Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Élie-Ami Bétant (Translator), 6.13

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« Quand je vois ses adhérents groupés autour de lui, je ne puis me défendre d’un sentiment de crainte. A mon tour, j’exhorte les hommes d’âge, qui se trouvent assis à leurs côtés, à ne pas se laisser dominer par une fausse honte ou par la peur de passer pour des lâches en se prononçant contre l’expédition. Qu’ils se gardent d’imiter leurs voisins dans leur fol engouement pour les objets lointains ; car on ne gagne rien par la passion, mais bien par la prudence. Qu’ils votent en sens contraire, par affection pour cette patrie qui s'expose au plus grand de tous les dangers. Qu’ils décrètent que les Siciliens conserveront, par rapport à nous, leurs limites actuelles, limites fort bien tracées, savoir le golfe Ionien¹ en suivant la côte, la mer Sicilienne en tirant au large , et qu’ils peuvent régler entre eux leurs différends. Aux Égestains en particulier disons qu’ayant commencé leur guerre avec Sélinonte sans nous consulter, c’est à eux de la terminer par eux-mêmes. Gardons-nous désormais de faire alliance avec des peuples qu'il nous faut soutenir dans leurs disgrâces, et qui dans les nôtres ne nous sont d’aucun appui.

History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides. Élie-Ami Bétant (Translator). Paris. 1863.

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Current edition First1KGreek

Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése (French) (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése. Bétant, Élie-Ami, translator. Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette, 1863.)

Editions (1)

Ἱστορίαι Perseus (Thucydides. Historiae, Vol 1-2. Jones, Henry Stuart, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910. (1942 printing).) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] ‘οὓς ἐγὼ ὁρῶν νῦν ἐνθάδε τῷ αὐτῷ ἀνδρὶ παρακελευστοὺς καθημένους φοβοῦμαι, καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ἀντιπαρακελεύομαι μὴ καταισχυνθῆναι, εἴ τῴ τις παρακάθηται τῶνδε, ὅπως μὴ δόξει, ἐὰν μὴ ψηφίζηται πολεμεῖν, μαλακὸς εἶναι, μηδ᾽, ὅπερ ἂν αὐτοὶ πάθοιεν, δυσέρωτας εἶναι τῶν ἀπόντων, γνόντας ὅτι ἐπιθυμίᾳ μὲν ἐλάχιστα κατορθοῦνται, προνοίᾳ δὲ πλεῖστα, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ὡς μέγιστον δὴ τῶν πρὶν κίνδυνον ἀναρριπτούσης ἀντιχειροτονεῖν, καὶ ψηφίζεσθαι τοὺς μὲν Σικελιώτας οἷσπερ νῦν ὅροις χρωμένους πρὸς ἡμᾶς, οὐ μεμπτοῖς, τῷ τε Ἰονίῳ κόλπῳ παρὰ γῆν ἤν τις πλέῃ, καὶ τῷ Σικελικῷ διὰ πελάγους, τὰ αὑτῶν νεμομένους καθ’ αὑτοὺς καὶ ξυμφέρεσθαι·

[2] τοῖς δ’ Ἐγεσταίοις ἰδίᾳ εἰπεῖν, ἐπειδὴ ἄνευ Ἀθηναίων καὶ ξυνῆψαν πρὸς Σελινουντίους τὸ πρῶτον πόλεμον, μετὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ καταλύεσθαι· καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ξυμμάχους μὴ ποιεῖσθαι ὥσπερ εἰώθαμεν, οἷς κακῶς μὲν πράξασιν ἀμυνοῦμεν, ὠφελίας δ’ αὐτοὶ δεηθέντες οὐ τευξόμεθα.

