History of the Peloponnesian War

But the Athenians despatched the forty ships[*](cf3.115.4.) to Sicily, as they had previously planned, together with the two remaining generals, Eurymedon and Sophocles, who were still at home; for Pythodorus, the third general, had already arrived in Sicily.

These had instructions, as they sailed past Corcyra, to have a care for the inhabitants of the city, who were being plundered by the exiles on the mountain,[*](cf. 3.85.4.) and the Peloponnesians with sixty ships had already sailed thither, with the purpose of aiding the party on the mountain and also in the belief that, since a great famine prevailed in the city, they would easily get control of affairs.

Demosthenes also, who had retired into private life after his return from Acarnania,[*](cf. 3.104.1.) now, at his own request, received permission from the Athenians to use the forty ships at his discretion in operations about the Peloponnesus.