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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §4.78.1-4.78.6

Brasidas' March Through Thessaly to Macedonia

Passage 443 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Brasidas, with the assistance of a few influential Thessalian guides, rapidly marches through Thessaly despite some local opposition, and successfully arrives at Dium in Macedonia.

§4.78.1Βρασίδας δὲ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον τοῦ θέρους πορευόμενος ἑπτακοσίοις καὶ χιλίοις ὁπλίταις ἐς τὰ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἐπειδὴ ἐγένετο ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ τῇ ἐν Τραχῖνι καί, προπέμψαντος αὐτοῦ ἄγγελον ἐς Φάρσαλον παρὰ τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους, ἀξιοῦντος διάγειν ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν στρατιάν, ἦλθον ἐς Μελίτειαν τῆς Ἀχαΐας Πάναιρός τε καὶ Δῶρος καὶ Ἱππολοχίδας καὶ Τορύλαος καὶ Στρόφακος πρόξενος ὢν Χαλκιδέων, τότε δὴ ἐπορεύετο.
And Brasidas, marching during the same period of the summer with seventeen hundred hoplites to the regions towards Thrace, when he arrived at Heracleia in Trachis, and after he had sent a messenger ahead to Pharsalus to his friends, requesting them to conduct himself and his army through, and Panaerus, Dorus, Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and Strophacus, who was the proxenus of the Chalcidians, came to Meliteia in Achaea, then indeed he proceeded.
§4.78.2ἦγον δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Θεσσαλῶν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐκ Λαρίσης Νικονίδας Περδίκκᾳ ἐπιτήδειος ὤν.
Other Thessalians also guided him, and from Larisa, Niconidas, who was a friend of Perdiccas.
τὴν γὰρ Θεσσαλίαν ἄλλως τε οὐκ εὔπορον ἦν διιέναι ἄνευ ἀγωγοῦ καὶ μετὰ ὅπλων γε δή, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσί γε ὁμοίως Ἕλλησιν ὕποπτον καθειστήκει τὴν τῶν πέλας μὴ πείσαντας διιέναι· τοῖς τε Ἀθηναίοις αἰεί ποτε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Θεσσαλῶν εὔνουν ὑπῆρχεν.
For otherwise it was not easy to pass through Thessaly without a guide, and especially with arms; and indeed, it was established as a matter of suspicion to all Greeks alike to pass through the land of their neighbors without having persuaded them; besides, the multitude of the Thessalians had always been well-disposed towards the Athenians.
§4.78.3ὥστε εἰ μὴ δυναστείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ ἰσονομίᾳ ἐχρῶντο τὸ ἐγχώριον οἱ Θεσσαλοί, οὐκ ἄν ποτε προῆλθεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τότε πορευομένῳ αὐτῷ ἀπαντήσαντες ἄλλοι τῶν τἀναντία τούτοις βουλομένων ἐπὶ τῷ Ἐνιπεῖ ποταμῷ ἐκώλυον καὶ ἀδικεῖν ἔφασαν ἄνευ τοῦ πάντων κοινοῦ πορευόμενον.
So that if the Thessalians had not lived under a dynasty rather than a system of equal laws in their country, he would never have gone forward, since even then, as he was marching, others who wished the opposite to these met him at the Enipeus river and tried to prevent him, saying that he was doing wrong in marching without the consent of the whole community.
§4.78.4οἱ δὲ ἄγοντες οὔτε ἀκόντων ἔφασαν διάξειν, αἰφνίδιόν τε παραγενόμενον ξένοι ὄντες κομίζειν.
But those who were guiding him said they would not conduct him against their will, and that, since he had arrived suddenly, they were only escorting him as his hosts.
ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Βρασίδας τῇ Θεσσαλῶν γῇ καὶ αὐτοῖς φίλος ὢν ἰέναι καὶ Ἀθηναίοις πολεμίοις οὖσι καὶ οὐκ ἐκείνοις ὅπλα ἐπιφέρειν, Θεσσαλοῖς τε οὐκ εἰδέναι καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἔχθραν οὖσαν ὥστε τῇ ἀλλήλων γῇ μὴ χρῆσθαι, νῦν τε ἀκόντων ἐκείνων οὐκ ἂν προελθεῖν (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν δύνασθαι), οὐ μέντοι ἀξιοῦν γε εἴργεσθαι.
And Brasidas himself also said that he went as a friend to the land and people of the Thessalians, and that he was bearing arms against the Athenians who were his enemies, and not against them, and that he did not know of any hostility existing between the Thessalians and the Lacedaemonians so as not to use each other's land, and that now indeed he would not go forward against their will (for indeed he would not be able to), yet he did not think it right to be shut out.
§4.78.5καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀκούσαντες ταῦτα ἀπῆλθον, ὁ δὲ κελευόντων τῶν ἀγωγῶν, πρίν τι πλέον ξυστῆναι τὸ κωλῦσον, ἐχώρει οὐδὲν ἐπισχὼν δρόμῳ.
And having heard these things, they departed; but he, at the urging of his guides, before any larger force should assemble to prevent him, proceeded at a run without stopping.
καὶ ταύτῃ μὲν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗ ἐκ τῆς Μελιτείας ἀφώρμησεν, ἐς Φάρσαλόν τε ἐτέλεσε καὶ ἐστρατοπεδεύσατο ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀπιδανῷ ποταμῷ, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἐς Φάκιον, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐς Περραιβίαν.
And on that very day on which he set out from Meliteia, he reached Pharsalus and encamped near the Apidanus river, and thence went to Phacium, and from there to Perrhaebia.
§4.78.6ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου ἤδη οἱ μὲν τῶν Θεσσαλῶν ἀγωγοὶ πάλιν ἀπῆλθον, οἱ δὲ Περραιβοὶ αὐτόν, ὑπήκοοι ὄντες Θεσσαλῶν, κατέστησαν ἐς Δῖον τῆς Περδίκκου ἀρχῆς, ὃ ὑπὸ τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ Μακεδονίας πρὸς Θεσσαλοὺς πόλισμα κεῖται.
From this point, the Thessalian guides went back again, and the Perrhaebi, who were subjects of the Thessalians, conducted him to Dium in the territory of Perdiccas, which is a small town of Macedonia situated under Mount Olympus, looking towards the Thessalians.

