Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §4.95.1-4.95.3

Speech of Hippocrates to the Athenian Troops

Passage 460 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Hippocrates, the Athenian general, delivers a brief exhortation to his troops before the Battle of Delium, emphasizing that fighting on foreign soil is necessary to protect their own land and to live up to the glory of their ancestors.

§4.95.1‘ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, δι’ ὀλίγου μὲν ἡ παραίνεσις γίγνεται, τὸ ἴσον δὲ πρός γε τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας δύναται καὶ ὑπόμνησιν μᾶλλον ἔχει ἢ ἐπικέλευσιν.

'Athenians, my exhortation is brief, but it has the same power for brave men, and is a reminder rather than an incentive.

§4.95.2παραστῇ δὲ μηδενὶ ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ οὐ προσῆκον τοσόνδε κίνδυνον ἀναρριπτοῦμεν.

Let no one among you think that we are running so great a risk improperly on foreign soil.

ἐν γὰρ τῇ τούτων ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὁ ἀγὼν ἔσται· καὶ ἢν νικήσωμεν, οὐ μή ποτε ὑμῖν Πελοποννήσιοι ἐς τὴν χώραν ἄνευ τῆς τῶνδε ἵππου ἐσβάλωσιν, ἐν δὲ μιᾷ μάχῃ τήνδε τε προσκτᾶσθε καὶ ἐκείνην μᾶλλον ἐλευθεροῦτε.

For the struggle in their land will be on behalf of our own; and if we conquer, the Peloponnesians will never again invade your country without the cavalry of these men, and in a single battle you will both acquire this territory and make that other more free.

§4.95.3χωρήσατε οὖν ἀξίως ἐς αὐτοὺς τῆς τε πόλεως, ἣν ἕκαστος πατρίδα ἔχων πρώτην ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀγάλλεται, καὶ τῶν πατέρων, οἳ τούσδε μάχῃ κρατοῦντες μετὰ Μυρωνίδου ἐν Οἰνοφύτοις τὴν Βοιωτίαν ποτὲ ἔσχον. ’

Go forward, therefore, to meet them in a manner worthy both of the city which each of you is proud to have as his fatherland, the first among the Hellenes, and of your fathers, who once defeated these men in battle under Myronides at Oenophyta and held Boeotia.'

Notes

4.95.1τὸ ἴσον ... δύναται — The verb δύναμαι here carries the meaning of 'to have the power or value of,' and with the accusative τὸ ἴσον, it means 'to have the equivalent effect' or 'to have the same power.'
4.95.2παραστῇ δὲ μηδενὶ ὑμῶν ὡς — παραστῇ is the third-person singular active aorist subjunctive (used here as an imperative equivalent or aorist imperative of the intransitive/passive sense of παρίστημι), meaning 'to come into one's mind,' taking the dative μηδενὶ ὑμῶν. The subsequent ὡς clause introduces the content of the subjective thought to be avoided.
4.95.2οὐ προσῆκον — An accusative absolute construction using the neuter participle of the impersonal verb προσήκει ('it is fitting'). It functions adverbially with a concessive nuance, meaning 'although it is not fitting' or 'improperly.'
4.95.2οὐ μή ποτε ... ἐσβάλωσιν — The combination of οὐ μή with the subjunctive (aorist ἐσβάλωσιν) is a standard grammatical idiom expressing a strong negative assertion or prediction about the future ('will certainly never invade').
4.95.3ἣν ἕκαστος πατρίδα ἔχων πρώτην — The relative pronoun ἣν refers back to the antecedent τῆς πόλεως and serves as the direct object of the participle ἔχων (or the verb ἀγάλλεται). 'πρώτην' is a predicative adjective modifying the noun 'πατρίδα' (or the relative pronoun), meaning 'as the first/foremost' among the Hellenes.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §4.95.1-4.95.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.95.1-4.95.3

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