- 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-grc2:3.113.1-3.113.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
A herald from the first Ambraciot force arrives to negotiate the recovery of the dead, but departs in grief upon learning that the reinforcement from the city was destroyed at Idomene. The author stresses the magnitude of this disaster.
καὶ αὐτοῖς τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ἦλθε κῆρυξ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐς Ἀγραίους καταφυγόντων ἐκ τῆς Ὄλπης Ἀμπρακιωτῶν, ἀναίρεσιν αἰτήσων τῶν νεκρῶν οὓς ἀπέκτειναν ὕστερον τῆς πρώτης μάχης, ὅτε μετὰ τῶν Μαντινέων καὶ τῶν ὑποσπόνδων ξυνεξῇσαν ἄσπονδοι.1
And on the following day there came to them a herald from the Ambraciots who had fled from Olpae to the Agraeans, to ask for the recovery of the dead whom they had killed after the first battle, when they had gone out together with the Mantineans and those who had departed under truce, without being themselves included in the truce.
ἰδὼν δ’ ὁ κῆρυξ τὰ ὅπλα τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως Ἀμπρακιωτῶν ἐθαύμαζε τὸ πλῆθος· οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει τὸ πάθος, ἀλλ’ ᾤετο τῶν μετὰ σφῶν εἶναι.
But the herald, when he saw the arms of the Ambraciots from the city, wondered at their number; for he did not know of the disaster, but thought they belonged to those who were with them.
καί τις αὐτὸν ἤρετο ὅτι θαυμάζοι2 καὶ ὁπόσοι αὐτῶν τεθνᾶσιν, οἰόμενος αὖ ὁ ἐρωτῶν εἶναι τὸν κήρυκα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Ἰδομεναῖς. ὁ δ’ ἔφη διακοσίους μάλιστα. ὑπολαβὼν δ’ ὁ ἐρωτῶν εἶπεν ‘οὔκουν τὰ ὅπλα ταυτὶ φαίνεται, ἀλλὰ πλέον ἢ χιλίων.’ αὖθις δὲ εἶπεν ἐκεῖνος ‘οὐκ ἄρα τῶν μεθ’ ἡμῶν μαχομένων ἐστίν.’ ὁ δ’ ἀπεκρίνατο ‘εἴπερ γε ὑμεῖς ἐν Ἰδομενῇ χθὲς ἐμάχεσθε.’ ‘ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε οὐδενὶ ἐμαχόμεθα χθές, ἀλλὰ πρῴην ἐν τῇ ἀποχωρήσει.’ ‘καὶ μὲν δὴ τούτοις γε ἡμεῖς χθὲς ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως βοηθήσασι τῆς Ἀμπρακιωτῶν ἐμαχόμεθα.’
And someone asked him why he wondered, and how many of them had died, the questioner in his turn thinking that the herald came from those at Idomene. He replied, “About two hundred.” Thereupon the questioner interrupted and said, “But these arms do not look like those of two hundred, but rather of more than a thousand.” And the other spoke again, “Then they are not the arms of those who fought with us.” To which he replied, “Yes, they are, if you fought at Idomene yesterday.” “But we fought with no one yesterday; it was the day before yesterday, during our retreat.” “Well, all we know is that we fought yesterday with these men, who had come as a reinforcement from the city of the Ambraciots.”
ὁ δὲ κῆρυξ ὡς ἤκουσε καὶ ἔγνω ὅτι ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως βοήθεια διέφθαρται, ἀνοιμώξας καὶ ἐκπλαγεὶς τῷ μεγέθει τῶν παρόντων κακῶν ἀπῆλθεν εὐθὺς ἄπρακτος καὶ οὐκέτι ἀπῄτει τοὺς νεκρούς.
The herald, when he heard this and realized that the reinforcement from the city was destroyed, broke out into wailing, and, astounded by the magnitude of the present evils, departed at once without having accomplished his errand, and no longer asked for the dead.
πάθος γὰρ τοῦτο μιᾷ πόλει Ἑλληνίδι ἐν ἴσαις ἡμέραις3 μέγιστον δὴ τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον τόνδε ἐγένετο. καὶ ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἔγραψα τῶν ἀποθανόντων, διότι ἄπιστον τὸ πλῆθος λέγεται ἀπολέσθαι ὡς πρὸς τὸ μέγεθος τῆς πόλεως. Ἀμπρακίαν4 μέντοι οἶδα ὅτι, εἰ ἐβουλήθησαν Ἀκαρνᾶνες καὶ Ἀμφίλοχοι Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Δημοσθένει πειθόμενοι ἐξελεῖν, αὐτοβοεὶ ἂν εἷλον· νῦν δ’ ἔδεισαν μὴ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἔχοντες αὐτὴν χαλεπώτεροι σφίσι πάροικοι ὦσιν.
For this was indeed the greatest disaster that befell any single Grecian city in an equal number of days during this war. And I have not recorded the number of the dead, because the multitude of those said to have perished is incredible in comparison with the size of the city. I know, however, that if the Acarnanians and Amphilochians had been willing to destroy Ambracia, in obedience to the Athenians and Demosthenes, they would have captured it at the first shout; but as it was, they feared that the Athenians, if they held it, would be more troublesome neighbors to them.
- 3.113.1ἄσπονδοι
The adjective ἄσπονδοι (without a truce) is used predicatively with the subject of ξυνεξῇσαν (the Ambraciots), contrasting their unauthorized and unprotected retreat with that of the Mantineans who departed legally under a truce (ὑποσπόνδων).
- 3.113.3ὅτι θαυμάζοι
Here ὅτι represents the indirect interrogative ὅ τι (corresponding to the direct τί, 'why' or 'what'), introducing an indirect question. The optative verb θαυμάζοι is an oblique optative induced by the historical main verb ἤρετο.
- 3.113.6ἐν ἴσαις ἡμέραις
Literally 'in equal days', but used here as an idiomatic expression meaning 'within so short a space of time' or 'in a few days'.
- 3.113.6Ἀμπρακίαν
An accusative of anticipation (prolepsis). Structurally placed as the object of the main verb οἶδα, logically it functions as the direct object of εἷλον in the apodosis of the conditional sentence within the ὅτι clause.