THUCYDIDES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOOK 1
[24] Epidamnus is a city
situated on the right hand as you sail into the Ionian Gulf; and bordering upon
it are the barbarian Taulantii, an Illyrian people. (2) The Corcyraeans colonised this city, and its
founder was Phalius the son of Eratocleides, a Corinthian by race and of the
lineage of Heracles, who according to the ancient custom was invited [for this
purpose] from the mother city. But there were also some Corinthians and others
of the Dorian race who joined in colonising it.
(3)
As time passed the city of Epidamnus became great and populous;
~
BREAK ~
[89] For it was in the
following manner that the Athenians reached the position in which they grew to
power. (2) When the Medes had retreated from Europe,
defeated on both sea and land by the Greeks, and those of them who had fled
with their ships to Mycale had been destroyed, Leotychides, king of the Lacedaimonians,
who was the leader of the Greeks at Mycale, returned home with the allies from
the Peloponese. But the Athenians, together with the allies from Ionia and the
Hellespont, who were now in revolt from the King, remained behind and laid
siege to Sestos, which was being held by the Medes; and having spent the winter
there, they took it once the barbarians
had evacuated it; and after that they sailed away from the Hellespont, each
contingent severally to his own city. (3) And the
Athenian state, when they saw that the barbarians had departed from their
territory, began immediately to carry across [fetch back] their children and
wives, and what remained of their stock, from where they had placed them for
safety; and they started preparing to rebuild the city and the walls. For of
the encircling wall only small portions had been left standing; and most of the
houses had fallen in, although a few remained, in which the chief men of the
Persians had themselves taken up their quarters.
[90] The Lacedaimonians,
perceiving what they were going to do, came on an embassy, partly because they themselves would have
been more pleased to see neither them nor anyone else in possession of a wall;
but more because their allies were urging them on and were alarmed both at the
size of their [= the Athenian] fleet which previously they had not had, and at
the valour which had been shown [by the Athenians] in the Median war. (2) So they begged them not only to refrain from
building walls [for themselves], but rather to join with them in destroying the
walls of all those cities outside of the Pelopponese who had walls standing
entire; not betraying to the Athenians the wishes and suspicions contained in
their thinking, but on the ground that the barbarian, if he were to attack
again, would not have any stronghold as a base of operations, as lately he had
in Thebes; and the Pelopponese, they said, was sufficient for all, both as a
retreat and as a base of operations. (3) After
the Lacedaimonians said this, the Athenians on the advice of Themistocles
immediately dismissed them, answering that they would send ambassadors to them
to discuss what they had said. Themistocles bade the Athenians send himself
with all speed to Lacedaimon, and not immediately to dispatch other ambassadors
chosen in addition to himself, but to wait until they had raised their wall to
the least possible height from which defence would be feasible; and [he bade]
all that were in the city en masse to work on the fortification, both
themselves and their wives and their children, sparing no stucture, whether
private or public, whence some help for the work might be forthcoming, but
razing everything. (4) After
giving these instructions and suggesting for the rest that he himself would
manage things there, he departed. (5) Coming
to Lacedaemon he did not approach the magistrates, but kept putting off and
making excuses. Whenever any of those who were in authority asked him why he
did not come before the general assembly, he said that he was waiting for his
colleagues; that owing to some engagement they had been left behind; however,
that he was expecting them to come shortly, and wondered how they were not
there yet.
[91] On hearing this they
believed Themistocles because of their friendship towards him, but when the
other arrivals also plainly indicated that the walls were being built and
already taking height, they could find no reasonable ground of disbelief. (2) Perceiving this, he [Themistocles] told them
not to be misled by reports, but rather to send of their own number men who
were trustworthy and who, having seen for themselves, could faithfully report
back.
~
BREAK ~
[96] Taking over the leadership
in this way, the allies freely consenting because of their hatred of Pausanias,
the Athenians assessed the contributions both of the states that had to supply
money against the barbarian, and of those that had to supply ships; for they
had a pretext to avenge themselves for what they had suffered by ravaging the
king’s territory. (2) And it
was then that the Hellenic Treasurers were first established for the Athenians
as an office, who used to receive the tribute; for this is what the
contribution of monies was called. The first tribute was assessed at four
hundred and sixty talents. Their treasury was [the island of ] Delos, and
meetings took place in the temple there.
[1] From this point then
begins [my account of] the war between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians and
their respective allies, during which period they no longer had dealings with
each other without needing a flag of truce, and having once commenced
hostilities, carried them on without intermission; and it has been written in
order, as the several events happened, summer by summer and winter by winter.
