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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §7.31.1-7.31.5

Demosthenes Gathers Forces and Meets Eurymedon

Passage 752 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Demosthenes destroys a Corinthian transport ship during his voyage, gathers reinforcements at various locations, and crosses to Acarnania. There he meets Eurymedon and Conon, learns of the fall of Plemmyrium, and prepares for further naval and land reinforcements around Naupactus and Corcyra.

§7.31.1ὁ δὲ Δημοσθένης τότε ἀποπλέων ἐπὶ τῆς Κερκύρας μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Λακωνικῆς τείχισιν, ὁλκάδα ὁρμοῦσαν ἐν Φειᾷ τῇ Ἠλείων εὑρών, ἐν ᾗ οἱ Κορίνθιοι ὁπλῖται ἐς τὴν Σικελίαν ἔμελλον περαιοῦσθαι, αὐτὴν μὲν διαφθείρει, οἱ δ’ ἄνδρες ἀποφυγόντες ὕστερον λαβόντες ἄλλην ἔπλεον. §7.31.2καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἀφικόμενος ὁ Δημοσθένης ἐς τὴν Ζάκυνθον καὶ Κεφαλληνίαν ὁπλίτας τε παρέλαβε καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ναυπάκτου τῶν Μεσσηνίων μετεπέμψατο καὶ ἐς τὴν ἀντιπέρας ἤπειρον τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας διέβη, ἐς Ἀλύζιάν τε καὶ Ἀνακτόριον, ὃ αὐτοὶ εἶχον. §7.31.3ὄντι δ’ αὐτῷ περὶ ταῦτα ὁ Εὐρυμέδων ἀπαντᾷ ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας ἀποπλέων, ὃς τότε τοῦ χειμῶνος τὰ χρήματα ἄγων τῇ στρατιᾷ ἀπεπέμφθη, καὶ ἀγγέλλει τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὅτι πύθοιτο κατὰ πλοῦν ἤδη ὢν τὸ Πλημμύριον ὑπὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων ἑαλωκός. §7.31.4ἀφικνεῖται δὲ καὶ Κόνων παρ’ αὐτούς, ὃς ἦρχε Ναυπάκτου, ἀγγέλλων ὅτι αἱ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι νῆες τῶν Κορινθίων αἱ σφίσιν ἀνθορμοῦσαι οὔτε καταλύουσι τὸν πόλεμον ναυμαχεῖν τε μέλλουσιν· πέμπειν οὖν ἐκέλευεν αὐτοὺς ναῦς, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανὰς οὔσας δυοῖν δεούσας εἴκοσι τὰς ἑαυτῶν πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνων πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι ναυμαχεῖν. §7.31.5τῷ μὲν οὖν Κόνωνι δέκα ναῦς ὁ Δημοσθένης καὶ ὁ Εὐρυμέδων τὰς ἄριστα σφίσι πλεούσας ἀφ’ ὧν αὐτοὶ εἶχον ξυμπέμπουσι πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῇ Ναυπάκτῳ· αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰ περὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς τὸν ξύλλογον ἡτοιμάζοντο, Εὐρυμέδων μὲν ἐς τὴν Κέρκυραν πλεύσας καὶ πέντε καὶ δέκα τε ναῦς πληροῦν κελεύσας αὐτοὺς καὶ ὁπλίτας καταλεγόμενος (ξυνῆρχε γὰρ ἤδη Δημοσθένει ἀποτραπόμενος, ὥσπερ καὶ ᾑρέθη), Δημοσθένης δ’ ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν χωρίων σφενδονήτας τε καὶ ἀκοντιστὰς ξυναγείρων.
Demosthenes, who was then sailing for Corcyra after the fortification of the post in Laconia, found a merchant vessel riding at anchor at Pheia in Elis, on which the Corinthian hoplites were about to cross over to Sicily; he destroyed the vessel itself, but the men escaped and, having later obtained another ship, continued their voyage. After this, Demosthenes arrived at Zacynthus and Cephallenia, where he took on board some hoplites, and sent for some of the Messenians from Naupactus, and then crossed over to the opposite mainland of Acarnania, specifically to Alyzia and Anactorium, which the Athenians themselves held. While he was engaged in these matters, Eurymedon met him, sailing back from Sicily, who had been sent out during the previous winter carrying money for the army, and brought news of other events and also that he had learned during his voyage that Plemmyrium had already been captured by the Syracusans. Conon also came to them, who was in command of Naupactus, bringing word that the twenty-five Corinthian ships which were stationed opposite them were not bringing the war to an end but were intending to fight a sea-battle; he therefore urged them to send ships, on the ground that their own eighteen ships were not sufficient to fight a sea-battle against the twenty-five of the enemy. So Demosthenes and Eurymedon sent ten ships, the fastest of those they had, to accompany Conon to join those at Naupactus; they themselves prepared for the muster of the army, Eurymedon sailing to Corcyra, ordering them to man fifteen ships and enrolling hoplites (for he was now, having turned back, colleague in command with Demosthenes, as he had indeed been elected), while Demosthenes collected slingers and javelin-men from the districts around Acarnania.

Notes

  1. §7.31.3ὄντι δ’ αὐτῷ περὶ ταῦτα — The participle ὄντι in the dative is used because the main verb ἀπαντᾷ governs the dative ('to meet someone'). Although it functions like a genitive absolute to set the scene, it is grammatically integrated into the main clause.
  2. §7.31.4ὡς οὐχ ἱκανὰς οὔσας — The conjunction ὡς combined with the accusative participle οὔσας expresses a subjective reason or allegation ('on the ground that'). The participle οὔσας agrees in the accusative with τὰς ἑαυτῶν (ναῦς) ('their own eighteen ships'), which acts as the subject of the infinitive ναυμαχεῖν.
  3. §7.31.4δυοῖν δεούσας εἴκοσι — A Greek numerical expression for 'eighteen', literally meaning 'twenty wanting two'. The active participle δεούσας (from δέω, 'to lack') governs the genitive of the deficit, δυοῖν.
  4. §7.31.5ἀφ’ ὧν αὐτοὶ εἶχον — An example of attraction of the relative pronoun. The phrase would regularly be ἀπὸ τούτων ἃ αὐτοὶ εἶχον ('from those which they themselves had'), but the antecedent is omitted, and the relative pronoun ἃ (accusative) is attracted into the genitive case ὧν required by the preposition ἀπό.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §7.31.1-7.31.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.31.1-7.31.5

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