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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.81.1-8.81.3

Return of Alcibiades to Samos and Speech to the Fleet

Passage 889 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Thrasybulus persuades the soldiers in Samos to recall Alcibiades, who then addresses the assembly, magnifying his influence over Tissaphernes and promising extensive support.

§8.81.1οἱ δὲ προεστῶτες ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ καὶ μάλιστα Θρασύβουλος, αἰεί γε τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης ἐχόμενος, ἐπειδὴ μετέστησε τὰ πράγματα, ὥστε κατάγειν Ἀλκιβιάδην, [καὶ] τέλος ἀπ’ ἐκκλησίας ἔπεισε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν στρατιωτῶν, καὶ ψηφισαμένων αὐτῶν Ἀλκιβιάδῃ κάθοδον καὶ ἄδειαν πλεύσας ὡς τὸν Τισσαφέρνην κατῆγεν ἐς τὴν Σάμον τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, νομίζων μόνην σωτηρίαν εἰ Τισσαφέρνην αὐτοῖς μεταστήσειεν ἀπὸ Πελοποννησίων.
And the leaders in Samos, and especially Thrasybulus, who always held to the same opinion, after he had changed the state of affairs so as to recall Alcibiades, at last in an assembly persuaded the multitude of the soldiers; and when they had voted a return and impunity for Alcibiades, he sailed to Tissaphernes and brought Alcibiades back to Samos, thinking that their only safety lay in his turning Tissaphernes from the Peloponnesians to themselves.
§8.81.2γενομένης δὲ ἐκκλησίας τήν τε ἰδίαν ξυμφορὰν τῆς φυγῆς ἐπῃτιάσατο καὶ ἀνωλοφύρατο ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης, καὶ περὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν πολλὰ εἰπὼν ἐς ἐλπίδας τε αὐτοὺς οὐ σμικρὰς τῶν μελλόντων καθίστη, καὶ ὑπερβάλλων ἐμεγάλυνε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν παρὰ τῷ Τισσαφέρνει, ἵνα οἵ τε οἴκοι τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν ἔχοντες φοβοῖντο αὐτὸν καὶ μᾶλλον αἱ ξυνωμοσίαι διαλυθεῖεν καὶ οἱ ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ τιμιώτερόν τε αὐτὸν ἄγοιεν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐπὶ πλέον θαρσοῖεν, οἵ τε πολέμιοι τῷ Τισσαφέρνει ὡς μάλιστα διαβάλλοιντο καὶ [ἀπὸ] τῶν ὑπαρχουσῶν ἐλπίδων ἐκπίπτοιεν.
And when an assembly was held, Alcibiades both blamed and lamented his own misfortune of exile, and speaking much on political matters, he raised no small hopes in them for the future, and excessively magnified his own influence with Tissaphernes, in order that those at home who held the oligarchy might fear him and their conspiracies might the more easily be dissolved, and that those in Samos might hold him in greater honor and themselves have more courage, and that the enemy might be set at variance with Tissaphernes as much as possible and fall from their existing hopes.
§8.81.3ὑπισχνεῖτο δ’ οὖν τάδε μέγιστα ἐπικομπῶν ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης, ὡς Τισσαφέρνης αὐτῷ ὑπεδέξατο ἦ μήν, ἕως ἄν τι τῶν ἑαυτοῦ λείπηται, ἢν Ἀθηναίοις πιστεύσῃ, μὴ ἀπορήσειν αὐτοὺς τροφῆς, οὐδ’ ἢν δέῃ τελευτῶντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ στρωμνὴν ἐξαργυρῶσαι, τάς τε ἐν Ἀσπένδῳ ἤδη οὔσας Φοινίκων ναῦς κομιεῖν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ οὐ Πελοποννησίοις· πιστεῦσαι δ’ ἂν μόνως Ἀθηναίοις, εἰ σῶς αὐτὸς κατελθὼν αὐτῷ ἀναδέξαιτο.
At any rate, Alcibiades promised these greatest things with high boasts, saying that Tissaphernes had pledged to him that, if he could trust the Athenians, they should not lack maintenance as long as any of his own property remained, not even if he should finally have to turn his own bed into money, and that he would bring the Phoenician ships already at Aspendus to the Athenians and not to the Peloponnesians; but that he would only trust the Athenians if Alcibiades himself, having returned in safety, would become a surety to him.

Notes

  1. §8.81.1νομίζων μόνην σωτηρίαν εἰ Τισσαφέρνην αὐτοῖς μεταστήσειεν ἀπὸ Πελοποννησίων — After the verb of thinking νομίζων, the infinitive εἶναι is omitted in the phrase μόνην σωτηρίαν [εἶναι], which is followed by the conditional clause εἰ... μεταστήσειεν. This forms a conditional sentence in indirect discourse, meaning "thinking that [it would be] their only safety if he should turn Tissaphernes."
  2. §8.81.2διαβάλλοιντο — Passive optative of διαβάλλω (to set at variance, alienate). It is used within the purpose clause ἵνα to mean "that the enemy might be set at variance with Tissaphernes as much as possible."
  3. §8.81.3τελευτῶντα — Accusative singular masculine of the present participle, agreeing with the implied subject (Tissaphernes). It is used adverbially to mean "finally" or "in the end."
  4. §8.81.3πιστεῦσαι δ’ ἂν μόνως Ἀθηναίοις, εἰ σῶς αὐτὸς κατελθὼν αὐτῷ ἀναδέξαιτο — The infinitive with ἄν (πιστεῦσαι ἂν) represents an optative with ἄν (πιστεύσειεν ἄν, expressing potentiality) in indirect discourse, corresponding to the conditional clause εἰ... ἀναδέξαιτο (optative). αὐτός (nominative) refers to Alcibiades himself, while αὐτῷ (dative) refers to Tissaphernes.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.81.1-8.81.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.81.1-8.81.3

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