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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.26.1-1.26.5

Corinthian Aid and Corcyra's Siege of Epidamnus

Passage 26 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Corinth gladly sends aid and guard forces to Epidamnus, which angers Corcyra, leading them to ally with the exiles and the Illyrians and lay siege to Epidamnus.

§1.26.1πάντων οὖν τούτων ἐγκλήματα ἔχοντες οἱ Κορίνθιοι ἔπεμπον ἐς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον ἄσμενοι τὴν ὠφελίαν, οἰκήτορά τε τὸν βουλόμενον ἰέναι κελεύοντες καὶ Ἀμπρακιωτῶν καὶ Λευκαδίων καὶ ἑαυτῶν φρουρούς.
The Corinthians, having all these grounds of complaint, gladly sent aid to Epidamnus, directing anyone who wished to go as a colonist, and sending guards from the Ambraciots, the Leucadians, and themselves.
§1.26.2ἐπορεύθησαν δὲ πεζῇ ἐς Ἀπολλωνίαν, Κορινθίων οὖσαν ἀποικίαν, δέει τῶν Κερκυραίων μὴ κωλύωνται ὑπ’ αὐτῶν κατὰ θάλασσαν περαιούμενοι.
They went by land to Apollonia, a colony of the Corinthians, for fear that they might be prevented by the Corcyraeans if they crossed by sea.
§1.26.3Κερκυραῖοι δὲ ἐπειδὴ ᾔσθοντο τούς τε οἰκήτορας καὶ φρουροὺς ἥκοντας ἐς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον τήν τε ἀποικίαν Κορινθίοις δεδομένην, ἐχαλέπαινον· καὶ πλεύσαντες εὐθὺς πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι ναυσὶ καὶ ὕστερον ἑτέρῳ στόλῳ τούς τε φεύγοντας ἐκέλευον κατ’ ἐπήρειαν δέχεσθαι αὐτούς (ἦλθον γὰρ ἐς τὴν Κέρκυραν οἱ τῶν Ἐπιδαμνίων φυγάδες, τάφους τε ἀποδεικνύντες καὶ ξυγγένειαν, ἣν προϊσχόμενοι ἐδέοντο σφᾶς κατάγειν) τούς τε φρουροὺς οὓς Κορίνθιοι ἔπεμψαν καὶ τοὺς οἰκήτορας ἀποπέμπειν.
But when the Corcyraeans heard that the colonists and the guards had arrived at Epidamnus, and that the colony had been given to the Corinthians, they were angry; and sailing immediately with twenty-five ships, and afterwards with another fleet, they insultingly ordered them to receive their exiles (for the exiles of the Epidamnians had come to Corcyra, pointing out graves and their kinship, which they pleaded in begging them to restore them) and to send away the guards whom the Corinthians had sent and the colonists.
§1.26.4οἱ δὲ Ἐπιδάμνιοι οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ὑπήκουσαν, ἀλλὰ στρατεύουσιν ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς οἱ Κερκυραῖοι τεσσαράκοντα ναυσὶ μετὰ τῶν φυγάδων ὡς κατάξοντες, καὶ τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς προσλαβόντες.
But the Epidamnians did not listen to them at all; whereupon the Corcyraeans marched against them with forty ships, taking the exiles with them to restore them, and having also secured the alliance of the Illyrians.
§1.26.5προσκαθεζόμενοι δὲ τὴν πόλιν προεῖπον Ἐπιδαμνίων τε τὸν βουλόμενον καὶ τοὺς ξένους ἀπαθεῖς ἀπιέναι· εἰ δὲ μή, ὡς πολεμίοις χρήσεσθαι.
And sitting down before the city, they proclaimed that any of the Epidamnians who wished, and the foreigners, might depart unharmed; otherwise they would treat them as enemies.
ὡς δ’ οὐκ ἐπείθοντο, οἱ μὲν Κερκυραῖοι (ἔστι δ’ ἰσθμὸς τὸ χωρίον) ἐπολιόρκουν τὴν πόλιν,
But when they would not obey, the Corcyraeans (the place being an isthmus) besieged the city.

Notes

  1. 1.26.1πάντων οὖν τούτων ἐγκλήματα ἔχοντες — τούτων is an objective genitive dependent on the noun ἐγκλήματα ("complaints about all these things"). ἔχοντες is a causal participle, meaning "since they had all these grounds of complaint."
  2. 1.26.1οἰκήτορά τε τὸν βουλόμενον ἰέναι κελεύοντες — οἰκήτορα is the subject accusative of the infinitive ἰέναι and also the object of the participle κελεύοντες. τὸν βουλόμενον is a substantival participle modifying οἰκήτορα, meaning "directing anyone who wished to go [as a colonist]."
  3. 1.26.2δέει τῶν Κερκυραίων μὴ κωλύωνται — δέει is a dative of cause ("through fear"). The following clause μὴ κωλύωνται is a fear clause dependent on the noun δέει ("for fear that they might be prevented"). The present subjunctive κωλύωνται is retained from the original thought for vividness, despite following a historical main verb (ἐπορεύθησαν).
  4. 1.26.3κατ’ ἐπήρειαν — The preposition κατὰ with the accusative of ἐπήρεια (spiteful treatment, insult) forms an adverbial phrase meaning "out of spite" or "insultingly."
  5. 1.26.5εἰ δὲ μή, ὡς πολεμίοις χρήσεσθαι — Following εἰ δὲ μή ("otherwise"), the future infinitive χρήσεσθαι is used in indirect discourse dependent on the main verb προεῖπον ("proclaimed"). The subject of the infinitive (the Corcyraeans) is omitted.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.26.1-1.26.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.26.1-1.26.5

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