49.
The standards were now raised on both sides, and the two fleets met and fought. The
decks1 of both were crowded with heavy infantry, with archers and with javelin-men; for
their naval arrangements were still of the old clumsy sort.
[2]
The engagement was obstinate, but more courage than skill was displayed, and it had
almost the appearance of a battle by land.
[3]
When two ships once charged one another it was hardly possible to part company, for the
throng of vessels was dense, and the hopes of victory lay chiefly in the heavy-armed,
who maintained a steady fight upon the decks, the ships meanwhile remaining motionless.
There were no attempts to break the enemy's line.
Brute force and rage made up for the want of tactics.
[4]
Everywhere the battle was a scene of tumult and confusion.
At any point where they saw the Corcyraeans distressed, the Athenians appeared and kept
the enemy in check;
but the generals, who were afraid of disobeying their instructions, would not begin the
attack themselves.
[5]
The Corinthians suffered most on their right wing.
For2 the Corcyraeans with twenty ships routed them, drove them in disorder to the
shore, and sailed right up to their encampment; there landing, they plundered and burnt
the deserted tents.
[6]
So in this part of the battle the Corinthians and their allies were worsted, and the
Corcyraeans prevailed.
But the left wing of the Corinthians, where their own ships were stationed, had greatly
the advantage, because the Corcyraeans, whose numbers were originally inferior, had now
twenty vessels detached in the pursuit.
[7]
When the Athenians saw3 the distress of the Corcyraeans, they began to assist them more openly.
At first they had abstained from actual collision, but when the Corcyraeans fled
outright and the Corinthians pressed them hard, then every man fell to work; all
distinctions were forgotten;— the time had arrived when Corinthian and
Athenian were driven to attack one another.
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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