- 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-grc2:6.12.1-6.12.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The Ionians initially submission to the rigorous training of Dionysius, but on the eighth day their discontent erupts, leading them to refuse training and idle in tents on the island.
ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ Ἴωνες ἐπιτρέπουσι σφέας αὐτοὺς τῷ Διονυσίῳ. ὁ δὲ ἀνάγων1 ἑκάστοτε ἐπὶ κέρας τὰς νέας, ὅκως τοῖσι ἐρέτῃσι χρήσαιτο διέκπλοον ποιεύμενος τῇσι νηυσὶ διʼ ἀλληλέων καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβάτας ὁπλίσειε,2 τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ἡμέρης τὰς νέας ἔχεσκε ἐπʼ ἀγκυρέων, παρεῖχέ τε τοῖσι Ἴωσι πόνον διʼ ἡμέρης.
Hearing these things, the Ionians entrusted themselves to Dionysius. And he, leading out the ships in column on each occasion, in order to train the rowers by making a breakthrough maneuver with the ships through one another and to arm the marines, would keep the ships at anchor for the rest of the day, and thus provided toil for the Ionians throughout the day.
μέχρι μέν νυν ἡμερέων ἑπτὰ ἐπείθοντό τε καὶ ἐποίευν τὸ κελευόμενον· τῇ δὲ ἐπὶ ταύτῃσι3 οἱ Ἴωνες, οἷα ἀπαθέες ἐόντες πόνων τοιούτων τετρυμένοι τε ταλαιπωρίῃσί τε καὶ ἡλίῳ, ἔλεξαν πρὸς ἑωυτοὺς τάδε.
Now for seven days they obeyed and did what they were commanded; but on the day after these, the Ionians, since they were unaccustomed to such labors and were worn out by hardships and the sun, spoke among themselves as follows:
τίνα δαιμόνων παραβάντες τάδε ἀναπίμπλαμεν; οἵτινες παραφρονήσαντες καὶ ἐκπλώσαντες ἐκ τοῦ νόου ἀνδρὶ Φωκαέι ἀλαζόνι, παρεχομένῳ νέας τρεῖς, ἐπιτρέψαντες ἡμέας αὐτοὺς ἔχομεν·4 ὁ δὲ παραλαβὼν ἡμέας λυμαίνεται λύμῃσι ἀνηκέστοισι, καὶ δὴ πολλοὶ μὲν ἡμέων ἐς νούσους πεπτώκασι, πολλοὶ δὲ ἐπίδοξοι τὠυτὸ τοῦτο πείσεσθαι εἰσί, πρό τε τούτων τῶν κακῶν ἡμῖν γε κρέσσον καὶ ὅ τι ὦν ἄλλο παθεῖν ἐστι καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν δουληίην ὑπομεῖναι ἥτις ἔσται, μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ παρεούσῃ συνέχεσθαι.5 φέρετε, τοῦ λοιποῦ μὴ πειθώμεθα αὐτοῦ.6
”Against which of the gods have we transgressed that we are suffering these things? We who, having lost our minds and sailed out of our wits, have entrusted ourselves to a Phocaean boaster who provides only three ships, and are now in his power. He has taken us over and outrages us with incurable outrages; indeed, many of us have already fallen into sickness, and many more are expected to suffer this same fate. In preference to these evils, it is better for us to endure whatever else we must suffer and to undergo the future slavery, whatever it may be, rather than to be oppressed by our present hardship. Come, from now on let us not obey him here.”
ταῦτα ἔλεξαν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα αὐτίκα πείθεσθαι οὐδεὶς ἤθελε, ἀλλʼ οἷα στρατιὴ σκηνάς τε πηξάμενοι ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ἐσκιητροφέοντο καὶ ἐσβαίνειν οὐκ ἐθέλεσκον ἐς τὰς νέας οὐδʼ ἀναπειρᾶσθαι.
They said these things, and immediately after this, no one was willing to obey, but like a land army they pitched tents on the island and kept themselves in the shade, and they would not go on board the ships nor practice maneuvers.
- 6.12.1ὁ δὲ ἀνάγων
The participle ἀνάγων (leading out to sea) is subordinate to the main iterative verbs ἔχεσκε and παρεῖχε. The subject ὁ δὲ refers back to Dionysius.
- 6.12.1ὅκως τοῖσι ἐρέτῃσι χρήσαιτο... καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβάτας ὁπλίσειε
A purpose clause introduced by the conjunction ὅκως (in order that). The optatives χρήσαιτο and ὁπλίσειε are coordinated by καί. Because the main clause is in a past tense (iterative imperfects), the optative mood is used following the rule of sequence of moods.
- 6.12.2τῇ δὲ ἐπὶ ταύτῃσι
The feminine dative singular article τῇ implies the omission of ἡμέρῃ (day), and the plural demonstrative pronoun ταύτῃσι refers back to the 'seven days' (ἡμερέων ἑπτὰ) mentioned just before. Thus, the phrase means 'on the day after these [seven days]' (i.e., on the eighth day).
- 6.12.3ἐπιτρέψαντες ἡμέας αὐτοὺς ἔχομεν
This is a periphrastic construction of aorist participle ἐπιτρέψαντες with ἔχομεν, or expresses the state: 'having entrusted ourselves, we [now] hold/keep [ourselves in this state].'
- 6.12.3πρό τε τούτων τῶν κακῶν... κρέσσον... μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ παρεούσῃ συνέχεσθαι
The preposition πρό (before, in preference to) carries a comparative force here, meaning 'rather than these [present] evils.' The comparative adjective κρέσσον (better) and the comparative adverbial phrase μᾶλλον ἤ (rather than) are used redundantly for emphasis (pleonasm). τῇ παρεούσῃ refers to the 'present [toil/slavery]' (omitting ταλαιπωρίῃ or δουληίῃ).
- 6.12.3μὴ πειθώμεθα αὐτοῦ
μὴ πειθώμεθα is a hortatory subjunctive ('let us not obey'). αὐτοῦ is best understood not as a genitive pronoun (since πείθομαι normally takes the dative), but as the adverb 'here / on the spot' (a common Herodotus/Ionic usage).