- 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-grc2:5.97.1-5.97.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Aristagoras, driven from Sparta, arrives in Athens and appeals for aid by describing Persian wealth and their ease of conquest. The Athenians are persuaded and vote to send twenty ships to assist the Ionians, an action that marks the beginning of great evils.
νομίζουσι1 δὲ ταῦτα καὶ διαβεβλημένοισι2 ἐς τοὺς Πέρσας, ἐν τούτῳ δὴ τῷ καιρῷ ὁ Μιλήσιος Ἀρισταγόρης, ὑπὸ Κλεομένεος τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίου ἐξελασθεὶς ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης, ἀπίκετο ἐς Ἀθήνας· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πόλις τῶν λοιπέων ἐδυνάστευε μέγιστον. ἐπελθὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον ὁ Ἀρισταγόρης ταὐτὰ ἔλεγε τὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ περὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ καὶ τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ Περσικοῦ, ὡς οὔτε ἀσπίδα οὔτε δόρυ νομίζουσι εὐπετέες τε χειρωθῆναι εἴησαν.
While the Athenians were of this mind and were already on bad terms with the Persians, at this very moment Aristagoras the Milesian, having been driven out of Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, arrived in Athens; for this city was the most powerful of the rest. Coming before the assembly of the people, Aristagoras said the same things that he had said in Sparta about the good things in Asia and the Persian style of warfare, how they used neither shield nor spear and were easy to conquer.
ταῦτά τε δὴ ἔλεγε καὶ πρὸς τοῖσι τάδε, ὡς οἱ Μιλήσιοι τῶν Ἀθηναίων εἰσὶ ἄποικοι, καὶ οἰκός σφεας εἴη ῥύεσθαι δυναμένους μέγα· καὶ οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐκ3 ὑπίσχετο οἷα κάρτα δεόμενος, ἐς ὃ ἀνέπεισε σφέας. πολλοὺς γὰρ οἶκε εἶναι εὐπετέστερον διαβάλλειν4 ἢ ἕνα, εἰ Κλεομένεα μὲν τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον μοῦνον οὐκ οἷός τε ἐγένετο διαβάλλειν, τρεῖς δὲ μυριάδας Ἀθηναίων ἐποίησε τοῦτο.
He said these things, and in addition to them, that the Milesians were colonists of the Athenians, and that it was reasonable that the Athenians, being very powerful, should protect them; and there was nothing he did not promise, like one in desperate need, until he finally persuaded them. For it seems indeed easier to deceive many than one, since, while he was unable to deceive Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian alone, he did this to thirty thousand Athenians.
Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν δὴ ἀναπεισθέντες ἐψηφίσαντο εἴκοσι νέας ἀποστεῖλαι βοηθοὺς Ἴωσι, στρατηγὸν ἀποδέξαντες αὐτῶν εἶναι Μελάνθιον ἄνδρα τῶν ἀστῶν ἐόντα τὰ πάντα δόκιμον· αὗται δὲ αἱ νέες ἀρχὴ κακῶν ἐγένοντο Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροισι.
The Athenians, thus persuaded, voted to send twenty ships to help the Ionians, appointing as their commander Melanthius, a citizen who was in all respects distinguished. And these ships became the beginning of evils for both Greeks and barbarians.
- 5.97.1νομίζουσι
This νομίζουσι is the third-person plural present active indicative of νομίζω, meaning 'to use' or 'to be accustomed to.' Although spelled identically to the participle at the beginning of the section, it functions here as a finite verb with 'the Persians' as its subject.
- 5.97.1νομίζουσι ... διαβεβλημένοισι
The dative plural present participle νομίζουσι (from νομίζω) and perfect passive participle διαβεβλημένοισι (from διαβάλλω) agree with the implied Athenian context (such as Ἀθηναίοισι or σφι from 5.96.2), functioning as a circumstantial dative. It should not be confused with the third-person plural indicative verb.
- 5.97.2οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐκ
A double negation expressing a strong affirmation ('there was nothing which he did not promise,' i.e., 'he promised absolutely everything').
- 5.97.2διαβάλλειν
While in the previous section (5.96.1) διαβάλλειν meant 'to slander,' here it is used in the sense of 'to deceive,' 'to mislead,' or 'to win over by false representations.'