Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 7.87

[1] As for those in the quarries, the Syracusians handled them at first but ungently. For in this hollow place, first the sun and suffocating air (being without roof) annoyed them one way; and on the other side, the nights coming upon that heat, autumnal and cold, put them, by reason of the alteration, into strange diseases;

[2] especially doing all things, for want of room, in one and the same place, and the carcasses of such as died of their wounds or change [of air] or other like accident lying together there on heaps. Also the smell was intolerable; besides that they were afflicted with hunger and thirst. For for eight months together, they allowed no more but to every man a cotyle of water by the day and two cotyles of corn. And whatsoever misery is probable that men in such a place may suffer, they suffered.

[3] Some seventy days they lived thus thronged. Afterwards, retaining the Athenians, and such Sicilians and Italians as were of the army with them, they sold the rest.

[4] How many were taken in all it is hard to say exactly; but they were seven thousand at the fewest.

[5] And this was the greatest action that happened in all this war, or at all, that we have heard of amongst the Grecians, being to the victors most glorious and most calamitous to the vanquished.

[6] For being wholly overcome in every kind and receiving small loss in nothing, their army and fleet and all [that ever they had] perished (as they use to say) with an universal destruction. Few of many returned home. And thus passed the business concerning Sicily.

[1] The prisoners in the quarries were at first hardly treated by the Syracusans. Crowded in a narrow hole, without any roof to cover them, the heat of the sun and the stifling closeness of the air tormented them during the day, and then the nights which came on autumnal and chilly, made them ill by the violence of the change;

[2] besides, as they had to do everything in the same place for want of room, and the bodies of those who died of their wounds or from the variation in the temperature, or from similar causes, were left heaped together one upon another, intolerable stenches arose; while hunger and thirst never ceased to afflict them, each man during eight months having only half a pint of water and a pint of corn given him daily. In short, no single suffering to be apprehended by men thrust into such a place was spared them.

[3] For some seventy days they thus lived all together, after which all, except the Athenians and any Siceliots or Italiots who had joined in the expedition, were sold.

[4] The total number of prisoners taken it would be difficult to state exactly, but it could not have been less than seven thousand.

[5] This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in this war, or, in my opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the victors, and most calamitous to the conquered.

[6] They were beaten at all points and altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were destroyed, as the saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet, their army—everything was destroyed, and few out of many returned home. Such were the events in Sicily .

Die Gefangenen in den Steinbrüchen wurden von den
Syrakusern die erste Zeit mit großer Grausamkeit behandelt.
In enger, tiefer Schlucht massenhaft eingepfercht und nicht
unter Dach, litten sie erst entsetzlich von Sonne und Hitze;
dann wieder brachen infolge des mit dem Eintritt der kalten
Herbstnächte verbundenen Temperaturwechsels Krankheiten unter
ihnen aus, zumal sie bei der Enge des Raumes alles an dem­
selben Orte verrichten mußten und die Leichen der an ihren
Wunden, den durch den Temperaturwehcsel verursachten Krank­
heiten oder aus anderen Gründen Gestorbenen haufenweis da­
lagen und einen unerträglichen Geruch verbreiteten. Außerdem
wurden sie von Hunger und Durst gequält; denn sie erhielten
acht Monate lang täglich jeder nur eine Kotyle Wasser und
. zwei Kotylen Mehl. Dazu kamen alle möglichen, mit einem
solchen Aufenthalt unausbleiblich verbundenen Beschwerden.
Auf diese Weise brachten sie an die siebzig Tage alle zusammen
zu. Dann behielt man nur die Athener und die sizilischen und
italischen Griechen, welche den Feldzug mitgemacht hatten, dort
zurück und verkaufte die übrigen als Sklaven. Im ganzen
betrug die Zahl der Gefangenen, wenn es auch schwierig ist,
sie genau festzustellen, doch mindestens siebentausend. Es war
dies das folgenschwerste Ereignis, von dem Griechenland nicht
nur in diesem Kriege, sondern meiner Ansicht nach im Verlauf
der griechischen Geschichte überhaupt jemals betroffen worden
ist, ebenso glänzend für die Sieger wie verhängnisvoll für die
Besiegten. Denn diese hatten in jeder Hinsicht eine vollständige
Niederlage und die schwersten Verluste erlitten und sozusagen
den letzten Mann, ihr Heer und ihre Flotte verloren. Auch
kamen von so vielen nur wenige wieder nach Hause. So viel
über die Ereignisse in Sizilien.

