Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §5.14.1-5.14.2

Darius's Order and Megabazus's March on Paeonia

Passage 783 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Darius writes a letter to Megabazus in Thrace, ordering him to deport the Paeonians and bring them to him. Upon receiving the letter, Megabazus takes Thracian guides and marches against Paeonia.

§5.14.1ἐνθαῦτα Δαρεῖος γράφει γράμματα Μεγαβάζῳ, τὸν ἔλιπε ἐν τῇ Θρηίκῃ στρατηγόν, ἐντελλόμενος ἐξαναστῆσαι ἐξ ἠθέων Παίονας καὶ παρʼ ἑωυτὸν ἀγαγεῖν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ τέκνα τε καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας αὐτῶν.
Thereupon Darius wrote a letter to Megabazus, whom he had left as general in Thrace, commanding him to remove the Paeonians from their homeland and bring them into his presence, both themselves and their children and their wives.
§5.14.2αὐτίκα δὲ ἱππεὺς ἔθεε φέρων τὴν ἀγγελίην ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, περαιωθεὶς δὲ διδοῖ τὸ βυβλίον τῷ Μεγαβάζῳ.
And immediately a horseman rode carrying the message to the Hellespont, and having crossed over, he gave the letter to Megabazus.
ὁ δὲ ἐπιλεξάμενος καὶ λαβὼν ἡγεμόνας ἐκ τῆς Θρηίκης ἐστρατεύετο ἐπὶ τὴν Παιονίην.
He, having read it and taken guides from Thrace, marched against Paeonia.

Notes

  1. §5.14.1τὸν — Relative pronoun. In the Ionic dialect, the form of the definite article (here accusative masculine singular τὸν) is used as a relative pronoun instead of the Attic ὅν. The antecedent is Μεγαβάζῳ.
  2. §5.14.2διδοῖ — Third-person singular present indicative active of δίδωμι (to give). In the Ionic dialect, the form διδοῖ, derived from a contract verb-like secondary form διδόω, is frequently used instead of the standard δίδωσι.
  3. §5.14.2ἐπιλεξάμενος — Aorist middle participle of ἐπιλέγομαι. While it can mean "to choose", in Herodotus and Ionic prose in general it commonly means "to read" (e.g., a letter). Here it means "having read [the letter]".

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.14.1-5.14.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.14.1-5.14.2

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.