- 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-grc2:7.180.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
The Persians capture the Troezenian ship and sacrifice its handsomest marine, named Leon, on the prow as a favorable omen.
τὴν μὲν δὴ Τροιζηνίην, τῆς ἦρχε Πρηξῖνος, αὐτίκα αἱρέουσι ἐπισπόμενοι οἱ βάρβαροι, καὶ ἔπειτα τῶν ἐπιβατέων αὐτῆς τὸν καλλιστεύοντα ἀγαγόντες ἐπὶ τῆς πρῴρης τῆς νεὸς ἔσφαξαν, διαδέξιον ποιεύμενοι τὸν εἷλον1 τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρῶτον καὶ κάλλιστον. τῷ δὲ σφαγιασθέντι τούτῳ οὔνομα ἦν Λέων· τάχα δʼ ἄν τι καὶ τοῦ οὐνόματος ἐπαύροιτο.2
Now the barbarians, pursuing them, immediately captured the Troezenian ship, which Prexinus commanded; and then, bringing the most handsome of its marines to the prow of the ship, they slaughtered him, making a favorable omen of the first and most beautiful of the Greeks they had captured. The name of this man who was sacrificed was Leon; and perhaps he might even have reaped some consequence from his name.
- 7.180.1τὸν εἷλον
An instance in the Ionic dialect where the article (τόν) is used in place of the relative pronoun (ὅν). Thus, τὸν εἷλον is equivalent to ὃν εἷλον ('whom they captured').
- 7.180.1τάχα δʼ ἄν τι καὶ τοῦ οὐνόματος ἐπαύροιτο
A potential optative construction (expression with ἄν + optative). The verb ἐπαυρίσκομαι usually means 'to reap the benefit of,' but here it is used ironically to mean 'to suffer a consequence from' or 'to pay the price for' his name. Having the name 'Leon' (Lion), a beast traditionally hunted and slaughtered first, made him the prime target for sacrifice.