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While these events were taking place, in Cercyra bitter civil strife and contentiousness arose for the following reasons. In the fighting about Epidamnus1 many Cercyraeans had been taken prisoner and cast into the state prison, and these men promised the Corinthians that, if the Corinthians set them free, they would hand Cercyra over to them. [2] The Corinthians gladly agreed to the proposals, and the Cercyraeans, after going through the pretence of paying a ransom, were released on bail of a considerable sum of talents furnished by the proxeni.2 [3] Faithful to their promises the Cercyraeans, as soon as they had returned to their native land, arrested and put to death the men who had always been popular leaders and had acted as champions of the people. They also put an end to the democracy; but when, a little after this time, the Athenians came to the help of the popular party, the Cercyraeans, who had now recovered their liberty, undertook to mete out punishment to the men responsible for the revolt against the established government. These, in fear of the usual punishment, fled for refuge to the altars of the gods and became suppliants of the people and of the gods. [3] And the Cercyraeans, out of reverence for the gods, absolved them from that punishment but expelled them from the city. But these exiles, undertaking a second revolution, fortified a strong position on the island, and continued to harass the Cercyraeans.

These, then, were the events of this year.

1 Cp. chap. 31.

2 Proxeni were citizens of one city chosen by another city to look after the interests of its citizens who were residing, sojourning, or doing business there; they were a sort of consul in the modern sense.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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