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Herodotus · Histories §1.170.1-1.170.3

Counsels of Bias and Thales to the Ionians

Passage 170 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After the subjugation of Ionia, it is recorded that Bias of Priene proposed a mass migration to Sardinia to the assembly at the Panionium, while earlier Thales of Miletus had suggested establishing a federal state centered at Teos.

§1.170.1κεκακωμένων δὲ Ἰώνων καὶ συλλεγομένων οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἐς τὸ Πανιώνιον, πυνθάνομαι γνώμην Βίαντα ἄνδρα Πριηνέα ἀποδέξασθαι Ἴωσι χρησιμωτάτην, τῇ εἰ ἐπείθοντο, παρεῖχε ἂν σφι εὐδαιμονέειν Ἑλλήνων μάλιστα·
When the Ionians were ruined and were nevertheless gathering at the Panionium, I learn that Bias of Priene put forward a most useful opinion for the Ionians, which, if they had obeyed it, would have allowed them to be the happiest of the Greeks.
§1.170.2ὃς ἐκέλευε κοινῷ στόλῳ Ἴωνας ἀερθέντας πλέειν ἐς Σαρδὼ καὶ ἔπειτα πόλιν μίαν κτίζειν πάντων Ἰώνων, καὶ οὕτω ἀπαλλαχθέντας σφέας δουλοσύνης εὐδαιμονήσειν, νήσων τε ἁπασέων μεγίστην νεμομένους καὶ ἄρχοντας ἄλλων· μένουσι δέ σφι ἐν τῇ Ἰωνίῃ οὐκ ἔφη ἐνορᾶν ἐλευθερίην ἔτι ἐσομένην.
He urged the Ionians to set sail with a common fleet to Sardinia and then found a single city for all Ionians, and said that, having thus been delivered from slavery, they would be happy, inhabiting the greatest of all islands and ruling over others; but if they remained in Ionia, he said he saw no prospect of freedom still remaining for them.
§1.170.3αὕτη μὲν Βίαντος τοῦ Πριηνέος γνώμη ἐπὶ διεφθαρμένοισι Ἴωσι γενομένη, χρηστὴ δὲ καὶ πρὶν ἢ διαφθαρῆναι Ἰωνίην Θάλεω ἀνδρὸς Μιλησίου ἐγένετο, τὸ ἀνέκαθεν γένος ἐόντος Φοίνικος, ὃς ἐκέλευε ἓν βουλευτήριον Ἴωνας ἐκτῆσθαι, τὸ δὲ εἶναι ἐν Τέῳ (Τέων γὰρ μέσον εἶναι Ἰωνίης), τὰς δὲ ἄλλας πόλιας οἰκεομένας μηδὲν ἧσσον νομίζεσθαι κατά περ ἐς δῆμοι εἶεν·
This was the opinion of Bias of Priene, offered after the Ionians had been ruined; but even before Ionia was ruined, a useful one had been made by Thales of Miletus, who was by ancestry of Phoenician descent. He urged that the Ionians should possess a single council-chamber, and that this should be in Teos (for Teos was the center of Ionia), and that the other cities, though still inhabited, should be regarded just as if they were demes.
οὗτοι μὲν δή σφι γνώμας τοιάσδε ἀπεδέξαντο.
These men indeed put forward such opinions for them.

Notes

  1. §1.170.1παρεῖχε ἂν — An impersonal use of the imperfect παρεῖχε with the particle ἂν, or with the preceding 'opinion' (γνώμη) as its subject. It represents the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact condition corresponding to the protasis εἰ ἐπείθοντο ('if they had obeyed'), meaning 'it would have allowed/provided them to...'.
  2. §1.170.2μένουσι δέ σφι — The present participle dative plural μένουσι modifies the pronoun σφι ('for them') and expresses a conditional meaning ('if they remained').
  3. §1.170.2οὐκ ἔφη ἐνορᾶν — The negative verb οὔ φημι (where the negation is attracted to the main verb, denying the following infinitive ἐνορᾶν) governing an accusative with infinitive construction with the future participle ἐσομένην, meaning 'he said he did not see/there was no prospect of...'.
  4. §1.170.3κατά περ ἐς δῆμοι εἶεν — The comparative conjunction κατά περ followed by a hypothetical expression. Some manuscripts read κατά περ εἰ δῆμοι εἶεν ('just as if they were demes'). In any case, it compares the independent cities to administrative subdivisions (demes) of a single state. The optative εἶεν expresses a hypothetical comparison.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.170.1-1.170.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.170.1-1.170.3

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