- 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-grc2:5.14.1-5.14.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Darius writes a letter to Megabazus in Thrace, ordering him to deport the Paeonians and bring them to him. Upon receiving the letter, Megabazus takes Thracian guides and marches against Paeonia.
ἐνθαῦτα Δαρεῖος γράφει γράμματα Μεγαβάζῳ, τὸν1 ἔλιπε ἐν τῇ Θρηίκῃ στρατηγόν, ἐντελλόμενος ἐξαναστῆσαι ἐξ ἠθέων Παίονας καὶ παρʼ ἑωυτὸν ἀγαγεῖν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ τέκνα τε καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας αὐτῶν.
Thereupon Darius wrote a letter to Megabazus, whom he had left as general in Thrace, commanding him to remove the Paeonians from their homeland and bring them into his presence, both themselves and their children and their wives.
αὐτίκα δὲ ἱππεὺς ἔθεε φέρων τὴν ἀγγελίην ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, περαιωθεὶς δὲ διδοῖ2 τὸ βυβλίον τῷ Μεγαβάζῳ. ὁ δὲ ἐπιλεξάμενος3 καὶ λαβὼν ἡγεμόνας ἐκ τῆς Θρηίκης ἐστρατεύετο ἐπὶ τὴν Παιονίην.
And immediately a horseman rode carrying the message to the Hellespont, and having crossed over, he gave the letter to Megabazus. He, having read it and taken guides from Thrace, marched against Paeonia.
- 5.14.1τὸν
Relative pronoun. In the Ionic dialect, the form of the definite article (here accusative masculine singular τὸν) is used as a relative pronoun instead of the Attic ὅν. The antecedent is Μεγαβάζῳ.
- 5.14.2διδοῖ
Third-person singular present indicative active of δίδωμι (to give). In the Ionic dialect, the form διδοῖ, derived from a contract verb-like secondary form διδόω, is frequently used instead of the standard δίδωσι.
- 5.14.2ἐπιλεξάμενος
Aorist middle participle of ἐπιλέγομαι. While it can mean "to choose", in Herodotus and Ionic prose in general it commonly means "to read" (e.g., a letter). Here it means "having read [the letter]".