- 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-grc2:8.75.1-8.75.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Enraged by Chaereas's report, the soldiers are restrained from violence by moderates. Led by Thrasybulus and Thrasylus, all soldiers and military-aged Samians take a solemn oath to uphold democracy and wage war against the Four Hundred.
οἱ δὲ ἀκούοντες ἐπὶ τοὺς τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν μάλιστα ποιήσαντας καὶ ἔτι τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς μετασχόντας τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὥρμησαν βάλλειν, ἔπειτα μέντοι ὑπὸ τῶν διὰ μέσου κωλυθέντες καὶ διδαχθέντες μὴ τῶν πολεμίων ἀντιπρῴρων ἐγγὺς ἐφορμούντων ἀπολέσωσι τὰ πράγματα,1 ἐπαύσαντο.
Upon hearing this, the soldiers at first rushed to pelt with stones those who had been the chief instigators of the oligarchy, as well as any others who had shared in it; however, being prevented by those of the moderate party and warned not to ruin their cause while the enemy was lying at anchor close by, prow to prow, they desisted.
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο λαμπρῶς ἤδη ἐς δημοκρατίαν βουλόμενοι μεταστῆσαι τὰ ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ ὅ τε Θρασύβουλος ὁ τοῦ Λύκου καὶ Θράσυλος (οὗτοι γὰρ μάλιστα προειστήκεσαν τῆς μεταβολῆς) ὥρκωσαν πάντας τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς μεγίστους ὅρκους,2 καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας μάλιστα, ἦ μὴν δημοκρατήσεσθαί τε καὶ ὁμονοήσειν καὶ τὸν πρὸς Πελοποννησίους πόλεμον προθύμως διοίσειν καὶ τοῖς τετρακοσίοις πολέμιοί τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ οὐδὲν ἐπικηρυκεύσεσθαι.
After this, Thrasybulus the son of Lycus and Thrasylus, who were the chief leaders of the change, wishing now to restore the government in Samos decisively to a democracy, bound all the soldiers, and especially those of the oligarchical faction themselves, by the most solemn oaths that they would indeed maintain a democracy and live in harmony, and zealously prosecute the war against the Peloponnesians, and be enemies to the Four Hundred and make no peace-overtures to them.
ξυνώμνυσαν δὲ καὶ Σαμίων πάντες τὸν αὐτὸν ὅρκον οἱ ἐν τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ τὰ πράγματα πάντα καὶ τὰ ἀποβησόμενα ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ξυνεκοινώσαντο οἱ στρατιῶται τοῖς Σαμίοις, νομίζοντες οὔτε ἐκείνοις ἀποστροφὴν σωτηρίας οὔτε σφίσιν εἶναι, ἀλλ᾽, ἐάν τε οἱ τετρακόσιοι κρατήσωσιν ἐάν τε οἱ ἐκ Μιλήτου πολέμιοι, διαφθαρήσεσθαι.3
All the Samians of military age also took the same oath with them; and the soldiers shared all their affairs and the consequences of their dangers with the Samians, thinking that there was no refuge of safety either for them or for themselves, but that whether the Four Hundred should prevail or the enemy from Miletus, they would be destroyed.
- 8.75.1μὴ τῶν πολεμίων ἀντιπρῴρων ἐγγὺς ἐφορμούντων ἀπολέσωσι τὰ πράγματα
The clause μὴ ... ἀπολέσωσι with the subjunctive ἀπολέσωσι is a negative purpose clause or a clause of apprehension depending on διδαχθέντες ('warned/instructed lest they ruin'). τῶν πολεμίων... ἐφορμούντων is a genitive absolute construction, and ἀντιπρῴρων acts as an adjective meaning 'prow to prow,' emphasizing the extreme proximity of the hostile fleet.
- 8.75.2ὥρκωσαν πάντας τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς μεγίστους ὅρκους
The verb ὁρκόω ('to bind by oath') takes a double accusative: one of the person forced to swear (πάντας τοὺς στρατιώτας), and a cognate accusative representing the oath itself (τοὺς μεγίστους ὅρκους).
- 8.75.3νομίζοντες ... διαφθαρήσεσθαι
The infinitive διαφθαρήσεσθαι (future passive infinitive) is part of the accusative-and-infinitive construction dependent on the participle νομίζοντες. Since its subject (both the Samians and the soldiers) is co-referential with the subject of the main verb, the subject accusative is omitted. The conditional clauses ἐάν τε... ἐάν τε... ('whether... or...') are embedded within this infinitival clause.