History of the Peloponnesian War

In Sicily, during the same spring and at about the same time, Gylippus returned to Syracuse, bringing from each of the cities which he had prevailed upon as large a body of troops as he could secure.

And calling together the Syracusans, he told them that they should man as many ships as possible and try their luck in fighting at sea; for he hoped thereby to accomplish something for the furtherance of the war that would be worth the risk.

And Hermocrates most of all joined in urging them not to be faint-hearted about attacking the Athenians with their ships, saying that with the Athenians also their maritime skill was not a legacy from their fathers or a possession for all time, but that on the contrary they were originally more landsmen than the Syracusans, and had only taken to the sea when forced to do so by the Persians. He added that those who with daring confront daring men like the Athenians appear most formidable to them; for that quality which enables the Athenians to terrorize their neighbours, to whom they are sometimes not superior in power, though they always attack them with confidence—this very quality the Syracusans would likewise exhibit to their opponents.

And lie said that he was well aware that the Syracusans, by daring unexpectedly to make a stand against the Athenian fleet, would have an advantage over them, dismayed as they would be on that account, which would more than outweigh the damage which the Athenians might inflict by their skill on the inexperience of the Syracusans.

He urged them, therefore, to proceed to the trial of their fleet and not to shrink from it. So the Syracusans, under the persuasions of Gylippus, Hermocrates, and perhaps others, were eager for the sea-fight and began to man the slips.