History of the Peloponnesian War

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introduction.1
THE object of this volume is to give a version of the original so strictly faithful as to be of service to the classical student; while the style, though perfectly simple and unpretending, may contain nothing so opposed to the idiom of our own language as to deter the general reader, who may wish to know exactly what the Greek historian wrote. To gain both these ends, however, except in a limited degree, is perhaps scarcely possible in translating an author like Thucydides; whose style is frequently so very obscure, as regards the meaning, and so totally different, as regards the form and arrangement of his narrative, from what we are accustomed to in our own writers of history. It may be well therefore to say, that wherever the two parts of the object I have mentioned seemed incompatible, the latter, as the less important, has been sacrificed to the former; particularly in the earlier part of the work, where the student naturally stands most in need of every help that can be given him. With this explanation, I venture to hope that the present version may be found, in not a few passages, to answer the end proposed better than any of those which preceded it. The very great additions which within the last few years have been made to our knowledge of the original, may reasonably exempt the expression of such a hope from the charge of arrogance. And though want of leisure, arising from more pressing occupations, has prevented my deriving all the benefit I might, have done from the works of more learned labourers in the same field, yet even an imperfect acquaintance with the annotations of such scholars as have recently edited Thucydides, could scarcely fail to give me a decided advantage over earlier translators. To one of those scholars, especially, I am bound most thankfully to acknowledge my very great obligations; though his eye is, alas! closed to such expressions of gratitude. It was under the personal instruction of Dr. Arnold that I had the happiness to make my first acquaintance with the language of his favourite author; and his annotations upon the work have never long been out of my hands, since they were first published. The text of his last edition is what I have adopted for this translation; and I have sometimes felt compelled to borrow the very words with which he rendered a difficult passage; for when his version was meant to be literal, it seemed almost impossible to change it without sacrificing some part of the sense. The very few notes, too, which were compatible with the form and design of the volume, are in many cases only extracts from, or references to, his more copious illustrations of the text: though the views of other editors, particularly of Haack, Bekker, Göller, Poppo, and Bloomfield, are also quoted on doubtful passages, where my mind was not quite made up, with respect either to the best reading, or the most probable interpretation. With such valuable aids at my command, my task might well have been executed far better than it is. But such as it is, I commit it very humbly to the judgment of the public; more particularly of those who are acquainted with the original, and will therefore be best able to appreciate the difficulties which a translator of Thucydides has to encounter
1.1.1.1
Thucydides, an Athenian wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, how they warred against each other; having begun from its very outset, with the expectation that it would prove a great one, and more worthy of relation than all that had been before it; inferring so much, as well from the fact that both sides were at the height of all kinds of preparation for it, as also because he saw the rest of Greece joining with the one side or the other, some immediately, and some intending so to do.
1.1.2.1
For this was certainly the greatest movement that ever happened amongst the Greeks, and some part of the barbarians, and extending, as one may say, even to most nations of the world.
1.1.3.1
For the events that preceded this, and those again that are yet more ancient, it was impossible, through length of time, to ascertain with certainty; but from such evidence as I am led to trust, on looking back as far as possible, I do not think they were great, either with respect to wars or otherwise.
1.2.1.1
For it is evident, that what is now called Hellas, was not of old inhabited in a settled manner; but that formerly there were frequent removals, and that each tribe readily left the place of their abode, being forced by such as were from time to time more numerous.
1.2.2.1
For as there was no traffic, and they did not mix with one another without fear, either by sea or land; and they each so used what they had as but barely to live on it, without having any superfluity of riches, or planting their land, (because it was uncertain when another should invade them, and carry all away, especially as they had not the defence of walls;) and as they thought that they might any where obtain their necessary daily sustenance, they made little difficulty in removing: and for this cause they were not strong, either in greatness of cities, or other resources.
1.2.3.1
And the best of the land was always the most subject to these changes of inhabitants; as that which is now called Thessaly, and Boeotia, and the greatest part of the Peloponnese, (except Arcadia,) and of the rest of Greece whatsoever was most fertile.
1.2.4.1
For through the goodness of the land, both the power of some particular men growing greater caused factions among them, whereby they were ruined; and withal they were more exposed to the plots of strangers.
1.2.5.1
Attica, at any rate, having through the poverty of the soil been for the longest period free from factions, was always inhabited by the same people.
1.2.6.1
And this which follows is not the least evidence of my assertion, that it was owing to its migrations that Greece did not equally increase in other parts. For such as by war or sedi tion were driven out of the rest of Greece, the most powerful of them retired to Athens, as to a place of security; and becoming citizens at a very early period, made the city still greater in the number of inhabitants; so that afterwards they even sent out colonies into Ionia, as Attica itself was not able to contain them.
1.3.1.1
And to me the weakness of ancient times is not a little demonstrated by this too. Before the Trojan war, Greece appears to have done nothing in common;
1.3.2.1
and, as it seems to me, the whole of it had not as yet even this name; nay, before the time of Hellen, the son of Deucalion, it does not appear that this appellation existed at all; but that in their different tribes, and the Pelasgian to the greatest extent, they furnished from themselves the name [of their people.] But when Hellen and his sons had grown strong in Phthiotis, and men invited them for their aid into the other cities; from associating with them, separate communities were now more commonly called Hellenes: and yet not for a long time after could that name prevail amongst them all.
1.3.3.1
And Homer proves this most fully; for, though born long after the Trojan war, he has no where called them all by that name, nor indeed any others but those that came with Achilles out of Phthiotis; who were the very original Hellenes; but in his poems he mentions Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans. Nor again does he speak of barbarians; because neither were the Hellenes, in my opinion, as yet distinguished by one common term in opposition to that.
1.3.4.1
The several Hellenic communities, then, who in the different cities understood each other's language, and were afterwards all so called, did nothing in a body before the Trojan war, through want of strength and mutual intercourse. Nay, even for this expedition they united [only] because they now made more use of the sea.
1.4.1.1
For Minos was the most ancient of all with whom we are acquainted by report, that acquired a navy: and he made himself master of the greater part of what is now the Grecian sea; and both ruled over the islands called Cyclades, and was the first that colonized most of them, having expelled the Carians, and established his own sons in them as governors; and, as was natural, he swept piracy from the sea as much as he could, for the better coming in to him of his revenues.
1.5.1.1
For the Grecians in old time, and of the barbarians both those on the continent who lived near the sea, and all who inhabited islands, after they began to cross over more commonly to one another in ships, turned to piracy, under the conduct of their most powerful men, with a view both to their own gain, and to maintenance for the needy; and falling upon towns that were unfortified, and inhabited like villages, they rifled them, and made most of their livelihood by this means; as this employment did not yet involve any disgrace, but rather brought with it even somewhat of glory.
1.5.2.1
This is shown by some that dwell on the continent even at the present day, with whom it is an honour to perform this cleverly; and by the ancient poets, who introduce men asking the question of such as sail to their coasts, in all cases alike, whether they are pirates: as though neither those of whom they inquire, disowned the employment; nor those who were interested in knowing, reproached them with it.
1.5.3.1
They also robbed one another on the continent; and to this day many parts of Greece live after the old fashion; as the Locri Ozolae, the Aetolians, and Acarnanians, and those in that part of the continent. And the fashion of wearing arms has continued amongst these continental states from their old trade of piracy.
1.6.1.1
For the whole of Greece used to wear arms, owing to their habitations being unprotected, and their communication with each other insecure; and they passed their ordinary life with weapons, like the barbarians.
1.6.2.1
And those parts of Greece which still live in this way, are a proof of the same mode of life having also formerly extended to all.
1.6.3.1
Now the Athenians were the first who laid down their armour, and by a more easy style of life changed to greater luxury. And the elders of their rich men no long time ago ceased wearing from delicacy linen tunics, and binding up a knot of the hair on their heads with a tie of golden grasshoppers. Whence also this fashion prevailed for a long time with the elders of the Ionians, from their affinity to them.
1.6.4.1
But on the contrary, a moderate style of dressing, and according to the present mode, was first used by the Lacedaemonians; and in other respects their wealthier men most conformed themselves in their living to the common people.
1.6.5.1
And they were the first who stripped themselves, and undressing in public, smeared themselves with grease, in their gymnastic exercises. And formerly even at the Olympic games the combatants contended with girdles round their middle; and it is not many years since it ceased to be so. Nay even now amongst some of the barbarians, and especially those of Asia, prizes for boxing and wrestling are given, and they wear girdles when they contend for them.
1.6.6.1
And in many other respects also one might show that the ancient Greeks lived in a manner similar to the barbarians of the present age
1.7.1.1
Of the cities, again, such as were founded most recently and when there were now greater facilities of navigation, having greater abundance of wealth, they were built with walls on the very shores; and occupied isthmuses, with a view both to commerce and to security against their several neighbours: whereas the old ones, owing to the long continuance of piracy, were built farther off from the sea, both those in the islands and those on the mainlands; (for they used to plunder one another, and all the rest who lived by the sea without being seamen;) and even to the present day they are built inland.
1.8.1.1
And the islanders especially were pirates, being Carians and Phoenicians. For it was these that had colonized most of the islands. And this is a proof of it:—When Delos was purified by the Athenians in the course of this war, and all the sepulchres of those who had died in the island were taken up, above half were found to be Carians; being known by the fashion of the arms buried with them, and by the manner in which they still bury.
1.8.2.1
But when the navy of Minos was established, there were greater facilities of sailing to each other. For the malefactors in the islands were expelled by him, at the same time that he was colonizing most of them.
1.8.3.1
And the men on the sea-coast, now making greater acquisition of wealth, led a more settled life: and some of them even surrounded themselves with walls, on the strength of growing richer than they had before been. For through desire of gain, the lower orders submitted to be slaves to their betters; and the more powerful, having a superabundance of money, brought the smaller cities into subjection.
1.8.4.1
And being now more in this state of things, some time after they made the expedition against Troy.
1.9.1.1
And Agamemnon appears to me to have assembled the armament because he surpassed the men of that day in power, and not so much because he took the suitors of Helen bound by their oaths to Tyndarus.
1.9.2.1
It is said too by those of the Peloponnesians who have received the most certain accounts by tradition from their forefathers, that Pelops first acquired power by the abundance of riches with which he came from Asia to men who were in needy circumstances; and although a new-comer, yet gave his name to the country; and that afterwards still greater power fell to the lot of his descendants, as Eurystheus was killed in Attica by the Heraclidae, and Atreus was his mother's brother, and Eurystheus, when going on the expedition, intrusted Mycenae and the government to Atreus, on the ground of their connexion; (he happened to be flying from his father on account of the death of Chrysippus :) and when Eurystheus did not return again, they say that at the wish of the Mycenaeans themselves, through their fear of the Heraclidae, and also because he appeared to be powerful, and had courted the commons, Atreus received the kingdom of the Mycenaeans and all that Eurystheus ruled over; and that so the descendants of Pelops became greater than those of Perseus.
1.9.3.1
And I think that Agamemnon, from having received this inheritance, and from being strong in his navy also at the same time to a greater extent than others, assembled and made the expedition not so much by favour as by fear.
1.9.4.1
For he appears to have both come himself with most ships, and to have furnished them for the Arcadians besides; as Homer has also shown, if he is sufficient authority for any one, and also, in [his account of] the transmission of the sceptre, he has mentioned that he O'er numerous islands and all Argos ruled. Now, as he lived on the mainland, he would not have been master of islands, except those that were adjacent, (and those would not be numerous,) if he had not also had some naval force. And we must conjecture by this expedition, what was the character of those before it.
1.10.1.1
And as to Mycenae having been a small place, or if any town in those times appear now to be inconsiderable, this would be no certain proof to rest upon, for disbelieving that the armament was as large as the poets have said, and as report prevails.
1.10.2.1
For if the city of the Lacedaemonians were laid desolate, and the temples and foundations of the public buildings were left, I think that when a long time had passed by, posterity would have great disbelief of their power in proportion to their fame. (And yet they occupy two of the five divisions of the Peloponnese, and take the lead of the whole of it, and of their allies out of it in great numbers. Still, as the city is neither built closely, nor has sumptuous temples and public buildings, but is built in villages, after the old fashion of Greece, it would have an inferior appearance.) Whereas if the Athenians were to suffer the same fate, I think their power would be conjectured, from the appearance of the city to the eye, to have been double what it is.
1.10.3.1
It is not therefore right to be incredulous, nor to look at the appearance of cities rather than their power; but to think that that expedition was greater indeed than any that were before it, but inferior to those of the present day; if on this point again we must believe the poetry of Homer, which it is natural that he, as a poet, set off on the side of exaggeration; but, nevertheless, even on this view it appears inferior.
1.10.4.1
For he has made it to consist of twelve hundred ships, those of the Boeotians carrying 120 men, and those of Philoctetes 50; meaning to show, as I think, the largest and the least; at any rate he has made no mention of the size of any others in the catalogue of the ships. And that they all were themselves rowers and fighting men, he has shown in the case of the ships of Philoctetes. For he has represented all the men at the oar as bowmen. And it is not probable that many supernumeraries would sail with them, except the kings and highest officers; especially as they were going to cross the open sea with munitions of war; and, on the other hand, had not their vessels decked, but equipped, after the old fashion, more like privateers.
1.10.5.1
Looking then at the mean of the largest and the smallest ships, they do not appear to have gone in any great number, considering that they were sent by the whole of Greece in common.
1.11.1.1
And the reason was not so much scarcity of men as want of money. For owing to difficulty of subsistence, they took their army the smaller, and such only as they hoped would live on the country itself while carrying on the war; and when on their arrival they were superior in battle, (and that they were so is evident, for they would not else have built the fortification for their camp,) they appear not even then to have employed all their force, but to have turned to the cultivation of the Chersonese, and to piracy, for want of food. And in this way the Trojans, owing to their being scattered, the more easily held out by open force those ten years;
1.11.2.1
being a match for those who successively were left behind. But if they had gone with abundance of food, and in a body had continuously carried through the war, without foraging and agriculture, they would easily have conquered them in battle, and taken the place; since even though not united, but only with the part that was successively present, they held out against them. Now by pressing the siege, [I say,] they would have taken Troy both in less time and with less trouble; but through want of money both the undertakings before this were weak, and this itself, though more famous than the former, is shown by facts to have been inferior to its fame, and to the present report of it, which has prevailed by means of the poets.
1.12.1.1
For even after the Trojan war Greece was still moving about, and settling itself; so that it could not increase its power by remaining at rest.
1.12.2.1
For the return of the Greeks from Troy, having taken place so late, caused many revolutions; and factions, generally speaking, arose in the states; in consequence of which men were expelled, and founded cities.
1.12.3.1
For those who are now called Boeotians, being driven out of Arne by the Thessalians in the sixtieth year after the taking of Troy, settled in what is now called Boeotia, but was before called the Cadmean country. (Though there was a division of them in this country before, some of whom also joined the expedition against Troy.) And the Dorians in the eightieth year took possession of the Peloponnese with the Heraclidae.
1.12.4.1
And Greece having with difficulty, after a long time, enjoyed settled peace, and being no longer subject to migrations, began to send out colonies; and the Athenians colonized Ionia, and most of the islands; and the Peloponnesians, the greater part of Italy and Sicily, and some places in the rest of Greece. But all these places were founded after the Trojan war.
1.13.1.1
Now when Greece was becoming more powerful, and acquiring possession of money still more than before, tyrannies, generally speaking, were established in the cities, from the revenues becoming greater; whereas before there had been hereditary kingly governments with definite privileges; and Greece began to fit out navies, and they paid more attention to the sea.
1.13.2.1
Now the Corinthians are said first to have managed naval matters most nearly to the present fashion, and triremes to have been built at Corinth first in Greece.
1.13.3.1
And Aminocles, a Corinthian shipwright, appears to have built four ships for the Samians also. Now it is about three hundred years to the end of this war from the time that Aminocles went to the Samians;
1.13.4.1
and the most ancient sea-fight with which we are acquainted was fought between the Corinthians and the Corcyraeans. And from that too it is about two hundred and sixty years to the same period.
1.13.5.1
For the Corinthians, having their city situated on the isthmus, had always possessed an emporium; as the Greeks of old, both those within the Peloponnese and those without, had intercourse with each other by land more than by sea, through their country: and they were very rich, as is shown even by the old poets; for they gave the title of wealthy to the place. And when the Greeks began to make more voyages, having got their slips they put down piracy; and rendered their city rich in income of money, as they afforded an emporium both ways.
1.13.6.1
And the Ionians afterwards had a large navy in the time of Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, and Cambyses his son; and while at war with Cyrus, commanded the sea along their coast for some time. Polycrates also, tyrant of Samos, in the time of Cambyses, having a strong fleet, both made some other of the islands subject to him, and took Rhenea and dedicated it to the Delian Apollo. And the Phocaeans, while founding Massalia, conquered the Carthaginians in a sea-fight.
1.14.1.1
These were the strongest of their navies. But even these, though many generations after the Trojan war, appear to have used but few triremes, and to have been still fitted out with fifty-oared vessels, and long boats, as that fleet was.
1.14.2.1
And it was but a short time before the Median war, and the death of Darius, who was king of the Persians after Cambyses, that triremes were possessed in any number by the tyrants of Sicily and the Corcyraeans. For these were the last navies worth mentioning established in Greece before the expedition of Xerxes:
1.14.3.1
as the Aeginetans and Athenians, and whoever else had any, possessed but small ones, and of those the greater part fifty-oared vessels; and it was only lately that Themistocles persuaded the Athenians, when at war with the aeginetans, and when the barbarian was also expected, to build those very ships with which they fought him by sea; and these were not yet decked throughout.
1.15.1.1
Of such a [deficient] character then were the navies of the Greeks, both the ancient ones and those which were built afterwards. And yet those who paid attention to them obtained the greatest power, both by income of money and dominion over others: for they sailed against the islands, and subdued them; especially those who had not sufficient extent of country.
1.15.2.1
But as for war by land, from which any power was acquired, there was none. Such as did arise, were all against their several neighbours; and the Greeks did not go out in any foreign expeditions far from their country for the subjugation of others. For they had not ranged themselves with the chief states as subjects; nor, on the other hand, did they of their own accord, on fair and equal terms, make common expeditions; but it was rather neighbouring states that separately waged war upon each other.
1.15.3.1
But it was for the war carried on at an early period between the Chalcidians and Eretrians, that the rest of Greece also was most generally divided in alliance with one side or the other.
1.16.1.1
Now to others there arose in other ways obstacles to their increase; and in the case of the Ionians, when their power had advanced to a high pitch, Cyrus and the Persian kingdom, having subdued Croesus and all within the Halys to the sea, marched against them, and reduced to bondage their cities on the mainland, as Darius afterwards did even the islands, conquering them by means of the fleet of the Phoenicians.
1.17.1.1
As for the tyrants, such as there were in the Grecian cities, since they provided only for what concerned themselves, with a view to the safety of their own persons, and the aggrandizement of their own family, they governed their cities with caution, as far as they possibly could; and nothing memorable was achieved by them; [indeed nothing,] except it might be against their own several border states. [I speak of those in old Greece,] for those in Sicily advanced to a very great degree of power. Thus on all sides Greece for a long time was kept in check; so that it both performed nothing illustrious in common, and was less daring as regards individual states.
1.18.1.1
But after the tyrants of the Athenians and those in the rest of Greece, (which even at an earlier period was for a long time subject to tyrants,) the most and last, excepting those in Sicily, had been deposed by the Lacedaemonians; (for Lacedaemon, after the settlement of the Dorians who now inhabit it, though torn by factions for the longest time of any country that we are acquainted with, yet from the earliest period enjoyed good laws, and was always free from tyrants; for it is about four hundred years, or a little more, to the end of this war, that the Lacedaemonians have been in possession of the same form of government; and being for this reason powerful, they settled matters in the other states also;) after, I say, the deposition of the tyrants in the rest of Greece, not many years subsequently the battle of Marathon was fought between the Medes and Athenians.
1.18.2.1
And in the tenth year after it, the barbarians came again with the great armament against Greece to enslave it. And when great danger was impending, the Lacedaemonians took the lead of the confederate Greeks, as being the most powerful; and the Athenians, on the approach of the Medes, determined to leave their city, and having broken up their establishments, went on board their slips, and became a naval people. And having together repulsed the barbarian, no long time after, both those Greeks who had revolted from the king, and those who had joined in the war [against him], were divided between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians. For these states respectively appeared the most powerful; for the one was strong by land, and the other by sea.
1.18.3.1
And for a short time the confederacy held together; but afterwards the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, having quarrelled, waged war against each other with their allies: and of the rest of the Greeks, whoever in any quarter were at variance, now betook themselves to these. So that, from the Persian war all the time to this, making peace at one time, and at another war, either with each other or with their own revolting allies, they prepared themselves well in military matters, and became more experienced from going through their training in scenes of danger.
1.19.1.1
Now the Lacedaemonians did not treat as tributaries the allies whom they led, but only took care that they should be governed by an oligarchy, in accordance with their own interest; whereas the Athenians had in course of time taken ships from the states [in their league,] except the Chians and Lesbians, and had commanded all to pay a tribute in money. And their own separate resources for this war were greater than when before they had been in their fullest bloom with their entire alliance.
1.20.1.1
Such then I found to be the early state of things, though it is difficult to trust every proof of it in succession. For men receive alike without examination from each other the reports of past events, even though they may have happened in their own country.
1.20.2.1
For instance, the mass of the Athenians think that Hipparchus was tyrant when he was slain by Harmodius and Aristogiton; and do not know that Hippias held the government as being the eldest of the sons of Pisistratus, and Hipparchus and Thessalus were his brothers. But Harmodius and Aristogiton having suspected that on that day, and at the very moment, some information had been given to Hippias by their accomplices, abstained from attacking him, as being fore-warned; but as they wished before they were seized to do something even at all hazards, having fallen in with Hipparchus near the Leocorium, as it is called, while arranging the Panathenaic procession, they slew him.
1.20.3.1
And there are many other things also, even at the present day, and not such as are thrown into oblivion by time, of which the rest of the Greeks too have not correct notions; as, that the kings of the Lacedaemonians do not vote with one vote each, but with two; and that they have a Pitanensian Lochus; which never yet existed. With so little pains is the investigation of truth pursued by most men; and they rather turn to views already formed.
1.21.1.1
If, however, from the proofs which have been mentioned any one should suppose that things were, on the whole, such as I have described them; instead of rather believing what either poets have sung of them, setting them off in terms of exaggeration, or historians have composed, in language more attractive to the ear than truthful, their subjects admitting of no proof, and most of them, through length of time, having come to be regarded as fabulous—and if he should consider that, allowing for their antiquity, they have been sufficiently ascertained from the most certain data; he would not be mistaken in his opinion.
1.21.2.1
And though men always think the war of their own times to be the greatest while they are engaged in it, but when they have ceased from it, regard earlier events with more admiration; yet, to such as look at it from the facts themselves, this war will evidently appear to be greater than those.
1.22.1.1
And as for what they severally advanced in speaking, either when about to go to war, or when already in it, it was hard to remember the exact words of what was said; both for myself, with regard to what I heard in person, and for those who reported it to me from any other quarters: but as I thought that they would severally have spoken most to the purpose on the subjects from time to time before them, while I adhered as closely as possible to the general sense of what was really said so have I recorded it.
1.22.2.1
But with regard to the facts of what was done in the war, I did not presume to state them on hearsay from any chance informant, nor as I thought probable myself; but those at which I was personally present, and, when informed by others, only after investigating them accurately in every particular, as far as was possible.
1.22.3.1
And it was with labour that they were ascertained; because those who were present in the several affairs did not give the same account of the same things, but as each was well inclined to either party, or remembered [the circumstances.] Now, for hearing it recited, perhaps the unfabulous character of my work will appear less agreeable:
1.22.4.1
but as many as shall wish to see the truth of what both has happened, and will hereafter happen again, according to human nature—the same or pretty nearly so—for such to think it useful will be sufficient. And it is composed as a possession for ever, rather than as a prizetask to listen to at the present moment.
1.23.1.1
Now of former achievements, the greatest that was performed was the Median; and yet that had its decision quickly, in two battles by sea and two by land. But of this war both the duration was very long, and sufferings befell Greece in the course of it, such as were never matched in the same time.
1.23.2.1
For neither were so many cities ever taken and laid desolate, some by barbarians, and some by the parties themselves opposed in the war; (some, too, changed their inhabitants when taken;) nor was there so much banishing of men and bloodshed, partly in the war itself, and partly through sedition.
1.23.3.1
And things which before were spoken of from hearsay, but scantily confirmed by fact, were rendered not incredible; both about earthquakes, which at once extended over the greatest part of the world, and most violent at the same time; and eclipses of the sun, which happened more frequently than was on record of former times; and great droughts in some parts, and from them famines also; and what hurt them most, and destroyed a considerable part—the plague. For all these things fell upon them at once along with this war:
1.23.4.1
which the Athenians and Peloponnesians began by breaking the thirty years' truce after the taking of Euboea.
1.23.5.1
As for the reason why they broke it, I have first narrated their grounds of complaint and their differences, that no one might ever have to inquire from what origin so great a war broke out amongst the Greeks. For the truest reason, though least brought forward in words, I consider to have been, that the Athenians, by becoming great, and causing alarm to the Lacedaemonians, compelled them to proceed to hostilities.
1.23.6.1
But the following were the grounds of complaints openly alleged on either side, from which they broke the truce, and set to the war.
1.24.1.1
Epidamnuis is a, city situated on the right hand as you sail into the Ionian Gulf; bordering upon it, are the Taulantii, a barbarian people of Illyria.
1.24.2.1
It was planted by the Corcyraeans, but the leader of the colony was one Phalius, the son of Heratoclidas, a Corinthian of the lineage of Hercules who, according to the ancient custom, was invited for this object from the mother city.
1.24.3.1
There were also some of the Corinthians, and of the rest of the Doric nation, who joined in the colony.
1.24.4.1
In process of time, the city of Epidamnus became great and populous; but having for many years together, as is reported, been torn by factions arising from a war made upon them by the neighboring barbarians, they were brought low, and deprived of the greatest part of their power.
1.24.5.1
But the last thing which had taken place before this war was, that the commons had driven out the nobles, who, having retired, were plundering those in the city both by land and sea, in conjunction with the barbarians.
1.24.6.1
The Epidamnians that were in the town, being hard pressed, sent ambassadors to Corcyra, as being their mother-city, praying the Corcyraens not to stand by and see them perish, but to reconcile their exiles to them, and to put an end to the barbarian war.
1.24.7.1
And this they entreated in the character of suppliants, sitting down in the temple of Juno. But the Corcyraeans, not admitting their supplication, sent them away again without effect.
1.25.1.1
So the Epidamnians, finding that there was no relief for them from the Corcyraeans, were at a loss how to settle the present affair; and sending to Delphi, inquired of the god whether they should deliver up their city to the Corinthians, as their founders, and try to obtain some aid from them. He answered, that they should deliver it to them, and make them their leaders.
1.25.2.1
So the Epidamnians went to Corinth, and according to the advice of the oracle, gave up their city, declaring how the first founder of it was a Corinthian, and what answer the oracle had given them; and entreated that they would not stand by and see them destroyed, but help them.
1.25.3.1
And the Corinthians undertook their defence, both on the ground of equity, (as thinking the colony no less their own than the Corcyraeans',) and also for hatred of the Corcyraeans; because, although they were their colony, they slighted them.
1.25.4.1
For they neither gave to them the customary privileges in their general religious assemblies, nor to any individual Corinthian, when performing the initiatory rites of sacrifice, as their other colonies did; but despised them, as they were both equal in wealth to the very richest of the Greeks at that time, and more powerful in resources for war, and sometimes prided themselves on being even very far superior in their fleet; and on the ground of the Phaeacians, who were famous in naval matters, having before lived in Corcyra. And on this account too they prepared their navy with the greater spirit, and were not deficient in power; for they had 120 triremes when they began the war.
1.26.1.1
The Corinthians therefore, having complaints against them for all these things, gladly proceeded to send the aid to Epidamnus, not only telling whosoever would to go and dwell there, but also sending a garrison of Ambraciots, Leucadians, and their own citizens;
1.26.2.1
which succours marched by land to Apollonia, a colony of the Corinthians, for fear of the Corcyraeans, lest they should be hindered by them in their passage by sea.
1.26.3.1
The Corcyraeans, on finding that the settlers and the garrison were come to Epidamnus, and that the colony was delivered up to the Corinthians, were very angry; and sailing immediately thither with twenty-five ships, and afterwards with another fleet, commanded them, by way of insult, both to recall those whom they had banished, (for the exiles of the Epidamnians had come to Corcyra, pointing out the sepulchres of their ancestors and their kindred to them, on the plea of which they begged that they would restore them,) and to dismiss the garrison sent thither by the Corinthians and the settlers.
1.26.4.1
But the Epidamnians gave no ear to them. Whereupon the Corcyraeans went against them with forty ships, together with the banished men, with a view to restore them;
1.26.5.1
taking with them the Illyrians also. And sitting down before the city, they made proclamation, that such of the Epidamnians as would, and all strangers, might depart safely; otherwise they would treat them as enemies. But when they did not obey them, the Corcyraeans proceeded (the place being an isthmus) to besiege the city.
1.27.1.1
Now the Corinthians, when news was brought from Epidamnus of its being besieged, immediately began to prepare an army; and at the same time proclaimed a colony to Epidamnus, and that any one who would might go on a fair and equal footing; and that if any one should not be willing to join the expedition immediately, but still wished to have a share in the colony, he might stay behind on depositing fifty Corinthian drachmas. And there were many both that went, and that paid down the money.
1.27.2.1
Moreover, they begged the Megareans to convoy them with some ships, in case they might be stopped in their passage by the Corcyraeans; and they prepared to sail with them with eight, and the citizens of Pale, in Cephalonia, with four. They also begged the Epidaurians, who furnished five, the citizens of Hermione one, the Traezenians two, the Leucadians ten, and the Ambraciots eight. The Thebans and Phliasians they asked for money; and the Eleans both for money and empty ships: while of the Corinthians themselves there were getting ready thirty ships, and three thousand heavy-armed.
1.28.1.1
Now when the Corcyraeans heard of this preparation, they went to Corinth in company with some Lacedaemonian and Sicyonian ambassadors, whom they took with them, and required the Corinthians to recall the garrison and settlers that were in Epidamnus, as they had nothing to do with the place.
1.28.2.1
But if they laid any claim to it, they were willing to submit to trial in the Peloponnesus before such cities as they should both agree on; and to which ever of the two parties it should be decided that the colony belonged, they should retain it. They were willing also to refer their cause to the oracle of Delphi.
1.28.3.1
But they told them not to proceed to war; else they would themselves also, they said, be forced by their violence to make very different friends from those they already had, for the sake of gaining assistance.
1.28.4.1
The Corinthians answered them, that if they would withdraw their fleet and the barbarians from before Epidamnus, they would consult on the matter; but till that was done, it was not right that the Epidamnians should be besieged, while they were appealing to justice.
1.28.5.1
The Corcyraeans replied, that if the Corinthians too would withdraw the men they had in Epidamnus, they would do so; or they were also content to let the men on both sides stay where they were, and to make a treaty till the cause should be decided.

Perseus Greek. CTS URN tlg0003.tlg001.1st1K-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source.