28.
When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they came to Corinth, taking with them
Lacedaemonian1 and Sicyonian envoys, and summoned the Corinthians to withdraw the troops and
the colonists, telling them that they had nothing to do with Epidamnus.
[2]
If they made any claim to it, the Corcyraeans expressed themselves willing to refer the
cause for arbitration to such Peloponnesian states as both parties should agree upon,
and their decision was to be final;
or, they were willing to leave the matter in the hands of the Delphian
oracle.
[3]
But they deprecated war,
and declared that, if war there must be, they would be compelled by the Corinthians in
self-defence to discard their present friends and seek others whom they would rather
not, for help they must have.
[4]
The Corinthians replied that if the Corcyraeans would withdraw the ships and the
barbarian troops they would consider the matter,
but that it would not do for them to be litigating while Epidamnus and the colonists
were in a state of siege.
[5]
The Corcyraeans rejoined that they would consent to this proposal if the Corinthians on
their part would withdraw their forces from Epidamnus:
or again, they were willing that both parties should remain on the spot, and that a
truce should be made until the decision was given.2
Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
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