- 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-grc2:8.71.1-8.71.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Describes how the Peloponnesians, upon learning of Leonidas's death, gathered at the Isthmus and built a massive defensive wall day and night to prevent the barbarians from invading by land.
καίτοι τὰ δυνατὰ πάντα ἐμεμηχάνητο ὅκως κατʼ ἤπειρον μὴ ἐσβάλοιεν1 οἱ βάρβαροι. ὡς γὰρ ἐπύθοντο τάχιστα Πελοποννήσιοι τοὺς ἀμφὶ Λεωνίδην2 ἐν Θερμοπύλῃσι τετελευτηκέναι, συνδραμόντες ἐκ τῶν πολίων ἐς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἵζοντο, καί σφι ἐπῆν στρατηγὸς Κλεόμβροτος ὁ Ἀναξανδρίδεω, Λεωνίδεω δὲ ἀδελφεός.
And yet, every possible measure had been devised to prevent the barbarians from invading by land. For as soon as the Peloponnesians learned that Leonidas and his men had died at Thermopylae, they rushed together from their cities and stationed themselves at the Isthmus; and over them was Cleombrotus, the son of Anaxandrides and brother of Leonidas, as general.
ἱζόμενοι δὲ ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ καὶ συγχώσαντες τὴν Σκιρωνίδα ὁδόν, μετὰ τοῦτο ὥς σφι ἔδοξε βουλευομένοισι,3 οἰκοδόμεον διὰ τοῦ Ἰσθμοῦ τεῖχος. ἅτε δὲ ἐουσέων μυριάδων πολλέων καὶ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐργαζομένου,4 ἤνετο τὸ ἔργον· καὶ γὰρ λίθοι καὶ πλίνθοι καὶ ξύλα καὶ φορμοὶ ψάμμου πλήρεες ἐσεφέροντο, καὶ ἐλίνυον οὐδένα χρόνον οἱ βοηθήσαντες ἐργαζόμενοι,5 οὔτε νυκτὸς οὔτε ἡμέρης.
Having taken up their positions at the Isthmus and blocked up the Scironian Way, they next, as they resolved upon deliberation, began to build a wall across the Isthmus. Since there were many tens of thousands and every man was working, the work made rapid progress; for indeed stones, bricks, timber, and baskets full of sand were being brought in, and those who had come to help did not rest for a single moment from their work, neither by night nor by day.
- 8.71.1ὅκως κατʼ ἤπειρον μὴ ἐσβάλοιεν
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως), following the pluperfect ἐμεμηχάνητο (a historical tense), introduces a clause of effort or purpose, taking the optative mood (ἐσβάλοιεν).
- 8.71.1τοὺς ἀμφὶ Λεωνίδην
The idiom "those around someone" (ἀμφί with accusative) is used here to refer to the leader Leonidas himself together with his followers or companions.
- 8.71.2ὥς σφι ἔδοξε βουλευομένοισι
The impersonal verb ἔδοξε ("it seemed good, was decided") takes the dative third-person plural pronoun σφι ("to them"), which is in agreement with the present dative participle βουλευομένοισι ("while deliberating").
- 8.71.2ἅτε δὲ ἐουσέων μυριάδων πολλέων καὶ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐργαζομένου
A genitive absolute construction introduced by the particle ἅτε, which indicates an objective reason. The participles ἐουσέων (Ionic for οὐσῶν) and ἐργαζομένου agree with their respective genitive subjects (μυριάδων and ἀνδρός).
- 8.71.2ἐλίνυον οὐδένα χρόνον ... ἐργαζόμενοι
The verb ἐλινύω ("to rest, pause from labor") is combined with the present participle ἐργαζόμενοι, acting as a supplementary or circumstantial participle, to express the continuous action of "working without any pause."