- 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-grc2:7.19.1-7.19.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
At the start of spring, the Peloponnesians under Agis invade Attica and fortify Decelea, while reinforcing hoplites from the Peloponnese are sent to Sicily in merchant ships.
τοῦ δ’ ἐπιγιγνομένου ἦρος εὐθὺς ἀρχομένου πρωίτατα δὴ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσέβαλον· ἡγεῖτο δὲ Ἆγις ὁ Ἀρχιδάμου Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τῆς χώρας τὰ περὶ τὸ πεδίον ἐδῄωσαν, ἔπειτα Δεκέλειαν ἐτείχιζον, κατὰ πόλεις διελόμενοι τὸ ἔργον.
At the very beginning of the following spring, at the earliest moment, the Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica; Agis, the son of Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, was in command. And first they ravaged the parts of the country around the plain, and then they proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the work among the various cities.
ἀπέχει δὲ ἡ Δεκέλεια σταδίους μάλιστα τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλεως εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατόν, παραπλήσιον δὲ καὶ οὐ πολλῷ πλέον καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Βοιωτίας. ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ πεδίῳ καὶ τῆς χώρας τοῖς κρατίστοις1 ἐς τὸ κακουργεῖν ᾠκοδομεῖτο τὸ τεῖχος, ἐπιφανὲς μέχρι τῆς τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλεως.
Decelea is distant about one hundred and twenty stades from the city of the Athenians, and about the same distance, or not much more, from Boeotia. The wall was built on the plain and on the best parts of the country for doing mischief, being visible as far as the city of the Athenians.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἐτείχιζον, οἱ δ’ ἐν τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ ἀπέστελλον περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ταῖς ὁλκάσι τοὺς ὁπλίτας ἐς τὴν Σικελίαν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν τῶν τε Εἱλώτων ἐπιλεξάμενοι τοὺς βελτίστους καὶ τῶν νεοδαμωδῶν, ξυναμφοτέρων ἐς ἑξακοσίους ὁπλίτας,καὶ Ἔκκριτον Σπαρτιάτην ἄρχοντα, Βοιωτοὶ δὲ τριακοσίους ὁπλίτας, ὧν ἦρχον Ξένων τε καὶ Νίκων Θηβαῖοι καὶ Ἡγήσανδρος Θεσπιεύς.
And while the Peloponnesians and their allies in Attica were building the wall, those in the Peloponnese, around the same time, were sending out the hoplites in merchant ships to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians selected the best of the Helots and of the Neodamodes, amounting together to about six hundred hoplites, and appointed Eccritus, a Spartan, as commander, and the Boeotians sent three hundred hoplites, who were commanded by Xenon and Nicon, Thebans, and Hegesandrus, a Thespian.
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς πρῶτοι2 ὁρμήσαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Ταινάρου τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐς τὸ πέλαγος ἀφῆκαν· μετὰ δὲ τούτους Κορίνθιοι οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον πεντακοσίους ὁπλίτας, τοὺς μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς Κορίνθου, τοὺς δὲ προσμισθωσάμενοι Ἀρκάδων, καὶ ἄρχοντα Ἀλέξαρχον Κορίνθιον προστάξαντες ἀπέπεμψαν. ἀπέστειλαν δὲ καὶ Σικυώνιοι διακοσίους ὁπλίτας ὁμοῦ τοῖς Κορινθίοις, ὧν ἦρχε Σαργεὺς Σικυώνιος.
These, therefore, starting among the first, put out into the open sea from Taenarum in Laconia; and not long after them the Corinthians sent out five hundred hoplites, some from Corinth itself, and others whom they hired from among the Arcadians, and they dispatched them having appointed Alexarchus, a Corinthian, as commander. The Sicyonians also sent out two hundred hoplites along with the Corinthians, who were commanded by Sargeus, a Sicyonian.
αἱ δὲ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι νῆες τῶν Κορινθίων αἱ τοῦ χειμῶνος πληρωθεῖσαι ἀνθώρμουν ταῖς ἐν τῇ Ναυπάκτῳ εἴκοσιν Ἀττικαῖς, ἕωσπερ αὐτοῖς οὗτοι οἱ ὁπλῖται ταῖς ὁλκάσιν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἀπῆραν·3 οὗπερ ἕνεκα καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἐπληρώθησαν, ὅπως μὴ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πρὸς τὰς ὁλκάδας μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς τὰς τριήρεις τὸν νοῦν ἔχωσιν.
And the twenty-five Corinthian ships which had been manned during the winter lay at anchor opposite the twenty Athenian ships at Naupactus, until these hoplites of theirs had sailed in the merchant ships from the Peloponnese; for which very purpose they had been manned in the first place, so that the Athenians might direct their attention to the triremes rather than to the merchant ships.
- 7.19.2τῆς χώρας τοῖς κρατίστοις
The superlative neuter plural adjective used substantively, τοῖς κρατίστοις ("the best/most strategic parts"), modified by the partitive genitive τῆς χώρας ("of the country"). The dative case indicates the location where the wall was built, coordinated with ἐπὶ τῷ πεδίῳ.
- 7.19.4ἐν τοῖς πρῶτοι
An idiomatic expression where ἐν τοῖς is combined with a superlative or ordinal adjective (πρῶτοι) to mean "among the very first" or "especially." The phrase functions adverbially to reinforce the nominative plural πρῶτοι.
- 7.19.5ἕωσπερ αὐτοῖς οὗτοι οἱ ὁπλῖται ταῖς ὁλκάσιν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἀπῆραν
The conjunction ἕως (with the intensive particle περ), referring to an actual completed event in the past, takes the indicative aorist (ἀπῆραν) to mean "until." The dative αὐτοῖς functions as a dative of interest, indicating those concerned with the departure of the hoplites.