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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.24.1-2.24.2

Athenian Defense Measures and Emergency Reserves

Passage 170 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians established land and sea guards for the war, and decreed to set aside one thousand talents and one hundred of the best triremes each year as an untouchable reserve, to be used only in case of a direct naval attack on the city.

§2.24.1ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι φυλακὰς κατεστήσαντο κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν, ὥσπερ δὴ ἔμελλον διὰ παντὸς τοῦ πολέμου φυλάξειν· καὶ χίλια τάλαντα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει χρημάτων ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς ἐξαίρετα ποιησαμένοις χωρὶς θέσθαι καὶ μὴ ἀναλοῦν, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πολεμεῖν·
When they had retreated, the Athenians established guards by land and by sea, just as they were to keep guard throughout the whole war; and they resolved to set aside and not to spend one thousand talents from the money in the acropolis, making it a reserve, but to wage war with the rest of their funds.
ἢν δέ τις εἴπῃ ἢ ἐπιψηφίσῃ κινεῖν τὰ χρήματα ταῦτα ἐς ἄλλο τι, ἢν μὴ οἱ πολέμιοι νηίτῃ στρατῷ ἐπιπλέωσι τῇ πόλει καὶ δέῃ ἀμύνασθαι, θάνατον ζημίαν ἐπέθεντο.
They decreed that if anyone should propose or put to the vote to touch this money for any other purpose, unless the enemy should sail against the city with a naval force and it be necessary to defend themselves, they should suffer death as the penalty.
§2.24.2τριήρεις τε μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐξαιρέτους ἑκατὸν ἐποιήσαντο κατὰ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἕκαστον τὰς βελτίστας, καὶ τριηράρχους αὐταῖς, ὧν μὴ χρῆσθαι μηδεμιᾷ ἐς ἄλλο τι ἢ μετὰ τῶν χρημάτων περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ κινδύνου, ἢν δέῃ.
And they also set aside along with them one hundred of the best triremes each year as a reserve, and appointed trierarchs for them, of which they were to use none for any other purpose than, along with the money, for the very same danger, if it should be necessary.

Notes

  1. §2.24.1ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς ἐξαίρετα ποιησαμένοις — The participle ποιησαμένοις (dative plural masculine) agrees in gender, number, and case with αὐτοῖς, which is the dative complement of the impersonal verb ἔδοξεν ('it pleased them' or 'they resolved'). ἐξαίρετα functions as a predicative accusative with the participle ('making them a reserve').
  2. §2.24.1ἢν δέ τις εἴπῃ ἢ ἐπιψηφίσῃ ... ἢν μὴ οἱ πολέμιοι ... — This is a nested conditional structure where an exceptional conditional clause (ἢν μὴ...) is inserted inside the main conditional clause (ἢν δέ τις εἴπῃ...). Although the main governing verb is the past tense ἐπέθεντο ('they imposed'), the subjunctives (εἴπῃ, ἐπιψηφίσῃ, ἐπιπλέωσι, δέῃ) are retained in the conditional clauses to reflect the direct legal phrasing of the original decree.
  3. §2.24.2ὧν μὴ χρῆσθαι μηδεμιᾷ — The relative pronoun ὧν refers back to the preceding τριήρεις ἑκατὸν and functions as a partitive genitive with the dative pronoun μηδεμιᾷ (which is the object of χρῆσθαι). The infinitive χρῆσθαι either depends on the implicit verb of decreeing (ἔδοξεν) carried over from the previous section, or functions as an infinitive of command (imperative infinitive) common in legal decrees.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.24.1-2.24.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.24.1-2.24.2

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