Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 2.56.7

Friedrich Haase (Translator)

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History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides. Friedrich Haase (Translator). Paris. 1869.

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Current edition First1KGreek

Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci (Latin) (Historia Belli Peloponnesiaci. Haase, Friedrich, translator. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1869.)

Editions (1)
Ἱστορίαι Perseus (Thucydides. Historiae, Vol 1-2. Jones, Henry Stuart, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910. (1942 printing).) — 2.56.6 focus
Translations (10)
The History of the Grecian War Perseus (Thucydides. The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Hobbes, Thomas. translator. London: John Bohn, 1843.) — 2.56.6 focus
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.) — 2.56.6 focus
Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs First1KGreek (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Wahrmund, Adolf, translator. Stuttgart: Krais and Hoffmann, 1864.) — 2.56 focus
Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs First1KGreek (Thucydides. Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs. Braun, Theodor, translator. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1917.) — 2.56 focus
Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponèse First1KGreek (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése, Vol. 1-2. Zévort, Marie Charles, translator. Paris: Charpentier, 1852.) — 2.56 focus
Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése First1KGreek (Thucydides. Histoire de la Guerre du Péloponnése. Bétant, Élie-Ami, translator. Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette, 1863.) — 2.56 focus
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.) — 2.56.6 focus
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.) — 2.56.6 focus
Vier Staatsreden aus Thucydides First1KGreek (Thucydides. Vier Staatsreden aus Thucydides. Gürsching, Heinrich, translator. Augsburg: Wirth, 1856.) — 2.59.1 focus
La storia di Tucidide First1KGreek (Thucydides. Della storia di Tucidide volgarizzata libri otto. Anonymous translator. Florence: Tipografia Galileiana, 1835.) — 2.56 focus

Commentary

Commentary on Thucydides Book 2 (Thucydides, Book II. Marchant, Edgar C., editor. London: Macmillan and Company, 1891.) focus

Ἔτι δ’ —cf. c. 13, init.

τῇ Π. —the dat. depends on ἐπίπλουν. ἑτοῖμα—cf. c. 3, 4.

Ἐπὶ τῶν —see c. 80, 2

ἱππαγωγοῖς —this is the first occasion on which the Athenians used transports. (The Persians used them, Herod. VI. 48.) They were triremes (IV. 42; VI. 43 ); in 424 they were sufficiently novel to provide Aristoph. with a joke, Eq. 599. It was very important to have cavalry in the plundering expeditions, in order to be able to penetrate as far inland as possible.

Χῖοι καὶ Λ. — cf. c. 9, 4.

ναυσίν —the dat. of accompaniment, only used in naval and military phrases.

Ὅτε —the imperf., as usual, after ὅτε, denoting that the act described in the principal clause occurs at the same time as that described in the temporal clause. Cf. on c. 21, 1, and c. 99, 6.

τῆς Ἀττικῆς —for the order, cf. c. 18, 1, and contrast 4 below, where the emphasis is on Ἐπίδαυρον, whereas here the point is that the Peloponnesians were still in Attica, cf. 6 below.

Ἐπίδαυρον —the most important place yet attacked by the Athenians; it would have been valuable to them, as it lay on the road to Argos, which was then neutral (c. 9, 2) and might possibly join them if they obtained possession of so considerable a state: and other towns, as Troezen and Hermione might have fallen into their hands.

ἔτεμον —it is not clear why Pericles ravaged the country before attacking Epidaurus: probably he had planned a stratagem to seize the place with a small force while the main body was scattered about and was keeping the troops that guarded the town (only a third of the whole force of Epidaurus, c. 47, 2) occupied.

ἐς ἐλπίδα ἦλθον —the phrases ἐλπίς ἐστι, ἐν ἐλπίδι εἶναι, ἐλπίδα ἔχειν have the simple infin. aor. in most cases, as c. 80, 1; but in c. 85, 4 ἐλπίδος ούσης has the fut. infin., and in 102, 3 ἐλπὶς has ἂν παθεῖν; while in I. 144, 1 we have ἐλπίδα τοῦ περιέσεσθαι. Cf. on c. 13, 9.

οὐ μἐντοι —this failure is probably due to a rally of the inhabitants similar to that of the Plataeans, c. 3. προεχώρησε—impersonal; cf. I. 109 ὼς αὐτῷ οὐ προυχώρει ; III. 18 ἐπειδὴ οὐ προυχώρει ᾗ προσεδέχοντο; al.

Ἐκ τῆς Ἐ. —the attack on Epidaurus was the greatest enterprise of Athens before 427.

Ἁλιάδα —the country round Halice, an unimportant town on the south-east coast of Argolis.

Ἑρμιονίδα —Hermione had a territory of some extent on the coast of the Gulf of Hermione.

Πρασιάς —on north-east coast of Laconia. It suffered severely from the war, and is a proof how effective the method of Pericles was. Intr. p. lxx. Aristoph. Pax, 242 ἰὼ Πρασιαὶ τρισάθλιαι καὶ πεντάκις. οὐκέτι—nothing is said of the route taken by the Peloponnesians after they left Laurium.

κατέλαβον —always takes pres. or perf. part.: IV. 129, 1 (pres.), I. 59, 1 (perf.).