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 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 ἀρίστη αἰεὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν οἰκητόρων εἶχεν , 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 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 .

( 23 ) 9% GRC
( 222 ) 91% GRC - ENG

( 322 ) 92% GRC - ENG
( 29 ) 8% ENG