- 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-grc2:8.72.1-8.72.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The Four Hundred send ten envoys to Samos to pacate the army and justify the oligarchy, dispatching them quickly out of fear of a naval mutiny.
πέμπουσι δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Σάμον δέκα ἄνδρας παραμυθησομένους τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ διδάξοντας1 ὡς οὐκ ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν ἡ ὀλιγαρχία κατέστη, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ξυμπάντων πραγμάτων, πεντακισχίλιοί τε ὅτι εἶεν καὶ οὐ τετρακόσιοι μόνον οἱ πράσσοντες· καίτοι οὐ πώποτε Ἀθηναίους διὰ τὰς στρατείας καὶ τὴν ὑπερόριον ἀσχολίαν ἐς οὐδὲν πρᾶγμα οὕτω μέγα ἐλθεῖν βουλεύσοντας ἐν ᾧ πεντακισχιλίους ξυνελθεῖν.2
They also sent ten men to Samos to pacify the army and to explain that the oligarchy had been established not to the detriment of the city and the citizens, but for the safety of the entire state, and that those who conducted the government were five thousand, and not four hundred only; although the Athenians, because of their military expeditions and overseas employment, had never yet assembled to deliberate on any matter so important that five thousand met together.
ἄλλα τ’ ἐπιστείλαντες τὰ πρέποντα εἰπεῖν ἀπέπεμψαν αὐτοὺς εὐθὺς μετὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν κατάστασιν, δείσαντες μή,3 ὅπερ ἐγένετο, ναυτικὸς ὄχλος οὔτ’ αὐτὸς μένειν ἐν τῷ ὀλιγαρχικῷ κόσμῳ ἐθέλῃ, σφᾶς τε μὴ ἐκεῖθεν ἀρξαμένου τοῦ κακοῦ μεταστήσωσιν.
Having given them other instructions suitable to be said, they dispatched them immediately after their own establishment, fearing lest—as indeed actually happened—the naval multitude might not wish to remain under the oligarchical order, and might overthrow them, the trouble beginning from there.
- 8.72.1διδάξοντας
Future participle expressing purpose ('to explain'), introducing two parallel indirect discourse clauses: a ὡς clause and a ὅτι clause. The verb εἶεν in the latter is an optative of indirect discourse (optativus obliquus) triggered by the past or historical present context.
- 8.72.1βουλεύσοντας ἐν ᾧ πεντακισχιλίους ξυνελθεῖν
Dependent on the accusative and infinitive construction in indirect discourse (subject Ἀθηναίους, infinitive ἐλθεῖν). βουλεύσοντας is a future participle in agreement with Ἀθηναίους expressing purpose. Within the relative clause introduced by ἐν ᾧ ('in which'), ξυνελθεῖν is an infinitive of result (equivalent to ὥστε with infinitive), meaning 'such that five thousand should assemble.'
- 8.72.2δείσαντες μή
Introducing a clause of fearing (μή with subjunctive). Although the main verb is in the past tense (ἀπέπεμψαν), which would normally trigger the optative, the subjunctives (ἐθέλῃ, μεταστήσωσιν) are retained to convey the vividness and immediacy of their fear.