Let him wait until he has organised his forces, for a
hasty and disordered flight is sure to end in disaster."
The message, of course, came from Hermocrates, who had contrived this
trick to delay the departure of the Athenians, until time had been
gained to occupy the passes on their route. That Nicias should have
fallen into the snare is not surprising, but it is less easy to
explain how Demosthenes and the other generals came to be deceived by
so transparent a fraud. Yet such was in fact the case; the insidious
hint was accepted as a piece of friendly advice, and the march was
postponed. For a whole day and night the Athenians still lingered on
the spot, and thus gave ample time for their enemies to draw the net
round them, and block every avenue to safety.
On the third day after the battle, the order was given to march. As
the great army formed into column, the full horror of their situation
came home to every heart. This, then, was the end of those grand
dreams of conquest with which they had sailed to Sicily two years
before! On the heights of Epipolae their walls and their fort was
still standing, a monument of failure and defeat. Each familiar
landmark reminded them of some fallen comrade, or some disastrous
incident in the siege.
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