His ringing tones were heard above the tumult, urging on the
captains and steersmen, when they hung back in fear lest their ships
should be shattered on the rocks. "Spare not these timbers," he cried,
"but let every hull among them go to wreck, rather than suffer the
enemy to violate the soil of Lacedaemon. Where is your loyalty to
Sparta? Have you forgotten the debt which you owe to her? Have at
them, I say, and hurl this fort with its defenders into the sea."
Saying this he ordered the master of his own trireme to beach the
vessel, and stood ready on the gangway, that he might be the first to
leap on shore. But as he attempted to land he was hurled back by the
Athenians, and fell fainting, covered with wounds, on the deck. His
shield slipped off his arm, and dropped into the sea, and having been
washed ashore, was picked up by the Athenians, who used it to adorn
the trophy which they afterwards erected.
After the fall of Brasidas the Peloponnesians still continued their
efforts to effect a landing, but they were baffled by the obstinate
defence of the Athenians, and the rugged and inhospitable coast. It
was a strange reversal of affairs which had been brought about by the
fortune of war. On one side were the Spartans, trained to military
service on land, but now compelled to serve on board a fleet, in order
to obtain a footing on their own territory, and on the other side the
Athenians, whose natural element was the sea, drawn up on land to
repel a naval attack.
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