίνετο. §7.47.3τῷ οὖν Δημοσθένει οὐκ ἐδόκει ἔτι χρῆναι μένειν, ἀλλ’ ἅπερ καὶ διανοηθεὶς ἐς τὰς Ἐπιπολὰς διεκινδύνευσεν, ἐπειδὴ ἔσφαλτο, ἀπιέναι ἐψηφίζετο καὶ μὴ διατρίβειν, ἕως ἔτι τὸ πέλαγος οἷόν τε περαιοῦσθαι καὶ τοῦ στρατεύματος ταῖς γοῦν ἐπελθούσαις ναυσὶ κρατεῖν. §7.47.4καὶ τῇ πόλει ὠφελιμώτερον ἔφη εἶναι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ σφῶν ἐπιτειχίζοντας τὸν πόλεμον ποιεῖσθαι ἢ Συρακοσίους, οὓς οὐκέτι ῥᾴδιον εἶναι χειρώσασθαι· οὐδ’ αὖ ἄλλως χρήματα πολλὰ δαπανῶντας εἰκὸς εἶναι προσκαθῆσθαι.
For they saw that they were not succeeding in their enterprises and that the soldiers were distressed by their delay;, they were afflicted with sickness on both accounts—it being that season of the year in which men are most prone to illness, and at the same time the place where they were encamped was marshy and unhealthy; and furthermore, everything else appeared hopeless to them., it did not seem to Demosthenes that they should remain any longer, but rather, since the very plan for which he had risked the attack on Epipolae had failed, he voted to depart and not to waste time, while it was still possible to cross the sea and while they still held the upper hand, at least with the ships of the army that had recently arrived. he said that it was more beneficial for the state to carry on the war against those who were building fortifications in their own territory than against the Syracusans, whom it was no longer easy to subdue; nor, on the other hand, was it reasonable for them to sit down before the city and spend vast sums of money to no purpose.