historians relate that he did not feign madness, but that he burned
down his house one night, and next morning appeared in the
market-place in a miserable plight, and besought his countrymen that,
in consideration of the misfortune which had befallen him, they would
allow his son, who was about to sail for Sicily in command of a
trireme, to remain at home. We are told that Sokrates the philosopher
was warned by one of the signs from heaven which he so often received
that the expedition would be the ruin of the city. And many were
filled with consternation at the time fixed for the departure of the
armament. It was during the celebration of the Adonia, or mourning for
the death of Adonis, and in all parts of the city were to be seen
images of Adonis carried along with funeral rites, and women beating
their breasts, so that those who were superstitious enough to notice
such matters became alarmed for the fate of the armament, and foretold
that it would start forth gloriously, but would wither untimely away.

XIV. The conduct of Nikias in opposing the war when it was being
deliberated upon, and his steadfastness of mind in not being dazzled
by the hopes which were entertained of its success, or by the splendid
position which it offered himself, deserves the utmost praise; but
when, in spite of his exertions, he could not persuade the people to
desist from the war, or to remove him from the office of general, into
which he was as it were driven by main force, his excessive caution
and slowness became very much out of place. His childish regrets, his
looking back towards Athens, and his unreasonable delays disheartened
his colleagues, and spoiled the effect of the expedition, which ought
at once to have proceeded to act with vigour, and put its fortune to
the test. But although Lamachus begged him to sail at once to Syracuse
and fight a battle as near as possible to the city walls, while
Alkibiades urged him to detach the other Sicilian states from their