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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.49.1-3.49.4

Dispatch of the Second Trireme and Spared Mytilene

Passage 298 of 917 · Greek

Summary

In the Athenian assembly, Diodotus' lenient proposal is passed by a narrow margin, and a second trireme is hastily dispatched to overtake the first ship carrying the order for execution. Thanks to the crew's relentless rowing and favorable weather, the second ship arrives at Mytilene just as Paches is about to carry out the decree, narrowly preventing the massacre.

§3.49.1τοιαῦτα δὲ ὁ Διόδοτος εἶπεν.
Diodotus spoke thus.
ῥηθεισῶν δὲ τῶν γνωμῶν τούτων μάλιστα ἀντιπάλων πρὸς ἀλλήλας οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἦλθον μὲν ἐς ἀγῶνα ὅμως τῆς δόξης καὶ ἐγένοντο ἐν τῇ χειροτονίᾳ ἀγχώμαλοι, ἐκράτησε δὲ ἡ τοῦ Διοδότου.
Although these opinions had been expressed in direct opposition to one another, the Athenians nevertheless came to a conflict of opinion, and in the voting by show of hands they were almost equal, but the proposal of Diodotus prevailed.
§3.49.2καὶ τριήρη εὐθὺς ἄλλην ἀπέστελλον κατὰ σπουδήν, ὅπως μὴ φθασάσης τῆς προτέρας εὕρωσι διεφθαρμένην τὴν πόλιν· προεῖχε δὲ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ νυκτὶ μάλιστα.
And they immediately dispatched another trireme in haste, so that they might not find the city already destroyed by the former having arrived before them; and it had a start of about a day and a night.
§3.49.3παρασκευασάντων δὲ τῶν Μυτιληναίων πρέσβεων τῇ νηὶ οἶνον καὶ ἄλφιτα καὶ μεγάλα ὑποσχομένων, εἰ φθάσειαν, ἐγένετο σπουδὴ τοῦ πλοῦ τοιαύτη ὥστε ἤσθιόν τε ἅμα ἐλαύνοντες οἴνῳ καὶ ἐλαίῳ ἄλφιτα πεφυραμένα, καὶ οἱ μὲν ὕπνον ᾑροῦντο κατὰ μέρος, οἱ δὲ ἤλαυνον.
Since the Mytilenaean envoys had provided wine and barley meal for the ship, and promised great rewards if they should arrive first, such was the haste of the voyage that they ate barley meal kneaded with wine and oil while rowing at the same time, and while some took sleep in turn, others kept rowing.
§3.49.4κατὰ τύχην δὲ πνεύματος οὐδενὸς ἐναντιωθέντος καὶ τῆς μὲν προτέρας νεὼς οὐ σπουδῇ πλεούσης ἐπὶ πρᾶγμα ἀλλόκοτον, ταύτης δὲ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ ἐπειγομένης, ἡ μὲν ἔφθασε τοσοῦτον ὅσον Πάχητα ἀνεγνωκέναι τὸ ψήφισμα καὶ μέλλειν δράσειν τὰ δεδογμένα, ἡ δ᾽ ὑστέρα αὐτῆς ἐπικατάγεται καὶ διεκώλυσε μὴ διαφθεῖραι.
By fortune, as no wind opposed them, and while the former ship was not sailing in haste upon so monstrous an errand, this latter ship pressed on in such a manner that the former arrived only so much earlier as to allow Paches to have read the decree and to be on the point of executing the decisions, but the latter vessel put in right after it and prevented the destruction.
παρὰ τοσοῦτον μὲν ἡ Μυτιλήνη ἦλθε κινδύνου.
To such a narrow margin of danger did Mytilene come.

Notes

  1. §3.49.2φθασάσης τῆς προτέρας — The genitive absolute phrase `φθασάσης τῆς προτέρας` (the former having arrived first) is nested within the purpose clause `ὅπως ... εὕρωσι`. The verb `φθάνω` carries the semantic force of "doing something before another," modifying the action of finding the city already destroyed.
  2. §3.49.4ἔφθασε τοσοῦτον ὅσον Πάχητα ἀνεγνωκέναι τὸ ψήφισμα καὶ μέλλειν δράσειν τὰ δεδογμένα — The correlative construction `τοσοῦτον ὅσον` (only so much as) is followed by the infinitive clauses `ἀνεγνωκέναι ... καὶ μέλλειν` with the accusative subject `Πάχητα`. Literally, "the former ship arrived earlier by only so much as for Paches to have read the decree and to be about to act," vividly conveying the extremely narrow margin of time between the arrival of the two ships.
  3. §3.49.4διεκώλυσε μὴ διαφθεῖραι — The verb `διεκώλυσε` (prevented), which possesses an inherent negative meaning, is followed by the infinitive `διαφθεῖραι` accompanied by the redundant negative particle `μή`. According to Greek grammatical idiom, verbs of hindering or preventing regularly take an infinitive with `μή`, which should be translated as an affirmative action in modern languages ("prevented from destroying").

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.49.1-3.49.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.49.1-3.49.4

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