- 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-grc2:8.111.1-8.111.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Describes the Greeks' siege of Andros and the Andrians' refusal to pay money to Themistocles, wittily contrasting their own useless deities (Poverty and Helplessness) with those of Athens (Persuasion and Necessity).
οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες, ἐπείτε σφι ἀπέδοξε1 μήτʼ ἐπιδιώκειν ἔτι προσωτέρω τῶν βαρβάρων τὰς νέας μήτε πλέειν ἐς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον λύσοντας τὸν πόρον, τὴν Ἄνδρον περικατέατο ἐξελεῖν ἐθέλοντες.
When the Greeks had resolved neither to pursue the ships of the barbarians any further nor to sail to the Hellespont to destroy the passage, they besieged Andros with the desire of taking it.
πρῶτοι γὰρ Ἄνδριοι νησιωτέων αἰτηθέντες πρὸς Θεμιστοκλέος χρήματα οὐκ ἔδοσαν, ἀλλὰ προϊσχομένου Θεμιστοκλέος λόγον τόνδε, ὡς ἥκοιεν Ἀθηναῖοι περὶ ἑωυτοὺς ἔχοντες δύο θεοὺς μεγάλους, πειθώ τε καὶ ἀναγκαίην, οὕτω τέ σφι κάρτα δοτέα εἶναι χρήματα, ὑπεκρίναντο πρὸς ταῦτα λέγοντες ὡς κατὰ λόγον ἦσαν ἄρα αἱ Ἀθῆναι μεγάλαι τε καὶ εὐδαίμονες, αἳ καὶ θεῶν χρηστῶν ἥκοιεν εὖ,2 ἐπεὶ Ἀνδρίους γε εἶναι3 γεωπείνας ἐς τὰ μέγιστα ἀνήκοντας, καὶ θεοὺς δύο ἀχρήστους οὐκ ἐκλείπειν σφέων τὴν νῆσον ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ φιλοχωρέειν, πενίην τε καὶ ἀμηχανίην, καὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν ἐπηβόλους ἐόντας Ἀνδρίους οὐ δώσειν χρήματα· οὐδέκοτε γὰρ τῆς ἑωυτῶν ἀδυναμίης τὴν Ἀθηναίων δύναμιν εἶναι κρέσσω.
For the Andrians were the first of the islanders who, when asked for money by Themistocles, refused to give it; but when Themistocles put forward this argument, that the Athenians had come having with them two great deities, Persuasion and Necessity, and that therefore they must by all means give money, they replied to this, saying that Athens was indeed reasonably great and prosperous, and was well favored with good gods, since the Andrians, at least, were impoverished in land to the ultimate degree, and two useless deities, Poverty and Helplessness, never left their island but always clung to the place; and being in possession of these gods, the Andrians would not give money, for the power of the Athenians would never be stronger than their own inability.
- 8.111.1ἀπέδοξε
The verb ἀποδοκέω means 'to resolve not to do' or 'to decide against'. It takes negative infinitives (μήτε... μήτε...) to express a negative resolution.
- 8.111.2ἥκοιεν εὖ
An idiomatic expression where εὖ ἥκειν with the genitive means 'to be well off for' or 'to be well favored in respect of'. Here it governs the genitive θεῶν χρηστῶν ('well favored with good gods'). The optative ἥκοιεν represents indirect speech.
- 8.111.3ἐπεὶ Ἀνδρίους γε εἶναι
Despite being in a subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction ἐπεί ('since'), the infinitive εἶναι is used instead of a finite verb. This is a characteristic Herodotian usage of the 'infinitive in subordinate clauses' in indirect discourse, showing that the entire statement of the Andrians is reported. The subsequent infinitives οὐκ ἐκλείπειν, οὐ δώσειν, and εἶναι share this construction.