At nightfall the Athenians encamped under the shelter of a hill, some
five miles from their starting-point, and setting out at daybreak on
the following day, they pushed on with pain and difficulty, harassed
at every step by the galling attacks of the Syracusan troops.
[Footnote: Thucydides, with characteristic brevity, leaves this to be
inferred from the slowness of their progress.] A march of two miles
and a half brought them to a village, situated on a level plain, and
here they halted, wishing to supply themselves with food, and
replenish their water-vessels; for the country which they had now to
traverse was a desert, many miles in extent. Directly in their line of
route there is a narrow pass, when the road, on entering the hill
country, drops sheer down on either side into a deep ravine, and if
they could once cross this dangerous point they would be within reach
of their allies, the Sicels. But it was too late to proceed further
that day, and while they lay encamped in the village, the Syracusans
hurried on in advance, and blocked the pass by building a wall across
the road. When the Athenians resumed their march next morning, they
were fiercely assailed by the enemy's light horse and foot, who
disputed every inch of ground, and at last compelled them to fall back
on the village where they had encamped the night before.
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