Book 3
Of the Locrians the people of Amphissa co-operated with him chiefly, these being afraid on account of their enmity to the Phocians; and after these had taken the lead in giving him hostages they persuaded the rest, who were afraid of the invading army, to do likewise—first their neighbours the Myoneans, who held the country from which Locris was most difficult of access, then the Ipneans, Messapians, Tritaeeans, Chalaeans, Tolophonians, Hessians and Oeantheans. All these tribes also took part in the expedition. The Olpaeans gave hostages, but did not take the field with the others; and the Hyaeans refused to give hostages until a village of theirs, Polis by name, was taken.
When all preparations had been made, and the hostages had been deposited at Cytinium in Doris, Eurylochus advanced with his army against Naupactus through the Locrian territory, taking on his march two of their towns, Oeneon and Eupalium, which refused to yield.
And when they reached the territory of Naupactus, the Aetolians meanwhile having come to their support, they ravaged the land and took the outer town, which was not fortified; and advancing against Molycreium, a colony founded by the Corinthians but subject to Athens, they took it.
But Demosthenes the Athenian, who happened to have remained in the neighbourhood of Naupactus after his retreat from Aetolia, got information of the expedition, and fearing for the town went and persuaded the Acarnanians, though with difficulty on account of his withdrawal from Leucas, to come to the aid of Naupactus.
And they sent with him on board the fleetie. the fleet of the Acarnanians themselves; the thirty Athenian ships, which Demosthenes had commanded, had returned to Athens (3.98.5), while those mentioned 3.105.3 did not come till later. one thousand hoplites, who entered the place and saved it; for there was danger that they might not be able to hold out, since the walls were extensive and the defenders few in number.
Eurylochus and his men, perceiving that the army had entered and that it was impossible to take the town by storm, now withdrew, not to the Peloponnesus, but to the district of Aeolis, as it is now called, to Calydon, namely, and Pleuron, and the other towns of that region, and to Proschium in Aetolia.
For the Ambraciots came and urged him to join them in an attack upon Amphilochian Argos and the rest of Amphilochia, and at the same time upon Acarnania, saying that if they got control of these places all the mainland would be brought into alliance with the Lacedaemonians.
Eurylochus was persuaded, and dismissing the Aetolians remained inactive, keeping his army in these regions until the Ambraciots should take the field and the time should come for him to join them in the neighbourhood of Argos. And the summer ended.
The following winter the Athenians in426 B.C. Sicily, with their Hellenic allies and such of the Sicels as had been unwilling subjects and allies of the Syracusans but had now revolted from them and were taking sides with the Athenians, attacked the Sicel town Inessa, the acropolis of which was held by the Syracusans, but being unable to take it
they departed. On their retreat, however, the allies, who were in the rear of the Athenians, were attacked by the Syracusan garrison of the fort, who fell upon them and put to flight part of the army, killing not a few
of them. After this Laches and the Athenians took the fleet and made several descents upon Locris; and at the river Caicinus they defeated in battle about three hundred Locrians who came out against them, under the command of Proxenus son of Capato, took the arms of the fallen, and returned to Rhegium.
During the same winter the Athenians purified Delos in compliance with a certain oracle. It had been purified before by Peisistratus the tyrant,First tyranny 560 B.C.; death 527 B.C. not indeed the whole of the island but that portion of it which was visible from the temple; but at this time the whole of it was purified, and in the following manner.
All the sepulchres of the dead that were in Delos they removed, and proclaimed that thereafter no one should either die or give birth to a child on the island, but should first be carried over to Rheneia. For Rheneia is so short a distance from Delos that Polycrates the tyrant of Samos, who for some time was powerful on the sea and not only gained control of the other islandsThe Cyclades. but also seized Rheneia, dedicated this island to the Delian Apollo, and bound it with a chain to Delos.“As a symbolical expression of indissoluble union” (Curtius). It was at this time, after the purification, that the Athenians first celebrated their pentetericie. celebrated every fifth year. festival in Delos.
There had indeed in ancient times been a great gathering at Delos of the Ionians and the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands; and they used to resort to the festival with their wives and children, as the lonians now do to the Ephesian games; and a contest was formerly held there, both gymnastic and musical, and choruses were sent thither by the cities.
