Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/326

 301 HISTORY OF GREECE days inactive. If Herodotus had been our historian, he wouM probably have ascribed this delay to unfavorable sacrifices (which may probably have been the case), and would have given ua interesting anecdotes respecting the prophets on both sides ; but the more positive and practical genius of Thucydides merely ac- quaints us, that on the sixth day both armies put themselves in order of battle, both probably tired of waiting. The ground being favorable for ambuscade, Demosthenes hid in a bushy dell four hundred hoplites and light-armed, so that they might spring up suddenly in the midst of the action upon the Peloponnesian left, which outflanked his right. He was himself on- the right with the Messenians and some Athenians, opposed to Eurylochus on the left of the enemy : the Akarnanians, with the Amphilo- chian akontists, or darters, occupied his left, opposed to the Am- brakiot hoplites : Ambrakiots and Peloponnesians were, however, intermixed in the line of Eurylochus, and it was only the Manti- neans who maintained a separate station of their own towards the left centre. The battle accordingly began, and Eurylochut with his superior numbers was proceeding to surround Demos- thenes, when on a sudden the men in ambush rose up and set upon his rear. A panic seized his men, and they made no resist- ance worthy of their Peloponnesian reputation : they broke and fled, while Eurylochus, doubtless exposing himself with pecuh'ai bravery in order to restore the battle, was early slain. Demos- thenes, having near him his best troops, pressed them vigorously and their panic communicated itself to the troops in the centre, so that all were put to flight and pursued to Olpas. On the righl of the line of Eurylochus, the Ambrakiots, the most warlike Greeks in the Epirotic regions, completely defeated the Akarna- nians opposed to them, and carried their pursuit even as far as Argos. So complete, however, was the victory gained by De- mosthenes over the remaining troops, that these Ambrakiots had great difficulty in fighting their way back to Olpaa, which was not accomplished without severe loss, and late in the evening. Among all the beaten troops, the Mantineans were those who best maintained their retreating order. 1 The loss in the army of Thncyd. iii, 107, 108: compare Polyaenus. iii, 1.