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Im selbigen Winter wollten die Athener zum andern Mal
und mit noch stärkerer Kriegsmacht als unter Laches und
Eurymedon') aussegeln, um — wenn sie es vermöchten — Sicilien zu
unterwerfen. Gleichwohl wußten die Meisten unter ihnen nicht, weder
wie groß die Insel sei, noch wie zahlreich ihre Bewohner, an
Hellenen sowohl, als an Barbaren, und dachten nicht, daß sie sich damit
in einen Krieg einließen, der nicht viel unwichtiger sei, als der gegen
die Peloponnesier. Denn zur Umfahrt ulk Sicilien braucht ein
Lastschiff nicht viel weniger als acht Tage, und daß es bei diesem
Umfang nicht mit dem Festland zusammenhringt, bewirkt nur eine
Meerenge von höchstens zwanzig Stadien.

History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides. Adolf Wahrmund (Translator). Stuttgart. 1864.

Current edition First1KGreek

Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs (German) (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Wahrmund, Adolf, translator. Stuttgart: Krais and Hoffmann, 1864.)

Editions (1)

Ἱστορίαι Perseus (Thucydides. Historiae, Vol 1-2. Jones, Henry Stuart, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910. (1942 printing).) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] τοῦ δ’ αὐτοῦ χειμῶνος Ἀθηναῖοι ἐβούλοντο αὖθις μείζονι παρασκευῇ τῆς μετὰ Λάχητος καὶ Εὐρυμέδοντος ἐπὶ Σικελίαν πλεύσαντες καταστρέψασθαι, εἰ δύναιντο, ἄπειροι οἱ πολλοὶ ὄντες τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς νήσου καὶ τῶν ἐνοικούντων τοῦ πλήθους καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων, καὶ ὅτι οὐ πολλῷ τινὶ ὑποδεέστερον πόλεμον ἀνῃροῦντο ἢ τὸν πρὸς Πελοποννησίους.

[2] Σικελίας γὰρ περίπλους μέν ἐστιν ὁλκάδι οὐ πολλῷ τινὶ ἔλασσον ἢ ὀκτὼ ἡμερῶν, καὶ τοσαύτη οὖσα ἐν εἰκοσισταδίῳ μάλιστα μέτρῳ τῆς θαλάσσης διείργεται τὸ μὴ ἤπειρος εἶναι·

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.) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] The same winter the Athenians, with greater forces than they had before sent out with Laches and Eurymedon, resolved to go again into Sicily, and, if they could, wholly to subdue it, being for the most part ignorant both of the greatness of the island, and of the multitude of people, as well Greeks as barbarians, that inhabited the same, and that they undertook a war not much less than the war against the Peloponnesians.

[2] For the compass of Sicily is little less than eight days' sail for a ship; and though so great, is yet divided with no more than twenty furlongs, sea measure, from the continent.

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.) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily , with a greater armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if possible, to conquer the island; most of them being ignorant of its size and of the number of its inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and of the fact that they were undertaking a war not much inferior to that against the Peloponnesians.

[2] For the voyage round Sicily in a merchantman is not far short of eight days; and yet, large as the island is, there are only two miles of sea to prevent its being mainland.

Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs First1KGreek (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Braun, Theodor, translator. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1917.) — 6.1 focus

In demselben Winter wollten die Athener von neuem,
diesmal mit größeren Kräften als unter Laches und
Enrymedon, einen Zug nach Sizilien unternehmen, um es wo
möglich ihrer Herrschaft zu unterwerfen. Von der Größe der
Insel und der Menge ihrer griechischen und nichtgriechischen
Bevölkerung hatten die meisten keine Vorstellung, und ebenso
wenig ahnten sie, daß sie sich damit in einen Krieg einlassen
würden nicht viel geringer als der mit den Peloponnesiern.
Zur Fahrt um die Insel braucht nämlich ein Lastschiff beinah
acht Tage, und dabei ist sie nur durch eine etwa zwanzig
Stadien breite Meerenge vom Festlande getrennt.

Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponèse First1KGreek (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése, Vol. 1-2. Zévort, Marie Charles, translator. Paris: Charpentier, 1852.) — 6.1 focus

I. Le même hiver, les Athéniens résolurent de descendre de nouveau en Sicile, avec des armements plus considérables que ceux de Lachés et d’Eurymédon, et de la soumettre, s’il, était possible. La plupart d’entre eux ignoraient la grandeur de l'ile, le nombre de ses habitants, Grecs et Barbares; ils ne soupçonnaient pas que la guerre qu’ils allaient entreprendre ne le cédait que de bien peu en importance à celle du Péloponnèse. En effet, le périple de la Sicile n’est guère de moins de huit jours pour un vaisseau de transport; et cette Ile si vaste n’est séparée du continent que par un bras de mer de vingt stades¹.

Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése First1KGreek (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése. Bétant, Élie-Ami, translator. Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette, 1863.) — 6.1 focus

Le même hiver, les Athéniens formèrent le projet de retourner dans la Sicile avec des forces supérieures à celles de Lâchés et d’Eurymédon¹, afin de la subjuguer, s’ils le pouvaient. La plupart d’entre eux ignoraient la grandeur de cette île et le nombre de ses habitants, Grecs et Barbares. Ils ne se doutaient pas que c’était entreprendre une guerre presque égale à celle du Péloponèse.

Pour faire le tour de la Sicile, il ne faut pas moins de huit ]ôuts à un bâtiment marchand. Quoique si vaste, elle n’est séparée du continent que par un bras de mer large tout au plus de vingt stades. J’indiquerai d’abord quels furent les anciens habitants de cette île et les divers peuples qui la colonisèrent.

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.) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] During the same winter the Athenians wished to¹ sail again to Sicily with a larger armament than that conducted by Laches and Eurymedon,² and subdue it, if they could, most of them being ignorant of the great size of the island and of the large number of its inhabitants, Hellenic as well as Barbarian, and that they were undertaking a war not very much inferior to that against

[2] the Peloponnesians. For the voyage round Sicily, for a merchantman, is one of not much less than eight days; and although it is so large only a distance of about twenty stadia of the sea divides the island from the mainland.

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.) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] THE same winter the Athenians wished to sail again to Sicily, with a larger armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and bring it into subjection to them, if they could; the mass of the people being ignorant of the size of the island, and the number of its inhabitants, both Greeks and barbarians; and that they were undertaking a war not much inferior in magnitude to that with the Peloponnesians.

[2]

For the voyage round Sicily in a merchant vessel is one of not much less than eight days; and ¹ though it is of such extent, it is only excluded by the space of about twenty stades of sea from being mainland.

Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci First1KGreek (Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci. Haase, Friedrich, translator. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1869.) — 6.1.1 focus

[1] Hac eadem liieme Athenienses volebant cum majore apparatu, quam erat is, quem cum Lachete et Eurymedonte miserant, rursus in Siciliam navigare et eam, si possent, subigere, quum quidem ipsorum plerique ignari essent magnitudinis illius insulae ac multitudinis et Graecorum et barbarorum in ea habitantium, et bellum se suscipere haud multo minus, quam quod adversus Peloponnesios susceperant.

[2] Nam Siciliae ambitus est non multo minor octo dierum circumnaviganti nave oneraria, et tanta quum sit, viginti tantum stadiorum ad summum maritimo spatio discluditur, ne sit continens.

La storia di Tucidide First1KGreek (Thucydides. Della storia di Tucidide volgarizzata libri otto. Anonymous translator. Florence: Tipografia Galileiana, 1835.) — 6.1 focus

In questo medesimo inverno gli Ateniesi avevàtio In animo di navigare in Sicilia con apparecchiamento maggiore di quello di Lachete e di Eurimedonte, per tentare di soggiogarla. I più di loro ignoravano la grandezza di quell’isola, e la moltitudine de’Greci e barbari che l’abitavano; e non vedevano che cosi imprenderebbero una guerra non molto inferiore a quella contro i Pelopomiesi. Imperciocché ci vogliono poco meno che otto giorni per girar la Sicilia con una nave da carico ; e sebbene sia tanto vasta, appena venti stadii di mare vi si attraversano perchè non sia terraferma.

