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46. Just about this time Eurymedon and Sophocles, who had started from Pylos on their voyage to1 Sicily with the Athenian fleet, arrived at Corcyra, and in concert with the popular party attacked the Corcyraean oligarchs, who after the revolution had crossed over into the island and settled in Mount Istonè. Here they had become masters of the country again, and were doing great mischief2. The Athenians assaulted and took their fortress; [2] the garrison, who had fled in a body to a peak of the hill, came to terms, agreeing to give up their auxiliaries and surrender their arms, but stipulating that their own fate should be decided by the Athenian people. [3] Tile garrison themselves were conveyed by the generals to the island of Ptychia and kept there under a promise of safety until they could be sent to Athens; on condition however that if any of them were caught attempting to escape, they should all lose the benefit of the agreement. [4] Now the leaders of the Corcyraean democracy feared that when the captives arrived at Athens they would not be put to death; [5] so they devised the following trick:—They sent to the island friends of the captives, whom with seeming goodwill they instructed to tell them that they had better escape as fast as they could, for the fact was that the Athenian generals were about to hand them over to the Corcyraean democracy; they would themselves provide a vessel.

1 The Athenians on their way to Sicily stop at Corcyra. The oligarchs in Mount Istonè surrender on condition that their fate shall be left to the Athenian people.

2 Cp. 3.85.

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  • Commentary references to this page (20):
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2, 2.8
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3, 3.21
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3, 3.85
    • T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.105
    • T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.86
    • T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.89
    • T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.9
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.17
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.28
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.5
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.62
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.75
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.83
    • Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5, 5.6
    • Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5, 5.61
    • Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.101
    • Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.115
    • Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.87
    • Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.89
    • Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 7, 7.18
  • Cross-references to this page (8):
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
    • Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 4.48
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
    • Thucydides, Histories, 3.85
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (6):
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