- 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-grc2:2.17.1-2.17.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-22
This passage describes the housing shortage for refugees entering Athens, the paradoxical fulfillment of an oracle concerning the occupation of the sacred 'Pelargikon', and their temporary settlements alongside ongoing preparations for war.
ἐπειδή τε ἀφίκοντο ἐς τὸ ἄστυ, ὀλίγοις μέν τισιν ὑπῆρχον οἰκήσεις καὶ παρὰ φίλων τινὰς ἢ οἰκείων καταφυγή, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ τά τε ἐρῆμα τῆς πόλεως ᾤκησαν καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τὰ ἡρῷα πάντα πλὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως καὶ τοῦ Ἐλευσινίου καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο βεβαίως κλῃστὸν ἦν· τό τε Πελαργικὸν καλούμενον τὸ ὑπὸ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ὃ καὶ ἐπάρατόν τε ἦν μὴ οἰκεῖν1 καί τι καὶ Πυθικοῦ μαντείου ἀκροτελεύτιον τοιόνδε διεκώλυε, λέγον ὡς ‘τὸ Πελαργικὸν ἀργὸν ἄμεινον,’ ὅμως ὑπὸ τῆς παραχρῆμα ἀνάγκης ἐξῳκήθη.
When they arrived in the city, a few of them had residences available, and some found refuge with friends or relatives; but the majority occupied the vacant spaces of the city, and all the temples and shrines of the heroes, except the Acropolis, the Eleusinion, and any other place that was securely locked. The place called the Pelargikon under the Acropolis, which it was under a curse to inhabit and which a certain end of a Pythian oracle also forbade in some such terms, saying, “The Pelargikon is better left vacant,” was nevertheless inhabited under the immediate pressure of necessity.
καί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ μαντεῖον τοὐναντίον ξυμβῆναι ἢ προσεδέχοντο· οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὴν παράνομον ἐνοίκησιν αἱ ξυμφοραὶ γενέσθαι2 τῇ πόλει, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἡ ἀνάγκη τῆς οἰκήσεως, ὃν οὐκ ὀνομάζον τὸ μαντεῖον προῄδει μὴ ἐπ’ ἀγαθῷ ποτὲ αὐτὸ κατοικισθησόμενον.3
And to me the oracle seems to have turned out in the opposite way to what people expected; for the calamities did not happen to the city because of the unlawful habitation, but the necessity of habitation arose because of the war, which the oracle, without naming it, foresaw would never be inhabited for any good purpose.
κατεσκευάσαντο δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πύργοις τῶν τειχῶν πολλοὶ καὶ ὡς ἕκαστός που ἐδύνατο· οὐ γὰρ ἐχώρησε ξυνελθόντας αὐτοὺς ἡ πόλις, ἀλλ’ ὕστερον δὴ τά τε μακρὰ τείχη ᾤκησαν κατανειμάμενοι καὶ τοῦ Πειραιῶς τὰ πολλά.
Many also established themselves in the towers of the walls and wherever each was able; for the city did not have room for them when they had all come together, but later they occupied and divided among themselves the space of the Long Walls and most of Piraeus.
ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἥπτοντο, ξυμμάχους τε ἀγείροντες καὶ τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ ἑκατὸν νεῶν ἐπίπλουν ἐξαρτύοντες.
At the same time, they also applied themselves to the war, gathering allies and fitting out an expedition of a hundred ships against the Peloponnese.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν τούτῳ παρασκευῆς ἦσαν.
These, then, were engaged in their preparations.
- 2.17.1μὴ οἰκεῖν
An explanatory infinitive dependent on the adjective ἐπάρατον (accursed, under a ban). The negative μή is standard with infinitives expressing prohibition or negative outcomes, meaning 'it was under a curse not to be inhabited'.
- 2.17.2οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὴν παράνομον ἐνοίκησιν αἱ ξυμφοραὶ γενέσθαι
The infinitive γενέσθαι (along with the implied infinitive in the coordinate clause beginning with ἡ ἀνάγκη) depends on the governing verb δοκεῖ ('it seems to me'), introducing a clause of indirect discourse explaining the cause of the calamities.
- 2.17.2μὴ ἐπ’ ἀγαθῷ ποτὲ αὐτὸ κατοικισθησόμενον
The future passive participle κατοικισθησόμενον modifies αὐτό (referring to the Pelargikon), serving as a supplementary participle in indirect discourse after the verb of foreseeing προῄδει to indicate a future state of affairs.