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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.60.1-1.60.3

Corinthian Reinforcements under Aristeus Sent to Thrace

Passage 60 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Worried about the revolt of Potidaea and Athenian movements, the Corinthians dispatch volunteers and mercenaries under the command of Aristeus to Thrace.

§1.60.1καὶ ἐν τούτῳ οἱ Κορίνθιοι, τῆς Ποτειδαίας ἀφεστηκυίας καὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν περὶ Μακεδονίαν οὐσῶν, δεδιότες περὶ τῷ χωρίῳ καὶ οἰκεῖον τὸν κίνδυνον ἡγούμενοι πέμπουσιν ἑαυτῶν τε ἐθελοντὰς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Πελοποννησίων μισθῷ πείσαντες ἑξακοσίους καὶ χιλίους τοὺς πάντας ὁπλίτας καὶ ψιλοὺς τετρακοσίους.
And in the meantime, since Potidaea had revolted and the Attic ships were around Macedonia, the Corinthians, fearing for the place and regarding the danger as their own, dispatched volunteers of their own and others from the Peloponnesians whom they had persuaded by pay, in all sixteen hundred hoplites and four hundred light-armed troops.
§1.60.2ἐστρατήγει δὲ αὐτῶν Ἀριστεὺς ὁ Ἀδειμάντου, κατὰ φιλίαν τε αὐτοῦ οὐχ ἥκιστα οἱ πλεῖστοι ἐκ Κορίνθου στρατιῶται ἐθελονταὶ ξυνέσποντο· ἦν γὰρ τοῖς Ποτειδεάταις αἰεί ποτε ἐπιτήδειος.
Aristeus, the son of Adeimantus, was their general, and it was not least out of personal friendship for him that most of the soldiers from Corinth followed as volunteers; for he had always been friendly to the Potidaeans.
§1.60.3καὶ ἀφικνοῦνται τεσσαρακοστῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὕστερον ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἢ Ποτείδαια ἀπέστη.
And they arrived in the district of Thrace forty days after Potidaea revolted.

Notes

  1. §1.60.1τῆς Ποτειδαίας ἀφεστηκυίας καὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν νεῶν περὶ Μακεδονίαν οὐσῶν — A genitive absolute construction indicating the cause or background context of the main action.
  2. §1.60.2κατὰ φιλίαν τε αὐτοῦ — αὐτοῦ is an objective genitive modifying φιλίαν, meaning 'friendship toward him' (Aristeus).
  3. §1.60.3τεσσαρακοστῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὕστερον ... ἢ Ποτείδαια ἀπέστη — The comparative adverb ὕστερον followed by ἢ is used to express a temporal relation ('later than...'), equivalent to 'after' (or Latin 'postquam').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.60.1-1.60.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.60.1-1.60.3

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