- 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-grc2:4.47.1-4.47.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
The captives, falling into the trap, attempted to escape and were caught, voiding the truce and leading to their surrender to the Corcyraeans. The Athenian generals contributed to this due to their desire for honor, and the surrendered captives were brutally tortured by the Corcyraeans.
ὡς δὲ ἔπεισαν, καὶ μηχανησαμένων1 τὸ πλοῖον ἐκπλέοντες ἐλήφθησαν, ἐλέλυντό τε αἱ σπονδαὶ καὶ τοῖς Κερκυραίοις παρεδίδοντο οἱ πάντες.
When they had persuaded them, and they had prepared the boat and were caught sailing out, the treaty was voided and all of them were delivered up to the Corcyraeans.
ξυνελάβοντο δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου οὐχ ἥκιστα, ὥστε ἀκριβῆ τὴν πρόφασιν γενέσθαι καὶ τοὺς τεχνησαμένους ἀδεέστερον ἐγχειρῆσαι, οἱ στρατηγοὶ2 τῶν Ἀθηναίων κατάδηλοι ὄντες3 τοὺς ἄνδρας μὴ ἂν βούλεσθαι ὑπ’ ἄλλων κομισθέντας, διότι αὐτοὶ ἐς Σικελίαν ἔπλεον, τὴν τιμὴν τοῖς ἄγουσι προσποιῆσαι.
The Athenian generals contributed not least to this outcome, so that the pretext became watertight and those who devised the plot undertook it more fearlessly, because it was manifest that they would not wish the men to be conveyed by others, since they themselves were sailing to Sicily, and thereby to credit the honor to those who conducted them.
παραλαβόντες δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ Κερκυραῖοι ἐς οἴκημα μέγα κατεῖρξαν, καὶ ὕστερον ἐξάγοντες κατὰ εἴκοσιν ἄνδρας διῆγον διὰ δυοῖν στοίχοιν ὁπλιτῶν ἑκατέρωθεν παρατεταγμένων, δεδεμένους τε πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ παιομένους καὶ κεντουμένους ὑπὸ τῶν παρατεταγμένων, εἴ πού τίς τινα ἴδοι4 ἐχθρὸν ἑαυτοῦ· μαστιγοφόροι τε παριόντες ἐπετάχυνον τῆς ὁδοῦ τοὺς σχολαίτερον προϊόντας.
The Corcyraeans, having received them, shut them up in a large building, and afterwards, bringing them out by twenties, led them through two ranks of hoplites drawn up on each side, bound to one another and being beaten and stabbed by those drawn up, if anyone anywhere saw an enemy of his own; and whip-bearers walking alongside hurried on their way those who proceeded too slowly.
- 4.47.1μηχανησαμένων
μηχανησαμένων is a genitive absolute whose implied subject is the conspirators mentioned in the previous section. In contrast, the subject of the following nominative participle ἐκπλέοντες is the captives attempting to escape, showing an abrupt shift of subject within the sentence.
- 4.47.2οἱ στρατηγοὶ
οἱ στρατηγοὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, the subject of the main verb ξυνελάβοντο at the very beginning of the section, is placed far later in the sentence. This constitutes a syntactic separation (hyperbaton) caused by the intervening ὥστε clause.
- 4.47.2κατάδηλοι ὄντες
The adjective κατάδηλος with the participle ὄντες forms a personal construction governing the infinitive βούλεσθαι. It means 'it was manifest that they [the generals] would not wish,' equivalent to an impersonal construction like 'it was manifest that...' (κατάδηλόν ἐστιν ὅτι...).
- 4.47.3εἴ πού τίς τινα ἴδοι
The use of εἰ with the optative (ἴδοι) in the conditional clause expresses a repeated action in past time ('whenever anyone saw'). Here it indicates that the soldiers in the ranks struck or stabbed any captive whom they recognized as a personal enemy as they passed by.