- 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-grc2:5.41.1-5.41.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
The Argive envoys arrive in Lacedaemon and negotiate a fifty-year treaty containing a peculiar clause that allows a decisive battle over the disputed Cynurian territory, to which the Lacedaemonians agree, sending the envoys back to consult the Argive assembly.
καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις ἀφικόμενοι αὐτῶν λόγους ἐποιοῦντο πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐφ’ ᾧ ἂν σφίσιν αἱ σπονδαὶ γίγνοιντο.1
And their envoys, having arrived, held negotiations with the Lacedaemonians as to the terms on which the treaty might be concluded for them.
καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἱ Ἀργεῖοι ἠξίουν δίκης ἐπιτροπὴν σφίσι γενέσθαι ἢ ἐς πόλιν τινὰ ἢ ἰδιώτην περὶ τῆς Κυνουρίας γῆς, ἧς αἰεὶ πέρι διαφέρονται μεθορίας οὔσης (ἔχει δὲ ἐν αὑτῇ Θυρέαν καὶ Ἀνθήνην πόλιν, νέμονται δ’ αὐτὴν Λακεδαιμόνιοι)· ἔπειτα δ’ οὐκ ἐώντων Λακεδαιμονίων μεμνῆσθαι περὶ αὐτῆς, ἀλλ᾽, εἰ βούλονται σπένδεσθαι ὥσπερ πρότερον, ἑτοῖμοι εἶναι,2 οἱ Ἀργεῖοι πρέσβεις τάδε ὅμως ἐπηγάγοντο τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ξυγχωρῆσαι, ἐν μὲν τῷ παρόντι σπονδὰς ποιήσασθαι ἔτη πεντήκοντα, ἐξεῖναι δ᾽ ὁποτεροισοῦν προκαλεσαμένοις, μήτε νόσου οὔσης μήτε πολέμου Λακεδαίμονι καὶ Ἄργει,3 διαμάχεσθαι περὶ τῆς γῆς ταύτης, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερόν ποτε ὅτε αὐτοὶ ἑκάτεροι ἠξίωσαν νικᾶν, διώκειν δὲ μὴ ἐξεῖναι περαιτέρω τῶν πρὸς Ἄργος καὶ Λακεδαίμονα ὅρων.
At first, the Argives demanded that an arbitration of justice should take place for them, either before some city or an individual, concerning the Cynurian territory, about which they were always in dispute as it was a borderland (it contains within itself the cities of Thyrea and Anthene, and is occupied by the Lacedaemonians). But then, since the Lacedaemonians would not allow any mention of this territory, but declared that if they wished to make a treaty as before they were ready, the Argive envoys nevertheless induced the Lacedaemonians to agree to the following terms: to make a treaty for fifty years for the present, but that it should be permitted to either side, having challenged the other, provided there was neither plague nor war in Lacedaemon and Argos, to fight a decisive battle over this territory, just as on a former occasion when each side claimed the victory, but that it should not be permitted to pursue the enemy beyond the frontiers of Argos and Lacedaemon.
τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐδόκει μωρία εἶναι ταῦτα, ἔπειτα (ἐπεθύμουν γὰρ τὸ Ἄργος πάντως φίλιον ἔχειν) ξυνεχώρησαν4 ἐφ’ οἷς ἠξίουν καὶ ξυνεγράψαντο. ἐκέλευον δ᾽ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, πρὶν τέλος τι αὐτῶν ἔχειν, ἐς τὸ Ἄργος πρῶτον ἐπαναχωρήσαντας αὐτοὺς δεῖξαι τῷ πλήθει, καὶ ἢν ἀρέσκοντα ᾖ, ἥκειν ἐς τὰ Ὑακίνθια τοὺς ὅρκους ποιησομένους. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀνεχώρησαν·
To the Lacedaemonians, at first, these terms seemed to be folly, but afterwards (for they were by all means eager to have Argos friendly) they agreed to the conditions demanded and drew up a written agreement. But the Lacedaemonians bade them, before any of these things should have final validity, to return first to Argos and show them to the multitude, and if they were acceptable, to come to the Hyacinthia to take the oaths. And they accordingly returned.
- 5.41.1ἐφ’ ᾧ ἂν σφίσιν αἱ σπονδαὶ γίγνοιντο
The construction ἐφ' ᾧ ('on the condition that') with ἄν and the optative (γίγνοιντο) represents a potential clause in indirect discourse ('on what terms the treaty might be concluded'). Instead of the more usual future indicative or infinitive, the optative with ἄν highlights the potentiality and openness of the negotiation.
- 5.41.2ἑτοῖμοι εἶναι
An infinitive of indirect discourse depending on the implied verb of saying within the genitive absolute οὐκ ἐώντων ('as the Lacedaemonians refused... but said they were ready'). Since the subject of the infinitive is the same as the speakers (the Lacedaemonians), the adjective ἑτοῖμοι is in the nominative plural (nominative with infinitive).
- 5.41.2μήτε νόσου οὔσης μήτε πολέμου Λακεδαίμονι καὶ Ἄργει
A genitive absolute construction (μήτε νόσου οὔσης μήτε πολέμου) within which Λακεδαίμονι καὶ Ἄργει is embedded as a dative of interest or reference ('in/for Lacedaemon and Argos'), specifying the precondition under which the decisive battle may be fought.
- 5.41.3τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐδόκει μωρία εἶναι ταῦτα, ἔπειτα ... ξυνεχώρησαν
An anacoluthon (change in grammatical construction). The sentence begins with an impersonal structure where the Lacedaemonians are in the dative (τοῖς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις ... ἐδόκει, 'to the Lacedaemonians it seemed...'), but shifts to a personal construction in the next clause with the active verb ξυνεχώρησαν ('they agreed'), treating the Lacedaemonians as the grammatical subject.