- 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-grc2:4.142.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
While the Persians successfully escape, the Scythians fail to find them for the second time and bitterly criticize the Ionians, calling them the most cowardly as free men, and the most obedient as slaves.
Πέρσαι μὲν ὦν οὕτω ἐκφεύγουσι Σκύθαι δὲ διζήμενοι καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἥμαρτον τῶν Περσέων, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὡς ἐόντας Ἴωνας ἐλευθέρους κακίστους τε καὶ ἀνανδροτάτους κρίνουσι εἶναι ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων, τοῦτο δέ,1 ὡς δούλων ἐόντων2 τὸν λόγον ποιεύμενοι, ἀνδράποδα φιλοδέσποτα φασὶ εἶναι καὶ ἄδρηστα.3 ταῦτα μὲν δὴ Σκύθῃσι ἐς Ἴωνας ἀπέρριπται.
Thus the Persians escaped; but the Scythians in their search missed the Persians a second time. On the one hand, regarding the Ionians as free men, they judged them to be the most cowardly and base of all mankind; on the other hand, making their account of them as slaves, they said they were master-loving and unable to escape. These indeed are the taunts flung by the Scythians against the Ionians.
- 4.142.1τοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δέ
An adverbial formula meaning "on the one hand ... on the other hand ...," organized with μὲν and δέ to contrast two different viewpoints.
- 4.142.1ὡς ἐόντας Ἴωνας ἐλευθέρους ... ὡς δούλων ἐόντων
The former is ὡς + accusative participle (ἐόντας) agreeing with Ἴωνας, the direct object of κρίνουσι. The latter is a genitive absolute (δούλων ἐόντων) introduced by ὡς. Both express a subjective assumption or condition, but they employ different grammatical constructions.
- 4.142.1ἄδρηστα
The adjective ἄδρηστος (from ἀ- + διδράσκω "to run away") means "not running away" or "having no spirit to escape." In this context emphasizing the submissiveness of the slaves, it is paired with "master-loving" (φιλοδέσποτα). Although some interpret it as "not doing work, useless" (from ἀ- + δράω), the meaning "unwilling/unable to escape" fits the context of slavish obedience better.