- 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-grc2:8.108.1-8.108.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The Greeks pursue the Persian fleet but fail to catch them before reaching Andros, where they hold a council. Themistocles proposes sailing to the Hellespont to destroy the bridges, but Eurybiades opposes this, arguing that trapping the Persians in Europe would be dangerous, a view supported by the other generals.
ὡς δὲ ἡμέρη ἐγίνετο, ὁρῶντες οἱ Ἕλληνες κατὰ χώρην μένοντα τὸν στρατὸν τὸν πεζὸν ἤλπιζον καὶ τὰς νέας εἶναι περὶ Φάληρον, ἐδόκεόν τε ναυμαχήσειν σφέας παραρτέοντό τε ὡς ἀλεξησόμενοι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπύθοντο τὰς νέας οἰχωκυίας, αὐτίκα μετὰ ταῦτα ἐδόκεε ἐπιδιώκειν.1 τὸν μέν νυν ναυτικὸν τὸν Ξέρξεω στρατὸν οὐκ ἐπεῖδον διώξαντες μέχρι Ἄνδρου, ἐς δὲ τὴν Ἄνδρον ἀπικόμενοι ἐβουλεύοντο.
When day broke, the Greeks, seeing the land army remaining in its place, expected that the ships also were around Phalerum, and thought that they would fight a sea battle, and prepared themselves to defend against them. But when they learned that the ships had gone, they decided immediately after this to pursue them. Now, though they pursued Xerxes’ fleet as far as Andros, they did not catch sight of it, and having arrived at Andros, they held a council.
Θεμιστοκλέης μέν νυν γνώμην ἀπεδείκνυτο διὰ νήσων τραπομένους καὶ ἐπιδιώξαντας τὰς νέας πλέειν ἰθέως ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον λύσοντας τὰς γεφύρας·2 Εὐρυβιάδης δὲ τὴν ἐναντίην ταύτῃ γνώμην ἐτίθετο, λέγων ὡς εἰ λύσουσι τὰς σχεδίας, τοῦτʼ ἂν μέγιστον πάντων σφι κακῶν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐργάσαιτο.
Themistocles then declared his opinion that they should steer through the islands, pursue the ships, and sail straight to the Hellespont to destroy the bridges. But Eurybiades set forth the opposite opinion to this, saying that if they should destroy the pontoon bridges, this would work the greatest of all evils for Greece.
εἰ γὰρ ἀναγκασθείη ὁ Πέρσης μένειν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ, πειρῷτο ἂν ἡσυχίην μὴ ἄγειν, ὡς ἄγοντι μέν οἱ ἡσυχίην3 οὔτε τι προχωρέειν οἷόν τε ἔσται τῶν πρηγμάτων οὔτε τις κομιδὴ τὰ ὀπίσω φανήσεται, λιμῷ τέ οἱ ἡ στρατιὴ διαφθερέεται, ἐπιχειρέοντι δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ἔργου ἐχομένῳ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην οἷά τε ἔσται προσχωρῆσαι κατὰ πόλις τε καὶ κατὰ ἔθνεα, ἤτοι ἁλισκομένων γε ἢ πρὸ τούτου ὁμολογεόντων·4 τροφήν τε ἕξειν σφέας τὸν ἐπέτειον αἰεὶ τὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων καρπόν.
For if the Persian should be compelled to remain in Europe, he would try not to keep quiet; since if he kept quiet, none of his affairs could make any progress, nor would any way of return appear, and his army would perish of hunger; whereas if he took action and applied himself to work, all parts of Europe, city by city and nation by nation, would be likely to submit to him, either by being conquered or by making agreement beforehand, and they would have the annual crop of the Greeks as their constant food.
ἀλλὰ δοκέειν γὰρ5 νικηθέντα τῇ ναυμαχίῃ οὐ μενέειν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ τὸν Πέρσην· ἐατέον ὦν εἶναι φεύγειν, ἐς ὃ ἔλθοι φεύγων ἐς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ· τὸ ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ περὶ τῆς ἐκείνου ποιέεσθαι ἤδη τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐκέλευε. ταύτης δὲ εἴχοντο τῆς γνώμης καὶ Πελοποννησίων τῶν ἄλλων οἱ στρατηγοί.
But indeed, since it seemed that after being defeated in the sea battle the Persian would not remain in Europe, they should let him flee until he reached his own land in his flight; and thereafter, he urged, they should already carry on the struggle for his own territory. The generals of the other Peloponnesians also held to this opinion.
- 8.108.1ἐδόκεε ἐπιδιώκειν
Impersonal use of ἐδόκεε ("it seemed good to them to pursue," i.e., "they decided to pursue"), where the implied subject is the Greeks.
- 8.108.2τὰς γεφύρας
Synonymous with τὰς σχεδίας (the pontoon bridges) in the subsequent speech of Eurybiades, referring to Xerxes' bridges across the Hellespont.
- 8.108.3ὡς ἄγοντι μέν οἱ ἡσυχίην
The conjunction ὡς introduces a subordinate clause of reason in indirect discourse, where the participle ἄγοντι agrees with the dative pronoun οἱ (the Persian king) and acts as a conditional participle ("if he should keep quiet").
- 8.108.3ἤτοι ἁλισκομένων γε ἢ πρὸ τούτου ὁμολογεόντων
A genitive absolute construction, where the implied subject refers to the parts of Europe (cities or nations) mentioned previously ("either by being conquered or by making agreement before this").
- 8.108.4ἀλλὰ δοκέειν γάρ
The infinitive δοκέειν continues the indirect speech from the previous sentence. Combined with γάρ, it inserts a parenthetical explanation ("but, since it seemed that...") within the reported discourse.