- 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-grc2:6.77.1-6.77.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The Argives confront the Spartan army at Hesipeia, but fearing defeat by stratagem due to an oracle, they adopt a tactic of copying the enemy herald's signals.
Ἀργεῖοι δὲ ἐβοήθεον πυνθανόμενοι ταῦτα ἐπὶ θάλασσαν· ὡς δὲ ἀγχοῦ μὲν ἐγίνοντο τῆς Τίρυνθος, χώρῳ δὲ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κεῖται Ἡσίπεια οὔνομα, μεταίχμιον οὐ μέγα ἀπολιπόντες ἵζοντο ἀντίοι τοῖσι Λακεδαιμονίοισι. ἐνθαῦτα δὴ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι τὴν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ μάχην οὐκ ἐφοβέοντο, ἀλλὰ μὴ δόλῳ αἱρεθέωσι·1
The Argives, on learning this, marched to the sea to help. And when they came near Tiryns, at this place which is named Hesipeia, leaving no great space between the armies, they encamped opposite the Lacedaemonians. There indeed the Argives did not fear an open battle, but rather that they might be taken by guile.
καὶ γὰρ δή σφι ἐς τοῦτο τὸ πρῆγμα εἶχε2 τὸ χρηστήριον τὸ ἐπίκοινα ἔχρησε ἡ Πυθίη τούτοισί τε καὶ Μιλησίοισι, λέγον ὧδε. "ἀλλʼ ὅταν ἡ θήλεια τὸν ἄρσενα νικήσασα ἐξελάσῃ καὶ κῦδος ἐν Ἀργείοισιν ἄρηται, πολλὰς Ἀργείων ἀμφιδρυφέας τότε θήσει. ὧς ποτέ τις ἐρέει καὶ ἐπεσσομένων ἀνθρώπων δεινὸς ὄφις τριέλικτος ἀπώλετο δουρὶ δαμασθείς."
For indeed they had an oracle which pointed to this very matter, which the Pythia had delivered in common to them and to the Milesians, saying as follows: “But when the female, having conquered the male, shall drive him out and win glory among the Argives, then she shall make many of the Argive women tear both their cheeks. Thus shall one of future generations say hereafter: ‘The dread thrice-coiled serpent has perished, vanquished by the spear.’”
ταῦτα δὴ πάντα συνελθόντα τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι φόβον παρεῖχε. καὶ δή σφι πρὸς ταῦτα ἔδοξε τῷ κήρυκι τῶν πολεμίων χρᾶσθαι,3 δόξαν δέ σφι ἐποίεον τοιόνδε· ὅκως ὁ Σπαρτιήτης κῆρυξ προσημαίνοι τι Λακεδαιμονίοισι, ἐποίευν καὶ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι τὠυτὸ τοῦτο.
All these things coming together brought fear upon the Argives. And so it seemed good to them to make use of the enemy’s herald, and having so decided, they acted as follows: whenever the Spartan herald made any signal to the Lacedaemonians, the Argives also did this very same thing.
- 6.77.1ἀλλὰ μὴ δόλῳ αἱρεθέωσι
Following the negative clause τὴν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ μάχην οὐκ ἐφοβέοντο ('they did not fear open battle'), the conjunction ἀλλά introduces a positive fear expressed by μὴ with the subjunctive (αἱρεθέωσι), where the verbal concept of 'fearing' is carried over from ἐφοβέοντο to govern the clause.
- 6.77.2εἶχε
Used intransitively, combined with the prepositional phrase ἐς τοῦτο τὸ πρῆγμα, meaning 'referred to' or 'pointed to this very matter.'
- 6.77.3τῷ κήρυκι τῶν πολεμίων χρᾶσθαι
The infinitive of the dative-governing verb χράομαι, meaning here to 'make use of' or 'obey/conform to' the enemy's herald. The subsequent ὅκως... clause explains the concrete manner of this action (copying the commands given by the enemy's herald).