History of the Peloponnesian War

And he was well assured, he said, that the Syracusans, by unexpectedly daring to offer resistance to the navy of the Athenians, would in a greater degree gain advantage from the surprise of the enemy on that account, than the Athenians by their skill would harm the unskilful Syracusans.

He urged them therefore to proceed to the trial with their fleet, and not to shrink from it.

When Gylippus had prepared the fleet for action, he took the whole army under cover of the night, and himself intended to assault by land the forts on Plemyrium, while at the same time, according to agreement, thirty-five of the Syracusan triremes sailed to the attack from the great harbour, and forty-five sailed round from the lesser, where their arsenal was situated; wishing to effect a junction with those within, and at the same time to sail against Plemyrium, in order that the enemy might be disconcerted by an attack on both sides.

The Athenians, on the other hand, having with all speed manned sixty ships to oppose them, with five and twenty of them engaged the five and thirty of the Syracusans that were in the great harbour, and with the remainder went to meet those that were sailing round from the arsenal. Thus they immediately entered into action before the mouth of the great harbour, and for a long time resisted each other, the one side wishing to force an entrance, the other being anxious to prevent them.