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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §4.75.1-4.75.2

Recovery of Antandros and Lamachus' Retreat

Passage 440 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenian generals Demodocus and Aristides recover Antandros to prevent it from being fortified by the Mytilaeneans, while Lamachus, who had sailed to the Pontus, loses his ships due to a sudden flood and retreats by land to Chalcedon.

§4.75.1τοῦ δ’ αὐτοῦ θέρους τῆς Ἀντάνδρου ὑπὸ τῶν Μυτιληναίων, ὥσπερ διενοοῦντο, μελλούσης κατασκευάζεσθαι, οἱ τῶν ἀργυρολόγων νεῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ Δημόδοκος καὶ Ἀριστείδης, ὄντες περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον (ὁ γὰρ τρίτος αὐτῶν Λάμαχος δέκα ναυσὶν ἐς τὸν Πόντον ἐσεπεπλεύκει) ὡς ᾐσθάνοντο τὴν παρασκευὴν τοῦ χωρίου καὶ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς δεινὸν εἶναι μὴ ὥσπερ τὰ Ἄναια ἐπὶ τῇ Σάμῳ γένηται, ἔνθα οἱ φεύγοντες τῶν Σαμίων καταστάντες τούς τε Πελοποννησίους ὠφέλουν ἐς τὰ ναυτικὰ κυβερνήτας πέμποντες καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει Σαμίους ἐς ταραχὴν καθίστασαν καὶ τοὺς ἐξιόντας ἐδέχοντο· οὕτω δὴ ξυναγείραντες ἀπὸ τῶν ξυμμάχων στρατιὰν καὶ πλεύσαντες, μάχῃ τε νικήσαντες τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἀντάνδρου ἐπεξελθόντας, ἀναλαμβάνουσι τὸ χωρίον πάλιν. §4.75.2καὶ οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον ἐς τὸν Πόντον ἐσπλεύσας Λάμαχος, ἐν τῇ Ἡρακλεώτιδι ὁρμίσας ἐς τὸν Κάλητα ποταμὸν ἀπόλλυσι τὰς ναῦς ὕδατος ἄνωθεν γενομένου καὶ κατελθόντος αἰφνιδίου τοῦ ῥεύματος· αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ ἡ στρατιὰ πεζῇ διὰ Βιθυνῶν Θρᾳκῶν, οἵ εἰσι πέραν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ, ἀφικνεῖται ἐς Καλχηδόνα τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τοῦ Πόντου Μεγαρέων ἀποικίαν.
During the same summer, when Antandros was about to be fortified by the Mytilaeneans, as they had intended, the Athenian generals of the tribute-collecting ships, Demodocus and Aristides, who were around the Hellespont (for the third of them, Lamachus, had sailed into the Pontus with ten ships), when they perceived the preparation of the place, and it seemed to them a dangerous thing lest it should become like Anaia over against Samos, where the Samian exiles, having established themselves, assisted the Peloponnesians in naval matters by sending them pilots, kept the Samians in the city in a state of agitation, and received those who fled out; accordingly, they collected a force from the allies and sailed there, and having defeated in battle those who came out of Antandros against them, they recovered the place. And not long afterwards, Lamachus, having sailed into the Pontus, anchored in the river Cales, in the territory of Heraclea, but lost his ships because of heavy rain up-country and a sudden rush of the torrent coming down; but he himself and the army went on foot through the Bithynian Thracians, who are on the opposite side in Asia, and arrived at Chalcedon, the colony of the Megarians at the mouth of the Pontus.

Notes

  1. §4.75.1μὴ ὥσπερ τὰ Ἄναια ἐπὶ τῇ Σάμῳ γένηται — The clause with μή and the subjunctive (γένηται) expresses fear or apprehension ('lest it should become...'), dependent on the idea of apprehension implicit in ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς δεινὸν εἶναι ('it seemed to them a dangerous/dreadful thing').
  2. §4.75.2ὕδατος ἄνωθεν γενομένου καὶ κατελθόντος αἰφνιδίου τοῦ ῥεύματος — A double genitive absolute construction with the participles γενομένου and κατελθόντος, explaining the cause of the loss of the ships. ὕδατος here means 'heavy rain' (literally 'water from above' or 'up-country').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §4.75.1-4.75.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.75.1-4.75.2

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