- 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-grc2:4.57.1-4.57.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
As the Athenians approach, the Aeginetans retreat to their upper city, but the Lacedaemonian garrison refuses to help defend the wall and flees to the high ground. The Athenians capture and burn Thyrea, carrying the Aeginetan captives and the Lacedaemonian commander Tantalus to Athens, where their fates are decided.
προσπλεόντων οὖν ἔτι τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἱ Αἰγινῆται τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ὃ ἔτυχον οἰκοδομοῦντες1 τεῖχος ἐκλείπουσιν, ἐς δὲ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ ᾤκουν, ἀπεχώρησαν, ἀπέχουσαν σταδίους μάλιστα δέκα τῆς θαλάσσης.
While the Athenians were still sailing against them, the Aeginetans abandoned the wall which they happened to be building on the seashore, and retreated to the upper city in which they dwelt, situated about ten stades from the sea.
καὶ αὐτοῖς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων φρουρὰ μία τῶν περὶ τὴν χώραν, ἥπερ καὶ ξυνετείχιζε, ξυνεσελθεῖν μὲν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος οὐκ ἠθέλησαν δεομένων τῶν Αἰγινητῶν, ἀλλ’ αὐτοῖς κίνδυνος ἐφαίνετο ἐς τὸ τεῖχος κατακλῄεσθαι· ἀναχωρήσαντες δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ μετέωρα, ὡς οὐκ ἐνόμιζον ἀξιόμαχοι εἶναι,2 ἡσύχαζον.
And although the Aeginetans entreated them, one of the Lacedaemonian garrisons in the neighborhood, which was also helping to build the wall, refused to enter it with them, as it seemed dangerous to them to be shut up inside the wall; so they retreated to the high ground and remained quiet, since they did not think themselves a match for the enemy.
ἐν τούτῳ δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι κατασχόντες καὶ χωρήσαντες εὐθὺς πάσῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ αἱροῦσι τὴν Θυρέαν. καὶ τήν τε πόλιν κατέκαυσαν καὶ τὰ ἐνόντα ἐξεπόρθησαν, τούς τε Αἰγινήτας, ὅσοι μὴ ἐν χερσὶ διεφθάρησαν, ἄγοντες ἀφίκοντο ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα ὃς παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἦν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, Τάνταλον τὸν Πατροκλέους· ἐζωγρήθη γὰρ τετρωμένος.
In the meantime, the Athenians landed and immediately marched with their whole army and took Thyrea. They burnt down the city and plundered everything in it, and carried off to Athens all the Aeginetans who had not been killed in the action, as well as Tantalus the son of Patrocles, the Lacedaemonian commander who was with them; for he had been taken prisoner after being wounded.
ἦγον δέ τινας καὶ ἐκ τῶν Κυθήρων ἄνδρας ὀλίγους, οὓς ἐδόκει ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα μεταστῆσαι. καὶ τούτους μὲν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐβουλεύσαντο3 καταθέσθαι ἐς τὰς νήσους, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Κυθηρίους οἰκοῦντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν φόρον τέσσαρα τάλαντα φέρειν, Αἰγινήτας δὲ ἀποκτεῖναι πάντας ὅσοι ἑάλωσαν διὰ τὴν προτέραν αἰεί ποτε ἔχθραν, Τάνταλον δὲ παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ Λακεδαιμονίους καταδῆσαι.
They also brought with them a few men from Cythera, whom they thought best to remove for the sake of security. And the Athenians resolved to deposit these men in the islands, to make the other Cytherians who inhabited their own land pay a tribute of four talents, to put to death all the Aeginetans who had been captured because of their long-standing and constant hostility, and to keep Tantalus in custody along with the other Lacedaemonians captured on the island.
- 4.57.1ὃ ἔτυχον οἰκοδομοῦντες
The verb τυγχάνω combined with a participle (τυγχάνω + participle) acts as an auxiliary expression, meaning 'happen to be doing' or 'just be doing.' Here, with the relative pronoun ὅ as its object, it describes the wall that the Aeginetans 'happened to be building' at that time.
- 4.57.2ὡς οὐκ ἐνόμιζον ἀξιόμαχοι εἶναι
The conjunction ὡς here introduces a subjective reason ('thinking that...'). Since the subject of the infinitive εἶναι is identical to the subject of the governing verb (the Lacedaemonian garrison), the predicate adjective ἀξιόμαχοι is in the nominative case rather than the accusative.
- 4.57.4ἐβουλεύσαντο
Four infinitive clauses (καταθέσθαι, φέρειν, ἀποκτεῖναι, καταδῆσαι) are coordinated under the governing verb ἐβουλεύσαντο ('they resolved'). Note the shift in their subject: while καταθέσθαι, ἀποκτεῖναι, and καταδῆσαι have the Athenians themselves as the implied subject ('to deposit', 'to put to death', 'to bind'), φέρειν takes the accusative subject τοὺς ἄλλους Κυθηρίους ('for the other Cytherians to pay').