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Plutarch · Life of Aristides §9.1-9.4

Victory at Psyttaleia and Xerxes' Retreat

Passage 9 of 27 · Greek

Summary

Aristeides lands on Psyttaleia, destroying the enemy force and sending the captured nephews of the Persian king to be sacrificed. After the battle, when Themistocles proposes cutting off the enemy's bridges at the Hellespont, Aristeides warns against cornering a massive army, prompting Themistocles to secretly advise the King to hasten his retreat.

§9.1οἱ μὲν οὖν ναύαρχοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ταῦτʼ ἔπραττον.
The commanders of the Greeks, then, were doing these things.
Ἀριστείδης δʼ ὁρῶν τὴν Ψυττάλειαν, ἣ πρὸ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος ἐν τῷ πόρῳ κεῖται νῆσος οὐ μεγάλη, πολεμίων ἀνδρῶν μεστὴν οὖσαν, ἐμβιβάσας εἰς ὑπηρετικὰ τοὺς προθυμοτάτους καὶ μαχιμωτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν προσέμιξε τῇ Ψυτταλείᾳ, καὶ μάχην πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους συνάψας ἀπέκτεινε πάντας, πλὴν ὅσοι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ζῶντες ἥλωσαν.
But Aristeides, seeing that Psyttaleia, which is a not large island lying in the passage before Salamis, was full of enemy men, having embarked the most eager and warlike of the citizens into light boats, landed on Psyttaleia, and joining battle against the barbarians, killed them all, except those of the prominent men who were taken alive.
ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἦσαν ἀδελφῆς βασιλέως ὄνομα Σανδαύκης τρεῖς παῖδες, οὓς εὐθὺς ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα· §9.2καὶ λέγονται κατά τι λόγιον, τοῦ μάντεως Εὐφραντίδου κελεύσαντος, ὠμηστῇ Διονύσῳ καθιερευθῆναι.
And among these were three sons of the King's sister named Sandauce, whom he immediately sent to Themistocles; and they are said, according to some oracle, at the bidding of the seer Euphrantides, to have been sacrificed to Dionysus the Carnivorous.
τὴν δὲ νησῖδα τοῖς ὅπλοις πανταχόθεν ὁ Ἀριστείδης περιστέψας ἐφήδρευε τοῖς ἐκφερομένοις πρὸς αὐτήν, ὡς μήτε τῶν φίλων τινὰ διαφθαρῆναι μήτε τῶν πολεμίων διαφυγεῖν.
And Aristeides, having ringed the small island all around with arms, lay in wait for those who were washed ashore on it, so that neither any of their friends should perish nor any of the enemy escape.
ὁ γὰρ πλεῖστος ὠθισμὸς τῶν νεῶν καὶ τῆς μάχης τὸ καρτερώτατον ἔοικε περὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον γενέσθαι· διὸ καὶ τρόπαιον ἕστηκεν ἐν τῇ Ψυτταλείᾳ.
For the greatest crowding of the ships and the fiercest part of the battle seem to have taken place around that spot; wherefore also a trophy stands on Psyttaleia.
§9.3μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀποπειρώμενος τοῦ Ἀριστείδου καλὸν μὲν εἶναι καὶ τὸ πεπραγμένον αὐτοῖς ἔργον ἔλεγε, κρεῖττον δὲ λείπεσθαι τὸ λαβεῖν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἀναπλεύσαντας εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον τὴν ταχίστην καὶ τὰ ζεύγματα διακόψαντας.
And after the battle, Themistocles, putting Aristeides to the test, said that the deed achieved by them was indeed honorable, but that a greater thing remained, which was to capture Asia in Europe by sailing up to the Hellespont as quickly as possible and cutting the bridges.
ἐπεὶ δʼ Ἀριστείδης ἀνακραγὼν τοῦτον μὲν ἐκέλευε τὸν λόγον καταβαλεῖν, σκοπεῖν δὲ καὶ ζητεῖν, ὅπως τὴν ταχίστην ἐκβάλωσι τὸν Μῆδον ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, §9.4μὴ κατακλεισθεὶς ἀπορίᾳ φυγῆς μετὰ τοσαύτης δυνάμεως τραπῇ πρὸς ἄμυναν ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης, οὕτω πέμπει πάλιν Ἀρνάκην εὐνοῦχον ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἐκ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων κρύφα, φράσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ κελεύσας, ὅτι πλεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς γεφύρας ὡρμημένους τοὺς Ἕλληνας αὐτὸς ἀποστρέψειε σώζεσθαι βασιλέα βουλόμενος.
But when Aristeides cried out and ordered him to drop this plan, and rather to consider and seek how they might expel the Mede from Greece as quickly as possible, lest, being shut in and lacking a way of escape with so great a force, he should turn to defense out of necessity, so Themistocles sent again Arnaces, a eunuch from among the prisoners, secretly, having ordered him to tell the King that although the Greeks were eager to sail to the bridges, he himself had turned them back, wishing the King to be saved.

Notes

  1. §9.1μεστὴν οὖσαν — This participle acts as a supplementary participle of the verb of perception ὁρῶν, establishing an indirect discourse construction with the accusative τὴν Ψυττάλειαν as its subject ('seeing that Psyttaleia was full').
  2. §9.2τοῦ μάντεως Εὐφραντίδου κελεύσαντος — A genitive absolute construction expressing the cause or reason ('at the bidding of the seer Euphrantides') for the main passive verb λέγονται.
  3. §9.3ἀναπλεύσαντας ... διακόψαντας — Accusative participles agreeing with the implied accusative subject of the substantivized infinitive τὸ λαβεῖν ('to capture'), which represents the Greeks (or Themistocles and Aristeides) as the agents of the action.
  4. §9.4ἀποστρέψειε — An optative of indirect discourse in the ὅτι-clause, triggered by the past secondary sequence established by the main historic present (πέμπει) and the past-referring participle (κελεύσαντος).

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Aristides §9.1-9.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg024.humanitext-grc2:9.1-9.4

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