- 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-grc2:4.130.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The incident of the asses had little impact on the war, and the Scythians used a tactic of leaving some of their sheep behind before retreating, allowing the Persians to capture them and feel encouraged, in order to prolong their stay and increase their hardship.
ταῦτα μέν νυν ἐπὶ σμικρόν τι ἐφέροντο1 τοῦ πολέμου. οἱ δὲ Σκύθαι ὅκως2 τοὺς Πέρσας ἴδοιεν τεθορυβημένους, ἵνα παραμένοιεν τε ἐπὶ πλέω χρόνον ἐν τῇ Σκυθικῇ καὶ παραμένοντες ἀνιῴατο3 τῶν πάντων ἐπιδευέες ἐόντες, ἐποίεον τοιάδε· ὅκως τῶν προβάτων τῶν σφετέρων αὐτῶν καταλίποιεν μετὰ τῶν νομέων, αὐτοὶ ἂν ὑπεξήλαυνον ἐς ἄλλον χῶρον. οἱ δὲ ἂν Πέρσαι ἐπελθόντες λάβεσκον τὰ πρόβατα καὶ λαβόντες ἐπηείροντο4 ἂν τῷ πεποιημένῳ.
These things, then, had only a small influence on the war. But the Scythians, whenever they saw the Persians thrown into confusion, in order that they might remain for a longer time in Scythia and, by remaining, might suffer from being in want of all things, would do as follows: whenever they left some of their own sheep behind with the shepherds, they themselves would ride away to another place. And the Persians, coming upon them, would seize the sheep, and having seized them, they would be greatly encouraged by what had happened.
- 4.130.1ἐφέροντο
This verb is used in the middle voice with the phrase ἐπὶ σμικρόν τι (only a little) and the partitive genitive τοῦ πολέμου (of the war) to mean "they contributed only a little to the war" or "had only a small influence on the war."
- 4.130.1ὅκως
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) followed by the optative mood (ἴδοιεν, καταλίποιεν) expresses past general or repeated action ("whenever they saw/left"). It corresponds to the iterative construction with ἂν + imperfect (ὑπεξήλαυνον) or the iterative suffix -σκον (λάβεσκον) in the main clauses.
- 4.130.1ἀνιῴατο
The 3rd person plural present (or imperfect) optative middle/passive of ἀνιάω (to distress, vex). In the Ionic dialect, the ending -ατο is used instead of the standard -ντο.
- 4.130.1ἐπηείροντο
The 3rd person plural imperfect middle/passive of ἐπαίρω (to raise, elate). It features the Ionic spelling with temporal augment (ἐπηείροντο for ἐπήιροντο), meaning here in the passive "they were elated" or "they were greatly encouraged (by what had happened)."