- 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-grc2:1.33.1-1.33.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
The Corcyraean envoys argue that accepting their alliance offers Athens three major benefits (honor, gratitude, and strength) and urge Athens to seize the initiative before the inevitable war with Sparta and Corinth begins.
‘γενήσεται δὲ ὑμῖν πειθομένοις1 καλὴ ἡ ξυντυχία κατὰ πολλὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας χρείας, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἀδικουμένοις καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρους βλάπτουσι τὴν ἐπικουρίαν ποιήσεσθε, ἔπειτα περὶ τῶν μεγίστων κινδυνεύοντας δεξάμενοι ὡς ἂν μάλιστα μετ’ αἰειμνήστου μαρτυρίου τὴν χάριν καταθήσεσθε·2 ναυτικόν τε κεκτήμεθα πλὴν τοῦ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πλεῖστον.
’If you comply, the coincidence of our request will turn out to be honorable for you in many respects: first, because you will be rendering assistance to those who are being wronged and are not harming others; second, because by receiving those who are risking their most vital interests, you will lay up a store of gratitude with the most everlasting testimony. Furthermore, we possess a navy that is the largest except for yours.
καὶ σκέψασθε· τίς εὐπραξία σπανιωτέρα ἢ τίς τοῖς πολεμίοις λυπηροτέρα, εἰ ἣν ὑμεῖς ἂν πρὸ πολλῶν χρημάτων καὶ χάριτος ἐτιμήσασθε3 δύναμιν ὑμῖν προσγενέσθαι, αὕτη πάρεστιν αὐτεπάγγελτος ἄνευ κινδύνων καὶ δαπάνης διδοῦσα ἑαυτήν, καὶ προσέτι φέρουσα ἐς μὲν τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀρετήν, οἷς δὲ ἐπαμυνεῖτε χάριν, ὑμῖν δ’ αὐτοῖς ἰσχύν· ἃ ἐν τῷ παντὶ χρόνῳ ὀλίγοις δὴ ἅμα πάντα ξυνέβη,4 καὶ ὀλίγοι ξυμμαχίας δεόμενοι οἷς ἐπικαλοῦνται ἀσφάλειαν καὶ κόσμον οὐχ ἧσσον διδόντες ἢ ληψόμενοι παραγίγνονται.
And consider: what opportunity is rarer, or what is more painful to your enemies, than if the power which you would have valued obtaining at the cost of much money and gratitude now presents itself voluntarily, offering itself without danger or expense, and moreover bringing honor to the public, gratitude to those whom you will aid, and strength to yourselves? All these things have seldom occurred together to any in all time, and few who ask for an alliance come bringing no less security and honor to those whose help they invoke than they expect to receive.
τὸν δὲ πόλεμον, δι’ ὅνπερ χρήσιμοι ἂν εἶμεν, εἴ τις ὑμῶν μὴ οἴεται ἔσεσθαι, γνώμης ἁμαρτάνει καὶ οὐκ αἰσθάνεται τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους φόβῳ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ πολεμησείοντας καὶ τοὺς Κορινθίους δυναμένους παρ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ ὑμῖν ἐχθροὺς ὄντας καὶ προκαταλαμβάνοντας ἡμᾶς νῦν ἐς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιχείρησιν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ κοινῷ ἔχθει κατ’ αὐτοὺς μετ’ ἀλλήλων στῶμεν μηδὲ δυοῖν φθάσαι ἁμάρτωσιν,5 ἢ κακῶσαι ἡμᾶς ἢ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς βεβαιώσασθαι.
As for the war, through which we would be useful to you, if any of you thinks it will not happen, he is mistaken in his judgment and fails to perceive that the Lacedaemonians, through fear of you, are eager for war, and that the Corinthians, who have influence with them, are your enemies and are now preoccupying us first in preparation for their attack on you, so that we may not stand together against them in our common hatred, and that they may not fail to secure one of two objectives beforehand—either to ruin us or to strengthen themselves.
ἡμέτερον δέ γ’ αὖ ἔργον προτερῆσαι, τῶν μὲν διδόντων, ὑμῶν δὲ δεξαμένων τὴν ξυμμαχίαν, καὶ προεπιβουλεύειν αὐτοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ ἀντεπιβουλεύειν.
On our part, then, it is our duty to anticipate them, by our offering and your accepting the alliance, and to plot against them beforehand rather than to plot in response to them.’
- 1.33.1ὑμῖν πειθομένοις
Dative of reference with a conditional force: "if you comply (with our request)."
- 1.33.1ὡς ἂν μάλιστα ... τὴν χάριν καταθήσεσθε
The phrase ὡς ἂν μάλιστα functions as an adverbial modifier ("as much as possible") to the future indicative καταθήσεσθε. Alternatively, ἄν with the future indicative emphasizes a strong potential or confident prediction of a future action.
- 1.33.2ἣν ὑμεῖς ἂν ... ἐτιμήσασθε
A past contrafactual construction within a relative clause (ἄν with the aorist indicative ἐτιμήσασθε), referring to a hypothetical past: "a power which you would have valued obtaining at the cost of much money and gratitude (had it been possible)."
- 1.33.2ἃ ... πάντα ξυνέβη
The neuter plural relative pronoun ἃ summarizes the three preceding abstract nouns of different genders (ἀρετή, χάρις, and ἰσχύς).
- 1.33.3δυοῖν φθάσαι ἁμάρτωσιν
The verb ἁμάρτωσιν is an aorist subjunctive introduced by ἵνα μή ... μηδέ ("lest they fail to"). δυοῖν is a partitive genitive ("one of the two things," i.e., ruining us or securing themselves) depending either on the infinitive φθάσαι ("to achieve beforehand") or on the main verb.