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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.92.1-2.92.7

Athenian Victory and the Arrival of Reinforcements

Passage 238 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenian fleet launched a successful counter-attack, routed the Peloponnesians, and recovered their captured ships. After the Peloponnesians retreated to Corinth, the delayed Athenian reinforcements from Crete arrived at Naupactus.

§2.92.1τοὺς δ’ Ἀθηναίους ἰδόντας ταῦτα γιγνόμενα θάρσος τε ἔλαβε, καὶ ἀπὸ ἑνὸς κελεύσματος ἐμβοήσαντες ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς ὥρμησαν.
When the Athenians saw these things happening, they took courage, and with a single shout at one command, they rushed upon them.
οἱ δὲ διὰ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ἁμαρτήματα καὶ τὴν παροῦσαν ἀταξίαν ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον ὑπέμειναν, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐτράποντο ἐς τὸν Πάνορμον, ὅθενπερ ἀνηγάγοντο.
The Peloponnesians, owing to their previous errors and the present disorder, held their ground for only a short time, and then fled to Panormus, from where they had put to sea.
§2.92.2ἐπιδιώκοντες δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τάς τε ἐγγὺς οὔσας μάλιστα ναῦς ἔλαβον ἓξ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀφείλοντο, ἃς ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τῇ γῇ διαφθείραντες τὸ πρῶτον ἀνεδήσαντο· ἄνδρας τε τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τινὰς δὲ καὶ ἐζώγρησαν.
The Athenians, pursuing them, captured six of the ships that were nearest, and recovered their own which the enemy had disabled near the land and initially taken in tow; and of the men, they killed some and took others alive.
§2.92.3ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Λευκαδίας νεώς, ἣ περὶ τὴν ὁλκάδα κατέδυ, Τιμοκράτης ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος πλέων, ὡς ἡ ναῦς διεφθείρετο, ἔσφαξεν ἑαυτόν, καὶ ἐξέπεσεν ἐς τὸν Ναυπακτίων λιμένα.
On the Leucadian ship which sank near the merchant vessel, Timocrates the Lacedaemonian was on board, and as the ship was being destroyed, he killed himself, and his body was cast up in the harbor of Naupactus.
§2.92.4ἀναχωρήσαντες δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τροπαῖον ἔστησαν, ὅθεν ἀναγαγόμενοι ἐκράτησαν, καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ τὰ ναυάγια ὅσα πρὸς τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἦν ἀνείλοντο, καὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις τὰ ἐκείνων ὑπόσπονδα ἀπέδοσαν.
The Athenians, having returned, set up a trophy at the place from which they had put to sea and won the victory, and they took up the dead and all the wrecks that were near their own coast, and restored to the enemy their dead under a truce.
§2.92.5ἔστησαν δὲ καὶ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι τροπαῖον ὡς νενικηκότες τῆς τροπῆς, ἃς πρὸς τῇ γῇ διέφθειραν ναῦς· καὶ ἥνπερ ἔλαβον ναῦν, ἀνέθεσαν ἐπὶ τὸ Ῥίον τὸ Ἀχαϊκὸν παρὰ τὸ τροπαῖον.
The Peloponnesians also set up a trophy for the rout, in respect of the ships they had destroyed near the land; and the ship which they had captured, they dedicated at Achaean Rhium beside the trophy.
§2.92.6μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φοβούμενοι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων βοήθειαν ὑπὸ νύκτα ἐσέπλευσαν ἐς τὸν κόλπον τὸν Κρισαῖον καὶ Κόρινθον ἅπαντες πλὴν Λευκαδίων.
After this, fearing the reinforcement from the Athenians, they sailed under cover of night into the Crisaean Gulf and all went to Corinth except the Leucadians.
§2.92.7καὶ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Κρήτης Ἀθηναῖοι ταῖς εἴκοσι ναυσίν, αἷς ἔδει πρὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας τῷ Φορμίωνι παραγενέσθαι, οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως τῶν νεῶν ἀφικνοῦνται ἐς τὴν Ναύπακτον.
And the Athenians from Crete with the twenty ships, which ought to have joined Phormio before the battle, arrived at Naupactus not long after the retreat of the ships.
καὶ τὸ θέρος ἐτελεύτα.
And the summer ended.

Notes

  1. 2.92.1τοὺς δ’ Ἀθηναίους ἰδόντας ταῦτα γιγνόμενα θάρσος τε ἔλαβε — The accusative `τοὺς Ἀθηναίους` and its agreeing participle `ἰδόντας` function as the direct object of the active verb `ἔλαβε` (literally, "courage seized them"). Though grammatically the object, they function semantically as the logical subject of the experience.
  2. 2.92.2ἃς ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τῇ γῇ διαφθείραντες τὸ πρῶτον ἀνεδήσαντο — The relative pronoun `ἃς` refers back to `τὰς ἑαυτῶν [ναῦς]` (their own ships) and serves as the direct object of `ἀνεδήσαντο` (towed away). The participle `διαφθείραντες` agrees with the subject `ἐκεῖνοι` (the Peloponnesians) and expresses an action prior to the main verb ("having disabled").
  3. 2.92.5τῆς τροπῆς — This is an objective genitive dependent on `τροπαῖον` (literally, "a trophy for the rout"). The relative clause `ἃς πρὸς τῇ γῇ διέφθειραν ναῦς` explains the context of this rout, with the antecedent `ναῦς` attracted into the relative clause.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.92.1-2.92.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.92.1-2.92.7

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