§4.8.1ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς Πελοποννησίων οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται αὐτοὶ μὲν καὶ οἱ ἐγγύτατα τῶν περιοίκων εὐθὺς ἐβοήθουν ἐπὶ τὴν Πύλον, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων Λακεδαιμονίων βραδυτέρα ἐγίγνετο ἡ ἔφοδος, ἄρτι ἀφιγμένων ἀφ’ ἑτέρας στρατείας.
When the Peloponnesians withdrew from Attica, the Spartans themselves and the nearest of the perioikoi immediately marched to the rescue of Pylos, but the advance of the other Lacedaemonians was slower, as they had just returned from another expedition.
§4.8.2περιήγγελλον δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον βοηθεῖν ὅτι τάχιστα ἐπὶ Πύλον καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ Κερκύρᾳ ναῦς σφῶν τὰς ἑξήκοντα ἔπεμψαν, αἳ ὑπερενεχθεῖσαι τὸν Λευκαδίων ἰσθμὸν καὶ λαθοῦσαι τὰς ἐν Ζακύνθῳ Ἀττικὰς ναῦς ἀφικνοῦνται ἐπὶ Πύλον· παρῆν δὲ ἤδη καὶ ὁ πεζὸς στρατός.
They also sent word throughout the Peloponnesus to come to the rescue of Pylos as quickly as possible, and sent to their sixty ships at Corcyra. These, having been hauled across the isthmus of Leucas and having eluded the Athenian ships at Zacynthus, arrived at Pylos; and the land army was also already present.
§4.8.3Δημοσθένης δὲ προσπλεόντων ἔτι τῶν Πελοποννησίων ὑπεκπέμπει φθάσας δύο ναῦς ἀγγεῖλαι Εὐρυμέδοντι καὶ τοῖς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐν Ζακύνθῳ Ἀθηναίοις παρεῖναι ὡς τοῦ χωρίου κινδυνεύοντος.
Demosthenes, while the Peloponnesians were still sailing up, anticipated them by secretly sending out two ships to tell Eurymedon and the Athenians on the ships at Zacynthus to come, as the place was in danger.
§4.8.4καὶ αἱ μὲν νῆες κατὰ τάχος ἔπλεον κατὰ τὰ ἐπεσταλμένα ὑπὸ Δημοσθένους· οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς τῷ τειχίσματι προσβαλοῦντες κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν, ἐλπίζοντες ῥᾳδίως αἱρήσειν οἰκοδόμημα διὰ ταχέων εἰργασμένον καὶ ἀνθρώπων ὀλίγων ἐνόντων.
And the ships sailed with all speed according to the orders given by Demosthenes; meanwhile, the Lacedaemonians prepared to attack the fortification by both land and sea, hoping easily to capture a building constructed in haste and containing only a few men.
§4.8.5προσδεχόμενοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ζακύνθου τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν βοήθειαν ἐν νῷ εἶχον, ἢν ἄρα μὴ πρότερον ἕλωσι, καὶ τοὺς ἔσπλους τοῦ λιμένος ἐμφάρξαι, ὅπως μὴ ᾖ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐφορμίσασθαι ἐς αὐτόν.
Expecting also the reinforcement of the Athenian ships from Zacynthus, they intended, if they should not capture the place before then, to block up the entrances to the harbor, so that it might not be possible for the Athenians to anchor in it.
§4.8.6ἡ γὰρ νῆσος ἡ Σφακτηρία καλουμένη τόν τε λιμένα παρατείνουσα καὶ ἐγγὺς ἐπικειμένη ἐχυρὸν ποιεῖ καὶ τοὺς ἔσπλους στενούς, τῇ μὲν δυοῖν νεοῖν διάπλουν κατὰ τὸ τείχισμα τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τὴν Πύλον, τῇ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἄλλην ἤπειρον ὀκτὼ ἢ ἐννέα·
For the island called Sphacteria, stretching along the harbor and lying close to it, makes it secure and its entrances narrow: on the one side, near the Athenian fortification and Pylos, there is a passage for only two ships, and on the other side, towards the rest of the mainland, for eight or nine.
ὑλώδης τε καὶ ἀτριβὴς πᾶσα ὑπ’ ἐρημίας ἦν καὶ μέγεθος περὶ πέντε καὶ δέκα σταδίους μάλιστα.
The island was entirely wooded and pathless due to its being uninhabited, and its length was about fifteen stades at most.
§4.8.7τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἔσπλους ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀντιπρῴροις βύζην κλῄσειν ἔμελλον· τὴν δὲ νῆσον ταύτην φοβούμενοι μὴ ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν πόλεμον σφίσι ποιῶνται, ὁπλίτας διεβίβασαν ἐς αὐτὴν καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἤπειρον ἄλλους ἔταξαν.
Accordingly, they intended to block up the entrances with ships packed closely together, prow to prow; and fearing that the enemy might wage war against them from this island, they transported hoplites onto it, and stationed others along the mainland.
§4.8.8οὕτω γὰρ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις τήν τε νῆσον πολεμίαν ἔσεσθαι τήν τε ἤπειρον, ἀπόβασιν οὐκ ἔχουσαν (τὰ γὰρ αὐτῆς τῆς Πύλου ἔξω τοῦ ἔσπλου πρὸς τὸ πέλαγος ἀλίμενα ὄντα οὐχ ἕξειν ὅθεν ὁρμώμενοι ὠφελήσουσι τοὺς αὑτῶν) σφεῖς δὲ ἄνευ τε ναυμαχίας καὶ κινδύνου ἐκπολιορκήσειν τὸ χωρίον κατὰ τὸ εἰκός, σίτου τε οὐκ ἐνόντος καὶ δι’ ὀλίγης παρασκευῆς κατειλημμένον.
For in this way, both the island and the mainland, which offered no landing place, would be hostile to the Athenians (since the parts of Pylos itself outside the entrance facing the open sea were harborless and would afford no base from which they could set out to help their own men); and they themselves, without a sea-fight or danger, would in all probability reduce the place by siege, as there was no food in it and it had been occupied with but scanty preparation.
§4.8.9ὡς δ’ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς ταῦτα, καὶ διεβίβαζον ἐς τὴν νῆσον τοὺς ὁπλίτας ἀποκληρώσαντες ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν λόχων.
When they had resolved on this, they proceeded to transport the hoplites onto the island, having selected them by lot from all the companies.
καὶ διέβησαν μὲν καὶ ἄλλοι πρότερον κατὰ διαδοχήν, οἱ δὲ τελευταῖοι καὶ ἐγκαταληφθέντες εἴκοσι καὶ τετρακόσιοι ἦσαν καὶ Εἵλωτες οἱ περὶ αὐτούς· ἦρχε δὲ αὐτῶν Ἐπιτάδας ὁ Μολόβρου.
Others had also crossed over previously in turn, but the last ones who actually remained behind there were four hundred and twenty, besides the Helots who attended them; and their commander was Epitadas, the son of Molobrus.