Pausanias Analysis

But after they had taken Naupactus, it was not sufficient for them merely to have gained a city and territory from the Athenians; rather, a powerful desire drove them to prove by their own strength that they possessed something worthy of reputation. Knowing also that the Oeniadae held good land in Acarnania and were continually hostile to the Athenians, they undertook an expedition against them. Though not superior in numbers, they were far superior in valor and skill, and thus won a victory by their own prowess, subsequently laying siege to their enemies who had shut themselves within the walls.

And from that time forward, the Messenians omitted no device invented by men for siege warfare; employing ladders, they attempted to scale the city's walls, undermined the fortifications from below, and, bringing up whatever siege machinery could be quickly prepared, continually pulled down parts of the defenses. Those within, becoming fearful that if the city were captured they themselves would perish and their women and children would be enslaved, chose instead to depart under covenant.

The Messenians held the city and occupied the territory for about one year. But in the following year, the Acarnanians collected a force from all their cities and debated whether to march against Naupactus. They abandoned the plan when they realized that their route would pass through Aetolian lands, for the Aetolians were at all times hostile to them. They also suspected that the people of Naupactus possessed a certain naval force, as indeed was the case, and concluded that as long as the Naupactians ruled the sea, no significant achievement could be won with a land army.

So after reconsideration, the Acarnanians immediately turned themselves against the Messenians in Oeniadae. They prepared as if about to besiege them, for they never supposed that men so few in number would reach such madness as to fight openly against the whole force of the Acarnanians. The Messenians, however, had previously stocked up food and all other things which might reasonably be needed, expecting they would face a prolonged siege.

Before the impending siege, they determined openly to engage in battle, lest the Acarnanian host that had come should lose heart, thinking that the Messenians, though defeated by the Spartans through adverse fortune rather than through inferiority in valor, were incapable fighters. They recalled too the deed of the Athenians at Marathon, in which thirty thousand of the Medes were destroyed by men numbering fewer than ten thousand.

And indeed the Acarnanians drew up for battle against them; and the manner of the fight is said to have been as follows. Since the Acarnanians were greatly superior in number, they easily surrounded the Messenians, except where the gates behind the Messenians blocked their rear, and where those from the wall zealously defended their countrymen. On that side alone they were prevented from being completely encircled. Yet on both flanks the Acarnanians closed around them, pelting them with missiles from every direction.

But the Messenians, gathered close together, whenever they fell upon the Acarnanians in a massed charge, threw into confusion those standing opposite them, slaying and wounding many. Yet they could not bring about a complete rout; for whenever the Acarnanians perceived that their formation at some point had been broken by the Messenians, they immediately rallied and, coming to the aid of those under attack, checked the Messenians, prevailing by their superior numbers.

Whenever the Messenians pressed forward and were held back, then made fresh attempts elsewhere to break through the Acarnanian line, they suffered the same outcome again and again. At whichever point they moved to attack, they shook their adversaries and momentarily forced them into retreat; yet whenever the Acarnanians swiftly reinforced the threatened spot, the Messenians were unwillingly repulsed. When the struggle remained indecisive until evening, and during the following night the Acarnanians received reinforcements from their cities, the Messenians found themselves surrounded and under siege.

There was no fear among them that their wall might be stormed either by force or by the Acarnanians scaling it, nor were they afraid that they would be compelled to abandon their garrison post. Nevertheless, by the eighth month their provisions had all alike been exhausted. Still, from the rampart they mocked the Acarnanians, declaring scornfully that they would never be betrayed by lack of provisions, even though they were besieged for ten years.

They themselves had first marched out from Oiniadai at about the hour of sleep. But the Akarnanians realized that they were fleeing, and thus compelled the enemy to come to battle. Then the Oiniadai lost about three hundred of their men; even more of the enemy, however, they themselves slew. The majority of their force broke away through the Akarnanians, and being joined by the Aitolians—who were favorably disposed toward them—they reached Naupaktos safely.