- 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-grc2:9.20.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Mardonius, seeing that the Greeks do not come down to the plain, sends his entire cavalry under the command of Masistius to attack them, insulting them as women.
Μαρδόνιος δέ, ὡς οὐ κατέβαινον οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐς τὸ πεδίον, πέμπει ἐς αὐτοὺς πᾶσαν τὴν ἵππον, τῆς1 ἱππάρχεε Μασίστιος εὐδοκιμέων παρὰ Πέρσῃσι, τὸν Ἕλληνες Μακίστιον καλέουσι, ἵππον ἔχων2 Νησαῖον χρυσοχάλινον καὶ ἄλλως κεκοσμημένον καλῶς. ἐνθαῦτα ὡς προσήλασαν οἱ ἱππόται πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, προσέβαλλον κατὰ τέλεα, προσβάλλοντες δὲ κακὰ μεγάλα ἐργάζοντο καὶ γυναῖκας σφέας3 ἀπεκάλεον.
And Mardonius, seeing that the Greeks did not come down into the plain, sent against them all his cavalry, which was commanded by Masistius, a man of high repute among the Persians, whom the Greeks call Macistius; he rode a Nesaean horse with a golden bridle, and otherwise beautifully adorned. Thereupon, when the horsemen had ridden up to the Greeks, they made charges by squadrons, and in charging they did them great harm and called them women.
- 9.20.1τῆς
The relative pronoun τῆς (genitive feminine singular) has as its antecedent the feminine collective noun τὴν ἵππον (cavalry). It is in the genitive case because the verb ἱππάρχεε (to command) governs the genitive.
- 9.20.1ἵππον ἔχων
The participle ἔχων (having) here does not mean merely "owning" a horse, but "riding" or "being mounted on" a horse.
- 9.20.1σφέας
The personal pronoun σφέας (third person plural accusative, Ionic form) refers to the Greeks (τοὺς Ἕλληνας). Together with γυναῖκας, it forms a double accusative construction with the verb ἀπεκάλεον (to call someone something).