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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.50.1-3.50.3

Execution of Ring扩张leaders and Land Allotment in Lesbos

Passage 299 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians executed over a thousand leaders of the revolt sent by Paches, following Cleon's proposal. They divided the land of Lesbos into allotments for the gods and Athenian settlers, allowing the Lesbians to cultivate it in exchange for rent, and took control of their continental towns.

§3.50.1τοὺς δ’ ἄλλους ἄνδρας οὓς ὁ Πάχης ἀπέπεμψεν ὡς αἰτιωτάτους ὄντας τῆς ἀποστάσεως Κλέωνος γνώμῃ διέφθειραν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι (ἦσαν δὲ ὀλίγῳ πλείους χιλίων), καὶ Μυτιληναίων τείχη καθεῖλον καὶ ναῦς παρέλαβον.
As for the other men whom Paches had sent to Athens as being the most responsible for the revolt, the Athenians put them to death on the motion of Cleon (they were slightly more than a thousand in number); they also demolished the walls of the Mytilaeneans and seized their ships.
§3.50.2ὕστερον δὲ φόρον μὲν οὐκ ἔταξαν Λεσβίοις, κλήρους δὲ ποιήσαντες τῆς γῆς πλὴν τῆς Μηθυμναίων τρισχιλίους τριακοσίους μὲν τοῖς θεοῖς ἱεροὺς ἐξεῖλον, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους σφῶν αὐτῶν κληρούχους τοὺς λαχόντας ἀπέπεμψαν·
Afterwards, they did not impose a tribute on the Lesbians, but having divided the land, except that of the Methymnaeans, into three thousand allotments, they set apart three hundred of these as sacred to the gods, and to the remaining allotments they dispatched those of their own citizens who had drawn them by lot as colonists.
οἷς ἀργύριον Λέσβιοι ταξάμενοι τοῦ κλήρου ἑκάστου τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ δύο μνᾶς φέρειν αὐτοὶ εἰργάζοντο τὴν γῆν.
To these the Lesbians, having agreed to pay two minae a year for each allotment, cultivated the land themselves.
§3.50.3παρέλαβον δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ πολίσματα οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ὅσων Μυτιληναῖοι ἐκράτουν, καὶ ὑπήκουον ὕστερον Ἀθηναίων.
The Athenians also took possession of the small towns on the mainland which the Mytilaeneans had controlled, and they were thereafter subject to the Athenians.
τὰ μὲν κατὰ Λέσβον οὕτως ἐγένετο.
Such were the events concerning Lesbos.

Notes

  1. §3.50.1ὡς αἰτιωτάτους ὄντας — The particle ὡς with the participle ὄντας expresses the subjective ground or assertion of the general Paches who sent them (meaning 'as being the most responsible').
  2. §3.50.2οἷς ἀργύριον Λέσβιοι ταξάμενοι τοῦ κλήρου ἑκάστου τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ δύο μνᾶς φέρειν αὐτοὶ εἰργάζοντο τὴν γῆν — The relative pronoun οἷς (dative plural, referring back to κληρούχους) is the indirect object of the infinitive φέρειν. The middle participle ταξάμενοι means 'having agreed' or 'having bound themselves' and takes the infinitive φέρειν. The intensive pronoun αὐτοὶ in the nominative refers to the subject Λέσβιοι, emphasizing that the Lesbians themselves cultivated the land rather than the Athenian settlers.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.50.1-3.50.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.50.1-3.50.3

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