- 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-grc2:8.68B.1-8.68B.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Artemisia advises Xerxes that if he avoids a sea-fight and advances by land, the Persian goals will be easily achieved, while the Greeks, lacking food, will scatter to their own cities.
τῇ1 δὲ ἐγὼ δοκέω ἀποβήσεσθαι τὰ τῶν ἀντιπολέμων πρήγματα, τοῦτο φράσω. ἢν μὲν μὴ ἐπειχθῇς ναυμαχίην ποιεύμενος, ἀλλὰ τὰς νέας αὐτοῦ ἔχῃς πρὸς γῇ μένων ἢ καὶ προβαίνων ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, εὐπετέως τοι δέσποτα χωρήσει τὰ νοέων ἐλήλυθας.2
But I will tell you this, how I think the affairs of our adversaries will turn out. If you do not rush to engage in a sea-fight, but keep your ships here, remaining near the land, or even advancing into the Peloponnese, what you came intending to do, master, will easily succeed for you.
οὐ γὰρ οἷοί τε πολλὸν χρόνον εἰσί τοι ἀντέχειν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ σφέας διασκεδᾷς, κατὰ πόλις δὲ ἕκαστοι φεύξονται. οὔτε γὰρ σῖτος πάρα σφι ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, οὔτε αὐτοὺς οἰκός, ἢν σὺ ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐλαύνῃς τὸν πεζὸν στρατόν, ἀτρεμιεῖν3 τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῶν ἥκοντας, οὐδέ σφι μελήσει πρὸ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ναυμαχέειν.4
For the Greeks are not able to hold out against you for a long time, but you will scatter them, and they will flee each to their own cities. For they have no food in this island, as I learn, nor is it likely, if you march your land army against the Peloponnese, that those of them who have come from there will remain quiet; nor will they care to fight a sea-battle on behalf of Athens.
- 8.68B.1τῇ
Relative adverb (corresponding to Attic ᾗ) introducing an indirect question, meaning 'how' or 'in what way'. It governs the following construction with the future infinitive ἀποβήσεσθαι.
- 8.68B.1τὰ νοέων ἐλήλυθας
A relative clause with the relative pronoun τὰ (Attic ἅ) whose antecedent is omitted. The present participle νοέων ('intending', 'thinking') denotes the circumstance of the main verb ἐλήλυθας ('you have come'), meaning as a whole 'the things which you came intending to do'.
- 8.68B.2οὔτε αὐτοὺς οἰκός ... ἀτρεμιεῖν
οἰκός (Attic εἰκός) is used impersonally as οἰκός ἐστι ('it is likely', 'it is natural'). The accusative αὐτούς ('them') functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive ἀτρεμιεῖν ('to remain quiet'), which is further specified by the appositive participle phrase τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῶν ἥκοντας ('those of them who have come from there').
- 8.68B.2οὐδέ σφι μελήσει ... ναυμαχέειν
A construction using the future of the impersonal verb μέλει (μελήσει). With the dative σφι ('for them'), the infinitive phrase ναυμαχέειν πρὸ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ('to fight a sea-battle on behalf of Athens') acts as the subject, meaning 'it will not concern them (i.e., they will not care) to fight for Athens'.