- 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-grc2:2.79.1-2.79.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
The Athenian army conducts an expedition against the Chalcidians in Thrace, but suffers a severe defeat due to the enemy's cavalry and light-armed reinforcements, forcing them to retreat.
τοῦ δ’ αὐτοῦ θέρους καὶ ἅμα τῇ τῶν Πλαταιῶν ἐπιστρατείᾳ Ἀθηναῖοι δισχιλίοις ὁπλίταις ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἱππεῦσι διακοσίοις ἐπεστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Χαλκιδέας τοὺς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης καὶ Βοττιαίους ἀκμάζοντος τοῦ σίτου· ἐστρατήγει δὲ Ξενοφῶν ὁ Εὐριπίδου τρίτος αὐτός.1
During the same summer, and at the same time as the expedition against Plataea, the Athenians, with two thousand of their own hoplites and two hundred cavalry, made an expedition against the Chalcidians of Thrace and the Bottiaeans at the time when the corn was ripe. Xenophon, the son of Euripides, was in command with two colleagues.
ἐλθόντες δὲ ὑπὸ Σπάρτωλον τὴν Βοττικὴν τὸν σῖτον διέφθειραν. ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ προσχωρήσειν ἡ πόλις2 ὑπό τινων ἔνδοθεν πρασσόντων. προσπεμψάντων δὲ ἐς Ὄλυνθον τῶν οὐ ταὐτὰ βουλομένων ὁπλῖταί τε ἦλθον καὶ στρατιὰ ἐς φυλακήν· ἧς ἐπεξελθούσης ἐκ τῆς Σπαρτώλου ἐς μάχην καθίστανται οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ὑπ’ αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει.
Having arrived before Spartolus in Bottice, they ravaged the crops. It was expected that the city would also come over to them through the intrigues of a party within. But those of the opposite party sent to Olynthus, and a force of hoplites and other troops arrived for its defense. When this force sallied out from Spartolus, the Athenians engaged them in battle just under the city.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ὁπλῖται τῶν Χαλκιδέων καὶ ἐπίκουροί τινες μετ’ αὐτῶν νικῶνται ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ ἀναχωροῦσιν ἐς τὴν Σπάρτωλον, οἱ δὲ ἱππῆς τῶν Χαλκιδέων καὶ ψιλοὶ νικῶσι τοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱππέας καὶ ψιλούς·
And while the hoplites of the Chalcidians and some auxiliaries with them were defeated by the Athenians and retreated into Spartolus, the Chalcidian cavalry and light-armed troops defeated the Athenian cavalry and light-armed troops.
εἶχον δέ τινας οὐ πολλοὺς πελταστὰς ἐκ τῆς Κρουσίδος γῆς καλουμένης. ἄρτι δὲ τῆς μάχης γεγενημένης ἐπιβοηθοῦσιν ἄλλοι πελτασταὶ ἐκ τῆς Ὀλύνθου.
They had a small number of peltasts from the land called Crusis. Just after the battle had ended, other peltasts arrived from Olynthus as reinforcements.
καὶ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Σπαρτώλου ψιλοὶ ὡς εἶδον, θαρσήσαντες τοῖς τε προσγιγνομένοις καὶ ὅτι πρότερον οὐχ ἥσσηντο,3 ἐπιτίθενται αὖθις μετὰ τῶν Χαλκιδέων ἱππέων καὶ τῶν προσβοηθησάντων τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις· καὶ ἀναχωροῦσι πρὸς τὰς δύο τάξεις ἃς κατέλιπον παρὰ τοῖς σκευοφόροις.
When the light-armed troops from Spartolus saw this, encouraged both by the reinforcement and by the fact that they had not been defeated before, they attacked the Athenians again along with the Chalcidian cavalry and the reinforcements; and the Athenians retreated to the two divisions which they had left with the baggage train.
καὶ ὁπότε μὲν ἐπίοιεν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ἐνεδίδοσαν, ἀναχωροῦσι δ’ ἐνέκειντο4 καὶ ἐσηκόντιζον. οἵ τε ἱππῆς τῶν Χαλκιδέων προσιππεύοντες ᾗ δοκοίη προσέβαλλον, καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα φοβήσαντες ἔτρεψαν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ ἐπεδίωξαν ἐπὶ πολύ.
Whenever the Athenians advanced, they gave way, but as they retreated, they pressed upon them and harassed them with javelins. The Chalcidian cavalry also rode up and charged wherever opportunity offered, and, striking them with no small panic, routed the Athenians and pursued them for a great distance.
καὶ οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι ἐς τὴν Ποτείδαιαν καταφεύγουσι, καὶ ὕστερον τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑποσπόνδους κομισάμενοι ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀναχωροῦσι τῷ περιόντι τοῦ στρατοῦ· ἀπέθανον δὲ αὐτῶν τριάκοντα καὶ τετρακόσιοι καὶ οἱ στρατηγοὶ πάντες. οἱ δὲ Χαλκιδῆς καὶ Βοττιαῖοι τροπαῖόν τε ἔστησαν καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς αὑτῶν ἀνελόμενοι διελύθησαν κατὰ πόλεις.
The Athenians fled to Potidaea, and afterwards, having recovered their dead under a truce, returned to Athens with the remnant of their army; they had lost four hundred and thirty men and all their generals. The Chalcidians and Bottiaeans erected a trophy, and, after taking up their own dead, dispersed to their several cities.
- 2.79.1τρίτος αὐτός
An idiomatic expression meaning "himself with two others," indicating that he was in command alongside two other generals.
- 2.79.2ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ προσχωρήσειν ἡ πόλις
A nominative with infinitive construction, where ἡ πόλις, the logical subject of the future infinitive προσχωρήσειν, is raised to function as the grammatical subject of the governing verb ἐδόκει.
- 2.79.5θαρσήσαντες τοῖς τε προσγιγνομένοις καὶ ὅτι πρότερον οὐχ ἥσσηντο
The participle of cause, θαρσήσαντες, governs two coordinated causal elements linked by τε... καί: the dative noun phrase τοῖς προσγιγνομένοις and the noun clause introduced by ὅτι.
- 2.79.6ὁπότε μὲν ἐπίοιεν ... ἐνεδίδοσαν, ἀναχωροῦσι δ’ ἐνέκειντο
A construction expressing past general repetition, combining the optative mood in the temporal clause (ἐπίοιεν) with the imperfect tense in the main clauses (ἐνεδίδοσαν, ἐνέκειντο).