- 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-grc2:4.140.1-4.140.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The Scythians look for the Persians in fertile areas but fail due to their own scorched-earth tactics. Meanwhile, the Persians follow their original route and reach the broken bridge, falling into extreme terror for fear of being abandoned by the Ionians.
Σκύθαι μὲν τὸ δεύτερον Ἴωσι πιστεύσαντες λέγειν ἀληθέα ὑπέστρεφον ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τῶν Περσέων, καὶ ἡμάρτανον πάσης τῆς ἐκείνων διεξόδου.1 αἴτιοι δὲ τούτου αὐτοὶ οἱ Σκύθαι ἐγένοντο,τὰς νομὰς τῶν ἵππων τὰς ταύτῃ διαφθείραντες καὶ τὰ ὕδατα συγχώσαντες.
Believing for the second time that the Ionians were speaking the truth, the Scythians turned back to search for the Persians, but they missed their entire line of retreat. The Scythians themselves were the cause of this, having destroyed the pastures for the horses in this area and choked up the springs of water.
εἰ γὰρ ταῦτα μὴ ἐποίησαν, παρεῖχε ἄν σφι,2 εἰ ἐβούλοντο, εὐπετέως ἐξευρεῖν τοὺς Πέρσας. νῦν δὲ τά σφι ἐδόκεε ἄριστα βεβουλεῦσθαι, κατὰ ταῦτα ἐσφάλησαν.
For if they had not done this, it would have been easy for them, if they wished, to find the Persians. But as it was, they were frustrated by the very measures which they thought they had planned for the best.
Σκύθαι μέν νυν τῆς σφετέρης χώρης τῇ χιλός τε τοῖσι ἵπποισι καὶ ὕδατα ἦν, ταύτῃ διεξιόντες ἐδίζηντο τοὺς ἀντιπολεμίους, δοκέοντες καὶ ἐκείνους διὰ τοιούτων τὴν ἀπόδρησιν ποιέεσθαι. οἱ δὲ δὴ Πέρσαι τὸν πρότερον ἑωυτῶν γενόμενον στίβον, τοῦτον φυλάσσοντες ἤισαν, καὶ οὕτω μόγις εὗρον τὸν πόρον.
So the Scythians sought their enemies by going through those parts of their country where there was forage for the horses and water, thinking that they too were making their escape through such places. But the Persians, holding to the track they had previously made, went by this, and so with difficulty found the passage.
οἷα δὲ νυκτός τε ἀπικόμενοι3 καὶ λελυμένης τῆς γεφύρης ἐντυχόντες, ἐς πᾶσαν ἀρρωδίην ἀπίκοντο μή σφεας οἱ Ἴωνες ἔωσι ἀπολελοιπότες.
And as they arrived by night and found the bridge broken, they fell into extreme terror lest the Ionians had abandoned them.
- 4.140.1ἡμάρτανον πάσης τῆς ἐκείνων διεξόδου
The verb ἁμαρτάνω (to miss, fail to hit) governs the genitive case (πάσης... διεξόδου). Here it means 'they completely missed their line of retreat (or passage)'.
- 4.140.2παρεῖχε ἄν σφι
An impersonal use of the verb παρέχω (or with the infinitive ἐξευρεῖν as the subject), meaning 'it allowed' or 'it was possible for them.' Together with ἄν, this imperfect indicative forms the apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact condition, corresponding to the protasis εἰ... μὴ ἐποίησαν.
- 4.140.4οἷα δὲ νυκτός τε ἀπικόμενοι
The adverb οἷα (similar to οἷον or ἅτε) is used with participles (here ἀπικόμενοι and the subsequent ἐντυχόντες) to express an objective cause or reason ('inasmuch as they arrived...', 'since...').