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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.29.1-1.29.5

Corcyra's Naval Victory and the Fall of Epidamnus

Passage 29 of 917 · Greek

Summary

After Corinth rejects peace proposals and sets sail, Corcyra challenges and decisively defeats the Corinthian fleet in a naval battle, while Epidamnus surrenders to the Corcyraean blockaders on the same day.

§1.29.1Κορίνθιοι δὲ οὐδὲν τούτων ὑπήκουον, ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ πλήρεις αὐτοῖς ἦσαν αἱ νῆες καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι παρῆσαν, προπέμψαντες κήρυκα πρότερον πόλεμον προεροῦντα Κερκυραίοις, ἄραντες ἑβδομήκοντα ναυσὶ καὶ πέντε δισχιλίοις τε ὁπλίταις ἔπλεον ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον Κερκυραίοις ἐναντία πολεμήσοντες·
The Corinthians, however, complied with none of these demands; but when their ships were fully manned and their allies had arrived, they first sent a herald ahead to declare war on the Corcyraeans, and then, setting sail with seventy-five ships and two thousand hoplites, they sailed against Epidamnus to wage war against the Corcyraeans.
§1.29.2ἐστρατήγει δὲ τῶν μὲν νεῶν Ἀριστεὺς ὁ Πελλίχου καὶ Καλλικράτης ὁ Καλλίου καὶ Τιμάνωρ ὁ Τιμάνθους, τοῦ δὲ πεζοῦ Ἀρχέτιμός τε ὁ Εὐρυτίμου καὶ Ἰσαρχίδας ὁ Ἰσάρχου.
The commanders of the ships were Aristeus son of Pellichus, Callicrates son of Callias, and Timanor son of Timanthes; and of the infantry, Archetimus son of Eurytimus and Isarchidas son of Isarchus.
§1.29.3ἐπειδὴ δ’ ἐγένοντο ἐν Ἀκτίῳ τῆς Ἀνακτορίας γῆς, οὗ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνός ἐστιν, ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τοῦ Ἀμπρακικοῦ κόλπου, οἱ Κερκυραῖοι κήρυκά τε προύπεμψαν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀκατίῳ ἀπεροῦντα μὴ πλεῖν ἐπὶ σφᾶς καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἅμα ἐπλήρουν, ζεύξαντές τε τὰς παλαιὰς ὥστε πλωίμους εἶναι καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἐπισκευάσαντες.
When they reached Actium in the territory of Anactorium, where the temple of Apollo stands, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, the Corcyraeans sent a herald ahead to them in a small boat to forbid them to sail against them, and at the same time they manned their own ships, having undergirded the old ones so as to make them seaworthy and repaired the others.
§1.29.4ὡς δὲ ὁ κῆρύξ τε ἀπήγγειλεν οὐδὲν εἰρηναῖον παρὰ τῶν Κορινθίων καὶ αἱ νῆες αὐτοῖς ἐπεπλήρωντο οὖσαι ὀγδοήκοντα (τεσσαράκοντα γὰρ Ἐπίδαμνον ἐπολιόρκουν), ἀνταναγαγόμενοι καὶ παραταξάμενοι ἐναυμάχησαν·
But when the herald returned with no peaceful message from the Corinthians, and their own ships had been fully manned, amounting to eighty in number (for forty others were besieging Epidamnus), they put out to sea against the enemy, drew up in line, and fought a naval battle.
§1.29.5καὶ ἐνίκησαν οἱ Κερκυραῖοι παρὰ πολὺ καὶ ναῦς πέντε καὶ δέκα διέφθειραν τῶν Κορινθίων.
The Corcyraeans won a decisive victory and destroyed fifteen of the Corinthian ships.
τῇ δὲ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ αὐτοῖς ξυνέβη καὶ τοὺς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον πολιορκοῦντας παραστήσασθαι ὁμολογίᾳ ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ἐπήλυδας ἀποδόσθαι, Κορινθίους δὲ δήσαντας ἔχειν ἕως ἂν ἄλλο τι δόξῃ.
On the same day, it also happened that those besieging Epidamnus forced the city to surrender on terms, on the condition that they should sell the newcomers into slavery, and keep the Corinthians in bonds until something else should be decided.

Notes

  1. 1.29.1προεροῦντα — The future active participle expresses purpose ('in order to declare beforehand').
  2. 1.29.3ζεύξαντες — Refers to the reinforcement or binding of ship hulls (undergirding) to restore the seaworthiness of older, worn-out vessels (τὰς παλαιὰς).
  3. 1.29.5παραστήσασθαι — The middle infinitive of παρίστημι, meaning 'to bring over to one's side' or 'to force to surrender'. It is part of the accusative-with-infinitive construction functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb ξυνέβη; its subject accusative is τοὺς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον πολιορκοῦντας.
  4. 1.29.5ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ἐπήλυδας ἀποδόσθαι — The conjunction ὥστε introduces the terms or conditions of the capitulation. ἀποδόσθαι is the middle infinitive of ἀποδίδωμι, meaning 'to sell' (specifically, into slavery).

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.29.1-1.29.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.29.1-1.29.5

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