- 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-grc2:9.65.1-9.65.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Narrates the disorderly retreat of the defeated Persian forces to their camp and wooden wall in Plataea, and records the wondrous phenomenon that despite fighting near Demeter's grove, not a single Persian entered or died within the sacred precinct.
ἐν δὲ Πλαταιῇσι οἱ Πέρσαι ὡς ἐτράποντο ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, ἔφευγον οὐδένα κόσμον ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ ἑωυτῶν καὶ ἐς τὸ τεῖχος τὸ ξύλινον τὸ ἐποιήσαντο ἐν μοίρῃ τῇ Θηβαΐδι.
In Plataea, when the Persians were routed by the Lacedaemonians, they fled in utter disorder to their own camp and to the wooden wall which they had built in the territory of Thebes.
θῶμα δέ μοι ὅκως1 παρὰ τῆς Δήμητρος τὸ ἄλσος μαχομένων οὐδὲ εἷς ἐφάνη τῶν Περσέων οὔτε ἐσελθὼν ἐς τὸ τέμενος οὔτε ἐναποθανών, περί τε τὸ ἱρὸν οἱ πλεῖστοι ἐν τῷ βεβήλῳ ἔπεσον. δοκέω δέ, εἴ τι περὶ τῶν θείων πρηγμάτων δοκέειν δεῖ,2 ἡ θεὸς αὐτή σφεας οὐκ ἐδέκετο ἐμπρήσαντας3 τὸ ἱρὸν τὸ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι ἀνάκτορον.
And it is a marvel to me how, though they fought near the grove of Demeter, not a single one of the Persians was seen either to enter the sacred precinct or to die in it, but most of them fell around the temple on profane ground. And I think, if indeed one must have an opinion about divine matters, that the goddess herself did not admit them because they had burned her temple, the anaktoron in Eleusis.
- 9.65.2θῶμα δέ μοι ὅκως
The noun θῶμα (marvel) is followed by an indirect question clause introduced by ὅκως (how). The structure means "how ... is a marvel to me."
- 9.65.2εἴ τι περὶ τῶν θείων πρηγμάτων δοκέειν δεῖ
A combination of the impersonal verb δεῖ (it is necessary / one must) and the infinitive δοκέειν (to think / have an opinion) within a conditional clause. It means "if indeed one must have some opinion about divine matters."
- 9.65.2ἐμπρήσαντας
An aorist active participle in the accusative plural, modifying the preceding pronoun σφεας (them), and functioning adverbially to express cause ("because they had burned").