- 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-grc2:1.24.1-1.24.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The geographical situation and foundation history of Epidamnus are described, followed by its prosperity, internal strife, and the distress caused by the exiled oligarchs and barbarians. The commons inside the city sent an embassy to their mother-city Corcyra for aid, but were rejected.
Ἐπίδαμνός ἐστι πόλις ἐν δεξιᾷ ἐσπλέοντι1 ἐς τὸν Ἰόνιον κόλπον· προσοικοῦσι δ’ αὐτὴν Ταυλάντιοι βάρβαροι, Ἰλλυρικὸν ἔθνος.
Epidamnus is a city on the right hand as one sails into the Ionian Gulf; next to it dwell the barbarian Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe.
ταύτην ἀπῴκισαν μὲν Κερκυραῖοι, οἰκιστὴς δ’ ἐγένετο Φαλίος Ἐρατοκλείδου Κορίνθιος γένος τῶν ἀφ’ Ἡρακλέους, κατὰ δὴ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον ἐκ τῆς μητροπόλεως κατακληθείς.2 ξυνῴκισαν δὲ καὶ Κορινθίων τινὲς καὶ τοῦ ἄλλου Δωρικοῦ γένους.
This city was founded as a colony by the Corcyraeans, but its founder was Phalius, the son of Eratocleides, a Corinthian by birth of the lineage of Heracles, who, according to the ancient custom, had been summoned from the mother-city. Some of the Corinthians and of the rest of the Doric race also joined in the colonization.
προελθόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου ἐγένετο ἡ τῶν Ἐπιδαμνίων δύναμις μεγάλη καὶ πολυάνθρωπος·
As time went on, the power of the Epidamnians became great and populous;
στασιάσαντες δὲ ἐν ἀλλήλοις ἔτη πολλά, ὡς λέγεται, ἀπὸ πολέμου τινὸς τῶν προσοίκων βαρβάρων ἐφθάρησαν καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως τῆς πολλῆς ἐστερήθησαν.
but having fallen into civil strife among themselves for many years, as is said, they were ruined by a certain war with the neighboring barbarians and were deprived of their great power.
τὰ δὲ τελευταῖα πρὸ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου ὁ δῆμος αὐτῶν ἐξεδίωξε τοὺς δυνατούς, οἱ δὲ ἐπελθόντες μετὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐλῄζοντο τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν.
Finally, before this war, their commons expelled the men of influence, and these having gone out and joined with the barbarians, plundered those in the city both by land and by sea.
οἱ δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει ὄντες Ἐπιδάμνιοι ἐπειδὴ ἐπιέζοντο, πέμπουσιν ἐς τὴν Κέρκυραν πρέσβεις ὡς μητρόπολιν οὖσαν,3 δεόμενοι μὴ σφᾶς περιορᾶν φθειρομένους,4 ἀλλὰ τούς τε φεύγοντας ξυναλλάξαι σφίσι καὶ τὸν τῶν βαρβάρων πόλεμον καταλῦσαι.
The Epidamnians who were in the city, when they were hard pressed, sent ambassadors to Corcyra as being their mother-city, begging them not to look on and see them perish, but to reconcile the exiles to them and to put an end to the war with the barbarians.
ταῦτα δὲ ἱκέται καθεζόμενοι ἐς τὸ Ἥραιον ἐδέοντο. οἱ δὲ Κερκυραῖοι τὴν ἱκετείαν οὐκ ἐδέξαντο, ἀλλ’ ἀπράκτους ἀπέπεμψαν.
And they made this request sitting as suppliants in the Heraeum. But the Corcyraeans did not accept their supplication, but sent them away without having accomplished anything.
- 1.24.1ἐσπλέοντι
Dative of the present participle. It functions as a dative of reference or local dative indicating the point of view ("to one sailing into" the Ionian Gulf).
- 1.24.2κατακληθείς
Aorist passive participle agreeing with the subject Phalius. The "mother-city" (metropolis) referred to here is not Corcyra, which directly founded Epidamnus, but Corinth, which was the mother-city of Corcyra and the birthplace of Phalius. According to ancient custom, when a colony founded a new colony of its own, the founder was summoned from the original mother-city.
- 1.24.6ὡς μητρόπολιν οὖσαν
The present participle feminine singular accusative ousan with hos explains the status of the preceding noun Corcyra (in the accusative) along with a subjective reason ("on the ground that it was their mother-city").
- 1.24.6μὴ σφᾶς περιορᾶν φθειρομένους
The verb periorao (overlook) takes an object (here sphas) and a participle in agreement (phtheiromenous) to mean "look on and allow someone to perish". sphas is an indirect reflexive pronoun referring to the subject of the main clause (the Epidamnians), serving as the subject accusative of the infinitive perioran.