Kitap 1
Nay, they were thinking of their voyage home, how they should return; being afraid that the Athenians might consider the treaty to have been broken, because they had come to blows, and not allow them to sail away.
They determined therefore to put some men on board a skiff and send them without a herald's wand to the Athenians, and make an experiment.
And having sent them, they spoke as follows: You do wrong, Athenians, in beginning war, and breaking treaty: for while we are avenging ourselves on our enemies, you stand in our way, and raise arms against us. Now if your purpose is to stop our sailing to Corcyra, or wherever else we wish, and if you mean to break the treaty, λύετε is the present tense with a kind of future signification, as it often has. If you are for breaking, etc. then seize us here in the first place, and treat us as enemies.
They spoke to this effect, and all the army of the Corcyraeans that heard them immediately cried out, Seize them and put them to death! But the Athenians answered as follows:
We are neither commencing war, Peloponnesians, nor breaking the treaty; but we have come to assist the Corcyraeans here, who are our allies. If therefore you wish to sail any where else, we do not stop you; but if you sail against Corcyra, or to any of the places belonging to them, we shall, to the best of our power, not permit it.
The Athenians having made this reply, the Corinthians began to prepare for their voyage homewards, and erected a trophy at Sybota on the continent: while the Corcyraeans took up the wrecks and dead bodies which had been carried to them by the current and the wind, which had risen in the night, and scattered them in all directions; and erected a counter-trophy at Sybota on the island, considering that they had been victorious.
It was on the following view of the case that each side claimed the victory.—The Corinthians erected a trophy, as having had the advantage in the battle until night, so that they got possession of most wrecks and dead bodies; as having no less than a thousand prisoners; and as having sunk more than seventy ships. The Corcyraeans erected a trophy for these reasons;—because they had destroyed about thirty ships; and after the Athenians were come, had taken up the wrecks and dead on their side; and because the Corinthians the day before had rowed sternwards and retreated from them, on seeing the Athenian ships; and after they were come, Arnold repeats the οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι with ἦλθον, and refers to chap. 52. 2, which, he thinks, decides that the words are rightly inserted, and that the Athenians are the real subject of the verb ἦλθον, Poppo puts the words in brackets, and Göller omits them altogether. did not sail out from Sybota to oppose them. Thus each side claimed to be victorious.
As the Corinthians were sailing away homeward, they took by treachery Anactorium, which is situated at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, and was possessed in common by the Corcyraeans and them; and after establishing in it a Corinthian population [only], i. e. to the exclusion of the Corcyraeans, who had before had joint possession of the town with them. they retired homewards; and of the Corcyraeans, eight hundred who were slaves they sold, but two hundred and fifty they kept in custody, and treated with great attention, that on their return they might win over Corcyra to them. For most of them happened to be the first men of the city in power.
Corcyra then in this way outlived the war Or, as Göller interprets it, had the better of the war. with the Corinthians; and the ships of the Athenians returned from it. This was the first ground the Corinthians had for their war against the Athenians, namely, that in time of peace they had fought with them by sea in conjunction with the Corcyraeans.
Immediately after this the following disagreements arose between the Athenians and Peloponnesians, to lead them to war.
While the Corinthians were contriving how to avenge themselves on them, the Athenians, suspecting their hostility, ordered the Potidaeans, who live on the isthmus of Pallene, being colonists of the Corinthians, but their own subjects and tributaries, to throw down the wall towards Pallene, and give hostages; and to dismiss, and not receive in future, the magistrates The term δημιουργοί, or δαμιουργοί, was a title applied to the chief magistrates of the Peloponnesians, expressive of their doing 'the service of the people.'—Asclepiades, as quoted by the Scholiast, considers the preposition ἐπί superfluous. Göller understands it to express an additional or extra magistrate, sent by the mother country to act as a colleague to the demiurgi appointed by the colonists themselves. —Arnold. whom the Corinthians used to send every year; being afraid that they might revolt at the instigation of Perdiccas and the Corinthians, and lead the rest of their allies Thrace-ward A general term appalled to the Greek states which lined the northern, coast of the Aegean from Thessaly to the Hellespont. —Arnold. to revolt with them.
