- 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-grc2:4.28.1-4.28.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Nicias offers to surrender the command of the Pylos expedition to Cleon, who tries to back out but is forced by the clamor of the crowd to accept. Cleon boasts that he will capture or kill the Lacedaemonians within twenty days, which pleases the sensible Athenians, as either outcome would benefit them.
ὁ δὲ Νικίας τῶν τε Ἀθηναίων τι ὑποθορυβησάντων ἐς τὸν Κλέωνα, ὅτι οὐ καὶ νῦν πλεῖ, εἰ ῥᾴδιόν γε αὐτῷ φαίνεται, καὶ ἅμα ὁρῶν αὐτὸν ἐπιτιμῶντα, ἐκέλευεν ἥντινα βούλεται δύναμιν λαβόντα τὸ ἐπὶ σφᾶς εἶναι1 ἐπιχειρεῖν.
But Nicias, seeing that the Athenians were raising a clamor against Cleon, asking why he did not sail now if it seemed so easy to him, and at the same time seeing him censorious, urged him to take whatever force he wished and make the attempt, so far as the generals were concerned.
ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἰόμενος αὐτὸν λόγῳ μόνον ἀφιέναι ἑτοῖμος ἦν, γνοὺς δὲ τῷ ὄντι παραδωσείοντα ἀνεχώρει καὶ οὐκ ἔφη αὐτὸς ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνον στρατηγεῖν, δεδιὼς ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἂν οἰόμενός οἱ αὐτὸν τολμῆσαι ὑποχωρῆσαι.2
And Cleon, at first thinking that Nicias was offering to give up the command only in word, was ready; but when he realized that Nicias really intended to surrender it, he drew back and said that he himself was not general, but the other, being now afraid and not thinking that Nicias would ever dare to give way to him.
αὖθις δὲ ὁ Νικίας ἐκέλευε καὶ ἐξίστατο τῆς ἐπὶ Πύλῳ ἀρχῆς καὶ μάρτυρας τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐποιεῖτο. οἱ δέ, οἷον ὄχλος φιλεῖ ποιεῖν, ὅσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ Κλέων ὑπέφευγε τὸν πλοῦν καὶ ἐξανεχώρει τὰ εἰρημένα, τόσῳ ἐπεκελεύοντο τῷ Νικίᾳ παραδιδόναι τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἐκείνῳ ἐπεβόων πλεῖν.
But Nicias again urged him and resigned his command at Pylos, making the Athenians witnesses of it. And they, as a crowd is wont to do, the more Cleon shrank from the voyage and tried to back out of what he had said, the more they shouted to Nicias to hand over the command and clamored for Cleon to sail.
ὥστε οὐκ ἔχων ὅπως τῶν εἰρημένων ἔτι ἐξαπαλλαγῇ, ὑφίσταται τὸν πλοῦν, καὶ παρελθὼν οὔτε φοβεῖσθαι ἔφη Λακεδαιμονίους πλεύσεσθαί τε λαβὼν ἐκ μὲν τῆς πόλεως οὐδένα, Λημνίους δὲ καὶ Ἰμβρίους τοὺς παρόντας καὶ πελταστὰς οἳ ἦσαν ἔκ τε Αἴνου βεβοηθηκότες καὶ ἄλλοθεν τοξότας τετρακοσίους· ταῦτα δὲ ἔχων ἔφη πρὸς τοῖς ἐν Πύλω στρατιώταις ἐντὸς ἡμερῶν εἴκοσιν ἢ ἄξειν Λακεδαιμονίους ζῶντας ἢ αὐτοῦ ἀποκτενεῖν.
So, having no way to escape from his own words any longer, he undertook the voyage, and coming forward, he said that he did not fear the Lacedaemonians and that he would sail, taking no one from the city, but only the Lemnians and Imbrians who were present, the peltasts who had come to help from Aenus, and four hundred archers from elsewhere; and with these, in addition to the soldiers already at Pylos, he declared that within twenty days he would either bring the Lacedaemonians alive or kill them on the spot.
τοῖς δὲ Ἀθηναίοις ἐνέπεσε μέν τι καὶ γέλωτος τῇ κουφολογίᾳ αὐτοῦ, ἀσμένοις δ’ ὅμως ἐγίγνετο τοῖς σώφροσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων,3 λογιζομένοις δυοῖν ἀγαθοῖν τοῦ ἑτέρου τεύξεσθαι, ἢ Κλέωνος ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι, ὃ μᾶλλον ἤλπιζον, ἢ σφαλεῖσι γνώμης Λακεδαιμονίους σφίσι χειρώσεσθαι.
Upon the Athenians there fell some laughter at his empty talk, but yet it was welcome to the sensible men among them, who calculated that they would obtain one of two good things: either they would be rid of Cleon, which they rather hoped, or, if they were disappointed in this expectation, they would subdue the Lacedaemonians for themselves.
- 4.28.1τὸ ἐπὶ σφᾶς εἶναι
An idiomatic accusative of limitation meaning 'as far as they (the generals) are concerned' or 'so far as lies in their power'. The pronoun σφᾶς is an indirect reflexive referring to Nicias and his fellow generals.
- 4.28.2οὐκ ἂν οἰόμενός οἱ αὐτὸν τολμῆσαι ὑποχωρῆσαι
The particle ἂν goes with the infinitive τολμῆσαι, expressing potentiality. The pronoun οἱ is an indirect reflexive referring to the subject Cleon ('to him'), while αὐτὸν is the subject accusative of the infinitive, referring to Nicias ('he'). Thus the phrase means 'not thinking that he (Nicias) would ever dare to give way to him (Cleon)'.
- 4.28.5ἀσμένοις δ’ ὅμως ἐγίγνετο τοῖς σώφροσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων
A construction where a dative adjective of feeling or attitude (here ἀσμένοις, 'gladly/welcome') is used with a copula or γίγνεσθαι to mean 'it was welcome to...'. The dative τοῖς σώφροσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ('to the sensible men') is the subject of this feeling.