- 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-grc2:3.112.1-3.112.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
The allied forces led by Demosthenes launch a successful night attack on the Ambraciot reinforcements at Idomene, utilizing the local terrain and language deception to utterly destroy them.
οἱ δ’ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως Ἀμπρακιῶται ἀφικνοῦνται ἐπ᾽ Ἰδομενήν. ἐστὸν δὲ δύο λόφω ἡ Ἰδομενὴ ὑψηλώ· τούτοιν τὸν μὲν μείζω νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης οἱ προαποσταλέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Δημοσθένους ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατοπέδου ἔλαθόν τε καὶ ἔφθασαν προκαταλαβόντες1 (τὸν δ’ ἐλάσσω ἔτυχον οἱ Ἀμπρακιῶται προαναβάντες) καὶ ηὐλίσαντο.
The Ambraciots from the city arrived at Idomene. Now Idomene consists of two high hills; of these, when night came on, the troops sent ahead by Demosthenes from the camp managed to occupy the larger one before being observed, (while the Ambraciots happened to have previously ascended the smaller one,) and there they encamped.
ὁ δὲ Δημοσθένης δειπνήσας ἐχώρει καὶ τὸ ἄλλο στράτευμα ἀπὸ ἑσπέρας εὐθύς, αὐτὸς μὲν τὸ ἥμισυ ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσβολῆς, τὸ δ’ ἄλλο2 διὰ τῶν Ἀμφιλοχικῶν ὀρῶν.
Demosthenes, having had supper, set out immediately after evening with the rest of the army, he himself leading half of it toward the pass, while the other half went through the Amphilochian mountains.
καὶ ἅμα ὄρθρῳ ἐπιπίπτει τοῖς Ἀμπρακιώταις ἔτι ἐν ταῖς εὐναῖς καὶ οὐ προῃσθημένοις τὰ γεγενημένα, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον νομίσασι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν εἶναι·
And at dawn he fell upon the Ambraciots, who were still in their beds and had not yet realized what had happened, but rather believed that the newcomers were their own men;
καὶ γὰρ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους πρώτους ἐπίτηδες ὁ Δημοσθένης προύταξε καὶ προσαγορεύειν ἐκέλευε, Δωρίδα τε γλῶσσαν ἱέντας καὶ τοῖς προφύλαξι πίστιν παρεχομένους, ἅμα δὲ καὶ οὐ καθορωμένους τῇ ὄψει νυκτὸς ἔτι οὔσης.
for Demosthenes had intentionally placed the Messenians in the front and ordered them to address the enemy, speaking as they did the Doric dialect and thus inspiring confidence in the outposts, while at the same time their appearance could not be distinguished as it was still night.
ὡς οὖν ἐπέπεσε τῷ στρατεύματι αὐτῶν, τρέπουσι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν πολλοὺς αὐτοῦ διέφθειραν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ κατὰ τὰ ὄρη ἐς φυγὴν ὥρμησαν.
When therefore he fell upon their army, they routed them, and destroyed most of them on the spot, while the rest rushed to flee along the mountains.
προκατειλημμένων δὲ τῶν ὁδῶν,3 καὶ ἅμα τῶν μὲν Ἀμφιλόχων ἐμπείρων ὄντων τῆς ἑαυτῶν γῆς καὶ ψιλῶν πρὸς ὁπλίτας, τῶν δὲ ἀπείρων καὶ ἀνεπιστημόνων ὅπῃ τράπωνται, ἐσπίπτοντες ἔς τε χαράδρας καὶ τὰς προλελοχισμένας ἐνέδρας διεφθείροντο.
But as the roads were already occupied, and at the same time the Amphilochians were acquainted with their own country and light-armed against hoplites, whereas the Ambraciots were inexperienced and did not know which way to turn, they fell into ravines and the pre-arranged ambushes and were destroyed.
καὶ ἐς πᾶσαν ἰδέαν χωρήσαντες τῆς φυγῆς ἐτράποντό τινες καὶ ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν οὐ πολὺ ἀπέχουσαν, καὶ ὡς εἶδον τὰς Ἀττικὰς ναῦς παραπλεούσας ἅμα τοῦ ἔργου τῇ ξυντυχίᾳ, προσένευσαν, ἡγησάμενοι ἐν τῷ αὐτίκα φόβῳ κρεῖσσον εἶναι4 σφίσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ναυσίν, εἰ δεῖ, διαφθαρῆναι ἢ ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ ἐχθίστων Ἀμφιλόχων.
And having turned to every form of flight, some even fled to the sea, which was not far off; and when they saw the Attic ships sailing along the coast just at the time of the action, they swam out to them, thinking in their immediate terror that it was better for them, if they must, to be destroyed by those on board than by the barbarians and their bitterest enemies, the Amphilochians.
οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀμπρακιῶται τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ κακωθέντες ὀλίγοι ἀπὸ πολλῶν ἐσώθησαν ἐς τὴν πόλιν· Ἀκαρνᾶνες δὲ σκυλεύσαντες τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ τροπαῖα στήσαντες ἀπεχώρησαν ἐς Ἄργος.
Thus the Ambraciots, having suffered in this manner, escaped to the city, only a few out of many; and the Acarnanians, having stripped the dead and erected trophies, retreated to Argos.
- 3.112.1ἔλαθόν τε καὶ ἔφθασαν προκαταλαβόντες
Two adverbial verbs λανθάνω (to do undetected) and φθάνω (to do beforehand) share and modify a single participle προκαταλαβόντες.
- 3.112.2τὸ δ’ ἄλλο
In the antithesis μὲν ... δὲ, a participle or verbal element corresponding to ἔχων in the first clause (or meaning 'having placed the other half under other commanders') is omitted in the second clause.
- 3.112.6προκατειλημμένων δὲ τῶν ὁδῶν
Multiple genitive absolute constructions (προκατειλημμένων ... τῶν ὁδῶν, τῶν μὲν Ἀμφιλόχων ἐμπείρων ὄντων..., and τῶν δὲ ἀπείρων...) are layered to explain the multifaceted circumstances of the Ambraciots' entrapment.
- 3.112.7κρεῖσσον εἶναι
An accusative-with-infinitive construction of indirect discourse introduced by the participle ἡγησάμενοι. The infinitive is impersonal (κρεῖσσον εἶναι), with the dative σφίσιν acting as the referential object of the comparison.