Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1917 — Battles Which Hade the World [ARTICLE]

Battles Which Hade the World

THE DEFENSE OF SYRACUSE Tk« Siege Rainie* Which Made Poaaihle the Roaaaa Empire aad I Wrecked the Early Exponents of Knltar oa Their Owi AmblUom.

By CAPT. ROLAND F. ANDREWS

(OopyrtfM, 191?, by McClure Newspaper Syndicate)

When first report came to ancient Syracuse in Sicily that Athens was preparing for her conquest there rose up prominent folk to deny the possibility of war and to assert that the existence of the sea furnished all the protection necessary, exactly as prominent folk in our own midst, in the days before U-boats became really scaring and when the German military power seemed unutterably remote, were wont to assure the United States that there could be only folly in military preparation. Said one of the Syracusan orators reported by Thucydides: “Even were our enemies to come, so distant fromtheir resources and opposed to such a power as ours, their destruction would be easy and inevitable. Their ships will have enough to do to get to our inland. They will have no fortified place from which to commence their operations, but in truth I do not believe they would even be able to effect a disembarkation. Let us therefore set at naught these reports and be sure that if any enemy does come the state will know how to defend Itself in a manner worthy of the national honor.”

He talked, one perceives, as certain American congressmen used to talk; as talked those statesmen serenely confident in the protection afforded by a million patriots springing to arms overnight. The- Athenians- did - corner of course. They nearly won. Had they won there might never have been a Roman empire. That is why the siege of Syracuse takes rank as one of the momentous battles of world history. Athens which had fought for liberty at Marathon In 490 B. C., had become in 413 B. C., a great, rich and powerful state, eager to extend its sway over all the western world. All republics of the past which acquired supremacy over other nations ruled them selfishly. There are no exceptions. Where Athens conquered she Imposed her laws, her customs, her taxes and her kultur. She kept her conquered peoples as vassals and did not permit them citizenship. She pleaded the “eternal law of nature that the weak should be oppressed by the strong.” She sometimes complained that the Injustice of Sparta compelled her to be unjust to other nations. She might even have spoken of “scraps of paper” had the expression been known in that unenlightened age. She wanted Sicily and the rest of the world. Had she gained it Rome, if it ever came into being, must have located itself elsewhere than on the eternal seven hills. “Syracuse,” said Arnold, “was a breakwater which God’s providence raised up to protect Rome.” And he argued that but for the destruction of the Athenian fleet in Syracuse harbor, Athens and not Rome would have conquered Carthage.

The Athenians came to Syracuse In force. Their war galleys numbered 134, with a multitude of storeships and troopships. A powerful force of the best heavy armed infantry was supplemented by a smaller number of slingers and bowmen. With all that wealth and skill could provide of efficiency the fated armada tyegan its voyage in the summer of 415. The Athenian force accomplished its landing with success. It invested the city. It might have taken Syracuse then and there had it not wasted a year desultory operations elsewhere in Sicily and had not treachery caused the removal of one of its two really able generals, while death claimed another, leaving the supreme command to rest with the incompetent Niclas. Lamachus was the general who died. He fell in an early skirmish. The traitor was Alciblades, that most complete example of surpassing genius without principle afforded by all history. Summoned home from Sicily to stand trial before the Athenian tribunal he fled to Sparta, where with the utmost rancor of a renegade he exhorted the Spartans to renew the war with Athens and send Instant aid to beleaguered Syracuse. It is interesting to read in Aldbiades’ speeches as recorded by Thucydides the revelation that Athens planned the conquest and absorption of all the western world and that she meant to accomplish this without serious expense to herself. Athens intended to take the islands first, he explained, then with ports blockaded by her fleet to assail Peloponnesus with all her force. • “We reckoned,” he said, “that each conquered state would give us supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay for its own conquest and furnish the means for the conquest of its neighbors.” Similar ideas seem to have found acceptance and popularity in certain high quarters just previous to August bf 1914.. . ■ .

urged the immediate dls-_ patch of a Spartan force to Syracuse. If the force could not be large let there at least be sent a competent general to organize and lead the Syracuse battlers. Sparta sent only four galleys, under Gyllppus, a soldier and statesman of remarkable sagacity, although debased by the meanest and most sordid of vices. His arrival occurred just in time to prevent surrender on the part of the Syracusans. Nicias had *b j n hemmed in. They were desper-

ate. Easily eluding the negligentNicias, GyHppus and his re-enforcements marched fairly into the besieged town. A little later Corinth and Thebes sent aid. The unfortunate Nicias was driven out of position and himself hemmed in on low ground near the harbor. Discouraged, Nldas urged his countrymen to abandon the expedition. But Athens did not thus easily yield. Instead of recalling Nldas she sent another fleet of 70 galleys, under Demosthenes, as able as a general as was his great countryman in the field of oratory. He arrived just as Gylippus, with the encouraged Syracusans had won a minor success, and was about to follow it up. Demosthenes, with Ms great galleys and 5,000 picked men, rowed round the harbor, his trumpets sounding and his men at arms cheering. The hopes of Syracuse turned toi despair. Gylippus labored feverishly; to prevent surrender. Then Demosthenes launched an attack. Advancing in the night he< scaled the cliffs at the dty’s edge, captured the Syracuse outposts, drove the more exposed troops before him and swept down upon the town in the full? flush of victory. In vain Gylippus sought to rally his men. With-her troops broken and flying Syracuse was like to fall, but for one body of gallant men, the brigade of Boeotians. These formed line and, undismayed by .th® rout about them, advanced. The Athenian advance had become demoralized and disorganized by its own success. Against this was hurled the unexpected charge of troops in perfect order and possessed of obstinate courage. There was confusion. Beholding it the mercurial Syracusans rallied and charged themselves. Thousands of combatants were pent and whirled together in a narrow, uneven area. In the darkness Athenian troops assailed each other. With closed ranks the Syracusans and their allies pressed on. Over the cliffs which a few hours before they had scaled in triumph the Athenians were hurled. ' Never was vengeance more terrible. The Athenians were slaughtered. In a series of sea fights their galleys were destroyed. Nicias and Demosthenes were put to the sword. Their soldiers were penned in dungeons or sold into slavery. Thus did Athens’ dream of dominion! in western Europe end at Syracuse: