History of the Peloponnesian War

For Perdiccas had made him certain promises if he would effect a reconciliation between him and the Athenians, when he was hard pressed by the war at its commencement, and if he would not restore his brother Philip, who was at enmity with him, to place him on the throne; but he was not disposed to perform what he had promised. On the other hand, Sitalces had pledged himself to the Athenians, when he entered into alliance with them, to bring the Chalcidian war in Thrace to a successful issue.

It was with both these objects then that he made the invasion; in which he took with him Philip's son Amyntas, to set him on the throne of Macedonia, and some envoys from Athens, who happened to be at his court on this business, and Hagnon as commander; for the Athenians also were to join him against the Chalcidians with a fleet, and as large an army as they could raise.

Setting out then from the Odrysians, he summoned to his standard, first the Thracians within Mount Haemus and Rhodope, as many as were subject to him, as far as the coast of the Euxine and the Hellespont; next the Getae beyond Haemus, and all the other hordes that were settled south of the Danube, more towards the sea-board of the Euxine; the Getae and the tribes in this part being both borderers on the Scythians, and equipped in the same manner, for they are all mounted bowmen.

He also invited many of the Highland Thracians, who are independent, and armed with swords; they are called the Dii, and are mostly inhabitants [of the valleys] of Haemus: some of these he engaged as mercenaries, while others followed him as volunteers.

Moreover, he summoned the Agrianians and Laeaemans and all the other Paeonian tribes that acknowledged his sway. And these were the last people in his dominion, for at the Graaeans and Laeaeans, both of them Paeonian tribes, and at the river Strymon, which flows from Mount Scomius through their country, his empire terminated on the side of the Paeonians, who from this point were independent.

On the side of the Triballi, who were also independent, the border tribes were the Treres and Tilataeans, who live to the north of Mount Scombrus, and stretch towards the west as far as the river Oscius. This river flows from the same mountain as the Nestus and the Hebrus, an uninhabited and extensive range, joining on to Rhodope.

The extent then of the Odrysian dominion, taking the line of its sea-coast, was from the city of Abdera to the Euxine, up to the mouth of the Danube. This tract is by the shortest way a voyage of four days and nights for a merchant-vessel, supposing the wind to be always steady astern. By land, taking the shortest way from Abdera to the [mouth of] the Danube, a quick traveller performs the journey in eleven days.

Such was the extent of its sea-board. As for the in terror, from Byzantium to the Laeaeans and the Strymon, (for at this point it reached its greatest extent up the country from the sea,) for a quick traveller it was a journey of thirteen days.

The tribute raised from all the barbarian dominions and the Grecian cities, taking the sum which they paid under Seuthes, who was successor of Sitalces, and raised it to its greatest amount, was about 400 talents in gold and silver. Presents were also made to no less an amount in gold and silver; and besides these there was all the clothing, both figured and plain, and other articles for use; and that not only for himself, but for those of the Odrysians also who were his lords and nobles.

For they established their custom the very reverse of that in the Persian kingdom, (though it prevails amongst the rest of the Thracians also,) namely, to receive rather than to give; and it was considered more disgraceful not to give when asked, than not to succeed by asking. But [though the other Thracians practised the same thing], still the Odrysians, owing to their greater power, practised it to a greater extent; for it was impossible to get any thing done without making presents.

The kingdom then had reached a high pitch of power. For of all those in Europe between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine Sea, it was the greatest in amount of revenue and general prosperity; while in military power and number of troops it was decidedly next to that of the Scythians.

But with this not only is it impossible for those in Europe to vie, but even in Asia, putting one nation against another, there is none that can stand up against the Thracians, if they are all unanimous. Not, however, that they are on a level with other men in general good management and understanding in the things of common life.

Sitalces, then, being king over all this extent of country, prepared his army to take the field. And when all was ready for him, he set out and marched against Macedonia; at first through his own dominions, then over Cercine, a desert mountain, which forms the boundary between the Sintians and Paeonians, crossing it by a road which he had himself before made, by felling the timber, when he turned his arms against the Paeonians.

In crossing this mountain from the Odrysians, they had the Paeonians on their right, and on their left the Sintians and Maedians; and after crossing it they arrived at Doberus in Paeonia.

While he was on the march, there was no diminution of his army, (except by disease,) but accessions to it; for many of the independent Thracians, though uninvited, followed him for plunder; so that the whole number is said to have been not less than one hundred and fifty thousand, of which the greater part was infantry, but about a third cavalry.

Of the cavalry the Odrysians themselves furnished the largest portion; next to them, the Getae. Of the infantry, the most warlike were those armed with swords, the independent tribe that came down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude that followed him, was far more formidable for its numbers than any thing else.

They mustered, then, at Doberus, and made their preparations for bursting from the highland down upon the lower Macedonia, which formed the dominion of Perdiccas.

For under the name of Macedonians are included also the Lyncestae and Elemiotae, and other highland tribes, which are in alliance with the lowlanders and subject to them, but have separate kingdoms of their own.

But the Macedonia along the coast, now properly so called, was first acquired and governed by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors, who were originally of the family of Temenus of Argos. These expelled by force of arms the Pierians from Pieria, who afterwards lived under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon, in Phagres and some other places (and even now the country under Pangaeus down to the sea continues to be called the Pierian Gulf). They also drove out of the country called Bottia, the Bottiaeans, who now live on the confines of the Chalcidians;

while in Paeonia they acquired a narrow strip of territory along the river Axius, stretching down to Pella and the sea-coast; and beyond the Axius, as far as the Strymon, they occupy what is called Mygdonia, having expelled the Edonians from it.

Again, they drove out the Eordians from what is now called Eordia, (of whom the greater part perished, though a small division of them is settled about Physca,) as also the Almopians from Almopia.

Those Macedonians, moreover, subdued [the places belonging to] the other tribes, which they still continue to hold, such as Anthemus, Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of the country that belonged to the original Macedonians. The whole of it is called Macedonia, and Perdiccas, son of Alexander, was king of the country when Sitalces invaded it.

These Macedonians, then, on the approach of so large an enemy, not being able to offer any resistance, betook themselves to their strong-holds and fortifications, such as they had in the country. These, however, were not numerous;

but it was at a later period that Archelaus son of Perdiccas, when he came to the throne, built those which are now in the country, and cut straight roads, and made other arrangements, both for its having horses and arms for war, and resources of all other kinds, better than had been provided by all the rest of the kings, eight in number, who had preceded him.

Now the army of the Thracians, advancing from Doberus, overran first of all what had once been the government of Philip; and took Idomene by storm, and Gortynia, Atalanta, and some other places by capitulation, as they came over to him from their friendship for Amyntas, Philip's son, who was with him. To Europus they laid siege, but could not reduce it. Afterwards he advanced into the rest of Mace- Ionia, on the left of Pella and Cyrrhus.

Beyond these they did not march, namely, into Bottiaea and Pieria, but stayed to lay waste Mygdonia, Crestonia, and Anthemus. The Macedonians, meanwhile, had not even a thought of resisting them with their infantry;

but having sent for an additional supply of horse from their allies in the interior, attacked the Thracian host, few as they were against so many, wherever an opportunity offered. And wherever they charged them, no one stood his ground against troops who were excellent horsemen and armed with breastplates; but surrounded as they were by superior numbers, they exposed themselves to peril by fighting against that crowd of many times their own number: so that at length they kept quiet, not thinking themselves able to run such hazards against a force so far superior.

In the mean time, Sitalces conferred with Perdiccas on the objects of his expedition; and since the Athenians had not joined him with their fleet, (not believing that he would come,) but had sent presents and envoys to him, he sent a part of his forces against the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and after shutting them up within their walls, laid waste their country.

While he was staying in these parts, the people towards the south, as the Thessalians, the Magnesians, with others who were subject to the Thessalians, and the Greeks as far as Thermopylae, were afraid that the army might advance against them, and were preparing [for such an event].

The northward Thracians, too, beyond the Strymon were alarmed, as many as lived in a champaign country, namely, the Panaei, the Odomanti, the Droi, and the Dersaei; who are all independent.

Nay, it afforded subject of discussion even with the Greeks who were enemies of the Athenians, whether they were not led on by that people on the strength of their alliance, and might not come against them also.

Sitalces then was commanding at once Chalcidice, Bottica, and Macedonia, and was ravaging them all. But when none of the objects for which he made the expedition was being gained by him, and he found his army without provisions and suffering from the severity of the weather, he was persuaded by Seuthes the son of Spardacus, who was his nephew and next in authority to himself, to return with all speed. For Seuthes had been secretly won over by Perdiccas, who promised to give him his sister, and a sum of money with her.

Thus persuaded then, after remaining [in the enemy's country] thirty days in all, and eight of them in Chalcidice, he retired home with his army as quickly as he could: and Perdiccas subsequently gave his sister Stratonice to Seuthes, as he had promised. Such were the events that happened in the expedition of Sitalces.

During this winter, after the fleet of the Peloponnesians had dispersed, the Athenians at Naupactus under the command of Phormio, after coasting along to Astacus, and there disembarking, marched into the interior of Acarnania, with four hundred heavy-armed of the Athenians from the ships and four hundred of the Messenians. From Stratus, Coronta, and some other places, they expelled certain individuals who were not thought to be true to them; and having restored Cynes son of Theolytus to Coronta, returned again to their vessels.

For against the Aeniadae, who alone of the Acarnanians had always been hostile to them, they did not think it possible to march during the winter, as the river Achelous, which flows from Mount Pindus through Dolopia and the country of the Agraeans and Amphilochians and the plain of Acarnania, passing by the town of Stratus in the upper part of its course, and by Aeniadae near its mouth, forms lakes round their city, and so makes it impracticable to lead an army against it in the winter on account of the water.

Opposite to Aeniadae he most of the islands called Echinades, close to the mouths of the Achelous; so that the river, being so large as it is, continually forms depositions round them, and some of the islands have been joined to the continent, as I expect will be the case with all of them in no long period of time.

For the stream is strong, and deep, and turbid, and the islands are thick together, and mutually serve to connect the alluvium so as to prevent its being dispersed; as they lie in alternating rows, not in one line, and have no free passages for the water into the open sea. They are uninhabited, and of no great extent.

There is a report which I may also mention, that when Alemaeon, son of Amphiaraus, was wandering about after the murder of his mother, Apollo directed him by an oracle to inhabit this region, by suggesting to him that he would have no release from his terrors till he should discover and inhabit a country which had not yet been seen by the sun, nor existed as land, at the time he slew his mother; since all the rest of the earth was polluted to him.

He was perplexed, they say, [by such a command]; but at length observed this alluvial deposition of the Achelous, and thought that enough might have been thrown up to support life during the long period that he had been a wanderer since killing his mother. Accordingly he settled in the parts about Aeniadae, and became powerful, and left the name to the country from his son Acarnan. Such is the account we have received respecting Alcmaeon.

The Athenians then, and Phormio, having departed from Acarnania and arrived at Naupactus, sailed home to Athens at the return of spring, taking with them such of the prisoners from the naval battles as were freemen, (who were exchanged man for man,) and the ships they had captured.

And so ended this winter, and the third year of this war of which Thucydides wrote the history.

THE following summer, as soon as the corn was ripe, the Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. There they encamped, and laid waste the land;

while charges were made upon them, as usual, by the Athenian cavalry, wherever opportunity offered; and they prevented the main host of the light-armed from advancing far from their camp, and damaging the property near the city.

After remaining in the country the time for which they had taken provisions, they returned and dispersed to their respective cities.

Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians, all Lesbos, with the exception of Methymna, revolted from the Athenians; having wished indeed to do so before the commencement of the war, (the Lacedaemonians, however, did not accept their offers,) and yet compelled even now to execute their purpose sooner than they intended.

For they were inclined to wait the completion of the moles for the security of their harbours, and of the building of their walls and ships, and the arrival of all that was to come from the Pontus, namely, bowmen and corn, and whatever they had sent for.

[But this they were prevented doing;] for the Tenedians, who were at variance with them, and the Methymnaeans, and even some private individuals of the Mytilenaeans, under the influence of party spirit, as proxeni of the Athenians informed that people that the Mytilenaeans were forcibly bringing [the rest of] Lesbos into union with their own city, and hurrying all their preparations for a revolt, in conjunction with the Lacedaemonians and Boeotians, who were of the sale face as themselves, and that if some one did not at once anticipate their designs, they would lose Lesbos.

But the Athenians (being distressed by the plague and the war, which had so recently broken out and was now at its height) thought it a serious business to incur the additional hostility of Lesbos, with her fleet and power hitherto unimpaired; and were not at first disposed to listen to the charges, allowing too much weight to their wish that it might not be true. When, however, they had even sent ambassadors without prevailing on the Mytilenaeans to stop their measures for the union and their preparations, they were alarmed, and wished to reduce them by surprise.

Accordingly they despatched with all haste forty ships that happened to have been equipped for cruising round the Peloponnese, under the command of Cleïppides son of Dinias, and two colleagues.

