History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides

Thucydides. The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Hobbes, Thomas. translator. London: John Bohn, 1843.

And in this part the Peloponnesians had the victory and overcame the galleys of the Athenians. Now the twenty galleys that were their right wing gave chase to those eleven Athenian galleys which had avoided them when they turned and were gotten into the open sea. These flying toward Naupactus arrived there before the enemies, all save one, and when they came under the temple of Apollo, turned their beakheads and put themselves in readiness for defence in case the enemy should follow them to the land.

But the Peloponnesians, as they came after, were paeanising as if they had already had the victory; and one galley which was of Leucas, being far before the rest, gave chase to one Athenian galley that was behind the rest of the Athenians.

Now it chanced that there lay out into the sea a certain ship at anchor to which the Athenian galley first coming fetched a compass about her and came back full butt against the Leucadian galley that gave her chase and sunk her.

Upon this unexpected and unlikely accident they began to fear; and having also followed the chase, as being victors, disorderly, some of them let down their oars into the water and hindered the way of their galleys (a matter of very ill consequence, seeing the enemy was so near) and stayed for more company; and some of them, through ignorance of the coast, ran upon the shelves.