[34] In the course of the same
winter the Athenians, following the custom of their forefathers, celebrated at
public expense the funeral rites of those who had fallen first in this war, in
the following way. (2) After
erecting a tent, they lay out the bones of the departed for three successive
days, and each one brings to his own dead whatever he wishes. (3) When the funeral procession takes place,
wagons convey coffins of cypress wood, one for each tribe; and in it are laid
the bones of each man according to his tribe. And one empty bier is carried,
covered with a pall in honour of the missing, whose bodies could not be found
to be taken up for burial. (4) Anyone
who so wishes, whether citizen or stranger, attends the funeral; and the women
who are related [to the deceased] are present at the gravesite bewailing
them. (5) And so they place them [= the coffins] in the
public burial ground, which is situated in the most beautiful suburb of the city;
and in this place do they always bury those who have died in war, except those
who fell at Marathon: adjudging their valour to be so conspicuous, they also
made them their grave right there [on the battle field]. (6) When they have laid their remains in the
earth, a man chosen by the state, who is considered best endowed with wisdom
and is foremost in reputation, delivers over them a eulogy that is fitting; and
after this they depart. (7) In this
way they bury; and throughout the war, whenever occasion arose for them, they
observed the custom. (8) Now it
was over these first [victims of the war] that Pericles the son of Xanthippus
was chosen to speak. And when the proper time came, advancing from the
sepulchre onto a platform which had been erected high, in order that he might
be heard as far as possible in the crowd, he spoke as follows:
[35] Most of those who have
spoken here in the past commend the man who added to our ceremony this oration,
[feeling] that it is good that it should be spoken over those who are being
buried from the wars. To me, however, it would have seemed sufficient, when men
have been valiant in deed, that by deed also should be made manifest their
honours - such as even now you see in connection with this burial organised by
the state – and not that the valour of many should be hazarded on one man to be
believed [or not] according as he spoke either well or ill. (2) For it is hard to speak properly in a case
where even the impression of truthfulness is difficult to obtain. For the
hearer who is cognisant-of-the-facts and well-disposed [to the dead] may
perhaps think the demonstration to be insufficient, in comparison with what he
wishes and understands; while he who is not so informed, may think that it has
even been exaggerated, if, on account of envy, he were to hear of an exploit
beyond his own capacity. For the praises that are spoken about other men are
tolerable only in so far as each one thinks that he too has the ability to
perform any of the exploits of which he hears; but that which exceeds these
[panegyrics] they at once envy and discredit.
(3)
However, since this practice has thus been approved by our ancestors to
be acceptable, it is necessary for me too, following the law, to try-to-satisfy
the wishes and beliefs of each one of you, to the best of my ability.
BOOK
4
[1] The following summer,
about the time of the corn's coming into ear, ten Syracusan ships and an equal
number of Locrians put to sea and occupied Messene in Sicily, at the invitation
of (the Messenians) themselves, and Messene revolted from Athens. (2) The chief reason for this act, on the part of
the Syracusans, was that they saw that the place afforded an approach to Sicily
and were afraid that the Athenians might some day make it a base of operations
from which to proceed against themselves with a larger expedition; whereas the
motive of the Locrians was their hostility to the Rhegians, and their wish to
reduce them by both land and sea. (3) And at
this same time the Locrians had invaded the territory of the Rhegians with all
their forces, lest they go to the aid of the Messenians; besides the fact that
some Rhegian exiles who were living among them [= the Locrians] had been
calling them in [to make the invasion]. For Rhegium had for a long time been in
a state of revolution, and it was impossible at the present to make a defence
against the Locrians; wherefore they were all the more for attacking. (4) After devastating the country the Locrians
retired with their land forces, but their ships remained to guard Messene. And
other ships, now being manned, were intended to come to anchor at the place and
to carry on the war from there.
[2] About the same time that
spring, before the corn was ripe, the Peloponnesians and their allies invaded
Attica (and leading them was Agis son of Archidamus, king of the
Lacedaimonians), and encamping there they ravaged the country. (2) But the Athenians despatched the forty ships
to Sicily, as they had planned, and the remaining generals, Eurymedon and
Sophocles. For Pythodorus, the third of their number, had already arrived in
Sicily before them. (3) They
also told these, as they sailed past Corcyra, to have a care for the Corcyreans
who were in the city, and who were being plundered by the exiles on the
mountain; and sixty ships of the Peloponnesians had already sailed there as an
assistance to those on the mountain, and believing that, as there was a great
famine in the city, they would easily get control of the situation. (4) And Demosthenes, who had continued in a
private capacity after his return from Acarnania, was at his own request
authorised by them to use these [40] ships, if he so wished, in operations
about the Peloponnese.
