- 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-grc2:8.113.1-8.113.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
While Xerxes retreated to Boeotia, Mardonius decided to escort the king and winter in Thessaly to prepare for a spring invasion of the Peloponnese, selecting a force of 300,000 elite troops.
οἱ δʼ ἀμφὶ Ξέρξην ἐπισχόντες ὀλίγας ἡμέρας μετὰ τὴν ναυμαχίην ἐξήλαυνον ἐς Βοιωτοὺς τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδόν. ἔδοξε γὰρ Μαρδονίῳ1 ἅμα μὲν προπέμψαι βασιλέα, ἅμα δὲ ἀνωρίη εἶναι τοῦ ἔτεος πολεμέειν, χειμερίσαι τε ἄμεινον εἶναι ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ, καὶ ἔπειτα ἅμα τῷ ἔαρι πειρᾶσθαι τῆς Πελοποννήσου.
Xerxes and his men, having waited for a few days after the sea-fight, marched out to Boeotia by the same road. For it seemed best to Mardonius, on the one hand, to escort the king, and on the other hand, that it was unseasonable to wage war at this time of the year, and that it was better to winter in Thessaly, and then, at the beginning of spring, to make an attempt upon the Peloponnese.
ὡς δὲ ἀπίκατο ἐς τὴν Θεσσαλίην, ἐνθαῦτα Μαρδόνιος ἐξελέγετο πρώτους μὲν τοὺς Πέρσας πάντας τοὺς ἀθανάτους καλεομένους, πλὴν Ὑδάρνεος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ (οὗτος γὰρ οὐκ ἔφη λείψεσθαι βασιλέος), μετὰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων Περσέων τοὺς θωρηκοφόρους καὶ τὴν ἵππον τὴν χιλίην, καὶ Μήδους τε καὶ Σάκας καὶ Βακτρίους τε καὶ Ἰνδούς, καὶ τὸν πεζὸν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἵππον.
When they had arrived in Thessaly, Mardonius there began to select, first of all, all the Persians who were called the Immortals, except for their general Hydarnes (for he said he would not be left behind by the king); and after them, from the rest of the Persians, those who wore breastplates, and the thousand cavalry; and also the Medes, the Sacae, the Bactrians, and the Indians, both their infantry and the rest of their cavalry.
ταῦτα μὲν ἔθνεα ὅλα εἵλετο, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ἐξελέγετο κατʼ ὀλίγους, τοῖσι εἴδεά τε ὑπῆρχε διαλέγων2 καὶ εἰ τεοῖσι τι χρηστὸν συνῄδεε πεποιημένον·3 ἓν δὲ πλεῖστον ἔθνος Πέρσας αἱρέετο, ἄνδρας στρεπτοφόρους τε καὶ ψελιοφόρους, ἐπὶ δὲ Μήδους· οὗτοι δὲ τὸ πλῆθος μὲν οὐκ ἐλάσσονες ἦσαν τῶν Περσέων, ῥώμῃ δὲ ἥσσονες. ὥστε σύμπαντας τριήκοντα μυριάδας γενέσθαι σὺν ἱππεῦσι.
These nations he chose in their entirety, but from the other allies he selected a few at a time, picking out those who possessed a fine appearance, and any of whom he knew to have performed some good service. The single largest nation he chose was the Persians, men who wore collars and bracelets, and next to them the Medes; these latter were not fewer in number than the Persians, but were inferior in strength. Thus the whole number, including the cavalry, came to three hundred thousand.
- 8.113.1ἔδοξε γὰρ Μαρδονίῳ
The verb ἔδοξε takes a series of parallel infinitive clauses as its subjects/complements: the active infinitive προπέμψαι, the accusative-and-infinitive clauses with impersonal adjectives ἀνωρίην εἶναι and ἄμεινον εἶναι, and the middle-passive infinitive πειρᾶσθαι, all representing Mardonius' decisions.
- 8.113.3τοῖσι εἴδεά τε ὑπῆρχε διαλέγων
The dative plural demonstrative τοῖσι, acting as a relative pronoun, introduces the clause governed by the participle διαλέγων ("picking out those to whom fine appearance belonged"). The plural εἴδεα here refers to physical appearance or stature.
- 8.113.3εἰ τεοῖσι τι χρηστὸν συνῄδεε πεποιημένον
συνῄδεε is the 3rd person singular pluperfect of σύνοιδα with Mardonius as the subject. The construction σύνοιδα + dative + participle denotes 'to know that someone has done something.' τεοῖσι is the Ionic form for τισί. The phrase means 'if he knew that any had performed some good service.'