LXXXVI. Les Syracusains et leurs alliés, après s’être réunis, prirent avec eux le plus possible de prisonniers et 'de dépouilles, et retournèrent à la ville. Ils descendirent tous les prisonniers faits sur les Athéniens et leurs alliés au fond des carrières, comme dans le lieu où il était le plus facile de les garder. Quant à Nicias et à Démosthènes, on les égorgea, malgré Gylippe. Celui-ci eût regardé comme un beau triomphe ajouté à tous ses succès d’amener aux Lacédémoniens les généraux ses adversaires. Démosthènes se trouvait être l’homme qu’ils détestaient le plus, à cause des événements de Sphactérie et de Pylos. Ces mêmes événements avaient valu à Nicias toute leur bienveillance; car il avait té-

Quant à ceux qui furent enfermés dans les Latomies, les Syracusains les traitèrent dans les premiers temps avec une extrême rigueur. Parqués dans une enceinte creuse et resserrée, ils furent d’abord exposés sans abri à l’ardeur suffocante du soleil; puis survinrent les fraîches nuits d'automne, et cette transition détermina des maladies. N’ayant pour se mouvoir qu’un espace étroit, et les cadavres de ceux qui succombaient à leurs blessures, aux intempéries ou à quelque accident, _ gisant pêle-mêle, il en résulta une infection insupportable, qu’aggravèrent encore les souffrances du froid et de la faim ; car, durant huit mois, on ne donna à chaque prisonnier qu’une cotyle d’eau et deux cotyles de blé ¹ . Enfin, de tous les maux qu'on peut endurer dans une captivité pareille, aucun ne leur fut épargné. Pendant soixante-dix jours, ils vécurent ainsi tous ensemble ; ensuite, ceux qui n’étaient ni Athéniens ni Grecs de Sicile ou d’Italie furent vendus ² .

Il est impossible de préciser le nombre total des prison-

Yiîers ; tout ce qu’on peut dire, c’est qu’il ne fut pas inférieur à sept mille. Ce fut pour les Grecs l’événement le plus saillant de cette guerre, et, selon moi, de tous les temps dont nous avons conservé le souvenir. Jamais fait d’armes ne fut plus glorieux pour les vainqueurs, ni plus lamentable pour les vaincus. Le désastre de ceux-ci fut aussi complet que possible : armée, vaisseaux, tout fut perdu ; et d’une si grande multitude d’hommes, bien peu revirent leurs foyers. Ainsi se termina l’expédition de Sicile.

[1] The prisoners in the stone-quarries were at first treated harshly by the Syracusans. Crowded as they were in large numbers in a deep and narrow place, at first the sun and the suffocating heat caused them distress, there being no roof; while the nights that followed were, on the contrary, autumnal and cold, so that the sudden change engendered illness.

[2] Besides, they were so cramped for space that they had to do everything in the same place; moreover, the dead were heaped together upon one another, some having died from wounds or because of the change in temperature or like causes, so that there was a stench that was intolerable. At the same time they were oppressed by both hunger and thirst—the Syracusans having for eight months given them each only a half-pint of water and a pint of food a day ¹ ; and of all the other ills which men thrown into such a place would be likely to suffer there was none that did not befall them.

[3] Now for some seventy days they lived in this way all together; then all the rest, except the Athenians and any Siceliots and Italiots that had joined the expedition, were sold.

[4] The total number of prisoners taken, though it is difficult to speak with accuracy, was nevertheless not fewer than seven thousand.

[5]
  This event proved to be the greatest of all that had happened in the course of this war, and, as it seems to me, of all Hellenic events of which we have record —for the victors most splendid, for the vanquished most disastrous.

[6] For the vanquished, beaten utterly at every point and having suffered no slight ill in any respect—having met, as the saying goes, with utter destruction—land-force and fleet and everything perished, and few out of many came back home. ² Such was the course of events in Sicily.

[1] As for those in the quarries, the Syracusans treated them with cruelty during the first period of their captivity. For as they were in a hollow place, and many in a small compass, the sun, as well as the suffocating closeness, distressed them at first, in consequence of their not being under cover; and then, on the contrary, the nights coming on autumnal and cold, soon worked in them an alteration from health to disease, by means of the change.

