n the cliffs, the way
down from Epipolae being narrow; and of those who got down safely into
the plain, although many, especially those who belonged to the first
armament, escaped through their better acquaintance with the locality,
some of the newcomers lost their way and wandered over the country, and
were cut off in the morning by the Syracusan cavalry and killed.

The next day the Syracusans set up two trophies, one upon Epipolae where
the ascent had been made, and the other on the spot where the first
check was given by the Boeotians; and the Athenians took back their
dead under truce. A great many of the Athenians and allies were killed,
although still more arms were taken than could be accounted for by the
number of the dead, as some of those who were obliged to leap down from
the cliffs without their shields escaped with their lives and did not
perish like the rest.

After this the Syracusans, recovering their old confidence at such an
unexpected stroke of good fortune, dispatched Sicanus with fifteen ships
to Agrigentum where there was a revolution, to induce if possible the
city to join them; while Gylippus again went by land into the rest
of Sicily to bring up reinforcements, being now in hope of taking the
Athenian lines by storm, after the result of the affair on Epipolae.

In the meantime the Athenian generals consulted upon the disaster
which had happened, and upon the general weakness of the army. They saw
themselves unsuccessful in their enterprises, and the soldiers disgusted
with their stay; disease being rife among them owing to its being the
sickly season of the year, and to the marshy and unhealthy nature of
the spot in which they were encamped; and the state of their affairs
generally being thought desperate. Accordingly, Demosthenes was of
opinion that they ought not to stay any longer; but agreeably to his
original idea in risking the attempt upon Epipolae, now that this had
failed, he gave his vote for going away without further loss of time,
while the sea might yet be crossed, and their late reinforcement might
give them the superiority at all events on that element. He also said
that it would be more profitable for the state to carry on the war
against those who were building fortifications in Attica, than against
the Syracusans whom it was no longer easy to subdue; besides which it
was not right to squander large sums of money to no purpose by going on
with the siege.

This was the opini