At last he returned to Katana, without having
effected anything, except the reduction of Hykkara, a town of the
aborigines, not of the Greeks, from which it is said the celebrated
courtezan Lais, then a very young girl, was carried away captive and
sent to Peloponnesus.
XVI. As the summer advanced, and Nikias remained inactive, the
Syracusans gained so much confidence that they called upon their
generals to lead them to the attack of the Athenian position at
Katana, since the Athenians did not dare approach Syracuse; while
Syracusan horsemen even went so far as to insult the Athenians in
their camp, riding up to ask if they were come to settle as peaceful
citizens in Katana, instead of restoring the Leontines. This
unexpected humiliation at length forced Nikias to proceed to Syracuse,
and he devised a stratagem by which he was able to approach that city
and pitch his camp before it unmolested.
He despatched to Syracuse a citizen of Katana, who informed the
Syracusans that if they desired to seize the camp and arms of the
Athenians, they would only have to appoint a day and to march in force
to Katana. Many of the Athenians, he said, spent all their time within
the walls of Katana, and it would be easy for the Syracusan party
there to close the gates, assail the Athenians within, and set fire to
their ships. A numerous body of Kataneans, he added, were eager to
co-operate in the plan now proposed.
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