These precautionary measures with regard to the Potidaeans the Athenians began to adopt immediately after the sea-fight at Corcyra.
For the Corinthians were now openly at variance with then; and Perdiccas the son of Alexander, king of the Macedonians, had been made their enemy, though he was before an ally and a friend.
He became such, because the Athenians had made an alliance with his brother Philip and Derdas, when acting together against him.
And being alarmed, he both sent to Lacedaemon, and tried to contrive that they might be involved in war with the Peloponnesians, and endeavoured to win over the Corinthians, with a view to Potidaea's revolting;
and made proposals also to the Thrace-ward Chalcidians and the Bottiaeans to join in the revolt, thinking that if he had in alliance with him these places on his borders, he should more easily carry on the war in conjunction with them.
The Athenians perceiving these things, and wishing to anticipate the revolt of the cities, as they happened to be sending out thirty ships and a thousand heavy-armed against his country, with Archestratus, the son of Lycomedes, as general with ten others, gave orders to the commanders of the fleet to take hostages of the Potidaeans, and throw down the wall, and keep a watchful eye over the neighbouring cities, to prevent their revolting.
Now the Potidaeans sent ambassadors to the Athenians, to try if by any means they might persuade them to adopt no new measures against them; and went also to Lacedaemon in company with the Corinthians, to provide themselves with assistance, should it be necessary; and when, after long negotiating, they obtained no favourable answer from the Athenians, but the ships commissioned against Macedonia were sailing just as much against them and when the authorities at Lacedaemon promised them, that should the Athenians go against Potidaea, they would make an incursion into Attica; then indeed, at that favourable moment, they revolted with the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, having entered into a league together.
And Perdiccas persuaded the Chalcidians to abandon and throw down their cities on the sea, and remove inland to Olynthus, and make that one city a place of strength for themselves. And to those who abandoned them he gave a part of his own territory in Mygdonia, round lake Bolbe, to enjoy as long as the war with the Athenians lasted. And so, throwing down their cities, they removed inland, and prepared for war.
The thirty ships of the Athenians arrived at the Thraceward towns, and found Potidaea and the rest in revolt:
and the generals thinking it impossible with their present force to carry on war both with Philip and the revolted towns, turned their attention to Macedonia, the object for which they were first sent out; and having established themselves there, i. e. Quum eo venissent, castra posuissent. —Bauer as quoted by Göller. Or it may mean no more than having set to, as in the passages quoted in the note on chap. 49. 3. carried on the war in conjunction with Philip and the brothers of Derdas, who had invaded the country with an army from the interior.
And at this time, when Potidaea had revolted and the Athenian ships were cruising about Macedonia, the Corinthians, being alarmed for the place, and considering the danger to affect themselves, sent volunteers of their own people and mercenaries of the rest of the Peloponnesians, sixteen hundred heavy-armed in all and four hundred light-armed.
Their general was Aristeus, the son of Adimantus; and it was from friendship for him especially that most of the soldiers from Corinth joined the expedition as volunteers; for he was always favourably disposed towards the Potidaeans.
And they arrived in Thrace the fortieth day after Potidaea had revolted.
To the Athenians too came immediately the tidings of the cities having revolted; and when they found that the forces with Aristeus had gone there besides, they sent two thousand heavy-armed of their own men and forty slips to the revolted towns, with Callias, the son of Calliades, as general with four others;
who, on arriving in Macedonia first, found that the former thousand had just taken Therme, and were besieging Pydna.
So they also sat down before Pydna, and besieged it; but afterwards, having made terms and a compulsory alliance i. e. which they only made because they could not help it. Compare II. 70. 1, βρώσεως πέρι ἀναγκαίας Food which none but a starving man would eat. —Arnold with Perdiccas, as they were hurried on by Potidaea and the arrival of Aristeus there, they withdrew from Macedonia;
and having gone to Beroea, and thence turned again [to the coast], (after first attempting the place without taking it,) they continued their march by land to Potidaea, with three thousand heavy-armed of their own, and many of the allies besides, and six hundred horse of the Macedonians with Philip and Pausanias. At the same time seventy ships were sailing in a line with them.
