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Herodotus · Histories §7.32.1

Heralds Sent to Demand Earth and Water from Greece

Passage 1095 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Upon arriving in Sardis, Xerxes sent heralds to demand earth and water from all parts of Greece except Athens and Sparta, aiming to test the submission of those who had previously refused.

§7.32.1ἀπικόμενος δὲ ἐς Σάρδις πρῶτα μὲν ἀπέπεμπε κήρυκας ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα αἰτήσοντας γῆν τε καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ προερέοντας δεῖπνα βασιλέι παρασκευάζειν·
Arriving in Sardis, he first sent heralds to Greece to demand earth and water, and to order beforehand that dinners be prepared for the king.
πλὴν οὔτε ἐς Ἀθήνας οὔτε ἐς Λακεδαίμονα ἀπέπεμπε ἐπὶ γῆς αἴτησιν, τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ πάντῃ.
However, he did not send to either Athens or Lacedaemon for the demand of earth, but to every other place.
τῶνδε δὲ εἵνεκα τὸ δεύτερον ἀπέπεμπε ἐπὶ γῆν τε καὶ ὕδωρ· ὅσοι πρότερον οὐκ ἔδοσαν Δαρείῳ πέμψαντι, τούτους πάγχυ ἐδόκεε τότε δείσαντας δώσειν·
He sent for earth and water for this second time for the following reason: he thought that those who had not previously given them when Darius sent his envoys would now certainly do so out of fear.
βουλόμενος ὦν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐκμαθεῖν ἀκριβέως ἔπεμπε.
Wishing, therefore, to find out this very thing for certain, he sent them.

Notes

  1. §7.32.1αἰτήσοντας — The future participles αἰτήσοντας and the subsequent προερέοντας both express purpose in relation to the main verb ἀπέπεμπε.
  2. §7.32.1τῶνδε δὲ εἵνεκα — The demonstrative pronoun τῶνδε is prospective, referring forward to the following clause introduced by ὅσοι to mean "for the following reason."
  3. §7.32.1δείσαντας — The aorist participle of the verb δέδοικα ("to fear") functions here as an ingressive aorist, denoting the onset of the state ("having become afraid" or "stricken with fear").
  4. §7.32.1ἐδόκεε — Although it can be interpreted as an impersonal construction ("it seemed [to him]"), it is more natural in this context to take Xerxes as the subject, meaning "he thought that [they] would give."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.32.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.32.1

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