- 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-grc2:1.20.1-1.20.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The author criticizes the public's tendency to accept historical traditions uncritically, citing as examples the Athenian misconception regarding the tyrannicides and the general Greek errors concerning Spartan kings' votes and military organization.
τὰ μὲν οὖν παλαιὰ τοιαῦτα ηὗρον, χαλεπὰ ὄντα παντὶ ἑξῆς τεκμηρίῳ πιστεῦσαι.1 οἱ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι τὰς ἀκοὰς τῶν προγεγενημένων, καὶ ἢν ἐπιχώρια σφίσιν ᾖ, ὁμοίως ἀβασανίστως παρ’ ἀλλήλων δέχονται.
So I found the ancient things to be of this character, though they are difficult to trust on every successive piece of evidence. For men accept hearsay accounts of past events from one another with an equal lack of testing, even if they are local to them.
Ἀθηναίων γοῦν τὸ πλῆθος Ἵππαρχον οἴονται ὑφ’ Ἁρμοδίου καὶ Ἀριστογείτονος τύραννον ὄντα ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἴσασιν ὅτι Ἱππίας μὲν πρεσβύτατος ὢν ἦρχε τῶν Πεισιστράτου υἱέων, Ἵππαρχος δὲ καὶ Θεσσαλὸς ἀδελφοὶ ἦσαν αὐτοῦ, ὑποτοπήσαντες δέ τι ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ παραχρῆμα Ἁρμόδιος καὶ Ἀριστογείτων ἐκ τῶν ξυνειδότων σφίσιν Ἱππίᾳ μεμηνῦσθαι2 τοῦ μὲν ἀπέσχοντο ὡς προειδότος, βουλόμενοι δὲ πρὶν ξυλληφθῆναι δράσαντές τι καὶ κινδυνεῦσαι,3 τῷ Ἱππάρχῳ περιτυχόντες περὶ τὸ Λεωκόρειον καλούμενον τὴν Παναθηναϊκὴν πομπὴν διακοσμοῦντι ἀπέκτειναν.
The majority of the Athenians, at any rate, think that Hipparchus was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton while being tyrant, and they do not know that Hippias, being the eldest of the sons of Pisistratus, was ruler, and that Hipparchus and Thessalus were his brothers. But on that day Harmodius and Aristogeiton, having suspected something, and immediately believing that a disclosure had been made to Hippias by one of their co-conspirators, held off from him as one who was forewarned; wishing, however, to do something and run their risk before being arrested, they met with Hipparchus near the so-called Leokoreion as he was organizing the Panathenaic procession, and killed him.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ἔτι καὶ νῦν ὄντα καὶ οὐ χρόνῳ ἀμνηστούμενα καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι Ἕλληνες οὐκ ὀρθῶς οἴονται, ὥσπερ τούς τε Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέας μὴ μιᾷ ψήφῳ προστίθεσθαι ἑκάτερον, ἀλλὰ δυοῖν, καὶ τὸν Πιτανάτην λόχον αὐτοῖς εἶναι, ὃς οὐδ’ ἐγένετο πώποτε. οὕτως ἀταλαίπωρος τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡ ζήτησις τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἑτοῖμα μᾶλλον τρέπονται.
There are many other things too, even now existing and not forgotten by time, about which the other Greeks also have incorrect opinions, such as that each of the kings of the Lacedaemonians casts not one vote, but two, and that they have a Pitanaean regiment, which never even existed. So effortless is the search for truth for the majority, and they turn rather to what is ready at hand.
- 1.20.1πιστεῦσαι
An epexegetical or limiting infinitive modifying the adjective χαλεπά ("difficult [to trust]"). The logical subject of the infinitive is τὰ μὲν οὖν παλαιά ("the ancient things").
- 1.20.2μεμηνῦσθαι
A perfect passive infinitive. It depends on an omitted verb of thinking or believing (such as νομίσαντες, "believing that..."), which is naturally supplied from the preceding participle ὑποτοπήσαντες ("having suspected"). The phrase ἐκ τῶν ξυνειδότων indicates the source of the information in the passive construction.
- 1.20.2δράσαντές τι καὶ κινδυνεῦσαι
The participle δράσαντες and the infinitive κινδυνεῦσαι are connected by καὶ, both depending on βουλόμενοι ("wishing"). The participle represents an action prior in time ("having done something"), while the infinitive expresses the ultimate act of risking themselves ("to run the risk").