§2.102.1οἱ δὲ ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ Ἀθηναῖοι τοῦ αὐτοῦ χειμῶνος, ἐπειδὴ τὸ τῶν Πελοποννησίων ναυτικὸν διελύθη, Φορμίωνος ἡγουμένου ἐστράτευσαν, παραπλεύσαντες ἐπ’ Ἀστακοῦ καὶ ἀποβάντες, ἐς τὴν μεσόγειαν τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας τετρακοσίοις μὲν ὁπλίταις Ἀθηναίων τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν νεῶν, τετρακοσίοις δὲ Μεσσηνίων, καὶ ἔκ τε Στράτου καὶ Κορόντων καὶ ἄλλων χωρίων ἄνδρας οὐ δοκοῦντας βεβαίους εἶναι ἐξήλασαν, καὶ Κύνητα τὸν Θεολύτου ἐς Κόροντα καταγαγόντες ἀνεχώρησαν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς.
In the course of the same winter, the Athenians at Naupactus, after the fleet of the Peloponnesians had dispersed, made an expedition under the command of Phormio. Having sailed along the coast to Astacus and disembarked, they marched into the interior of Acarnania with four hundred Athenian hoplites from the ships and four hundred Messenians; and from Stratus, Coronta, and other places they expelled certain men who were not considered loyal, and having restored Cynes, the son of Theolytus, to Coronta, they returned again to their ships.
§2.102.2ἐς γὰρ Οἰνιάδας αἰεί ποτε πολεμίους ὄντας μόνους Ἀκαρνάνων οὐκ ἐδόκει δυνατὸν εἶναι χειμῶνος ὄντος στρατεύειν·
For against Oeniadae, who alone of the Acarnanians were always hostile to them, it did not seem possible to make an expedition in the winter time.
ὁ γὰρ Ἀχελῷος ποταμὸς ῥέων ἐκ Πίνδου ὄρους διὰ Δολοπίας καὶ Ἀγραίων καὶ Ἀμφιλόχων καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἀκαρνανικοῦ πεδίου, ἄνωθεν μὲν παρὰ Στράτον πόλιν, ἐς θάλασσαν δ’ ἐξιεὶς παρ’ Οἰνιάδας καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῖς περιλιμνάζων, ἄπορον ποιεῖ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν χειμῶνι στρατεύειν.
For the river Achelous, which flows from Mount Pindus through Dolopia and the territory of the Agraeans and Amphilochians and through the Acarnanian plain, passing in its upper course by the city of Stratus and emptying into the sea by Oeniadae, surrounds their city with swamps and makes it impossible to make an expedition in winter because of the high water.
§2.102.3κεῖνται δὲ καὶ τῶν νήσων τῶν Ἐχινάδων αἱ πολλαὶ καταντικρὺ Οἰνιαδῶν τοῦ Ἀχελῴου τῶν ἐκβολῶν οὐδὲν ἀπέχουσαι, ὥστε μέγας ὢν ὁ ποταμὸς προσχοῖ αἰεὶ καὶ εἰσὶ τῶν νήσων αἳ ἠπείρωνται, ἐλπὶς δὲ καὶ πάσας οὐκ ἐν πολλῷ τινὶ ἂν χρόνῳ τοῦτο παθεῖν·
Most of the Echinades islands also lie opposite Oeniadae, close to the mouth of the Achelous, so that the river, being large, is continually bringing down alluvial deposits, and some of the islands have already been joined to the mainland, and there is a prospect that all of them will experience this in no very long time.
§2.102.4τό τε γὰρ ῥεῦμά ἐστι μέγα καὶ πολὺ καὶ θολερόν, αἵ τε νῆσοι πυκναί, καὶ ἀλλήλαις τῆς προσχώσεως [τῷ μὴ σκεδάννυσθαι] ξύνδεσμοι γίγνονται, παραλλὰξ καὶ οὐ κατὰ στοῖχον κείμεναι, οὐδ’ ἔχουσαι εὐθείας διόδους τοῦ ὕδατος ἐς τὸ πέλαγος.
For the current is strong, deep, and turbid, and the islands are close together, acting as bonds to hold the silt together [by preventing its dispersion], since they lie in alternating positions and not in a straight line, and do not allow the water any straight passage out into the open sea.
§2.102.5ἐρῆμοι δ’ εἰσὶ καὶ οὐ μεγάλαι.
These islands are uninhabited and of no great size.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀλκμέωνι τῷ Ἀμφιάρεω, ὅτε δὴ ἀλᾶσθαι αὐτὸν μετὰ τὸν φόνον τῆς μητρός, τὸν Ἀπόλλω ταύτην τὴν γῆν χρῆσαι οἰκεῖν, ὑπειπόντα οὐκ εἶναι λύσιν τῶν δειμάτων πρὶν ἂν εὑρὼν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ κατοικίσηται ἥτις ὅτε ἔκτεινε τὴν μητέρα μήπω ὑπὸ ἡλίου ἑωρᾶτο μηδὲ γῆ ἦν, ὡς τῆς γε ἄλλης αὐτῷ μεμιασμένης.
It is also said that when Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, was wandering after the murder of his mother, Apollo by an oracle directed him to inhabit this land, intimating that there would be no release from his terrors until he should find and settle in a country which, when he slew his mother, had not yet been seen by the sun and was not yet land, since all the rest of the earth had been polluted by him.
§2.102.6ὁ δ’ ἀπορῶν, ὥς φασι, μόλις κατενόησε τὴν πρόσχωσιν ταύτην τοῦ Ἀχελῴου, καὶ ἐδόκει αὐτῷ ἱκανὴ ἂν κεχῶσθαι δίαιτα τῷ σώματι ἀφ’ οὗπερ κτείνας τὴν μητέρα οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἐπλανᾶτο.
And he, being at his wit's end, as they say, at last noticed this alluvial deposit of the Achelous; and it seemed to him that a sufficient space of land must have been silted up to support life during the long period in which he had been wandering since he slew his mother.
καὶ κατοικισθεὶς ἐς τοὺς περὶ Οἰνιάδας τόπους ἐδυνάστευσέ τε καὶ ἀπὸ Ἀκαρνᾶνος παιδὸς ἑαυτοῦ τῆς χώρας τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐγκατέλιπεν.
So he settled in the parts about Oeniadae, became powerful, and left the country its name from his son Acarnan.
τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀλκμέωνα τοιαῦτα λεγόμενα παρελάβομεν.
Such is the story about Alcmaeon which has come down to us.