- 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-grc2:3.68.1-3.68.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
The Lacedaemonian judges executed the Plataeans one by one after putting the same question to them, and completely destroyed the city of Plataea, rebuilding it into a lodging for the temple of Hera. This brought an end to Plataea's history in the ninety-third year after they allied with Athens.
τοιαῦτα δὲ οἱ Θηβαῖοι εἶπον. οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δικασταὶ νομίζοντες τὸ ἐπερώτημα σφίσιν1 ὀρθῶς ἕξειν, εἴ τι ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ἀγαθὸν πεπόνθασι, διότι τόν τε ἄλλον χρόνον ἠξίουν δῆθεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὰς παλαιὰς Παυσανίου μετὰ τὸν Μῆδον σπονδὰς ἡσυχάζειν καὶ ὅτε ὕστερον ἃ πρὸ τοῦ περιτειχίζεσθαι προείχοντο αὐτοῖς, κοινοὺς εἶναι κατ’ ἐκεῖνα, ὡς οὐκ ἐδέξαντο, ἡγούμενοι τῇ ἑαυτῶν δικαίᾳ βουλήσει ἔκσπονδοι ἤδη ὑπ’ αὐτῶν κακῶς πεπονθέναι,2 αὖθις τὸ αὐτὸ ἕνα ἕκαστον παραγαγόντες καὶ ἐρωτῶντες, εἴ τι Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους ἀγαθὸν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ δεδρακότες εἰσίν, ὁπότε μὴ φαῖεν,3 ἀπάγοντες ἀπέκτεινον καὶ ἐξαίρετον ἐποιήσαντο οὐδένα.
The Thebans spoke thus. And the Lacedaemonian judges, thinking that their question would be just for them—namely, whether they had received any good from them in the war—because throughout the rest of the time they had expected them, forsooth, to remain quiet according to the old treaty of Pausanias after the Persian War, and when later, they did not accept what had been offered to them before the blockade, to be neutral according to those terms, considering that they, contrary to their own just wishes, were already outside the treaty and had justly suffered ill at their hands, led them forward again one by one and asked them the same question, whether they had done any good to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the war; and whenever they said they had not, they led them off and killed them, making exception for no one.
διέφθειραν δὲ Πλαταιῶν μὲν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐλάσσους διακοσίων, Ἀθηναίων δὲ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν, οἳ ξυνεπολιορκοῦντο· γυναῖκας δὲ ἠνδραπόδισαν.
And they put to death of the Plataeans themselves no fewer than two hundred, and of the Athenians twenty-five, who were besieged with them; and they enslaved the women.
τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐνιαυτὸν μέν τινα [Θηβαῖοι] Μεγαρέων ἀνδράσι κατὰ στάσιν ἐκπεπτωκόσι καὶ ὅσοι τὰ σφέτερα φρονοῦντες4 Πλαταιῶν περιῆσαν ἔδοσαν ἐνοικεῖν· ὕστερον δὲ καθελόντες αὐτὴν ἐς ἔδαφος πᾶσαν ἐκ τῶν θεμελίων ᾠκοδόμησαν πρὸς τῷ Ἡραίῳ καταγώγιον διακοσίων ποδῶν πανταχῇ, κύκλῳ οἰκήματα ἔχον κάτωθεν καὶ ἄνωθεν, καὶ ὀροφαῖς καὶ θυρώμασι τοῖς τῶν Πλαταιῶν ἐχρήσαντο, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἃ ἦν ἐν τῷ τείχει ἔπιπλα, χαλκὸς καὶ σίδηρος, κλίνας κατασκευάσαντες ἀνέθεσαν τῇ Ἥρᾳ, καὶ νεὼν ἑκατόμπεδον λίθινον ᾠκοδόμησαν αὐτῇ. τὴν δὲ γῆν δημοσιώσαντες ἀπεμίσθωσαν ἐπὶ δέκα ἔτη, καὶ ἐνέμοντο Θηβαῖοι.
As for the city, [the Thebans] gave it for about a year to certain Megarians who had been driven out by faction, and to those of the Plataeans who survived and favored their cause, to dwell in; but later, pulling it down entirely to the ground from the foundations, they built near the temple of Hera an inn of two hundred feet square, having rooms all around both below and above, and they used the roofs and doors of the Plataeans’ houses, and with the other utensils that were in the wall, of bronze and iron, they made couches and dedicated them to Hera, and they built a stone temple of one hundred feet for her. And having confiscated the land, they leased it out for ten years, and the Thebans cultivated it.
σχεδὸν δέ τι καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν περὶ Πλαταιῶν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι οὕτως ἀποτετραμμένοι ἐγένοντο Θηβαίων ἕνεκα, νομίζοντες ἐς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοὺς ἄρτι τότε καθιστάμενον ὠφελίμους εἶναι.5
Indeed, almost the entire policy of the Lacedaemonians regarding Plataea was so turned against them for the sake of the Thebans, since they thought that they would be useful to them in the war that was just then beginning.
καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Πλάταιαν ἔτει τρίτῳ καὶ ἐνενηκοστῷ ἐπειδὴ Ἀθηναίων ξύμμαχοι ἐγένοντο οὕτως ἐτελεύτησεν.
And so the affairs concerning Plataea, in the ninety-third year after they became allies of the Athenians, ended in this way.
- 3.68.1σφίσιν
An indirect reflexive pronoun in the dative, referring to the subject of the main clause (the Lacedaemonian judges).
- 3.68.1ἡγούμενοι τῇ ἑαυτῶν δικαίᾳ βουλήσει ἔκσπονδοι ἤδη ὑπ’ αὐτῶν κακῶς πεπονθέναι
Part of a complex subordinate structure. The implicit subject of the infinitive πεπονθέναι is the Plataeans, agreeing with the nominative plural adjective ἔκσπονδοι. The agent ὑπ’ αὐτῶν refers to the Lacedaemonians, meaning that the Lacedaemonians considered that the Plataeans, being outside the treaty, had justly suffered ill at their hands.
- 3.68.1ὁπότε μὴ φαῖεν
The temporal conjunction ὁπότε followed by the optative third-person plural φαῖεν expresses past general repetition ('whenever they said they had not').
- 3.68.3τὰ σφέτερα φρονοῦντες
The combination of the participle φρονοῦντες with the neuter plural possessive pronoun τὰ σφέτερα (their own affairs) means 'favoring their cause' or 'siding with them' (referring to the Thebans).
- 3.68.4ἐς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοὺς ἄρτι τότε καθιστάμενον ὠφελίμους εἶναι
An accusative with infinitive clause introduced by νομίζοντες. αὐτούς (the Thebans) is the subject of εἶναι, and the present middle participle καθιστάμενον modifies τὸν πόλεμον, meaning 'the war that was just then beginning'.