- 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-grc2:3.16.1-3.16.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
When Athens sends a fleet of one hundred ships to conduct a demonstration and landings, the Lacedaemonians are taken by surprise and decide to retreat due to the absence of their allies and threats to their own territory.
αἰσθόμενοι δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι διὰ κατάγνωσιν ἀσθενείας σφῶν1 παρασκευαζομένους, δηλῶσαι βουλόμενοι ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐγνώκασιν ἀλλ’ οἷοί τέ εἰσι μὴ κινοῦντες τὸ ἐπὶ Λέσβῳ ναυτικὸν καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου ἐπιὸν ῥᾳδίως ἀμύνεσθαι, ἐπλήρωσαν ναῦς ἑκατὸν ἐσβάντες αὐτοί τε πλὴν ἱππέων καὶ πεντακοσιομεδίμνων καὶ οἱ μέτοικοι, καὶ παρὰ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἀναγαγόντες ἐπίδειξίν τε ἐποιοῦντο καὶ ἀποβάσεις τῆς Πελοποννήσου ᾗ δοκοίη αὐτοῖς.
When the Athenians realized that they were making preparations through a low estimation of Athenian weakness, and wishing to show that they had judged incorrectly, but rather that they were capable, without moving the fleet at Lesbos, of easily repelling the enemy advancing from the Peloponnese, they manned a hundred ships, embarking themselves (except for the cavalry and the pentacosiomedimni) and the metics; and having put to sea along the Isthmus, they made a demonstration and landed on the Peloponnese wherever they pleased.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ὁρῶντες πολὺν τὸν παράλογον2 τά τε ὑπὸ τῶν Λεσβίων ῥηθέντα ἡγοῦντο οὐκ ἀληθῆ καὶ ἄπορα νομίζοντες, ὡς αὐτοῖς καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἅμα οὐ παρῆσαν καὶ ἠγγέλλοντο καὶ αἱ περὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον τριάκοντα νῆες τῶν Ἀθηναίων τὴν περιοικίδα αὐτῶν πορθοῦσαι,3 ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπ’ οἴκου.
The Lacedaemonians, seeing so great a miscalculation, thought that what had been said by the Lesbians was not true, and considering the situation impracticable, since their allies at the same time were not present and news was brought that the thirty Athenian ships around the Peloponnese were ravaging their periokis, they retreated homeward.
ὕστερον δὲ ναυτικὸν παρεσκεύαζον ὅτι πέμψουσιν ἐς τὴν Λέσβον, καὶ κατὰ πόλεις ἐπήγγελλον τεσσαράκοντα νεῶν πλῆθος καὶ ναύαρχον προσέταξαν Ἀλκίδαν, ὃς ἔμελλεν ἐπιπλεύσεσθαι.
Later, however, they prepared a fleet to be sent to Lesbos, and requisitioned a total of forty ships from the cities, appointing Alcidas as admiral, who was to sail.
ἀνεχώρησαν δὲ καὶ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ταῖς ἑκατὸν ναυσίν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐκείνους εἶδον.
The Athenians also retreated with their hundred ships when they saw that the others had done so.
- 3.16.1διὰ κατάγνωσιν ἀσθενείας σφῶν
The pronoun σφῶν (third-person plural reflexive) functions as an indirect reflexive referring to the Athenians, the subject of the main clause. The phrase ἀσθενείας σφῶν (their own weakness) serves as an objective genitive dependent on the noun κατάγνωσις (underestimation or low opinion), meaning 'because of their (the Lacedaemonians') underestimation of Athenian weakness.'
- 3.16.2ὁρῶντες πολὺν τὸν παράλογον
The adjective πολύς is in the predicate position (placed before the article), modifying the noun παράλογος (unexpected turn, miscalculation). Rather than 'many miscalculations', it yields a predicative meaning: 'seeing that the unexpectedness was great' or 'seeing that the miscalculation was so vast.'
- 3.16.2ἠγγέλλοντο καὶ αἱ ... νῆες ... πορθοῦσαι
The verb ἠγγέλλοντο (imperfect passive third-person plural of ἀγγέλλω) is used in a personal construction with the participle πορθοῦσαι. It literally means 'the ships were reported ravaging', which is equivalent to an impersonal construction: 'it was reported that the ships were ravaging.'