Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §1.66.1-1.66.4

Spartan Expedition against Tegea and the Fetters

Passage 66 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After achieving prosperity through good laws, the Spartans misunderstood an oracle and launched an expedition against Tegea, resulting in a defeat. The captured Spartans were forced to cultivate the Tegean plain, bound in the very fetters they had brought.

§1.66.1οὕτω μὲν μεταβαλόντες εὐνομήθησαν, τῷ δὲ Λυκούργῳ τελευτήσαντι ἱρὸν εἱσάμενοι σέβονται μεγάλως.
Having changed in this way, they came to have good laws, and they greatly revere Lycurgus after his death, having established a temple for him.
οἷα δὲ ἐν τε χώρῃ ἀγαθῇ καὶ πλήθεϊ οὐκ ὀλίγων ἀνδρῶν, ἀνά τε ἔδραμον αὐτίκα καὶ εὐθηνήθησαν, καὶ δή σφι οὐκέτι ἀπέχρα ἡσυχίην ἄγειν, ἀλλὰ καταφρονήσαντες Ἀρκάδων κρέσσονες εἶναι ἐχρηστηριάζοντο ἐν Δελφοῖσι ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ Ἀρκάδων χωρῇ.
Inasmuch as they possessed a fertile land and a population of not a few men, they immediately shot up and flourished, and indeed it no longer sufficed for them to keep quiet, but, looking down on the Arcadians as being superior to them, they consulted the oracle at Delphi regarding the whole land of the Arcadians.
§1.66.2ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφι χρᾷ τάδε. " Ἀρκαδίην μʼ αἰτεῖς· μέγα μʼ αἰτεῖς· οὐ τοι δώσω.
The Pythia declared to them the following: "You ask me for Arcadia; you ask a great thing of me; I will not give it to you.
πολλοὶ ἐν Ἀρκαδίῃ βαλανηφάγοι ἄνδρες ἔασιν, οἵ σʼ ἀποκωλύσουσιν.
There are many acorn-eating men in Arcadia, who will prevent you.
ἐγὼ δὲ τοι οὔτι μεγαίρω· δώσω τοί Τεγέην ποσσίκροτον ὀρχήσασθαι καὶ καλὸν πεδίον σχοίνῳ διαμετρήσασθαι. "
But I do not begrudge you at all; I will give you Tegea to dance upon with stamping feet, and its beautiful plain to measure out with a rope.
§1.66.3ταῦτα ὡς ἀπενειχθέντα ἤκουσαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι,Ἀρκάδων μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἀπείχοντο, οἳ δὲ πέδας φερόμενοι ἐπὶ Τεγεήτας ἐστρατεύοντο, χρησμῷ κιβδήλῳ πίσυνοι, ὡς δὴ ἐξανδραποδιούμενοι τοὺς Τεγεήτας.
"When the Lacedaemonians heard these things reported back, they held off from the other Arcadians, but they marched against the Tegeans carrying fetters, trusting in a deceptive oracle, as if indeed they were going to enslave the Tegeans.
§1.66.4ἑσσωθέντες δὲ τῇ συμβολῇ, ὅσοι αὐτῶν ἐζωγρήθησαν, πέδας τε ἔχοντες τὰς ἐφέροντο αὐτοὶ καὶ σχοίνῳ διαμετρησάμενοι τὸ πεδίον τὸ Τεγεητέων ἐργάζοντο.
But having been defeated in the engagement, as many of them as were taken alive, wearing the very fetters that they themselves had brought, measured out the plain of the Tegeans with a rope and worked it.
αἱ δὲ πέδαι αὗται ἐν τῇσι ἐδεδέατο ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἦσαν σόαι ἐν Τεγέῃ περὶ τὸν νηὸν τῆς Ἀλέης Ἀθηναίης κρεμάμεναι.
And these fetters, in which they had been bound, were still preserved intact down to my time, hanging in Tegea around the temple of Athena Alea.

Notes

  1. 1.66.1οἷα δὲ ἐν τε χώρῃ ἀγαθῇ — The word οἷα is used adverbially with a prepositional phrase, similar to Attic ἅτε, to express an objective cause or reason ("inasmuch as"). Here it introduces the physical and demographic reasons for the Spartans' rapid growth and prosperity.
  2. 1.66.1καταφρονήσαντες Ἀρκάδων κρέσσονες εἶναι — The participle καταφρονήσαντες (having looked down upon) governs the genitive Ἀρκάδων (the Arcadians), and is followed by the infinitive clause κρέσσονες εἶναι (that they were superior). The nominative case of the adjective κρέσσονες reflects identity with the subject of the participle.
  3. 1.66.3ὡς δὴ ἐξανδραποδιούμενοι — The combination of ὡς δὴ with the future participle ἐξανδραποδιούμενοι expresses a subjective intention, often carrying an ironic tone of false confidence ("with the expectation of enslaving," "as if they were actually going to enslave").
  4. 1.66.4πέδας τε ἔχοντες τὰς ἐφέροντο αὐτοὶ — The feminine accusative plural article τὰς is used here as a relative pronoun instead of the regular ἃς ("which they themselves were carrying"). This usage is characteristic of Homeric and Ionic Greek.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.66.1-1.66.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.66.1-1.66.4

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.