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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §13.17.1-13.17.5

Rout of the Athenian Fleet and Syracusan Victory

Passage 196 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The naval battle continues due to the intense reproaches of the soldiers on land, but eventually the Athenians are routed and flee, leaving the victorious Syracusans to salvage their ships and bury the dead.

§13.17.1ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον πολλῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἡ μάχη τέλος οὐκ ἐλάμβανεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ θλιβόμενοι πρὸς τὴν γῆν φεύγειν ἐτόλμων.
For a long time, while many were perishing, the battle did not come to an end; for not even those who were hard pressed dared to flee to the land.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς ἀφισταμένους τῆς μάχης καὶ τῇ γῇ προσπλέοντας ἠρώτων, εἰ διὰ τῆς γῆς εἰς Ἀθήνας πλεῦσαι νομίζουσιν, οἱ δὲ πεζοὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων τοὺς προσπλέοντας ἀνέκρινον, διὰ τί βουλομένων αὐτῶν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐμβαίνειν κωλύσαντες αὐτοὺς μάχεσθαι νῦν προδιδόασι τὴν πατρίδα, καὶ εἰ διὰ τοῦτο ἔφραξαν τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος, ὅπως κωλύσαντες τοὺς πολεμίους αὐτοὶ φεύγωσιν ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλόν, καὶ τοῦ τελευτᾶν ὀφειλομένου πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ποῖον ζητοῦσι καλλίω θάνατον ἢ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος, ἣν ἔχοντες μάρτυρα τῶν ἀγώνων αἰσχρῶς ἐγκαταλείπουσιν. §13.17.2τοιαῦτα δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς στρατιωτῶν ὀνειδιζόντων τοῖς προσπλέουσιν, οἱ πρὸς τοὺς αἰγιαλοὺς ἀποφεύγοντες πάλιν ἀνέστρεφον, καίπερ συντετριμμένας ἔχοντες τὰς ναῦς καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τραυμάτων καταβαρούμενοι. §13.17.3τῶν δὲ παρὰ τὴν πόλιν κινδυνευόντων Ἀθηναίων ἐκβιασθέντων καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ὁρμησάντων, οἱ προσεχεῖς ἀεὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐνέκλινον, καὶ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἅπαντες ἐτράπησαν. §13.17.4οἱ μὲν οὖν Συρακόσιοι μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς κατεδίωκον τὰς ναῦς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων ὅσοι μὴ μετέωροι διεφθάρησαν, ἐπεὶ πρὸς τὰ βράχη προσηνέχθησαν, ἐκπηδῶντες ἐκ τῶν νεῶν εἰς τὸ πεζὸν στρατόπεδον ἔφευγον. §13.17.5ὁ δὲ λιμὴν πλήρης ἦν ὅπλων τε καὶ ναυαγίων, ὡς ἂν Ἀττικῶν μὲν νεῶν ἀπολομένων ἑξήκοντα, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Συρακοσίων ὀκτὼ μὲν τελέως διεφθαρμένων, ἑκκαίδεκα δὲ συντετριμμένων.
For the Athenian infantry asked those who were withdrawing from the battle and sailing toward the land if they thought they could sail to Athens by way of the land, while the infantry of the Syracusans questioned those who were sailing to shore, asking why, when they themselves had wished to embark on the triremes, the sailors had prevented them and forced them to fight, but were now betraying their fatherland; and if they had blocked the mouth of the harbor for this purpose, so that, having prevented the enemy, they themselves might flee to the shore; and when death is a debt owed by all men, what more glorious death they were seeking than the one on behalf of their fatherland, which they were shamefully abandoning though they had it as a witness of their struggles. Since the soldiers on the land reproached those sailing to shore with such words, those who were fleeing toward the beaches turned back again, although they had their ships shattered and were weighed down by their wounds. But when the Athenians who were risking their lives near the city were forced back and turned to flight, those of the Athenians who were next to them continually gave way, and gradually all were routed. The Syracusans, then, with a great shout, pursued the ships to the land; and as many of the Athenians as had not perished in the open sea, when they were driven against the shallows, leaped out of the ships and fled to the land camp. And the harbor was full of arms and wrecks, inasmuch as sixty Athenian ships had been lost, and on the side of the Syracusans eight were completely destroyed and sixteen shattered.
οἱ δὲ Συρακόσιοι τῶν τε τριήρων ὅσας δυνατὸν ἦν εἷλκον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τοὺς τετελευτηκότας πολίτας τε καὶ συμμάχους ἀνελόμενοι δημοσίας ταφῆς ἠξίωσαν.
The Syracusans hauled up onto the land as many of the triremes as was possible, and recovering the dead of both citizens and allies, they deemed them worthy of a public burial.

Notes

  1. 13.17.1βουλομένων αὐτῶν — Genitive absolute construction. The pronoun αὐτῶν refers to the Syracusan infantrymen on land. It contrasts with the subject of the subsequent nominative participle κωλύσαντες, which refers to the sailors bringing the ships to shore. This construction highlights the infantry's reproach of the sailors who had previously prevented them from boarding and forced them to fight, but are now themselves retreating.
  2. 13.17.1τοῦ τελευτᾶν ὀφειλομένου — Genitive absolute. The articular infinitive τοῦ τελευτᾶν (dying) serves as the grammatical subject of the passive participle ὀφειλομένου (owed as a debt). It introduces a rhetorical question based on the premise that death is an inevitable debt for all humans.
  3. 13.17.5ὡς ἂν — A conjunction introducing a causal participle phrase. In Hellenistic prose (such as Diodorus and Polybius), ὡς ἂν is frequently used with the genitive absolute to denote the cause or the circumstance (equivalent to simple ὡς, meaning 'inasmuch as' or 'since').

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §13.17.1-13.17.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:13.17.1-13.17.5

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