I
It was in a remote corner of the Greek world that the trouble began
which was destined to breed such mischief and havoc for the whole of
Greece. At the beginning of the seventh century before our era the
island of Corcyra had been colonised by the Corinthians. The colony
grew and flourished, and in its turn founded other settlements on the
opposite coasts of Epirus and Illyria. Among these was Epidamnus,
called by the Romans Dyrrachium, and in Roman times the ordinary
landing-place for travellers from Italy to Greece. After many years of
prosperity the resources of Epidamnus were much crippled by internal
faction, and by wars with the neighbouring barbarians. Four years
before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the nobles of Epidamnus,
who had been expelled in the last revolution, made an alliance with the
native tribes of Illyria, and by constant plundering raids reduced the
Epidamnians to such straits that they were compelled to apply to
Corcyra for help. But the Corcyraeans, whose sympathies were on the
side of the banished nobles, refused to interfere.
Epidamnus, as we have seen, was a colony founded by a colony, and
according to Greek custom the original settlers had been led by a
citizen of Corinth, the mother-city of Corcyra. Seeing, therefore, that
they had nothing to hope from the Corcyraeans, the distressed people of
Epidamnus began to turn their thoughts towards their ancient
metropolis, and considered whether they should appeal to her to save
them from ruin. But as this was a step of doubtful propriety, they
first consulted the oracle of Delphi, the great authority on questions
of international law. Receiving a favourable answer, they sent envoys
to Corinth, and offered to surrender their city to the Corinthians, in
return for their countenance and protection.
The Corcyraeans had long been in evil odour at Corinth, for they had
grown insolent in prosperity, and neglected all the observances which
were due from a colony to the mother-city. They were, in fact, superior
to the Corinthians in wealth and power, and their fleet, numbering a
hundred and twenty triremes, was second only to that of Athens. Corcyra
was famous in legend as the seat of the Phaeacians, a heroic sailor
race, whose deeds are sung by Homer in the _Odyssey_; and the
Corcyraeans regarded themselves as the lawful inheritors of their fame.
For all these reasons they despised the Corinthians, and made no secret
of their contempt. Remembering the many occasions on which they had
been publicly insulted by Corcyra, the Corinthians lent a favourable
ear to the petition of Epidamnus, and determined to appropriate the
colony to themselves. Accordingly they invited all who chose to go and
settle at Epidamnus, and sent the new colonists under a military
escort, with instructions to proceed by land to Apollonia, for fear
lest they should be obstructed by the Corcyraean fleet, if they went by
sea.
Great was the indignation at Corcyra when the news arrived that her
colony had been surrendered to Corinth, and a force of forty ships was
sent off in haste, bearing a peremptory demand to the Epidamnians that
they should receive back their exiles and send away the new colonists.
As the citizens refused to obey their mandate, they prepared to lay
siege to the town, which is situated on an isthmus.
When the Corinthians heard of the danger of Epidamnus, they began to
make preparations on a much larger scale, collecting a host of new
colonists, and a fleet of seventy-five ships to convoy them on their
passage to Epidamnus. Apprised of these proceedings, the Corcyraeans
sent envoys to Corinth, with a civil remonstrance against the arbitrary
interference with their own colony. They were willing, they said, to
submit the matter to arbitration, and in the meantime to suspend all
hostilities against the revolted city. But the Corinthians paid no
attention to their overtures, and all being now ready, the great
multitude, drawn from all parts of Greece, set sail for Epidamnus. When
they reached Actium, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, they were met
by a herald, sent out from Corcyra in a skiff, to forbid their
approach. This was a mere manoeuvre, to throw the guilt of commencing
hostilities on the Corinthians; and meanwhile the Corcyraeans manned
their ships, to the number of eighty, and put out to meet the enemy's
fleet. In the sea-fight which followed the Corcyraeans gained a
complete victory, and on the same day Epidamnus was compelled to
capitulate to the besieging force.
By this victory the Corcyraeans gained complete command of the western
or Ionian sea, and for the rest of the summer they sailed from place to
place, plundering the allies of Corinth. The Corinthians, however, were
not at all disposed to acquiesce in their defeat, and during the whole
of the following year they were busy organising a fresh expedition on a
vast scale, being resolved at all costs to put down the insolence of
Corcyra. These preparations caused no small anxiety to the Corcyraeans.
