- 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-grc2:7.226.1-7.226.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The anecdote of the Spartan Dieneces is related, who, upon hearing about the overwhelming number of Persian arrows, humorously remarked that they would then fight in the shade.
Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ καὶ Θεσπιέων τοιούτων γενομένων1 ὅμως λέγεται ἀνὴρ ἄριστος γενέσθαι Σπαρτιήτης Διηνέκης· τὸν2 τόδε φασὶ εἰπεῖν τὸ ἔπος πρὶν ἢ συμμῖξαι σφέας τοῖσι Μήδοισι, πυθόμενον πρός τευ τῶν Τρηχινίων ὡς ἐπεὰν οἱ βάρβαροι ἀπίωσι τὰ τοξεύματα, τὸν ἥλιον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθεος τῶν ὀιστῶν ἀποκρύπτουσι· τοσοῦτο πλῆθος αὐτῶν εἶναι.
Although the Lacedaemonians and Thespians behaved in this brave manner, yet the Spartan Dieneces is said to have proved himself the best man. They say that he spoke this word before they engaged with the Medes, having learned from one of the Trachinians that when the barbarians let fly their arrows, they hid the sun by the multitude of their shafts, so great was their number.
τὸν δὲ οὐκ ἐκπλαγέντα τούτοισι εἰπεῖν ἐν ἀλογίῃ ποιεύμενον τὸ Μήδων πλῆθος, ὡς πάντα σφι ἀγαθὰ ὁ Τρηχίνιος ξεῖνος ἀγγέλλοι, εἰ ἀποκρυπτόντων τῶν Μήδων τὸν ἥλιον ὑπὸ σκιῇ ἔσοιτο3 πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἡ μάχη καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἡλίῳ.
But he, not at all dismayed by these words, making no account of the multitude of the Medes, said that the Trachinian guest-friend was bringing them all good news, seeing that if the Medes hid the sun, their battle with them would be in the shade and not in the sun.
- 7.226.1τοιούτων γενομένων
Genitive absolute. The demonstrative adjective τοιούτων ("of such a kind") refers back to the heroic behavior described in the previous chapter (7.225), where the Greeks fought bravely to the end, even with their hands and teeth.
- 7.226.1τὸν
Accusative of the demonstrative pronoun, here functioning like a relative pronoun and serving as the subject of the infinitive in the accusative-and-infinitive construction (φασὶ εἰπεῖν).
- 7.226.2ἔσοιτο
Future optative. In the apodosis of the conditional sentence (εἰ...ἔσοιτο) embedded within the indirect discourse (ὡς...ἀγγέλλοι), the future indicative (ἔσται) is replaced by the optative due to the oblique mood (optativus obliquus) after a secondary tense of saying.