Commentary

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

ἐβούλοντο —‘the word is here (as in Xen. Hel. III. 4, 2, and elsewhere) used not so much of will as of intention (Bloomfield). This is not accurate. Trans. ‘felt a wish.’ βούλομαι expresses a vaguer wish than διανοοῦμαι: it never means ‘make up one's mind,’ and consequently cannot, like διανοοῦμαι, be constructed with a fut. infin.

αὖθις —with ἐπὶ Σικελίαν πλεύσαντες. It is the habit of Thuc. to place the prominent word early in its clause. For the previous A. expeditions see Intr. p. x.

μείζονι παρασκευῇ —the numbers that sailed under Laches are not known. [Pythodorus and] Eurymedon took forty ships with them.

Αάχητος —in Sicily 427-426 B.C.; replaced in winter of 426 by Pythodorus. He was a supporter of Nicias in arranging the peace of 421. Plato's Laches is named after him. It has been conjectured that he is represented under Tydeus in the Supplices of Euripides (produced circ. 420 B.C.). He is the dog Labes in Aristoph. Wasps. He was attacked by Cleon.

καί —joins the names of two commanders who were not in power at the same time. Hence the full form would be τῆς μετὰ Λάχητος καὶ τῆς μετὰ Εὐρ.: but it is worth noticing how with the second of two expressions joined by καί it is possible to omit (1) the article, (2) the preposition. Such omissions are common even when the connected expressions are quite distinct.

Εὐρυμέδοντος —on returning to Athens from Sicily in 424, he had been tried on a charge of taking bribes ( γραφὴ δώρων or δωροδοκίας), and was fined. He was not στρατηγός again until 414 B.C. This long period of retirement is probably connected with his trial and condemnation.

ἐπὶ Σ. πλεύσαντες καταστρέψασθαι —it is regular to construct the common object of a partieiple and verb so as to suit the participle.

ἄπειροι οἱ πολλοί —in limiting apposition to Ἀθηναῖοι. Thuc. enlarges or contracts the subject at will.

τοῦ μεγέθους . . τοῦ πλήθους — chiasmus is so common in Thuc. as to amount to a mannerism. Cf. V. 61 τήν τε τοῦ τείχους ἀσθενείαν καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ τὸ πλῆθος. (On μέγεθος and πλῆθος τῶν ἐνοικούντων in reference to the City see Aristot. Pol. 1326 a, with Fowler's City-State, p. 276.)

καὶ ὅτι —a clause introduced by ὅτι in either of its meanings is often co-ordinated to a noun, as in VII. 58 , 4 διὰ μέγεθός τε πόλεως καὶ ὅτι (‘because’) ἐν μεγίστῳ κινδύνῳ ἦσαν. Cf. Demosth. VIII. 71 οὐδὲν ἂν τούτων εἴτοιμι, ἀλλ) ὅτι . . οὐδὲν πολιτεύομαι. (1) A similar use of ‘and that’ is common in eighteenth-centnry English prose; as also is (2) the habit of using together two constructions after a single verb or governing expression—here τοῦ μεγέθους . . καὶ ὅτι after ἄπειροι ὄντες. Thus in VIII. 4 , 1 we have παρεσκευάζοντο δὲ . . τήν τε ναυπηγίαν καὶ Σούνιον τειχίσαντες: Addison has ‘It was his design to marry her to such a gentleman, and that her wedding should be celebrated on such a day’; ‘They believe the same of all works of art . . and that, as any one of these things perish, their souls go into another world’; Cowper has ‘The fine gentleman would find his ceilings too low, and that his casements admitted too much wind’; Johnson, ‘They think veneration gained by such appearances of wisdom, but that no ideas are annexed to the words.’ Thackeray, Carlyle, and Ruskin also indulge in this and similar constructions.

