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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.135.1-1.135.3

Accusation and Pursuit of Themistocles

Passage 135 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Following Sparta's accusation of Themistocles for medizing in connection with Pausanias, Athens agrees to send pursuers along with the Lacedaemonians to arrest Themistocles, who was then living in exile.

§1.135.1οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὡς καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄγος κρίναντος, ἀντεπέταξαν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐλαύνειν αὐτό.
The Athenians, on the ground that the god also had judged their deed to be a pollution, retorted by ordering the Lacedaemonians to drive out this pollution.
§1.135.2τοῦ δὲ μηδισμοῦ τοῦ Παυσανίου οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρέσβεις πέμψαντες παρὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ξυνεπῃτιῶντο καὶ τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα, ὡς ηὕρισκον ἐκ τῶν περὶ Παυσανίαν ἐλέγχων, ἠξίουν τε τοῖς αὐτοῖς κολάζεσθαι αὐτόν.
As for the medizing of Pausanias, the Lacedaemonians sent envoys to the Athenians and jointly accused Themistocles as well, since they found proof of this from the inquiries concerning Pausanias; and they demanded that he should be punished with the same penalties.
§1.135.3οἱ δὲ πεισθέντες (ἔτυχε γὰρ ὠστρακισμένος καὶ ἔχων δίαιταν μὲν ἐν Ἄργει, ἐπιφοιτῶν δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν ἄλλην Πελοπόννησον) πέμπουσι μετὰ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἑτοίμων ὄντων ξυνδιώκειν ἄνδρας οἷς εἴρητο ἄγειν ὅπου ἂν περιτύχωσιν.
The Athenians, being persuaded (for he happened to have been ostracized and to be living in Argos, though he also visited other parts of the Peloponnese), sent, along with the Lacedaemonians who were ready to join in the pursuit, men who had been ordered to arrest him wherever they might find him.

Notes

  1. 1.135.1ὡς καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄγος κρίναντος — A genitive absolute construction introduced by the conjunction ὡς, which expresses the subjective allegation or viewpoint of the Athenians, serving as the ground for the main verb ἀντεπέταξαν.
  2. 1.135.2τοῦ δὲ μηδισμοῦ — Genitive of charge or cause, functioning as the genitive object dependent on the verb ξυνεπῃτιῶντο ('accused jointly of').
  3. 1.135.3ἔτυχε γὰρ ὠστρακισμένος καὶ ἔχων — The verb τυγχάνω (imperfect ἔτυχε) with supplementary participles ὠστρακισμένος (perfect passive) and ἔχων (present active), expressing the meaning 'he happened to be ostracized and to have...'.
  4. 1.135.3ἑτοίμων ὄντων — Genitive plural participle construction agreeing with Λακεδαιμονίων, which is governed by the preposition μετά, describing the state of readiness of the Lacedaemonians.
  5. 1.135.3οἷς εἴρητο — Impersonal passive construction. The relative pronoun οἷς (dative plural, referring to the accusative antecedent ἄνδρας) functions as the dative complement of the pluperfect passive impersonal εἴρητο ('it had been commanded').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.135.1-1.135.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.135.1-1.135.3

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