History of the Peloponnesian War

For some time they held off from one another, keeping on their guard; but after a while the Athenians thought it unwise, by further delay, to exhaust themselves with fatigue by their own act, and decided to attack as quickly as possible, and accordingly bore down upon the enemy and with a cheer began the fight.

The Syracusans received them, and employing their ships in prow-to-prow attacks, as they had planned to do, with their specially prepared beaks stove in the forward parts of the Athenian vessels for a considerable distance, while the men on the decks hurled their javelins at the Athenians and inflicted great damage upon them. But far greater damage was done by the Syracusans who rowed around in light boats, darted under the oar-banks of the hostile ships, and running up alongside hurled javelins from their boats in among the sailors.[*](Doubtless through the port-holes through which the oars passed.)

Finally, by pursuing this manner of fighting with all their strength, the Syracusans won, and the Athenians took to flight, endeavouring to make their escape through the line of merchant-ships[*](cf. 7.38.2.) into their own place of anchorage.

The Syracusan ships pursued them hotly as far as the merchantmen, but there the dolphin-bearing cranes[*](Projecting beams of a crane supporting heavy metal weights in the shape of dolphins, ready to be dropped upon hostile vessels passing near.) that were suspended from the merchantmen over the channels between the vessels checked them.

Two Syracusan ships, however, elated by their victory, approached too close to the cranes and were destroyed, one of them being captured together with its crew.

The Syracusans, having sunk seven of the Athenian ships and damaged many others, and having taken prisoner most of the men upon them and killed the rest, then withdrew and set up a trophy for both the sea-fights. They now cherished the confident belief that they were far superior to the Athenians on the sea, and they thought that they should get the better of the army on land as well. So they, on their part, proceeded to make preparations to attack the enemy again on both elements.