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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.52.1

Alcibiades' Effort to Win Over Tissaphernes

Passage 860 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Alcibiades endeavors to win over Tissaphernes to the Athenian side, and Tissaphernes, affected by the dispute among the Peloponnesians at Knidos, shows interest in being persuaded.

§8.52.1μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο Ἀλκιβιάδης μὲν Τισσαφέρνην παρεσκεύαζε καὶ ἀνέπειθεν ὅπως φίλος ἔσται τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, δεδιότα μὲν τοὺς Πελοποννησίους, ὅτι πλέοσι ναυσὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρῆσαν, βουλόμενον δὲ ὅμως, εἰ δύναιτό πως, πεισθῆναι, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐν τῇ Κνίδῳ διαφορὰν περὶ τῶν Θηριμένους σπονδῶν ᾔσθετο τῶν Πελοποννησίων̔ ἤδη γὰρ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἐν τῇ Ῥόδῳ ὄντων αὐτῶν ἐγεγένητὀ·
After this, Alcibiades tried to win over and persuade Tissaphernes to become a friend to the Athenians. Tissaphernes, on the one hand, feared the Peloponnesians because they were present with more ships than the Athenians; on the other hand, however, he wished, if it were somehow possible, to be persuaded—especially after he had become aware of the dispute of the Peloponnesians at Knidos concerning the treaty of Therimenes (for by this time, while they were at Rhodes, this had already occurred).
ἐν ᾗ τὸν τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου λόγον πρότερον εἰρημένον περὶ τοῦ ἐλευθεροῦν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τὰς ἁπάσας πόλεις ἐπηλήθευσεν ὁ Λίχας, οὐ φάσκων ἀνεκτὸν εἶναι ξυγκεῖσθαι κρατεῖν βασιλέα τῶν πόλεων ὧν ποτὲ καὶ πρότερον ἢ αὐτὸς ἢ οἱ πατέρες ἦρχον.
In this dispute, Lichas confirmed the truth of what Alcibiades had previously said about the Lacedaemonians liberating all the cities, by declaring that it was intolerable for it to be agreed that the King should rule over all the cities which he himself or his ancestors had formerly ruled.
καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἀλκιβιάδης, ἅτε περὶ μεγάλων ἀγωνιζόμενος, προθύμως τὸν Τισσαφέρνην θεραπεύων προσέκειτο·
And so Alcibiades, since he was striving for great stakes, zealously courted Tissaphernes and pressed his suit.

Notes

  1. §8.52.1ὅπως φίλος ἔσται — A construction of ὅπως with the future indicative, serving as an object clause after verbs of effort or striving (παρεσκεύαζε and ἀνέπειθεν).
  2. §8.52.1πεισθῆναι — A passive infinitive acting as the object of the participle βουλόμενον, meaning 'to be persuaded' or 'to yield (to Alcibiades' persuasion)'.
  3. §8.52.1τοῦ ἐλευθεροῦν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τὰς ἁπάσας πόλεις — An articular infinitive in the genitive case governed by the preposition περί. τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους is the accusative subject of the infinitive, and τὰς ἁπάσας πόλεις is its direct object.
  4. §8.52.1ξυγκεῖσθαι κρατεῖν βασιλέα — A complex nested construction where the infinitive ξυγκεῖσθαι (to be agreed) serves as the subject of the impersonal expression ἀνεκτὸν εἶναι, and is itself followed by an accusative and infinitive clause with βασιλέα as the subject and κρατεῖν as the verb.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.52.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.52.1

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