- 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-grc2:7.149.1-7.149.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
The motivations behind the Argives' desire for peace—recovering population and fear of Spartan subjugation—are explained, followed by the breakdown of leadership negotiations with Sparta and the expulsion of the messengers.
ταῦτα μὲν λέγουσι τὴν βουλὴν ὑποκρίνασθαι, καίπερ ἀπαγορεύοντός σφι τοῦ χρηστηρίου μὴ ποιέεσθαι1 τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας συμμαχίην· σπουδὴν δὲ ἔχειν σπονδὰς γενέσθαι τριηκοντοέτιδας καίπερ τὸ χρηστήριον φοβεόμενοι, ἵνα δή σφι οἱ παῖδες ἀνδρωθέωσι ἐν τούτοισι τοῖσι ἔτεσι· μὴ δὲ σπονδέων ἐουσέων ἐπιλέγεσθαι, ἢν ἄρα σφέας καταλάβῃ πρὸς τῷ γεγονότι κακῷ ἄλλο πταῖσμα πρὸς τὸν Πέρσην, μὴ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔωσι2 Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπήκοοι.
The Argives say that the council gave this answer, although the oracle forbade them to make an alliance with the Greeks; yet they were eager to secure a thirty years’ peace, though they feared the oracle, in order that their children might grow to manhood during these years; and they feared that, if there were no peace treaty, and if some other disaster besides what had already happened should overtake them at the hands of the Persian, they might for the future become subjects of the Lacedaemonians.
τῶν δὲ ἀγγέλων τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Σπάρτης πρὸς τὰ ῥηθέντα ἐκ τῆς βουλῆς ἀμείψασθαι τοῖσιδε· περὶ μὲν σπονδέων ἀνοίσειν ἐς τοὺς πλεῦνας, περὶ δὲ ἡγεμονίης αὐτοῖσι ἐντετάλθαι ὑποκρίνασθαι, καὶ δὴ λέγειν, σφίσι μὲν εἶναι δύο βασιλέας, Ἀργείοισι δὲ ἕνα· οὔκων δυνατὸν εἶναι τῶν ἐκ Σπάρτης οὐδέτερον παῦσαι τῆς ἡγεμονίης, μετὰ δὲ δύο τῶν σφετέρων ὁμόψηφον τὸν Ἀργεῖον εἶναι κωλύειν οὐδέν.3
But the messengers from Sparta replied to the words of the council with these terms: as for the peace, they would refer it to the majority, but as for the leadership, they had been instructed to reply—and indeed they said—that they themselves had two kings, whereas the Argives had only one; now it was not possible to deprive either of the kings from Sparta of his leadership, but there was nothing to prevent the Argive king from having an equal vote with their own two.
οὕτω δὴ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι φασὶ οὐκ ἀνασχέσθαι τῶν Σπαρτιητέων τὴν πλεονεξίην, ἀλλʼ ἑλέσθαι μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἄρχεσθαι ἤ τι ὑπεῖξαι Λακεδαιμονίοισι, προειπεῖν τε τοῖσι ἀγγέλοισι πρὸ δύντος ἡλίου ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ἐκ τῆς Ἀργείων χώρης, εἰ δὲ μή, περιέψεσθαι ὡς πολεμίους.
Thus the Argives say they could not bear the greed of the Spartans, but chose rather to be ruled by the barbarians than to yield anything to the Lacedaemonians; and they warned the messengers to depart from the territory of the Argives before the setting of the sun, or else they would be treated as enemies.
- 7.149.1μὴ ποιέεσθαι
This is a redundant (or sympathetic) negation with μὴ following the verb of forbidding (ἀπαγορεύω). Therefore, it should be translated as 'forbidding them to make (an alliance)' rather than 'forbidding them not to make.'
- 7.149.1μὴ δὲ σπονδέων ἐουσέων ἐπιλέγεσθαι ... μὴ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔωσι
The infinitive ἐπιλέγεσθαι (to fear, be anxious) depends on the main indirect discourse verb λέγουσι and introduces the clause of fearing with μὴ (lest, that). The phrase μὴ δὲ σπονδέων ἐουσέων is a genitive absolute with the negative μὴ, functioning as a conditional clause ('if there should be no peace treaty').
- 7.149.2ὁμόψηφον τὸν Ἀργεῖον εἶναι κωλύειν οὐδέν
The impersonal expression κωλύειν οὐδέν (nothing prevents) is used as an infinitive in indirect discourse, taking τὸν Ἀργεῖον (the Argive king) as the subject accusative of the infinitive ὁμόψηφον εἶναι (to have an equal vote). It suggests that there is nothing to prevent the single Argive king from sharing equal voting power alongside the two Spartan kings.