- 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-grc2:4.99.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The Boeotians rejected the Athenian demand by presenting a dilemma that recovering the dead required departing from Boeotian territory, and the Athenian herald returned unsuccessful.
οἱ δὲ Βοιωτοὶ ἀπεκρίναντο, εἰ μὲν ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ εἰσίν, ἀπιόντας ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀποφέρεσθαι τὰ σφέτερα, εἰ δὲ ἐν τῇ ἐκείνων, αὐτοὺς γιγνώσκειν τὸ ποιητέον, νομίζοντες, τὴν μὲν Ὠρωπίαν, ἐν ᾗ τοὺς νεκροὺς ἐν μεθορίοις τῆς μάχης γενομένης κεῖσθαι ξυνέβη, Ἀθηναίων κατὰ τὸ ὑπήκοον εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ ἂν αὐτοὺς βίᾳ σφῶν κρατῆσαι αὐτῶν·1 οὐδ’ αὖ ἐσπένδοντο δῆθεν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνων·2 τὸ δὲ ‘ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν’ εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι ἀποκρίνασθαι3 ‘ἀπιόντας καὶ ἀπολαβεῖν ἃ ἀπαιτοῦσιν.’ ὁ δὲ κῆρυξ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀκούσας ἀπῆλθεν ἄπρακτος.
The Boeotians replied that, if they (the Athenians) were in Boeotia, they should depart from their (the Boeotians’) land and carry away what was theirs; but if they were in their own land, they themselves knew what they had to do. For they considered that Oropia, in which the dead happened to lie since the battle had taken place on the borderlands, belonged to the Athenians as a dependency, and that they (the Athenians) could not get possession of them (the dead) by force against their (the Boeotians’) will; nor, on the other hand, did they wish to make a treaty, forsooth, for land that belonged to them (the Athenians). Thus they thought it was a fair answer to say, “departing from our land, you may recover what you demand.” The Athenian herald, having heard this, departed unsuccessful.
- 4.99.1κρατῆσαι αὐτῶν
The genitive pronoun αὐτῶν can refer either to "the dead" (τοὺς νεκρούς) or to "the territory" (Oropia or the borderlands). However, given the context that they could not recover the dead by force, and since κρατέω governs the genitive in the sense of "getting possession of," it is more natural to interpret it as referring to "the dead."
- 4.99.1οὐδ’ αὖ ἐσπένδοντο δῆθεν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνων
The imperfect verb ἐσπένδοντο expresses a refusal or lack of intention (they had no intention of making a treaty). The particle δῆθεν carries a sarcastic or subjective nuance ("forsooth", "as they claimed"), mockingly pointing out the logical contradiction in the Athenian claim: the Boeotians had no intention of making a treaty over what was supposedly the Athenians' own territory (τῆς ἐκείνων, with γῆς omitted), since a treaty is only requested for foreign-held land.
- 4.99.1τὸ δὲ ‘ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν’ εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι ἀποκρίνασθαι
The articular neuter accusative article τὸ nominalizes the quoted phrase ‘ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν’ ("from their own land") and serves as the subject of εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι ("was plausible/convenient"). The structure means "that [answering] 'from their own land' was a specious/convenient reply."