Kitap 2
But eleven of these, which were in the lead, got past the Peloponnesian wing, as it swung round, and escaped into the open water; but the rest were overtaken, driven ashore as they attempted to escape, and disabled, and all the Athenians on them who did not succeed in swimming ashore were slain.
Some of the ships they made fast to their own and proceeded to tow away empty—though they had already captured one with its crew—but some others, which were already in tow, were taken from them by the Messenians, who came to the rescue, rushed armed as they were into the sea, boarded the ships, and fought from their decks.
In this quarter, then, the Peloponnesians were victorious and had disabled the Athenian ships; but the twenty ships covering their right wing were pursuing the eleven Athenian ships which had got past them as they swung round and had escaped into the open water. And all the eleven except one reached Naupactus ahead of them, and riding at anchor off the Temple of Apollo, prows outward, made ready to defend themselves if the enemy put in toward the shore to attack them.
When the Peloponnesians came up they were singing the paean as they rowed as if they were victorious already, and one Leucadian ship, far ahead of the rest, was chasing the single Athenian ship which lagged behind.
But, as it chanced, a merchantman was lying at anchor in deep water and this the Athenian ship succeeded in reaching first and, sailing round it, rammed the pursuing Leucadian vessel amidships and sank her.
At this unexpected and amazing feat consternation fell upon the Peloponnesians, who were, moreover, pursuing in disorder because they had the upper hand; on some of their ships the rowers sank their oars into the water and checked the headway of their vessels, intending to await the main body of their fleet- a serious mistake to make in the face of an enemy lying near and ready for the chargewhile others, unfamiliar with the waters there, ran aground in the shallows.
As for the Athenians, when they saw what was happening, they took courage, and at a single word of command gave a shout and dashed at them. But the Peloponnesians had made so many mistakes and were at present in such disorder, that, although they resisted a little while, they soon turned and fled to Panormus, whence they had put to sea.
The Athenians gave chase, and not only captured the six ships that were nearest, but also recovered their own ships which the enemy had disabled in the beginning of the fight near the shore and taken in tow; and of the men they killed some and took others alive.
But Timocrates the Lacedaemonian, who was on board the Leucadian ship which was sunk near the merchantmen, slew himself when he saw that his ship was lost, and his body was washed up in the harbour of Naupactus.
The Athenians now withdrew and set up a trophy at the placeThe point is not certain; either near the Molycrian Rhium (Thuc. 2.86.2), or off the Apollonium (Thuc. 2.91.1). from which they had set out and won the victory;
and they took up their dead and such of the wrecked ships as were close to their own shore, giving back to the enemy under a truce those which belonged to them. But the Peloponnesians also set up, in token of victory, a trophy for the defeat of the ships which had been disabled near the shore.
And the ships which they had taken they dedicated on the Achaean Rhium by the side of the trophy.
And after this, fearing the reinforcements expected from Athens,Thuc. 2.86.6. they sailed under cover of night into the Crisaean Gulf and to Corinth, all except the Leucadians. And not long after their retreat the twenty Athenian ships from Crete,Thuc. 2.85.5. which were to have joined Phormio in time for the battle, arrived at Naupactus. And so the summer ended.
However, before dispersing the fleet which had retired to Corinth and the Crisaean Gulf, at the beginning of the winter Cnemus and Brasidas and the other Peloponnesian commanders, instigated by the Megarians, wished to make an attempt upon the Peiraeus, the port of Athens; for it was unguarded and unclosed, and quite naturally, since the Athenians were decidedly superior at sea.
And it was determined that each sailor, taking his oar and cushion and oar-loop, should go on foot from Corinth to the sea on the Athenian side and hastening to Megara should launch from the docks at Nisaea forty slips of theirs which chanced to be there, and then sail straight for the Peiraeus.
For there was no fleet on guard in the harbour, nor was there any expectation that the enemy would ever suddenly attack it in this way, since they would not dare such a thing openly, and if they should plan it secretly they would not fail to be detected in time.
But once they had determined upon the scheme they set to work immediately. Reaching Nisaea at night they launched the ships and sailed, not now to the Peiraeus as they had intended, since they were appalled by the risk—and a wind, too, is said to have prevented them—but to the promontory of Salamis that looks towards Megara. There was a fort here and a guard of three ships to prevent anything from entering or leaving the harbour of the Megarians. This fort they assaulted, towed away the triremes without their crews, and ravaged the rest of Salamis, falling on the inhabitants unawares.
