Humanitext Reader

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.49.1

Dispatch of Peisander and Plot to Overthrow Democracy

Passage 857 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The conspirators assembled in Samos agree to accept the proposals and prepare to send Peisander and other envoys to Athens to negotiate Alcibiades' return, the overthrow of the democracy, and an alliance with Tissaphernes.

§8.49.1οἱ δὲ ξυλλεγέντες τῶν ἐν τῇ ξυνωμοσίᾳ, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ πρῶτον αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει, τά τε παρόντα ἐδέχοντο καὶ ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας πρέσβεις Πείσανδρον καὶ ἄλλους παρεσκευάζοντο πέμπειν, ὅπως περί τε τῆς τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου καθόδου πράσσοιεν καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἐκεῖ δήμου καταλύσεως καὶ τὸν Τισσαφέρνην φίλον τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ποιήσειαν.
Meanwhile, those of the conspirators who had assembled, just as it had seemed good to them at first, accepted the present proposals, and prepared to send Peisander and others as ambassadors to Athens, in order that they might negotiate concerning both the return of Alcibiades and the overthrow of the democracy there, and make Tissaphernes a friend to the Athenians.

Notes

  1. 8.49.1τῶν ἐν τῇ ξυνωμοσίᾳ — This is a partitive genitive depending on the substantivized participle οἱ ξυλλεγέντες ('those who had assembled'), meaning 'those of the conspirators who had assembled (at that place)'.
  2. 8.49.1τά τε παρόντα — Literally 'the present things', this refers not to the general 'present situation' but specifically to the proposals or terms offered by Alcibiades (referred to in 8.48.3 as τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου).
  3. 8.49.1ὅπως ... πράσσοιεν ... ποιήσειαν — The verbs πράσσοιεν (present optative) and ποιήσειαν (aorist optative) in the clause introduced by the final conjunction ὅπως are in the optative mood because the main verb is in a past tense (the imperfect παρεσκευάζοντο), representing the optative of sequence after a historical tense.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.49.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.49.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.