- 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-grc2:9.7.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
While the Lacedaemonians are busy celebrating the Hyacinthia and constructing the wall at the Isthmus, messengers from Athens, Megara, and Plataea arrive and address the ephors.
οἱ γὰρ δὴ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ὅρταζόν τε τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον καί σφι ἦν Ὑακίνθια, περὶ πλείστου δʼ ἦγον τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πορσύνειν·1 ἅμα δὲ τὸ τεῖχός σφι, τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ ἐτείχεον, καὶ ἤδη ἐπάλξις ἐλάμβανε.2 ὡς δὲ ἀπίκοντο ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα οἱ ἄγγελοι οἱ ἀπʼ Ἀθηνέων, ἅμα ἀγόμενοι3 ἔκ τε Μεγάρων ἀγγέλους καὶ ἐκ Πλαταιέων, ἔλεγον τάδε ἐπελθόντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐφόρους.
For the Lacedaemonians were celebrating a festival at this time and were keeping the Hyacinthia, and they regarded it as of the utmost importance to perform the rites of the god; at the same time, the wall which they were building at the Isthmus was already receiving its battlements. When the messengers from Athens arrived in Lacedaemon, bringing with them also messengers from Megara and Plataea, they came before the ephors and spoke as follows.
- 9.7.1περὶ πλείστου δʼ ἦγον τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πορσύνειν
The imperfect tense of the idiom περὶ πλείστου ἡγεῖσθαι (to regard as of the utmost importance) is followed by the infinitive πορσύνειν (to perform, attend to), meaning 'they regarded it as of the highest importance to perform the rites of the god.'
- 9.7.1ἤδη ἐπάλξις ἐλάμβανε
The subject 'the wall which they were building at the Isthmus' is followed by the expression ἐπάλξις ἐλάμβανε (was receiving battlements), indicating that the construction of the wall was in its final stages of completion.
- 9.7.1ἅμα ἀγόμενοι
The middle present participle ἀγόμενοι of ἄγω means 'bringing along with themselves,' indicating that the Athenian messengers took the lead in accompanying the messengers from Megara and Plataea.