Meanwhile fire-signals indicating a hostile attack were flashed to Athens, where a panic was caused as great as any in this war.This must refer to the so-called Decelean War (or last ten years of the Peloponnesian War), for in Thuc. 8.96.1 we read that a panic occurred greater than any before (τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ... ἔκπληξις μεγίστη δὴ τῶν πρὶν παρέστη). For the inhabitants of the city thought that the enemy had already entered the Peiraeus, and those of the Peiraeus that they had taken Salamis and were all but sailing into their own harbour-as indeed might easily have happened if the enemy had resolved that there should be no flinching;
and no mere wind would have prevented them. But at dawn the Athenians hastened down to the Peiraeus with all their forces, launched ships, and embarking in haste and with much confusion sailed with the fleet to Salamis, setting their landforces to guard the Peiraeus.
The Peloponnesians had already overrun most of Salamis and had taken prisoners and booty and the three ships at the fort of Budorum, when they saw the relief expedition coming, whereupon they sailed in haste toward Nisaea; to some extent too there was apprehension about their own ships, which had not been drawn down into the sea for a long time and were anything but water-tight.
On reaching Megara they withdrew on foot to Corinth, and the Athenians, finding them no longer at Salamis, likewise sailed back. After this they kept stricter guard over the Peiraeus, closing up the harbouri.e. by prolonging the walls at the entrance so as to leave only a narrow passage in the centre, which could be closed by a chain. as well as taking other precautions.
About the same time, at the beginning of this winter, Sitalces the Odrysian, a son of Teres, king of the Thracians, made an expedition against Perdiccas son of Alexander, king of Macedonia, and against the Chalcidians of Thrace, wishing to exact fulfilment of one promise and to make good another.
For when Perdiccas was being hard pressed at the beginning of the war he had made Sitalces a promise on condition that he should reconcile him to the Athenians and should not bring back his brother Philip, who was hostile, to make him king; but Perdiccas would not fulfil his promise. On the other hand, Sitalces had made an agreement with the Athenians,Thuc. 2.29.4. at the time he entered into the alliance with them, to bring to an end their war with the Chalcidians in Thrace.
For both these reasons, then, he now began the invasion, and he took with him Philip's son, Amyntas,Philip died meanwhile. with a view to making him king of the Macedonians, as well as some Athenian envoys who had come to see him on this business, and Hagnon as commanderAs commander of expected Athenian troops, which however failed to come (Thuc. 2.101.1).; for the Athenians were to furnish a fleet and as large an army as possibleThuc. 1.101.1. for the war against the Chalcidians.
Sitalces, accordingly, beginning with the Odrysians, summoned to his standard, first the Thracians under his sway between the mountains HaemusThe modern Balkans. and RhodopeNow Despotodagh. and the sea,—as far as the shores of the Euxine and the Hellespont,— then, beyond Haemus, the Getae, and all the other tribes that are settled south of the river IsterDanube. in the general direction of the seaboard of the Euxine sea; and the Getae and the people of that region are not only neighbours of the Scythians but are also equipped like them, all of them being mounted archers.
And he summoned also many of the mountain Thracians who are independent and wear short swords, who are called Dii, most of them inhabiting Rhodope; and some of these were won to his service by pay, while others came along as volunteers.
He called out, further, the Agrianians and Laeaeans, and all the other Paeonian tribes which were under his sway.Paeonian tribes that dwelt in the mountain regions bordering on Macedonia, watered by the Upper Strymon and the Axius; most of them were afterwards subject to Macedonia. These peoples were at the outer limits of his empire ; for the bounds of his empire extended, on the side towards the Paeonians, who are independent, as far as the Laeaean Paeonians and the river Strymon,Now Struma. which flows from mount Scombrus through the country of the Agrianians and the Laeaeans.
On the side toward the Triballi, who also are independent, the boundary is formed by the Treres and Tilataeans; and these dwell to the north of Mount Scombrus and extend toward the west as far as the river Oscius.Now Isker. This river has its source in the same mountains as the NestusNow Masta. and the HebrusNow Maritza.-a mountain range of great extent and uninhabited that is adjacent to Rhodope.
