- 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-grc2:2.70.1-2.70.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
Blockaded to the point of extreme famine, the Potidaeans proposed surrender to the Athenian generals, and an agreement was reached allowing them to leave with limited clothing. The Athenian assembly blamed the generals for making terms without their authorization, and later sent their own colonists to Potidaea.
τοῦ δ’ αὐτοῦ χειμῶνος οἱ Ποτειδεᾶται ἐπειδὴ οὐκέτι ἐδύναντο πολιορκούμενοι ἀντέχειν, ἀλλ’ αἵ τε ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσβολαὶ Πελοποννησίων οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἀπανίστασαν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ὅ τε σῖτος ἐπελελοίπει, καὶ ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἐπεγεγένητο αὐτόθι ἤδη βρώσεως πέρι ἀναγκαίας καί τινες καὶ ἀλλήλων ἐγέγευντο,1 οὕτω δὴ λόγους προσφέρουσι περὶ ξυμβάσεως τοῖς στρατηγοῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων τοῖς ἐπὶ σφίσι τεταγμένοις, Ξενοφῶντί τε τῷ Εὐριπίδου καὶ Ἑστιοδώρῳ τῷ Ἀριστοκλείδου καὶ Φανομάχῳ τῷ Καλλιμάχου.
During the same winter, the Potidaeans, since they were no longer able to hold out under siege—as the invasions of Attica by the Peloponnesians had done nothing to make the Athenians withdraw, and their food had failed, and many other desperate expedients had already occurred there regarding necessary food, and some were even eating one another—finally made proposals for an agreement to the Athenian generals stationed against them, namely Xenophon son of Euripides, Hestiodorus son of Aristocleides, and Phanomachus son of Callimachus.
οἱ δὲ προσεδέξαντο, ὁρῶντες μὲν τῆς στρατιᾶς τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν ἐν χωρίῳ χειμερινῷ, ἀνηλωκυίας δὲ ἤδη τῆς πόλεως2 δισχίλια τάλαντα ἐς τὴν πολιορκίαν.
The generals accepted the proposals, seeing the suffering of their army in a wintry place, and since the city had already spent two thousand talents on the siege.
ἐπὶ τοῖσδε οὖν ξυνέβησαν, ἐξελθεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς ἐπικούρους ξὺν ἑνὶ ἱματίῳ, γυναῖκας δὲ ξὺν δυοῖν, καὶ ἀργύριόν τι ῥητὸν ἔχοντας ἐφόδιον.
On these terms, therefore, they came to an agreement: that they themselves, with their children, wives, and auxiliary troops, should go out with one garment each, but the women with two, and possessing a specific sum of money for travel expenses.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ὑπόσπονδοι ἐξῆλθον ἔς τε τὴν Χαλκιδικὴν καὶ ᾗ ἕκαστος ἐδύνατο· Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τούς τε στρατηγοὺς ἐπῃτιάσαντο ὅτι ἄνευ αὐτῶν ξυνέβησαν (ἐνόμιζον γὰρ ἂν κρατῆσαι3 τῆς πόλεως ᾗ ἐβούλοντο), καὶ ὕστερον ἐποίκους ἔπεμψαν ἑαυτῶν ἐς τὴν Ποτείδαιαν καὶ κατῴκισαν. ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι ἐγένετο, καὶ [τὸ] δεύτερον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα τῷ πολέμῳ τῷδε ὃν Θουκυδίδης ξυνέγραψεν.
And they went out under truce, dispersing to Chalcidice and wherever each was able. But the Athenians blamed the generals for having come to an agreement without their authority (for they thought they could have captured the city on whatever terms they wished), and later they sent colonists of their own to Potidaea and settled them. These events took place in the winter, and the second year of this war which Thucydides wrote of came to an end.
- 2.70.1ἀλλήλων ἐγέγευντο
The verb γεύομαι (to taste, eat) governs the genitive ἀλλήλων as its direct object. In this context, it vividly describes the grim reality of cannibalism under extreme circumstances.
- 2.70.2ἀνηλωκυίας δὲ ἤδη τῆς πόλεως
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun τῆς πόλεως and the perfect active participle feminine genitive singular ἀνηλωκυίας (from ἀναλίσκω, to spend). It explains the causal or background circumstance that the Athenian state—a different subject from that of the main clause (the generals)—had already spent a massive sum of money (2,000 talents) on the siege.
- 2.70.4ἂν κρατῆσαι
An infinitive construction acting as the object of the verb of thinking ἐνόμιζον (with the subject accusative ἑαυτούς omitted), where the particle ἄν accompanies the aorist infinitive κρατῆσαι. This represents a transfer into indirect discourse of an unfulfilled past condition (originally ἂν ἐκράτησαν, 'they would have captured/could have captured').