- 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-grc2:7.223.1-7.223.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Xerxes launches his advance in the mid-morning, while the Greeks, knowing their death is imminent, march out into the wider part of the pass to fight. In the fierce battle outside the narrows, the Persians suffer heavy casualties while the Greeks fight with desperate bravery.
Ξέρξης δὲ ἐπεὶ ἡλίου ἀνατείλαντος σπονδὰς ἐποιήσατο, ἐπισχὼν χρόνον ἐς ἀγορῆς κου μάλιστα πληθώρην1 πρόσοδον ἐποιέετο· καὶ γὰρ ἐπέσταλτο ἐξ Ἐπιάλτεω οὕτω· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ ὄρεος ἡ κατάβασις συντομωτέρη τε ἐστὶ καὶ βραχύτερος ὁ χῶρος πολλὸν ἤ περ ἡ περίοδός τε καὶ ἀνάβασις.
Xerxes, having made libations at sunrise, waited for some time and began his advance about the time when the market-place fills; for he had been so instructed by Ephialtes. For the descent from the mountain is more direct and the distance much shorter than the circuit and the ascent.
οἵ τε δὴ βάρβαροι οἱ ἀμφὶ Ξέρξην προσήισαν, καὶ οἱ ἀμφὶ Λεωνίδην Ἕλληνες, ὡς τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ἔξοδον ποιεύμενοι,2 ἤδη πολλῶ μᾶλλον ἢ κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐπεξήισαν ἐς τὸ εὐρύτερον τοῦ αὐχένος. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἔρυμα τοῦ τείχεος ἐφυλάσσετο, οἳ δὲ ἀνὰ τὰς προτέρας ἡμέρας ὑπεξιόντες ἐς τὰ στεινόπορα ἐμάχοντο.
So the barbarians with Xerxes advanced, and the Greeks with Leonidas, as men making an exit to their death, now went out much further than at first into the wider part of the pass. For the defense of the wall had been guarded, but on the previous days they had fought by going out into the narrows.
τότε δὲ συμμίσγοντες ἔξω τῶν στεινῶν ἔπιπτον πλήθεϊ πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων· ὄπισθε γὰρ οἱ ἡγεμόνες τῶν τελέων ἔχοντες μάστιγας ἐρράπιζον πάντα ἄνδρα, αἰεὶ ἐς τὸ πρόσω ἐποτρύνοντες. πολλοὶ μὲν δὴ ἐσέπιπτον αὐτῶν ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ διεφθείροντο, πολλῷ δʼ ἔτι πλεῦνες κατεπατέοντο ζωοὶ ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων· ἦν δὲ λόγος οὐδεὶς τοῦ ἀπολλυμένου.
But now, engaging outside the narrows, many of the barbarians fell in heaps; for behind them the commanders of the companies, holding whips, scourged every man, always urging them forward. Many of them fell into the sea and perished, and far more still were trodden underfoot alive by one another; and there was no regard for those who perished.
ἅτε γὰρ ἐπιστάμενοι τὸν μέλλοντα σφίσι ἔσεσθαι θάνατον ἐκ τῶν περιιόντων τὸ ὄρος,3 ἀπεδείκνυντο ῥώμης ὅσον εἶχον μέγιστον ἐς τοὺς βαρβάρους, παραχρεώμενοί τε καὶ ἀτέοντες.4
For knowing well the death that was to come upon them from those who were surrounding the mountain, they displayed the greatest strength they had against the barbarians, being reckless of their lives and acting like men possessed.
- 7.223.1ἐς ἀγορῆς κου μάλιστα πληθώρην
Meaning 'to about the time when the market-place is full.' The phrase ἀγορῆς πληθώρη is a traditional Greek idiom referring to mid-to-late morning (around 10:00 AM to noon), here qualified by the indefinite particles κου and μάλιστα.
- 7.223.2ὡς τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ἔξοδον ποιεύμενοι
The conjunction ὡς with the nominative participle ποιεύμενοι expresses the subjective motivation or resolve of the subjects (the Greeks), meaning 'as men making an exit to their death' or 'as if making their march to death.'
- 7.223.4ἐκ τῶν περιιόντων τὸ ὄρος
The prepositional phrase ἐκ τῶν περιιόντων ('by those who were going around [the mountain]') modifies the preceding noun phrase τὸν μέλλοντα σφίσι ἔσεσθαι θάνατον ('the death that was about to befall them'), indicating the source or cause of their impending death.
- 7.223.4παραχρεώμενοί τε καὶ ἀτέοντες
Both are present participles describing the manner or state of the main subject. παραχράομαι means 'to be reckless of one's life,' and ἀτέω means 'to be distracted' or 'acting like madmen,' depicting the desperate and frenzied bravery of the Greeks in the face of death.