- 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-grc2:7.219.1-7.219.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The Greeks at Thermopylae learned of the enemy's encirclement through a seer, deserters, and scouts; their opinions divided, some departed for their home cities, while others prepared to remain with Leonidas.
τοῖσι δὲ ἐν Θερμοπύλῃσι Ἑλλήνων1 πρῶτον μὲν ὁ μάντις Μεγιστίης ἐσιδὼν ἐς τὰ ἱρὰ ἔφρασε τὸν μέλλοντα ἔσεσθαι ἅμα ἠοῖ σφι θάνατον, ἐπὶ δὲ2 καὶ αὐτόμολοι ἦσαν οἱ ἐξαγγείλαντες τῶν Περσέων τὴν περίοδον. οὗτοι μὲν ἔτι νυκτὸς ἐσήμηναν, τρίτοι δὲ οἱ ἡμεροσκόποι καταδραμόντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων ἤδη διαφαινούσης ἡμέρης.
For the Greeks at Thermopylae, first, the seer Megistias, having inspected the victims, foretold to them the death that was to come at dawn; and furthermore, there were also deserters who reported the circuit of the Persians. These brought the news while it was still night, and thirdly, the scouts came running down from the heights when day was already breaking.
ἐνθαῦτα ἐβουλεύοντο οἱ Ἕλληνες, καί σφεων ἐσχίζοντο αἱ γνῶμαι· οἳ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔων3 τὴν τάξιν ἐκλιπεῖν, οἳ δὲ ἀντέτεινον. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο διακριθέντες οἳ μὲν ἀπαλλάσσοντο καὶ διασκεδασθέντες κατὰ πόλις ἕκαστοι ἐτράποντο, οἳ δὲ αὐτῶν ἅμα Λεωνίδῃ μένειν αὐτοῦ παρεσκευάδατο.4
Thereupon the Greeks held a council, and their opinions were divided; for some would not allow their post to be abandoned, while others opposed this. After this, having parted, some departed and dispersed, turning each to their own cities, while others of them prepared to remain there with Leonidas.
- 7.219.1τοῖσι δὲ ἐν Θερμοπύλῃσι Ἑλλήνων
The dative τοῖσι at the beginning, together with the genitive Ἑλλήνων, functions as a dative of interest ("for the Greeks at Thermopylae"). It is practically repeated by σφι ("to them") which serves as the indirect object of the main verb ἔφρασε ("told"). This is a pleonastic or anticipatory construction common in Herodotus.
- 7.219.1ἐπὶ δὲ
The preposition ἐπί is used adverbially here, meaning "besides" or "in addition." In combination with the following particle καί, it connects the sentence and introduces the second source of information (the deserters) following the first one (Megistias).
- 7.219.2οὐκ ἔων
The imperfect of ἐάω ("allow", "let") with the negative οὐκ ("did not allow") functions here to express an attempt or strong opinion ("tried to prevent" or "argued against abandoning their post").
- 7.219.2παρεσκευάδατο
This is the third person plural pluperfect passive (functioning as middle) of παρασκευάζω, displaying the characteristic Ionic ending -ατο instead of the Attic -ντο. It means "they had prepared themselves" or "they were prepared."