- 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-grc2:2.100.1-2.100.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
The Macedonians are forced to retreat before the large Thracian army, though the narrative notes that King Archelaus later greatly strengthened the nation's defenses and military. The Thracian advance and the spirited but outnumbered counterattacks of the Macedonian cavalry are described.
καὶ οἱ μὲν Μακεδόνες οὗτοι ἐπιόντος πολλοῦ στρατοῦ ἀδύνατοι ὄντες ἀμύνεσθαι ἔς τε τὰ καρτερὰ καὶ τὰ τείχη, ὅσα ἦν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, ἐσεκομίσθησαν.
And these Macedonians, being unable to defend themselves against the invasion of so large an army, withdrew into the strongholds and fortresses, as many as there were in the country.
ἦν δὲ οὐ πολλά,1 ἀλλὰ ὕστερον Ἀρχέλαος ὁ Περδίκκου υἱὸς βασιλεὺς γενόμενος τὰ νῦν ὄντα ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ᾠκοδόμησε καὶ ὁδοὺς εὐθείας ἔτεμε καὶ τἆλλα διεκόσμησε τά [τε] κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἵπποις καὶ ὅπλοις καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ κρείσσονι ἢ ξύμπαντες οἱ ἄλλοι βασιλῆς ὀκτὼ οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι.2
Now these were not many; but afterwards Archelaus, the son of Perdiccas, when he became king, built those which are now in the country, cut straight roads, and organized the other matters relating to war with horses, arms, and other equipment in a manner superior to all the other eight kings who had been before him.
ὁ δὲ στρατὸς τῶν Θρᾳκῶν ἐκ τῆς Δοβήρου ἐσέβαλε πρῶτον μὲν ἐς τὴν Φιλίππου πρότερον οὖσαν ἀρχήν, καὶ εἷλεν Εἰδομενὴν μὲν κατὰ κράτος, Γορτυνίαν δὲ καὶ Ἀταλάντην καὶ ἄλλα ἄττα χωρία ὁμολογίᾳ διὰ τὴν Ἀμύντου φιλίαν προσχωροῦντα τοῦ Φιλίππου υἱέος παρόντος· Εὐρωπὸν δὲ ἐπολιόρκησαν μέν, ἑλεῖν δὲ οὐκ ἐδύναντο.
The army of the Thracians, invading from Doberus, entered first into what had formerly been the principality of Philip, and took Idomene by force, while Gortynia, Atalante, and some other places surrendered by agreement because of their friendship with Amyntas, the son of Philip, who was present; they besieged Europus, but were unable to take it.
ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν ἄλλην Μακεδονίαν προυχώρει τὴν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ Πέλλης καὶ Κύρρου. ἔσω δὲ τούτων ἐς τὴν Βοττιαίαν καὶ Πιερίαν οὐκ ἀφίκοντο,ἀλλὰ τήν τε Μυγδονίαν καὶ Κρηστωνίαν καὶ Ἀνθεμοῦντα ἐδῄουν.
Afterwards, they also advanced into the rest of Macedonia, that which lay on the left of Pella and Cyrrhus. They did not penetrate beyond these into Bottiaea and Pieria, but laid waste Mygdonia, Crestonia, and Anthemus.
οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες πεζῷ μὲν οὐδὲ διενοοῦντο ἀμύνεσθαι, ἵππους δὲ προσμεταπεμψάμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνω ξυμμάχων, ὅπῃ δοκοίη,3 ὀλίγοι πρὸς πολλοὺς ἐσέβαλλον ἐς τὸ στράτευμα τῶν Θρᾳκῶν. καὶ ᾗ μὲν προσπέσοιεν, οὐδεὶς ὑπέμενεν ἄνδρας ἱππέας τε ἀγαθοὺς καὶ τεθωρακισμένους, ὑπὸ δὲ πλήθους περικλῃόμενοι αὑτοὺς πολλαπλασίῳ τῷ ὁμίλῳ ἐς κίνδυνον καθίστασαν, ὥστε τέλος ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, οὐ νομίζοντες ἱκανοὶ εἶναι πρὸς τὸ πλέον κινδυνεύειν.
The Macedonians did not even think of defending themselves with infantry, but having sent for additional cavalry from their allies in the upper country, they made charges, whenever opportunity offered, few against many, into the army of the Thracians. And wherever they made a charge, no one could withstand men who were excellent horsemen and wore breastplates; but being hemmed in by the multitude, because the crowd was many times larger than themselves, they put themselves in danger, so that in the end they remained quiet, not thinking themselves sufficient to run further risks.
- 2.100.2ἦν δὲ οὐ πολλά
The verb ἦν is in the third person singular, agreeing with the neuter plural subject from the previous sentence, τὰ καρτερὰ καὶ τὰ τείχη (the strongholds and fortresses). This is a standard feature of classical Greek syntax known as the Schema Atticum (Attic concord).
- 2.100.2κρείσσονι ἢ ξύμπαντες οἱ ἄλλοι βασιλῆς ὀκτὼ οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι
An instance of brachylogy of comparison. Logically, Archelaus' "equipment" (τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ, dative) is compared to the "equipment of the predecessor kings," but syntactically the dative comparative κρείσσονι is followed by the nominative "all the other kings" (ξύμπαντες οἱ ἄλλοι βασιλῆς...) after the conjunction ἢ.
- 2.100.5ὅπῃ δοκοίη
The optative (δοκοίη) introduced by the relative adverb ὅπῃ is an iterative optative, expressing a repeated action in past time ("wherever/whenever it seemed best"). The optative in the subsequent clause, ᾗ μὲν προσπέσοιεν ("wherever they charged"), exhibits the same usage.