For information had been brought them that there was a festival in honour of the Malean Apollo outside the city, at which all the people of the Mytilenaeans kept holyday; and there was reason to hope that by coming with all speed they would thus fall upon them by surprise. If then the attempt should succeed, [all would be well]; if not, they should charge the Mytilenaeans to deliver up their fleet and dismantle their walls;

and if they did not obey, should make war upon them. So the ships set sail; but the ten triremes of the Mytilenaeans, which had come to them as a reinforcement, according to the terms of their alliance, were detained by the Athenians, and the crews of them were put in prison.

The Mytilenaeans, however, were informed of the expedition against them by a man who crossed over from Athens to Euboea, and having gone by land to Geraestus, there found a merchant-vessel getting under weigh, and so proceeded by sea, and arrived at Mytilene the third day after leaving Athens. Accordingly they both abstained from going out to the temple at Malea, and, for the rest, barricaded and kept guard around their half-finished walls.

When the Athenians sailed up soon after and saw this, the commanders delivered their orders; and as the Mytilenaeans did not obey them, they commenced hostilities.

Being thus compelled to go to war while unprepared, and without any notice, the Mytilenaeans sailed out with their fleet to battle, a short distance from their harbour; but when driven to shore by the Athenian ships, they then proposed terms to the commanders, wishing, if they could, to get the squadron sent back for the present on any reasonable conditions.

The Athenian commanders agreed to their proposals, having fears on their side also, that they might not be able to carry on war with the whole of Lesbos.

Accordingly, having concluded an armistice, the Mytilenaeans sent to Athens one of their accusers, who now repented [of what he had said], and some others, to try if by any means they might persuade them to let the squadron return, on the belief of their meditating no innovation.

In the mean time they also sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon in a trireme, having escaped the observation of the Athenian fleet, which was anchored at Malea, northward of the city; for they were not confident of the success of the answer from Athens.

These having reached Lacedaemon with much trouble across the open sea, negotiated for some succours being sent to them.

When the ambassadors from Athens came back without having effected any thing, the Mytilenaeans commenced hostilities, and all the rest of Lesbos excepting [the people of] Methymna; but these had reinforced the Athenians, with the Imbrians, Lesbians, and some few of the rest of the allies.

The Mytilenaeans then made a sally with all their forces against the camp of the Athenians; and a battle was fought, in which though the former had the advantage, they neither spent the night on the field, nor felt any confidence in themselves, but withdrew. After this they remained quiet, wishing to hazard a battle in conjunction with additional troops from the Peloponnese, if any force should join them: (for there had come to them Meleas, a Lacedaemonian, and Hermaeondas, a Theban, who had been despatched before the revolt, but not being able to anticipate the expedition of the Athenians, sailed up by stealth in a trireme after the battle, and advised them to send another trireme and ambassadors in company with themselves which they did.)

The Athenians, on the other hand, being much assured by the quiet of the Mytilenaeans, were calling allies to join them, who came much quicker from seeing no vigour on the part of the Lesbians; and bringing round their ships to a new station on the south of the town, they fortified two camps, one on each side of the town, and established their blockades at both the harbours.

Thus they excluded the Mytilenaeans from the use of the sea; but of the whole of the land they were still masters, with the rest of the Lesbians who had now come to their assistance; while the Athenians commanded only the small extent round their camps, Malea being rather a station for their ships and a market [than any thing else]. Such were the features of the war about Mytilene.

About the same period of this summer the Athenians also despatched thirty ships to the Peloponnese, with Asopius son of Phormio as commander; the Acarnanians having requested them to send them either a son or other relative of his to take the command.

The ships, as they coasted along, ravaged the maritime towns of Laconia.

Afterwards Asopius sent back home the greater part of them, but himself went to Naupactus with twelve; and subsequently, having raised the whole population of the Acarnanians, marched against $Oeniadae; sailing with his fleet by the Achelous, and his army by land laying waste the country.

When it did not surrender, he dismissed his land-forces, and having himself sailed to Leucas, and made a descent upon Nericus, was cut off on his return, and some part of his army with him, by the people of the neighbourhood who had come to the rescue, and some few guard-troops.

The Athenians, after sailing away, subsequently recovered their dead from the Leucadians by treaty.

Now the ambassadors of the Mytilenaeans sent out in the first ship, being told by the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that the rest of the confederates also might hear and consult upon their case, accordingly went thither. It was the Olympiad at which Dorieus the Rhodian gained his second victory.