Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/96

 74 HISTORY OF GREECE. wading into the, sea in order to turn the extremity of the Poti daean wall, which reached entirely across the isthmus, with a mole running out at each end into the water : he effected this daring enterprise and saved his detachment, though not without considerable difficulty and some loss. Meanwhile, the auxiliaries from Olynthus, though they had begun their march on seeing the concerted signal, had been kept in check by the Macedonian horse, so that the Potidasans had been beaten and the signal again withdrawn, before they could make any effective diversion : nor did the cavalry on either side come into action. The de- feated Potidaeans and Corinthians, having the town immediately in their rear, lost only three hundred men, while the Athenians lost one hundred and fifty, together with the general Kallias. 1 The victory was, however, quite complete, and the Athenians, after having erected their trophy, and given up the enemy's dead for burial, immediately built their blockading wall across the isthmus, on the side of the mainland, so as to cut off Potidaea from all communication with Olynthus and the Chalkidians. To make the blockade complete, a second wall across the isthmus was necessary, on the other side towards Pallene : but they had not force enough to detach a completely separate body for this purpose, until after some time they were joined by Phormio with sixteen hundred fresh hoplites from Athens. That general, landing at Aphytis, in the peninsula of Pallene, marched slowly up to Potidaea, ravaging the territory in order to draw out the citizens to battle : but the challenge not being accepted, he under- took, and finished without obstruction, the blockading wall on the side of Pallene, so that the town was now completely inclosed, and the harbor watched by the Athenian fleet. The wall once finished, a portion of the force sufficed to guard it, leaving Phor- mio at liberty to undertake aggressive operations against the Chalkidic and Bottioean townships. The capture of Po'tidsea was now only a question of more or less time, and Aristeus, in order that the provisions might last longer, proposed to the citi- zens to choose a favorable wind, get on shipboard, and break out Buddenly from the harbor, taking their chance of eluding the Athenian fleet, and leaving only five hundred defenders behini: 1 Thucyd. i, 62, 63.