Notes

  1. 4.78.1Βρασίδας — The nominative `Βρασίδας` at the beginning of the sentence acts as the main subject of the whole period, but due to the insertion of the temporal clause and another clause with a different subject (`ἦλθον...`), the syntactical structure becomes an anacoluthon. The sentence is resumed at the end with `τότε δὴ ἐπορεύετο` to reconnect with the original subject.
  2. 4.78.2τὴν τῶν πέλας μὴ πείσαντας διιέναι — The articular infinitive `τὴν ... διιέναι` is used in the accusative, functioning as the grammatical subject (or in apposition to it) of the impersonal expression `ὕποπτον καθειστήκει` ("it had been established as a matter of suspicion"). The accusative plural participle `πείσαντας` ("after having persuaded") indicates that the indefinite subject of the infinitive is "people in general."
  3. 4.78.3εἰ μὴ δυναστείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ ἰσονομίᾳ ἐχρῶντο — A past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence employing the imperfect indicative `ἐχρῶντο` in the protasis and `ἄν` with the aorist indicative `προῆλθεν` in the apodosis. It assumes the opposite of the historical fact that Thessaly was governed by a powerful oligarchy ("dynasty") rather than an equal democracy ("isonomy"), which was what enabled Brasidas to secure safe passage through private influence.
  4. 4.78.4οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν δύνασθαι — An infinitive with `ἄν` in indirect discourse dependent on `ἔλεγε`. It represents either a past contrary-to-fact indicative (`οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἐδυνάμην`: "for indeed I would not have been able to") or a potential optative (`οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν δυναίμην`: "for indeed I would not be able to") in the direct speech.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §4.78.1-4.78.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.78.1-4.78.6

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