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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §5.56.1-5.56.5

Athenian Response and Failed Argive Assault

Passage 556 of 917 · Greek

Summary

In the winter, the Lacedaemonians sent troops to Epidaurus, prompting the Argives to protest to the Athenians, who then relocated Helots to Pylos. At the end of the winter, an Argive attempt to take Epidaurus failed, and the thirteenth year of the war ended.

§5.56.1τοῦ δ’ ἐπιγιγνομένου χειμῶνος Λακεδαιμόνιοι λαθόντες Ἀθηναίους φρουρούς τε τριακοσίους καὶ Ἀγησιππίδαν ἄρχοντα κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐς Ἐπίδαυρον ἐσέπεμψαν.
In the following winter, the Lacedaemonians, without the knowledge of the Athenians, sent three hundred garrison troops and Agesippidas as commander by sea into Epidaurus.
§5.56.2Ἀργεῖοι δ’ ἐλθόντες παρ’ Ἀθηναίους ἐπεκάλουν ὅτι γεγραμμένον ἐν ταῖς σπονδαῖς διὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἑκάστους μὴ ἐᾶν πολεμίους διιέναι ἐάσειαν κατὰ θάλασσαν παραπλεῦσαι· καὶ εἰ μὴ κἀκεῖνοι ἐς Πύλον κομιοῦσιν ἐπὶ Λακεδαιμονίους τοὺς Μεσσηνίους καὶ Εἵλωτας, ἀδικήσεσθαι αὐτοί.
The Argives came to the Athenians and complained that, although it was written in the treaty that neither party should allow enemies to pass through their own territory, they had allowed them to sail along their coast by sea; and they declared that if the Athenians did not likewise convey the Messenians and Helots to Pylos to act against the Lacedaemonians, they themselves would consider themselves wronged.
§5.56.3Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ Ἀλκιβιάδου πείσαντος τῇ μὲν Λακωνικῇ στήλῃ ὑπέγραψαν ὅτι οὐκ ἐνέμειναν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῖς ὅρκοις, ἐς δὲ Πύλον ἐκόμισαν τοὺς ἐκ Κρανίων Εἵλωτας λῄζεσθαι, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα ἡσύχαζον.
The Athenians, persuaded by Alcibiades, inscribed at the foot of the Laconian pillar that the Lacedaemonians had not remained faithful to their oaths, and conveyed the Helots from Cranii to Pylos to commit depredations, but in other respects they remained quiet.
§5.56.4τὸν δὲ χειμῶνα τοῦτον πολεμούντων Ἀργείων καὶ Ἐπιδαυρίων μάχη μὲν οὐδεμία ἐγένετο ἐκ παρασκευῆς, ἐνέδραι δὲ καὶ καταδρομαί, ἐν αἷς ὡς τύχοιεν ἑκατέρων τινὲς διεφθείροντο.
During this winter, while the Argives and Epidaurians were at war, no regular battle took place, but there were ambuscades and incursions, in which some of either side were killed as chance befell.
§5.56.5καὶ τελευτῶντος τοῦ χειμῶνος πρὸς ἔαρ ἤδη κλίμακας ἔχοντες οἱ Ἀργεῖοι ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐπίδαυρον, ὡς ἐρήμου οὔσης διὰ τὸν πόλεμον βίᾳ αἱρήσοντες· καὶ ἄπρακτοι ἀπῆλθον.
And at the end of the winter, towards spring, the Argives came with scaling-ladders against Epidaurus, expecting to take it by force as being deserted on account of the war; but they returned unsuccessful.
καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἐτελεύτα, καὶ τρίτον καὶ δέκατον ἔτος τῷ πολέμῳ ἐτελεύτα.
And the winter ended, and with it the thirteenth year of the war.

Notes

  1. §5.56.2γεγραμμένον — Accusative absolute of the neuter participle of an impersonal verb, meaning 'although it was written in the treaty that...'. The subject is the following infinitive clause μὴ ἐᾶν...
  2. §5.56.2ἐάσειαν — Optative of oblique oration (optativus obliquus) in the ὅτι clause, triggered by the secondary main verb ἐπεκάλουν (imperfect). It stands in place of an indicative past (or aorist) tense.
  3. §5.56.2ἀδικήσεσθαι αὐτοί — Future infinitive in indirect speech with passive meaning (ἀδικήσεσθαι is middle in form but passive in meaning). The subject αὐτοί is in the nominative rather than the accusative because it refers back to the subject of the main governing verb (the Argives themselves).
  4. §5.56.4ὡς τύχοιεν — Optative of indefinite frequency (or generalization) in a relative clause, expressing 'as chance befell' or 'as they might happen to meet' in a past context.
  5. §5.56.5ὡς ἐρήμου οὔσης — Genitive absolute introduced by ὡς, expressing a subjective reason or belief ('thinking/believing that it was deserted').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §5.56.1-5.56.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.56.1-5.56.5

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