- 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-grc2:8.59.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
When the generals assemble, Themistocles speaks at length before the formal agenda is set, drawing criticism from Adeimantus of Corinth for starting prematurely, to which Themistocles wittily replies that those who lag behind do not win the crown.
ὡς δὲ ἄρα συνελέχθησαν, πρὶν ἢ τὸν Εὐρυβιάδην προθεῖναι τὸν λόγον τῶν εἵνεκα1 συνήγαγε τοὺς στρατηγούς, πολλὸς ἦν2 ὁ Θεμιστοκλέης ἐν τοῖσι λόγοισι οἷα κάρτα δεόμενος· λέγοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ, ὁ Κορίνθιος στρατηγὸς Ἀδείμαντος ὁ Ὠκύτου εἶπε ὦ Θεμιστόκλεες, ἐν τοῖσι ἀγῶσι οἱ προεξανιστάμενοι ῥαπίζονται. ὁ δὲ ἀπολυόμενος3 ἔφη οἱ δέ γε ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι οὐ στεφανοῦνται.
When they had assembled, before Eurybiades could put forward the subject for the sake of which he had gathered the generals, Themistocles was full of words, as one who was in great need. While he was speaking, the Corinthian general Adeimantus, the son of Ocytus, said: “O Themistocles, in the games, those who start before the signal are whipped.” And he, defending himself, said: “But those who are left behind are not crowned.”
- 8.59.1τῶν εἵνεκα
The Ionic postpositive preposition εἵνεκα (for the sake of) governs the genitive relative pronoun τῶν. This relative pronoun refers back to the antecedent τὸν λόγον (the subject/proposal) or stands for an omitted demonstrative plural ("for the sake of those things"), introducing the relative clause "for the sake of which he assembled the generals."
- 8.59.1πολλὸς ἦν
The adjective πολλός (nominative singular of πολύς) is used with the verb ἦν and the prepositional phrase ἐν τοῖσι λόγοισι to form an idiomatic expression meaning "he was profuse in his words" or "he spoke at great length."
- 8.59.1ἀπολυόμενος
Present middle/passive participle of ἀπολύω (to release, acquit). Here it is used in the middle voice meaning "releasing oneself (from the charge/reproof)," hence "defending oneself" or "parrying the blow" with a witty retort in response to Adeimantus's sudden attack.