- 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-grc2:7.6.1-7.6.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Gylippus resumes the attack, and the Athenians advance to prevent the completion of the counter-wall. However, the Syracusan cavalry attacks the Athenian left wing, routing their army back to their fortifications. The following night, the Syracusans successfully build past the Athenian wall, completely depriving the Athenians of any possibility of investing the city.
καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, ἐπειδὴ καιρὸς ἦν, αὖθις ἐπῆγεν αὐτούς. ὁ δὲ Νικίας καὶ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι νομίζοντες, καὶ εἰ ἐκεῖνοι μὴ ἐθέλοιεν μάχης ἄρχειν, ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι σφίσι μὴ περιορᾶν παροικοδομούμενον τὸ τεῖχος (ἤδη γὰρ καὶ ὅσον οὐ παρεληλύθει τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων τοῦ τείχους τελευτὴν ἡ ἐκείνων τείχισις, καί, εἰ προέλθοι, ταὐτὸν ἤδη ἐποίει αὐτοῖς νικᾶν τε μαχομένοις διὰ παντὸς καὶ μηδὲ μάχεσθαι),1 ἀντεπῇσαν οὖν2 τοῖς Συρακοσίοις.
And after this, when the opportunity arose, he led them to the attack again. Nicias and the Athenians, thinking that, even if the enemy should not wish to begin a battle, it was necessary for them not to look on while the wall was being built past theirs (for already the enemy’s building had almost passed the end of the Athenian wall, and if it should go further, it would already make it the same thing for them to be victorious in continuous fighting or not to fight at all), so they advanced against the Syracusans.
καὶ ὁ Γύλιππος τοὺς μὲν ὁπλίτας ἔξω τῶν τειχῶν μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον προαγαγὼν ξυνέμισγεν αὐτοῖς, τοὺς δ’ ἱππέας καὶ τοὺς ἀκοντιστὰς ἐκ πλαγίου τάξας τῶν Ἀθηναίων κατὰ τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν, ᾗ τῶν τειχῶν ἀμφοτέρων αἱ ἐργασίαι ἔληγον.
And Gylippus, having led his hoplites further outside the walls than before, engaged them, while he posted his cavalry and dart-throwers on the flank of the Athenians in the open space where the construction of both walls ended.
καὶ προσβαλόντες οἱ ἱππῆς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῷ εὐωνύμῳ κέρᾳ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ὅπερ κατ’ αὐτοὺς ἦν, ἔτρεψαν· καὶ δι’ αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ ἄλλο στράτευμα νικηθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Συρακοσίων κατηράχθη ἐς τὰ τειχίσματα.
And the cavalry, attacking in the battle the left wing of the Athenians, which was opposite them, routed it; and because of this, the rest of the army also was defeated by the Syracusans and driven headlong back into their fortifications.
καὶ τῇ ἐπιούσῃ νυκτὶ ἔφθασαν παροικοδομήσαντες3 καὶ παρελθόντες τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἰκοδομίαν, ὥστε μηκέτι μήτε αὐτοὶ κωλύεσθαι ὑπ’ αὐτῶν, ἐκείνους τε καὶ παντάπασιν ἀπεστερηκέναι, εἰ καὶ κρατοῖεν, μὴ ἂν ἔτι σφᾶς ἀποτειχίσαι.4
And during the following night they succeeded in building past and overlapping the Athenian construction, so that they themselves were no longer hindered by them, and they had altogether deprived the Athenians, even if they should be victorious, of the possibility of ever walling them in.
- 7.6.1ταὐτὸν ἤδη ἐποίει αὐτοῖς νικᾶν τε μαχομένοις διὰ παντὸς καὶ μηδὲ μάχεσθαι
The expression ταὐτὸν ἐποίει (it made it the same thing) is used with two infinitives νικᾶν and μηδὲ μάχεσθαι as subjects. αὐτοῖς is the dative referring to the Athenians, with μαχομένοις agreeing with it. It means that if the enemy's wall passes theirs, the final outcome will be the same for them—rendering victory in continuous battle and not fighting at all equally futile.
- 7.6.1νομίζοντες ... ἀντεπῇσαν οὖν
The sentence begins with the participle νομίζοντες, but due to the long parenthesis, the grammatical structure is disrupted, and the sentence resumes directly with the main verb ἀντεπῇσαν accompanied by the conjunction οὖν. This kind of grammatical shift (anacoluthon) is characteristic of Thucydides' style, reflecting the immediate flow of thought.
- 7.6.4ἔφθασαν παροικοδομήσαντες
The verb φθάνω with a participle is a standard idiom meaning 'to do something beforehand' or 'to anticipate someone in doing something.' Here it describes how the Syracusans succeeded in completing their wall past the Athenian wall before they could prevent it.
- 7.6.4ἀπεστερηκέναι... μὴ ἂν ἔτι σφᾶς ἀποτειχίσαι
The perfect active infinitive ἀπεστερηκέναι (within the resultative ὥστε clause) takes ἐκείνους (the Athenians) as its direct object, while the action deprived is expressed by the infinitive clause with negative μή and potential ἄν (μὴ ἂν ἔτι σφᾶς ἀποτειχίσαι, 'ever to wall them in'). The particle ἄν with the infinitive expresses potentiality, emphasizing that the very possibility of walling them in has been completely destroyed. σφᾶς is the indirect reflexive pronoun referring to the Syracusans.