- 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-grc2:1.23.1-1.23.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The author contrasts the Peloponnesian War's length and unprecedented disasters with the Persian War, and presents the "truest cause" of the conflict as the growth of Athenian power and the resulting Lacedaemonian fear.
τῶν δὲ πρότερον ἔργων μέγιστον ἐπράχθη τὸ Μηδικόν, καὶ τοῦτο ὅμως δυοῖν ναυμαχίαιν καὶ πεζομαχίαιν1 ταχεῖαν τὴν κρίσιν ἔσχεν. τούτου δὲ τοῦ πολέμου μῆκός τε μέγα προύβη, παθήματά τε ξυνηνέχθη γενέσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ τῇ Ἑλλάδι οἷα οὐχ ἕτερα ἐν ἴσῳ χρόνῳ.
Of the former achievements, the Persian war was the greatest, yet this came to a speedy decision by two sea-fights and two land-fights. But of this war both the length went on to a great extent, and sufferings befell Greece in it such as no others in an equal space of time.
οὔτε γὰρ πόλεις τοσαίδε ληφθεῖσαι ἠρημώθησαν, αἱ μὲν ὑπὸ βαρβάρων, αἱ δ’ ὑπὸ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἀντιπολεμούντων (εἰσὶ δ’ αἳ καὶ οἰκήτορας μετέβαλον ἁλισκόμεναι), οὔτε φυγαὶ τοσαίδε ἀνθρώπων καὶ φόνος, ὁ μὲν κατ’ αὐτὸν τὸν πόλεμον, ὁ δὲ διὰ τὸ στασιάζειν.
For neither were so many cities taken and laid waste, some by the barbarians, others by the warring parties themselves (and there were some which even changed their inhabitants upon being captured), nor were there so many banishments of men and slaughter, some in the war itself, some through civil strife.
τά τε πρότερον ἀκοῇ μὲν λεγόμενα,2 ἔργῳ δὲ σπανιώτερον βεβαιούμενα οὐκ ἄπιστα κατέστη, σεισμῶν τε πέρι, οἳ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἅμα μέρος γῆς καὶ ἰσχυρότατοι οἱ αὐτοὶ ἐπέσχον, ἡλίου τε ἐκλείψεις, αἳ πυκνότεραι παρὰ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πρὶν χρόνου μνημονευόμενα ξυνέβησαν, αὐχμοί τε ἔστι παρ’ οἷς μεγάλοι καὶ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν καὶ λιμοὶ καὶ ἡ οὐχ ἥκιστα βλάψασα καὶ μέρος τι φθείρασα ἡ λοιμώδης νόσος· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα μετὰ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου ἅμα ξυνεπέθετο.
And those things which were formerly reported by hearsay, but more rarely confirmed by actual facts, became not incredible: both concerning earthquakes, which at the same time held sway over the greatest part of the earth and were themselves most violent, and eclipses of the sun, which occurred more frequently compared to what was remembered from former times, and great droughts in some quarters, and as a consequence of them, famines, and that which did not least harm and destroyed a certain part of the population, the pestilential disease. For all these things fell upon them together along with this war.
ἤρξαντο δὲ αὐτοῦ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Πελοποννήσιοι λύσαντες τὰς τριακοντούτεις σπονδὰς αἳ αὐτοῖς ἐγένοντο μετὰ Εὐβοίας ἅλωσιν.
And the Athenians and Peloponnesians began it by dissolving the thirty years’ truce which had been made between them after the capture of Euboea.
διότι δ’ ἔλυσαν, τὰς αἰτίας προύγραψα πρῶτον καὶ τὰς διαφοράς, τοῦ μή τινα ζητῆσαί ποτε3 ἐξ ὅτου τοσοῦτος πόλεμος τοῖς Ἕλλησι κατέστη.
And as to why they dissolved it, I have first written down the causes and the differences, so that no one should ever have to inquire from what origin so great a war came upon the Greeks.
τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀληθεστάτην πρόφασιν, ἀφανεστάτην δὲ λόγῳ, τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἡγοῦμαι μεγάλους γιγνομένους καὶ φόβον παρέχοντας τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀναγκάσαι ἐς τὸ πολεμεῖν·4 αἱ δ’ ἐς τὸ φανερὸν λεγόμεναι αἰτίαι αἵδ’ ἦσαν ἑκατέρων, ἀφ’ ὧν λύσαντες τὰς σπονδὰς ἐς τὸν πόλεμον κατέστησαν.
For the truest cause, though least openly expressed in speech, I consider to be that the Athenians, by becoming great and bringing fear to the Lacedaemonians, forced them into war. But the causes openly alleged on both sides were these, starting from which they dissolved the treaty and entered into the war.
- 1.23.1δυοῖν ναυμαχίαιν καὶ πεζομαχίαιν
The dual adjective δυοῖν modifies both ναυμαχίαιν and πεζομαχίαιν, meaning "two sea-fights and two land-fights" (understood historically as Artemisium/Salamis and Thermopylae/Plataea). Although it could grammatically mean "two battles in total, one by sea and one by land," the former interpretation is standard given the historical context.
- 1.23.3τά τε πρότερον ἀκοῇ μὲν λεγόμενα
The subject of the sentence is the nominalized participle τά ... λεγόμενα ("things reported by hearsay"), with οὐκ ἄπιστα κατέστη as the main predicate. In the listing of specific phenomena that follows, the earthquakes are introduced via a prepositional phrase (σεισμῶν ... πέρι with postposed περί), whereas the subsequent eclipses (ἐκλείψεις), droughts (αὐχμοί), and plague (ἡ λοιμώδης νόσος) are placed in the nominative case, functioning as an anacoluthic apposition to the main subject.
- 1.23.5τοῦ μή τινα ζητῆσαί ποτε
This is a genitive articular infinitive construction (τοῦ + μή + ζητῆσαι) expressing negative purpose ("so that no one should inquire"). The indefinite pronoun τινα functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive ζητῆσαι.
- 1.23.6τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ... ἀναγκάσαι ἐς τὸ πολεμεῖν
An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction serving as the object of ἡγοῦμαι ("I consider"). The subject accusative of the infinitive ἀναγκάσαι ("forced") is τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, which is modified by the circumstantial participles μεγάλους γιγνομένους καὶ φόβον παρέχοντας ("by becoming great and bringing fear"), expressing the cause or means.