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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.84.1-8.84.5

Mutiny against Astyochus and Seizure of the Fort

Passage 892 of 917 · Greek

Summary

A riot breaks out against Astyochus as he arrogantly responds to sailors demanding their pay, while the Milesians capture Tissaphernes' fort and clash with Lichas, who advocates for compliance with the Persian satrap.

§8.84.1ὄντων δ’ αὐτῶν ἐν τοιούτῳ ἀναλογισμῷ ξυνηνέχθη καὶ τοιόσδε τις θόρυβος περὶ τὸν Ἀστύοχον.
While they were engaged in such reflections, a disturbance of the following kind also arose around Astyochus.
§8.84.2τῶν γὰρ Συρακοσίων καὶ Θουρίων ὅσῳ μάλιστα καὶ ἐλεύθεροι ἦσαν τὸ πλῆθος οἱ ναῦται, τοσούτῳ καὶ θρασύτατα προσπεσόντες τὸν μισθὸν ἀπῄτουν.
For the sailors of the Syracusans and Thurians, inasmuch as the majority of them were especially free men, confronted him and demanded their pay with the greatest boldness.
ὁ δὲ αὐθαδέστερόν τέ τι ἀπεκρίνατο καὶ ἠπείλησε καὶ τῷ γε Δωριεῖ ξυναγορεύοντι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ναύταις καὶ ἐπανήρατο τὴν βακτηρίαν.
But he replied somewhat insolently and threatened them, and even raised his staff against Dorieus, who was speaking in support of his own sailors.
§8.84.3τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὡς εἶδον, οἷα δὴ ναῦται, ὥρμησαν ἐκραγέντες ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀστύοχον ὥστε βάλλειν· ὁ δὲ προϊδὼν καταφεύγει ἐπὶ βωμόν τινα.
When the multitude of the soldiers saw this, they, like true sailors, broke out and rushed at Astyochus to pelt him with stones; but he, seeing this in advance, fled for refuge to an altar.
οὐ μέντοι ἐβλήθη γε, ἀλλὰ διελύθησαν ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων.
He was not, however, hit, but they were parted from one another.
§8.84.4ἔλαβον δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ Μιλήτῳ ἐνῳκοδομημένον τοῦ Τισσαφέρνους φρούριον οἱ Μιλήσιοι λάθρᾳ ἐπιπεσόντες, καὶ τοὺς ἐνόντας φύλακας αὐτοῦ ἐκβάλλουσιν· ξυνεδόκει δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ξυμμάχοις ταῦτα καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τοῖς Συρακοσίοις.
The Milesians also, by a sudden attack, captured the fort of Tissaphernes which had been built in Miletus, and expelled the garrison that was in it; and this action was approved of by the other allies as well, and not least by the Syracusans.
§8.84.5ὁ μέντοι Λίχας οὔτε ἠρέσκετο αὐτοῖς ἔφη τε χρῆναι Τισσαφέρνει καὶ δουλεύειν Μιλησίους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς ἐν τῇ βασιλέως τὰ μέτρια καὶ ἐπιθεραπεύειν, ἕως ἂν τὸν πόλεμον εὖ θῶνται.
Lichas, however, was not pleased with these things, and said that the Milesians and the others in the King's territory ought to serve Tissaphernes in a reasonable measure and pay court to him until they should bring the war to a successful conclusion.
οἱ δὲ Μιλήσιοι ὠργίζοντό τε αὐτῷ καὶ διὰ ταῦτα καὶ δι’ ἄλλα τοιουτότροπα καὶ νόσῳ ὕστερον ἀποθανόντα αὐτὸν οὐκ εἴασαν θάψαι οὗ ἐβούλοντο οἱ παρόντες τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων.
The Milesians, therefore, were angry with him both for this and for other things of a similar kind, and when he afterwards died of an illness, they would not allow the Lacedaemonians who were present to bury him where they wished.

Notes

  1. 8.84.2ὅσῳ μάλιστα καὶ ἐλεύθεροι ἦσαν τὸ πλῆθος οἱ ναῦται, τοσούτῳ καὶ θρασύτατα — The correlative construction ὅσῳ... τοσούτῳ expresses proportion ('the more... the more...'). Here, it establishes a causal link showing that because the majority (τὸ πλῆθος, accusative of specification) of the sailors were free men (as opposed to mercenaries or slaves), they demanded their pay with corresponding boldness (θρασύτατα).
  2. 8.84.3τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὡς εἶδον... ὥρμησαν — Although the subject τὸ πλῆθος (the multitude) is a singular neuter noun, both the verb of the temporal clause (εἶδον) and the main verb (ὥρμησαν) are in the third-person plural. This is a classic example of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense), where the verb agrees with the plural meaning implied by the collective noun rather than its grammatical singular form.
  3. 8.84.5τοὺς ἐν τῇ βασιλέως — Between the feminine singular dative article τῇ and the genitive proper noun βασιλέως, the noun γῇ (land, territory) is omitted. In Greek, the omission of the feminine noun γῆ is highly common, especially in prepositional phrases designating geographical or political territories belonging to a ruler.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.84.1-8.84.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.84.1-8.84.5

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