[2] Since, too, in consequence of their want of room, they did every thing in the same place;

[3] and the dead, moreover, were piled up one on another—such as died from their wounds, and from the change they had experienced, and such like—there were, besides, intolerable stenches: while at the same time they were tormented with hunger and thirst; for during eight months they gave each of them daily only a ¹ cotyle of water, and two of corn. And of all the other miseries which it was likely that men thrown into such a place would suffer, there was none that did not fall to their lot. For some seventy days they thus lived all together;

[4] but then they sold the rest of them, except the Athenians, and whatever Siceliots or Italiots had joined them in the expedition. The total number of those who were taken, though it were difficult to speak with exactness, was still not less than seven thousand. And this was the greatest Grecian exploit of all that were performed in this war;

[5] nay, in my opinion, of all Grecian achievements that we have heard of also; and was at once most splendid for the conquerors, and most disastrous for the conquered. For being altogether vanquished at all points, and having suffered in no slight degree in any respect, they were destroyed (as the saying is) with utter destruction, both army, and navy, and every thing;

[6] and only a few out of many returned home. Such were the events which occurred in Sicily.

[1] Captivos autem, qui erant in lapicidinis, Syracusani duriter initio tractarunt. Quum enim in loco cavo essent, multique in exiguo, et soles primo gravesque praeterea aestus vehementer eos infestabant, quia nullo tecto tegebantur, et quae insequebantur noctes contra autumnales ac frigidae, propter mutationem novos iis morbos afferebant,

[2] quum et facerent omnia propter angustias in eodem loco, et praeterea mortui simul alii super alios jacerent coacervati, qui propter vulnera et propter aeris mutationem et hujusmodi causas exspirabant, et odores erant intolerabiles, et fame simul et siti premebantur; dabant enim eorum singulis Syracusani per octo menses unam aquae cotylam, et duas frumenti cotylas. Denique quaecumque alia mala credibile est homines in hujusmodi locum detrusos perpeti, eorum nullum fuit, quin iis accideret.

[3] Atque septuaginta quidem dies vitam sic egerunt una constipati; deinde vero praeter Athenienses, et si qui Sicilienses aut Itali cum illis militaverant, ceteros omnes divendiderant.

[4] Capti autem erant in universum, quamquam accurate quidem definire numerum difficile est, verumtamen non minus septem millibus.

[5] Et factum est, ut haec clades Graneis illata earum omnium, quae in hoc bello acciderant, maxima esset, atque adeo, ut mihi quidem videtur, etiam omnium aliarum, quas Graecis illatas fama accepimus, ea-demque et victoribus splendidissima et victis calamitosissima ;

[6] nam per omnia omnino victi, nec ulla in re ullum leve malum passi, sed ad unum omnes, ut dici solet, eversi sunt, et peditatus et classis; denique nihil fuit, quod non periret, et pauci e multis domum redierant. Hae quidem sunt res in Sicilia gestae.

I prigionieri che erano nelle cave in principio venivano duramente trattati dai Siracusani. Imperciocché, trovandosi molti in quel luogo profondo e scoperto, il sole ed LI soffocamento li opprimeva ; ed all’opposto le notti autunnali e fredde causavano malattie di nuovo genere: tanto più che per la ristrettezza doveano far tutto nel medesimo luogo, e Tua sull’altro giaceano sovrapposti i cadaveri di quelli che o per ferite, o per questa mutazione , o per altre simili cagioni morivano. Se a ciò si aggiunga una puzza insoffribile, ed il tormento della fame e della sete, perchè per otto mesi ebbero una cotila d’acqua e due di frumento a testa, si vedrà non esser eglino andati esenti da veruno di quelli incomodi che naturalmente doveano opprimere gente gettata in luogo si fatto. In questo modo stivati passarono circa settanta giorni, dipoi tutti gli altri, tranne gli Ateniesi e quei Siciliani ed Italiani che militarono con loro, furono venduti. E sebbene sia difficile lo scrivere esattamente quanti fossero in tutti i prigionieri, nondimeno non potevano esser meno di sette migliaia. Questo tra i fatti greci fu per avventura il più strepitoso di quanti intervennero in queste guerra , ed a mio credere anche più di quanti ne sappiamo per udita ; e sovra ogni altro splendidissimo pei vincitori, e calamitosissimo ai vinti. Conciossiachè vinti in tutto e per tutto e da ogni parte gravemente afflitti, e fanti e navi andarono , come suol dirsi, in fumo ; nulla campò dall' esterminio , e pochi di tanta moltitudine tornarono alla patria. Tale fu il successo dell' impresa siciliana.