Herodotus · Histories §4.144.1-4.144.3

Megabazus on Chalcedon and the Hellespont Subjugation

Passage 708 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

It records the anecdote of Megabazus in Byzantium, who called the Chalcedonians "blind" for choosing a worse site for their city seventeen years earlier despite a better one being available, and describes his subjugation of non-Medizing peoples in the Hellespont.

§4.144.1οὗτος δὲ ὁ Μεγάβαζος εἴπας τόδε τὸ ἔπος ἐλίπετο ἀθάνατον μνήμην πρὸς Ἑλλησποντίων.

This Megabazus, by speaking the following word, left behind an immortal memory among the Hellespontines.

§4.144.2γενόμενος γὰρ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἐπύθετο ἑπτακαίδεκα ἔτεσι πρότερον Καλχηδονίους κτίσαντας τὴν χώρην Βυζαντίων, πυθόμενος δὲ ἔφη Καλχηδονίους τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον τυγχάνειν ἐόντας τυφλούς· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τοῦ καλλίονος παρεόντος κτίζειν χώρου τὸν αἰσχίονα ἑλέσθαι, εἰ μὴ ἦσαν τυφλοί.

For when he was in Byzantium, he learned that the Chalcedonians had founded their city seventeen years earlier than the Byzantines; and on learning this, he said that the Chalcedonians happened to be blind at that time; for they would not, if they had not been blind, have chosen the worse site when the better was available for founding a city.

§4.144.3οὗτος δὴ ὦν τότε ὁ Μεγάβαζος στρατηγὸς λειφθεὶς ἐν τῇ χώρῃ Ἑλλησποντίων τοὺς μὴ μηδίζοντας κατεστρέφετο.

So this Megabazus, having then been left as general in the region of the Hellespont, proceeded to subjugate those who did not favor the Medes.

Notes

4.144.2οὐ γὰρ ἂν ... ἑλέσθαι, εἰ μὴ ἦσαν τυφλοί — An indirect statement representing a past counterfactual condition. The infinitive ἑλέσθαι (aorist) with ἄν stands for the direct indicative ἂν εἵλοντο ('they would not have chosen'), while the protasis (εἰ μὴ ἦσαν τυφλοί) remains in the past indicative.
4.144.2τοῦ καλλίονος παρεόντος κτίζειν χώρου — A genitive absolute construction (τοῦ καλλίονος χώρου παρεόντος) expressing concession or circumstance ('although a better site was available'). The infinitive κτίζειν ('to found/build') functions as an infinitive of purpose or result, modifying the phrase.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.144.1-4.144.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.144.1-4.144.3

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.