- 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-grc2:6.77.1-6.77.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Hermocrates blames the Sicilian Greeks for not uniting despite knowing Athens' deceitful schemes, and warns them of the danger of being conquered city by city.
‘ἀλλ’ οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων εὐκατηγόρητον οὖσαν πόλιν νῦν ἥκομεν ἀποφανοῦντες ἐν εἰδόσιν ὅσα ἀδικεῖ, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς αἰτιασόμενοι ὅτι ἔχοντες παραδείγματα τῶν τ’ ἐκεῖ Ἑλλήνων ὡς ἐδουλώθησαν1 οὐκ ἀμύνοντες σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, καὶ νῦν ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς ταὐτὰ παρόντα σοφίσματα,2 Λεοντίνων τε ξυγγενῶν κατοικίσεις καὶ Ἐγεσταίων ξυμμάχων ἐπικουρίας, οὐ ξυστραφέντες βουλόμεθα προθυμότερον δεῖξαι αὐτοῖς ὅτι οὐκ Ἴωνες τάδε εἰσὶν οὐδ’ Ἑλλησπόντιοι καὶ νησιῶται, οἳ δεσπότην ἢ Μῆδον ἢ ἕνα γέ τινα αἰεὶ μεταβάλλοντες δουλοῦνται, ἀλλὰ Δωριῆς ἐλεύθεροι ἀπ’ αὐτονόμου τῆς Πελοποννήσου τὴν Σικελίαν οἰκοῦντες.
’For we have not come now to demonstrate to those who already know how many wrongs the city of the Athenians, which is easily accusable, commits, but much rather to accuse ourselves, because, having examples of the Greeks over there, how they were enslaved through not defending themselves, and having now these same sophistries present against us—the resettlements of our kinsmen the Leontines and the assistances to our allies the Egestaeans—we do not wish, by uniting, to show them more resolutely that these here are not Ionians, nor Hellespontians and islanders, who are always enslaved, changing their master, either the Mede or some single one, but free Dorians from the independent Peloponnese inhabiting Sicily.
ἢ μένομεν ἕως ἂν ἕκαστοι κατὰ πόλεις ληφθῶμεν, εἰδότες ὅτι ταύτῃ μόνον ἁλωτοί ἐσμεν καὶ ὁρῶντες αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦτο τὸ εἶδος τρεπομένους ὥστε τοὺς μὲν λόγοις ἡμῶν διιστάναι, τοὺς δὲ ξυμμάχων ἐλπίδι ἐκπολεμοῦν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τοῖς δὲ ὡς ἑκάστοις τι προσηνὲς λέγοντες δύνανται κακουργεῖν; καὶ οἰόμεθα τοῦ ἄπωθεν ξυνοίκου προαπολλυμένου οὐ καὶ ἐς αὐτόν τινα ἥξειν τὸ δεινόν, πρὸ δὲ αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον τὸν πάσχοντα καθ’ ἑαυτὸν δυστυχεῖν;3
Or are we waiting until we are caught city by city, knowing that in this way alone we are conquerable, and seeing them turning to this very method, so as to divide some of us by words, to make others go to war with one another by the hope of allies, and to do harm to others by saying to each whatever is agreeable? And do we think that, when our neighbor far off is destroyed beforehand, the danger will not also reach each of us, but that before it reaches him, rather he who is suffering misfortunes is doing so by himself?’
- 6.77.1τῶν τ’ ἐκεῖ Ἑλλήνων ὡς ἐδουλώθησαν
A classic example of prolepsis (anticipation). The subject of the dependent clause ὡς ἐδουλώθησαν, which would normally be οἱ ἐκεῖ Ἕλληνες, is anticipated as a genitive modifier of παραδείγματα in the main clause, resulting in τῶν τ’ ἐκεῖ Ἑλλήνων ('examples of the Greeks over there, how they were enslaved').
- 6.77.1παρόντα σοφίσματα
A participial phrase. It serves as the second direct object of ἔχοντες, standing in parallel to παραδείγματα via καί. The participle παρόντα is an accusative plural neuter agreeing with σοφίσματα, signifying 'having [before us] these same sophistries present against us.'
- 6.77.2πρὸ δὲ αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον τὸν πάσχοντα καθ’ ἑαυτὸν δυστυχεῖν
Part of the accusative and infinitive structure governed by οἰόμεθα. The pronoun αὐτοῦ is a neuter genitive under the preposition πρό ('before'), referring back to τὸ δεινόν ('the danger'). It expresses the rhetorical thought: 'or do we think that, before it [the danger] comes [to oneself], the sufferer rather experiences misfortune by himself?'