And advancing by short marches, they arrived at Gigonus, and pitched their camp.
Now the Potidaeans and the Peloponnesians with Aristeus, in expectation of the Athenians, were encamped towards Olynthus, on the isthmus, and had established their market outside the city.
As general of all the infantry the allies had chosen Aristeus; of the cavalry, Perdiccas; for he had broken terms again immediately with the Athenians, and was in alliance with the Potidaeans, having appointed Iolaus to represent him as commander.
The plan of Aristeus was to keep his own force ἔχοντι.] Constructio ad sensum facta: nam verborum τοϋ Ἀριστέως νώμη ἦν idem sensus, ac si dixisset τῷ Ἀριστεῖ ἔδοξε.—Göller. on the isthmus, and watch the Athenians, in case of their coming against them; while the Chalcidians, and the allies beyond the isthmus, and the two hundred cavalry with Perdiccas, should remain at Olynthus; and when the Athenians advanced against his force, they should come up in their rear to assist him, and enclose the enemy between them.
But on the other hand, Callias, the general of the Athenians and his fellow-commanders, despatch the cavalry of the Macedonians and a few of the allies towards Olynthus, to prevent the troops there from giving any assistance; while they themselves broke up their camp, and proceeded to Potidaea.
And when they were at the isthmus, and saw the enemy preparing for battle, they also took an opposite position; and not long after they began the engagement.
And just the wing of Aristeus, and such picked troops of the Corinthians and the rest as were around him, routed the wing opposed to them, and advanced in pursuit a considerable distance; but the remaining force of the Potidaeans and Peloponnesians was beaten by the Athenians, and fled within the wall for refuge.
When Aristeus was returning from the pursuit, seeing the rest of the army conquered, he was at a loss which place he should risk going to, whether towards Olynthus, or to Potidaea. He determined, however, to draw his men into as small a space as possible, and at a running pace force his way into Potidaea: and he passed along the breakwater through the sea, annoyed by missiles [from the Athenian slips], and with difficulty; having lost a few men, but saved the rest.
Now the auxiliaries of the Potidaeans from Olynthus, (the town is about sixty stades off, and within sight,) when the battle was beginning, and the signals had been hoisted, advanced a short distance to give succour, and the Macedonian horse drew up against them to prevent it; but when the victory soon declared for the Athenians, and the signals had been taken down, they retired again within the wall, and the Macedonians to the Athenians. So neither side had any cavalry present [in the engagement].
After the battle the Athenians erected a trophy, and gave back their dead to the Potidaeans under truce. There were killed of the Potidaeans and their allies a little less than three hundred, and of the Athenians themselves one hundred and fifty, and Callias their general.
Now against the wall on Literally, having walled off, i.e. cut off by a transverse wall from communication with the country. The absence of any such wall on the opposite side of the city is afterwards expressed by τὴν παλλήνην ἀτείχιστον οὖσαν. the side of the isthmus the Athenians immediately raised works, and manned them. But that towards Pallene had no works raised against it; for they did not think themselves strong enough both to keep a garrison on the isthmus, and to cross over to Pallene and raise works there; fearing that the Potidaeans and their allies might attack them when divided.
And the Athenians in the city, hearing that Pallene had no works on it, some time after send sixteen hundred heavy-armed of their own, and Phormio, the son of Asopius, as general; who reached Pallene, and setting out from Aphytis, I do not think that more is meant by ὁρμώμενος in this passage than that he set out by land from Aphytis, having come with his ships to that place, as being the most convenient for his plan of advancing to Potidaea through Pallene. led his army to Potidaea, advancing by short marches, and ravaging the country at the same time: and when no one came out to offer him battle, he threw up works against the wall on the side of Pallene.