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Herodotus · Histories §6.87.1

Aeginetans Seize the Athenian Sacred Ship

Passage 993 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Leutychides departs from Athens after failing to persuade them. Meanwhile, the Aeginetans, seeking to avoid punishment for their past wrongs, prepare to take vengeance on the Athenians and capture their sacred ship bound for Sunium, holding key citizens hostage.

§6.87.1Λευτυχίδης μὲν εἴπας ταῦτα, ὥς οἱ οὐδὲ οὕτω ἐσήκουον οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ἀπαλλάσσετο·
Leutychides, having said these things, departed when the Athenians would not listen to him even so.
οἱ δὲ Αἰγινῆται, πρὶν τῶν πρότερον ἀδικημάτων δοῦναι δίκας τῶν ἐς Ἀθηναίους ὕβρισαν Θηβαίοισι χαριζόμενοι, ἐποίησαν τοιόνδε.
But the Aeginetans, before they had given satisfaction for their former wrongdoings—which they had committed against the Athenians to please the Thebans—did as follows.
μεμφόμενοι τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι καὶ ἀξιοῦντες ἀδικέεσθαι, ὡς τιμωρησόμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους παρεσκευάζοντο·
Complaining against the Athenians and claiming that they themselves were being wronged, they made preparations as if to take vengeance on the Athenians.
καὶ ἦν γὰρ δὴ τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι πεντετηρὶς ἐπὶ Σουνίῳ, λοχήσαντες ὦν τὴν θεωρίδα νέα εἷλον πλήρεα ἀνδρῶν τῶν πρώτων Ἀθηναίων, λαβόντες δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἔδησαν.
And since the Athenians had a five-yearly festival at Sunium, the Aeginetans, having laid an ambush, captured the sacred ship, which was full of the leading men of Athens, and having taken these men, they bound them.

Notes

  1. 6.87.1τῶν ἐς Ἀθηναίους ὕβρισαν — An example of attraction of the relative pronoun. The relative pronoun, which should be in the accusative (ἃ) as the object of the verb ὕβρισαν, is attracted into the genitive (τῶν) by its antecedent τῶν πρότερον ἀδικημάτων.
  2. 6.87.1καὶ ἦν γὰρ δὴ τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι πεντετηρὶς — A parenthetical clause introduced by the conjunction γάρ. It explains the background context (the Athenians holding a five-yearly festival at Sunium) that enabled the main action (λοχήσαντες ὦν... εἷλον), inserted directly after the conjunction καὶ.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.87.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.87.1

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