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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.85.1-8.85.4

Arrival of Mindarus and Tissaphernes' Envoy to Sparta

Passage 893 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Mindarus arrives from Sparta to succeed Astyochus as commander, and Astyochus departs for home. Tissaphernes sends an envoy to counter the accusations of the Milesians and Hermocrates, revealing the long-standing personal enmity between him and Hermocrates.

§8.85.1κατὰ δὴ τοιαύτην διαφορὰν ὄντων αὐτοῖς τῶν πραγμάτων πρός τε τὸν Ἀστύοχον καὶ τὸν Τισσαφέρνην Μίνδαρος διάδοχος τῆς Ἀστυόχου ναυαρχίας ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ἐπῆλθε καὶ παραλαμβάνει τὴν ἀρχήν· ὁ δὲ Ἀστύοχος ἀπέπλει.
While their affairs were in such a state of discord with Astyochus and Tissaphernes, Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon as successor to Astyochus in the command of the fleet and took over the office; and Astyochus sailed away.
§8.85.2ξυνέπεμψε δὲ καὶ Τισσαφέρνης αὐτῷ πρεσβευτὴν τῶν παρ’ ἑαυτοῦ, Γαυλίτην ὄνομα, Κᾶρα δίγλωσσον, κατηγορήσοντα τῶν τε Μιλησίων περὶ τοῦ φρουρίου καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἅμα ἀπολογησόμενον, εἰδὼς τούς τε Μιλησίους πορευομένους ἐπὶ καταβοῇ τῇ αὑτοῦ μάλιστα καὶ τὸν Ἑρμοκράτη μετ’ αὐτῶν, ὃς ἔμελλε τὸν Τισσαφέρνην ἀποφαίνειν φθείροντα τῶν Πελοποννησίων τὰ πράγματα μετὰ Ἀλκιβιάδου καὶ ἐπαμφοτερίζοντα.
Tissaphernes also sent along with him an envoy of his own, named Gaulites, a bilingual Carian, to accuse the Milesians regarding the fort and at the same time to defend himself, since he knew that the Milesians were on their way chiefly to denounce him, and Hermocrates with them, who was going to expose Tissaphernes as ruining the affairs of the Peloponnesians in concert with Alcibiades and playing a double game.
§8.85.3ἔχθρα δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἦν αὐτῷ αἰεί ποτε περὶ τοῦ μισθοῦ τῆς ἀποδόσεως· καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα φυγόντος ἐκ Συρακουσῶν τοῦ Ἑρμοκράτους καὶ ἑτέρων ἡκόντων ἐπὶ τὰς ναῦς τῶν Συρακοσίων ἐς τὴν Μίλητον στρατηγῶν, Ποτάμιδος καὶ Μύσκωνος καὶ Δημάρχου, ἐνέκειτο ὁ Τισσαφέρνης φυγάδι ὄντι ἤδη τῷ Ἑρμοκράτει πολλῷ ἔτι μᾶλλον καὶ κατηγόρει ἄλλα τε καὶ ὡς χρήματά ποτε αἰτήσας αὑτὸν καὶ οὐ τυχὼν τὴν ἔχθραν οἱ προθοῖτο.
Indeed, there had always been enmity on the part of Hermocrates toward him concerning the payment of the wages; and lately, when Hermocrates was banished from Syracuse and other generals of the Syracusan ships—Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus—arrived at Miletus, Tissaphernes pressed still harder upon Hermocrates, who was now an exile, and accused him of other things and particularly of having once demanded money from him, and of having conceived this enmity against him because he did not obtain it.
§8.85.4ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀστύοχος καὶ οἱ Μιλήσιοι καὶ ὁ Ἑρμοκράτης ἀπέπλευσαν ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα.
So Astyochus, the Milesians, and Hermocrates sailed away to Lacedaemon.
ὁ δὲ Ἀλκιβιάδης διεβεβήκει πάλιν ἤδη παρὰ τοῦ Τισσαφέρνους ἐς τὴν Σάμον.
As for Alcibiades, he had already crossed over again from Tissaphernes to Samos.

Notes

  1. 8.85.1ὄντων αὐτοῖς τῶν πραγμάτων — The dative αὐτοῖς (referring to the Peloponnesians) is embedded within the genitive absolute construction ὄντων τῶν πραγμάτων. It functions as a dative of interest or relation ('with their affairs being in such a state').
  2. 8.85.2κατηγορήσοντα ... ἀπολογησόμενον — Both are future participles modifying πρεσβευτήν, expressing the purpose of the envoy sent by Tissaphernes ('in order to accuse... and at the same time to defend...').
  3. 8.85.3οἱ — The third-person singular dative pronoun οἱ (enclitic, without rough breathing) functions here as an indirect reflexive pronoun referring to Tissaphernes, the subject of the main clause ('that Hermocrates conceived this enmity against him [Tissaphernes]').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.85.1-8.85.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.85.1-8.85.4

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