Hellenica

Influenced by these considerations they manned sixty triremes, and Pollis was made admiral of them. And those who had conceived these views were not disappointed, for the Athenians were in fact as good as besieged; for while their corn ships got as far as Gerastus, they would not now venture to sail along the coast from that point, since the Lacedaemonian fleet was in the neighbourhood of Aegina, Ceos, and Andros. Then the Athenians, realizing the necessity that was upon them, went on board their ships themselves, joined battle with Pollis under the leadership of Chabrias, and were victorious in the battle. Thus the corn was brought in for the Athenians.

Again,[*](375 B.C.) while the Lacedaemonians were preparing to transport an army across the gulf to proceed against the Boeotians, the Thebans requested the Athenians to send an expedition around Peloponnesus, believing that if this were done it would not be possible for the Lacedaemonians at one and the same time to guard their own country and likewise the allied cities in their neighbourhood, and also to send across an army large enough to oppose themselves, the Thebans.

And the Athenians, angry as they were with the Lacedaemonians on account of Sphodrias’ act, did eagerly dispatch the expedition around Peloponnesus, manning sixty ships and choosing Timotheus as their commander. Now since the enemy had not invaded the territory of Thebes in the year when Cleombrotus was in command of the army and did not do so in the year when Timotheus made his voyage, the Thebans boldly undertook expeditions against the neighbouring cities of Boeotia and recovered them[*](375 B.C.) a second time.

As for Timotheus, after he had sailed round Peloponnesus he brought Corcyra at once under his control; he did not, however, enslave the inhabitants or banish individuals or change the government. As a result of this he made all the states in that region more favourably inclined to him. The

Lacedaemonians, however, manned a fleet to oppose him, and sent out Nicolochus, a very daring man, as admiral; and as soon as he sighted the ships under Timotheus, he did not delay, even though six of his ships, those from Ambracia, were not with him, but with fifty-five ships he joined battle with those under Timotheus, which numbered sixty. And at that time he was defeated, and Timotheus set up a trophy at Alyzeia.

But when the ships of Timotheus had been hauled up and were being refitted, and meanwhile the six Ambraciot triremes had joined Nicolochus, he sailed to Alyzeia, where Timotheus was. And since the latter did not put out against him, he in his turn set up a trophy on the nearest islands. When, however, Timotheus finished refitting the ships which he had and had manned, besides, others from Corcyra, the whole number of his ships now amounting to more than seventy, he was far superior to the enemy in the size of his fleet. But he kept sending for money from Athens; for he needed a great deal, inasmuch as he had a great many ships.