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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §7.33.1-7.33.6

Sicilian Aid to Syracuse and the Athenian Advance

Passage 754 of 917 · Greek

Summary

While reinforcements from Sicilian cities like Camarina and Gela arrive to help Syracuse, aligning almost all of Sicily against Athens, Demosthenes and Eurymedon cross the Ionian Sea with their forces and recruit local allies along the Italian coast before arriving in Thuria.

§7.33.1καὶ περὶ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμέρας καὶ οἱ Καμαριναῖοι ἀφικνοῦνται αὐτοῖς βοηθοῦντες, πεντακόσιοι μὲν ὁπλῖται, τριακόσιοι δὲ ἀκοντισταὶ καὶ τοξόται τριακόσιοι.
And about the same days the Camarinaeans also arrived to help them, with five hundred hoplites, three hundred javelin-throwers, and three hundred archers.
ἔπεμψαν δὲ καὶ οἱ Γελῷοι ναυτικόν τε ἐς πέντε ναῦς καὶ ἀκοντιστὰς τετρακοσίους καὶ ἱππέας διακοσίους.
The Geloans also sent a naval force of five ships, four hundred javelin-throwers, and two hundred cavalry.
§7.33.2σχεδὸν γάρ τι ἤδη πᾶσα ἡ Σικελία πλὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων (οὗτοι δ’ οὐδὲ μεθ’ ἑτέρων ἦσαν), οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους μετὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων οἱ πρότερον περιορώμενοι ξυστάντες ἐβοήθουν.
For by this time almost the whole of Sicily, except the Agrigentines (who sided with neither party), but all the rest, who had previously stood aloof, having united, were helping the Syracusans against the Athenians.
§7.33.3καὶ οἱ μὲν Συρακόσιοι, ὡς αὐτοῖς τὸ ἐν τοῖς Σικελοῖς πάθος ἐγένετο, ἐπέσχον τὸ εὐθέως τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐπιχειρεῖν· ὁ δὲ Δημοσθένης καὶ Εὐρυμέδων, ἑτοίμης ἤδη τῆς στρατιᾶς οὔσης ἔκ τε τῆς Κερκύρας καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου, ἐπεραιώθησαν ξυμπάσῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ τὸν Ἰόνιον ἐπ’ ἄκραν Ἰαπυγίαν·
And the Syracusans, when the disaster among the Sicels befell them, refrained from immediately attacking the Athenians; but Demosthenes and Eurymedon, their army being now ready from Corcyra and the mainland, crossed the Ionian Sea with the entire force to the Iapygian promontory.
§7.33.4καὶ ὁρμηθέντες αὐτόθεν κατίσχουσιν ἐς τὰς Χοιράδας νήσους Ἰαπυγίας, καὶ ἀκοντιστάς τέ τινας τῶν Ἰαπύγων πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν τοῦ Μεσσαπίου ἔθνους ἀναβιβάζονται ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς, καὶ τῷ Ἄρτᾳ, ὅσπερ καὶ τοὺς ἀκοντιστὰς δυνάστης ὢν παρέσχετο αὐτοῖς, ἀνανεωσάμενοί τινα παλαιὰν φιλίαν ἀφικνοῦνται ἐς Μεταπόντιον τῆς Ἰταλίας.
Setting out from there, they put in at the Choerades islands of Iapygia, and took on board their ships some one hundred and fifty Iapygian javelin-throwers of the Messapian tribe, and, having renewed an ancient friendship with Artas, the chieftain who had provided them with the javelin-throwers, they arrived at Metapontum in Italy.
§7.33.5καὶ τοὺς Μεταποντίους πείσαντες κατὰ τὸ ξυμμαχικὸν ἀκοντιστάς τε ξυμπέμπειν τριακοσίους καὶ τριήρεις δύο καὶ ἀναλαβόντες ταῦτα παρέπλευσαν ἐς Θουρίαν.
And having persuaded the Metapontines to send with them, in accordance with the alliance, three hundred javelin-throwers and two triremes, they took these along and coasted to Thuria.
καὶ καταλαμβάνουσι νεωστὶ στάσει τοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐναντίους ἐκπεπτωκότας·
There they found that the party opposed to the Athenians had recently been expelled in a faction-fight.
§7.33.6καὶ βουλόμενοι τὴν στρατιὰν αὐτόθι πᾶσαν ἁθροίσαντες εἴ τις ὑπελέλειπτο ἐξετάσαι, καὶ τοὺς Θουρίους πεῖσαι σφίσι ξυστρατεύειν τε ὡς προθυμότατα καί, ἐπειδήπερ ἐν τούτῳ τύχης εἰσί, τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐχθροὺς καὶ φίλους τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις νομίζειν, περιέμενον ἐν τῇ Θουρίᾳ καὶ ἔπρασσον ταῦτα.
Wishing to assemble their whole army there and review it to see if any had been left behind, and also to persuade the Thurians to join them in the campaign with the utmost zeal and, since they were in this state of fortune, to regard the same people as enemies and friends as the Athenians did, they waited in Thuria and negotiated these matters.

Notes

  1. §7.33.2σχεδὸν γάρ τι ἤδη πᾶσα ἡ Σικελία πλὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων ... οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι ... ἐβοήθουν — A grammatical anacoluthon occurs where the singular subject πᾶσα ἡ Σικελία is introduced, but after the exception of Ἀκραγαντίνων, the plural pronoun οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι is inserted, leading to the plural verb ἐβοήθουν. This shift from singular to plural is a constructio ad sensum, as 'all Sicily' implies the various states composing it.
  2. §7.33.6τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐχθροὺς καὶ φίλους τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις νομίζειν — This phrase means 'to regard the same people as enemies and friends as the Athenians do' (i.e., to share the same friends and enemies). This is a standard formulaic expression for contracting a formal alliance (symmachia) in ancient Greece. Here, the infinitive νομίζειν is dependent on πεῖσαι ('to persuade').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §7.33.1-7.33.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.33.1-7.33.6

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