- 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-grc2:8.74.1-8.74.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The Greeks at the Isthmus labor in fear for their lives while those at Salamis grow increasingly anxious for the Peloponnese, leading to an open clash in a council between those advocating retreat to the Peloponnese and those demanding to stay and fight.
οἳ μὲν δὴ ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ τοιούτῳ πόνῳ συνέστασαν, ἅτε περὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἤδη δρόμου θέοντες1 καὶ τῇσι νηυσὶ οὐκ ἐλπίζοντες ἐλλάμψεσθαι·2 οἳ δὲ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ὅμως ταῦτα πυνθανόμενοι ἀρρώδεον, οὐκ οὕτω περὶ σφίσι αὐτοῖσι δειμαίνοντες ὡς περὶ τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ.
Now those at the Isthmus were engaged in such great toil, since they were running, as it were, a race for their very lives and had no hope of distinguishing themselves with the fleet; while those in Salamis, though they heard of these things, were nevertheless terrified, fearing not so much for themselves as for the Peloponnese.
τέως μὲν δὴ αὐτῶν ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὶ παραστὰς σιγῇ λόγον ἐποιέετο, θῶμα ποιεύμενοι τὴν Εὐρυβιάδεω ἀβουλίην· τέλος δὲ ἐξερράγη ἐς τὸ μέσον. σύλλογός τε δὴ ἐγίνετο καὶ πολλὰ ἐλέγετο τῶν αὐτῶν, οἳ μὲν ὡς ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον χρεὸν εἴη ἀποπλέειν καὶ περὶ ἐκείνης κινδυνεύειν μηδὲ πρὸ χώρης δοριαλώτου μένοντας μάχεσθαι, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ Αἰγινῆται καὶ Μεγαρέες αὐτοῦ μένοντας ἀμύνεσθαι.3
For a time indeed, standing man by man, they talked in whispers among themselves, wondering at the folly of Eurybiades; but at last it broke out into the open. A meeting was held, and many of the same arguments were spoken: some saying that they ought to sail away to the Peloponnese and risk battle for that land, rather than stay and fight for a country already captured by the spear; while the Athenians, Aeginetans, and Megarians urged that they should stay and defend themselves where they were.
- 8.74.1ἅτε περὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἤδη δρόμου θέοντες
The conjunction ἅτε introduces an objective cause with the participle (θέοντες). The phrase περὶ τοῦ παντὸς δρόμου θέειν is an idiomatic expression using an athletic metaphor meaning "to run a race for one's life" or "to hazard everything in a crisis."
- 8.74.1ἐλλάμψεσθαι
An infinitive dependent on the participle of hoping/expecting (οὐκ ἐλπίζοντες). It is the future middle of ἐλλάμπω with its subject omitted as it is identical to that of the main clause. It is used intransitively to mean "to distinguish oneself" or "to win glory."
- 8.74.2οἳ μὲν ὡς ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον χρεὸν εἴη ἀποπλέειν... Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ Αἰγινῆται καὶ Μεγαρέες αὐτοῦ μένοντας ἀμύνεσθαι
The first clause (οἳ μὲν ὡς... εἴη) conveys the opinions of some through indirect discourse with ὡς and the optative. The second clause (Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ... ἀμύνεσθαι) shifts abruptly (anacoluthon) to an infinitive construction (ἀμύνεσθαι). The infinitive may either depend on the preceding χρεὸν εἴη or imply a governing verb of speaking like ἔλεγον.