97.
The Messenians repeated the advice which they had originally given to Demosthenes.
They1 assured him that there would be no difficulty in conquering the Aetolians, and
told him to march as quickly as he could against the villages.
He should not wait until they could combine and meet him with an army, but should
endeavour to take any place which was nearest.
[2]
He, trusting to their advice, and confident in his good fortune since everything was
going favourably, did not wait for the Locrians, who should have supplied his deficiency
in javelin-men, but at once marched towards Aegitium, which he attacked, and forced his
way in.
The inhabitants had stolen away and taken up a position on the top of the hills
overhanging the town, which was itself built upon heights at a distance of
about nine miles from the sea.
[3]
The other Aetolians, who had by this time come to the rescue of Aegitium, attacked the
Athenians and their allies.
Some ran down from one hill and some from another and hurled darts at them; when the
Athenian army advanced they retired, and when the Athenians retreated they pressed upon
them.
The battle, which lasted long, was nothing but a series of pursuits and retreats, and
in both the Athenians were at a disadvantage.
1 Demosthenes hurries on against the Aetolian villages, but receives a check at Aegitium.
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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