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Herodotus · Histories §3.136.1-3.136.2

Survey of Greece and Democedes's Escape to Croton

Passage 540 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Democedes and the Persians sail from Sidon and survey Greece before arriving at Tarentum in Italy. Aristophilides, the king of Tarentum, temporarily detains the Persians to facilitate Democedes' escape, allowing him to return to his home city of Croton.

§3.136.1καταβάντες δὲ οὗτοι ἐς Φοινίκην καὶ Φοινίκης ἐς Σιδῶνα πόλιν αὐτίκα μὲν τριήρεας δύο ἐπλήρωσαν, ἅμα δὲ αὐτῇσι καὶ γαῦλον μέγαν παντοίων ἀγαθῶν·
And these men went down to Phoenicia, and to the city of Sidon in Phoenicia; and there they at once manned two triremes, and with them also a large merchant ship laden with all kinds of good things.
παρεσκευασμένοι δὲ πάντα ἔπλεον ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, προσίσχοντες δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ παραθαλάσσια ἐθηεῦντο καὶ ἀπεγράφοντο, ἐς ὃ τὰ πολλὰ αὐτῆς καὶ ὀνομαστὰ θεησάμενοι ἀπίκοντο τῆς Ἰταλίης ἐς Τάραντα.
When they had prepared everything, they sailed to Greece, and putting in at the coastal parts, they surveyed and made a record of them, until, having observed the most and the most famous parts of it, they came to Tarentum in Italy.
§3.136.2ἐνθαῦτα δὲ ἐκ ῥηστώνης τῆς Δημοκήδεος Ἀριστοφιλίδης τῶν Ταραντίνων ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦτο μὲν τὰ πηδάλια παρέλυσε τῶν Μηδικέων νεῶν, τοῦτο δὲ αὐτοὺς τοὺς Πέρσας εἶρξε ὡς κατασκόπους δῆθεν ἐόντας.
There, out of favor to Democedes, Aristophilides, the king of the Tarentines, on the one hand took away the rudders of the Median ships, and on the other hand imprisoned the Persians themselves, on the pretext that they were spies.
ἐν ᾧ δὲ οὗτοι ταῦτα ἔπασχον, ὁ Δημοκήδης ἐς τὴν Κρότωνα ἀπικνέεται· ἀπιγμένου δὲ ἤδη τούτου ἐς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ ὁ Ἀριστοφιλίδης ἔλυσε τοὺς Πέρσας, καὶ τὰ παρέλαβε τῶν νεῶν ἀπέδωκέ σφι.
While they were suffering this treatment, Democedes reached Croton; and when he had already arrived in his own land, Aristophilides released the Persians and gave back to them what he had taken from the ships.

Notes

  1. §3.136.2ἐκ ῥηστώνης τῆς Δημοκήδεος — Meaning 'out of favor to Democedes.' The genitive τῆς Δημοκήδεος functions as an objective genitive. ῥηστώνη literally means 'easiness' or 'relief,' but here translates to 'favor' or 'convenience' offered to someone.
  2. §3.136.2τοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δὲ ... — An Ionic adverbial expression corresponding to the Attic τὸ μὲν ... τὸ δέ ... ('on the one hand ... on the other hand ...').
  3. §3.136.2τὰ παρέλαβε τῶν νεῶν — A characteristic of the Ionic dialect where the neuter plural accusative article τὰ is used as a relative pronoun instead of ἃ. The relative clause means 'what he had taken from the ships' and functions as the direct object of ἀπέδωκε.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.136.1-3.136.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.136.1-3.136.2

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