- 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-grc2:8.128.1-8.128.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
During the siege of Potidaea, Artabazus and the Scionaean general Timoxenus communicated secretly via messages attached to arrows. However, an errant arrow struck a Potidaean, exposing their treason, though the generals decided not to charge Timoxenus to protect Scione's reputation.
ἐξελὼν δὲ ταύτην ὁ Ἀρτάβαζος τῇ Ποτιδαίῃ ἐντεταμένως προσεῖχε· προσέχοντι δέ οἱ προθύμως συντίθεται προδοσίην Τιμόξεινος ὁ τῶν Σκιωναίων στρατηγός, ὅντινα μὲν τρόπον ἀρχήν, ἔγωγε οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν (οὐ γὰρ ὦν λέγεται), τέλος μέντοι τοιάδε ἐγίνετο· ὅκως βυβλίον γράψειε ἢ Τιμόξεινος ἐθέλων παρὰ Ἀρτάβαζον πέμψαι ἢ Ἀρτάβαζος παρὰ Τιμόξεινον, τοξεύματος παρὰ τὰς γλυφίδας περιειλίξαντες καὶ πτερώσαντες τὸ βυβλίον ἐτόξευον1 ἐς συγκείμενον χωρίον.
Having taken this city, Artabazus applied himself intently to Potidaea; and as he was zealously applying himself, Timoxenus, the general of the Scionaeans, made a compact with him for treason. In what way it first began, I for my part cannot say (for it is not reported), but in the end it happened in this way: whenever either Timoxenus, wishing to send to Artabazus, or Artabazus to Timoxenus, wrote a letter, they would wrap the letter around the notches of an arrow, and having winged it, they shot it to an agreed place.
ἐπάιστος δὲ ἐγένετο ὁ Τιμόξεινος προδιδοὺς2 τὴν Ποτίδαιαν· τοξεύων γὰρ ὁ Ἀρτάβαζος ἐς τὸ συγκείμενον, ἁμαρτὼν τοῦ χωρίου τούτου βάλλει ἀνδρὸς Ποτιδαιήτεω τὸν ὦμον, τὸν δὲ βληθέντα περιέδραμε ὅμιλος, οἷα φιλέει γίνεσθαι ἐν πολέμῳ, οἳ αὐτίκα τὸ τόξευμα λαβόντες ὡς ἔμαθον τὸ βυβλίον, ἔφερον ἐπὶ τοὺς στρατηγούς· παρῆν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Παλληναίων συμμαχίν.
But Timoxenus was detected betraying Potidaea; for when Artabazus shot to the agreed place, he missed this spot and struck the shoulder of a Potidaean man. A crowd ran around the wounded man, as is wont to happen in war, who immediately, having taken the arrow, when they noticed the letter, carried it to the generals; and there was also present an allied force of the other Pallenaeans.
τοῖσι δὲ στρατηγοῖσι ἐπιλεξαμένοισι τὸ βυβλίον καὶ μαθοῦσι τὸν αἴτιον τῆς προδοσίης ἔδοξε μὴ καταπλῆξαι Τιμόξεινον προδοσίῃ τῆς Σκιωναίων πόλιος εἵνεκα, μὴ νομιζοίατο εἶναι3 Σκιωναῖοι ἐς τὸν μετέπειτα χρόνον αἰεὶ προδόται.
When the generals had read the letter and learned the author of the treason, they resolved not to brand Timoxenus with the charge of treason, for the sake of the city of the Scionaeans, lest the Scionaeans should be considered for all future time to be traitors.
- 8.128.1ὅκως ... γράψειε ... ἐτόξευον
An iterative construction representing repeated action in the past, consisting of the general temporal conjunction ὅκως ('whenever') with the optative γράψειε in the protasis, and the imperfect ἐτόξευον in the apodosis.
- 8.128.2ἐπάιστος δὲ ἐγένετο ὁ Τιμόξεινος προδιδοὺς
The present participle προδιδοὺς serves as a supplementary participle with the phrase ἐπάιστος ἐγένετο ('became detected / discovered'), meaning 'Timoxenus was detected betraying'.
- 8.128.3μὴ νομιζοίατο εἶναι
The Ionic third-person plural passive optative form νομιζοίατο (corresponding to Attic νομίζοιντο), used in a negative purpose clause introduced by μὴ after the historical main verb ἔδοξε.