Translations (9)

The History of the Grecian War Perseus (Thucydides. The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Hobbes, Thomas. translator. London: John Bohn, 1843.) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] "And I, seeing those now sit by and abet the same man, am fearful of them; and I do on the other side exhort the elder sort (if any of them sit near those other) not to be ashamed to deliver their minds freely, as fearing that if they gave their voice against the war they should be esteemed cowards, nor to doat (as they do) upon things absent, knowing that by passion the fewest actions and by reason the most do prosper; but rather for the benefit of their country, which is now cast into greater danger than ever before, to hold up their hands on the other side and decree that the Sicilians, within the limits they now enjoy, not misliked by you, and with liberty to sail by the shore in the Ionian gulf, and in the main of the Sicilian sea, shall possess their own and compound their differences between themselves.

[2] And for the Egestaeans, to answer them in particular thus: that as without the Athenians they had begun the war against the Selinuntians, so they should without them likewise end it; and that we shall no more hereafter, as we have used to do, make such men our confederates, as when they do injury, we must maintain it, and when we require their assistance, cannot have it.

History of the Peloponnesian War Perseus (Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Crawley, Richard, translator. London and Toronto: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd.; New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1914.) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] When I see such persons now sitting here at the side of that same individual and summoned by him, alarm seizes me; and I, in my turn, summon any of the older men that may have such a person sitting next him, not to let himself be shamed down, for fear of being thought a coward if he do not vote for war, but, remembering how rarely success is got by wishing and how often by forecast, to leave to them the mad dream of conquest, and as a true lover of his country, now threatened by the greatest danger in its history, to hold up his hand on the other side; to vote that the Siceliots be left in the limits now existing between us, limits of which no one can complain (the Ionian sea for the coasting voyage, and the Sicilian across the open main), to enjoy their own possessions and to settle their own quarrels;

[2] that the Egestaeans, for their part, be told to end by themselves with the Selinuntines the war which they began without consulting the Athenians; and that for the future we do not enter into alliance, as we have been used to do, with people whom we must help in their need, and who can never help us in ours.

Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs First1KGreek (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Wahrmund, Adolf, translator. Stuttgart: Krais and Hoffmann, 1864.) — 6.13 focus

„Freilich muß ich mich vor denen fürchten, die ich da neben
eben diesem Manne als seine Für- und Zusprecher sitzen sehe, und ich
fordere deßhalb die Aelteren auf, nicht scheu zu sein, wenn Einer von
diesen neben ihnen sitzt, und nicht zu fürchten, sie würden als feige
erscheinen, wenn sie gegen den Krieg tsimmen, und daß sie sich
ebensowenig durch verhängnißvolle Gier nach weit entfernten Dingen —
denn die könnte auch sie noch ankommen — hinreißen lassen. Sie
sollen bedenken, daß durch Leidenschaftlichkeit das Wenigste, durch
kluge Vorsicht aber das Meiste erreicht wird. Ihr müßt also zur
Rettung des Vaterlandes, welches jetzt mit der größten Gefahr spielt,
die es je bedrohte, gegen den Zug stimmen und beschließen, daß die
Sikelioten sich uns gegenüber in den bisherigen Grenzen zu halten
haben, die auch wir genehm halten müssen, nämlich im Ionischen
Meer, wenn Einer längs der Küste hinschifft, und im Sikelischen, wer ¹²³
über die hohe See fährt. Was sie haben, das sollen sie behalten
und ihre Angelegenheiten unter sich austragen. Den Egestanern
insbesondere aber sagt: da sie von vornherein, ohne die Athener zu
fragen, den Krieg angefangen haben, so sollen sie ihn auch allein
ausmachen. Und für die Zukunft nehmt nicht mehr, wie wir
gewöhnlich thun, solche als Bundesgenossen an, die von uns nur Hülse
in ihrer Noth wollen, von denen wir aber, wenn wir selbst Hülse
brauchten, keine erlangen könnten."

Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs First1KGreek (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Braun, Theodor, translator. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1917.) — 6.13 focus

„Mit Besorgnis sehe ich grade die als seine Anhänger
hier sitzen, und ich richte deshalb an die Alteren die dringende
Bitte, sich nicht von einem, der neben ihnen sitzt, einschüchtern
und durch den Vorwurf der Feigheit abhalten zu lassen, gegen
den Krieg zu stimmen, und nicht etwa gar selbst mit blinder
Leidenschaft nach neuen Erwerbungen zu verlangen. Bekannt-1
lich kommt man mit Leidenschaft selten zum Zweck, weit eher
dagegen mit Besonnenheit. Also, um des Vaterlandes willen,
das sich jetzt in der Tat in eine Gefahr wie nie zuvor stürzen
will, stimmt dagegen und beschließt, die sizilischen Griechen
sollten uns gegenüber ihre bisherigen Grenzen, - das ionische
Meer bei Küstenfahrt, das sizilische bei Fahrt durch die hohe
See, - selbst aber alle ihre Besitzungen behalten und sich unter
einander vertragen, den Egestern insbesondere aber zu eröffnen,
da sie sich einmal ohne die Athener auf den Krieg mit Selinus
eingelassen, möchten sie ihn auch unter sich allein ausfechten, im
übrigen uns zur Regel zu machen, künftig nicht mehr, wie
bisher, Bündnisse mit Leuten zu schließen, denen wir in der
Not beistehen müßten, von denen wir aber, wenn wir selbst
Hilfe nötig haben, solche nicht erhalten.

Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponèse First1KGreek (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése, Vol. 1-2. Zévort, Marie Charles, translator. Paris: Charpentier, 1852.) — 6.13 focus

XIII. « Quand je vois ceux qui siégent ici en ce moment¹ comme tenants et avocats de cet homme, je ²³ crains : j’adjure à mon tour les hommes d’un âge plus mûr, s’il en est quelqu’un qui siége à côté des gens de cette faction, de ne point céder, par une fausse honte, à la crainte de paraître lâches s'ils ne votent pas pour la guerre. Je les supplie de ne pas se laisser aller à cette folle passion pour des objets absents qui pourrait, eux aussi, les entraîner. Ils savent qu’on gagne peu par la convoitise et beaucoup par la prévoyance. Qu’ils protestent donc par leurs votes, dans l’intérêt de la patrie qui se précipite vers le plus grand péril qu’elle ait jamais couru; qu’ils décrètent que les Siciliens garderont, vis-à-vis de nous et sans contestation, leurs limites actuelles : le golfe d’Ionie pour la navigation le long des côtes, et celui de Sicile pour la navigation en haute mer. Disons aux Égestains en particulier que, puisqu’ils ont, sans les Athéniens, commencé la guerre contre Sélinonte, c’est à eux aussi à la terminer par eux-mêmes : en un mot ne nous faisons plus désormais, selon notre usage, des alliés auxquels il nous faille porter secours quand ils sont malheureux, sans pouvoir en tirer nous-mêmes aucun profit dans lé besoin.

History of the Peloponnesian War First1KGreek (Thucydides, Vol. 1-4. Smith, Charles Foster, translator. London and Cambridge, MA: Heinemann and Harvard University Press, 1919-1923.) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] "It is of such youths, when I see them sitting here in answer to the appeal of this same man, that I am afraid; and I make a counter-appeal to the older men, if any of you sit by one of these, not to be shamed into fear lest he may seem to be a coward if he do not vote for war, and not, though that may be their feeling, to have a morbid craving for what is out of reach, knowing that few successes are won by greed, but very many by foresight; on the contrary, on behalf of our country, which is now running the greatest risk it has ever run, hold up your hands in opposition and vote that the Siceliots, keeping the same boundaries with respect to us as at present-boundaries no one can find fault with—namely, the Ionian Sea, if one sail along the coast, and the Sicilian, if one cross the open deep—shall enjoy their own possessions and settle their own quarrels among themselves.

[2] But tell the Egestaeans in particular that, as they went to war with the Selinuntians in the first place without the Athenians, so they must bring it to an end by themselves; and for the future let us not make allies, as we are wont to do, whom we must assist when they fare ill, but from whom we shall get no help when we are ourselves in need.

