- 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-grc2:6.44.1-6.44.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The Persian forces under Mardonius subjugated Thasos and Macedonia, but while sailing around Mount Athos, they were hit by a violent storm, suffering catastrophic losses of ships and men.
αὗται μὲν ὦν σφι πρόσχημα ἦσαν τοῦ στόλου· ἀτὰρ ἐν νόῳ ἔχοντες ὅσας ἂν πλείστας δύνωνται καταστρέφεσθαι τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πολίων, τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τῇσι νηυσὶ Θασίους οὐδὲ χεῖρας ἀνταειραμένους κατεστρέψαντο, τοῦτο δὲ τῷ πεζῷ Μακεδόνας πρὸς τοῖσι ὑπάρχουσι1 δούλους προσεκτήσαντο· τὰ γὰρ ἐντὸς Μακεδόνων ἔθνεα πάντα σφι ἦν ἤδη ὑποχείρια γεγονότα.
These, then, were their pretext for the expedition; but having in mind to subjugate as many of the Greek cities as they could, on the one hand, they subjugated with their ships the Thasians, who did not even raise their hands against them, and on the other hand, with the land army they acquired the Macedonians as slaves in addition to those they already had; for all the nations on this side of Macedonia had already become subject to them.
ἐκ μὲν δὴ Θάσου διαβαλόντες πέρην ὑπὸ τὴν ἤπειρον ἐκομίζοντο μέχρι Ἀκάνθου, ἐκ δὲ Ἀκάνθου ὁρμώμενοι τὸν Ἄθων περιέβαλλον. ἐπιπεσὼν δέ2 σφι περιπλέουσι βορέης ἄνεμος μέγας τε καὶ ἄπορος κάρτα τρηχέως περιέσπε, πλήθεϊ πολλὰς τῶν νεῶν ἐκβάλλων πρὸς τὸν Ἄθων.
Crossing over from Thasos to the opposite mainland, they coasted along as far as Acanthus, and setting out from Acanthus, they began to round Mount Athos. But as they were sailing round, a great and irresistible north wind fell upon them and treated them very harshly, casting many of the ships in great numbers against Mount Athos.
λέγεται γὰρ τριηκοσίας μὲν τῶν νεῶν τὰς διαφθαρείσας εἶναι, ὑπὲρ δὲ δύο μυριάδας ἀνθρώπων. ὥστε γὰρ θηριωδεστάτης ἐούσης τῆς θαλάσσης3 ταύτης τῆς περὶ τὸν Ἄθων, οἳ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων διεφθείροντο ἁρπαζόμενοι, οἳ δὲ4 πρὸς τὰς πέτρας ἀρασσόμενοι· οἳ δὲ αὐτῶν νέειν οὐκ ἐπιστέατο καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο διεφθείροντο, οἳ δὲ ῥίγεϊ.
For it is said that the destroyed ships were three hundred, and the men more than twenty thousand. For, since this sea around Mount Athos is full of sea-monsters, some were destroyed by being snatched away by the monsters, others by being dashed against the rocks; and others of them did not know how to swim and perished because of this, while others died of cold.
- 6.44.1πρὸς τοῖσι ὑπάρχουσι
The preposition πρός with the dative case meaning "in addition to." The neuter plural participle τοῖσι ὑπάρχουσι refers to "what is already existing" (i.e., their existing subjects or possessions), describing the addition of Macedonia to their empire.
- 6.44.1τοῦτο μὲν... τοῦτο δέ
A correlative construction using adverbial accusative neuter pronouns, equivalent to τὸ μὲν... τὸ δέ, meaning "on the one hand... on the other hand..." It contrasts the naval conquest of the Thasians with the land conquest of the Macedonians.
- 6.44.3ὥστε γὰρ θηριωδεστάτης ἐούσης τῆς θαλάσσης
A characteristic Herodotian and Ionic construction where ὥστε is used with a participle (here in the genitive absolute ἐούσης τῆς θαλάσσης) to express objective cause ("since," "inasmuch as"). This corresponds to the Attic usage of ἅτε with a participle.
- 6.44.3οἳ μὲν... οἳ δὲ... οἳ δὲ... οἳ δέ
The demonstrative use of the pronoun ὅς (homonymous with the relative pronoun) combined with μὲν... δέ to divide the subject (the shipwrecked men) into multiple groups: "some... others... others... others..." Here, it categorizes the casualties into four distinct causes of death.