Humanitext Reader

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.69.1-2.69.2

Dispatch of Phormio and Melesander's Death in Lycia

Passage 215 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians dispatch Phormio to blockade the Peloponnese and Melesander to Lycia and Caria for fundraising and protection of commerce, but Melesander is defeated and killed in Lycia.

§2.69.1τοῦ δ’ ἐπιγιγνομένου χειμῶνος Ἀθηναῖοι ναῦς ἔστειλαν εἴκοσι μὲν περὶ Πελοπόννησον καὶ Φορμίωνα στρατηγόν, ὃς ὁρμώμενος ἐκ Ναυπάκτου φυλακὴν εἶχε μήτ’ ἐκπλεῖν ἐκ Κορίνθου καὶ τοῦ Κρισαίου κόλπου μηδένα μήτ’ ἐσπλεῖν, ἑτέρας δὲ ἓξ ἐπὶ Καρίας καὶ Λυκίας καὶ Μελήσανδρον στρατηγόν, ὅπως ταῦτά τε ἀργυρολογῶσι καὶ τὸ λῃστικὸν τῶν Πελοποννησίων μὴ ἐῶσιν αὐτόθεν ὁρμώμενον βλάπτειν τὸν πλοῦν τῶν ὁλκάδων τῶν ἀπὸ Φασήλιδος καὶ Φοινίκης καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἠπείρου.
In the succeeding winter, the Athenians dispatched twenty ships around the Peloponnese and Phormio as general, who, basing himself at Naupactus, kept watch so that no one should either sail out of Corinth and the Crisaean Gulf or sail in. They also sent six other ships to Caria and Lycia, and Melesander as general, in order that they might collect funds from these places and prevent the Peloponnesian privateers, basing themselves there, from damaging the voyage of the merchant ships from Phaselis and Phoenicia and the mainland in that direction.
§2.69.2ἀναβὰς δὲ στρατιᾷ Ἀθηναίων τε τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν νεῶν καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων ἐς τὴν Λυκίαν ὁ Μελήσανδρος ἀποθνῄσκει καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς μέρος τι διέφθειρε νικηθεὶς μάχῃ.
Melesander, having marched inland into Lycia with a force of Athenians from the ships and of the allies, was killed in a battle in which he was defeated, and a part of his army was lost.

Notes

  1. §2.69.1φυλακὴν εἶχε μήτ’ ἐκπλεῖν ... μηδένα μήτ’ ἐσπλεῖν — The phrase φυλακὴν εἶχε (kept watch/guard), which implies prevention, is followed by infinitive clauses with negative particles μήτε and μηδείς ("lest anyone sail out... or sail in"), a standard construction of redundant or preventive negation.
  2. §2.69.1ταῦτα — The neuter plural demonstrative pronoun refers back to the feminine country names Καρίας καὶ Λυκίας (Caria and Lycia). It is a common construction where geographical locations or their inhabitants are referred to collectively in the neuter plural.
  3. §2.69.2ἀναβάς — Active aorist participle of ἀναβαίνω (to go up). It is used here in the military sense of "marching inland" or "moving up from the coast" into the interior of Lycia after disembarking from the ships.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.69.1-2.69.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.69.1-2.69.2

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.