- 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-grc2:1.21.1-1.21.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The author asserts that ancient history can be sufficiently understood if one disregards the exaggerations of poets and chroniclers, and that the Peloponnesian War will prove to be greater than any past wars when examined through actual facts.
ἐκ δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων τεκμηρίων ὅμως τοιαῦτα ἄν τις νομίζων1 μάλιστα ἃ διῆλθον οὐχ ἁμαρτάνοι, καὶ οὔτε ὡς ποιηταὶ ὑμνήκασι περὶ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον κοσμοῦντες μᾶλλον πιστεύων, οὔτε ὡς λογογράφοι ξυνέθεσαν ἐπὶ τὸ προσαγωγότερον τῇ ἀκροάσει ἢ ἀληθέστερον, ὄντα2 ἀνεξέλεγκτα καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ὑπὸ χρόνου αὐτῶν ἀπίστως ἐπὶ τὸ μυθῶδες ἐκνενικηκότα, ηὑρῆσθαι δὲ ἡγησάμενος ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων σημείων ὡς παλαιὰ εἶναι3 ἀποχρώντως.
However, from the aforementioned evidence, if anyone should judge the matters to be especially such as I have described, he would not err; and he should not trust either as the poets have sung of them, exaggerating and adorning them, or as the prose writers have compiled them, more for the sake of attracting the audience than for the truth—since these matters are impossible to refute, and most of them have, through length of time, won over into the untrustworthy region of the fabulous—but he should believe that they have been sufficiently found out from the most manifest signs, considering that they are ancient.
καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος, καίπερ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ᾧ μὲν ἂν πολεμῶσι τὸν παρόντα αἰεὶ μέγιστον κρινόντων, παυσαμένων4 δὲ τὰ ἀρχαῖα μᾶλλον θαυμαζόντων, ἀπ’ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων σκοποῦσι5 δηλώσει ὅμως μείζων γεγενημένος6 αὐτῶν.
And this war, although men always judge the present war in which they are fighting to be the greatest, but when they have ceased fighting, they admire rather the ancient ones, will nevertheless, to those who examine it from the actual deeds themselves, show that it has been greater than they.
- 1.21.1νομίζων
Functions as a conditional participle ('if one should judge') depending on the potential optative of the main verb ἄν ... οὐχ ἁμαρτάνοι ('would not err'). The coordinate participles πιστεύων and ἡγησάμενος also carry this conditional force.
- 1.21.1ὄντα
An accusative participle referring to the events (neuter plural) treated by the poets and chroniclers, functioning as a parenthetical clause showing concession or attendant circumstance: 'since these matters are impossible to refute, and...'
- 1.21.1ὡς παλαιὰ εἶναι
A restrictive use of ὡς with the infinitive, meaning 'considering that they are ancient' or 'as far as ancient matters are concerned.'
- 1.21.2παυσαμένων
Participle in the genitive absolute construction. The subject, τῶν ἀνθρώπων, is understood from the preceding phrase τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ᾧ μὲν ἂν πολεμῶσι: 'when they have ceased fighting.'
- 1.21.2σκοποῦσι
Present active participle of σκοπέω, in the dative plural masculine, functioning as the indirect object of the future verb δηλώσει ('it will show to those who examine...').
- 1.21.2μείζων γεγενημένος
A supplementary participle functioning as the complement of the future verb δηλώσει, meaning 'will show that it has been greater.'