- 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-grc2:1.55.1-1.55.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
It describes how the Corinthians captured Anactorium on their way home, took Corcyraean prisoners including leading citizens, and how Corcyra survived this war, marking the first cause of the conflict between the Corinthians and the Athenians.
οὕτω μὲν ἑκάτεροι νικᾶν ἠξίουν· οἱ δὲ Κορίνθιοι ἀποπλέοντες ἐπ’ οἴκου Ἀνακτόριον, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τοῦ Ἀμπρακικοῦ κόλπου, εἷλον ἀπάτῃ (ἦν δὲ κοινὸν Κερκυραίων καὶ ἐκείνων) καὶ καταστήσαντες ἐν αὐτῷ Κορινθίους οἰκήτορας ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπ’ οἴκου, καὶ τῶν Κερκυραίων ὀκτακοσίους μὲν οἳ ἦσαν δοῦλοι ἀπέδοντο, πεντήκοντα δὲ καὶ διακοσίους δήσαντες ἐφύλασσον καὶ ἐν θεραπείᾳ εἶχον πολλῇ, ὅπως αὐτοῖς τὴν Κέρκυραν ἀναχωρήσαντες προσποιήσειαν·1 ἐτύγχανον δὲ καὶ δυνάμει αὐτῶν οἱ πλείους πρῶτοι ὄντες τῆς πόλεως.2
In this way, then, each side claimed the victory. The Corinthians, sailing back home, took Anactorium, which is at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, by treachery (it was common to the Corcyraeans and themselves), and having established Corinthian settlers in it, they returned home. Of the Corcyraeans, they sold eight hundred who were slaves, but two hundred and fifty they kept in chains and guarded, treating them with great consideration, in order that, when they returned, they might win over Corcyra to their side; for it happened that most of them were, in terms of influence, the first men of the city.
ἡ μὲν οὖν Κέρκυρα οὕτω περιγίγνεται τῷ πολέμῳ3 τῶν Κορινθίων, καὶ αἱ νῆες τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀνεχώρησαν ἐξ αὐτῆς· αἰτία δὲ αὕτη πρώτη ἐγένετο τοῦ πολέμου τοῖς Κορινθίοις ἐς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ὅτι σφίσιν ἐν σπονδαῖς μετὰ Κερκυραίων ἐναυμάχουν.4
Thus Corcyra survived this war with the Corinthians, and the ships of the Athenians withdrew from it. And this was the first cause of the war for the Corinthians against the Athenians, namely, that they had fought against them at sea, in time of treaty, on the side of the Corcyraeans.
- 1.55.1ὅπως αὐτοῖς τὴν Κέρκυραν ἀναχωρήσαντες προσποιήσειαν
The verb προσποιήσειαν in the purpose clause (ὅπως) is in the optative mood (optative of indirect discourse/after secondary tenses) because the main verbs (ἐφύλασσον, εἶχον) are in the past tense (imperfect). The subject of this clause is the 250 prisoners, with which the participle ἀναχωρήσαντες (after they returned) agrees in gender, number, and case. The dative αὐτοῖς refers to the Corinthians as the beneficiaries of the action (indirect reflexive).
- 1.55.1ἐτύγχανον δὲ καὶ δυνάμει αὐτῶν οἱ πλείους πρῶτοι ὄντες τῆς πόλεως
The verb τυγχάνω is used with the supplementary participle ὄντες to express the actual state of affairs ('happened to be' or 'actually were'). The genitive αὐτῶν is a partitive genitive referring to the 250 prisoners, modifying οἱ πλείους (most of them). The dative δυνάμει (in terms of power or influence) is a dative of respect.
- 1.55.2περιγίγνεται τῷ πολέμῳ
The verb περιγίγνομαι (to survive, escape from, or get the better of) takes the dative case (τῷ πολέμῳ).
- 1.55.2ὅτι σφίσιν ἐν σπονδαῖς μετὰ Κερκυραίων ἐναυμάχουν
The pronoun σφίσιν is a third-person plural indirect reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject/agent of the main clause (τοῖς Κορινθίοις), meaning 'against them (the Corinthians)'. The phrase ἐν σπονδαῖς (under treaty / in time of treaty) refers to the Thirty Years' Peace existing between Athens and the Peloponnesians.