- 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-grc2:3.32.1-3.32.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
Alcidas massacres most of his prisoners at Myonnesus, but after being admonished at Ephesus by Samian envoys for his unjust actions, he releases the remaining captives. The Ionians had approached the Peloponnesian ships without fleeing, mistaking them for Athenian due to the Athenian naval supremacy.
ἄρας δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἐμβάτου παρέπλει, καὶ προσσχὼν Μυοννήσῳ τῇ Τηίων τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους οὓς κατὰ πλοῦν εἰλήφει ἀπέσφαξε τοὺς πολλούς.1
Setting sail from Embatum, he coasted along, and having touched at Myonnesus in the territory of Teos, he butchered most of the prisoners whom he had taken during the voyage.
καὶ ἐς τὴν Ἔφεσον καθορμισαμένου αὐτοῦ Σαμίων τῶν ἐξ Ἀναίων ἀφικόμενοι πρέσβεις ἔλεγον οὐ καλῶς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐλευθεροῦν αὐτόν,2 εἰ ἄνδρας διέφθειρεν οὔτε χεῖρας ἀνταιρομένους οὔτε πολεμίους, Ἀθηναίων δὲ ὑπὸ ἀνάγκης ξυμμάχους· εἴ τε μὴ παύσεται, ὀλίγους μὲν αὐτὸν τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐς φιλίαν προσάξεσθαι, πολὺ δὲ πλείους τῶν φίλων πολεμίους ἕξειν.
And when he had come to anchor at Ephesus, envoys arrived from the Samians of Anaea, who told him that he was not liberating Greece in the right way if he destroyed men who were neither lifting their hands against him nor hostile, but were allies of the Athenians only by necessity; and that if he did not cease, he would win but few of his enemies into friendship, while he would make far more of his friends into enemies.
καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπείσθη τε καὶ Χίων ἄνδρας ὅσους εἶχεν ἔτι ἀφῆκε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τινάς· ὁρῶντες γὰρ τὰς ναῦς οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὐκ ἔφευγον, ἀλλὰ προσεχώρουν μᾶλλον ὡς Ἀττικαῖς3 καὶ ἐλπίδα οὐδὲ τὴν ἐλαχίστην εἶχον μή ποτε Ἀθηναίων τῆς θαλάσσης κρατούντων ναῦς Πελοποννησίων ἐς Ἰωνίαν παραβαλεῖν.4
And he was persuaded, and released all the Chian prisoners he still held and some of the others; for when the people saw the ships, they did not flee, but rather came toward them, thinking they were Athenian, and they had not the slightest expectation that, while the Athenians ruled the sea, Peloponnesian ships would ever cross over to Ionia.
- 3.32.1τοὺς πολλούς
Placed in apposition to or functioning predicatively with the preceding noun τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους, meaning 'the majority of' or 'most of the prisoners'. The use of the definite article with πολύς in this position denotes 'the greater part' or 'the majority'.
- 3.32.2οὐ καλῶς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐλευθεροῦν αὐτόν
An indirect discourse introduced by the main verb ἔλεγον (imperfect). The accusative αὐτόν (referring to Alcidas) serves as the subject of the infinitive ἐλευθεροῦν.
- 3.32.3ὡς Ἀττικαῖς
A dative feminine plural adjective with the omission of the noun ναυσί (ships). The particle ὡς expresses a subjective belief or impression ('thinking that they were...'), indicating that the people mistakenly identified the ships as Athenian.
- 3.32.3ἐλπίδα οὐδὲ τὴν ἐλαχίστην εἶχον μή ποτε ... παραβαλεῖν
Following the noun phrase of negative expectation ἐλπίδα ... οὐδὲ τὴν ἐλαχίστην εἶχον ('had not the slightest expectation'), the infinitive παραβαλεῖν is introduced with the negative particle μή, reinforcing the negative sense ('that... would never...'). The genitive absolute Ἀθηναίων ... κρατούντων is embedded just before it.