- 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-grc2:6.107.1-6.107.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Hippias, guided by a dream that he interpreted as a sign of his return to power in Athens, leads the Persian forces to Marathon and organizes them, but after losing a tooth in the sand due to a violent cough, he realizes that he will never conquer the land.
οὗτοι μέν νυν τὴν πανσέληνον ἔμενον. τοῖσι δὲ βαρβάροισι κατηγέετο Ἱππίης ὁ Πεισιστράτου ἐς τὸν Μαραθῶνα, τῆς παροιχομένης νυκτὸς ὄψιν ἰδὼν τοιήνδε· ἐδόκεε ὁ Ἱππίης1 τῇ μητρὶ τῇ ἑωυτοῦ συνευνηθῆναι.
These, then, were waiting for the full moon. But for the barbarians, Hippias, the son of Pisistratus, was leading the way to Marathon, having seen in the past night a vision of this kind: it seemed to Hippias that he lay with his own mother.
συνεβάλετο ὦν ἐκ τοῦ ὀνείρου κατελθὼν ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ ἀνασωσάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν τελευτήσειν ἐν τῇ ἑωυτοῦ γηραιός.2 ἐκ μὲν δὴ τῆς ὄψιος συνεβάλετο ταῦτα, τότε δὲ κατηγεόμενος τοῦτο μὲν τὰ ἀνδράποδα τὰ ἐξ Ἐρετρίης ἀπέβησε ἐς τὴν νῆσον τὴν Στυρέων, καλεομένην δὲ Αἰγλείην, τοῦτο δὲ καταγομένας ἐς τὸν Μαραθῶνα τὰς νέας ὅρμιζε οὗτος, ἐκβάντας τε ἐς γῆν τοὺς βαρβάρους διέτασσε.
He inferred, therefore, from the dream that he would return to Athens, recover his power, and die an old man in his own land. On the one hand, he inferred this from the vision; but on the other hand, at that time, as he led the way, he on the one part landed the captives from Eretria on the island of the Styrians, called Aeglia, and on the other part anchored the ships as they came to land at Marathon, and drew up the barbarians who had gone ashore.
καί οἱ ταῦτα διέποντι ἐπῆλθε πταρεῖν τε καὶ βῆξαι μεζόνως ἢ ὡς ἐώθεε· οἷα δέ οἱ πρεσβυτέρῳ ἐόντι3 τῶν ὀδόντων οἱ πλεῦνες ἐσείοντο· τούτων ὦν ἕνα τῶν ὀδόντων ἐκβάλλει ὑπὸ βίης βήξας· ἐκπεσόντος δὲ ἐς τὴν ψάμμον αὐτοῦ ἐποιέετο σπουδὴν πολλὴν ἐξευρεῖν.
And while he was directing these matters, it befell him to sneeze and cough more violently than he was accustomed; and since he was an elderly man, most of his teeth were loose. Therefore, coughing with force, he cast out one of these teeth; and as it fell into the sand, he made a great effort to find it.
ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἐφαίνετό οἱ ὁ ὀδών, ἀναστενάξας εἶπε πρὸς τοὺς παραστάτας ἡ γῆ ἥδε οὐκ ἡμετέρη ἐστί, οὐδέ μιν δυνησόμεθα ὑποχειρίην ποιήσασθαι· ὁκόσον δέ τι μοι μέρος μετῆν,4 ὁ ὀδὼν μετέχει.
But when the tooth did not appear to him, he groaned aloud and said to those standing by: “This land is not ours, nor shall we be able to bring it under our subjection; but whatever share of it belonged to me, my tooth possesses.”
- 6.107.1ἐδόκεε ὁ Ἱππίης
ἐδόκεε (it seemed) is not used impersonally here, but rather as a personal construction with the nominative ὁ Ἱππίης as its subject. Literally, "Hippias seemed to have slept with...", which is equivalent to "Hippias dreamed that he slept with...". In Greek, the personal construction is preferred over the impersonal "it seemed to him that...".
- 6.107.2τελευτήσειν ... γηραιός
Since the subject of the future infinitive τελευτήσειν (that he would end his life) is the same as the subject of the main verb συνεβάλετο (Hippias), the accompanying participles κατελθὼν, ἀνασωσάμενος and the adjective γηραιός are all in the nominative case rather than the accusative. In the phrase ἐν τῇ ἑωυτοῦ (in his own), a noun like γῇ (land) or πατρίδι (homeland) is omitted.
- 6.107.3οἷα δέ οἱ πρεσβυτέρῳ ἐόντι
οἷα accompanied by the participle ἐόντι expresses an objective cause or reason ("since/as"). The dative phrase οἱ πρεσβυτέρῳ ἐόντι functions as a dative of interest or possession with the verb ἐσείοντο (were shaken), meaning "since he was an elderly man, [for him] most of his teeth were loose."
- 6.107.4ὁκόσον δέ τι μοι μέρος μετῆν
μετῆν is the imperfect tense of the impersonal verb μέτεστι (to have a share in, governing the dative). Literally, "whatever share belonged to me." It expresses Hippias's ironic resignation that his only share in the land of Attica has already been claimed by his tooth, which physically remains in its soil.