Darius Demands Earth and Water and Orders Ships — Herodotus, Histories Book 6 (6.48.1–6.48.2), Greek & English

§6.48.1

μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀπεπειρᾶτο ὁ Δαρεῖος τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅ τι ἐν νόῳ ἔχοιεν,¹ κότερα πολεμέειν ἑωυτῷ ἢ παραδιδόναι σφέας αὐτούς.

After this, Darius made trial of the Greeks to see what they had in mind, whether to wage war against him or to surrender themselves.

§6.48.2

διέπεμπε ὦν κήρυκας ἄλλους ἄλλῃ² τάξας ἀνὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, κελεύων αἰτέειν βασιλέι γῆν τε καὶ ὕδωρ. τούτους μὲν δὴ ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἔπεμπε, ἄλλους δὲ κήρυκας διέπεμπε ἐς τὰς ἑωυτοῦ δασμοφόρους πόλιας τὰς παραθαλασσίους, κελεύων νέας τε μακρὰς καὶ ἱππαγωγὰ πλοῖα ποιέεσθαι.

Accordingly, he sent heralds, some to one place and some to another throughout Greece, commanding them to demand earth and water for the king. These indeed he sent to Greece, but he sent other heralds to his own tributary cities along the sea, commanding them to build warships and horse-transport ships.

Syntax notes2 items

6.48.1τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅ τι ἐν νόῳ ἔχοιεν
A construction of prolepsis. The subject of the dependent clause (the Greeks) is anticipated in the main clause as a genitive governed by the verb ἀποπειράομαι ("to make trial of"), literally "he made trial of the Greeks, what they had in mind." The verb ἔχοιεν in the indirect question is in the optative mood because it depends on a historical tense (imperfect ἀπεπειρᾶτο).
6.48.2ἄλλους ἄλλῃ
An idiomatic juxtaposition of different forms of the pronoun/adverb ἄλλος to express a distributive meaning: literally, "others to other places," meaning "different heralds to various places."

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.48.1-6.48.2