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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.15.1-3.15.2

Alliance with Lesbos and Spartan Preparations to Invade Attica

Passage 264 of 917 · Greek

Summary

After hearing the Mytilenians' speech, Sparta and its allies accept Lesbos into their alliance and prepare to invade Attica by gathering at the Isthmus and setting up shipways, though other allies are slow to assemble due to the harvest and reluctance.

§3.15.1τοιαῦτα μὲν οἱ Μυτιληναῖοι εἶπον.
Such were the words of the Mytilenians.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἐπειδὴ ἤκουσαν, προσδεξάμενοι τοὺς λόγους ξυμμάχους τε τοὺς Λεσβίους ἐποιήσαντο, καὶ τὴν ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσβολὴν τοῖς τε ξυμμάχοις παροῦσι κατὰ τάχος ἔφραζον ἰέναι ἐς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν τοῖς δύο μέρεσιν ὡς ποιησόμενοι, καὶ αὐτοὶ πρῶτοι ἀφίκοντο, καὶ ὁλκοὺς παρεσκεύαζον τῶν νεῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ ὡς ὑπεροίσοντες ἐκ τῆς Κορίνθου ἐς τὴν πρὸς Ἀθήνας θάλασσαν καὶ ναυσὶ καὶ πεζῷ ἅμα ἐπιόντες.
When the Lacedaemonians and the allies heard them, they accepted their arguments and made the Lesbians their allies; they instructed the allies who were present to go in haste to the Isthmus with two-thirds of their forces, intending to make the invasion into Attica, and they themselves arrived there first, and prepared slipways for the ships on the Isthmus in order to transport them from Corinth to the sea facing Athens, intending to attack by land and sea at the same time.
§3.15.2καὶ οἱ μὲν προθύμως ταῦτα ἔπρασσον, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι ξύμμαχοι βραδέως τε ξυνελέγοντο καὶ ἐν καρποῦ ξυγκομιδῇ ἦσαν καὶ ἀρρωστίᾳ τοῦ στρατεύειν.
And while they were eagerly doing these things, the other allies were slow to assemble, as they were in the midst of harvesting their crops and felt reluctant to go on a campaign.

Notes

  1. §3.15.1τοῖς δύο μέρεσιν — Meaning "with two-thirds (of their forces)". The idiom "article + numeral + μέρη (parts)" denotes a fraction where the denominator is the numeral plus one, and the numerator is the numeral. Thus, it represents "two-thirds" (two parts out of three).
  2. §3.15.1τὴν ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσβολὴν ... ὡς ποιησόμενοι — τὴν ... ἐσβολὴν (the invasion into Attica) is not the direct object of the main verb ἔφραζον (instructed), but is placed at the beginning in an inverted construction (hyperbaton) as the object of the subsequent future participle ὡς ποιησόμενοι (to make the invasion).
  3. §3.15.2ἀρρωστίᾳ τοῦ στρατεύειν — The dative of cause ἀρρωστίᾳ (lethargy, reluctance) is qualified by the articular infinitive in the genitive τοῦ στρατεύειν (going on a campaign) acting as an objective genitive. It translates to "due to their reluctance to go on a campaign".

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.15.1-3.15.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.15.1-3.15.2

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