- 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-grc2:6.117.1-6.117.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The casualties of both sides in the Battle of Marathon are recorded, followed by the miraculous story of Epizelus, an Athenian soldier who suddenly lost his sight without physical injury and claimed to have seen a gigantic phantom soldier.
ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχῃ ἀπέθανον τῶν βαρβάρων κατὰ ἑξακισχιλίους1 καὶ τετρακοσίους ἄνδρας, Ἀθηναίων δὲ ἑκατὸν καὶ ἐνενήκοντα καὶ δύο. ἔπεσον μὲν ἀμφοτέρων τοσοῦτοι.
In this battle of Marathon there fell of the barbarians about six thousand four hundred men, and of the Athenians one hundred and ninety-two. Such was the number of those who fell on both sides.
συνήνεικε2 δὲ αὐτόθι θῶμα γενέσθαι τοιόνδε, Ἀθηναῖον ἄνδρα Ἐπίζηλον τὸν Κουφαγόρεω ἐν τῇ συστάσι μαχόμενόν τε καὶ ἄνδρα γινόμενον ἀγαθὸν τῶν ὀμμάτων στερηθῆναι οὔτε πληγέντα οὐδὲν τοῦ σώματος οὔτε βληθέντα,3 καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ζόης διατελέειν ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ χρόνου ἐόντα τυφλόν.
And it happened that a wonder of this kind occurred there: an Athenian man, Epizelus the son of Couphagoras, while fighting in the close combat and behaving as a brave man, was deprived of the sight of his eyes, though he had been neither struck anywhere on his body nor hit with a missile; and from that time forward he continued to be blind for the rest of his life.
λέγειν δὲ αὐτὸν περὶ τοῦ πάθεος ἤκουσα τοιόνδε τινὰ λόγον, ἄνδρα οἱ δοκέειν ὁπλίτην ἀντιστῆναι μέγαν,4 τοῦ τὸ γένειον τὴν ἀσπίδα πᾶσαν σκιάζειν· τὸ δὲ φάσμα τοῦτο ἑωυτὸν μὲν παρεξελθεῖν, τὸν δὲ ἑωυτοῦ παραστάτην ἀποκτεῖναι. ταῦτα μὲν δὴ Ἐπίζηλον ἐπυθόμην λέγειν.
And I heard that he himself told a story of this kind about his suffering: that it seemed to him that a tall hoplite stood against him, whose beard overshadowed his whole shield; and this phantom passed him by, but killed his neighbor who stood next to him. This is what I learned that Epizelus said.
- 6.117.1κατὰ ἑξακισχιλίους
The preposition κατά used with a numeral to mean 'about' or 'approximately'. Although it takes the accusative case (ἑξακισχιλίους), it functions adverbially and serves here virtually as the subject of the verb.
- 6.117.2συνήνεικε
The Ionic third-person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb συμφέρω (Attic συνήνεγκε). Used impersonally here to mean 'it happened' or 'it came to pass', with the following accusative and infinitive phrase (θῶμα γενέσθαι) acting as the subject.
- 6.117.2οὔτε πληγέντα οὐδὲν τοῦ σώματος οὔτε βληθέντα
A contrast between πληγέντα (aorist passive participle of πλήσσω, meaning to be struck or cut in close combat) and βληθέντα (aorist passive participle of βάλλω, meaning to be hit from a distance by a missile). οὐδέν is an accusative of specification (adverbial) meaning 'in no way', and τοῦ σώματος is a partitive genitive meaning 'on any part of his body'.
- 6.117.3ἄνδρα οἱ δοκέειν ὁπλίτην ἀντιστῆναι μέγαν
Due to the indirect discourse introduced by ἤκουσα, the whole statement is expressed in accusative and infinitive structures. οἱ δοκέειν is a parenthetical infinitive expression meaning 'as it seemed to him', where οἱ is the indirect reflexive pronoun referring to Epizelus himself. ὁπλίτην ... μέγαν is the subject accusative of the infinitive ἀντιστῆναι (stood against).