Book 1
Finally, just before the Peloponnesian war, the populace expelled the aristocrats, and they, making common cause with the barbarians and attacking Epidamnus, plundered those who were in the city both by land and sea.
These, when they were being hard pressed, sent envoys to Corcyra, as being their mother-city, beg g them not to look on and see them destroyed, but to reconcile them with the exiles and to put a stop to the war with the barbarians.
This petition they made, sitting as suppliants in the temple of Hera. But the Corcyraeans denied their supplication, and sent them back unsuccessful.
The Epidannians, recognizing that no aid was to be had from Corcyra, were at a loss how to settle their present difficulty; so they sent to Delphi and asked the god whether they should deliver up their city to the Corinthians as founders and try to procure some aid from them. The god answered that they should deliver it up to them and make them leaders.
So the Epidamnians went to Corinth and435 B.C. delivered up the city as Corinthian colony, in accordance with the oracle, showing that their founder was from Corinth and stating the response of the oracle; and they begged the Corinthians not to look on and see them utterly destroyed, but to come to on
and sce. The Corinthians undertook the task, partly on the ground of right, because they considered that the colony belonged to them quite as much as to the Corcyraeans, partly also through hatred of the Corcyraeans, for the reason that these, though Corinthian colonists, neglected
the mother-city. For neither at their common festival gatherings 1 would they concede the customary privileges to Corinthians, nor would they begin with a representative of Corinth the initial rites at sacrifices,According to the custom obtaining in Hellenic cities, whereby a stranger could offer sacrifices only through a citizen who acted for him. προκαταρχόμενοι, as the Schol. explains, διδόντες πρότερον (sc. ἢ τοῖς ἄλλοις) τὰς καταρχάς), i.e. giving the hair cut from the victim's forehead to a representative of Corinth, that he might throw it on the fire as the rest of the colonies did, but they treated them with contempt For at that time they were in point of wealth equal to the richest of the Hellenes, and in preparation for war even stronger, while in sea-power they sometimes boasted that they were greatly superior, because of the former occupation of the island by the Phaeacians,cf. Thuc. 1.70, where a sacred precinct of Alcinous in Corcyra is mentioned. The ancient belief that Corcyra was the Homeric Scheria has no support in the Odyssey. whose glory was in their ships. It was for this reason that they kept on developing their navy, and they were in fact powerful; for they had on hand one hundred and twenty triremes when the war began.
So the Corinthians, having all these grounds of complaint, gladly sent the desired aid to Epidamnus, inviting whoever wished to go along as settlers and despatching as a garrison some Ambraciots and Leucadians and a detachment of themselves.
They proceeded to Apollonia, a colony of the Corinthians going by land through fear of the Corcyraeans, lest they might be prevented by them if they should attempt to cross the sea.
But when the Corcyraeans perceived that the settlers and the garrison had arrived at Epidamnus, and that their colony had been given up to the Corinthians, they were indignant So they sailed immediately with twenty-five shps, and later with a second fleet, and insolently bade the Epidamnians dismiss the garrison sent by the Corinthians and the settlers, and also receive back their exiles; for the exiled Epidamnians had gone to Corcyra, and pointing to the sepulchres of common ancestors and invoking the tie of kinship had begged the Corcyraeans to restore them.
As the Epidamnians paid no heed to them the Corcyraeans proceeded against them with forty ships, accompanied by the exiles whom they intended to restore, and taking along the Illyrians also.
And sitting down before the city they proclaimed that the foreigners and any Epidamnians who wished might go away in safety; otherwise they would treat them as enemies. But when the Epidamnians would not comply, the Corcyraeans laid siege to the city, which is connected with the shore by an isthmus.
But the Corinthians, when messengers came from Epidamnus announcing the siege, prepared an expedition and proclaimed at the same time a colony to Epidamnus, saying that any who wished might go there on a basis of equal rights for all, and that if anyone was not inclined to sail at once, but wished to have part in the colony, he might make a deposit of fifty Corinthian drachmaeThe Corinthian drachma was about equivalent to 6d., but of course had greater purchasing power. The Attic drachma = 9.75 d. and remain at home. The number that sailed was large, as also of those who deposited the money.