Now the empire of the OdrysiansCoinciding in the main with modern Bulgaria. in respect to its size extended along the sea-coast from the city of Abdera to the Euxine Sea as far as the river Ister. This stretch of coast constitutes a voyage for a merchant-vessel, if the shortest course is taken and the wind keeps steady astern, of four days and as many nights; but the journey by land from Abdera to the Ister can be accomplished by an active man, taking the shortest route, in eleven days.
Such was its extent on its seaboard; but inland the distance from Byzantium to the Laeaeans and the river Strymon-for this was its inland point farthest distant from the sea—it is possible for an active man to cover in thirteen days.
As for the tribute which came in from the barbarian territory and from all the Hellenic cities over which the Odrysians acquired sway in the time of SeuthesNephew and successor of Sitalces: cf. Thuc. 2.101.5, Thuc. 2.101.6; Thuc. 4.101.5.—who, succeeding Sitalces on the throne, brought the revenues to their maximum—its value was about four hundred talents£81,000, $388,800. in coin, and was paid in gold and silver; and gifts equal in value to the tribute, not only of gold and silver, but besides these all manner of stuffs, both embroidered and plain, and other articles for household use, were brought as offerings to the king, and not for him only, but also for the subordinate princes and nobles of the Odrysians.
For these kings had established a custom which was just the opposite of that prevailing in the kingdom of the Persians,Among the Persians the monarch gave rather than received presents: cf. διαμένει δ’ ἔτι καὶ νῦν τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ἡ πολυδωρία. Xen. Cyrop. 8.2.7 namely, to take rather than to give; indeed it was more disgraceful for a man not to give when asked than to ask and be refused. This custom was observed among the other Thracians also; but the Odrysian kings, as they were more powerful, followed it more extensively; indeed it was not possible to accomplish anything without giving gifts.
Consequently the kingdom attained to a great degree of power. For of all the kingdoms in Europe between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine Sea it was the greatest in revenue of money and in general prosperity; but as regards the strength and size of its army, it was distinctly inferior to the Scythian kingdom.Contradicting Θρηίκων δὲ ἔθνος μέγιστον ἐστὶ μετά γε Ἰνδοὺς πάντων ἀνθρώπων· εἰ δὲ ὑπ’ ἑνὸς ἄρχοιτο ἢ φρονέοι κατὰ τὠυτό, ἄμαχόν τ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ πολλῷ κράτιστον πάντων ἐθνέων κατὰ γνώμην τὴν ἐμήν. Hdt. 5.3.
With that not only are the nations of Europe unable to compete, but even in Asia, nation against nation, there is none which can make a stand against the Scythians if they all act in concert. However, with reference to wise counsel and intelligence about the things that belong to the enrichment of life the Scythians are not to be compared with other nations.
Such then was the extent of the country over which Sitalces ruled at the time when he was preparing his army. But when everything was ready, he set out for Macedonia, proceeding first through his own territory, then through the desolate range of Cercine, which lies between the Sinti and Paeonians. And he passed over this mountain by the road which he himself had constructed before, when he made an expedition against the Paeonians, cutting a path through the forest.
As his army crossed the mountain, leaving the country of the Odrysians, they had the Paeonians on the right and on the left the Sinti and Maedi;
and when they came out on the other side they arrived at Doberus in Paeonia. On the march his army suffered no loss, except from sickness, but rather was augmented; for many of the independent Thracians joined the expedition unsummoned, in the hope of plunder, so that the whole number is said to have been not less than a hundred and fifty thousand, the greater part being infantry, about onethird cavalry.
Of the cavalry the Odrysians themselves furnished the largest contingent, and next to them the Getae; while of the infantry the swordwearers, independent tribes that came down from Mount Rhodope, were the best fighters, the rest of the army that followed, a miscellaneous horde, being formidable chiefly on account of its numbers.
So Sitalces' army was being mustered at Doberus and preparing to pass over the mountain crest and descend upon lower Macedonia, of which Perdiccas was ruler.
For the Macedonian race includes also the Lyncestians, Elimiotes, and other tribes of the upper country, which, though in alliance with the nearer Macedonians and subject to them, have kings of their own;