- 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-grc2:7.66.1-7.66.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Gylippus and the other generals encourage the Syracusans and their allies by highlighting the glory of their past achievements and explaining how the Athenians' self-confidence has been shattered after being frustrated in their primary strength.
‘ὅτι μὲν καλὰ τὰ προειργασμένα καὶ ὑπὲρ καλῶν τῶν μελλόντων ὁ ἀγὼν ἔσται, ὦ Συρακόσιοι καὶ ξύμμαχοι, οἵ τε πολλοὶ δοκεῖτε ἡμῖν εἰδέναι (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως αὐτῶν1 προθύμως ἀντελάβεσθε), καὶ εἴ τις μὴ ἐπὶ ὅσον δεῖ ᾔσθηται, σημανοῦμεν.
’That our past achievements have been glorious, Syracusans and allies, and that the coming struggle will be for a glorious cause, most of you seem to us to know (for otherwise you would not have taken it up so eagerly); and if anyone has not perceived this to the extent that is necessary, we will make it clear.
Ἀθηναίους2 γὰρ ἐς τὴν χώραν τήνδε ἐλθόντας πρῶτον μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς Σικελίας καταδουλώσει,3 ἔπειτ᾽, εἰ κατορθώσειαν, καὶ τῆς Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος, καὶ ἀρχὴν τὴν ἤδη μεγίστην τῶν τε πρὶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῶν νῦν κεκτημένους, πρῶτοι ἀνθρώπων ὑποστάντες τῷ ναυτικῷ, ᾧπερ πάντα κατέσχον, τὰς μὲν νενικήκατε ἤδη ναυμαχίας, τὴν δ’ ἐκ τοῦ εἰκότος νῦν νικήσετε.
For the Athenians came to this country, first indeed for the enslavement of Sicily, and next, if they should succeed, of the Peloponnese and the rest of Greece, possessing already an empire the greatest of all Greeks past and present; but you, being the first of men to withstand that navy of theirs by which they held everything in subjection, have already won some sea-battles, and in all likelihood you will win the present one.
ἄνδρες γὰρ ἐπειδὰν ᾧ ἀξιοῦσι προύχειν κολουθῶσι, τό γ’ ὑπόλοιπον αὐτῶν τῆς δόξης ἀσθενέστερον αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ4 ἐστὶν ἢ εἰ μηδ’ ᾠήθησαν τὸ πρῶτον, καὶ τῷ παρ’ ἐλπίδα τοῦ αὐχήματος σφαλλόμενοι καὶ παρὰ ἰσχὺν τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνδιδόασιν· ὃ νῦν Ἀθηναίους εἰκὸς πεπονθέναι.
For when men are frustrated in that in which they claim to excel, their remaining self-confidence is weaker than if they had never thought themselves superior in the first place, and, being disappointed of their boast, they give in even beyond the actual decline of their power. This is what the Athenians in all probability are now experiencing.’
- 7.66.1αὐτῶν
The genitive αὐτῶν (neuter plural) is governed by the verb ἀντιλαμβάνομαι (to take up, engage in) and refers to the previously mentioned τὰ προειργασμένα and τὰ μέλλοντα.
- 7.66.2Ἀθηναίους
The accusative Ἀθηναίους placed at the beginning of the sentence functions as the logical object of the subsequent participle ὑποστάντες (withstanding), though its syntactic position also exhibits anacoluthon due to the length of the intervening clauses.
- 7.66.2καταδουλώσει
Constructed with the preposition ἐπί followed by the dative of the abstract noun κατάδουλωσις (enslavement), expressing purpose or objective ('for the purpose of enslaving').
- 7.66.3ἀσθενέστερον αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ
An idiomatic expression combining a comparative with the genitive of the reflexive pronoun, meaning 'weaker than itself (usually is)', i.e., significantly weaker than its normal state.