- 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-grc2:3.37.1-3.37.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
Cleon argues that a democracy is incapable of ruling an empire, praises the stability of unchanging laws and the steadiness of ordinary citizens, and criticizes speakers who engage in dishonest intellectual competition.
‘πολλάκις μὲν ἤδη ἔγωγε καὶ ἄλλοτε ἔγνων δημοκρατίαν ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν1 ἑτέρων ἄρχειν, μάλιστα δ’ ἐν τῇ νῦν ὑμετέρᾳ περὶ Μυτιληναίων μεταμελείᾳ.
”For my own part, I have often on other occasions as well been convinced that a democracy is incapable of ruling over others, but most of all in this present change of mind of yours concerning the Mytilenaeans.
διὰ γὰρ τὸ καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀδεὲς καὶ ἀνεπιβούλευτον πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ ἐς τοὺς ξυμμάχους τὸ αὐτὸ ἔχετε, καὶ ὅτι ἂν ἢ λόγῳ πεισθέντες ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ἁμάρτητε ἢ οἴκτῳ ἐνδῶτε, οὐκ ἐπικινδύνως ἡγεῖσθε ἐς ὑμᾶς καὶ οὐκ ἐς τὴν τῶν ξυμμάχων χάριν μαλακίζεσθαι,2 οὐ σκοποῦντες ὅτι τυραννίδα ἔχετε τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ πρὸς ἐπιβουλεύοντας αὐτοὺς καὶ ἄκοντας ἀρχομένους, οἳ οὐκ ἐξ ὧν ἂν χαρίζησθε βλαπτόμενοι αὐτοὶ ἀκροῶνται ὑμῶν, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ὧν ἂν ἰσχύι μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ ἐκείνων εὐνοίᾳ περιγένησθε.
For because you have daily no fear and no plots among yourselves, you maintain the same attitude toward your allies. And you do not consider that in whatever mistake you may make, either by being persuaded by their words or by yielding to compassion, you are showing a weakness that is dangerous to yourselves and does not win the gratitude of your allies. You do not reflect that your empire is a despotism, exercised over those who plot against you and are ruled against their will, who obey you not because of any favors you may do them to your own hurt, but because you excel them in strength rather than in their goodwill.
πάντων δὲ δεινότατον εἰ βέβαιον ἡμῖν μηδὲν καθεστήξει ὧν ἂν δόξῃ πέρι, μηδὲ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι χείροσι νόμοις ἀκινήτοις χρωμένη πόλις κρείσσων ἐστὶν ἢ καλῶς ἔχουσιν ἀκύροις, ἀμαθία τε μετὰ σωφροσύνης ὠφελιμώτερον ἢ δεξιότης μετὰ ἀκολασίας, οἵ τε φαυλότεροι τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τοὺς ξυνετωτέρους ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλέον ἄμεινον οἰκοῦσι τὰς πόλεις.
But the most dangerous of all will be if nothing of what we resolve shall remain settled, and if we do not recognize that a state with inferior laws that are inviolable is stronger than one with good laws that have no authority, and that ignorance accompanied by self-control is more useful than cleverness with license, and that the simpler sort of men, for the most part, govern states better than the more clever.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν τε νόμων σοφώτεροι βούλονται φαίνεσθαι τῶν τε αἰεὶ λεγομένων ἐς τὸ κοινὸν περιγίγνεσθαι, ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις μείζοσιν οὐκ ἂν δηλώσαντες τὴν γνώμην,3 καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου τὰ πολλὰ σφάλλουσι τὰς πόλεις· οἱ δ’ ἀπιστοῦντες τῇ ἐξ αὑτῶν ξυνέσει ἀμαθέστεροι μὲν τῶν νόμων ἀξιοῦσιν εἶναι, ἀδυνατώτεροι δὲ τοῦ καλῶς εἰπόντος μέμψασθαι λόγον, κριταὶ δὲ ὄντες ἀπὸ τοῦ ἴσου μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγωνισταὶ ὀρθοῦνται τὰ πλείω.
For the clever want to appear wiser than the laws, and to get the upper hand in every speech made in public, as if they could show their opinion in no other more important matters; and by such conduct they for the most part ruin their states. But the others, distrusting their own intelligence, are content to be less learned than the laws, and are less able to find fault with a speech that has been well delivered; and being impartial judges rather than competitors, they for the most part direct affairs aright.
ὣς οὖν χρὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς ποιοῦντας μὴ δεινότητι καὶ ξυνέσεως ἀγῶνι ἐπαιρομένους παρὰ δόξαν τῷ ὑμετέρῳ πλήθει παραινεῖν.
So we too ought to do the same, and not be carried away by cleverness and the rivalry of intellect, to advise your multitude contrary to our own conviction.”
- 3.37.1δημοκρατίαν ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν
The accusative δημοκρατίαν is placed as if it were the direct object of the main verb ἔγνων, but it is actually the subject of the following ὅτι-clause anticipated in the main clause (prolepsis). It is to be translated as 'that a democracy is...'.
- 3.37.2μαλακίζεσθαι
The infinitive μαλακίζεσθαι ('to show weakness') functions as the subject or predicate in the accusative-and-infinitive construction dependent on ἡγεῖσθε. The negative οὐκ in οὐκ ἐπικινδύνως qualifies the predicate, meaning 'you think that showing weakness is not dangerous to yourselves'. The phrase οὐκ ἐς τὴν τῶν ξυμμάχων χάριν also depends on the same mental verb, implying 'and [you think it is] not to the gratitude of your allies (though in reality it isn't, but you behave as if it were)'.
- 3.37.4ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις μείζοσιν οὐκ ἂν δηλώσαντες τὴν γνώμην
The construction features ὡς with the particle ἄν and the participle δηλώσαντες (aorist active). This represents a potential optative (οὐκ ἂν δηλώσειαν) put into participle form with ὡς to express a subjective motive: 'as if they could not show their opinion in any other more important matters'.