Request was also made of the Megarians to convoy them with ships, in case an attempt should be made by the Corcyraeans to prevent their sailing; and these were preparing to accompany them with eight ships, and the Paleans, from Cephallenia, with four. The Epidaurians, of whom a like request was made, furnished five ships, the Hermionians one, the Troezenians two, the Leucadians ten, and the Ambraciots eight. Upon the Thebans and the Phliasians a demand was made for money, and upon the Eleans for unmanned ships as well as for money. And the Corinthians themselves, for their part, made ready thirty ships and three thousand hoplites.
When the Corevraeans learned of these preparations they went to Corinth, with Lacedaemonian and Sicyonian envoys whom they took with them, and bade the Corinthians withdraw the garrison and settlers at Epidamnus, on the ground that they had no part in Epidamnus.
But if they made any claim to it they were willing, they said, to submit the matter for arbitration to any states in the Peloponnesus that both should agree upon, and to whichever party the colony should be adjudged to belong, these should have it; and they were willing also to submit the matter to the oracle at Delphi.
War, however, they warned them not to bring on; but if it must be, they too would be compelled, if the Corinthians forced the issue, to make friends with those for whom they had no wish, others beyond their present ones, in order to secure assistance.A threat of an alliance with the Athenians, τῶν νῦν ὄντων referring to the Lacedaemonians and other Peloponnesians, not to the Illyrians (cf. 1.26.7), as Poppo suggested.
The Corinthians answered that if the Corcyraeans would withdraw their ships and the barbarians from Epidamnus they would consider the matter, but that meanwhile it was not proper for themi.e. the envoys and the Corinthians. to be discussing arbitration while the Epidamnians were undergoing siege.
Whereupon the Corcyraeans replied that they would do this if the Corinthians on their part would withdraw their forces at Epidamnus; but they were also ready to arbitrate on condition that both parties should remain where they were and that they should make a truce until the decision should be given.Or, omitting δέ, that they were also ready to make a truce until the decision should be given, on condition that both parties should remain where they were.
The Corinthians, however, would not listen to any of these proposals, but, as soon as their ships were manned and their allies were at hand, they sent a herald in advance to declare war against the434 B.C. Corcyraeans; then, setting off with seventy-five ships and two thousand hoplites, they sailed for Epidamnus to give battle to
the Corcyraeans. Their ships were under the command of Aristeus son of Pellichus, Callicrates son of Callias, and Timanor son of Timantles; the infantry under that of Archetimus son of Eurytimus and Isarchidas son
of Isarchus. But when they reached Actium in the territory of Anactorium, where is the sanctuary of Apollo at the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, the Corcyraeans sent out a herald in a small boat to forbid their advance, and at the same time proceeded to man their ships, having previously strengthened the old vessels with cross-beams so as to make them seaworthy, and having put the rest
in repair. When their herald brought back no message of peace from the Corinthians and their ships were now fully manned, being eighty in number (for forty were besieging Epidamnus), they sailed out against the enemy and, drawing up in line, engaged
in battle; and they won a complete victory and destroyed fifteen ships of the Corinthians. On the same day it happened that their troops which were engaged in the siege of Epidamnus forced it to a capitulation, on condition that the other immigrantsi.e. the Ambraciots and Leucadians; cf. Thuc. 1.26.1. should be sold into slavery but the Corinthians kept in bonds until something else should be agreed upon.
After the sea-fight the Corcyraeans set up a trophy of their victory at Leucimne, a promontory in the territory of Corcyra, and put to death the prisoners they had taken, with the exception of the Corinthians, whom they kept in fetters.
But afterwards, when the Corinthians and their allies had gone back home with their ships after their defeat, the Corcyraeans were masters of the whole sea in that quarter, and sailing to Leucas, the colony of the Corinthians, they ravaged the country and burned Cyllene, the naval arsenal of the Eleans, because they had furnished ships and money to the Corinthians.
And so for most of the time after the sea-fight they had control over the sea; and sailing against the allies of the Corinthians they kept harrying them, until the Corinthians, as the summer was drawing to an end,' seeing that their allies were suffering, sent ships and an army and encamped at Actium and near the promontory of Cheimerium in Thesprotis, as a protection for Leucas and the other cities that were friendly to themselves.
