- 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-grc2:7.8B.1-7.8B.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Xerxes declares his plan to bridge the Hellespont and invade Greece, expressing his determination to burn Athens in revenge and citing the past offenses committed by the Athenians.
μέλλω ζεύξας τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἐλᾶν στρατὸν διὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, ἵνα Ἀθηναίους τιμωρήσωμαι ὅσα δὴ πεποιήκασι Πέρσας τε καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἐμόν.1
I intend to bridge the Hellespont and march my army through Europe against Greece, in order that I may avenge myself upon the Athenians for all that they have done to the Persians and to my father.
ὡρᾶτε μέν νυν καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἐμὸν Δαρεῖον ἰθύοντα στρατεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας τούτους. ἀλλʼ ὃ μὲν τετελεύτηκε καὶ οὐκ ἐξεγένετο αὐτῷ τιμωρήσασθαι· ἐγὼ δὲ ὑπέρ τε ἐκείνου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Περσέων οὐ πρότερον παύσομαι πρὶν ἢ ἕλω τε καὶ πυρώσω τὰς Ἀθήνας, οἵ γε ἐμὲ καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἐμὸν ὑπῆρξαν ἄδικα ποιεῦντες.2
Now, you yourselves also saw my father Darius striving to campaign against these men. But he has passed away, and it was not granted to him to take vengeance. I, however, on behalf of both him and the other Persians, will not cease until I have captured and burned Athens, they who were the first to commit wrong against me and my father.
πρῶτα μὲν ἐς Σάρδις ἐλθόντες, ἅμα Ἀρισταγόρῃ τῷ Μιλησίῳ δούλῳ δὲ ἡμετέρῳ ἀπικόμενοι, ἐνέπρησαν τά τε ἄλσεα καὶ τὰ ἱρά· δεύτερα δὲ ἡμέας οἷα ἔρξαν ἐς τὴν σφετέρην ἀποβάντας,3 ὅτε Δᾶτίς τε καὶ Ἀρταφρένης ἐστρατήγεον, τὰ ἐπίστασθέ κου πάντες.
First, having gone to Sardis, arriving together with Aristagoras the Milesian, our slave, they burned both the sacred groves and the temples. Second, as for what they did to us when we landed on their territory, at the time when Datis and Artaphrenes were generals, you all, I suppose, know those things well.
- 7.8B.1ὅσα δὴ πεποιήκασι Πέρσας τε καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἐμόν
An example of the double accusative construction with the verb ποιέω, meaning 'to do something (acc.) to someone (acc.)'. Here, Πέρσας τε καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἐμόν serves as the accusative of person, and the relative pronoun ὅσα serves as the accusative of thing (acting as the object within the relative clause without an explicit antecedent).
- 7.8B.2ὑπῆρξαν ἄδικα ποιεῦντες
The verb ὑπάρχω combined with a participle expresses the meaning of 'to be the first to do something' or 'to begin doing something before others'. Here, it emphasizes that the Athenians 'were the first to commit wrongs' against the Persians.
- 7.8B.3ἡμέας οἷα ἔρξαν ἐς τὴν σφετέρην ἀποβάντας
The verb ἔρδω (Ionic form ἔρξαν), like ποιέω, takes a double accusative of person and thing. ἡμέας ... ἀποβάντας (us having landed on their territory) is the accusative of person, and the indirect interrogative pronoun οἷα (what kind of things) is the accusative of thing. Together they form a noun clause ('what they did to us who had landed'), which functions as the object of or in apposition to τὰ ἐπίστασθε ('you know these things') at the end.