Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/158

 42 ATHENIAN VICTORY [l and watch for the approach of the Athenians, while the Chalcidians, their alHes from beyond the isthmus, and the two hundred horse furnished by Perdiccas were stationed at Oiynthus ; and as soon as the Athenians attacked Aristeus himself and his army, they were to fall upon them in the rear; thus the enemy would be assailed on both sides. But Callias the Athenian general and his colleagues sent the Macedonian horse and a few of the allied troops towards Oiynthus that they might check any movement in that quarter, while they themselves, quitting their position, marched against Potidaea. When they had reached the isthmus and saw the enemy preparing for battle, they did the same. The two armies soon closed. The wing led by Aristeus, which was composed of his Corinthian followers and other picked troops, routed their opponents and chased them far away ; but the rest of the army, both Potidaeans and Peloponnesians, were defeated by the Athenians and fled into the city. 63 Aristeus, when he returned from the pursuit and per- The army of Aristeus ceived that the other wing of his army is partially defeated; ^^3 defeated, hesitated whether he he succeeds in making 1 r /-i his way back to Poti- should make for Oiynthus or return to daea. Potidaea. Both courses were hazard- ous ; but at last he determined to contract his troops into the smallest compass and force his way at full speed into Potidaea, Harassed by the missiles of the enemy he pushed forward through the water ^^ along the bank in front of the sea-wall, not without loss ; but he contrived to save the greater part of his men. When the battle began^ the allies of the Potidaeans in Oiynthus, which is only about seven miles '^ distant, and is visible from Potidaea, seeing the signals raised, came out a little way to support their friends ; and the Macedonian horse drew up in order of battle to oppose them. But victory quickly declared for " Cp. Herod, viii. 129,
 * • Sixty stadia, the stadium being reckoned at two hundred and two yards.