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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §6.94.1-6.94.4

Athenian Raids in Eastern Sicily and Cavalry Reinforcements

Passage 710 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenian forces set out from Catana to ravage the territories of Megara and the Terias river, brought Centuripa into alliance, and upon returning to Catana, received cavalry and financial reinforcements from Athens.

§6.94.1ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἦρι εὐθὺς ἀρχομένῳ τοῦ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους οἱ ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ Ἀθηναῖοι ἄραντες ἐκ τῆς Κατάνης παρέπλευσαν ἐπὶ Μεγάρων τῶν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ, οὓς ἐπὶ Γέλωνος τοῦ τυράννου, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερόν μοι εἴρηται, ἀναστήσαντες Συρακόσιοι αὐτοὶ ἔχουσι τὴν γῆν.
At the very beginning of the spring of the following summer, the Athenians in Sicily set sail from Catana and coasted along to Megara in Sicily, whose inhabitants the Syracusans, as I have also mentioned before, had expelled in the time of the tyrant Gelon, and whose land they now hold themselves.
§6.94.2ἀποβάντες δὲ ἐδῄωσαν τούς [τε] ἀγροὺς καὶ ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ ἔρυμά τι τῶν Συρακοσίων καὶ οὐχ ἑλόντες αὖθις καὶ πεζῇ καὶ ναυσὶ παρακομισθέντες ἐπὶ τὸν Τηρίαν ποταμὸν τό τε πεδίον ἀναβάντες ἐδῄουν καὶ τὸν σῖτον ἐνεπίμπρασαν, καὶ τῶν Συρακοσίων περιτυχόντες τισὶν οὐ πολλοῖς καὶ ἀποκτείναντές τέ τινας καὶ τροπαῖον στήσαντες ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς.
Having landed, they ravaged the fields, and having advanced against a fort of the Syracusans and failed to take it, they retired, and proceeded both by land and sea to the river Terias, where they marched up the plain, ravaging it and burning the grain; and having fallen in with some Syracusans, who were not many, they killed some of them, and having erected a trophy, they returned to their ships.
§6.94.3καὶ ἀποπλεύσαντες ἐς Κατάνην, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἐπισιτισάμενοι, πάσῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ ἐχώρουν ἐπὶ Κεντόριπα, Σικελῶν πόλισμα, καὶ προσαγαγόμενοι ὁμολογίᾳ ἀπῇσαν, πιμπράντες ἅμα τὸν σῖτον τῶν τε Ἰνησσαίων καὶ τῶν Ὑβλαίων.
After sailing back to Catana and taking in provisions there, they marched with their whole army against Centuripa, a town of the Sicels, and having brought it over by agreement, they departed, burning at the same time the grain of the Inessaeans and the Hyblaeans.
§6.94.4καὶ ἀφικόμενοι ἐς Κατάνην καταλαμβάνουσι τούς τε ἱππέας ἥκοντας ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίους ἄνευ τῶν ἵππων μετὰ σκευῆς, ὡς αὐτόθεν ἵππων πορισθησομένων, καὶ ἱπποτοξότας τριάκοντα καὶ τάλαντα ἀργυρίου τριακόσια.
Upon arriving at Catana, they found that two hundred and fifty cavalry had come from Athens, without their horses but with their equipment, on the assumption that horses would be provided on the spot, as well as thirty horse-archers and three hundred talents of silver.

Notes

  1. §6.94.1ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἦρι εὐθὺς ἀρχομένῳ τοῦ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους — A distinctive seasonal formula used by Thucydides. The "summer" (θέρος) represents the active campaigning season, which includes spring and autumn. The phrase means "at the very beginning of spring, which marks the start of the next campaigning season (summer)."
  2. §6.94.1οὓς — Relative pronoun. Although the antecedent is the neuter plural place name Μεγάρων, the pronoun is masculine plural accusative (οὓς). This is a constructio ad sensum (synesis), referring to the "people of Megara" (Μεγαρέας) who were expelled, rather than the place itself.
  3. §6.94.4ὡς αὐτόθεν ἵππων πορισθησομένων — Genitive absolute with the particle ὡς and the future passive participle πορισθησομένων, indicating a subjective expectation or assumption: "on the assumption that horses would be provided on the spot."

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §6.94.1-6.94.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.94.1-6.94.4

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