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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §6.28.1-6.28.2

Accusations Against Alcibiades of Sacrilege and Treason

Passage 644 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Opponents of Alcibiades seize upon reports from resident aliens and servants about the mutilation of other statues and the profanation of the mysteries to accuse him of a conspiracy to overthrow the democracy.

§6.28.1μηνύεται οὖν ἀπὸ μετοίκων τέ τινων καὶ ἀκολούθων περὶ μὲν τῶν Ἑρμῶν οὐδέν, ἄλλων δὲ ἀγαλμάτων περικοπαί τινες πρότερον ὑπὸ νεωτέρων μετὰ παιδιᾶς καὶ οἴνου γεγενημέναι, καὶ τὰ μυστήρια ἅμα ὡς ποιεῖται ἐν οἰκίαις ἐφ’ ὕβρει· ὧν καὶ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐπῃτιῶντο.
Information was therefore given by certain resident aliens and servants, not indeed about the Herms, but about certain mutilations of other statues which had been committed previously by young men in a spirit of sport and wine, and at the same time about the mysteries being celebrated in private houses in mockery; in which matters they also accused Alcibiades.
§6.28.2καὶ αὐτὰ ὑπολαμβάνοντες οἱ μάλιστα τῷ Ἀλκιβιάδῃ ἀχθόμενοι ἐμποδὼν ὄντι σφίσι μὴ αὐτοῖς τοῦ δήμου βεβαίως προεστάναι, καὶ νομίσαντες, εἰ αὐτὸν ἐξελάσειαν, πρῶτοι ἂν εἶναι, ἐμεγάλυνον καὶ ἐβόων ὡς ἐπὶ δήμου καταλύσει τά τε μυστικὰ καὶ ἡ τῶν Ἑρμῶν περικοπὴ γένοιτο καὶ οὐδὲν εἴη αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐ μετ’ ἐκείνου ἐπράχθη, ἐπιλέγοντες τεκμήρια τὴν ἄλλην αὐτοῦ ἐς τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα οὐ δημοτικὴν παρανομίαν.
And those who were most hostile to Alcibiades, because he stood in the way of their being securely at the head of the people themselves, taking up these very things and thinking that if they could expel him they would be first, magnified the matter and clamored that both the profanation of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Herms had been done for the overthrow of the democracy, and that there was nothing of these deeds which had not been done with his cooperation, adducing as evidence his other lawless conduct in his daily habits, which was not befitting a citizen of a democracy.

Notes

  1. §6.28.1μηνύεται — Used as a historical present in a past narrative context. The subject can be understood either impersonally ('information is given') or as referring to the clauses introduced by the following noun phrases and the ὡς clause.
  2. §6.28.2μὴ αὐτοῖς τοῦ δήμου βεβαίως προεστάναι — The redundant negative μὴ is used with the infinitive after ἐμποδὼν ὄντι (being an obstacle). The subject of the infinitive, αὐτοῖς, is attracted into the dative case by the preceding dative pronoun σφίσι.
  3. §6.28.2πρῶτοι ἂν εἶναι — An infinitive clause dependent on νομίσαντες. It represents the potential optative with ἄν of direct speech (πρῶτοι ἂν εἴημεν, 'we would be first'), converted into ἂν with the infinitive εἶναι. The nominative case of πρῶτοι is retained because its subject is identical with that of the governing verb.
  4. §6.28.2ὅτι οὐ — Here ὅτι is the neuter singular accusative/nominative of the relative pronoun ὅστις. The phrase οὐδὲν ... ὅτι οὐ forms a double negation, meaning 'there was nothing which was not...', i.e., 'everything was done...'.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §6.28.1-6.28.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.28.1-6.28.2

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