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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §5.5.1-5.5.3

Negotiations in Italy and the Return of Phaeax

Passage 505 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Phaeax negotiates with Italian cities and encounters the expelled Locrian settlers of Messene, sparing them due to a prior agreement. Thucydides explains that the Locrians' treaty with Athens was prompted by their war with neighboring colonies, after which Phaeax returns to Athens.

§5.5.1ἐν δὲ τῇ παρακομιδῇ τῇ ἐς τὴν Σικελίαν καὶ πάλιν ἀναχωρήσει καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ τισὶ πόλεσιν ἐχρημάτισε περὶ φιλίας τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, καὶ Λοκρῶν ἐντυγχάνει τοῖς ἐκ Μεσσήνης ἐποίκοις ἐκπεπτωκόσιν, οἳ μετὰ τὴν τῶν Σικελιωτῶν ὁμολογίαν στασιασάντων Μεσσηνίων καὶ ἐπαγαγομένων τῶν ἑτέρων Λοκροὺς ἔποικοι ἐξεπέμφθησαν, καὶ ἐγένετο Μεσσήνη Λοκρῶν τινὰ χρόνον.
On his voyage to Sicily and on his return, he also had transactions in Italy with some cities regarding friendship with the Athenians, and fell in with the Locrian settlers who had been expelled from Messene. These settlers had been sent out after the agreement of the Siceliots, when the Messenians had fallen into factions and one of the two parties had called in the Locrians; and Messene had been for some time in the hands of the Locrians.
§5.5.2τούτοις οὖν ὁ Φαίαξ ἐντυχὼν τοῖς κομιζομένοις οὐκ ἠδίκησεν· ἐγεγένητο γὰρ τοῖς Λοκροῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμολογία ξυμβάσεως πέρι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.
Phaeax, therefore, meeting them on their way home, did them no harm; for an agreement had been made by the Locrians with him regarding a convention with the Athenians.
§5.5.3μόνοι γὰρ τῶν ξυμμάχων, ὅτε Σικελιῶται ξυνηλλάσσοντο, οὐκ ἐσπείσαντο Ἀθηναίοις, οὐδ᾽ ἂν τότε, εἰ μὴ αὐτοὺς κατεῖχεν ὁ πρὸς Ἱππωνιᾶς καὶ Μεδμαίους πόλεμος ὁμόρους τε ὄντας καὶ ἀποίκους.
For they alone of the allies, when the Siceliots made peace, had not made a treaty with the Athenians, nor would they have done so even then, had they not been occupied by a war with the Hipponiates and Medmaeans, who were their neighbors and colonists.
καὶ ὁ μὲν Φαίαξ ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας χρόνῳ ὕστερον ἀφίκετο.
And Phaeax returned to Athens some time later.

Notes

  1. §5.5.1στασιασάντων Μεσσηνίων καὶ ἐπαγαγομένων τῶν ἑτέρων Λοκροὺς — Genitive absolute construction. The phrase τῶν ἑτέρων refers to 'one of the two factions' involved in the civil strife.
  2. §5.5.2ἐγεγένητο γὰρ τοῖς Λοκροῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμολογία — The pluperfect ἐγεγένητο indicates that the agreement had already been established prior to Phaeax's encounter with them (ἐντυχών). The dative τοῖς Λοκροῖς functions as a dative of agent or possession.
  3. §5.5.3οὐδ᾽ ἂν τότε, εἰ μὴ αὐτοὺς κατεῖχεν — A counterfactual apodosis with ἄν and the past indicative (κατεῖχεν). The verb ἐσπείσαντο ('made a treaty') must be supplied from the preceding clause: 'nor would they have made a treaty even then, had not the war held them back.'

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §5.5.1-5.5.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.5.1-5.5.3

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