Humanitext Reader

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §5.11.1-5.11.3

Burial of Brasidas and Settlement of Amphipolis

Passage 511 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The allies and Amphipolitans buried Brasidas with high honors as a hero and transferred the founder's honors to him, pulling down Hagnon's monuments. The Athenians sailed home after recovering their dead, and Clearidas settled the affairs of Amphipolis.

§5.11.1μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν Βρασίδαν οἱ ξύμμαχοι πάντες ξὺν ὅπλοις ἐπισπόμενοι δημοσίᾳ ἔθαψαν ἐν τῇ πόλει πρὸ τῆς νῦν ἀγορᾶς οὔσης·
After this, all the allies, following in arms, buried Brasidas at the public expense within the city, in front of what is now the marketplace.
καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οἱ Ἀμφιπολῖται, περιείρξαντες αὐτοῦ τὸ μνημεῖον, ὡς ἥρωί τε ἐντέμνουσι καὶ τιμὰς δεδώκασιν ἀγῶνας καὶ ἐτησίους θυσίας, καὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν ὡς οἰκιστῇ προσέθεσαν, καταβαλόντες τὰ Ἁγνώνεια οἰκοδομήματα καὶ ἀφανίσαντες εἴ τι μνημόσυνόν που ἔμελλεν αὐτοῦ τῆς οἰκίσεως περιέσεσθαι, νομίσαντες τὸν μὲν Βρασίδαν σωτῆρά τε σφῶν γεγενῆσθαι καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἅμα τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ξυμμαχίαν φόβῳ τῶν Ἀθηναίων θεραπεύοντες, τὸν δὲ Ἅγνωνα κατὰ τὸ πολέμιον τῶν Ἀθηναίων οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως σφίσι ξυμφόρως οὐδ’ ἂν ἡδέως τὰς τιμὰς ἔχειν.
For the future, the Amphipolitans, having enclosed his tomb, make offerings to him as to a hero and have given him the honors of games and annual sacrifices. They also dedicated the colony to him as its founder, pulling down the buildings of Hagnon and obliterating whatever monument of his founding was likely to remain anywhere; for they considered Brasidas to have been their savior, and at the same time they were at present courting the alliance of the Lacedaemonians through fear of the Athenians, whereas they believed that, in view of their enmity toward the Athenians, it would be neither as profitable nor as agreeable to them for Hagnon to retain these honors.
§5.11.2καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἀπέδοσαν.
And they restored the dead to the Athenians.
ἀπέθανον δὲ Ἀθηναίων μὲν περὶ ἑξακοσίους, τῶν δ’ ἐναντίων ἑπτά, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐκ παρατάξεως, ἀπὸ δὲ τοιαύτης ξυντυχίας καὶ προεκφοβήσεως τὴν μάχην μᾶλλον γενέσθαι.
There died of the Athenians about six hundred, but of their adversaries only seven; because the battle had not been fought from a regular engagement, but rather from such a chance occurrence and a sudden panic.
§5.11.3μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν οἱ μὲν ἐπ’ οἴκου ἀπέπλευσαν, οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ Κλεαρίδου τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν καθίσταντο.
After the recovery of the dead, the Athenians sailed away homeward, while the others with Clearidas settled the affairs around Amphipolis.

Notes

  1. §5.11.1ἐντέμνουσι — The verb ἐντέμνω refers specifically to the ritual slaughter of victims for heroes (ἥρως) or the dead, where the victim's throat is cut downwards into a trench (βόθρος), in contrast to the usual sacrifice (θύω) offered on a raised altar to the Olympian gods. Here, accompanied by the adverbial phrase ὡς ἥρωι (as to a hero), it denotes that Brasidas was worshipped as a divinized hero.
  2. §5.11.1νομίσαντες ... θεραπεύοντες — The aorist participle νομίσαντες (because they thought), which expresses cause, contains the inserted present participle θεραπεύοντες (courting / trying to win over), which explains their concurrent political motive. While νομίσαντες agrees with the main subject οἱ Ἀμφιπολῖται and governs the accusative-with-infinitive clauses in indirect discourse (τὸν μὲν Βρασίδαν...γεγενῆσθαι and τὸν δὲ Ἅγνωνα...ἔχειν), θεραπεύοντες functions parenthetically to describe their contemporary political behavior.
  3. §5.11.1οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως σφίσι ξυμφόρως οὐδ’ ἂν ἡδέως τὰς τιμὰς ἔχειν — An accusative-with-infinitive construction in indirect discourse governed by νομίσαντες. The subject is τὸν δὲ Ἅγνωνα, and the infinitive is ἔχειν accompanied by ἄν. This represents a potential optative (οὐκ ἂν ... ἔχοι, 'would not hold/have') in direct discourse transferred into the infinitive, expressing a strong potentiality or subjective prediction that Hagnon's retention of the honors would not be beneficial or pleasant to them due to their enmity with the Athenians.
  4. §5.11.2διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐκ παρατάξεως ... τὴν μάχην μᾶλλον γενέσθαι — An articular infinitive construction (τὸ ... γενέσθαι) governed by the preposition διά. The accusative τὴν μάχην functions as the subject of the infinitive, meaning 'because the battle took place...'. The negative μὴ negates the infinitive phrase, which, combined with the contrast ἀπὸ δὲ τοιαύτης..., explains the specific cause: that the battle arose not from a formal, set engagement, but rather from a chance encounter and a sudden panic.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §5.11.1-5.11.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.11.1-5.11.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.