Artemisia on the Risks of Sea Battle and Useless Allies — Herodotus, Histories Book 8 (8.68C.1), Greek & English

§8.68C.1

ἢν δὲ αὐτίκα ἐπειχθῇς ναυμαχῆσαι, δειμαίνω μὴ¹ ὁ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς κακωθεὶς τὸν πεζὸν προσδηλήσηται. πρὸς δὲ, ὦ βασιλεῦ, καὶ τόδε ἐς θυμὸν βάλευ,² ὡς τοῖσι μὲν χρηστοῖσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων κακοὶ δοῦλοι φιλέουσι γίνεσθαι, τοῖσι δὲ κακοῖσι χρηστοί. σοὶ δὲ ἐόντι ἀρίστῳ ἀνδρῶν πάντων κακοὶ δοῦλοι εἰσί, οἳ ἐν συμμάχων λόγῳ λέγονται εἶναι ἐόντες Αἰγύπτιοί τε καὶ Κύπριοι καὶ Κίλικες καὶ Πάμφυλοι, τῶν ὄφελος ἐστὶ οὐδέν.³

But if you rush to fight a sea-battle immediately, I fear lest the fleet, if defeated, may bring ruin upon the land army as well. Moreover, O King, lay this also to heart, that good men tend to have bad slaves, and bad men good ones. And to you, who are the best of all men, there belong bad slaves, those who are said to be in the rank of allies, being Egyptians, Cyprians, Cilicians, and Pamphylians, of whom there is no use at all.

Syntax notes3 items

8.68C.1δειμαίνω μὴ
An object clause introduced by a verb of fearing, meaning 'fear lest' or 'fear that'. It takes the subjunctive; here, the aorist middle subjunctive third person singular προσδηλήσηται ('bring ruin in addition' or 'harm further') is used.
8.68C.1ἐς θυμὸν βάλευ
An idiomatic expression meaning 'lay to heart' or 'take to mind'. The second-person singular aorist middle imperative of the verb βάλλω, which would be βάλου in Attic, appears here in its Ionic contracted form -ευ (contracted from -εο).
8.68C.1τῶν ὄφελος ἐστὶ οὐδέν
The genitive of the relative pronoun τῶν (referring to the preceding allies like Egyptians, etc.) modifies the neuter noun ὄφελος ('advantage' or 'use'), which is commonly used with or without ἐστί. It means 'of whom there is no use/benefit at all.'

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — note 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.68C.1