Thucydides I.2
Bernardo CDA Vasconcelos / Thucydides
- Created on 2018-09-06 20:42:13
- Modified on 2019-01-22 15:46:33
- Translated by JEREMY MYNOTT
- Aligned by Bernardo CDA Vasconcelos
History of the Peloponnesian War
Ἑλληνική Transliterate
English
φαίνεται γὰρ ἡ νῦν Ἑλλὰς καλουμένη οὐ πάλαι βεβαίως οἰκουμένη , ἀλλὰ μεταναστάσεις τε οὖσαι τὰ πρότερα καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἕκαστοι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπολείποντες βιαζόμενοι ὑπό τινων αἰεὶ πλειόνων . τῆς γὰρ ἐμπορίας οὐκ οὔσης , οὐδ ' ἐπιμειγνύντες ἀδεῶς ἀλλήλοις οὔτε κατὰ γῆν οὔτε διὰ θαλάσσης , νεμόμενοί τε τὰ αὑτῶν ἕκαστοι ὅσον ἀποζῆν καὶ περιουσίαν χρημάτων οὐκ ἔχοντες οὐδὲ γῆν φυτεύοντες , ἄδηλον ὂν ὁπότε τις ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀτειχίστων ἅμα ὄντων ἄλλος ἀφαιρήσεται , τῆς τε καθ ' ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίου τροφῆς πανταχοῦ ἂν ἡγούμενοι ἐπικρατεῖν , οὐ χαλεπῶς ἀπανίσταντο , καὶ δι ' αὐτὸ οὔτε μεγέθει πόλεων ἴσχυον οὔτε τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ . μάλιστα δὲ τῆς γῆς ἡ ἀρίστη αἰεὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν οἰκητόρων εἶχεν , ἥ τε νῦν Θεσσαλία καλουμένη καὶ Βοιωτία Πελοποννήσου τε τὰ πολλὰ πλὴν Ἀρκαδίας , τῆς τε ἄλλης ὅσα ἦν κράτιστα . διὰ γὰρ ἀρετὴν γῆς αἵ τε δυνάμεις τισὶ μείζους ἐγγιγνόμεναι στάσεις ἐνεποίουν ἐξ ὧν ἐφθείροντο , καὶ ἅμα ὑπὸ ἀλλοφύλων μᾶλλον ἐπεβουλεύοντο . τὴν γοῦν Ἀττικὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διὰ τὸ λεπτόγεων ἀστασίαστον οὖσαν ἄνθρωποι ᾤκουν οἱ αὐτοὶ αἰεί . καὶ παράδειγμα τόδε τοῦ λόγου οὐκ ἐλάχιστόν ἐστι διὰ τὰς μετοικίας ἐς τὰ ἄλλα μὴ ὁμοίως αὐξηθῆναι · ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος οἱ πολέμῳ ἢ στάσει ἐκπίπτοντες παρ ' Ἀθηναίους οἱ δυνατώτατοι ὡς βέβαιον ὂν ἀνεχώρουν , καὶ πολῖται γιγνόμενοι εὐθὺς ἀπὸ παλαιοῦ μείζω ἔτι ἐποίησαν πλήθει ἀνθρώπων τὴν πόλιν , ὥστε καὶ ἐς Ἰωνίαν ὕστερον ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῆς οὔσης τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἀποικίας ἐξέπεμψαν .
It
is
evident
that
long
ago
what
is
now
called
‘Hellas’
had
no
stable
settlements
;
instead
there
were
various
migrations
in
these
early
times
and
each
group
readily
abandoned
their
own
territory
whenever
forced
to
do
so
by
those
with
superior
numbers
.
For
there
was
no
commerce
and
people
were
insecure
about
making
contact
with
each
other
either
by
land
or
sea
,
so
they
each
lived
off
their
own
land
just
at
subsistence
level
and
neither
produced
any
surplus
goods
nor
planted
the
ground
,
since
they
had
no
walls
and
never
knew
when
some
invader
might
come
and
rob
them
.
They
took
the
view
that
they
could
secure
their
daily
needs
for
sustenance
anywhere
,
and
so
were
not
exercised
about
uprooting
and
moving
on
,
with
the
consequence
that
they
had
no
cities
of
any
size
or
other
general
resources
to
make
them
strong
.
It
was
always
the
finest
land
that
was
most
subject
to
changes
of
population
:
namely
,
what
is
now
called
Thessaly
,
Boeotia
,
most
of
the
Peloponnese
excluding
Arcadia
,
and
the
best
parts
elsewhere
.
And
the
quality
of
the
land
gave
some
groups
more
power
than
others
,
and
that
led
to
internal
conflict
,
which
destroyed
them
and
at
the
same
time
encouraged
outsiders
to
have
designs
on
them
.
Attica
,
at
any
rate
,
has
been
free
of
such
strife
from
the
earliest
times
on
account
of
its
poor
soil
and
has
always
been
inhabited
by
the
same
people
.
This
is
a
good
illustration
of
my
argument
that
it
was
because
of
relocations
that
other
places
did
not
develop
in
the
same
way
as
Attica
;
for
the
most
powerful
figures
from
other
parts
of
Greece
,
who
were
driven
out
either
by
war
or
internal
conflict
,
resorted
to
the
safety
of
Athens
,
and
by
becoming
citizens
right
from
the
very
earliest
times
they
so
increased
the
city’s
population
that
Attica
could
not
contain
them
and
the
Athenians
later
sent
out
colonies
to
occupy
Ionia
as
well
.