hominum animos concitavit ut ab Atheniensibus desciscerent. Tum Cleoni,[1] cui contigerat[2] ut Spartanos in Sphacteria capere posset, datur negotium ut expulsis Spartanis, Thraces in officium reduceret. Is, conserta ad Amphipolim[3] acie, cum militiae imperitissimus esset, devictus in fugam se recepit: fugientem miles quidam Spartanus obtruncavit. Quo in proelio et Brasidae, dum[4] princeps pugnam ciet, vita erepta est.
157.—Inde cum utramque gentem belli poenitere coepisset, mortuo insuper Cleone, qui auctor belli imprimis fuerat, foedus ea condicione ictum est ut captivi et si qua[5] loca armis capta essent, statim restituerentur: exceptis iis locis quae ultro Atheniensibus neque ulla vi coacta[6] se tradidissent. Ceterum locis ceteris restitutis Amphipolis penes Spartanos fuit. Reputanti[7] autem quidnam eo bello sit effectum, apparebit Spartanos multum detrimenti accepisse, dedecoris etiam nonnihil, tot viris in Sphacteria captis, Atheniensibus autem parum nocitum esse,[8] cum hostes non semel vicerint, et si quam cladem acceperint, eam Dis potissimum attribuendam esse, qui morbo tot hominibus viduare urbem voluerint.
158.—Neque tamen ea pax omnibus neque inter alios Alcibiadi cordi[9] erat. Is nobili stirpe oriundus, vir alieni appetens, sui profusus, idem coercentium[10] impatiens, ut omnia quae vellet[11] spretis legibus faciebat, ita[12] civibus sua consilia probare poterat. Cui ubi apparuit nonnullas Peloponnesiorum civitates iugum Spartanorum aegre ferentes socios se Argivis adiungere, civibus persuasit uti cum Argivis[13] foedus icerent. Mox Athenienses
cum illis in Arcadiam ubi incursionem fecerunt a Spartanis ad Mantineam fusi fugatique sunt. Quo in proelio Agis rex
- ↑ Cleoni—Cleon, by trade a tanner, was an active politician at Athens, notorious for his violence and abusive language.
- ↑ cui contigerat—‘who had had the good fortune.’ There being no standing armies in most of the Greek states, we find the citizens serving as soldiers in different capacities for as long a time as was required.
- ↑ Amphipolis—a town in Thrace on the river Strymon.
- ↑ dum—ciet—‘while leading his men to battle.’
- ↑ si qua—Use quis for aliquis after si and num.
- ↑ neque—coacta—‘without being compelled by any forcible means.’
- ↑ reputanti—‘on reflecting,’ lit. ‘to one who reflects.’
- ↑ parum nocitum esse—‘that little harm was done.’ Remember that intransitive verbs can only be used impersonally in the passive voice.
- ↑ cordi—‘pleasing,’ lit.‘ ‘in one's heart.’ Probably the old locative case.
- ↑ coercentium—‘of restraint,’ lit. ‘of people restraining.’ This is a good instance of the preference shown by Latin writers for concrete words, as opposed to the English fondness for abstract ideas.
- ↑ quae vellet—50, note.
- ↑ ut—ita—‘while—yet.’
- ↑ Argivis—The people of Argos, the capital of Argolis in the Peloinland region of the Peloponnesus,
