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