- 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-grc2:1.15.1-1.15.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Explains how Greek powers expanded through naval force while land warfare remained localized and fragmented, noting the war between Chalcis and Eretria as a unique exception that divided Greece into opposing alliances.
τὰ μὲν οὖν ναυτικὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοιαῦτα ἦν, τά τε παλαιὰ καὶ τὰ ὕστερον γενόμενα. ἰσχὺν δὲ περιεποιήσαντο ὅμως οὐκ ἐλαχίστην οἱ προσσχόντες αὐτοῖς1 χρημάτων τε προσόδῳ καὶ ἄλλων ἀρχῇ· ἐπιπλέοντες γὰρ τὰς νήσους κατεστρέφοντο, καὶ μάλιστα ὅσοι μὴ διαρκῆ εἶχον χώραν.
Such, then, were the navies of the Greeks, both of ancient times and of those that arose later. Nevertheless, those who applied themselves to them acquired no small strength, both by revenue of money and by dominion over others; for sailing against them they subdued the islands, and especially those who did not possess sufficient territory of their own.
κατὰ γῆν δὲ πόλεμος, ὅθεν τις καὶ δύναμις παρεγένετο,2 οὐδεὶς ξυνέστη· πάντες δὲ ἦσαν, ὅσοι καὶ ἐγένοντο, πρὸς ὁμόρους τοὺς σφετέρους ἑκάστοις, καὶ ἐκδήμους στρατείας πολὺ ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐπ’ ἄλλων καταστροφῇ οὐκ ἐξῇσαν οἱ Ἕλληνες. οὐ γὰρ ξυνειστήκεσαν πρὸς τὰς μεγίστας πόλεις ὑπήκοοι, οὐδ’ αὖ αὐτοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἴσης3 κοινὰς στρατείας ἐποιοῦντο, κατ’ ἀλλήλους δὲ μᾶλλον ὡς ἕκαστοι οἱ ἀστυγείτονες ἐπολέμουν.
But by land no war arose from which any power was acquired; and all that did occur were against their own respective neighbors, and the Greeks did not go out on foreign campaigns far from their own land for the subjugation of others. For they did not band together as subjects of the greatest cities, nor again did they themselves make joint expeditions on equal terms, but rather they fought against one another, neighbor against neighbor.
μάλιστα δὲ ἐς τὸν πάλαι ποτὲ γενόμενον πόλεμον Χαλκιδέων καὶ Ἐρετριῶν καὶ τὸ ἄλλο Ἑλληνικὸν ἐς ξυμμαχίαν ἑκατέρων διέστη.
But it was especially for the war of old between the Chalcidians and the Eretrians that the rest of the Greek world also divided into alliance with one or the other side.
- 1.15.1οἱ προσσχόντες αὐτοῖς
The active aorist participle προσσχόντες (from προσέχω with elision/gemination of sigma) is used here in the idiomatic sense of 'applying/devoting oneself to,' with τὸν νοῦν being understood. The dative pronoun αὐτοῖς refers back to the neuter plural τὰ ναυτικά in the preceding sentence.
- 1.15.2ὅθεν τις καὶ δύναμις παρεγένετο
The relative adverb ὅθεν ('from which') has the preceding πόλεμος ('war') as its antecedent. The indefinite pronoun τις modifies δύναμις, and καί functions as an emphasizing particle, meaning 'from which any considerable power indeed accrued.' It contrasts land warfare with naval expansion which did generate power.
- 1.15.2ἀπὸ τῆς ἴσης
An idiomatic adverbial phrase where a feminine noun (commonly μοίρας or ἐξουσίας) is omitted after the genitive singular feminine adjective ἴσης. It means 'on equal terms' or 'on an equal footing,' contrasting the lack of both subject-state alliances under a hegemon and voluntary, equal coalitions.