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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §6.10.1-6.10.5

Nicias' Warning on the Fragile Peace and Looming Enemies

Passage 626 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Nicias warns the Athenians against the expedition, pointing out that they are leaving behind unsubdued rebels and relying on an unstable peace treaty while their military power risks being dangerously divided.

§6.10.1‘φημὶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς πολεμίους πολλοὺς ἐνθάδε ὑπολιπόντας καὶ ἑτέρους ἐπιθυμεῖν ἐκεῖσε πλεύσαντας δεῦρο ἐπαγαγέσθαι.
'For I say that you, leaving many enemies behind you here, desire to sail there to bring even more enemies back with you here.
§6.10.2καὶ οἴεσθε ἴσως τὰς γενομένας ὑμῖν σπονδὰς ἔχειν τι βέβαιον, αἳ ἡσυχαζόντων μὲν ὑμῶν ὀνόματι σπονδαὶ ἔσονται (οὕτω γὰρ ἐνθένδε τε ἄνδρες ἔπραξαν αὐτὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων), σφαλέντων δέ που ἀξιόχρεῳ δυνάμει ταχεῖαν τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ποιήσονται, οἷς πρῶτον μὲν διὰ ξυμφορῶν ἡ ξύμβασις καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἰσχίονος ἢ ἡμῖν κατ’ ἀνάγκην ἐγένετο, ἔπειτα ἐν αὐτῇ ταύτῃ πολλὰ τὰ ἀμφισβητούμενα ἔχομεν.
And you perhaps think that the treaty made with you has some security, which, as long as you remain quiet, will be a treaty in name only (for so men both on our side and on that of our opponents have managed it); but if we should stumble anywhere with a considerable force, our enemies will make a swift attack upon us, since, in the first place, the agreement was made by them under compulsion, through disasters, and in a manner more dishonorable to them than to us, and, in the second place, in this very treaty we have many points of dispute.
§6.10.3εἰσὶ δ’ οἳ οὐδὲ ταύτην πω τὴν ὁμολογίαν ἐδέξαντο, καὶ οὐχ οἱ ἀσθενέστατοι· ἀλλ’ οἱ μὲν ἄντικρυς πολεμοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ Λακεδαιμονίους ἔτι ἡσυχάζειν δεχημέροις σπονδαῖς καὶ αὐτοὶ κατέχονται.
There are some indeed who have not yet even accepted this agreement, and those not the weakest; on the contrary, some are openly at war, while others, because the Lacedaemonians are still remaining quiet, are themselves also held back only by a ten days' truce.
§6.10.4τάχα δ’ ἂν ἴσως, εἰ δίχα ἡμῶν τὴν δύναμιν λάβοιεν, ὅπερ νῦν σπεύδομεν, καὶ πάνυ ἂν ξυνεπιθοῖντο μετὰ Σικελιωτῶν, οὓς πρὸ πολλῶν ἂν ἐτιμήσαντο ξυμμάχους γενέσθαι ἐν τῷ πρὶν χρόνῳ.
And perhaps, if they should find our power divided, which is the very thing we are now hastening to do, they would be very ready to join the Siceliots in attacking us, whom they would have valued above many things as allies in the past.
§6.10.5ὥστε χρὴ σκοπεῖν τινὰ αὐτὰ καὶ μὴ μετεώρῳ τε 〈τῇ〉 πόλει ἀξιοῦν κινδυνεύειν καὶ ἀρχῆς ἄλλης ὀρέγεσθαι πρὶν ἣν ἔχομεν βεβαιωσώμεθα, εἰ Χαλκιδῆς γε οἱ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἔτη τοσαῦτα ἀφεστῶτες ἀφ’ ἡμῶν ἔτι ἀχείρωτοί εἰσι καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς κατὰ τὰς ἠπείρους ἐνδοιαστῶς ἀκροῶνται.
Therefore, one ought to consider these things, and not to think it right to run risks when the city is in suspense, nor to grasp at another empire before we have secured the one we have, seeing that the Chalcidians of Thrace, though they have been in revolt from us for so many years, are still unsubdued, and some others on the mainlands yield but a doubtful obedience.
ἡμεῖς δὲ Ἐγεσταίοις δὴ οὖσι ξυμμάχοις ὡς ἀδικουμένοις ὀξέως βοηθοῦμεν· ὑφ’ ὧν δ’ αὐτοὶ πάλαι ἀφεστώτων ἀδικούμεθα, ἔτι μέλλομεν ἀμύνεσθαι.
Yet we are quick to aid the Egestaeans, our allies, forsooth, on the ground that they are being wronged; while upon those by whose revolt we ourselves have long been wronged, we still delay to take vengeance.'

Notes

  1. §6.10.2σφαλέντων δέ που — Genitive absolute construction with the subject omitted, meaning 'if we should stumble.' The implied subject, first person plural (ἡμῶν), is easily supplied from the general context and the following dative pronoun ἡμῖν.
  2. §6.10.4ὅπερ νῦν σπεύδομεν — The neuter singular relative pronoun ὅπερ refers to the action described in the preceding conditional clause, namely, dividing the Athenian military force. The accusative functions as the direct object of the verb σπεύδομεν.
  3. §6.10.5εἰ Χαλκιδῆς γε — The conjunction εἰ (if) does not introduce a mere hypothetical condition here, but is used rather to introduce a factual circumstance with a concessive or contrasting force ('seeing that...').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §6.10.1-6.10.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.10.1-6.10.5

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