- 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
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.6.1-5.6.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
The Athenian general Cleon fails to take Stagirus but captures Galepsos, using Eion as his base. Meanwhile, the Spartan general Brasidas anticipates Cleon's movement and takes up a position on Cerdylium confronting him.
ὁ δὲ Κλέων ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς Τορώνης τότε περιέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν, ὁρμώμενος ἐκ τῆς Ἠιόνος Σταγίρῳ μὲν προσβάλλει Ἀνδρίων ἀποικίᾳ καὶ οὐχ εἷλε, Ἀληψὸν1 δὲ τὴν Θασίων ἀποικίαν λαμβάνει κατὰ κράτος.
Cleon, having then sailed round from Torone to Amphipolis, and making Eion his base, made an attack upon Stagirus, a colony of the Andrians, but did not take it; Galepsos, however, a colony of the Thasians, he took by storm.
καὶ πέμψας ὡς Περδίκκαν πρέσβεις, ὅπως παραγένοιτο στρατιᾷ κατὰ τὸ ξυμμαχικόν, καὶ ἐς τὴν Θρᾴκην ἄλλους παρὰ Πολλῆν τὸν Ὀδομάντων βασιλέα, ἄξοντας μισθοῦ Θρᾷκας ὡς πλείστους, αὐτὸς ἡσύχαζε περιμένων ἐν τῇ Ἠιόνι.
And having sent ambassadors to Perdiccas, that he might come to his aid with an army according to the alliance, and others into Thrace to Polles, the king of the Odomantians, to bring as many Thracian mercenaries as possible, he himself remained quiet, waiting at Eion.
Βρασίδας δὲ πυνθανόμενος ταῦτα ἀντεκάθητο καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῷ Κερδυλίῳ· ἔστι δὲ τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο Ἀργιλίων ἐπὶ μετεώρου πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, οὐ πολὺ ἀπέχον τῆς Ἀμφιπόλεως, καὶ κατεφαίνετο πάντα αὐτόθεν, ὥστε οὐκ ἂν ἔλαθεν αὐτὸν ὁρμώμενος2 ὁ Κλέων τῷ στρατῷ· ὅπερ προσεδέχετο ποιήσειν αὐτόν,3 ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν, ὑπεριδόντα σφῶν τὸ πλῆθος, τῇ παρούσῃ στρατιᾷ ἀναβήσεσθαι.
Brasidas, hearing of this, in turn took up a position confronting him on Cerdylium. This is a place belonging to the Argilians, on high ground on the other side of the river, not far from Amphipolis; and everything was visible from there, so that Cleon could not have moved his army without being seen by him. And Brasidas expected that he would do this—that, holding the smallness of their numbers in contempt, he would march up against Amphipolis with the army he had with him.
ἅμα δὲ καὶ παρεσκευάζετο Θρᾷκάς τε μισθωτοὺς πεντακοσίους καὶ χιλίους, καὶ τοὺς Ἠδῶνας πάντας παρακαλῶν, πελταστὰς καὶ ἱππέας· καὶ Μυρκινίων καὶ Χαλκιδέων χιλίους πελταστὰς εἶχε πρὸς τοῖς ἐν Ἀμφιπόλει.
At the same time, he was preparing fifteen hundred Thracian mercenaries, and summoning all the Edonians, both peltasts and cavalry; and he had a thousand peltasts of the Myrcinians and Chalcidians, in addition to those already in Amphipolis.
τὸ δ’ ὁπλιτικὸν ξύμπαν ἡθροίσθη δισχίλιοι4 μάλιστα καὶ ἱππῆς Ἕλληνες τριακόσιοι. τούτων Βρασίδας μὲν ἔχων ἐπὶ Κερδυλίῳ ἐκάθητο ἐς πεντακοσίους καὶ χιλίους, οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι ἐν Ἀμφιπόλει μετὰ Κλεαρίδου ἐτετάχατο.5
Their whole force of hoplites amounted to about two thousand, and they had three hundred Greek cavalry. Of these, Brasidas had about fifteen hundred with him on Cerdylium, while the rest were stationed in Amphipolis under Clearidas.
- 5.6.1Ἀληψόν
The form Ἀληψόν found in the manuscripts refers to the same city as Γαληψός (Galepsos), mentioned in Thucydides 4.107. Although the manuscript reading Ἀληψόν is retained, historically it refers to Galepsos.
- 5.6.3οὐκ ἂν ἔλαθεν αὐτὸν ὁρμώμενος
The construction combines the verb λανθάνω with the participle ὁρμώμενος, meaning 'to move/set out without being noticed'. The addition of the particle ἄν and the indicative aorist ἔλαθεν expresses a past counterfactual condition (or strong potentiality): 'he would not have set out without being noticed'.
- 5.6.3ὅπερ προσεδέχετο ποιήσειν αὐτόν
The relative pronoun ὅπερ (accusative singular neuter) anticipates the content of the following infinitive clause ἀναβήσεσθαι (to march up). The pronoun αὐτόν (accusative) refers to Cleon and acts as the subject of the infinitives ποιήσειν and ἀναβήσεσθαι under the governing verb προσεδέχετο.
- 5.6.5τὸ δ’ ὁπλιτικὸν ξύμπαν ἡθροίσθη δισχίλιοι
The subject τὸ ὁπλιτικόν (the hoplite force) is a singular neuter noun, but the complement δισχίλιοι (two thousand) is in the plural masculine, agreeing with the individual soldiers implied by the collective noun. This is a classic example of 'agreement according to sense' (constructio ad sensum).
- 5.6.5ἐτετάχατο
The third-person plural pluperfect passive of the verb τάσσω (equivalent to Attic ἐτεταγμένοι ἦσαν). The ending -ατο is used instead of -ντο in consonant-stem verbs, a feature characteristic of Ionic Greek and found occasionally in Thucydides as an archaic or dialectal coloring.