οὐ πολλῷ τινι —Hudson wrongly says ‘ τινι videtur πλεονάζειν.’ Greek has three words for our ‘very,’ ‘really,’ or ‘actually’ ( quidam with adjeetives)—(1) τις (generally with adjectives of degree); (2) πάνυ and σφόδρα (often with words other than numcrals which cannot be compared. See Class. Rev. VIII. p. 152 b). With negatives τις or πάνυ or both together can be used. (See Stein on Herod. V. 33 .)

ὑποδεἐστερον —antithesis to μεγέθους καὶ πλήθους, as in II. 89 , 6 ἐκ πολλῷ ὑποδεεστέρων . . μέγα τι τῆς διανοίας τὸ βέβαιον ἔχοντες : V. 20 ὑποδεέστερον ὂν τὰ μέγιστα τιμήσει.

ἀνῃροῦντο —the pres and imperf., especially of - γίγνομαι and - δίδωμι, often express intention or attempt; as Aristoph. Pax 408 προδίδοτον τὴν Ἑλλάδα: Eur H. F 538 καὶ τἄμ’ ἔθνῃσκε τέκν), ἀπωλλύμην δ’ ἐγώ liberi mei morituri erant, ego autem peritura.

Σικελίας —here follows a description of Sicily, in which Thuc., ‘like Herodotus, retains the spirit of the older geographers and logographers,’ and writes with something of the grace that characterises the style of Herodotus. It has been commonly supposed since Nicbuhr that Thuc. borrows from his contemporary Antiochus of Syracuse—so Goller, Wolfflin, Classen, Mahaffy,—but there is no certainty (see Freeman, Hist. Sic. I. p. 456). Thuc. probably visited Sicily during his exile.

ἔλασσον —not ἐλάσσων: the adverbs πλέον, ἔλασσον are regularly used in such cases. Cf. c. 95, 1 ἐπράθη ταλάντων οὐκ ἔλασσον πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι. The repetition of οὐ πολλῷ τινι emphasises the vastness of the undertaking.

ἡμερῶν —so II. 97 , 1 περίπλους τεσσάρων ἡμερῶν. The length of the coasts of Sicily is 512 miles. In ancient times, astronomy not being applied to navigation, distance round the coasts of a country of which the measurements were unknown, could be reckoned only by the time occupied in the voyage.

τοσαύτη οὖσα —Thuc. ‘seems to think that there is a geographical incongruity in so large an island being separated from the mainland by so narrow a channel’ (note in Jowett); or rather, he adds as a second proof of the geographical importance of the island—and consequently of the magnitude of the new undertaking—the fact that Sicily, in addition to its size, is so close to the mainland as to be almost part of the continent. Athens was in the habit of reducing islands— πλεύσαντες καταστρέψασθαι—but she had not the means for reducing a large continental country. (Stein explains similarly.)

ἐν . . μέτρῳ —a difficult use of ἑν in its quasi-instrumental sense, ‘ res in qua aliqua actio vel qualitas cernitur.’ c. 16, 5 ἔν τινος λαμπρότητι προέσχον is the same use. It is from this use that adverbial phrases like ἐν τάχει come.

τὸ μή —Soph. Phil. 1141 ἔστιν τις ἔστιν ὅς σε κωλύσει τὸ δρᾶν. M.T. 811: Wecklein on Agam. 1588. It is internal accus.

εἶναι —see crit. note. Poppo defended οὖσα here as a confusion between two constructions; but Classen is probably right in thinking that οὖσα got in from τοσαύτη οὖσα above. Among recent critics, only L. Herbst defends οὖσα: he thinks that τό does not affect the construction here and in other places, but is used as a demonstrative particle. Would μή then be possible?

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 6.1

Adolf Wahrmund (Translator)

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Sechstes Buch.

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