History of the Peloponnesian War

On the next day a herald came to the Athenians from the Ambraciots who had escaped from Olpae and taken refuge among the Agraeans, to ask for the bodies of those who had been slain after the first battle, at the time when unprotected by a truce these attempted to leave Olpae along with the Mantineans and the others who were included in the truce.

Now when the herald saw the arms taken from the Ambraciots who came from the city, he was amazed at their number; for he did not know of the recent disaster, but thought that the arms belonged to the men of his own division.

And someone asked him why he was amazed, and how many of his comrades had been slain, the questioner on his part supposing that the herald had come from the forces which had fought at Idomene.

The herald answered, “About two hundred.” The questioner said in reply, “These arms, though, are clearly not those of two hundred men, but of more than a thousand.” And again the herald said, “Then they are not the arms of our comrades in the battle.” The other answered, “They are, if it was you who fought yesterday at Idomene.” “But we did not fight with anyone yesterday;

it was the day before yesterday, on the retreat.” “And it is certain that we fought yesterday with these men, who were coming to your aid from the city of the Ambraciots.” When the herald heard this and realized that the force which was coming to their relief from the city had perished. he lifted up his voice in lamentation and, stunned by the magnitude of the calamity before him, departed at once, forgetting his errand and making no request for the dead.

Indeed this was the greatest calamity that befell any one Hellenic city in an equal number of days during the course of this whole war. The number of those who fell I have not recorded, seeing that the multitude reported to have perished is incredible when compared with the size of the city. I know, however, that if the Acarnanians and Amphilochians had been willing to hearken to the Athenians and Demosthenes and had made an attack upon Ambracia they would have taken it at the first onset; but as it was, they were afraid that the Athenians, if they had the town in their possession, would be more troublesome neighbours than the Ambraciots.