- 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-grc2:8.19.1-8.19.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Themistocles conceives a plan to detach the Ionians and Carians from the Persian forces, and instructs the Greek generals to slaughter Euboean sheep for their own consumption and to light fires to cover their retreat.
νόῳ δὲ λαβὼν ὁ Θεμιστοκλέης ὡς εἰ ἀπορραγείη ἀπὸ τοῦ βαρβάρου τό τε Ἰωνικὸν φῦλον καὶ τὸ Καρικόν, οἷοί τε εἴησαν ἂν1 τῶν λοιπῶν κατύπερθε γενέσθαι, ἐλαυνόντων τῶν Εὐβοέων πρόβατα ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ταύτην, συλλέξας τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἔλεγέ σφι ὡς δοκέοι ἔχειν τινὰ παλάμην, τῇ ἐλπίζοι τῶν βασιλέος συμμάχων ἀποστήσειν τοὺς ἀρίστους.
Themistocles, realizing in his mind that if the Ionian and Carian races were detached from the barbarian, they might be able to get the upper hand over the rest, while the Euboeans were driving their sheep down to this sea, gathered the generals and told them that he thought he had a certain plan by which he hoped to make the best of the king’s allies revolt.
ταῦτα μέν νυν ἐς τοσοῦτο παρεγύμνου, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖσι κατήκουσι πρήγμασι τάδε ποιητέα σφι εἶναι ἔλεγε, τῶν τε προβάτων τῶν Εὐβοϊκῶν καταθύειν2 ὅσα τις ἐθέλοι· κρέσσον γὰρ εἶναι τὴν στρατιὴν ἔχειν ἢ τοὺς πολεμίους· παραίνεέ τε προειπεῖν τοῖσι ἑωυτῶν ἑκάστους πῦρ ἀνακαίειν· κομιδῆς δὲ πέρι τὴν ὥρην αὐτῷ μελήσειν,3 ὥστε ἀσινέας ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα. ταῦτα ἤρεσέ σφι ποιέειν, καὶ αὐτίκα πῦρ ἀνακαυσάμενοι ἐτράποντο πρὸς τὰ πρόβατα.
These things he revealed only so far for the present, but in view of the current situation, he said that they must do as follows: namely, to slaughter as many of the Euboean sheep as anyone wished, for it was better for their own army to have them rather than the enemy; and he advised them that each should tell his own men to kindle fires; and as for the retreat, he himself would care for the proper time, so that they might arrive in Greece unharmed. They agreed to do this, and having immediately kindled fires, they turned to the sheep.
- 8.19.1οἷοί τε εἴησαν ἂν
Inside the ὡς clause, the conditional clause εἰ ἀπορραγείη and the apodosis οἷοί τε εἴησαν ἂν are embedded. In indirect discourse dependent on a main verb in a historical tense (ἔλεγε), this can be interpreted either as a shift to the optative mood (oblique optative) from an original conditional, or as the retention of the original potential optative with ἄν from the direct discourse.
- 8.19.2καταθύειν
This infinitive functions either as an infinitive for imperative (commanding) or as an infinitive in indirect discourse specifying the content of the preceding ἔλεγε ... τάδε ποιητέα σφι εἶναι ('he said they must do these things'). The preceding genitive τῶν προβάτων is a partitive genitive, meaning 'to slaughter (as many as one wished) of the sheep.'
- 8.19.2μελήσειν
The future infinitive of the impersonal verb μέλει (it is a care to someone). While μέλει normally takes a dative of the person and a genitive of the thing, here τὴν ὥρην (the proper time) acts as the accusative subject of the infinitive, with the prepositional phrase κομιδῆς δὲ πέρι (concerning the retreat) specifying the object of care.