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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.109.1-8.109.2

Tissaphernes' Departure for the Hellespont

Passage 917 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Tissaphernes, concerned about his worsening relations with the Peloponnesians and rivaled by Pharnabazus, decides to go to the Hellespont to protest and defend himself, offering a sacrifice to Artemis at Ephesus on his way, which marks the end of the history.

§8.109.1ὁ δὲ Τισσαφέρνης αἰσθόμενος καὶ τοῦτο τῶν Πελοποννησίων τὸ ἔργον καὶ οὐ μόνον τὸ ἐν τῇ Μιλήτῳ καὶ Κνίδῳ (καὶ ἐνταῦθα γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐξεπεπτώκεσαν οἱ φρουροί), διαβεβλῆσθαί τε νομίσας αὐτοῖς σφόδρα καὶ δείσας μὴ καὶ ἄλλο τι ἔτι βλάπτωσι, καὶ ἅμα ἀχθόμενος εἰ Φαρνάβαζος ἐξ ἐλάσσονος χρόνου καὶ δαπάνης δεξάμενος αὐτοὺς κατορθώσει τι μᾶλλον τῶν πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, πορεύεσθαι διενοεῖτο πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου, ὅπως μέμψηταί τε τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἄντανδρον γεγενημένων καὶ τὰς διαβολὰς καὶ περὶ τῶν Φοινισσῶν νεῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὡς εὐπρεπέστατα ἀπολογήσηται.
When Tissaphernes perceived this act of the Peloponnesians also, and not only that at Miletus and Cnidus (for in those places too his garrisons had been expelled), thinking that he was in deep disagreement with them and fearing lest they might do him some further harm, and at the same time being annoyed at the thought that Pharnabazus, by receiving them with less expenditure of time and money, might succeed better than himself in the war against the Athenians, he resolved to go to them at the Hellespont, in order to complain of what had happened at Antandros and to defend himself as plausibly as possible against the charges concerning both the Phoenician ships and the other matters.
καὶ ἀφικόμενος πρῶτον ἐς Ἔφεσον θυσίαν ἐποιήσατο τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι.
And having arrived first at Ephesus, he offered sacrifice to Artemis.
§8.109.2[ὅταν ὁ μετὰ τοῦτο τὸ θέρος χειμὼν τελευτήσῃ, ἓν καὶ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος πληροῦται. ]
[When the winter following this summer shall end, the twenty-first year is completed.]

Notes

  1. §8.109.1διαβεβλῆσθαί — The perfect passive infinitive of διαβάλλω, serving as the complement of νομίσας. Here it has the passive sense of 'to be utterly estranged' or 'to be in deep disagreement' with the Peloponnesians. The dative αὐτοῖς functions as a dative of relation or agent after the passive verbal form.
  2. §8.109.1ἀχθόμενος εἰ — The clause introduced by εἰ following the participle of emotion ἀχθόμενος ('being annoyed'). Rather than a simple conditional clause ('if'), it functions as a noun clause indicating the cause of the annoyance ('that' or 'at the thought that'). The verb κατορθώσει is in the future indicative, expressing a vivid concern regarding a future possibility.
  3. §8.109.1μᾶλλον τῶν πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους — The genitive article τῶν (neuter plural, meaning 'the affairs/war against the Athenians') functions as the genitive of comparison after the comparative μᾶλλον. It means 'to succeed more in the operations against the Athenians [than Tissaphernes himself had done]', with the object of comparison being contextually omitted.
  4. §8.109.2ὅταν... τελευτήσῃ, ... πληροῦται — The construction consists of ὅταν followed by the aorist subjunctive (τελευτήσῃ), with the present indicative (πληροῦται) in the main clause. This represents a temporal clause indicating a future completed action that marks a definitive chronological milestone, with the present tense used to state an objective fact of the passing of time.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.109.1-8.109.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.109.1-8.109.2

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