- 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-grc2:1.17.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
It describes how the Greek tyrants focused solely on their own safety and the prosperity of their houses, achieving nothing remarkable except for local conflicts, which left Hellas suppressed and inactive as a whole for a long time.
τύραννοί τε ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς πόλεσι,τὸ ἐφ’ ἑαυτῶν1 μόνον προορώμενοι ἔς τε τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἐς τὸ τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον αὔξειν δι’ ἀσφαλείας ὅσον ἐδύναντο μάλιστα τὰς πόλεις ᾤκουν,2 ἐπράχθη δὲ οὐδὲν ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ἔργον ἀξιόλογον, εἰ μὴ εἴ τι3 πρὸς περιοίκους τοὺς αὐτῶν ἑκάστοις· οἱ γὰρ ἐν Σικελίᾳ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐχώρησαν δυνάμεως. οὕτω πανταχόθεν ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον κατείχετο μήτε κοινῇ φανερὸν μηδὲν κατεργάζεσθαι,4 κατὰ πόλεις τε ἀτολμοτέρα εἶναι.
And all the tyrants who were in the Hellenic cities, looking out only for their own interest, namely for their own persons and for the enlargement of their private house as securely as they could, governed their cities; and no remarkable deed was performed by them, unless it was some action of each against their own immediate neighbors (for those in Sicily indeed advanced to a very high degree of power). Thus on all sides Hellas was for a long time kept down, so that she could perform nothing remarkable in common, and was more lacking in daring in her individual cities.
- 1.17.1τὸ ἐφ’ ἑαυτῶν
An accusative neuter phrase serving as the direct object of the participle προορώμενοι ("looking out for"), meaning "that which concerns themselves" or "their own interest."
- 1.17.1ᾤκουν
Imperfect of οἰκέω. Here, rather than its intransitive sense "to dwell," it is used transitively meaning "to manage," "to govern," or "to administer" (with τὰς πόλεις as its object).
- 1.17.1εἰ μὴ εἴ τι
An idiomatic double conditional structure meaning "except if there was any..." or "unless indeed some..." setting an exception to the preceding negative statement (οὐδὲν...).
- 1.17.1κατείχετο μήτε... κατεργάζεσθαι
The passive verb of prevention κατείχετο ("was kept down") is followed by the infinitive with the negative particle μή indicating the result or prevention: "Hellas was kept down so as not to achieve..."