- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.170.1-1.170.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
After the subjugation of Ionia, it is recorded that Bias of Priene proposed a mass migration to Sardinia to the assembly at the Panionium, while earlier Thales of Miletus had suggested establishing a federal state centered at Teos.
κεκακωμένων δὲ Ἰώνων καὶ συλλεγομένων οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἐς τὸ Πανιώνιον, πυνθάνομαι γνώμην Βίαντα ἄνδρα Πριηνέα ἀποδέξασθαι Ἴωσι χρησιμωτάτην, τῇ εἰ ἐπείθοντο, παρεῖχε ἂν1 σφι εὐδαιμονέειν Ἑλλήνων μάλιστα·
When the Ionians were ruined and were nevertheless gathering at the Panionium, I learn that Bias of Priene put forward a most useful opinion for the Ionians, which, if they had obeyed it, would have allowed them to be the happiest of the Greeks.
ὃς ἐκέλευε κοινῷ στόλῳ Ἴωνας ἀερθέντας πλέειν ἐς Σαρδὼ καὶ ἔπειτα πόλιν μίαν κτίζειν πάντων Ἰώνων, καὶ οὕτω ἀπαλλαχθέντας σφέας δουλοσύνης εὐδαιμονήσειν, νήσων τε ἁπασέων μεγίστην νεμομένους καὶ ἄρχοντας ἄλλων· μένουσι δέ σφι2 ἐν τῇ Ἰωνίῃ οὐκ ἔφη ἐνορᾶν3 ἐλευθερίην ἔτι ἐσομένην.
He urged the Ionians to set sail with a common fleet to Sardinia and then found a single city for all Ionians, and said that, having thus been delivered from slavery, they would be happy, inhabiting the greatest of all islands and ruling over others; but if they remained in Ionia, he said he saw no prospect of freedom still remaining for them.
αὕτη μὲν Βίαντος τοῦ Πριηνέος γνώμη ἐπὶ διεφθαρμένοισι Ἴωσι γενομένη, χρηστὴ δὲ καὶ πρὶν ἢ διαφθαρῆναι Ἰωνίην Θάλεω ἀνδρὸς Μιλησίου ἐγένετο, τὸ ἀνέκαθεν γένος ἐόντος Φοίνικος, ὃς ἐκέλευε ἓν βουλευτήριον Ἴωνας ἐκτῆσθαι, τὸ δὲ εἶναι ἐν Τέῳ (Τέων γὰρ μέσον εἶναι Ἰωνίης), τὰς δὲ ἄλλας πόλιας οἰκεομένας μηδὲν ἧσσον νομίζεσθαι κατά περ ἐς δῆμοι εἶεν·4 οὗτοι μὲν δή σφι γνώμας τοιάσδε ἀπεδέξαντο.
This was the opinion of Bias of Priene, offered after the Ionians had been ruined; but even before Ionia was ruined, a useful one had been made by Thales of Miletus, who was by ancestry of Phoenician descent. He urged that the Ionians should possess a single council-chamber, and that this should be in Teos (for Teos was the center of Ionia), and that the other cities, though still inhabited, should be regarded just as if they were demes. These men indeed put forward such opinions for them.
- 1.170.1παρεῖχε ἂν
An impersonal use of the imperfect παρεῖχε with the particle ἂν, or with the preceding 'opinion' (γνώμη) as its subject. It represents the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact condition corresponding to the protasis εἰ ἐπείθοντο ('if they had obeyed'), meaning 'it would have allowed/provided them to...'.
- 1.170.2μένουσι δέ σφι
The present participle dative plural μένουσι modifies the pronoun σφι ('for them') and expresses a conditional meaning ('if they remained').
- 1.170.2οὐκ ἔφη ἐνορᾶν
The negative verb οὔ φημι (where the negation is attracted to the main verb, denying the following infinitive ἐνορᾶν) governing an accusative with infinitive construction with the future participle ἐσομένην, meaning 'he said he did not see/there was no prospect of...'.
- 1.170.3κατά περ ἐς δῆμοι εἶεν
The comparative conjunction κατά περ followed by a hypothetical expression. Some manuscripts read κατά περ εἰ δῆμοι εἶεν ('just as if they were demes'). In any case, it compares the independent cities to administrative subdivisions (demes) of a single state. The optative εἶεν expresses a hypothetical comparison.