Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §4.142.1

Persian Escape and Scythian Scorn of the Ionians

Passage 706 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

While the Persians successfully escape, the Scythians fail to find them for the second time and bitterly criticize the Ionians, calling them the most cowardly as free men, and the most obedient as slaves.

§4.142.1Πέρσαι μὲν ὦν οὕτω ἐκφεύγουσι Σκύθαι δὲ διζήμενοι καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἥμαρτον τῶν Περσέων, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὡς ἐόντας Ἴωνας ἐλευθέρους κακίστους τε καὶ ἀνανδροτάτους κρίνουσι εἶναι ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων, τοῦτο δέ, ὡς δούλων ἐόντων τὸν λόγον ποιεύμενοι, ἀνδράποδα φιλοδέσποτα φασὶ εἶναι καὶ ἄδρηστα.
Thus the Persians escaped; but the Scythians in their search missed the Persians a second time. On the one hand, regarding the Ionians as free men, they judged them to be the most cowardly and base of all mankind; on the other hand, making their account of them as slaves, they said they were master-loving and unable to escape.
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ Σκύθῃσι ἐς Ἴωνας ἀπέρριπται.
These indeed are the taunts flung by the Scythians against the Ionians.

Notes

  1. §4.142.1τοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δέ — An adverbial formula meaning "on the one hand ... on the other hand ...," organized with μὲν and δέ to contrast two different viewpoints.
  2. §4.142.1ὡς ἐόντας Ἴωνας ἐλευθέρους ... ὡς δούλων ἐόντων — The former is ὡς + accusative participle (ἐόντας) agreeing with Ἴωνας, the direct object of κρίνουσι. The latter is a genitive absolute (δούλων ἐόντων) introduced by ὡς. Both express a subjective assumption or condition, but they employ different grammatical constructions.
  3. §4.142.1ἄδρηστα — The adjective ἄδρηστος (from ἀ- + διδράσκω "to run away") means "not running away" or "having no spirit to escape." In this context emphasizing the submissiveness of the slaves, it is paired with "master-loving" (φιλοδέσποτα). Although some interpret it as "not doing work, useless" (from ἀ- + δράω), the meaning "unwilling/unable to escape" fits the context of slavish obedience better.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.142.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.142.1

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.