- 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-grc2:3.17.1-3.17.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
This passage describes the breakdown of the unprecedentedly large Athenian fleet mobilized at the beginning of the war, and the heavy drain on financial resources caused by the high pay for soldiers and sailors, especially at the siege of Potidaea.
[καὶ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ὃν αἱ νῆες ἔπλεον ἐν τοῖς1 πλεῖσται δὴ νῆες ἅμ’ αὐτοῖς ἐνεργοὶ † κάλλει2 ἐγένοντο, παραπλήσιαι δὲ καὶ ἔτι πλείους ἀρχομένου τοῦ πολέμου.
[And during this time when these ships were at sea, the ships active at the same time were at their maximum number for them, in terms of †beauty†, and they were similar or even more at the beginning of the war.
τήν τε γὰρ Ἀττικὴν καὶ Εὔβοιαν καὶ Σαλαμῖνα ἑκατὸν ἐφύλασσον, καὶ περὶ Πελοπόννησον ἕτεραι ἑκατὸν ἦσαν, χωρὶς δὲ αἱ περὶ Ποτείδαιαν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις χωρίοις, ὥστε αἱ πᾶσαι ἅμα ἐγίγνοντο ἐν ἑνὶ θέρει διακόσιαι καὶ πεντήκοντα.
For a hundred kept guard over Attica, Euboea, and Salamis, and another hundred were around the Peloponnese, apart from those around Potidaea and in other places; so that all of them together in a single summer amounted to two hundred and fifty.
καὶ τὰ χρήματα τοῦτο μάλιστα ὑπανήλωσε μετὰ Ποτειδαίας.
And this, together with Potidaea, was what chiefly consumed their money.
τήν τε γὰρ Ποτείδαιαν δίδραχμοι ὁπλῖται ἐφρούρουν (αὑτῷ γὰρ καὶ ὑπηρέτῃ δραχμὴν ἐλάμβανε τῆς ἡμέρας),3 τρισχίλιοι μὲν οἱ πρῶτοι, ὧν οὐκ ἐλάσσους4 διεπολιόρκησαν, ἑξακόσιοι δὲ καὶ χίλιοι μετὰ Φορμίωνος, οἳ προαπῆλθον· νῆές τε αἱ πᾶσαι τὸν αὐτὸν μισθὸν ἔφερον. τὰ μὲν οὖν χρήματα οὕτως ὑπανηλώθη τὸ πρῶτον, καὶ νῆες τοσαῦται δὴ πλεῖσται ἐπληρώθησαν.]
For hoplites at two drachmas a day were besieging Potidaea (for each received a drachma a day for himself and his servant), the first three thousand, of whom no fewer besieged it to the end, and sixteen hundred with Phormio, who left earlier; and all the ships carried the same pay. Thus the money was consumed at first, and so many ships, the greatest number, were manned.]
- 3.17.1ἐν τοῖς
An idiomatic expression reinforcing the superlative πλεῖσται.
- 3.17.1† κάλλει
A textually corrupt passage (crux). The manuscript reading κάλλει ("in beauty") is contextually awkward, leading to various emendations regarding the fleet's functionality or exact numbers.
- 3.17.4τῆς ἡμέρας
A genitive of time, expressing a distributive sense ("per day" or "each day").
- 3.17.4ὧν οὐκ ἐλάσσους
The genitive relative pronoun ὧν refers back to τρισχίλιοι (three thousand), meaning "of whom no fewer [than that number]".