History of the Peloponnesian War

About this same time the Peloponnesians in the twenty-five ships which lay facing the Athenian fleet at Naupactus in order to cover the passage of the merchant-ships to Sicily, having made preparations for a fight and having manned some additional ships, so that theirs were now but a little fewer than the Athenian ships, anchored off Erineus[*](A small place east of Rhium.) in Achaea in the district of Rhypae.

The place where they were anchored was crescent-shaped, and the land army, consisting of the Corinthians and the allies from the neighbourhood, having come to their support, was drawn up on either side of them on the projecting headlands, while the ships held the intervening space blocking the entrance; and the commander of the fleet was Polyanthes, a Corinthian.

Against these the Athenians sailed out from Naupactus with thirty-three ships under the command of Diphilus.[*](He seems to have brought a reinforcement of fifteen ships and to have superseded Conon (cf. 7.31.4).)

At first the Corinthians kept quiet; then the signal was raised, when the moment seemed favourable, and advancing against the Athenians they engaged them. And for a long time they withstood one another. Three ships of the Corinthians were destroyed;

of the Athenian ships, none was sunk outright, but some seven were rendered unseaworthy, being struck full in front and having their foreships stove in by the Corinthian galleys, which had their catheads[*](Beams projecting on either side of the beak and serving to strengthen it. The anchors hung from them.) thicker for this very purpose.

The fight was undecided, so that either side claimed the victory— although the Athenians got possession of the wrecks because the wind drove these out to sea and the Corinthians no longer advanced against them—and they drew apart from one another. And no pursuit was made, nor were prisoners taken on either side; for the Corinthians and Peloponnesians were fighting near the shore and thus easily saved themselves, and on the side of the Athenians no ship was sunk.

But when the Athenians had sailed back to Naupactus, the Corinthians at once set up a trophy in token of victory, because a larger number of the enemy's ships had been disabled by them, and they considered that they had not been beaten for the very reason that made the other side consider themselves not victorious. For the Corinthians regarded themselves as conquerors if they were not decisively beaten, and the Athenians considered themselves defeated if they were not decisively victorious.

When, however, the Peloponnesians had sailed away and their army on land had dispersed, the Athenians also set up a trophy in token of victory, in Achaea at a distance of about twenty stadia from Erineus, where the Corinthians were formerly stationed. And so the sea-fight ended.