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Cornelius Nepos · Agesilaus §5.1-5.4

Victory near Corinth and Refusal to Storm the City

Passage 5 of 8 · Latin

Summary

After winning a great victory near Corinth, Agesilaus deeply pitied the losses of his fellow Greeks, and when urged to storm Corinth, he refused, declaring that destroying noble Greek cities was contrary to his duty.

§5.1Post hoc proelium collatum omne bellum est circa Corinthum ideoque Corinthium est appellatum.
After this battle, the entire war was concentrated around Corinth, and for that reason it was called the Corinthian War.
§5.2hic cum una pugna decem milia hostium Agesilao duce cecidissent eoque facto opes adversariorum debilitatae viderentur, tantum afuit ab insolentia gloriae, ut commiseratus sit fortunam Graeciae, quod tam multi a se victi vitio adversariorum concidissent: namque illa multitudine, si sana mens esset, Graeciae supplicium Persas dare potuisse.
Here, when ten thousand of the enemy had fallen in a single battle under the leadership of Agesilaus, and by this event the forces of the adversaries seemed to be weakened, he was so far from being arrogant in his glory that he pitied the fortune of Greece, because so many, defeated by him, had fallen through the fault of their own leaders; for with that great multitude, if there had been a sound mind, the Persians could have paid the penalty to Greece.
§5.3idem cum adversarios intra moenia compulisset et ut Corinthum oppugnaret multi hortarentur, negavit id suae virtuti convenire: se enim eum esse, qui ad officium peccantes redire cogeret, non qui urbes nobilissimas expugnaret Graeciae.
Likewise, when he had driven the adversaries within their walls and many urged him to attack Corinth, he declared that this was not consistent with his virtue; for he was one to compel those who erred to return to their duty, not one to storm the most noble cities of Greece.
§5.4'nam si' inquit 'eos exstinguere voluerimus, qui nobiscum adversus barbaros steterunt, nosmet ipsi nos expugnaverimus illis quiescentibus.
"For if," he said, "we wish to destroy those who stood with us against the barbarians, we ourselves shall have conquered ourselves while they remain quiet.
quo facto sine negotio, cum voluerint, nos oppriment. '
Which being done, they will oppress us without trouble whenever they wish."

Notes

  1. §5.2tantum afuit ab insolentia gloriae, ut commiseratus sit — A variation of the impersonal construction 'tantum abest ut... ut...' (to be so far from... that...). Here, instead of the first 'ut' clause, the noun phrase 'ab insolentia gloriae' (from arrogance of glory) is used, while the subsequent 'ut' clause (ut commiseratus sit) expresses the resulting state.
  2. §5.2Graeciae supplicium Persas dare potuisse — An accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction in indirect discourse, where the governing verb of speaking (such as 'dixit') is omitted. The accusative 'Persas' is the subject of the infinitive 'potuisse'. The idiom 'supplicium dare' means 'to pay the penalty' (i.e., to suffer punishment), and the dative 'Graeciae' indicates 'to Greece'. Thus, it means 'the Persians could have paid the penalty to Greece' (i.e., Greece could have punished the Persians).
  3. §5.3se enim eum esse, qui ad officium peccantes redire cogeret, non qui urbes nobilissimas expugnaret Graeciae — The word 'peccantes' is the accusative plural of the present participle, serving as the object of 'cogeret' ('those who err'). The relative clauses introduced by 'qui' with the subjunctives 'cogeret' and 'expugnaret' are subjunctives of characteristic, describing the nature or character of the antecedent 'eum'.
  4. §5.4illis quiescentibus — An ablative absolute construction consisting of a pronoun and a participle. 'illis' refers to 'them', namely the 'barbarians' (barbaros) mentioned in the previous sentence. Combined with 'quiescentibus' ('being quiet' or 'remaining inactive'), it expresses the circumstance 'while they remain quiet'.

Cite this passage

Cornelius Nepos, Agesilaus §5.1-5.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0588.abo017.humanitext-lat2:5.1-5.4

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