Herodotus · Histories §5.36.1-5.36.4

Hecataeus's Advice and Decision to Revolt

Passage 805 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Aristagoras holds council with his conspirators, where Hecataeus advises against war but suggests seizing the temple treasures of Branchidae to gain naval mastery. The proposal is rejected, but they resolve to revolt and attempt to capture the generals at Myus.

§5.36.1Ἱστιαῖος μέν νυν ταῦτα διανοεύμενος ἀπέπεμπε τὸν ἄγγελον, Ἀρισταγόρῃ δὲ συνέπιπτε τοῦ αὐτοῦ χρόνου πάντα ταῦτα συνελθόντα.

Histiaeus, then, with these thoughts in mind, sent off the messenger, and for Aristagoras, it happened at the very same time that all these things came together.

ἐβουλεύετο ὦν μετὰ τῶν στασιωτέων, ἐκφήνας τήν τε ἑωυτοῦ γνώμην καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Ἱστιαίου ἀπιγμένα.

So he held council with his fellow conspirators, having disclosed both his own opinion and the message that had arrived from Histiaeus.

§5.36.2οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι πάντες γνώμην κατὰ τὠυτὸ ἐξεφέροντο, κελεύοντες ἀπίστασθαι· Ἑκαταῖος δʼ ὁ λογοποιὸς πρῶτα μὲν οὐκ ἔα πόλεμον βασιλέι τῶν Περσέων ἀναιρέεσθαι, καταλέγων τά τε ἔθνεα πάντα τῶν ἦρχε Δαρεῖος καὶ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ.

Now all the others expressed their opinion to the same effect, urging him to revolt; but Hecataeus the chronicler at first advised them not to undertake a war against the king of the Persians, enumerating all the nations over which Darius ruled, and his power.

ἐπείτε δὲ οὐκ ἔπειθε, δεύτερα συνεβούλευε ποιέειν ὅκως ναυκρατέες τῆς θαλάσσης ἔσονται.

But when he could not persuade them, he secondly advised them to act so that they should become masters of the sea.

§5.36.3ἄλλως μέν νυν οὐδαμῶς ἔφη λέγων ἐνορᾶν ἐσόμενον τοῦτο· ἐπίστασθαι γὰρ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Μιλησίων ἐοῦσαν ἀσθενέα· εἰ δὲ τὰ χρήματα καταιρεθείη τὰ ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ τοῦ ἐν Βραγχίδῃσι, τὰ Κροῖσος ὁ Λυδὸς ἀνέθηκε, πολλὰς εἶχε ἐλπίδας ἐπικρατήσειν τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ οὕτω αὐτούς τε ἕξειν τοῖσι χρήμασι χρᾶσθαι καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ συλήσειν αὐτά.

Now in no other way, he said, did he see that this would be possible; for he knew that the power of the Milesians was weak; but if the treasures from the temple at Branchidae, which Croesus the Lydian had dedicated, were taken, he had great hopes that they would gain mastery of the sea, and in this way, they themselves would have the money to use, and the enemy would not plunder it.

§5.36.4τὰ δὲ χρήματα ἦν ταῦτα μεγάλα, ὡς δεδήλωταί μοι ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν λόγων.

Now these treasures were great, as has been shown by me in the first of my books.

αὕτη μὲν δὴ οὐκ ἐνίκα ἡ γνώμη, ἐδόκεε δὲ ὅμως ἀπίστασθαι, ἕνα τε αὐτῶν πλώσαντα ἐς Μυοῦντα ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς Νάξου ἀπελθόν, ἐὸν ἐνθαῦτα, συλλαμβάνειν πειρᾶσθαι τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν νεῶν ἐπιπλέοντας στρατηγούς.

This opinion, indeed, did not prevail, but it was resolved nevertheless to revolt, and that one of them should sail to Myus, to the camp which had returned from Naxos and was there, and try to seize the generals who were sailing on the ships.

Notes

5.36.1Ἀρισταγόρῃ δὲ συνέπιπτε τοῦ αὐτοῦ χρόνου πάντα ταῦτα συνελθόντα. — The singular verb συνέπιπτε takes the neuter plural noun phrase πάντα ταῦτα as its subject, in accordance with the standard rule where neuter plural subjects take singular verbs. The participle συνελθόντα is a nominative neuter plural aorist participle agreeing with the subject, meaning "having come together/coincided," while the dative Ἀρισταγόρῃ functions as a dative of reference or disadvantage ("happened to Aristagoras").
5.36.2οὐκ ἔα — The imperfect 3rd person singular of ἐάω (Ionic form for οὐκ εἴα). Accompanied by the negation οὐκ, the phrase οὐκ ἔα functions as a litotes or a soft prohibition meaning "strongly advised against / urged not to," rather than a simple refusal to permit. Here, it governs the infinitive ἀναιρέεσθαι ("not to undertake a war").
5.36.3ἔφη λέγων ἐνορᾶν ἐσόμενον τοῦτο — A pleonastic expression of saying (ἔφη λέγων, "he said, saying"). The present infinitive ἐνορᾶν (from ἐνοράω, "to see in, foresee, see a possibility") governs an accusative and participle construction, where τοῦτο is the accusative subject and ἐσόμενον is the future participle (neuter singular) agreeing with it, meaning "to foresee that this would be."
5.36.4ἕνα τε αὐτῶν πλώσαντα... συλλαμβάνειν πειρᾶσθαι... — This is an accusative-with-infinitive (AcI) construction dependent on the impersonal verb ἐδόκεε ("it was resolved") from the preceding clause. The subject accusative is ἕνα (with αὐτῶν), which is modified by the aorist participle πλώσαντα ("having sailed") in the accusative. The main infinitive of this clause is πειρᾶσθαι ("to try"), which in turn governs the infinitive συλλαμβάνειν ("to seize").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.36.1-5.36.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.36.1-5.36.4

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.