- 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-grc2:3.4.1-3.4.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
The Athenian fleet arrives at Mytilene, and after a brief naval clash, an armistice is arranged. While sending envoys to Athens to negotiate, the Mytilaeneans secretly dispatch messengers to Sparta to request aid.
καὶ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον καταπλεύσαντες ὡς ἑώρων,1 ἀπήγγειλαν μὲν οἱ στρατηγοὶ τὰ ἐπεσταλμένα, οὐκ ἐσακουόντων δὲ τῶν Μυτιληναίων ἐς πόλεμον καθίσταντο.
And the Athenians, having sailed in not long afterwards, when they saw the situation, the generals announced their instructions, but as the Mytilaeneans did not listen, they entered into war.
ἀπαράσκευοι δὲ οἱ Μυτιληναῖοι καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἀναγκασθέντες πολεμεῖν ἔκπλουν μέν τινα ἐποιήσαντο τῶν νεῶν ὡς ἐπὶ ναυμαχίαν ὀλίγον πρὸ τοῦ λιμένος, ἔπειτα καταδιωχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν λόγους ἤδη προσέφερον τοῖς στρατηγοῖς, βουλόμενοι τὰς ναῦς τὸ παραυτίκα, εἰ δύναιντο, ὁμολογίᾳ τινὶ ἐπιεικεῖ ἀποπέμψασθαι.2
The Mytilaeneans, being unprepared and suddenly forced to make war, made a sort of sally with some of their ships as if for a sea-fight a little in front of the harbour; but afterwards, being chased back by the Attic ships, they now offered terms to the generals, wishing, if they could, to send the ships away for the present on some reasonable agreement.
καὶ οἱ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀπεδέξαντο καὶ αὐτοὶ φοβούμενοι μὴ οὐχ ἱκανοὶ ὦσι3 Λέσβῳ πάσῃ πολεμεῖν.
And the Athenian generals accepted, they too being afraid that they might not be strong enough to make war against the whole of Lesbos.
καὶ ἀνοκωχὴν ποιησάμενοι πέμπουσιν ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας οἱ Μυτιληναῖοι τῶν τε διαβαλλόντων ἕνα, ᾧ μετέμελεν ἤδη, καὶ ἄλλους, εἴ πως πείσειαν τὰς ναῦς ἀπελθεῖν ὡς σφῶν οὐδὲν νεωτεριούντων.4
And having made an armistice, the Mytilaeneans sent to Athens one of those who had accused them, who now repented, and others, to see if they could somehow persuade them to withdraw the ships on the ground that they would make no new move.
ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ἀποστέλλουσι καὶ ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα πρέσβεις τριήρει, λαθόντες τὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ναυτικόν, οἳ ὥρμουν ἐν τῇ Μαλέᾳ πρὸς βορέαν τῆς πόλεως· οὐ γὰρ ἐπίστευον τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων5 προχωρήσειν.
In the meantime, they also dispatched ambassadors to Lacedaemon in a trireme, escaping the notice of the Athenian fleet, which was anchored at Malea to the north of the city; for they did not believe that their negotiations with the Athenians would succeed.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα ταλαιπώρως διὰ τοῦ πελάγους κομισθέντες αὐτοῖς ἔπρασσον6 ὅπως τις βοήθεια ἥξει·
And those who were sent to Lacedaemon, having made their way with difficulty across the open sea, negotiated with them so that some assistance might come.
- 3.4.1ὡς ἑώρων
The conjunction ὡς with the imperfect indicative ἑώρων introduces a temporal clause indicating when the Athenians saw the defensive preparations of the Mytilaeneans.
- 3.4.2ἀποπέμψασθαι
The middle infinitive ἀποπέμψασθαι expresses the Mytilaeneans' desire to "get (the Athenian ships) sent away or withdrawn" for their own benefit. The grammatical object is τὰς ναῦς (the Athenian ships).
- 3.4.3μὴ οὐχ ἱκανοὶ ὦσι
The construction μὴ οὐχ with the subjunctive ὦσι after the verb of fearing φοβούμενοι expresses a negative apprehension: "fearing lest they should not be sufficient" (i.e., that they might be inadequate).
- 3.4.4ὡς σφῶν οὐδὲν νεωτεριούντων
The particle ὡς combined with the genitive absolute (σφῶν οὐδὲν νεωτεριούντων) expresses the Mytilaeneans' subjective allegation. σφῶν is the indirect reflexive pronoun referring back to the main subject, and νεωτεριούντων is the future participle.
- 3.4.5τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων
The dative neuter plural with the prepositional phrase serves as the object of the verb ἐπίστευον, meaning "things coming from the Athenians" (i.e., the outcome of negotiations).
- 3.4.6αὐτοῖς ἔπρασσον
The imperfect ἔπρασσον, followed by ὅπως with the future indicative ἥξει ("how assistance should come"), means "negotiated" or "schemed," where the dative αὐτοῖς refers to the Lacedaemonians as the party with whom they negotiated.