Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/328

 706 HISTORY OF GREECE. towards extra-Peloponnesian Greeks, which we found so lament- ably prevalent during the invasion of Xerxes; in this case indeed heightened by the fact that the men deserted were fellow- Dorians and fellow-soldiers, who had just fought in the same ranks. As soon as the ceremony of burying the dead had been com- pleted, Menedaeus, and the Peloponnesians who were protected by this secret convention, stole away slyly and in small bands under pretence of collecting wood and vegetables : on getting to a little distance, they quickened their pace and made off, much to the dismay of the Ambrakiots, who ran after them and tried to overtake them. The Akarnanians pursued, and their leaders had much difficulty in explaining to them the secret convention just concluded. Nor was it without some suspicions of treachery, and even personal hazard, from their own troops, that they at length caused the fugitive Peloponnesians to be respected ; while the Ambrakiots, the most obnoxious of the two to Akarnanian feel- ing, were pursued without any reserve, and two hundred of them were slain before they could escape into the friendly territory of the Agraeans. 1 To distinguish Ambrakiots from Peloponnesians, similar in race and dialect, was, however, no easy task, and ranch dispute arose in individual cases. Unfairly as this loss fell upon Ambrakia, a far more severe calamity was yet in store for her. The large reinforcement from the city, which had been urgently invoked by the detachment at Olpse, started in due course as soon^ as it could be got ready, and entered the territory of Amphilochia about the time when the battle of Olpae was fought, but ignorant of that misfortune, and hoping to arrive soon enough to stand by their friends. Their march was made known to Demosthenes, on the day after the battle, by the Amphilochians ; who, at the same time, indicated to him the best way of surprising them in the rugged and moun- tainous road along which they had to march, at the two conspic- uous peaks called Idomene, immediately above a narrow pass leading farther on to Olpae. It was known beforehand, by the line of march of the Ambrakiots, that they would rest for the night at the lower of these two peaks, ready to march through 'Thucj-d. Hi, 111.