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The ships were arranged in this way so as not to give the enemy a chance of breaking through1 the line; for the Athenians were inferior in seamanship. But all the vessels of the Lacedaemonians were arranged in single line, with a view to breaking through the enemy and circling round him, inasmuch as they had superior seamen. And Callicratidas was on the right wing.
1 The διέκπλους consisted in driving at full speed between two ships of the enemy's line,—breaking oars and inflicting any other possible damage on the way,—and then turning to attack the sterns or sides of the hostile ships. In the περίπλους the same object was accomplished by rowing around the end of the enemy's line.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 1 and 2. Carleton L. Brownson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. vol. 1:1918; vol. 2: 1921.
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