Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.97.1-3.97.3

Capture of Aegitium and the Aetolian Counterattack

Passage 346 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Following the advice of the Messenians, Demosthenes captures Aegitium by storm without waiting for his Locrian reinforcements, but subsequently faces a grueling and disadvantageous battle against the Aetolians who employ hit-and-run tactics from the surrounding hills.

§3.97.1τῷ δὲ Δημοσθένει τοιόνδε τι οἱ Μεσσήνιοι παρῄνουν· ὅπερ καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἀναδιδάσκοντες αὐτὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν ὡς εἴη ῥᾳδία ἡ αἵρεσις, ἰέναι ἐκέλευον ὅτι τάχιστα ἐπὶ τὰς κώμας καὶ μὴ μένειν ἕως ἂν ξύμπαντες ἁθροισθέντες ἀντιτάξωνται, τὴν δ’ ἐν ποσὶν αἰεὶ πειρᾶσθαι αἱρεῖν.

The Messenians gave Demosthenes the following advice: which was the very same thing they had been instructing him from the beginning, that the conquest of the Aetolians was easy, urging him to go as quickly as possible against the villages and not to wait until they should all collect and oppose him, but to try always to take the one at hand.

§3.97.2ὁ δὲ τούτοις τε πεισθεὶς καὶ τῇ τύχῃ ἐλπίσας, ὅτι οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἠναντιοῦτο, τοὺς Λοκροὺς οὐκ ἀναμείνας οὓς αὐτῷ ἔδει προσβοηθῆσαι (ψιλῶν γὰρ ἀκοντιστῶν ἐνδεὴς ἦν μάλιστα) ἐχώρει ἐπὶ Αἰγιτίου, καὶ κατὰ κράτος αἱρεῖ ἐπιών.

He, persuaded by them and trusting in his fortune, because nothing had gone against him, without waiting for the Locrians who were supposed to reinforce him (for he was in the greatest need of light-armed javelin-men), marched against Aegitium, and took it by storm at his first onset.

ὑπέφευγον γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ ἐκάθηντο ἐπὶ τῶν λόφων τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως· ἦν γὰρ ἐφ’ ὑψηλῶν χωρίων ἀπέχουσα τῆς θαλάσσης ὀγδοήκοντα σταδίους μάλιστα.

For the inhabitants had fled and sat on the hills above the city, which was situated on high ground, about eighty stades from the sea.

§3.97.3οἱ δὲ Αἰτωλοί (βεβοηθηκότες γὰρ ἤδη ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὸ Αἰγίτιον) προσέβαλλον τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς ξυμμάχοις καταθέοντες ἀπὸ τῶν λόφων ἄλλοι ἄλλοθεν καὶ ἐσηκόντιζον, καὶ ὅτε μὲν ἐπίοι τὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατόπεδον, ὑπεχώρουν, ἀναχωροῦσι δὲ ἐπέκειντο·

But the Aetolians (for they had already come to the rescue of Aegitium) attacked the Athenians and their allies, running down from the hills from different quarters, and threw javelins at them; and when the Athenian army advanced, they retreated, but when they retreated, they pressed upon them.

καὶ ἦν ἐπὶ πολὺ τοιαύτη ἡ μάχη, διώξεις τε καὶ ὑπαγωγαί, ἐν οἷς ἀμφοτέροις ἥσσους ἦσαν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι.

This battle, consisting of pursuits and retreats, continued for a long time, in both of which the Athenians had the worst of it.

Notes

3.97.1τῶν Αἰτωλῶν — Either a genitive depending on the noun αἵρεσις ("the capture of the Aetolians"), or a proleptic genitive depending on the participle ἀναδιδάσκοντες ("instructing him concerning the Aetolians, how their capture was easy").
3.97.1τὴν δ’ ἐν ποσὶν — The feminine singular article τὴν implies the omission of the noun κώμην, referring back to the plural κώμας, meaning "the village which was at their feet (i.e., immediately before them) at any given time."
3.97.3ἀναχωροῦσι δὲ ἐπέκειντο — The present participle in the dative plural, ἀναχωροῦσι, modifies an implied pronoun αὐτοῖς (referring to the Athenians) and serves as the indirect object of the verb ἐπέκειντο ("they pressed upon them as they retreated").

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.97.1-3.97.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.97.1-3.97.3

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