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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.88.1

Spartan Fear of Athenian Power as the True Cause of War

Passage 88 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Explains that the primary motivation for the Lacedaemonians voting to break the treaty and declare war was their fear of Athens' growing power rather than the persuasion of their allies.

§1.88.1ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰς σπονδὰς λελύσθαι καὶ πολεμητέα εἶναι οὐ τοσοῦτον τῶν ξυμμάχων πεισθέντες τοῖς λόγοις ὅσον φοβούμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μὴ ἐπὶ μεῖζον δυνηθῶσιν, ὁρῶντες αὐτοῖς τὰ πολλὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑποχείρια ἤδη ὄντα.
The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken and that war must be made, not so much because they were persuaded by the speeches of the allies, as because they feared the Athenians, lest they should grow more powerful, seeing that the greater part of Greece was already subject to them.

Notes

  1. §1.88.1πολεμητέα — The neuter plural of the verbal adjective πολεμητέος, used here impersonally (equivalent to πολεμητέον ἐστί), taking the form πολεμητέα εἶναι ('that war must be made') within the accusative and infinitive construction.
  2. §1.88.1τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μὴ ἐπὶ μεῖζον δυνηθῶσιν — A construction of prolepsis (anticipation), where οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, which logically should be the subject of the dependent clause μὴ ... δυνηθῶσιν, is pulled forward as the direct object (accusative τοὺς Ἀθηναίους) of the participle φοβούμενοι.
  3. §1.88.1αὐτοῖς — Dative of interest or relation, modifying the adjective ὑποχείρια ('subject to'), meaning 'subject to them' (the Athenians).

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.88.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.88.1

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