the point of destruction.
In short, in that one Athenian army as long as the sea-fight remained
doubtful there was every sound to be heard at once, shrieks, cheers, "We
win," "We lose," and all the other manifold exclamations that a great
host would necessarily utter in great peril; and with the men in the
fleet it was nearly the same; until at last the Syracusans and their
allies, after the battle had lasted a long while, put the Athenians to
flight, and with much shouting and cheering chased them in open rout to
the shore. The naval force, one one way, one another, as many as were
not taken afloat now ran ashore and rushed from on board their ships
to their camp; while the army, no more divided, but carried away by one
impulse, all with shrieks and groans deplored the event, and ran down,
some to help the ships, others to guard what was left of their wall,
while the remaining and most numerous part already began to consider how
they should save themselves. Indeed, the panic of the present moment
had never been surpassed. They now suffered very nearly what they had
inflicted at Pylos; as then the Lacedaemonians with the loss of their
fleet lost also the men who had crossed over to the island, so now the
Athenians had no hope of escaping by land, without the help of some
extraordinary accident.

The sea-fight having been a severe one, and many ships and lives having
been lost on both sides, the victorious Syracusans and their allies now
picked up their wrecks and dead, and sailed off to the city and set up
a trophy. The Athenians, overwhelmed by their misfortune, never even
thought of asking leave to take up their dead or wrecks, but wished to
retreat that very night. Demosthenes, however, went to Nicias and gave
it as his opinion that they should man the ships they had left and make
another effort to force their passage out next morning; saying that they
had still left more ships fit for service than the enemy, the Athenians
having about sixty remaining as against less than fifty of their
opponents. Nicias was quite of his mind; but when they wished to man the
vessels, the sailors refused to go on board, being so utterly overcome
by their defeat as no longer to believe in the possibility of success.

Accordingly they all now made up their minds to retreat by land.
Meanwhile the Syracusan Hermocrates--suspecting their intention, and
impressed by the danger of allowing a force of that magnitude to retire
by land, establ