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Histories

§7.196.1

Xerxes Marches Through Thessaly and Holds a Horse Race

While the Persian fleet arrives at Aphetae, Xerxes leads the land army through Thessaly and Achaia to Malis, holding a horse race to test the famous Thessalian breed and exhausting local rivers for drinking water.

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§7.196.1

ὁ μὲν δὴ ναυτικὸς ὁ τῶν βαρβάρων στρατός, πάρεξ τῶν πεντεκαίδεκα νεῶν τῶν εἶπον Σανδώκεα στρατηγέειν, ἀπίκοντο1 ἐς Ἀφέτας. Ξέρξης δὲ καὶ ὁ πεζὸς πορευθεὶς διὰ Θεσσαλίης καὶ Ἀχαιίης ἐσβεβληκὼς ἦν2 καὶ δὴ τριταῖος3 ἐς Μηλιέας, ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ μὲν ἅμιλλαν ποιησάμενος ἵππων τῶν τε ἑωυτοῦ ἀποπειρώμενος καὶ τῆς Θεσσαλίης ἵππου,4 πυθόμενος ὡς ἀρίστη εἴη τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι· ἔνθα δὴ αἱ Ἑλληνίδες ἵπποι ἐλείποντο πολλόν. τῶν μέν νυν ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ ποταμῶν Ὀνόχωνος μοῦνος οὐκ ἀπέχρησε τῇ στρατιῇ τὸ ῥέεθρον πινόμενος· τῶν δὲ ἐν Ἀχαιίῃ ποταμῶν ῥεόντων οὐδὲ ὅστις μέγιστος αὐτῶν ἐστι Ἠπιδανός, οὐδὲ οὗτος ἀντέσχε εἰ μὴ φλαύρως.5

​Now the naval force of the barbarians, except for the fifteen ships which I said Sandoces was commanding, arrived at Aphetae. Meanwhile, Xerxes and the land army, having marched through Thessaly and Achaia, had already entered the territory of the Malians on the third day. In Thessaly he had held a race of horses, to test his own horses against the Thessalian cavalry, having heard that it was the best among the Greeks; there indeed the Greek horses were left far behind. Now, of the rivers in Thessaly, only the Onochonus did not suffice for the army when its stream was drunk; and of the rivers flowing in Achaia, not even the one which is the largest of them, the Epidanus, held out, except barely.

Syntax notes5 items
  1. 7.196.1ἀπίκοντο

    Although the subject 'the naval force' (ὁ... στρατός) is singular, the verb 'ἀπίκοντο' is plural. This is a constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense), where the plural verb is used with a collective noun representing a group of individuals.

  2. 7.196.1ἐσβεβληκὼς ἦν

    A periphrastic pluperfect formed with the perfect participle 'ἐσβεβληκὼς' and the imperfect 'ἦν' of εἰμί. It emphasizes the completed state and continued presence of the army having entered Malis by the third day.

  3. 7.196.1τριταῖος

    A predicative adjective used in a temporal sense ('on the third day'), which is a common Greek idiom where an adjective modifying the subject functions adverbially.

  4. 7.196.1τῆς Θεσσαλίης ἵππου

    Although feminine singular in form, this refers collectively to 'the Thessalian horses' or 'Thessalian cavalry.' In Greek, the feminine form of ἵππος is often used collectively to mean cavalry or a stud/breed of horses.

  5. 7.196.1εἰ μὴ φλαύρως

    Literally 'except in a poor/insufficient way,' this double-negative idiomatic expression means 'except barely' or 'scarcely held out.'

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.196.1