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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.11.1-1.11.3

Lack of Funds and the Prolonging of the Trojan War

Passage 11 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The author argues that the limited scale of the Trojan expedition was caused not by a shortage of population but by a lack of funds and subsequent food supplies, analyzing that the dispersal of the Greek forces for foraging prolonged the war.

§1.11.1αἴτιον δ’ ἦν οὐχ ἡ ὀλιγανθρωπία τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἡ ἀχρηματία.
And the cause was not so much the lack of men as the lack of money.
τῆς γὰρ τροφῆς ἀπορίᾳ τόν τε στρατὸν ἐλάσσω ἤγαγον καὶ ὅσον ἤλπιζον αὐτόθεν πολεμοῦντα βιοτεύσειν, ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀφικόμενοι μάχῃ ἐκράτησαν (δῆλον δέ·
For through want of provisions they brought a smaller army, and only as large as they hoped could live off the country while fighting.
τὸ γὰρ ἔρυμα τῷ στρατοπέδῳ οὐκ ἂν ἐτειχίσαντο), φαίνονται δ’ οὐδ’ ἐνταῦθα πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει χρησάμενοι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς γεωργίαν τῆς Χερσονήσου τραπόμενοι καὶ λῃστείαν τῆς τροφῆς ἀπορίᾳ.
And when, having arrived, they won a battle (and this is clear; for otherwise they would not have built the fortification for their camp), they appear not even then to have employed their whole power, but to have turned to the cultivation of the Chersonese and to plundering through want of provisions.
ᾗ καὶ μᾶλλον οἱ Τρῶες αὐτῶν διεσπαρμένων τὰ δέκα ἔτη ἀντεῖχον βίᾳ, τοῖς αἰεὶ ὑπολειπομένοις ἀντίπαλοι ὄντες.
For which reason also the Trojans, because they were dispersed, the more easily held out by force for the ten years, being a match for those who were left behind from time to time.
§1.11.2περιουσίαν δὲ εἰ ἦλθον ἔχοντες τροφῆς καὶ ὄντες ἁθρόοι ἄνευ λῃστείας καὶ γεωργίας ξυνεχῶς τὸν πόλεμον διέφερον, ῥᾳδίως ἂν μάχῃ κρατοῦντες εἷλον, οἵ γε καὶ οὐχ ἁθρόοι, ἀλλὰ μέρει τῷ αἰεὶ παρόντι ἀντεῖχον, πολιορκίᾳ δ’ ἂν προσκαθεζόμενοι ἐν ἐλάσσονί τε χρόνῳ καὶ ἀπονώτερον τὴν Τροίαν εἷλον.
But if they had come with an abundance of provisions, and, being all together, had carried on the war continuously without plundering and agriculture, they would easily have taken it by winning in battle; seeing that even when not all together, but with only the part that was present from time to time, they held their ground, and if they had sat down to a siege, they would have taken Troy in less time and with less labor.
ἀλλὰ δι’ ἀχρηματίαν τά τε πρὸ τούτων ἀσθενῆ ἦν καὶ αὐτά γε δὴ ταῦτα, ὀνομαστότατα τῶν πρὶν γενόμενα, δηλοῦται τοῖς ἔργοις ὑποδεέστερα ὄντα τῆς φήμης καὶ τοῦ νῦν περὶ αὐτῶν διὰ τοὺς ποιητὰς λόγου κατεσχηκότος· §1.11.3ἀλλὰ δι’ ἀχρηματίαν τά τε πρὸ τούτων ἀσθενῆ ἦν καὶ αὐτά γε δὴ ταῦτα, ὀνομαστότατα τῶν πρὶν γενόμενα, δηλοῦται τοῖς ἔργοις ὑποδεέστερα ὄντα τῆς φήμης καὶ τοῦ νῦν περὶ αὐτῶν διὰ τοὺς ποιητὰς λόγου κατεσχηκότος·
But through want of money, both the undertakings before this were weak, and this very one, though the most famous of those of former times, is shown by its deeds to be inferior to its fame and to the tradition now prevailing about it because of the poets.

Notes

  1. §1.11.1ὅσον ἤλπιζον αὐτόθεν πολεμοῦντα βιοτεύσειν — The relative adjective ὅσον limits the size of the preceding accusative noun phrase (τόν τε στρατόν...). The participle πολεμοῦντα is an accusative present participle agreeing with the implied subject of βιοτεύσειν (the army or the soldiers), meaning 'living off the land while waging war.'
  2. §1.11.1οὐκ ἂν ἐτειχίσαντο — A past contrafactual construction consisting of the particle ἄν and the indicative aorist middle ἐτειχίσαντο. An implied protasis such as 'if they had not won the battle' is omitted here.
  3. §1.11.2οἵ γε καὶ οὐχ ἁθρόοι — The relative pronoun with the intensive particle γε (οἵ γε) introduces a causal or characterising clause ('since they', 'seeing that they'). Here it strengthens the main clause's argument by emphasizing that they resisted even when they were not all together.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.11.1-1.11.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.11.1-1.11.3

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