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Herodotus · Histories §6.41.1-6.41.4

Escape of Miltiades to Athens and Capture of Metiochus

Passage 943 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Miltiades escapes to Athens fleeing the Phoenicians, while his eldest son Metiochus is captured and brought to King Darius, who unexpectedly treats him with great generosity.

§6.41.1τότε δὲ πυνθανόμενος εἶναι τοὺς Φοίνικας ἐν Τενέδῳ, πληρώσας τριήρεας πέντε χρημάτων τῶν παρεόντων ἀπέπλεε ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
that time, learning that the Phoenicians were at Tenedos, Miltiades manned five triremes with the property he had at hand and sailed away toward Athens.
καὶ ὥσπερ ὁρμήθη ἐκ Καρδίης πόλιος ἔπλεε διὰ τοῦ Μέλανος κόλπου· παραμείβετό τε τὴν Χερσόνησον καὶ οἱ Φοίνικές οἱ περιπίπτουσι τῇσι νηυσί. §6.41.2αὐτὸς μὲν δὴ Μιλτιάδης σὺν τῇσι τέσσερσι τῶν νεῶν καταφεύγει ἐς Ἴμβρον, τὴν δέ οἱ πέμπτην τῶν νεῶν κατεῖλον διώκοντες οἱ Φοίνικες.
And just as he had set out from the city of Cardia, he sailed through the Gulf of Melas; and as he was coasting along the Chersonese, the Phoenicians fell in with his ships. himself, indeed, fled with four of the ships to Imbros, but the Phoenicians in pursuit captured the fifth of his ships.
τῆς δὲ νεὸς ταύτης ἔτυχε τῶν Μιλτιάδεω παίδων ὁ πρεσβύτατος ἄρχων Μητίοχος, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς Ὀλόρου τοῦ Θρήικος ἐὼν θυγατρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἄλλης· §6.41.3καὶ τοῦτον ἅμα τῇ νηὶ εἷλον οἱ Φοίνικες, καί μιν πυθόμενοι ὡς εἴη Μιλτιάδεω παῖς ἀνήγαγον παρὰ βασιλέα, δοκέοντες χάριτα μεγάλην καταθήσεσθαι, ὅτι δὴ Μιλτιάδης γνώμην ἀπεδέξατο ἐν τοῖσι Ἴωσι πείθεσθαι κελεύων τοῖσι Σκύθῃσι, ὅτε οἱ Σκύθαι προσεδέοντο λύσαντας τὴν σχεδίην ἀποπλέειν ἐς τὴν ἑωυτῶν. §6.41.4Δαρεῖος δέ, ὡς οἱ Φοίνικες Μητίοχον τὸν Μιλτιάδεω ἀνήγαγον, ἐποίησε κακὸν μὲν οὐδὲν Μητίοχον, ἀγαθὰ δὲ συχνά· καὶ γὰρ οἶκον καὶ κτῆσιν ἔδωκε καὶ Περσίδα γυναῖκα, ἐκ τῆς οἱ τέκνα ἐγένετο τὰ ἐς Πέρσας κεκοσμέαται.
On this ship, it happened that Metiochus, the eldest of Miltiades' sons, was in command, not being by the daughter of Olorus the Thracian, but by another wife. Phoenicians captured him along with the ship, and learning that he was Miltiades' son, they brought him up to the King, thinking that they would lay up a great store of gratitude, because indeed Miltiades had declared an opinion among the Ionians, urging them to obey the Scythians when the Scythians requested that they should loosen the bridge and sail away to their own land. Darius, when the Phoenicians brought up Metiochus, the son of Miltiades, did no harm to Metiochus, but many good things; for he gave him both a house and property, and a Persian wife, by whom he had children who are reckoned among the Persians.
Μιλτιάδης δὲ ἐξ Ἴμβρου ἀπικνέεται ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας.
Meanwhile, Miltiades arrived at Athens from Imbros.

Notes

  1. 6.41.1χρημάτων τῶν παρεόντων — Genitive of material or content governed by the participle πληρώσας (from πληρόω, 'to fill' or 'to man'), indicating what he loaded the triremes with.
  2. 6.41.3μιν πυθόμενοι ὡς εἴη Μιλτιάδεω παῖς — A classic example of prolepsis (anticipation), in which the pronoun μιν, logically the subject of the dependent ὡς clause, is anticipated as the accusative object of the participle πυθόμενοι.
  3. 6.41.4ἐποίησε κακὸν μὲν οὐδὲν Μητίοχον, ἀγαθὰ δὲ συχνά — A double accusative construction governed by the verb ἐποίησε, which takes both the person affected (Μητίοχον) and the things done (κακὸν / ἀγαθά) in the accusative case.
  4. 6.41.4κεκοσμέαται — The third-person plural perfect indicative passive of κοσμέω. The ending -αται is a characteristic Ionic dialectal form, equivalent to the Attic κεκόσμηνται.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.41.1-6.41.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.41.1-6.41.4

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