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Herodotus · Histories §5.95.1-5.95.2

Alcaeus' Lost Armor and Periander's Arbitration

Passage 871 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

During the war between Athens and Mytilene, the poet Alcaeus loses his armor, and the conflict is eventually resolved through the arbitration of Periander.

§5.95.1πολεμεόντων δὲ σφέων παντοῖα καὶ ἄλλα ἐγένετο ἐν τῇσι μάχῃσι, ἐν δὲ δὴ καὶ Ἀλκαῖος ὁ ποιητὴς συμβολῆς γενομένης καὶ νικώντων Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸς μὲν φεύγων ἐκφεύγει, τὰ δέ οἱ ὅπλα ἴσχουσι Ἀθηναῖοι, καί σφεα ἀνεκρέμασαν πρὸς τὸ Ἀθήναιον τὸ ἐν Σιγείῳ.
While they were waging war, various other things also occurred in the battles, and in particular, when a clash took place and the Athenians were victorious, the poet Alcaeus himself escaped by fleeing, but the Athenians got possession of his arms and hung them up in the temple of Athena at Sigeum.
§5.95.2ταῦτα δὲ Ἀλκαῖος ἐν μέλεϊ ποιήσας ἐπιτιθεῖ ἐς Μυτιλήνην, ἐξαγγελλόμενος τὸ ἑωυτοῦ πάθος Μελανίππῳ ἀνδρὶ ἑταίρῳ.
Alcaeus put this into a poem and sent it to Mytilene, reporting his own mishap to his friend Melanippus.
Μυτιληναίους δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίους κατήλλαξε Περίανδρος ὁ Κυψέλου· τούτῳ γὰρ διαιτητῇ ἐπετράποντο· κατήλλαξε δὲ ὧδε, νέμεσθαι ἑκατέρους τὴν ἔχουσι.
Now Periander the son of Cypselus reconciled the Mytilaeneans and the Athenians, for they had referred the matter to him as arbitrator; and he reconciled them on these terms: that each side should keep what territory they then held.

Notes

  1. §5.95.1ἐν δὲ δὴ καὶ — The preposition ἐν is used adverbially, meaning 'among them' or 'therein'. Together with the following particles δὲ δὴ καὶ, it emphasizes and introduces the specific anecdote of Alcaeus from among many events.
  2. §5.95.2ἐπιτιθεῖ — Third-person singular present active indicative of ἐπιτίθημι in the Ionic dialect (equivalent to Attic ἐπιτίθησι). Here it is used in the sense of sending or dispatching a poem (by entitling/entrusting it to a messenger).
  3. §5.95.2τὴν ἔχουσι — A construction where the antecedent (such as γῆν or χώρην) of the relative pronoun is omitted, and the relative pronoun τήν (Ionic for ἥν) is used with its antecedent absorbed, meaning 'that which they hold' or 'the territory which they possess'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.95.1-5.95.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.95.1-5.95.2

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