62.
The Potidaeans and the Peloponnesian force under Aristeus had now taken up a
position1 at the isthmus on the side towards Olynthus2, where they awaited the coming of the Athenians;
they held their market outside the walls of Potidaea.
[2]
The allies had chosen Aristeus general of all the infantry, and of the cavalry
Perdiccas,
for he had no sooner joined than he again deserted the Athenians and was now
fighting on the side of the Potidaeans, having appointed Iolaus3 to be his lieutenant at home4.
[3]
The plan of Aristeus was as follows:—His own army was to remain on the
isthmus and watch for the approach of the Athenians, while the
Chalcidians, their allies from beyond the isthmus, and the two hundred horse furnished
by Perdiccas were stationed at Olynthus; and as soon as the Athenians attacked Aristeus himself and his army, they were to fall
upon them in the rear; thus the enemy would be assailed on both sides.
[4]
But Callias the Athenian general and his colleagues sent the Macedonian horse and a few
of the allied troops towards Olynthus that they might check any movement in that
quarter,
while they themselves, quitting their position, marched against Potidaea.
[5]
When they had reached the isthmus and saw the enemy preparing for battle, they did the
same.
The two armies soon closed.
[6]
The wing led by Aristeus, which was composed of his Corinthian followers and other
picked troops, routed their opponents and chased them far away;
but the rest of the
army, both Potidaeans and Peloponnesians, were defeated by the Athenians and fled into
the city.
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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