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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.6.1-2.6.4

Athenian Response and Garrisoning of Plataea

Passage 152 of 917 · Greek

Summary

While the Plataeans return the dead and send an embassy to Athens, the Athenians, unaware of the executions, arrest Boeotians and send a herald to stop any harm to the prisoners; discovering the deaths, Athens subsequently stations a garrison in Plataea and evacuates the non-combatants.

§2.6.1τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσαντες ἔς τε τὰς Ἀθήνας ἄγγελον ἔπεμπον καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑποσπόνδους ἀπέδοσαν τοῖς Θηβαίοις, τά τε ἐν τῇ πόλει καθίσταντο πρὸς τὰ παρόντα ᾗ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς.
Having done this, they sent a messenger to Athens and restored the dead to the Thebans under a truce, and they settled the affairs in the city according to the present situation as seemed best to them.
§2.6.2τοῖς δ’ Ἀθηναίοις ἠγγέλθη εὐθὺς τὰ περὶ τῶν Πλαταιῶν γεγενημένα, καὶ Βοιωτῶν τε παραχρῆμα ξυνέλαβον ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ καὶ ἐς τὴν Πλάταιαν ἔπεμψαν κήρυκα, κελεύοντες εἰπεῖν μηδὲν νεώτερον ποιεῖν περὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὓς ἔχουσι Θηβαίων, πρὶν ἄν τι καὶ αὐτοὶ βουλεύσωσι περὶ αὐτῶν· §2.6.3οὐ γὰρ ἠγγέλθη αὐτοῖς ὅτι τεθνηκότες εἶεν.
Meanwhile, the news of what had happened at Plataea was immediately brought to the Athenians, and they at once arrested all the Boeotians who were in Attica and sent a herald to Plataea, bidding him tell them to do nothing rash regarding the Theban prisoners they held, until they themselves should also take some counsel concerning them; for they had not been informed that they were already dead.
ἅμα γὰρ τῇ ἐσόδῳ γιγνομένῃ τῶν Θηβαίων ὁ πρῶτος ἄγγελος ἐξῄει, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἄρτι νενικημένων τε καὶ ξυνειλημμένων· καὶ τῶν ὕστερον οὐδὲν ᾔδεσαν.
For the first messenger had set out just as the entry of the Thebans was taking place, and the second when they had just been defeated and captured; and of subsequent events they knew nothing.
οὕτω δὴ οὐκ εἰδότες οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐπέστελλον· ὁ δὲ κῆρυξ ἀφικόμενος ηὗρε τοὺς ἄνδρας διεφθαρμένους.
Thus, in their ignorance, the Athenians sent these instructions; but when the herald arrived, he found the men already put to death.
§2.6.4καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι στρατεύσαντες ἐς Πλάταιαν σῖτόν τε ἐσήγαγον καὶ φρουροὺς ἐγκατέλιπον, τῶν τε ἀνθρώπων τοὺς ἀχρειοτάτους ξὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶν ἐξεκόμισαν.
After this, the Athenians marched to Plataea, brought in food, left a garrison, and evacuated the least useful of the people together with their women and children.

Notes

  1. §2.6.2Βοιωτῶν — A partitive genitive restricted by the following relative clause `ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ`, meaning "as many of the Boeotians as were in Attica."
  2. §2.6.3τεθνηκότες εἶεν — The oblique optative in an indirect statement (ὅτι clause). Since the main verb (ἠγγέλθη) is in a past tense, the indicative perfect `τεθνήκασι` is changed to the optative.
  3. §2.6.3ἄρτι νενικημένων τε καὶ ξυνειλημμένων — Genitive absolute (participial forms νενικημένων and ξυνειλημμένων). The semantic subject, "the Thebans" (αὐτῶν), is omitted as it is clear from the context.
  4. §2.6.3τοὺς ἄνδρας διεφθαρμένους — The accusative object of the verb of perception ηὗρε (εὑρίσκω) accompanied by a perfect passive participle functioning as a predicative adjunct.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.6.1-2.6.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.6.1-2.6.4

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