- 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-grc2:7.56.1-7.56.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
This chunk describes Xerxes watching his army cross into Europe under the lash over seven days and nights, and relates the anecdote of a Hellespontine man who, awed by the host, asked why Zeus took the guise of a Persian to destroy Greece.
Ξέρξης δὲ ἐπεὶ διέβη ἐς τὴν Εὐρώπην, ἐθηεῖτο τὸν στρατὸν ὑπὸ μαστίγων1 διαβαίνοντα· διέβη δὲ ὁ στρατὸς αὐτοῦ ἐν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρῃσι καὶ ἐν ἑπτὰ εὐφρόνῃσι, ἐλινύσας οὐδένα χρόνον.
Xerxes, when he had crossed into Europe, watched his army crossing under the lash; and his army crossed in seven days and seven nights, without resting at all.
ἐνθαῦτα λέγεται, Ξέρξεω ἤδη διαβεβηκότος τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, ἄνδρα εἰπεῖν2 Ἑλλησπόντιον ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ ἀνδρὶ εἰδόμενος3 Πέρσῃ καὶ οὔνομα ἀντὶ Διὸς Ξέρξην θέμενος ἀνάστατον τὴν Ἑλλάδα θέλεις ποιῆσαι, ἄγων πάντας ἀνθρώπους; καὶ γὰρ ἄνευ τούτων ἐξῆν4 τοι ποιέειν ταῦτα.
There it is said, when Xerxes had already crossed the Hellespont, that a man of the Hellespont said: “O Zeus, why indeed, disguising yourself as a Persian man and taking the name of Xerxes instead of Zeus, do you wish to lay Greece waste, bringing all mankind with you? For even without these, it was possible for you to do this.”
- 7.56.1ὑπὸ μαστίγων
The preposition ὑπό followed by a genitive noun indicates the accompanying circumstance or compelling cause ("under the lash", "under the compulsion of whips").
- 7.56.2ἄνδρα εἰπεῖν
An accusative with infinitive construction acting as the subject of the impersonal verb λέγεται ("it is said"). The accusative ἄνδρα ("a man") is the subject of the infinitive εἰπεῖν ("to have said").
- 7.56.2εἰδόμενος
The participle of the verb εἴδομαι ("to look like", "to take the likeness of"), taking the dative ἀνδρὶ Πέρσῃ ("a Persian man"), meaning "disguising yourself as a Persian man".
- 7.56.2ἐξῆν
The imperfect of the impersonal verb ἔξεστι ("it is possible/permitted"). Accompanied by the dative τοι (= σοί, "for you") and the infinitive ποιέειν, expressing a past possibility ("it was possible for you to do").