Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §6.78.1-6.78.2

Cleomenes' Surprise Attack and the Siege in the Grove

Passage 980 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Cleomenes took advantage of the Argives mimicking the Spartan herald by ordering an attack during the signal for breakfast, inflicting heavy casualties and besieging the survivors in the grove of Argos.

§6.78.1μαθὼν δὲ ὁ Κλεομένης ποιεῦντας τοὺς Ἀργείους ὁκοῖόν τι ὁ σφέτερος κῆρυξ σημήνειε, παραγγέλλει σφι, ὅταν σημήνῃ ὁ κῆρυξ ποιέεσθαι ἄριστον, τότε ἀναλαβόντας τὰ ὅπλα χωρέειν ἐς τοὺς Ἀργείους.
When Cleomenes learned that the Argives were doing whatever his own herald signaled, he ordered his men that, when the herald should signal to take breakfast, they should then take up their arms and charge against the Argives.
§6.78.2ταῦτα καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπιτελέα ἐκ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων· ἄριστον γὰρ ποιευμένοισι τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι ἐκ τοῦ κηρύγματος ἐπεκέατο, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν ἐφόνευσαν αὐτῶν, πολλῷ δέ τι πλεῦνας ἐς τὸ ἄλσος τοῦ Ἄργου καταφυγόντας περιιζόμενοι ἐφύλασσον.
This was indeed carried out by the Lacedaemonians; for they fell upon the Argives while they were taking their breakfast in accordance with the signal, and they slew many of them, and a far greater number who had fled for refuge into the grove of Argos they surrounded and kept under guard.

Notes

  1. §6.78.1ποιεῦντας τοὺς Ἀργείους — A present participle in the accusative acting as the direct object of the verb μαθών (having learned), with τοὺς Ἀργείους as its subject. The optative σημήνειε in the following relative clause expresses indefinite repetition in past time.
  2. §6.78.1ἀναλαβόντας — An aorist participle in the accusative, agreeing with the unexpressed subject (in the accusative) of the infinitive χωρέειν (to advance) which depends on the verb of commanding παραγγέλλει.
  3. §6.78.2ἐπεκέατο — The third-person plural imperfect of ἐπίκειμαι (to fall upon, attack) in the Ionic dialect (corresponding to Attic ἐπέκειντο), taking the dative phrase ποιευμένοισι τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.78.1-6.78.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.78.1-6.78.2

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.