Hitherto they had stood apart, and refused to take any share in the
complicated game of Greek politics. The course of affairs during the
last forty years had tended more and more to divide the Greek world
into two opposite camps, arrayed under the banners of Athens and
Sparta. As Dorians, the Corcyraeans would naturally have enrolled
themselves among the allies of Sparta,--as islanders and seamen, they
might have leaned to the side of Athens: but confident in their remote
situation, and in the power of their fleet, they had chosen to remain
neutral. But finding themselves threatened with destruction, they now
resolved to abandon their policy of selfish isolation, and sue for
admission into the Athenian alliance. Ambassadors were sent to Athens
to urge their plea; and the Corinthians, hearing of their intention,
sent representatives of their own to oppose the application.
The Athenians were fully alive to the gravity of the question which
they were called upon to decide, and after listening to the arguments
of the Corcyraean and Corinthian orators, they adjourned the debate
until the next day. To Corinth they were bound by old ties of
obligation; for on three distinct occasions the Corinthians had done
them signal service. More than seventy years before the date which we
have reached, the Spartans summoned their allies to consider whether it
was expedient to compel the Athenians to receive back the banished
tyrant Hippias; and it was chiefly by the eloquence of the Corinthian
speaker Sosicles, who drew a vivid picture of the miseries of
despotical government, that they were shamed out of their purpose. A
few years later, when the Athenians were at war with Aegina, they were
aided by twenty Corinthian ships. And quite recently, in the great
peril which menaced Athens at the revolt of Samos, Corinth had once
more shown herself a friend. At a congress of the Peloponnesian allies,
summoned to consider an appeal from the Samians for help, the
Corinthians had spoken strongly against interference with the revolted
allies of another city. Corinth was a place of old renown, the queen of
the Isthmus, a centre of civilisation; whereas Corcyra was a remote
island, and her people, though Greeks by descent, were in manners and
character more than half barbarians.
But there were two arguments put forward by the Corcyraean orator,
which outweighed all other considerations of policy or friendship. The
first was addressed to the fears of the Athenians, the second to their
ambition. War, he argued, was inevitable, and it was of the utmost
importance for Athens to secure the alliance of the Corcyraean fleet,
and prevent it from being added to the naval forces of her enemies. And
his concluding words struck a note which found a response among the
more daring spirits among his hearers, whose thoughts, as it would
seem, were already turning to the western colonies of Greece, as a new
field of enterprise and conquest. "It will not do," he said, "to be too
nice. While you are hesitating, and weighing nice points of
international right, you will be outdistanced in the race for power, if
you tamely give up a great naval station which holds the key to Italy
and Sicily."
Such reasoning, hollow and false as it was, turned the scale in favour
of Corcyra, and a defensive alliance was concluded, pledging the
Athenians and Corcyraeans to aid each other against any attack on the
territory or allies of either state. For the Athenians wished to avoid
breaking the Thirty Years' Truce, and therefore refrained from entering
into any agreement which might oblige them to acts of open aggression
against Corinth.
There can be little doubt that Pericles, who was mainly responsible for
this decision, committed a fatal error in advising the Athenians to
take up the cause of Corcyra. By this act Athens incurred the
implacable hostility of Corinth, and revived the old grudge which that
city had conceived against her when Megara joined the Athenian
alliance. In the constantly shifting currents of Greek politics, Athens
might well, under wise guidance, have steered her way safely through
the perils which surrounded her. The Corinthians had half forgotten
their grievance, as is proved by their conduct at the revolt of Samos;
and the tone of their representative at the Corcyraean debate is
decidedly friendly. The Spartans were sluggish and procrastinating by
nature, and required some powerful impulse to induce them to act with
vigour; and this impulse was now supplied by Corinth. By accepting,
therefore, the alliance of Corcyra, Athens barred the way to all
compromise, and gathered into one head all the scattered causes of
jealousy and hatred which had been accumulating against her in the last
fifty years.
Early in the following year the Corinthian fleet, numbering a hundred
and fifty sail, put to sea from Corinth, to renew the war with Corcyra,
and a battle was fought off the coast of Epirus. The engagement was
long and fierce, and the event was finally decided by a small squadron
of Athenian ships, which had been sent with instructions to hinder any
attempt of the enemy to land on the island Seeing that the Corcyraeans
were being forced back upon their own coast, the Athenian captains, who
had hitherto looked on, and taken no part in the battle, now assumed
the offensive, and lent such effectual aid that the Corinthians were
held in check until the sudden appearance of twenty additional ships
from Athens, which had been sent off immediately after the others, put
an end to the action. This timely interference saved Corcyra from ruin;
for next day the Corinthians, after a formal remonstrance, set sail for
home, taking with them two hundred and fifty prisoners, belonging to
the noblest families in Corcyra, whom they kept in safe custody, but
treated with great consideration, hoping by means of them at some
future time to recover their influence in the island.