The rest, when they had laden their boats with even more than these could bear, set sail, after waiting this time also for a great storm. They did not succeed, however, in profiting by it; for the Romans, observing that their vessels were overheavy and weighted down almost to the water's edge, put out against them. So they fell upon the craft, which were scattered about as wind and wave carried them, and what followed was anything but a naval battle; for they simply battered the enemy's boats mercilessly, thrusting at many of them with their boat-hooks, ripping many open with their beaks, and even capsizing some by their mere onset. The people in the boats were unable to do anything, however much they might wish; and when they attempted to escape anywhere, they would either be sunk by the force of the wind, to which they spread their sails to the full, or else would be overtaken by the enemy and destroyed. The people in Byzantium, as they watched this scene, for a time kept calling on the gods for help, and uttering various shouts at the different incidents, according as one was affected by the spectacle or the disaster. But when they saw their friends perishing all together, the united throng sent up a chorus of groans and lamentations, and after that they mourned for the rest of the day and the whole night.
Edition :
Dio's Roman History. Cassius Dio Cocceianus. Earnest Cary. Herbert Baldwin Foster. William Heinemann, Harvard University Press. London; New York. 1914-.
