History of the Peloponnesian War

“As to those of you who are Athenians, I remind you once more that you left behind you in your docks at home no other ships like these nor hoplites of military age, and if the outcome shall be aught else but victory for you, your enemies here will straightway sail yonder, and our fellow-citizens who are left at home will be unable to ward off both the enemies there and the new invaders. Those of you who are here would at once come under the power of the Syracusans—and you yourselves know with what purpose you came against them—and those who are there under the power of the Lacedaemonians.

So, therefore, since you are constrained to fight this one battle on behalf of both yourselves and them, be steadfast now, if ever you were, and remember, one and all, that those of you who will now be aboard the ships are for the Athenians both army and navy, and all that is left of the State and the great name of Athens. For her sake, if anyone surpasses another in skill or in courage, he will never find a better occasion for displaying them, at once for his own advantage and for the salvation of us all.”

After making this exhortation Nicias immediately gave orders to man the ships. Gylippus and the Syracusans, on the other hand, observing the actual preparations which they were making, could easily perceive that the Athenians were going to fight at sea;

furthermore, the device of the grappling-irons had already been reported to them, and while they were equipping their ships to meet every other contingency, they also took precautions against this. For they stretched hides over the prows and a considerable portion of the upper works of the ships, in order that when the grapnel was thrown it might slip off and not get hold.