Watching from the shoreline, it had to be the most spectacular display of human coordination and strength. The finely constructed warships and transports crowded the harbour and ocean. Even if you were to line them all up, deck to deck, one felt you could walk across them all day and still not reach the end before nightfall. This flotilla, uncountable to the eye, was commanded by the honoured Athenian war heroes Nicias and Alcibiades.