- 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-grc2:7.162.1-7.162.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Gelon rejects the Athenian envoy's unyielding stance, refuses to send any military aid, and orders them to return home. He metaphorically compares his powerful army to the "spring of the year," illustrating the bleak prospect for Greece without his support.
ἀμείβετο Γέλων τοῖσιδε. ξεῖνε Ἀθηναῖε, ὑμεῖς οἴκατε τοὺς μὲν ἄρχοντας ἔχειν, τοὺς δὲ ἀρξομένους οὐκ ἕξειν. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν οὐδὲν ὑπιέντες ἔχειν τὸ πᾶν ἐθέλετε, οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτε τὴν ταχίστην ὀπίσω ἀπαλλασσόμενοι1 καὶ ἀγγέλλοντες τῇ Ἑλλάδι ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τὸ ἔαρ αὐτῇ ἐξαραίρηται.
Gelon replied to them as follows: “Athenian stranger, you seem to have commanders, but you are not likely to have those to be commanded. Since, therefore, you yield nothing and wish to have the whole, you had better depart back as quickly as possible and report to Greece that the spring has been taken out of her year.”
οὗτος δὲ ὁ νόος τοῦ ῥήματος τὸ ἐθέλει λέγειν·2 δῆλα γὰρ ὡς ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἐστὶ τὸ ἔαρ δοκιμώτατον, τῆς δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων στρατιῆς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ στρατιήν· στερισκομένην ὦν τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς ἑωυτοῦ συμμαχίης εἴκαζε ὡς εἰ τὸ ἔαρ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐξαραιρημένον εἴη.3
This is the meaning that the saying intends to convey: for it is clear that the spring is the most choice season in the year, and his own army was the same in the army of the Greeks; therefore, he likened Greece, when deprived of his alliance, to what it would be as if the spring were taken out of the year.
- 7.162.1οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτε ... ἀπαλλασσόμενοι
The idiom "οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτε + participle" means "you cannot be too quick in doing something" or "do something as quickly as possible." Literally, "you would not be too early in departing..." Here, it governs the present participles ἀπαλλασσόμενοι (departing) and ἀγγέλλοντες (reporting).
- 7.162.2τὸ ἐθέλει λέγειν
The verb ἐθέλω (to wish, will), when its subject is an inanimate object or a statement, means "to mean" or "to intend." The preceding article τὸ nominalizes the following verb phrase ἐθέλει λέγειν, meaning "what [the saying] intends to say" or "the meaning."
- 7.162.2ὡς εἰ ... εἴη
The conjunction ὡς εἰ followed by the optative mood (εἴη) introduces a hypothetical comparison, meaning "as if it were..." It functions as a complement to the verb εἴκαζε (he likened), describing the imaginary state of comparison.