And the Corcyraeans encamped on the opposite coast at Leucimne with both ships and infantry. Neither side sailed against the other, but they faced each other for the rest of this summer; it was not until winter had come that they each went back home.
During the whole year after the sea-fight and the next year the Corinthians, being angrily indignant about their war with the Corcyraeans, kept building ships and preparing a naval armament with all their might, and collected oarsmen from both the Peloponnesus and the rest of Hellas by the inducement of pay.
The Corcyraeans, on the other hand, were alarmed when they learned of their preparations, and since they were without an ally among the Hellenes and had not enrolled themselves in the alliance either of the Athenians or of the Lacedaemonians, they decided to go to the Athenians, become their allies, and try to procure some aid from them.
But the Corinthians also, hearing of this, themselves sent envoys to Athens to prevent the accession of the Athenian fleet to that of the Corcyraeans, as this would hamper them in settling the war as they wished.
And when an assembly Q38. was held opposing speeches were made, and the Corcyraeans spoke as follows:
"It is but fair, citizens of Athens, that those who, without any previous claim on the score of important service rendered or of an existing alliance, come to their neighbours to ask aid, as we do now, should show in the first place, if possible, that what they ask is advantageous, or at least that it is not hurtful, and, in the second place, that their gratitude can be depended on; but in case they establish neither of these things clearly, they should not be angry if unsuccessful.
Now the Corcyraeans have sent us to ask for an alliance, and in full confidence that they will be able to give you guarantees on just these points.
But it so happens that our policy has been at one and the same time inconsistent, as it must seem to you, with our petition, and is also disadvantageous under present circumstances to ourselves;
for although heretofore we have freely chosen to be allies of no one, we have now come to ask others for an alliance, and at the same time, in the face of the present war with the Corinthians, we are, because of this very policy, isolated. And so what was formerly fondly imagined to be wise discretion on our part—to enter into no foreign alliance, with the possibility of having to take our share of the danger of our neighbour's policy—has now, in the event, proved want of wisdom and a source of weakness.
It is true that, in the sea-fight we have had, we repulsed the Corinthians single-handed; but now that they have set out to attack us with a greater force, drawn from the Peloponnesus and the rest of Hellas, and we see that we are unable to prevail with our own strength alone, and since, further, our peril will be serious if we come into their power, we are constrained to ask help of you and of everyone else; and it is pardonable if we now, actuated by no baseness, but rather acknowledging an error of judgment, venture upon a course that runs counter to our former policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.
" For yourselves, if you concede what we ask, by a happy concurrence of events Athens can get both honour and advantage in many ways: first, you will be giving your aid to those who are wronged and not to those who injure others; next, by taking into alliance men whose most vital interests are at stake, you will lay up for yourselves a claim for gratitude with a record which will abide in our memories for ever;
and, lastly, we have a navy greater than any but your own. Think of it now, what good fortune could be rarer, more vexatious to your foes, than this—that the power which you would have accounted it worth much money and gratitude to acquire should become yours unbidden, offering itself to you without danger or expense, and bringing you, besides, a good name before the world, gratitude from those wio are to receive your help, and enhanced strength for yourselves? To few in all history have such opportunities fallen all at the same time, and few are they who, when they beg for an alliance, come offering to those to whom they make their appeal as large a degree of security and honour as they expect to receive. "
Now as to the war which would give us occasion to be of service, if anyone of you thinks it will not occur he errs in judgment, and fails to perceive that the Lacedaemonians, through fear of you, are eager for war, and that the Corinthians, who have great influence with them and are enemies of yours,This allegation is denied in the speech of the Corinthians, 1.41.1. are making a beginning with us nowOr, retaining καί before προκαταλαμβάνοντι, “and fails to perceive that the Lacedaemonians, through fear of you, are eager for war, and that the Corinthians have great influence with them and are enemies of yours, and are making a beginning with us with a view to a subsequent attack upon you.” with a view to a subsequent attack upon you, in order that we may not be led by our common hatred to take our stand together against them, and that they may not fail, before we unite, to attain their two objects—to harm us and to strengthen themselves.