- 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-grc2:1.88.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
Explains that the primary motivation for the Lacedaemonians voting to break the treaty and declare war was their fear of Athens' growing power rather than the persuasion of their allies.
ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰς σπονδὰς λελύσθαι καὶ πολεμητέα1 εἶναι οὐ τοσοῦτον τῶν ξυμμάχων πεισθέντες τοῖς λόγοις ὅσον φοβούμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μὴ ἐπὶ μεῖζον δυνηθῶσιν,2 ὁρῶντες αὐτοῖς3 τὰ πολλὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑποχείρια ἤδη ὄντα.
The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken and that war must be made, not so much because they were persuaded by the speeches of the allies, as because they feared the Athenians, lest they should grow more powerful, seeing that the greater part of Greece was already subject to them.
- 1.88.1πολεμητέα
The neuter plural of the verbal adjective πολεμητέος, used here impersonally (equivalent to πολεμητέον ἐστί), taking the form πολεμητέα εἶναι ('that war must be made') within the accusative and infinitive construction.
- 1.88.1τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μὴ ἐπὶ μεῖζον δυνηθῶσιν
A construction of prolepsis (anticipation), where οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, which logically should be the subject of the dependent clause μὴ ... δυνηθῶσιν, is pulled forward as the direct object (accusative τοὺς Ἀθηναίους) of the participle φοβούμενοι.
- 1.88.1αὐτοῖς
Dative of interest or relation, modifying the adjective ὑποχείρια ('subject to'), meaning 'subject to them' (the Athenians).