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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.52.1-3.52.5

Surrender of Plataea and the Question of the Judges

Passage 301 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Starving Plataea surrenders to the Lacedaemonians under the terms of voluntary submission. When five Spartan judges arrive, they pose a single question to the Plataeans regarding their contribution to the Lacedaemonian alliance in the war.

§3.52.1ὑπὸ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους τοῦ θέρους τούτου καὶ οἱ Πλαταιῆς οὐκέτι ἔχοντες σῖτον οὐδὲ δυνάμενοι πολιορκεῖσθαι ξυνέβησαν τοῖς Πελοποννησίοις τοιῷδε τρόπῳ.
About the same time of this summer, the Plataeans, being no longer able to hold out against the siege and having no more food, surrendered to the Peloponnesians in the following manner.
§3.52.2προσέβαλλον αὐτῶν τῷ τείχει, οἱ δὲ οὐκ ἐδύναντο ἀμύνεσθαι.
The Peloponnesians made an assault on their wall, and they were unable to defend it.
γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἄρχων τὴν ἀσθένειαν αὐτῶν βίᾳ μὲν οὐκ ἐβούλετο ἑλεῖν (εἰρημένον γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος, ὅπως, εἰ σπονδαὶ γίγνοιντό ποτε πρὸς Ἀθηναίους καὶ ξυγχωροῖεν ὅσα πολέμῳ χωρία ἔχουσιν ἑκάτεροι ἀποδίδοσθαι, μὴ ἀνάδοτος εἴη ἡ Πλάταια ὡς αὐτῶν ἑκόντων προσχωρησάντων), προσπέμπει δὲ αὐτοῖς κήρυκα λέγοντα, εἰ βούλονται παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν ἑκόντες τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ δικασταῖς ἐκείνοις χρήσασθαι, τούς τε ἀδίκους κολάζειν, παρὰ δίκην δὲ οὐδένα.
The Lacedaemonian commander, realizing their weakness, did not wish to take the city by storm; for instructions had been given to him from Lacedaemon to the effect that, if a treaty should ever be made with the Athenians and they agreed to restore all places acquired by war, Plataea might not have to be given up on the ground that they had come over voluntarily. He therefore sent a herald to them to ask if they were willing to surrender their city voluntarily to the Lacedaemonians and accept them as judges, on the understanding that they would punish the guilty but no one contrary to justice.
§3.52.3τοσαῦτα μὲν ὁ κῆρυξ εἶπεν· οἱ δέ (ἦσαν γὰρ ἤδη ἐν τῷ ἀσθενεστάτῳ) παρέδοσαν τὴν πόλιν.
The herald said only this; and they, being now in the extreme of weakness, surrendered the city.
καὶ τοὺς Πλαταιᾶς ἔτρεφον οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι ἡμέρας τινάς, ἐν ὅσῳ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος δικασταὶ πέντε ἄνδρες ἀφίκοντο.
For a few days, until the five judges from Lacedaemon arrived, the Peloponnesians provided food for the Plataeans.
§3.52.4ἐλθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν κατηγορία μὲν οὐδεμία προυτέθη, ἠρώτων δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐπικαλεσάμενοι τοσοῦτον μόνον, εἴ τι Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ καθεστῶτι ἀγαθόν [τι] εἰργασμένοι εἰσίν.
When the judges arrived, no formal accusation was brought forward, but they merely summoned the Plataeans and asked them this single question: whether they had done any good service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the present war.
§3.52.5οἱ δ’ ἔλεγον αἰτησάμενοι μακρότερα εἰπεῖν καὶ προτάξαντες σφῶν αὐτῶν Ἀστύμαχόν τε τὸν Ἀσωπολάου καὶ Λάκωνα τὸν Αἰειμνήστου πρόξενον ὄντα Λακεδαιμονίων· καὶ ἐπελθόντες ἔλεγον τοιάδε.
The Plataeans, having requested permission to speak at greater length, appointed Astymachus, the son of Asopolaus, and Lacon, the son of Aeimnestus, who was the Lacedaemonian proxenus, to speak for them; and these stepped forward and spoke as follows.

Notes

  1. 3.52.2εἰρημένον γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ — An impersonal passive construction (or accusative absolute of an impersonal verb) with the following ὅπως clause acting as the subject or content of the command: 'for it had been told to him (instructed)'.
  2. 3.52.2ὅπως ... μὴ ἀνάδοτος εἴη ἡ Πλάταια ὡς αὐτῶν ἑκόντων προσχωρησάντων — The optative phrase μὴ ἀνάδοτος εἴη ('lest Plataea should be restored') is modified by the genitive absolute with ὡς (ὡς αὐτῶν ἑκόντων προσχωρησάντων), meaning 'on the ground of their having surrendered voluntarily'. This explains the Spartan strategy: if a future peace treaty required the return of places taken 'by war', a voluntary surrender would exempt Plataea from being restored to Athens.
  3. 3.52.2τούς τε ἀδίκους κολάζειν, παρὰ δίκην δὲ οὐδένα — The infinitive κολάζειν is part of the indirect discourse introduced by κήρυκα λέγοντα. The subject of κολάζειν is the Lacedaemonians, meaning 'that they (the Lacedaemonians) would punish the guilty, but no one contrary to justice'.
  4. 3.52.4εἴ τι Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους ... ἀγαθόν [τι] εἰργασμένοι εἰσίν — This construction features the double accusative with the verb ἐργάζομαι: one of the person (Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους) and one of the thing (τι ἀγαθόν), meaning 'to do some good service to someone'. The conjunction εἰ introduces an indirect question ('whether').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.52.1-3.52.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.52.1-3.52.5

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