§12.54.1Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ πάλαι μὲν ἦσαν ἐπιθυμηταὶ τῆς Σικελίας διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς χώρας, καὶ τότε δʼ ἀσμένως προσδεξάμενοι τοὺς τοῦ Γοργίου λόγους ἐψηφίσαντο συμμαχίαν ἐκπέμπειν τοῖς Λεοντίνοις, πρόφασιν μὲν φέροντες τὴν τῶν συγγενῶν χρείαν καὶ δέησιν, τῇ δʼ ἀληθείᾳ τὴν νῆσον σπεύδοντες κατακτήσασθαι.
The Athenians, who had even of old been covetous of Sicily because of the fertility of the land, on this occasion also welcomed the speeches of Gorgias and voted to send an alliance to the Leontines, offering as a pretext the need and entreaty of their kinsmen, but in truth desiring to acquire the island for themselves.
§12.54.2καὶ γὰρ οὐ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον τῶν τε Κορινθίων καὶ τῶν Κερκυραίων διαπολεμούντων μὲν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, φιλοτιμηθέντων δʼ ἀμφοτέρων συμμάχους λαβεῖν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, προέκρινεν ὁ δῆμος συμμαχεῖν τοῖς Κερκυραίοις διὰ τὸ τὴν Κέρκυραν εὐφυῶς κεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸν εἰς Σικελίαν πλοῦν.
For not many years before, when the Corinthians and the Corcyraeans were waging war against each other and both were striving eager to secure the Athenians as allies, the people had preferred to ally themselves with the Corcyraeans because Corcyra was situated in a favorable position for the voyage to Sicily.
§12.54.3καθόλου γὰρ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι κατακτησάμενοι τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἡγεμονίαν καὶ μεγάλας πράξεις ἐπιτελεσάμενοι συμμάχων τε πολλῶν εὐπόρουν καὶ δυνάμεις μεγίστας ἐκέκτηντο καὶ χρημάτων τε πλῆθος ἕτοιμον παρέλαβον, μετακομίσαντες ἐκ Δήλου τὰ κοινὰ χρήματα τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὄντα πλείω τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων, ἡγεμόσι τε μεγάλοις καὶ διὰ στρατηγίαν δεδοκιμασμένοις ἐχρήσαντο, καὶ διὰ τούτων ἁπάντων ἤλπιζον καταπολεμήσειν μὲν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, πάσης δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν ἡγεμονίαν περιπεποιημένοι ἀνθέξεσθαι τῆς Σικελίας.
For in general, the Athenians, having acquired the supremacy of the sea and performed great deeds, were well provided with many allies, possessed the greatest forces, and had received a large sum of ready money which they had transferred from Delos, where the common funds of the Greeks, amounting to more than ten thousand talents, were kept; moreover, they employed great commanders who had been tested in generalship, and through all these means they hoped to defeat the Lacedaemonians in war, and, after securing the hegemony of all Greece, to lay claim to Sicily.
§12.54.4διὰ ταύτας οὖν τὰς αἰτίας ψηφισάμενοι βοηθεῖν τοῖς Λεοντίνοις ἐξέπεμψαν εἰς τὴν Σικελίαν ναῦς εἴκοσι καὶ στρατηγοὺς Λάχητα καὶ Χαροιάδην.
For these reasons, therefore, having voted to aid the Leontines, they dispatched twenty ships to Sicily and the generals Laches and Charoiades.
οὗτοι δὲ πλεύσαντες εἰς τὸ Ῥήγιον προσελάβοντο ναῦς εἴκοσι παρὰ τῶν Ῥηγίνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Χαλκιδέων ἀποίκων.
These sailed to Rhegium, where they received an additional twenty ships from the Rhegians and the other Chalcidian colonists.
ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ὁρμώμενοι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τὰς Λιπαραίων νήσους κατέδραμον διὰ τὸ συμμαχεῖν τοὺς Λιπαραίους τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Λοκροὺς πλεύσαντες καὶ πέντε νεῶν Λοκρίδων κυριεύσαντες, Μύλας φρούριον ἐπολιόρκησαν.
Setting out from there, they first of all overran the islands of the Liparaeans because the Liparaeans were in alliance with the Syracusans, and after this, having sailed to Locri and captured five Locrian ships, they besieged the fortress of Mylae.
§12.54.5ἐπιβοηθησάντων δὲ τῶν πλησιοχώρων Σικελιωτῶν τοῖς Μυλαίοις ἐγένετο μάχη, καθʼ ἣν Ἀθηναῖοι νικήσαντες ἀπέκτειναν μὲν πλείους τῶν χιλίων, ἐζώγρησαν δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑξακοσίων· εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ τὸ φρούριον ἐκπολιορκήσαντες κατέσχον.
When the neighboring Siceliots came to the aid of the inhabitants of Mylae, a battle ensued, in which the Athenians were victorious, killing more than a thousand and taking no fewer than six hundred prisoners; and they immediately took the fortress by storm and occupied it.
§12.54.6τούτων δὲ πραττομένων κατέπλευσαν νῆες τετταράκοντα, ἃς ἀπέστειλεν ὁ δῆμος, κρίνων γενναιότερον ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ πολέμου· ἡγεῖτο δʼ αὐτῶν Εὐρυμέδων καὶ Σοφοκλῆς.
While these things were being done, forty ships arrived, which had been sent by the Athenian people, who had decided to engage in the war more vigorously; these were commanded by Eurymedon and Sophocles.
ἀθροισθεισῶν δὲ τῶν τριήρων εἰς ἕνα τόπον ἀξιόλογος ἤδη στόλος κατεσκεύαστο, συγκείμενος ἐκ τριήρων ὀγδοήκοντα.
When the triremes were assembled in one place, a noteworthy fleet had now been prepared, consisting of eighty triremes.
§12.54.7τοῦ δὲ πολέμου χρονίζοντος οἱ Λεοντῖνοι διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους διελύθησαν.
But as the war dragged on, the Leontines, having sent envoys to the Syracusans, came to terms with them.
διόπερ αἱ μὲν τῶν Ἀθηναίων τριήρεις ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τοῖς Λεοντίνοις μεταδόντες τῆς πολιτείας ἅπαντας Συρακοσίους ἐποίησαν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν φρούριον ἀπέδειξαν τῶν Συρακοσίων.
Consequently, the triremes of the Athenians sailed back home, while the Syracusans, having shared their citizenship with the Leontines, made them all Syracusan citizens and designated their city as a fortress of the Syracusans.
καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν ἐν τούτοις ἦν.
Such was the state of affairs in Sicily.