- Source
- Thucydides. Historiae, Vol 1-2. Jones, Henry Stuart, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910. (1942 printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.127.1-1.127.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
The text explains that the true motive of the Lacedaemonians in demanding the expulsion of the curse was to weaken or discredit Pericles, who was the most powerful advocate of war in Athens.
τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἄγος οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐκέλευον ἐλαύνειν δῆθεν τοῖς θεοῖς πρῶτον τιμωροῦντες, εἰδότες δὲ Περικλέα τὸν Ξανθίππου προσεχόμενον1 αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν μητέρα καὶ νομίζοντες ἐκπεσόντος αὐτοῦ2 ῥᾷον 〈ἂν〉 σφίσι προχωρεῖν3 τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων.
The Lacedaemonians ordered them to drive out this curse, ostensibly to avenge the gods first, but in reality because they knew that Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, was connected with it on his mother’s side, and they thought that if he were banished, their affairs with the Athenians would proceed more easily for them.
οὐ μέντοι τοσοῦτον ἤλπιζον παθεῖν ἂν αὐτὸν τοῦτο ὅσον διαβολὴν οἴσειν4 αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ὡς καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου ξυμφορὰν τὸ μέρος5 ἔσται ὁ πόλεμος.
They did not, however, expect so much that he would actually suffer this fate as that it would bring odium upon him in the eyes of the city, on the ground that the war would be partly due to his misfortune.
ὢν γὰρ δυνατώτατος τῶν καθ’ ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἄγων τὴν πολιτείαν ἠναντιοῦτο πάντα τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, καὶ οὐκ εἴα ὑπείκειν, ἀλλ’ ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ὥρμα τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.
For, being the most powerful man of his time and leading the state, he opposed the Lacedaemonians in everything, and would not allow the Athenians to give way, but was urging them on to war.
- 1.127.1προσεχόμενον
A participle in the accusative agreeing with Περικλέα, serving as the supplementary participle after εἰδότες ('knowing that Pericles was connected...').
- 1.127.1ἐκπεσόντος αὐτοῦ
Genitive absolute expressing condition ('if he were banished'). The verb ἐκπίπτω serves as the passive of ἐκβάλλω, meaning 'to be banished'.
- 1.127.1προχωρεῖν
Infinitive of indirect discourse depending on νομίζοντες, with τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων as its subject. Accompanied by the potential particle ἂν, it represents the apodosis of a conditional sentence ('would proceed').
- 1.127.2οἴσειν
Future infinitive depending on ἤλπιζον, standing in correlation with παθεῖν ἂν through the correlative construction οὐ τοσοῦτον ... ὅσον. The subject αὐτόν is understood from the previous clause.
- 1.127.2τὸ μέρος
Adverbial accusative meaning 'partly' or 'in part'.