330 NICIAS.

barber bearing, before be acquainted anybody else, ran as fast as be could up into tbe city, addressed bimself to tbe Arcbons, and presently spread it about in the public Place. On wbicb, there being everywhere, as may be imagined, terror and consternation, tbe Archons sum- moned a general assembly, and there brought in the man and questioned him how he came to know. And he, giv- ing no satisfactory account, was taken for a spreader of false intelligence and a disturber of the city, and was, therefore, fastened to the wheel and racked a long time, till other messengers arrived that related the whole dis- aster particularly. So hardly was Nicias believed to have Buffered the calamity which he had often predicted.