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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §7.86.1-7.86.5

Imprisonment in Quarries and Execution of the Generals

Passage 807 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Syracusans send the prisoners to the stone quarries and execute Nicias and Demosthenes against the will of Gylippus. Their deaths were driven by past grievances and internal fears, and the author laments Nicias' tragic end given his virtuous life.

§7.86.1ξυναθροισθέντες δὲ οἱ Συρακόσιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι, τῶν τε αἰχμαλώτων ὅσους ἐδύναντο πλείστους καὶ τὰ σκῦλα ἀναλαβόντες, ἀνεχώρησαν ἐς τὴν πόλιν. §7.86.2καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων ὁπόσους ἔλαβον κατεβίβασαν ἐς τὰς λιθοτομίας, ἀσφαλεστάτην εἶναι νομίσαντες τήρησιν, Νικίαν δὲ καὶ Δημοσθένη ἄκοντος τοῦ Γυλίππου ἀπέσφαξαν.
The Syracusans and their allies, having assembled and taken with them as many of the prisoners as they could and the spoils, returned to the city.\n They put the rest of the Athenians and their allies whom they had captured down into the stone quarries, thinking this to be the safest keeping, but Nicias and Demosthenes they executed against the will of Gylippus.
ὁ γὰρ Γύλιππος καλὸν τὸ ἀγώνισμα ἐνόμιζέν οἱ εἶναι ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοὺς ἀντιστρατήγους κομίσαι Λακεδαιμονίοις. §7.86.3ξυνέβαινε δὲ τὸν μὲν πολεμιώτατον αὐτοῖς εἶναι, Δημοσθένη, διὰ τὰ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καὶ Πύλῳ, τὸν δὲ διὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπιτηδειότατον· τοὺς γὰρ ἐκ τῆς νήσου ἄνδρας τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὁ Νικίας προυθυμήθη, σπονδὰς πείσας τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ποιήσασθαι, ὥστε ἀφεθῆναι. §7.86.4ἀνθ’ ὧν οἵ τε Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἦσαν αὐτῷ προσφιλεῖς κἀκεῖνος οὐχ ἥκιστα διὰ τοῦτο πιστεύσας ἑαυτὸν τῷ Γυλίππῳ παρέδωκεν.
For Gylippus thought that it would be a brilliant achievement for him, in addition to his other successes, to bring the opposing generals to the Lacedaemonians.\n It so happened that one of them, Demosthenes, was their greatest enemy because of the events on the island and at Pylos, while the other, for the very same reasons, was most friendly; for Nicias had zealously exerted himself to have the Lacedaemonian prisoners from the island released, by persuading the Athenians to make peace.\n For these reasons the Lacedaemonians were well-disposed toward him, and he himself, trusting Gylippus chiefly on this account, had surrendered himself to him.
ἀλλὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων τινές, ὡς ἐλέγετο, οἱ μὲν δείσαντες, ὅτι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκεκοινολόγηντο, μὴ βασανιζόμενος διὰ τὸ τοιοῦτο ταραχὴν σφίσιν ἐν εὐπραγίᾳ ποιήσῃ, ἄλλοι δέ, καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα οἱ Κορίνθιοι, μὴ χρήμασι δὴ πείσας τινάς, ὅτι πλούσιος ἦν, ἀποδρᾷ καὶ αὖθις σφίσι νεώτερόν τι ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ γένηται, πείσαντες τοὺς ξυμμάχους ἀπέκτειναν αὐτόν. §7.86.5καὶ ὁ μὲν τοιαύτῃ ἢ ὅτι ἐγγύτατα τούτων αἰτίᾳ ἐτεθνήκει, ἥκιστα δὴ ἄξιος ὢν τῶν γε ἐπ’ ἐμοῦ Ἑλλήνων ἐς τοῦτο δυστυχίας ἀφικέσθαι διὰ τὴν πᾶσαν ἐς ἀρετὴν νενομισμένην ἐπιτήδευσιν.
But some of the Syracusans, as it was said, were afraid—some because they had been in communication with him, lest if he were tortured on this account he might cause them trouble in their prosperity; others, and especially the Corinthians, lest, since he was rich, he might bribe some people and escape, and so bring some fresh trouble upon them through his agency—and so they persuaded the allies and put him to death.\n Thus he died for such or very nearly such a reason, being of all the Greeks in my time the least deserving to come to this degree of misfortune, because of his entire devotion to the cultivation of virtue.

Notes

  1. §7.86.2ἄκοντος τοῦ Γυλίππου — A genitive absolute construction with the adjective ἄκων ('unwilling') expressing concession ('against the will of Gylippus' or 'although Gylippus was unwilling').
  2. §7.86.2ὁ γὰρ Γύλιππος καλὸν τὸ ἀγώνισμα ἐνόμιζέν οἱ εἶναι ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοὺς ἀντιστρατήγους κομίσαι Λακεδαιμονίοις. — The infinitive phrase τοὺς ἀντιστρατήγους κομίσαι ('to bring the opposing generals') functions as the subject of εἶναι (or is in apposition to τὸ ἀγώνισμα). The pronoun οἱ is an indirect reflexive (dative) referring back to Gylippus, the subject of the main clause.
  3. §7.86.3ξυνέβαινε δὲ τὸν μὲν πολεμιώτατον αὐτοῖς εἶναι... — The impersonal verb ξυνέβαινε ('it happened that') takes an accusative and infinitive construction as its subject (τὸν μὲν ... εἶναι and τὸν δὲ ... [εἶναι]), where τὸν μὲν and τὸν δὲ refer to Demosthenes and Nicias respectively.
  4. §7.86.4μὴ βασανιζόμενος διὰ τὸ τοιοῦτο ταραχὴν σφίσιν ἐν εὐπραγίᾳ ποιήσῃ — A fearing clause introduced by μὴ with the subjunctive ποιήσῃ, dependent on the participle of fearing δείσαντες ('fearing'). The participle βασανιζόμενος functions circumstantially, expressing condition ('if he should be tortured') or time.
  5. §7.86.5διὰ τὴν πᾶσαν ἐς ἀρετὴν νενομισμένην ἐπιτήδευσιν. — Between the article τὴν and the noun ἐπιτήδευσιν, the adjective πᾶσαν ('lifelong, entire'), the prepositional phrase ἐς ἀρετὴν ('toward virtue'), and the perfect passive participle νενομισμένην ('established, customary') are nested, translating to 'his lifelong cultivation entirely directed toward virtue.'

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §7.86.1-7.86.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.86.1-7.86.5

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