The best evidence that the festival was of this character is given by HomerHomer is clearly regarded by Thucydides as the author of the hymn here cited. How definite a personality he was to Thucydides is shown by the words “in which he also mentions himself.” in the following verses, which are from the hymn to Apollo:προοίμιον, proem or introduction. In connection with epic poems the hymns were called προοίμια, because they were sung before other poems, ie. by the rhapsodists as preludes to their rhapsodies. Schol ἐξ ὕμνου τοὺς γὰρ ὕμνους. προοίμια ἐκάλουν The question has been raised whether the hymn was a prelude to the rhapsodies or was, as e.g. here, in itself a rhapsody. The citations here made by Thucydides are from the Hymn to the Dclian Apollo, 146 ff. and 165 ff.“At other times, Phoebus, Delos is dearest to thy heart, where the lonians in trailing robes are gathered together with their wives and children in thy street;
there they delight thee with boxing and dancing and song, making mention of thy name, whenever they ordain the contest.” And that there was a musical contest also to which men resorted as competitors Homer once more makes clear in the following verses from the same hymn. After commemorating the Delian chorus of women he ends his praise of them with the following verses, in which he also mentions himself: Come now, let Apollo be gracious and Artemis likewise, and farewell, all ye maidens. Yet remember me even in after times, whenever some other toil-enduring man, a dweller upon the earth, shall visit this isle and ask: 'O maidens, what man is the sweetest of minstrels to you of all who wander hither, and in whom do you take most delight? Do you make answer, all with one accord, in gentle words, 'The blind man who dwells in rugged Chios.'
Such is Homer's testimony, showing that in ancient times also there was a great concourse and festival in Delos. And in later times the people of the islands and the Athenians continued to send their choruses with sacrifices, but the contests, and indeed most of the ceremonies, fell into disuse in consequence, probably, of calamities, until the Athenians, at the time of which we now speak, restored the contests and added horse-races, of which there had been none before.
During the same winter the Ambraciots, fulfilling the promise by which they had induced Eurylochus to keep his army there, made an expedition against Amphilochian Argos with three thousand hoplites, and invading its territory took Olpae, a stronghold on the hill near the sea, which the Acarnanians had fortified and had at one time used as a common tribunalie. either a federal court of the Acarnanians, as Steup maintains (see Schoemann, Gr. Aiterthümer, ii, ed. 3. p 76), or a court of justice common to the Acarnanians and Amphilochians (see Kruse, Hellas, ii. p. 333), as Classen explains. The latter view has the support of Steph. Byz.: ὄλπαι φρούριον, κοινὸν ἀκαρνάνων καὶ ἀμφιλόχων δικαστήριον, θουκυδίδης τρίτῃ. of justice; and it is about twenty-five stadia from the city of Argos, which is by the sea.
Meanwhile some of the Acarnanian troops came to the relief of Argos, while the rest encamped at a place in Amphilochia which is called Crenae, keeping guard to prevent the Peloponnesians with Eurylochus from passing through unobserved to join the Ambraciots.
They also sent for Demosthenes, who had led the army of the Athenians into Aetolia, to come and be their leader, as well as for the twenty Athenian shipsAfter the return of the thirty ships (3.98.5), these twenty had been sent out again round the Peloponnesus. Their real goal was Naupactus (3.114.2), but answering the appeal of the Acarnanians they turned aside for the moment to the Ambracian Gulf (3.107.1). which happened to be off the coast of Peloponnesus under the command of Aristotle son of Timocrates and Hierophon son of Antimnestus.
A messenger was also sent by the Ambraciots at Olpae to the city of Ambracia with a request that all the forces of the town should be dispatched to their aid, for they feared that Eurylochus and his troops might not be able to make their way through the Acarnanians, and, in that case, that they themselves would either have to fight single-handed, or, if they wished to retreat, would find that unsafe.
Now the Peloponnesian forces under Eurylochus, when they learned that the Ambraciots had arrived at Olpae, set out from Proschium with all speed to reinforce them, and crossing the Acheloiis advanced through Acarnania, which was without defenders because of the reinforcements which had been sent to Argos, and as they advanced they had the city of Stratus with its garrison on their right, and the rest of Acarnania on their left.
Then traversing the territory of the Stratians they advanced through Phytia, from there skirted the borders of Medeon, and then passed through Limnaea; and finally they reached the country of the Agraeans, being now outside of Acarnania and in a friendly country.
Arriving next at Mt. Thyamus, which belongs to the Agraeans, they went through the pass over it and came down into Argive territory after nightfall, whence they succeeded in passing unobserved between the city of Argos and the Acarnanian guard at Crenae, finally joining the Ambraciots at Olpae.
After the two armies had effected a junction, at daybreak they took post at a place called Metropolis and made camp. Not long afterwards the Athenians with their twenty ships arrived in the Ambracian Gulf, reinforcing the Argives; and Demosthenes also came with two hundred Messenian hoplites and sixty Athenian bowmen.
The ships lay at sea about the hill of Olpae, blockading it; but the Acarnanians and a few of the Amphilochians—for most of these were kept from moving by the Ambraciots—had already gathered at Argos and were preparing for battle with their opponents, having chosen Demosthenes to command the whole allied force in concert with their own generals. And he, leading them close to Olpae, encamped;
and a great ravine separated the two armies. For five days they kept quiet, but on the sixth both sides drew up in order of battle. Now the army of the Peloponnesians was larger than that of Demosthenes and outflanked it; he, therefore, fearing that he might be surrounded, stationed in a sunken road overgrown with buses an ambush of hoplites and light-troops, about four hundred all together, his purpose being that in the very moment of collision these troops should leap from their hiding-place and take the enemy in the rear at the point where his line overlapped.
