- 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-grc2:8.9.1-8.9.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
While the Corinthians delayed the voyage to celebrate the Isthmian games, the Athenians detected the suspicious movements of the Chians and demanded they send ships as a pledge of loyalty, with which the Chians complied.
οἱ δὲ Κορίνθιοι, ἐπειγομένων αὐτῶν τὸν πλοῦν,1 οὐ προυθυμήθησαν ξυμπλεῖν πρὶν τὰ Ἴσθμια, ἃ τότε ἦν, διεορτάσωσιν. Ἆγις δὲ αὐτοῖς ἑτοῖμος ἦν ἐκείνους μὲν μὴ λύειν2 δὴ τὰς Ἰσθμιάδας σπονδάς, ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τὸν στόλον ἴδιον ποιήσασθαι.
But the Corinthians, although the others were urging the voyage, were not eager to sail with them until they should have celebrated the Isthmian games, which were then being held. Agis, however, was ready on his part not to make them break the Isthmian truce, but to make the expedition his own private undertaking.
οὐ ξυγχωρούντων δὲ τῶν Κορινθίων, ἀλλὰ διατριβῆς ἐγγιγνομένης, οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ᾐσθάνοντο τὰ τῶν Χίων μᾶλλον, καὶ πέμψαντες ἕνα τῶν στρατηγῶν Ἀριστοκράτη ἐπῃτιῶντο αὐτούς, καὶ ἀρνουμένων τῶν Χίων τὸ πιστὸν ναῦς σφίσι ξυμπέμπειν ἐκέλευον ἐς τὸ ξυμμαχικόν· οἱ δ᾽ ἔπεμψαν ἑπτά.
But since the Corinthians would not agree, and delay arose, the Athenians became more aware of the situation of the Chians, and sending Aristocrates, one of their generals, they accused them. When the Chians denied the accusation, they ordered them to send ships to join them for the alliance as a pledge of good faith; and they sent seven.
αἴτιον δ’ ἐγένετο τῆς ἀποστολῆς τῶν νεῶν οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ τῶν Χίων οὐκ εἰδότες3 τὰ πρασσόμενα, οἱ δὲ ὀλίγοι καὶ ξυνειδότες τό τε πλῆθος οὐ βουλόμενοί πω πολέμιον ἔχειν, πρίν τι καὶ ἰσχυρὸν λάβωσι, καὶ τοὺς Πελοποννησίους οὐκέτι προσδεχόμενοι ἥξειν, ὅτι διέτριβον.
The reason for the sending of the ships was that the majority of the Chians did not know what was being done, while the few who were in on the secret were not yet willing to have the multitude hostile to them before they had obtained some strong support, and also no longer expected the Peloponnesians to come because they were delaying.
- 8.9.1ἐπειγομένων αὐτῶν τὸν πλοῦν
Genitive absolute construction. From the context of the preceding section, αὐτῶν refers to the Lacedaemonians or their allies (such as Agis) who were hurrying. The present middle-passive participle ἐπειγομένων can be interpreted either intransitively ('hurrying') or transitively ('urging'), meaning 'although the others were urging/hurrying the voyage.'
- 8.9.1ἐκείνους μὲν μὴ λύειν
The subject accusative of the infinitive λύειν is ἐκείνους (referring to the Corinthians), distinct from the subject of the main clause, Ἆγις. Agis proposed that they (the Corinthians) should not have to break the Isthmian truce (i.e., they could remain for the festival).
- 8.9.3αἴτιον δ’ ἐγένετο ... οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ ... οὐκ εἰδότες
Anacoluthon (breach of syntactic coherence). Since the predicate of the main clause is 'became the cause (αἴτιον),' one would expect a causal clause (with ὅτι) or a genitive absolute (τῶν μὲν πολλῶν ... οὐκ εἰδότων), but instead, nominative noun phrases (οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ, οἱ δὲ ὀλίγοι) with nominative participles (οὐκ εἰδότες, οὐ βουλόμενοι) are used to explain the cause.