- 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-grc2:2.21.1-2.21.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-22
Agitated by the sight of the Spartan army ravaging their land near Acharnae, the Athenians ignored Pericles' advice, demanded to march out, and turned their anger against him.
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ μέχρι μὲν οὗ περὶ Ἐλευσῖνα καὶ τὸ Θριάσιον πεδίον ὁ στρατὸς ἦν, καί τινα ἐλπίδα εἶχον ἐς τὸ ἐγγυτέρω αὐτοὺς μὴ προϊέναι, μεμνημένοι1 καὶ Πλειστοάνακτα τὸν Παυσανίου Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέα, ὅτε ἐσβαλὼν τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐς Ἐλευσῖνα καὶ Θριῶζε στρατῷ Πελοποννησίων πρὸ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου τέσσαρσι καὶ δέκα ἔτεσιν ἀνεχώρησε πάλιν ἐς τὸ πλέον οὐκέτι προελθών (δι’ ὃ δὴ καὶ ἡ φυγὴ αὐτῷ ἐγένετο ἐκ Σπάρτης δόξαντι χρήμασι πεισθῆναι [τὴν ἀναχώρησιν])·
The Athenians, as long as the army was near Eleusis and the Thriasian plain, maintained some hope that they would not advance any closer, remembering also Pleistoanax the son of Pausanias, king of the Lacedaemonians, who, when he invaded Attica as far as Eleusis and Thria with an army of Peloponnesians fourteen years before this war, retreated again without advancing any further (for which very reason indeed his banishment from Sparta occurred, since he was thought to have been persuaded by money to make [the retreat]).
ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ Ἀχαρνὰς εἶδον τὸν στρατὸν ἑξήκοντα σταδίους τῆς πόλεως ἀπέχοντα, οὐκέτι ἀνασχετὸν ἐποιοῦντο, ἀλλ’ αὐτοῖς, ὡς εἰκός, γῆς τεμνομένης ἐν τῷ ἐμφανεῖ, ὃ οὔπω ἑοράκεσαν οἵ γε νεώτεροι, οὐδ’ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι πλὴν τὰ Μηδικά, δεινὸν ἐφαίνετο καὶ ἐδόκει2 τοῖς τε ἄλλοις καὶ μάλιστα τῇ νεότητι ἐπεξιέναι καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν.
But when they saw the army near Acharnae, sixty stades away from the city, they no longer thought it bearable, but to them, as was natural, while their land was being ravaged in plain sight—a thing which the younger men had never yet seen, nor even the older men except in the Persian Wars—it appeared a terrible thing, and it seemed best to the others and especially to the youth to march out and not to look on.
κατὰ ξυστάσεις τε γιγνόμενοι ἐν πολλῇ ἔριδι ἦσαν, οἱ μὲν κελεύοντες ἐπεξιέναι, οἱ δέ τινες οὐκ ἐῶντες. χρησμολόγοι τε ᾖδον χρησμοὺς παντοίους, ὧν3 ἀκροᾶσθαι ὡς ἕκαστος ὥρμητο. οἵ τε Ἀχαρνῆς οἰόμενοι παρὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἐλαχίστην μοῖραν εἶναι Ἀθηναίων, ὡς αὐτῶν ἡ γῆ ἐτέμνετο, ἐνῆγον τὴν ἔξοδον μάλιστα. παντί τε τρόπῳ ἀνηρέθιστο ἡ πόλις, καὶ τὸν Περικλέα ἐν ὀργῇ εἶχον, καὶ ὧν παρῄνεσε πρότερον ἐμέμνηντο οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκάκιζον ὅτι στρατηγὸς ὢν οὐκ ἐπεξάγοι,4 αἴτιόν τε σφίσιν ἐνόμιζον πάντων ὧν ἔπασχον.
And gathering in groups they were in great dispute, some urging to march out, and others refusing to permit it. Oracle-mongers also sang all kinds of oracles, to which each person was eager to listen according to his own inclination. And the Acharnians, believing that they themselves constituted no small part of the Athenians, as their own land was being ravaged, especially urged the expedition. The city was in every way thoroughly excited, and they held Pericles in anger, remembering nothing of what he had previously advised, but abused him because, being general, he would not lead them out, and they considered him the cause of all that they were suffering.
- 2.21.1μεμνημένοι
A perfect middle-passive participle of μιμνήσκω (remember), nominative plural, agreeing with the main subject Ἀθηναῖοι. It functions causally, explaining that the memory of the former king Pleistoanax's early retreat was the ground for the Athenians' optimistic hope that the enemy would not advance further.
- 2.21.2δεινὸν ἐφαίνετο καὶ ἐδόκει
The subject of δεινὸν ἐφαίνετο is the situation described in the preceding genitive absolute (the ravaging of the land), whereas ἐδόκει functions impersonally ('it seemed good/decided') taking the infinitives ἐπεξιέναι καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν (to march out and not look on) as its subject. This creates a shift in syntactic construction between the two closely connected verbs.
- 2.21.3ὧν
The relative pronoun ὧν has been attracted to the genitive case by the verb of its clause, ἀκροᾶσθαι (to listen to), which governs the genitive, referring back to the antecedent noun χρησμούς. The following phrase ὡς ἕκαστος ὥρμητο functions as an adverbial clause of manner, meaning 'as each was inclined' or 'according to each person's eagerness'.
- 2.21.3ὅτι στρατηγὸς ὢν οὐκ ἐπεξάγοι
The verb ἐπεξάγοι in the ὅτι clause is in the optative of indirect speech (optativus obliquus) because the main verb (ἐκάκιζον) is in a past tense. It expresses the subjective reason for the Athenians' abuse, namely their grievance that Pericles, despite being a general, was not leading them out.