History of the Peloponnesian War First1KGreek (Thucydides. The history of the Peloponnesian War, Volume 1-2. Dale, Henry, translator. London: Heinemann and Henry G. Bohn, 1851-1852.) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] "I am alarmed, indeed, when I see such characters sitting here at present by the side of that same individual, in compliance with his bidding; and in return I bid the older men—whichever of them may have one of those characters sitting by him—not to be put down through shame, in order to avoid being thought a coward if he should not vote for going to war; nor, as their opponents themselves might feel, to be madly enamoured of what they do not possess; being convinced that in very few things do men succeed through desire, but in very many through forethought in behalf of their country, as exposing itself to the greatest danger it has ever done, to give their support to the opposite side, and vote that the Siceliots keep the same boundaries with respect to us as at present—boundaries with which no one can find fault—namely, the Ionian Sea, if one sail along shore; and the Sicilian, if one cross the open deep; and that while they enjoy their own possessions, they shall also settle their own quarrels:

[2] and that we tell the Segestans in particular, that since they went to war with the Selinuntines in the first instance without consulting the Athenians, they may also make peace with them by themselves: and that we do not in future make alliance, as we have been accustomed, with men whom we shall assist when they are unfortunate, and when we ask assistance ourselves, shall not obtain it.

Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci First1KGreek (Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci. Haase, Friedrich, translator. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1869.) — 6.13.1 focus

[1] « Quamobrem ego quoniam video nunc hic eidem viro adhortatores assidere, metus mihi incedit, et vicissim ipse quoque seniores adhortor, ne, si cui eorum ex illis aliquis assidet, pudore contineatur, ne scilicet videatur ignavus esse, nisi bellum suo suffragio comprobarit, et ne, quo quidem morbo illi laboraverint, infausto amore absentia amplectantur, hoc intelligentes, cupiditate quidem res paucissimas, providentia vero plurimas feliciter geri, sed pro patria*, quae maximum omnium superiorum periculum capessit, sententiam ferant, ac decernant, ut Sicilienses quidem iisdem quibus nunc finibus utentes, non illis poenitendis , Ionico sinu, si quis navigando terram legat, et Siculo, si quis per altum feratur, sua possidentes res item suas inter se componant;

[2] Egestaeis autem ut separalim re- spondeamus, ut, quandoquidem sine Atlieniensibus primum bellum contra Selinunlios susceperunt, id etiam per se ipsos deponant; nec posthac societatem quemadmodum consuevimus, cum iis faciamus, quibus calamitate quidem pressis auxilium feramus, sed si ipsi auxilio indigeamus, impetraturi non simus.

La storia di Tucidide First1KGreek (Thucydides. Della storia di Tucidide volgarizzata libri otto. Anonymous translator. Florence: Tipografia Galileiana, 1835.) — 6.13 focus

« Ed io, al veder in questo consesso gente di tal tempera che parteggiano per lui, vengo in timore, e dal canto mio esorto i più attempati che, se ad alcuno di loro seggano accanto, non si rechino a vergogna di passar per infingardi, ove non dieno il voto per la guerra, e che (siccome accade nei giovani) non sieno perdutamente innamorati delle cose lontane , sapendo che pochissimi affari si conducono a buon fine pel desiderio, moltissimi per la previdenza. Ed invece li prego che per amore di questa patria , che va a gettarsi in un pericolo grandissimo oltre ogni altro di pria , vogliano in ciò dar contrario il loro voto , e decretare che i Siciliani tengano le loro cose usando i confini di adesso (su di che non abbiam nulla da ridire), cioè il seno ionico per chi navighi radendo la spiaggia , e quello di Sicilia per chi va in alto mare ; che quanto alle differenze l'accomodin tra loro : che agli Egestei in diviso si risponda, che siccome attaccarono la guerra co’ Selinunti, senza gli Ateniesi, così da sè la sciolgano ; e che in seguito non ci facciamo alleati (come siam soliti) di popoli, i quali ci convenga soccorrere quando si trovano male ; e bisognando noi di aiuto, non possiamo ottenerlo.

