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Herodotus · Histories §7.174.1

Conclusion of the Thessalian Expedition and Thessaly's Medism

Passage 1237 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

This section describes the conclusion of the Greek expedition to Thessaly and how the Thessalians, abandoned by their allies, eagerly sided with the Persian king and became highly useful to him.

§7.174.1αὕτη ἐγένετο ἡ ἐς Θεσσαλίην στρατηίη, βασιλέος τε μέλλοντος διαβαίνειν ἐς τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης καὶ ἐόντος ἤδη ἐν Ἀβύδῳ.
This was the expedition to Thessaly, while the king was about to cross from Asia into Europe and was already in Abydos.
Θεσσαλοὶ δὲ ἐρημωθέντες συμμάχων οὕτω δὴ ἐμήδισαν προθύμως οὐδʼ ἔτι ἐνδοιαστῶς, ὥστε ἐν τοῖσι πρήγμασι ἐφαίνοντο βασιλέι ἄνδρες ἐόντες χρησιμώτατοι.
But the Thessalians, having been left destitute of allies, did then so eagerly and no longer with hesitation side with the Medes, that in actual events they showed themselves to be most useful men to the king.

Notes

  1. §7.174.1βασιλέος τε μέλλοντος διαβαίνειν ἐς τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης καὶ ἐόντος ἤδη ἐν Ἀβύδῳ — A genitive absolute construction with βασιλέος as the logical subject, expressing the background circumstances (when the king was about to cross...) in which the main action of the sentence occurred.
  2. §7.174.1ἐρημωθέντες συμμάχων — The genitive συμμάχων is a genitive of separation depending on the passive participle ἐρημωθέντες, meaning 'deprived of allies' or 'left destitute of allies'.
  3. §7.174.1ἐφαίνοντο ... ἐόντες — The verb φαίνομαι construed with a participle (here ἐόντες) indicates that the subject clearly is or shows itself to be something in reality. This is contrasted with the construction with an infinitive, which means 'appears to be' (but may not actually be).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.174.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.174.1

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