The few
remaining weeks of summer were frittered away in trivial operations on
the western coasts of the island, and then the Athenians withdrew into
winter quarters at Catana. The predictions of Lamachus now began to be
fulfilled: seeing that Nicias, with the vast force at his disposal,
attempted nothing against them, the Syracusans began to despise their
enemy, and thought of taking the offensive. Horsemen from Syracuse
rode repeatedly up to the Athenian outposts at Catana, and tauntingly
inquired if the Athenians had come to found a colony in Sicily. At
last even Nicias felt that some display of activity was necessary to
save himself from contempt. He had learnt from certain Syracusan
exiles that there was a convenient place for landing troops, on the
low-lying shore where the river Anapus flows into the Great Harbour.
Here he determined to make a sudden descent, and in order to avoid
disembarking in the face of an enemy, he contrived a stratagem to
remove the whole Syracusan force out of reach. A citizen of Catana,
who was attached to the Athenian interest, was sent with a message to
the Syracusan generals, which held out a tempting prospect of gaining
an easy and decisive advantage over the Athenian army. Professing to
come from the partisans of Syracuse still remaining in Catana, he
promised on their behalf that if the Syracusans made a sudden assault
on the Athenian camp, their friends in Catana would simultaneously
fall upon the Athenian troops, who were in the habit of deserting
their quarters and straggling about the town, and set fire to their
ships.
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