- 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-grc2:8.51.1-8.51.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Upon detecting Astyochus' betrayal, Phrynichus takes the initiative by warning the Athenian army to immediately fortify Samos, thereby successfully neutralizing the denunciations in Alcibiades' letters which arrived shortly after.
καὶ ὡς προῄσθετο αὐτὸν ὁ Φρύνιχος ἀδικοῦντα1 καὶ ὅσον οὐ2 παροῦσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου περὶ τούτων ἐπιστολήν, αὐτὸς προφθάσας τῷ στρατεύματι ἐξάγγελος γίγνεται ὡς οἱ πολέμιοι μέλλουσιν ἀτειχίστου οὔσης τῆς Σάμου καὶ ἅμα τῶν νεῶν οὐ πασῶν ἔνδον ὁρμουσῶν ἐπιθήσεσθαι τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, καὶ ταῦτα σαφῶς πεπυσμένος εἴη,3 καὶ χρῆναι τειχίζειν τε Σάμον ὡς τάχιστα καὶ τἆλλα ἐν φυλακῇ ἔχειν· ἐστρατήγει δὲ καὶ κύριος ἦν αὐτὸς πράσσων ταῦτα.
And when Phrynichus perceived beforehand that he was playing him false, and that the letter from Alcibiades concerning these matters was all but arrived, he himself took the initiative and reported to the army that the enemy, since Samos was unfortified and at the same time not all the ships were anchored inside, were about to attack the camp; and he added that he had certain information of this, and that they must fortify Samos as quickly as possible and keep other things under guard. He was general, and had authority himself to execute these measures.
καὶ οἱ μὲν τὸν τειχισμόν τε παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου, καὶ ὣς4 μέλλουσα, Σάμος θᾶσσον ἐτειχίσθη· αἱ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου ἐπιστολαὶ οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον ἧκον ὅτι προδίδοταί τε τὸ στράτευμα ὑπὸ Φρυνίχου καὶ οἱ πολέμιοι μέλλουσιν ἐπιθήσεσθαι.
And so they prepared for the fortification, and as a result of this, Samos was fortified more quickly—even though it had been destined to be so anyway. Not long afterwards the letters from Alcibiades arrived, saying that the army was being betrayed by Phrynichus and that the enemy were about to attack.
δόξας δὲ ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης οὐ πιστὸς εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων προειδὼς τῷ Φρυνίχῳ ὡς ξυνειδότι κατ’ ἔχθραν ἀνατιθέναι,5 οὐδὲν ἔβλαψεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξυνεμαρτύρησε μᾶλλον ταὐτὰ ἐσαγγείλας.
But since Alcibiades was thought not to be trustworthy, but rather to be attributing these plans to Phrynichus as an accomplice out of personal enmity because he had foreknowledge of the enemy’s designs, he did him no harm, but rather even confirmed his report by announcing the same things.
- 8.51.1αὐτὸν ἀδικοῦντα
Accusative with participle construction functioning as the object of the verb of perception προῄσθετο (third-person singular aorist middle of προαισθάνομαι). αὐτὸν refers to Astyochus, who betrayed Phrynichus in the previous chapter; the phrase means "that he was acting unjustly/betraying him".
- 8.51.1ὅσον οὐ
An idiomatic adverbial phrase meaning "all but" or "almost". Here it modifies the participle παροῦσαν (present participle feminine accusative singular of πάρειμι, agreeing with ἐπιστολήν), meaning that the letter was "all but arrived" or "on the point of arriving".
- 8.51.1πεπυσμένος εἴη
Perfect middle/passive optative in indirect discourse. Since the main verb of the principal clause, γίγνεται, is a historical present (acting as a past tense), the mood in the subordinate ὡς clauses shifts from the indicative (μέλλουσιν) to the optative of indirect discourse (πεπυσμένος εἴη).
- 8.51.2καὶ ὣς
A combination of the conjunction καί and ὣς (with an accent, an archaic form of the demonstrative adverb οὕτως), meaning "even so" or "even without this". It modifies the participle μέλλουσα ("being destined/about to [be fortified]"), implying that the fortification of Samos would have happened anyway even without Phrynichus' warning.
- 8.51.3δόξας δὲ ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης οὐ πιστὸς εἶναι, ἀλλὰ ... ἀνατιθέναι
An infinitive construction with the main subject ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης. Dependent on δόξας ("appearing/seeming") are two infinitives in parallel: οὐ πιστὸς εἶναι ("not to be trustworthy") and ἀνατιθέναι ("to be attributing [the enemy's plans to Phrynichus]"). The clause introduced by ἀλλὰ means "but rather [he was thought] to be attributing...".