Notes on the current edition

History of the Peloponnesian War

La mer Adriatique.

Commentary

Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6 (Thucydides, Book VI. Marchant, Edgar C., editor. London: Macmillan and Company, 1909.) focus

παρακελευστούς —Goller quotes Photius s.r., οἱ ἐκ παρακελεύσεως καὶ παρακλήσεως συλλαμβάνοντες. It was deemed contrary to order ( εὐκοσμία) in the Ecclesia to appeal ( παρακελεύεσθαι) to persons, except of course while making a speech, and it appears that there were penalties for any interruption of the kind. (The evidence for this is Aeschines 1, 61, where παρακελεύηται is surely misunderstood by Schomann de Com. Ath., E T. 119.) It was the business of the πρυτάνεις, on whom see c. 14, 1, ἐπιμελεῖσθαι εὐκοσμίας .

ἀντιπαρακελεύομαι —‘appeal in turn,’ and in the regular manner, not irregularly as Alc. has done.

καταισχυνθῆναι . . ὅπως μή —‘ i.e. not to be shamed into fear lest he may seem to be weak,’ M.T. § 370.

μηδ’ . . εἶναι —co-ordinate with μὴ καταισχυνθῆναι.

αὐτοί — i.e. even without Alc. to encourage them.

δυσέρωτας —this word is found in Lysias and Xenophon; then not in prose until Lucian, Aristides, Plutarch, Dio Cass., Aelian.

μέγιστον δὴ τῶν πρίν —as I. 1 ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων, and several other cases in Thuc. There are familiar imitations in Milton. Cf. ὠκυμορώτατος ἄλλων.

ἀναρριπτούσης —Phrynichus in Bekker's Anecdota, p. 18, 1 ἀναρρῖψαι κίνδυνον, παρὰ τὸ ἀναρρῖψαι κύβον, περὶ τῶν ἀφειδῶς ἑαυτοὺς εἰς κινδύνους ἀφιέντων. After Herod. and Thuc. the phrase does not occur in Gk. prose until Aristides and Aelian.

οὐ μεμπτοῖς — we have no fault to find with legard to boundaries. This is a thrust at the envoys of Segesta; cf. περὶ γῆς ἀμφισβητήτου c. 6, 2. The boundaries are those ‘which nature has fixed’ (Freeman). Ἰόνιος κόλπος=either the whole of the Adriatic, or, as here, the southern part of it (Poppo). Σικελικὸς κόλπος=the sea S. of the Ionian, from the E. eoast of Sicily to Crete. (Horacc, however, gives to Siculum mare a different sense. See edd. on Odes II. 12 , 2. A Roman naturally understood by mare Sic. the sea between Italy and the north coast of Sicily. In Acts c. 28 Ἀδρία= Ἰόνιος κόλπος .)

διὰ πελἀγους —sc. ἤν τις πλέῃ. It was not usual to take this route to Sicily, but, as Freeman says, it is assumed as possible.

καθ) αὑτούς —a common use of κατά with reflexive pron., esp. with ἑαυτόν (- ούς). Sometimes a further definition is added, such as μόνος, ἰδίᾳ, αὐτός. Aristoph. Vesp. 786 κατ’ ἐμαυτὸν κοὐ μεθ) ἑτέρου.

τοῖς δ’ Ἐ. εἰπεῖν —depends on ἀντιπαρακελεύομαι.

ἄνευ —without consulting the Athenian Ecclesia, ἄνευ τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης.

καὶ ξυνῆψαν . . καὶ κατ —the double καί serves to balance the clauses.

ὠφελίας δέ —cf. on c. 11, 1.

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 6.13

Élie-Ami Bétant (Translator)

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