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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.30.1-1.30.4

Corcyraean Control of the Sea and Confrontation with Corinth

Passage 30 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Following their victory in the naval battle, the Corcyraeans dominated the surrounding sea and attacked Corinthian allies, prompting the Corinthians to send forces for defense; both sides remained in opposing camps for the summer before returning home.

§1.30.1μετὰ δὲ τὴν ναυμαχίαν οἱ Κερκυραῖοι τροπαῖον στήσαντες ἐπὶ τῇ Λευκίμμῃ τῆς Κερκυραίας ἀκρωτηρίῳ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους οὓς ἔλαβον αἰχμαλώτους ἀπέκτειναν, Κορινθίους δὲ δήσαντες εἶχον.
After the naval battle, the Corcyraeans, having erected a trophy on Leukimme, a promontory of Corcyra, put to death the other prisoners whom they had taken, but kept the Corinthians in bonds.
§1.30.2ὕστερον δέ, ἐπειδὴ οἱ Κορίνθιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἡσσημένοι ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπ᾽ οἴκου, τῆς θαλάσσης ἁπάσης ἐκράτουν τῆς κατ’ ἐκεῖνα τὰ χωρία οἱ Κερκυραῖοι, καὶ πλεύσαντες ἐς Λευκάδα τὴν Κορινθίων ἀποικίαν τῆς γῆς ἔτεμον καὶ Κυλλήνην τὸ Ἠλείων ἐπίνειον ἐνέπρησαν, ὅτι ναῦς καὶ χρήματα παρέσχον Κορινθίοις.
Afterwards, when the Corinthians and their allies, defeated in the naval battle, had returned home, the Corcyraeans became masters of the whole sea in those parts, and sailing to Leucas, a colony of the Corinthians, they ravaged its territory, and burnt Cyllene, the dockyard of the Eleans, because they had provided ships and money to the Corinthians.
§1.30.3τοῦ τε χρόνου τὸν πλεῖστον μετὰ τὴν ναυμαχίαν ἐπεκράτουν τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τοὺς τῶν Κορινθίων ξυμμάχους ἐπιπλέοντες ἔφθειρον, μέχρι οὗ Κορίνθιοι περιιόντι τῷ θέρει πέμψαντες ναῦς καὶ στρατιάν, ἐπεὶ σφῶν οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἐπόνουν, ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο ἐπὶ Ἀκτίῳ καὶ περὶ τὸ Χειμέριον τῆς Θεσπρωτίδος φυλακῆς ἕνεκα τῆς τε Λευκάδος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πόλεων ὅσαι σφίσι φίλιαι ἦσαν.
For most of the time after the battle they remained masters of the sea, and sailing against the allies of the Corinthians, they harassed them, until the Corinthians, as the summer was drawing to a close, since their allies were suffering, sent ships and an army, and encamped at Actium and about Cheimerium in Thesprotis, for the protection of Leucas and the other cities that were friendly to them.
§1.30.4ἀντεστρατοπεδεύοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ Κερκυραῖοι ἐπὶ τῇ Λευκίμμῃ ναυσί τε καὶ πεζῷ.
The Corcyraeans also encamped opposite them at Leukimme with both ships and land forces.
ἐπέπλεον δὲ οὐδέτεροι ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέρος τοῦτο ἀντικαθεζόμενοι χειμῶνος ἤδη ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπ᾽ οἴκου ἑκάτεροι.
Neither side sailed against the other, but remaining in these opposing positions during this summer, they both returned home as winter was already coming on.

Notes

  1. §1.30.1δήσαντες εἶχον — A periphrasis combining the participle δήσαντες (having bound) and the imperfect εἶχον (held), expressing a continuous state of keeping the prisoners in captivity ('kept in bonds').
  2. §1.30.3τοῦ τε χρόνου τὸν πλεῖστον — An accusative of duration of time meaning 'for the most part of the time.' The genitive τοῦ χρόνου functions as a partitive genitive modifying τὸν πλεῖστον.
  3. §1.30.3περιιόντι τῷ θέρει — Though it can mean 'with the revolving summer,' here it refers to the time when the summer in which the battle took place was drawing to a close (dative of time). περιιόντι is the present participle of περιιέναι (to go round, pass).
  4. §1.30.3μέχρι οὗ — Used conjunctionally to mean 'until the time when' or 'up to the point that.' It developed from an ellipsis where a word like χρόνου (time) was omitted as the antecedent of the relative pronoun οὗ.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.30.1-1.30.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.30.1-1.30.4

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