- 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-grc2:8.20.1-8.20.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The Euboeans bring disaster upon themselves by ignoring the oracle of Bacis and failing to prepare for war, and the text of the oracle is quoted.
οἱ γὰρ Εὐβοέες, παραχρησάμενοι τὸν Βάκιδος χρησμὸν ὡς οὐδὲν λέγοντα,1 οὔτε τι ἐξεκομίσαντο οὐδὲν οὔτε προσεσάξαντο ὡς παρεσομένου σφι πολέμου,2 περιπετέα τε ἐποιήσαντο σφίσι αὐτοῖσι τὰ πρήγματα.
For the Euboeans, treating the oracle of Bacis as saying nothing to the purpose, had neither carried away anything to safety nor brought in any provisions, as though no war were impending over them, and thus they brought their affairs to a disastrous ruin.
Βάκιδι γὰρ ὧδε ἔχει περὶ τούτων ὁ χρησμός. "φράζεο, βαρβαρόφωνος ὅταν ζυγὸν εἰς ἅλα βάλλῃ βύβλινον, Εὐβοίης ἀπέχειν3 πολυμηκάδας αἶγας." τούτοισι οὐδὲν τοῖσι ἔπεσι χρησαμένοισι ἐν τοῖσι τότε παρεοῦσί τε καὶ προσδοκίμοισι κακοῖσι παρῆν σφι συμφορῇ χρᾶσθαι4 πρὸς τὰ μέγιστα.
For the oracle of Bacis concerning these matters runs as follows: “Beware, when a barbarian-tongued man shall cast a papyrus yoke upon the sea, to keep the loud-bleating goats far from Euboea.” Because they made no use of these verses in the evils then present and expected, it was their lot to experience calamity in the highest degree.
- 8.20.1ὡς οὐδὲν λέγοντα
The conjunction ὡς with the present participle λέγοντα (accusative masculine singular, agreeing with τὸν ... χρησμὸν) expresses a subjective reason or regard. The phrase οὐδὲν λέγειν is an idiomatic expression meaning 'to speak nonsense' or 'to say nothing to the purpose'.
- 8.20.1ὡς παρεσομένου σφι πολέμου
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the future participle παρεσομένου with ὡς. While future participles of impersonal verbs often take the accusative absolute, here πόλεμος is the subject, making it a regular genitive absolute expressing subjective expectation ('as though a war were about to be at hand for them').
- 8.20.2Εὐβοίης ἀπέχειν
An expression in the hexameter oracle. The infinitive ἀπέχειν is used as an imperative (the imperative infinitive) addressed to the second person. Εὐβοίης is a genitive of separation ('from Euboea'), and the infinitive is used transitively here meaning 'to keep (something) away'.
- 8.20.2παρῆν σφι συμφορῇ χρᾶσθαι
The impersonal verb παρῆν (imperfect of πάρειμι) taking the dative σφι ('for them') and the infinitive χρᾶσθαι. It expresses a fateful necessity ('it fell to their lot to experience...'). συμφορῇ is the dative complement governed by χρᾶσθαι.