286 DEMOSTHENES ON THE COAST OF ITALY [vil cities of Sicil}' after the taking of Plemmyrium, and had Part of the reinforce- persuadcd them to join in the war, tnents sent by the cities were now about to bring bacic the of Sicily to Syraa.se arc army which they had Collected. Nic- destroyed in an ambus- •' . - . cade by the Sicel allies ias, having previous information, sent of the Athenians. word to the Sicel allies of Athens who commanded the road, such as the Centoripes and Alicyaei, and told them not to let the forces of the enemy pass, but to unite and stop them ; there was no likelihood, he said, that they would even think of taking another road, since they were not allowed to go through the country of the Agrigentines, So when the forces of the Sicilian towns were on their way, the Sicels, complying with the request of the Athenians, set an ambush in three divisions, and falling upon them suddenly when they were off their guard, destroyed about eight hundred of them, and all the envoys except the Corinthian ; he brought the survivors, numbering fifteen hundred, to Syracuse. 33 About the same time arrived a reinforcement from Camarina of five hundred hoplites, Reinforcevients from ^, , j j • i- i .1 ^ . • r- t three hundred lavelin-men, and three C a manna and Gela. •> ' Nearly the whole of hundred archers. The Geloans also Sicily unites against ggj-jj- fl^,^ ships with four hundred ihe Athenians. . ,. , . 1 j 1 u javelin-menand two hundred horsemen. Hitherto the Sicilian cities had only watched the course of events, but now the whole island, with the exception of Agrigentum, which was neutral, united with the Syracusans against the Athenians. After their misfortune in the Sicel country, the Syra- _, .,, • J, . cusans deferred their intended attack The Athenian jleet cmssestolapvgia. They for a time. The forces which Demo- are received at Thun'i, sthenes and Eurymcdon had collected where they hold a revie:v. ^^^^ Corcyra and the mainland were now ready, and they passed over the Ionian Sea to the promontory of lapygia. Proceeding onwards, they touched » Cp vi. 88 init.
