- 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-grc2:1.138.1-1.138.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
Themistocles wins the trust and high favor of the Persian King Artaxerxes, but later dies of illness (or suicide by poison) and is buried in his Asian territory, while his bones are secretly brought back to Attica, concluding the narrative of the lives of Pausanias and Themistocles.
βασιλεὺς δέ, ὡς λέγεται, ἐθαύμασέ τε αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ἐκέλευε ποιεῖν οὕτως. ὁ δ’ ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ ὃν ἐπέσχε τῆς τε Περσίδος γλώσσης ὅσα ἐδύνατο κατενόησε καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τῆς χώρας·
The King, as it is said, admired his intelligence and told him to do so. During the time he waited, he learned as much as he could of the Persian language and of the customs of the country.
ἀφικόμενος δὲ μετὰ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν γίγνεται παρ’ αὐτῷ μέγας καὶ ὅσος οὐδείς πω Ἑλλήνων διά τε τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀξίωσιν καὶ τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ ἐλπίδα, ἣν ὑπετίθει αὐτῷ δουλώσειν,1 μάλιστα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ πεῖραν διδοὺς ξυνετὸς φαίνεσθαι.
Having arrived after the year had passed, he became of great influence with him, greater than any Greek before him, both because of his pre-existing reputation and because of the hope which he held out to him of enslaving Greece, but most of all because he showed himself to be intelligent by giving proof of his capacity.
ἦν γὰρ ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς βεβαιότατα δὴ φύσεως ἰσχὺν δηλώσας καὶ διαφερόντως τι ἐς αὐτὸ μᾶλλον ἑτέρου ἄξιος θαυμάσαι· οἰκείᾳ γὰρ ξυνέσει καὶ οὔτε προμαθὼν ἐς αὐτὴν οὐδὲν οὔτ’ ἐπιμαθών, τῶν τε παραχρῆμα δι’ ἐλαχίστης βουλῆς κράτιστος γνώμων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τοῦ γενησομένου ἄριστος εἰκαστής· καὶ ἃ μὲν μετὰ χεῖρας ἔχοι, καὶ ἐξηγήσασθαι οἷός τε, ὧν δ’ ἄπειρος εἴη, κρῖναι ἱκανῶς οὐκ ἀπήλλακτο·2 τό τε ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ ἔτι προεώρα μάλιστα.3 καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν εἰπεῖν φύσεως μὲν δυνάμει, μελέτης δὲ βραχύτητι κράτιστος δὴ οὗτος αὐτοσχεδιάζειν τὰ δέοντα ἐγένετο.
For Themistocles was one who demonstrated the strength of his natural talent most surely, and in this respect more than anyone else he was worthy of special admiration. By his own native intelligence, without having learned anything beforehand or added to it afterwards, he was the best judge of immediate matters with the least deliberation, and the best at conjecturing what would happen in the future for the longest distance. And what he had in hand he was also able to explain, and in matters where he was inexperienced he was not lacking in the ability to judge adequately; moreover, he foresaw best of all what was better or worse while it was still unseen. To sum it up, by the power of his nature and with the briefest preparation, he became the ablest of all men at improvising what was required.
νοσήσας δὲ τελευτᾷ τὸν βίον· λέγουσι δέ τινες καὶ ἑκούσιον φαρμάκῳ ἀποθανεῖν αὐτόν, ἀδύνατον νομίσαντα εἶναι ἐπιτελέσαι βασιλεῖ ἃ ὑπέσχετο.
But he fell ill and ended his life; though some say that he died by voluntary poison, thinking it impossible to perform what he had promised to the King.
μνημεῖον μὲν οὖν αὐτοῦ ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ ἐστὶ τῇ Ἀσιανῇ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ· ταύτης γὰρ ἦρχε τῆς χώρας, δόντος βασιλέως αὐτῷ Μαγνησίαν μὲν ἄρτον, ἣ προσέφερε πεντήκοντα τάλαντα τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, Λάμψακον δὲ οἶνον (ἐδόκει γὰρ πολυοινότατον τῶν τότε εἶναι), Μυοῦντα δὲ ὄψον.
His monument, then, is in the marketplace of Magnesia in Asia; for he ruled over this district, the King having given him Magnesia for bread, which yielded fifty talents a year, Lampsacus for wine (for it was thought to be the richest in wine of those times), and Myus for meat.
τὰ δὲ ὀστᾶ φασὶ κομισθῆναι αὐτοῦ οἱ προσήκοντες οἴκαδε κελεύσαντος ἐκείνου καὶ τεθῆναι κρύφα Ἀθηναίων ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ· οὐ γὰρ ἐξῆν θάπτειν ὡς ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ φεύγοντος. τὰ μὲν κατὰ Παυσανίαν τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον καὶ Θεμιστοκλέα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον, λαμπροτάτους γενομένους τῶν καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς Ἑλλήνων, οὕτως ἐτελεύτησεν.
But his relatives say that his bones were carried home by his own order and buried in Attica secretly from the Athenians; for it was not permitted to bury him as one exiled for treason. Thus ended the careers of Pausanias the Lacedaemonian and Themistocles the Athenian, who had become the most illustrious of the Greeks of their time.
- 1.138.2ἣν ὑπετίθει αὐτῷ δουλώσειν
The relative pronoun ἣν refers back to ἐλπίδα, and the subject of the future infinitive δουλώσειν is Themistocles himself. The dative αὐτῷ refers to the King (Artaxerxes). Thus, it means 'the hope which he (Themistocles) held out to him (the King) of enslaving Greece.'
- 1.138.3κρῖναι ἱκανῶς οὐκ ἀπήλλακτο
The passive voice of ἀπαλλάττω (here pluperfect ἀπήλλακτο) means 'to be free from' or 'to be removed from.' Combined with the infinitive κρῖναι, it literally means 'he was not removed from judging adequately,' which functions as a double negation meaning 'he was not lacking in the ability to judge adequately' even in matters where he was inexperienced.
- 1.138.3τό τε ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ ἔτι προεώρα μάλιστα
The prepositional phrase ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ ἔτι ('while still in the dark/unseen') modifies the nominalized comparatives τό ... ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον ('what is better or worse'). It emphasizes his extraordinary ability to foresee the advantages or disadvantages of a course of action before they became apparent.