- 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-grc2:5.66.1-5.66.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-03
On the following day, the Lacedaemonians are astonished to find the Argive army already drawn up in the plain and hastily form their battle lines under King Agis. Thucydides then explains the highly stratified and rapid command structure of the Spartan army.
τῇ δ’ ὑστεραίᾳ οἵ τε Ἀργεῖοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ξυνετάξαντο, ὡς ἔμελλον μαχεῖσθαι, ἢν περιτύχωσιν· οἵ τε Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος πρὸς τὸ Ἡράκλειον πάλιν ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ στρατόπεδον ἰόντες ὁρῶσι δι’ ὀλίγου τοὺς ἐναντίους ἐν τάξει τε ἤδη πάντας καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου προεληλυθότας.
On the following day, the Argives and their allies drew themselves up, intending to fight if they should fall in with the enemy; and the Lacedaemonians, as they were returning from the water to the temple of Heracles back to the same camp, suddenly saw the enemy at a short distance already all in order of battle and having advanced from the hill.
μάλιστα δὴ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐς ὃ ἐμέμνηντο1 ἐν τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἐξεπλάγησαν. διὰ βραχείας γὰρ μελλήσεως2 ἡ παρασκευὴ αὐτοῖς ἐγίγνετο, καὶ εὐθὺς ὑπὸ σπουδῆς καθίσταντο ἐς κόσμον τὸν ἑαυτῶν, Ἄγιδος τοῦ βασιλέως ἕκαστα ἐξηγουμένου κατὰ τὸν νόμον.
At this moment, the Lacedaemonians were more astonished than they ever remembered to have been. For they had but a short time for preparation, and immediately and in haste they fell into their own order, while King Agis directed everything according to the custom.
βασιλέως γὰρ ἄγοντος3 ὑπ’ ἐκείνου πάντα ἄρχεται, καὶ τοῖς μὲν πολεμάρχοις αὐτὸς φράζει τὸ δέον, οἱ δὲ τοῖς λοχαγοῖς, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τοῖς πεντηκοντῆρσιν, αὖθις δ’ οὗτοι τοῖς ἐνωμοτάρχοις καὶ οὗτοι τῇ ἐνωμοτίᾳ.
For when the king leads, all command begins from him, and he himself declares what is necessary to the polemarchs, they to the lochagoi, these to the penteconteres, these again to the enomotarchs, and these to their enomotiai.
καὶ αἱ παραγγέλσεις, ἤν τι βούλωνται, κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ χωροῦσι καὶ ταχεῖαι ἐπέρχονται· σχεδὸν γάρ τι πᾶν πλὴν ὀλίγου τὸ στρατόπεδον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἄρχοντες ἀρχόντων4 εἰσί, καὶ τὸ ἐπιμελὲς τοῦ δρωμένου5 πολλοῖς προσήκει.
And their orders, if they wish to pass any, go down in the same way and are quickly delivered; for nearly the whole Lacedaemonian army, except for a few, consists of officers over officers, and the responsibility for what is done belongs to many.
- 5.66.2ἐς ὃ ἐμέμνηντο
A prepositional phrase combining ἐς and the relative pronoun ὅ, meaning "as far back as they could remember" or "within their memory," expressing a limit of time or experience.
- 5.66.2διὰ βραχείας... μελλήσεως
The noun μέλλησις usually means "delay" or "hesitation," but here it refers to the "interval of time before action." The preposition διά with the genitive expresses temporal passage, meaning "after a short delay" or "with very little time for preparation."
- 5.66.3βασιλέως γὰρ ἄγοντος
A genitive absolute construction with the conjunction γάρ placed in between. The participle ἄγοντος, used intransitively (or transitively with an implied object like "the army"), has βασιλέως as its subject, expressing a temporal or conditional circumstance: "for when the king leads."
- 5.66.4ἄρχοντες ἀρχόντων
An emphatic expression using a cognate genitive ("rulers of rulers"), illustrating the highly stratified hierarchical structure of the Spartan army, where almost every member of the command chain, down to the enomotarchs of the smallest tactical units, holds authority over subordinates.
- 5.66.4τὸ ἐπιμελὲς τοῦ δρωμένου
Consisting of the neuter adjective τὸ ἐπιμελές ("care," "supervision") and the genitive of the neuter present passive participle τοῦ δρωμένου ("what is being done"), forming a noun phrase meaning "the supervision of what is done."