For a long time the slaughter raged unchecked, and the river-bed was
choked with heaps of slain. A few, who escaped from the river, were
pursued and cut down by the Syracusan horse. Nicias had held out until
the last moment; but when he perceived that all was lost, his men
being powerless either to fight or fly, he made his way to Gylippus,
and implored him to stop the useless carnage. "I surrender myself," he
said, "to you and the Spartans. Do with me as you please, but put an
end to this butchery of defenceless men." Gylippus gave the necessary
order, and the word was passed round to kill no more, but take captive
those who survived. The order was obeyed, though slowly and with
reluctance, and the work of capture began. But few of those taken in
the river ever found their way into the public gaol, where Demosthenes
was now lying, with the six thousand who had surrendered on the day
before. For, as there had been no regular capitulation, large numbers
of the prisoners were secretly conveyed away by the Syracusans, who
afterwards sold them into slavery for their own profit. As for the
three hundred who had broken out of camp on the previous night, they
were presently brought in by a party of cavalry despatched in pursuit.
When the first transports of joy and triumph were over, an assembly
was called to decide on the fate of the two Athenian generals, and of
those state prisoners, some seven thousand in number, who were the
sole visible remnant of two great armies.
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