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Herodotus · Histories §6.103.1-6.103.4

Athenian March to Marathon and Lineage of Miltiades

Passage 1009 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Relates the Athenians' departure for Marathon and explains the background of Miltiades, one of the generals, whose father Cimon won three Olympic victories but met a tragic death.

§6.103.1Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ὡς ἐπύθοντο ταῦτα, ἐβοήθεον καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐς τὸν Μαραθῶνα.
When the Athenians learned of this, they also marched to Marathon to bring aid.
ἦγον δὲ σφέας στρατηγοὶ δέκα, τῶν ὁ δέκατος ἦν Μιλτιάδης·
They were led by ten generals, of whom the tenth was Miltiades.
τοῦ τὸν πατέρα Κίμωνα τὸν Στησαγόρεω κατέλαβε φυγεῖν ἐξ Ἀθηνέων Πεισίστρατον τὸν Ἱπποκράτεος.
It had befallen his father, Cimon the son of Stesagoras, to flee from Athens because of Peisistratus the son of Hippocrates.
§6.103.2καὶ αὐτῷ φεύγοντι Ὀλυμπιάδα ἀνελέσθαι τεθρίππῳ συνέβη, καὶ ταύτην μὲν τὴν νίκην ἀνελόμενόν μιν τὠυτὸ ἐξενείκασθαι τῷ ὁμομητρίῳ ἀδελφεῷ Μιλτιάδῃ·
And while he was in exile, it happened to him to win an Olympic victory with a four-horse chariot; and by winning this victory, he gained the same honor as his maternal half-brother Miltiades.
μετὰ δὲ τῇ ὑστέρῃ Ὀλυμπιάδι τῇσι αὐτῇσι ἵπποισι νικῶν παραδιδοῖ Πεισιστράτῳ ἀνακηρυχθῆναι, καὶ τὴν νίκην παρεὶς τούτῳ κατῆλθε ἐπὶ τὰ ἑωυτοῦ ὑπόσπονδος.
At the next Olympic festival, winning with the very same horses, he allowed Peisistratus to be proclaimed the victor, and having yielded the victory to him, he returned to his own possessions under a truce.
§6.103.3καί μιν ἀνελόμενον τῇσι αὐτῇσι ἵπποισι ἄλλην Ὀλυμπιάδα κατέλαβε ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν Πεισιστράτου παίδων, οὐκέτι περιεόντος αὐτοῦ Πεισιστράτου· κτείνουσι δὲ οὗτοί μιν κατὰ τὸ πρυτανήιον νυκτὸς ὑπείσαντες ἄνδρας.
And after he had won another Olympic victory with the same horses, it befell him to die at the hands of the sons of Peisistratus, when Peisistratus himself was no longer alive; they killed him near the town hall, having set men in ambush by night.
τέθαπται δὲ Κίμων πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος, πέρην τῆς διὰ Κοίλης καλεομένης ὁδοῦ· καταντίον δʼ αὐτοῦ αἱ ἵπποι τεθάφαται αὗται αἱ τρεῖς Ὀλυμπιάδας ἀνελόμεναι.
Cimon is buried before the city, across the road called "through Coele"; and opposite him are buried those very horses that had won the three Olympic victories.
§6.103.4ἐποίησαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλαι ἵπποι ἤδη τὠυτὸ τοῦτο Εὐαγόρεω Λάκωνος, πλέω δὲ τουτέων οὐδαμαί.
Other horses indeed, those of Evagoras the Laconian, had already done this very same thing, but none more than these.
ὁ μὲν δὴ πρεσβύτερος τῶν παίδων τῷ Κίμωνι Στησαγόρης ἦν τηνικαῦτα παρὰ τῷ πάτρῳ Μιλτιάδῃ τρεφόμενος ἐν τῇ Χερσονήσῳ, ὁ δὲ νεώτερος παρʼ αὐτῷ Κίμωνι ἐν Ἀθήνῃσι, οὔνομα ἔχων ἀπὸ τοῦ οἰκιστέω τῆς Χερσονήσου Μιλτιάδεω Μιλτιάδης.
Now of Cimon's sons, the elder, Stesagoras, was at that time being brought up in the Chersonese by his uncle Miltiades, while the younger was with Cimon himself in Athens, having the name Miltiades after the founder of the Chersonese, Miltiades.

Notes

  1. 6.103.1τοῦ τὸν πατέρα Κίμωνα τὸν Στησαγόρεω κατέλαβε φυγεῖν ἐξ Ἀθηνέων Πεισίστρατον τὸν Ἱπποκράτεος — The relative pronoun `τοῦ` is a genitive referring to Miltiades. The verb `κατέλαβε` is used impersonally by Herodotus to mean "circumstances forced someone to..." or "it befell someone to...", taking the infinitive `φυγεῖν` and its subject accusative `τὸν πατέρα Κίμωνα...`. The proper noun `Πεισίστρατον` (accusative), which functions as the logical subject/cause of the exile, would syntactically be expected to be in the nominative `Πεισίστρατος`. Its accusative form is likely due to case assimilation (attraction) caused by the surrounding accusatives, or reflects an idiomatic structure denoting flight from Peisistratus.
  2. 6.103.2τὠυτὸ ἐξενείκασθαι τῷ ὁμομητρίῳ ἀδελφεῷ Μιλτιάδῃ — `ἐξενείκασθαι` is the aorist middle infinitive of `ἐκφέρω` meaning "to win" or "to carry off (a prize)." `τὠυτὸ` (crasis for `τὸ αὐτό`) is the neuter accusative singular meaning "the same (honor)." `τῷ ὁμομητρίῳ ἀδελφεῷ` ("maternal half-brother") is a dative of comparison, indicating that Cimon won the same Olympic victory that his half-brother Miltiades had previously achieved.
  3. 6.103.4τῷ Κίμωνι — A dative of relation (or possession) modifying the noun phrase `ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν παίδων` ("the elder of the sons"), meaning "the sons of Cimon."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.103.1-6.103.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.103.1-6.103.4

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