No less significant is the impressi

No less significant is the impression of changeability in the first chapters of the book. The frequent migrations, the mingling of peoples, the instability of the Sicilian world is repeatedly illustrated. Again the categories of earlier Thucydidean analysis break down. The changeability of the Sicilian world, its lack of tranquility, invites the conclusion that the growth of its power would be impeded. Such would be the implications of the Archaeology in book 1 (e.g. chs. 2 and 12), and such is the inference drawn by Alcibiades, who argues that the changes and diversity of the island have prevented the development of military greatness (6.17.2-3). Eventually, however, it appears that the Sicilians, or at least the Syracusans, have an adaptability that allows them to develop effective naval techniques and to imitate and eventually surpass their innovative and bold attackers.