When both sides were ready they came to close quarters. Demosthenes with the Messenians and a few Athenian troops had the right wing; the rest of the line was held by the Acarnanians, arrayed by tribes, and such Amphilochian javelin-men as were present. But the Peloponnesians and Ambraciots were mingled together, except the Mantineans; these were massed more on the left wing, though not at its extremity, for that position, which was opposite Demosthenes and the Messenians, was held by Eurylochus and the troops under him.
When finally the armies were at close quarters and the Peloponnesians outflanked with their left the right wing of their opponents and were about to encircle it, the Acarnanians, coming upon them from their ambush, fell upon their rear and routed them, so that they did not stand to make resistance and in their panic caused the greater part of their army to take to flight also; for when they saw the division under Eurylochus, their best troops, being cut to pieces, they were far more panic-stricken. And it was the Messenians, who were in this part of the field under the command of Demosthenes, that bore the brunt of the battle.
On the other hand, the Ambraciots and those on the enemy's right wing defeated the troops opposed to themselves, and pursued them to Argos; and indeed these are the best fighters of all the peoples of that region.
When, however, they returned and saw that their main army had been defeated, and the victorious division of the Acarnanians began to press hard upon them, they made their escape with difficulty to Olpae; and many of them were killed, for they rushed on with broken ranks and in disorder all except the Mantineans, who kept their ranks together during the retreat better than any other part of the army. And it was late in the evening before the battle ended.
On the next day, since Eurylochus and Macarius had been slain, Menedaius had on his own responsibility assumed the command, but the defeat had been so serious that he was at his wit's end how, if he remained, he could stand a siege, blockaded as he was by both land and sea by the Athenian fleet, or, if he retreated, could get away safely. He therefore made overtures to Demosthenes and the Athenian generals regarding a truce for his retreat and also about the recovery of his dead.
And they gave back the dead, set up a trophy themselves, and took up their own dead, about three hundred in number. They would not, however, openly agree to a retreat for the whole army, but Demosthenes with his Acarnanian colleagues secretly agreed that the Mantineans and Menedaius and the other Peloponnesian commanders and the most influential men among them might go back home, if they did so speedily. Their object was to isolate the Ambraciots and the miscellaneous crowd of mercenaries,Opinions differ as to who are meant. They were probably mercenaries from the neighbouring Epirote tribes in the pay of the Ambraciots. and above all to discredit the Lacedaemonians and the Peloponnesians with the Hellenes of this region, on the ground that they had committed an act of treachery through preference for their own selfish interests.
Accordingly the Peloponnesians took up their dead and hastily buried them as best they could, while those who had permission began secretly to plan their retreat.
Word was now brought to Demosthenes and the Acarnanians that the inhabitants of the city of Ambracia,As distinguished from the Ambraciots who after the battle were shut up in Olpae (3.111.2). in response to the first message that came from Olpae, were marching in full force through the Amphilochian territory, wishing to join the forces in Olpae, and that they were quite unaware of what had happened.
So he immediately sent a part of his army to forestall these troops by setting ambuscades along the roads and occupying the strong positions, and at the same time began preparations to lead the rest of the army against them.
In the meantime the Mantineans and the others who were included in the agreement, leaving camp on the pretext of gathering pot-herbs and firewood, stole away in small groups, gathering at the same time what they pretended to have gone to seek; then when they had already got some distance from Olpae they quickened their pace.
But the Ambraciots and all the others who happened to have come together in a body, when they realized that these were taking their departure, also set out themselves and ran at full speed, wishing to overtake them.The text is most probably corrupt. Classen offers the best remedy: οἱ δὲ ἀμπρακιῶται καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ὅσοι μονούμενοι ἐτύγχανον οὕτως, ἀθρόοι ξυνελθόντες ὡς ἕγνωσαν ἀπιόντας, ὥρμησαν καὶ αὐτοὶ. . ·“But the Ambraciots and all the others who chanced to be left came together in a body, and when they realised that they were taking their departure set off also themselves . . .”
But the Acarnanians at first thought that all the fugitives were going away without covenant or truce and therefore set off in pursuit of the Peloponnesians; and when some of the generals tried to prevent this, saying that a truce had been made with them, someone hurled javelins at them, believing that they had been betrayed. Afterwards, however, they let the Mantineans and Peloponnesians go, but began to kill the Ambraciots.
And there was much dispute and uncertainty as to whether a man was an Ambraciot or a Peloponnesian. About two hundred of the Ambraciots were slain; the rest of the fugitives escaped into the neighbouring country of Agraea, and were received by Salynthius the king of the Agraeans, who was friendly to them.