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Herodotus · Histories §5.34.1-5.34.3

Failure of the Siege of Naxos and Persian Retreat

Passage 803 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The Naxians, warned of the expedition, prepare their city for a siege; the Persians besiege them for four months but, running out of money alongside Aristagoras, build a fort for the Naxian exiles and retreat.

§5.34.1οἱ γὰρ ὦν Νάξιοι οὐδὲν πάντως προσεδέκοντο ἐπὶ σφέας τὸν στόλον τοῦτον ὁρμήσεσθαι.
For the Naxians had not expected at all that this armament would launch itself against them.
ἐπεὶ μέντοι ἐπύθοντο, αὐτίκα μὲν ἐσηνείκαντο τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος, παρεσκευάσαντο δὲ ὡς πολιορκησόμενοι καὶ σῖτα καὶ ποτά, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἐσάξαντο. §5.34.2καὶ οὗτοι μὲν παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς παρεσομένου σφι πολέμου· οἳ δʼ ἐπείτε διέβαλον ἐκ τῆς Χίου τὰς νέας ἐς τὴν Νάξον, πρὸς πεφραγμένους προσεφέροντο καὶ ἐπολιόρκεον μῆνας τέσσερας. §5.34.3ὡς δὲ τά τε ἔχοντες ἦλθον χρήματα οἱ Πέρσαι, ταῦτα κατεδεδαπάνητό σφι, καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ Ἀρισταγόρῃ προσαναισίμωτο πολλά, τοῦ πλεῦνός τε ἐδέετο ἡ πολιορκίη, ἐνθαῦτα τείχεα τοῖσι φυγάσι τῶν Ναξίων οἰκοδομήσαντες ἀπαλλάσσοντο ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον κακῶς πρήσσοντες.
However, when they learned of it, they immediately carried in what they had in the fields into the stronghold, and prepared food and drink as men who were about to be besieged, and fortified their wall. And these men were preparing themselves on the ground that war was coming upon them; but when the others had crossed with their ships from Chios to Naxos, they advanced against men who were well fortified and besieged them for four months. But when the money which the Persians had brought with them had been spent, and much had been spent in addition by Aristagoras himself, and the siege required yet more, then, having built strongholds for the Naxian exiles, they departed for the mainland, having fared badly.

Notes

  1. 5.34.1ὡς πολιορκησόμενοι — The future middle participle with the conjunction ὡς expresses subjective expectation or purpose ('as men who were about to be besieged'). The future middle of πολιορκέω is used here in a passive sense.
  2. 5.34.2ὡς παρεσομένου σφι πολέμου — A genitive absolute construction with the conjunction ὡς. The future participle παρεσομένου (from πάρειμι 'to be near, imminent') agrees with πολέμου, expressing their subjective belief or expectation that war was coming upon them.
  3. 5.34.3τά τε ἔχοντες ἦλθον χρήματα — A strong hyperbaton where the verbal phrase with a participle ἔχοντες ἦλθον ('which they had brought') is inserted between the article τά and its noun χρήματα. It is equivalent in sense to a restrictive relative clause: τὰ χρήματα ἃ ἔχοντες ἦλθον ('the money which they had brought with them').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.34.1-5.34.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.34.1-5.34.3

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