- 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-grc2:1.42.1-1.42.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
The Corinthian envoys urge the Athenians to return their past favors, arguing that avoiding injustice to equals is safer than risking war for the sake of a future naval alliance.
‘ὧν ἐνθυμηθέντες καὶ νεώτερός τις παρὰ πρεσβυτέρου αὐτὰ μαθὼν ἀξιούτω τοῖς ὁμοίοις1 ἡμᾶς ἀμύνεσθαι, καὶ μὴ νομίσῃ δίκαια μὲν τάδε λέγεσθαι, ξύμφορα δέ, εἰ πολεμήσει, ἄλλα εἶναι.
’Reflecting on these things, and let the younger learn them from the elder, let him deem it right to requite us with the like, and let him not think that while these claims are just, other things are advantageous if war should come.
τό τε γὰρ ξυμφέρον ἐν ᾧ ἄν τις ἐλάχιστα ἁμαρτάνῃ μάλιστα ἕπεται, καὶ τὸ μέλλον τοῦ πολέμου ᾧ φοβοῦντες2 ὑμᾶς Κερκυραῖοι κελεύουσιν ἀδικεῖν ἐν ἀφανεῖ ἔτι κεῖται, καὶ οὐκ ἄξιον ἐπαρθέντας αὐτῷ φανερὰν ἔχθραν ἤδη καὶ οὐ μέλλουσαν πρὸς Κορινθίους κτήσασθαι, τῆς δὲ ὑπαρχούσης πρότερον διὰ Μεγαρέας ὑποψίας σῶφρον ὑφελεῖν μᾶλλον3 (ἡ γὰρ τελευταία χάρις καιρὸν ἔχουσα, κἂν ἐλάσσων ᾖ, δύναται μεῖζον ἔγκλημα λῦσαι), μηδ’ ὅτι ναυτικοῦ ξυμμαχίαν μεγάλην διδόασι, τούτῳ ἐφέλκεσθαι·4 τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀδικεῖν τοὺς ὁμοίους ἐχυρωτέρα δύναμις ἢ τῷ αὐτίκα φανερῷ ἐπαρθέντας διὰ κινδύνων τὸ πλέον ἔχειν.
For interest most of all follows that course in which a man commits the fewest errors; and the future of the war, by which the Corcyraeans frighten you and urge you to do injustice, still lies in obscurity. It is not worth your while, excited by it, to acquire a hostility with the Corinthians which is already manifest and not merely future, but it is wiser rather to remove some of the suspicion previously existing on account of the Megarians. For a final favor, when timely, even if it is smaller, has the power to wipe out a greater grievance. Nor should you be drawn away by the fact that they offer a great alliance of a navy; for not doing injustice to one’s equals is a safer power than, being excited by immediate apparent advantage, to seek to gain more through dangers.’
- 1.42.1τοῖς ὁμοίοις
Dative of means or manner. Literally 'with like things,' referring to returning a favor equivalent to the one Corinth previously bestowed upon Athens.
- 1.42.2ᾧ φοβοῦντες
The relative pronoun ᾧ (whose antecedent is the neuter noun phrase τὸ μέλλον τοῦ πολέμου) is a dative of instrument or cause: 'frightening you by means of it (the future threat of war).'
- 1.42.2τῆς ... ὑποψίας σῶφρον ὑφελεῖν μᾶλλον
The infinitive ὑφελεῖν depends on the impersonal predicate σῶφρον [ἐστι] ('it is wise to remove'). The genitive τῆς ... ὑποψίας acts as a partitive genitive (or genitive of separation) with ὑφελεῖν, which means 'to withdraw or diminish a portion of something.'
- 1.42.4τούτῳ ἐφέλκεσθαι
The dative demonstrative τούτῳ refers back to the content of the ὅτι clause ('the fact that they offer a great navy'), acting as a dative of cause or means. The passive infinitive ἐφέλκεσθαι ('to be drawn away') is used here as an imperative infinitive, conveying a strong exhortation.