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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §4.101.1-4.101.5

Return of the Delium Dead and Demosthenes at Sicyon

Passage 466 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Following the fall of Delium, the Boeotians return the dead to the Athenians, and the casualties of both sides are recorded. Additionally, Demosthenes' failed landing in Sicyonia and the death of Sitalces, king of the Odrysians, along with the accession of Seuthes, are narrated.

§4.101.1τοῦ δὲ Δηλίου ἑπτακαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ληφθέντος μετὰ τὴν μάχην καὶ τοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων κήρυκος οὐδὲν ἐπισταμένου τῶν γεγενημένων ἐλθόντος οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον αὖθις περὶ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἀπέδοσαν οἱ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ οὐκέτι ταὐτὰ ἀπεκρίναντο.
When Delium was captured on the seventeenth day after the battle, and when the herald from the Athenians, knowing nothing of what had happened, came again not long after concerning the dead, the Boeotians restored them and no longer gave the same answer.
§4.101.2ἀπέθανον δὲ Βοιωτῶν μὲν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ὀλίγῳ ἐλάσσους πεντακοσίων, Ἀθηναίων δὲ ὀλίγῳ ἐλάσσους χιλίων καὶ Ἱπποκράτης ὁ στρατηγός, ψιλῶν δὲ καὶ σκευοφόρων πολὺς ἀριθμός.
In the battle there died of the Boeotians slightly fewer than five hundred, and of the Athenians slightly fewer than one thousand, including Hippocrates the general; and a great number of light-armed troops and baggage-bearers also fell.
§4.101.3μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ταύτην καὶ ὁ Δημοσθένης ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον, ὡς αὐτῷ τότε πλεύσαντι τὰ περὶ τὰς Σίφας τῆς προδοσίας πέρι οὐ προυχώρησεν, ἔχων τὸν στρατὸν ἐπὶ τῶν νεῶν τῶν τε Ἀκαρνάνων καὶ Ἀγραίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων τετρακοσίους ὁπλίτας, ἀπόβασιν ἐποιήσατο ἐς τὴν Σικυωνίαν.
A little after this battle Demosthenes also, since the plan concerning the betrayal of Siphae had not succeeded for him when he sailed there at that time, having the army on the ships—consisting of the Acarnanians, the Agraeans, and four hundred Athenian hoplites—made a landing in the Sicyonian territory.
§4.101.4καὶ πρὶν πάσας τὰς ναῦς καταπλεῦσαι βοηθήσαντες οἱ Σικυώνιοι τοὺς ἀποβεβηκότας ἔτρεψαν καὶ κατεδίωξαν ἐς τὰς ναῦς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ ζῶντας ἔλαβον.
And before all the ships had come to land, the Sicyonians came to the rescue, routed those who had disembarked, and pursued them to their ships, killing some and taking others alive.
τροπαῖον δὲ στήσαντες τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑποσπόνδους ἀπέδοσαν.
Having set up a trophy, they restored the dead under a truce.
§4.101.5ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ Σιτάλκης Ὀδρυσῶν βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμέρας τοῖς ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ, στρατεύσας ἐπὶ Τριβαλλοὺς καὶ νικηθεὶς μάχῃ.
Sitalces, the king of the Odrysians, also died about the same days as those at Delium, having marched against the Triballi and been defeated in battle.
Σεύθης δὲ ὁ Σπαραδόκου ἀδελφιδοῦς ὢν αὐτοῦ ἐβασίλευσεν Ὀδρυσῶν τε καὶ τῆς ἄλλης Θρᾴκης ἧσπερ καὶ ἐκεῖνος.
Seuthes, the son of Sparadocus, who was his nephew, became king of the Odrysians and of the rest of Thrace over which Sitalces had also ruled.

Notes

  1. 4.101.1τοῦ δὲ Δηλίου ἑπτακαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ληφθέντος — This phrase, together with the following 'τοῦ ... κήρυκος ... ἐλθόντος', forms a genitive absolute construction, providing the temporal and causal background for the main verbs 'ἀπέδοσαν' and 'ἀπεκρίναντο'.
  2. 4.101.3ὡς αὐτῷ τότε πλεύσαντι τὰ περὶ τὰς Σίφας τῆς προδοσίας πέρι οὐ προυχώρησεν — The dative participle 'πλεύσαντι' agrees with 'αὐτῷ', which functions as a dative of interest with the impersonal verb 'οὐ προυχώρησεν' (literally, 'it did not go forward for him'). The double use of prepositional elements in 'τὰ περὶ ... πέρι' outlines the entire affair regarding the betrayal at Siphae.
  3. 4.101.5τοῖς ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ — This is a dative of accompaniment/association used with the demonstrative 'αὐτάς' to express coincidence in time, referring to the events or days at Delium, meaning 'about the same days as those of the battle at Delium'.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §4.101.1-4.101.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.101.1-4.101.5

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