Humanitext Reader

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.10.1-2.10.3

Assembly of Allies at the Isthmus and Archidamus' Address

Passage 156 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Immediately after the incident at Plataea, the Lacedaemonians ordered their allies to prepare for an invasion of Attica, and two-thirds of the forces from each city assembled at the Isthmus. Once the entire army had gathered, King Archidamus, the commander of the expedition, summoned the generals and leading men to address them.

§2.10.1οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μετὰ τὰ ἐν Πλαταιαῖς εὐθὺς περιήγγελλον κατὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ τὴν ἔξω ξυμμαχίδα στρατιὰν παρασκευάζεσθαι ταῖς πόλεσι τά τε ἐπιτήδεια οἷα εἰκὸς ἐπὶ ἔξοδον ἔκδημον ἔχειν, ὡς ἐσβαλοῦντες ἐς τὴν Ἀττικήν.
Immediately after the affair at Plataea, the Lacedaemonians sent word throughout the Peloponnese and their external alliance for the cities to prepare forces and such provisions as were fitting for a foreign campaign, with the intention of invading Attica.
§2.10.2ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἑκάστοις ἑτοῖμα γίγνοιτο, κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τὸν εἰρημένον ξυνῇσαν τὰ δύο μέρη ἀπὸ πόλεως ἑκάστης ἐς τὸν Ἰσθμόν.
And when their preparations were ready in each case, at the appointed time two-thirds of the army from each city assembled at the Isthmus.
§2.10.3καὶ ἐπειδὴ πᾶν τὸ στράτευμα ξυνειλεγμένον ἦν, Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, ὅσπερ ἡγεῖτο τῆς ἐξόδου ταύτης, ξυγκαλέσας τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν πόλεων πασῶν καὶ τοὺς μάλιστα ἐν τέλει καὶ ἀξιολογωτάτους παρῄνει τοιάδε.
And when the whole army was assembled, Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, who was the commander of this expedition, summoned the generals of all the cities and those who were most in authority and of highest standing, and exhorted them as follows.

Notes

  1. §2.10.1περιήγγελλον ... παρασκευάζεσθαι — "sent word ... to prepare". The verb περιήγγελλον takes the dative ταῖς πόλεσι ("to the cities") as its indirect object and the infinitive παρασκευάζεσθαι ("to prepare") to express the content of the command.
  2. §2.10.1ὡς ἐσβαλοῦντες — The conjunction ὡς combined with the future participle ἐσβαλοῦντες (nominative plural masculine of ἐσβάλλω, "to invade") expresses the subjective intention or purpose of the subject of the main clause (the Lacedaemonians): "with the intention of invading".
  3. §2.10.2γίγνοιτο — The present optative after the conjunction ἐπειδὴ ("when") is used to express repeated or successive actions in past time: "as each preparation became ready in turn" (iterative optative).
  4. §2.10.2τὰ δύο μέρη — "two-thirds". A Greek idiom for expressing fractions where "the two parts" (out of three) denotes two-thirds of the whole.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.10.1-2.10.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.10.1-2.10.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.