[84] The next summer Alcibiades
sailed to Argos with twenty ships and seized such Argives as seemed still to be
viewed with suspicion and to be on the side of the Lacedaemonians, three
hundred men, and these the Athenians deposited in the nearby islands over which
they ruled. The Athenians also made an expedition against the island of Melos
with thirty ships of their own, six Chian and two Lesbian, and twelve hundred
of their own hoplites, three hundred bowmen, twenty mounted archers, and from
their allies and the islanders about fifteen hundred hoplites. (2) Now the Melians are colonists of the
Lacedaemonians, and were unwilling to obey the Athenians like the rest of the
islanders, but at first remained quiet as neutrals; then, when the Athenians
tried to force them by ravaging their land, they went openly to war with
them. (3) Accordingly, having encamped in their
territory with these forces, the generals, Cleomedes son of Lycomedes and
Teisias son of Teisimachus, before doing any harm to the land, first sent
envoys to hold a conference with them. These envoys the Melians did not bring
before their popular assembly, but bade them tell, before the magistrates and
the few, what they had come about. The Athenian envoys then spoke as follows:
Athenians
[85] Since our negotiations are not to go on
before the people, apparently lest the multitude hear from us once and for all,
in a continuous speech, arguments seductive and irrefutable and thereby be
deceived (for we know that this is what your bringing us before the few means),
do you who are seated here pursue a course more cautious still. Be particular
and do not you either be judgemental in a single speech, but reply at once to
any proposal of ours that seems inconvenient to you. And first tell us whether
you are pleased with what we propose.
[1] Gylippus and Pythen, when
they had refitted their ships, sailed along from Tarentum to Epizephyrian
Locris. And receiving now the more
correct information that Syracuse was not yet completely invested, but that it
was still possible for an army arriving by way of Epipolae to enter it, they
deliberated whether they should keep Sicily on their right and risk sailing in
[by sea], or whether keeping it on their left they should first sail to Himera,
taking with them both the people there and any other forces that they might
persuade to join them, and so proceed by land.
(2)
They decided to sail for Himera, especially since the four Athenian
ships - which Nicias had dispatched after all, upon learning that the enemy's
ships were at Locri - had not yet arrived at Rhegium. Anticipating this
guard-squadron, they crossed over the strait, and after touching at Rhegium and
Messene, arrived at Himera. (3) While
they were there they persuaded the Himeraeans to join them in the war, and both
themselves to accompany them, and to furnish arms for as many of the sailors
from their ships as had none (for they had beached their ships at Himera); and
they sent and bade the Selinuntines to meet them with all their forces at a
certain place. (4) The Geloans and some of the Sicels also
promised to send them a small force, [a people] who were ready to join them
with much greater eagerness, both because of the recent death of Archonidas,
who, being king of some of the Sicels in that region, and being a man of some
influence, had been a friend of the Athenians; and because Gylippus was thought
to have come from Lacedaemon full of zeal.
(5)
And so Gylippus took with him those of his own seamen and marines who
were equipped with arms, about seven hundred, Himeraean hoplites and
light-armed troops together [mustering] a thousand and one hundred cavalry,
some light-armed troops and cavalry of the Selinuntines, a few Geloans, and
about a thousand Sicels in all, and so began his advance against Syracuse.
[11] What has been done before
this, Athenians, you have been informed in many other letters; but now more
than ever is the time for you to learn in what condition we are and then to
take counsel. (2) When, then, in most of our battles we had
beaten the Syracusans, against whom we were sent, and had built the walls in
which we now are, there came Gylippus, a Lacedaimonian, with an army from the
Peloponnese and some of the cities in Sicily. In the first battle he was
defeated by us, but in the battle on the following day, under pressure from
their numerous cavalry and javelin-men, we retired within our walls. (3) At present, therefore, ceasing from our
blockade-work because of the superior number of the enemy, we are lying still (for
we would not even be able to use all our forces, the guarding of the walls
having absorbed a considerable part of our heavy infantry); while they, on the
other hand, have built past us a single wall, so that it is no longer possible
to invest them, unless one were to assault this counter-wall with a large force
and take it. (4) And so it has turned out that we, who are
thought to be besieging others, are rather ourselves under siege, at least as
far as operations by land are concerned; for we cannot even go out far into the
country because of their cavalry.