Humanitext Reader

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §5.59.1-5.59.5

Surrounded Argives and Peace Negotiations with Agis

Passage 559 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Argives find themselves surrounded and in a precarious position, but two Argive representatives approach King Agis of Lacedaemon to negotiate peace.

§5.59.1οἱ δὲ Ἀργεῖοι γνόντες ἐβοήθουν ἡμέρας ἤδη ἐκ τῆς Νεμέας, καὶ περιτυχόντες τῷ Φλειασίων καὶ Κορινθίων στρατοπέδῳ τῶν μὲν Φλειασίων ὀλίγους ἀπέκτειναν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Κορινθίων αὐτοὶ οὐ πολλῷ πλείους διεφθάρησαν.
But the Argives, having perceived this, were already by day marching to the rescue from Nemea, and falling in with the force of the Phliasians and Corinthians, they killed a few of the Phliasians, but were themselves destroyed by the Corinthians in not much greater numbers.
§5.59.2καὶ οἱ Βοιωτοὶ καὶ οἱ Μεγαρῆς καὶ οἱ Σικυώνιοι ἐχώρουν, ὥσπερ εἴρητο αὐτοῖς, ἐπὶ τῆς Νεμέας, καὶ τοὺς Ἀργείους οὐκέτι κατέλαβον, ἀλλὰ καταβάντες, ὡς ἑώρων τὰ ἑαυτῶν δῃούμενα, ἐς μάχην παρετάσσοντο. ἀντιπαρεσκευάζοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι.
And the Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians marched, as they had been ordered, towards Nemea, and did not find the Argives there anymore, but having descended, when they saw their own territory being ravaged, they drew up for battle. And the Lacedaemonians also made preparations on their side.
§5.59.3ἐν μέσῳ δὲ ἀπειλημμένοι ἦσαν οἱ Ἀργεῖοι· ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ πεδίου οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι εἶργον τῆς πόλεως καὶ οἱ μετ’ αὐτῶν, καθύπερθεν δὲ Κορίνθιοι καὶ Φλειάσιοι καὶ Πελληνῆς, τὸ δὲ πρὸς Νεμέας Βοιωτοὶ καὶ Σικυώνιοι καὶ Μεγαρῆς.
And the Argives were shut in in the middle; for from the plain, the Lacedaemonians and those with them cut them off from the city, while from above were the Corinthians, Phliasians, and Pellenians, and from the direction of Nemea, the Boeotians, Sicyonians, and Megarians.
ἵπποι δὲ αὐτοῖς οὐ παρῆσαν· οὐ γάρ πω οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι μόνοι τῶν ξυμμάχων ἧκον.
And they had no cavalry; for the Athenians, alone of their allies, had not yet arrived.
§5.59.4τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος τῶν Ἀργείων καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων οὐχ οὕτω δεινὸν τὸ παρὸν ἐνόμιζον, ἀλλ’ ἐν καλῷ ἐδόκει ἡ μάχη ἔσεσθαι, καὶ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπειληφέναι ἐν τῇ αὐτῶν τε καὶ πρὸς τῇ πόλει.
Now the majority of the Argives and their allies did not think the present situation so dangerous, but it seemed to them that the battle would be on favorable terms, and that they had cut off the Lacedaemonians in their own territory and close to the city.
§5.59.5τῶν δὲ Ἀργείων δύο ἄνδρες, Θράσυλός τε τῶν πέντε στρατηγῶν εἷς ὢν καὶ Ἀλκίφρων πρόξενος Λακεδαιμονίων, ἤδη τῶν στρατοπέδων ὅσον οὐ ξυνιόντων προσελθόντε Ἄγιδι διελεγέσθην μὴ ποιεῖν μάχην· ἑτοίμους γὰρ εἶναι Ἀργείους δίκας δοῦναι καὶ δέξασθαι ἴσας καὶ ὁμοίας, εἴ τι ἐπικαλοῦσιν Ἀργείοις Λακεδαιμόνιοι, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν εἰρήνην ἄγειν σπονδὰς ποιησαμένους.
But two men of the Argives, Thrasylus, being one of the five generals, and Alciphron, the proxenus of the Lacedaemonians, went to Agis when the armies were already on the point of engaging, and urged him not to bring on a battle; for they said that the Argives were ready to offer and submit to fair and equal arbitration, if the Lacedaemonians had any charge to bring against them, and for the future to maintain peace by making a treaty.

Notes

  1. §5.59.1ἡμέρας ἤδη — Genitive of time, meaning 'already by day' or 'when it was already daylight.' This stands in contrast to the night march of Agis mentioned in the previous chapter (5.58.2).
  2. §5.59.3οὐ γάρ πω οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι μόνοι τῶν ξυμμάχων ἧκον — Explains the preceding statement that they had no cavalry. The phrase `μόνοι τῶν ξυμμάχων` ('alone of the allies') modifies `οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι`, indicating either that the Athenians were the only allies who possessed cavalry, or simply that they were the only allies who had not yet arrived.
  3. §5.59.4τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπειληφέναι — The infinitive `ἀπειληφέναι` ('to have cut off') can be construed either as depending on `ἐνόμιζον` ('they thought that...') or on `ἐδόκει` ('it seemed that...'). Parallelism with the preceding `ἐδόκει ἡ μάχη ἔσεσθαι` makes it more natural to take it as depending on `ἐδόκει` with an implied subject (the Argives).
  4. §5.59.5ὅσον οὐ — An idiomatic expression meaning 'all but' or 'almost.' Here, combined with the genitive absolute `τῶν στρατοπέδων ... ξυνιόντων`, it vividly describes the imminent collision of the two armies.
  5. §5.59.5προσελθόντε Ἄγιδι διελεγέσθην — Since the subject consists of two men (Thrasylus and Alciphron), both the participle `προσελθόντε` (aorist active) and the main verb `διελεγέσθην` (imperfect middle) are in the dual number, a characteristic feature of classical Attic Greek.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §5.59.1-5.59.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.59.1-5.59.5

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.