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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.49.1-1.49.7

Battle of Sybota and Direct Athenian Intervention

Passage 49 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The naval battle begins between the Corinthians and Corcyraeans, developing into a fierce and unskilful clash resembling a land battle. Although the Athenian ships initially refrain from active combat, they are forced to directly intervene and clash with the Corinthians as the Corcyraeans face imminent defeat.

§1.49.1ξυμμείξαντες δέ, ἐπειδὴ τὰ σημεῖα ἑκατέροις ἤρθη, ἐναυμάχουν, πολλοὺς μὲν ὁπλίτας ἔχοντες ἀμφότεροι ἐπὶ τῶν καταστρωμάτων, πολλοὺς δὲ τοξότας τε καὶ ἀκοντιστάς, τῷ παλαιῷ τρόπῳ ἀπειρότερον ἔτι παρεσκευασμένοι.
When they met, after the signals had been raised on both sides, they began the naval battle, both having many hoplites on their decks, and many archers and javelin-throwers, being still prepared in the old-fashioned and rather unskilful way.
§1.49.2ἦν τε ἡ ναυμαχία καρτερά, τῇ μὲν τέχνῃ οὐχ ὁμοίως, πεζομαχίᾳ δὲ τὸ πλέον προσφερὴς οὖσα.
And the sea-fight was a stubborn one, not so much in point of skill, but being for the most part more like a land-battle.
§1.49.3ἐπειδὴ γὰρ προσβάλοιεν ἀλλήλοις, οὐ ῥᾳδίως ἀπελύοντο ὑπό τε τοῦ πλήθους καὶ ὄχλου τῶν νεῶν, καὶ μᾶλλόν τι πιστεύοντες τοῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ καταστρώματος ὁπλίταις ἐς τὴν νίκην, οἳ καταστάντες ἐμάχοντο ἡσυχαζουσῶν τῶν νεῶν·
For whenever they charged one another, they did not easily get clear again, owing to the multitude and throng of the ships, and because they trusted for victory rather to the hoplites on the deck, who stood and fought while the ships remained stationary.
διέκπλοι δ’ οὐκ ἦσαν, ἀλλὰ θυμῷ καὶ ῥώμῃ τὸ πλέον ἐναυμάχουν ἢ ἐπιστήμῃ.
There were no maneuvers of breaking through the line, but they fought the battle with passion and strength rather than with science.
§1.49.4πανταχῇ μὲν οὖν πολὺς θόρυβος καὶ ταραχώδης ἦν ἡ ναυμαχία, ἐν ᾗ αἱ Ἀττικαὶ νῆες παραγιγνόμεναι τοῖς Κερκυραίοις, εἴ πῃ πιέζοιντο, φόβον μὲν παρεῖχον τοῖς ἐναντίοις, μάχης δὲ οὐκ ἦρχον δεδιότες οἱ στρατηγοὶ τὴν πρόρρησιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων.
Thus there was great confusion everywhere, and the sea-fight was a chaotic one; in which the Attic ships, coming to the aid of the Corcyraeans whenever they were hard pressed in any quarter, struck fear into the enemy, but the generals, fearing the instructions of the Athenians, did not begin the fight.
§1.49.5μάλιστα δὲ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας τῶν Κορινθίων ἐπόνει· οἱ γὰρ Κερκυραῖοι εἴκοσι ναυσὶν αὐτοὺς τρεψάμενοι καὶ καταδιώξαντες σποράδας ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον καὶ μέχρι τοῦ στρατοπέδου πλεύσαντες αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπεκβάντες ἐνέπρησάν τε τὰς σκηνὰς ἐρήμους καὶ τὰ χρήματα διήρπασαν.
It was the right wing of the Corinthians that suffered most; for the Corcyraeans, having routed them with twenty ships and pursued them in a scattered fashion to the mainland, sailed as far as their camp, and landing there, burnt the abandoned tents and plundered their property.
§1.49.6ταύτῃ μὲν οὖν οἱ Κορίνθιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἡσσῶντό [τε] καὶ οἱ Κερκυραῖοι ἐπεκράτουν· ᾗ δὲ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν οἱ Κορίνθιοι, ἐπὶ τῷ εὐωνύμῳ, πολὺ ἐνίκων, τοῖς Κερκυραίοις τῶν εἴκοσι νεῶν ἀπὸ ἐλάσσονος πλήθους ἐκ τῆς διώξεως οὐ παρουσῶν.
On this side, then, the Corinthians and their allies were defeated and the Corcyraeans were victorious; but where the Corinthians themselves were, on the left wing, they were winning a great victory, because the twenty ships of the Corcyraeans, out of their already smaller number, were absent on the pursuit.
§1.49.7οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι ὁρῶντες τοὺς Κερκυραίους πιεζομένους μᾶλλον ἤδη ἀπροφασίστως ἐπεκούρουν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπεχόμενοι ὥστε μὴ ἐμβάλλειν τινί· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡ τροπὴ ἐγίγνετο λαμπρῶς καὶ ἐνέκειντο οἱ Κορίνθιοι, τότε δὴ ἔργου πᾶς εἴχετο ἤδη καὶ διεκέκριτο οὐδὲν ἔτι, ἀλλὰ ξυνέπεσεν ἐς τοῦτο ἀνάγκης ὥστε ἐπιχειρῆσαι ἀλλήλοις τοὺς Κορινθίους καὶ Ἀθηναίους.
The Athenians, seeing the Corcyraeans hard pressed, now began to assist them more openly, at first indeed refraining from ramming any ship; but when the rout became manifest and the Corinthians pressed on them, then at last everyone set to work, and no distinction was made any longer, but it came to such a necessity that the Corinthians and Athenians actually engaged with one another.

Notes

  1. 1.49.1ἀπειρότερον — The comparative ἀπειρότερον is used as an absolute comparative, indicating a degree of "rather" or "somewhat" unskilfully, rather than a direct comparison.
  2. 1.49.2ὁμοίως — The adverb ὁμοίως is elliptical, indicating that the level of skill was not "equally" high in proportion to the intensity (καρτερά) of the battle.
  3. 1.49.3προσβάλοιεν — The optative mood after the temporal conjunction ἐπειδή expresses a repeated action in past time ("whenever they charged").
  4. 1.49.3διέκπλοι — The plural noun διέκπλοι refers to the tactical maneuvers of breaking through the enemy's line (dieksplus) to deliver ramming blows.
  5. 1.49.6ἀπὸ ἐλάσσονος πλήθους — The preposition ἀπὸ denotes the part taken from a whole, indicating that the twenty ships were absent from the Corcyraeans' already smaller total force.
  6. 1.49.7ἔργου πᾶς εἴχετο — The middle verb εἴχετο takes the genitive ἔργου to mean "earnestly applied oneself to the work (of fighting)."
  7. 1.49.7ἐς τοῦτο ἀνάγκης — The demonstrative τοῦτο is qualified by the partitive genitive ἀνάγκης ("to this point of necessity"), with the following ὥστε clause expressing the result.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.49.1-1.49.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.49.1-1.49.7

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