Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §8.119.1

Herodotus' Refutation of the Sea Voyage Account

Passage 1427 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Herodotus rejects the credibility of the story of Xerxes' return by sea, arguing on rational grounds that the king would never have sacrificed Persian nobles rather than Phoenician rowers, and reaffirms that Xerxes returned to Asia by land.

§8.119.1οὗτος δὲ ἄλλος λέγεται λόγος περὶ τοῦ Ξέρξεω νόστου, οὐδαμῶς ἔμοιγε πιστὸς οὔτε ἄλλως οὔτε τὸ Περσέων τοῦτο πάθος·
But this is another story told about the return of Xerxes, which is in no way credible to me, either in other respects or especially regarding this disaster of the Persians.
εἰ γὰρ δὴ ταῦτα οὕτω εἰρέθη ἐκ τοῦ κυβερνήτεω πρὸς Ξέρξην, ἐν μυρίῃσι γνώμῃσι μίαν οὐκ ἔχω ἀντίξοον μὴ οὐκ ἂν ποιῆσαι βασιλέα τοιόνδε, τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ καταστρώματος καταβιβάσαι ἐς κοίλην νέα ἐόντας Πέρσας καὶ Περσέων τοὺς πρώτους, τῶν δʼ ἐρετέων ἐόντων Φοινίκων ὅκως οὐκ ἂν ἴσον πλῆθος τοῖσι Πέρσῃσι ἐξέβαλε ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν.
For if indeed these things had been said in this way by the helmsman to Xerxes, I do not have, among ten thousand opinions, even one contrary to the view that the king would have done as follows: namely, to make those who were on the deck, being Persians and the chief of the Persians, go down into the hold of the ship, and how he would not have cast into the sea an equal number of the rowers, who were Phoenicians, to the Persians.
ἀλλʼ ὃ μέν, ὡς καὶ πρότερόν μοι εἴρηται, ὁδῷ χρεώμενος ἅμα τῷ ἄλλῳ στρατῷ ἀπενόστησε ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην.
But he, as has also been said by me before, returning by land along with the rest of the army, went back to Asia.

Notes

  1. 8.119.1τὸ Περσέων τοῦτο πάθος — Accusative of respect (or specification), meaning 'with regard to this disaster (or suffering) of the Persians.'
  2. 8.119.1μὴ οὐκ ἂν ποιῆσαι — The double negative μὴ οὐ is used with the infinitive because the leading clause contains a negation (οὐκ ἔχω ἀντίξοον 'I do not have a contrary opinion'). The particle ἄν with the infinitive ποιῆσαι represents a past unreal indicative (equivalent to ἂν ἐποίησε 'would have done'), expressing a strong conviction: 'that the king would not have done as follows.'
  3. 8.119.1ὅκως οὐκ ἂν ... ἐξέβαλε — ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) functions here as a relative/adverbial conjunction introducing a clause of manner or cause, and with ἄν + past indicative (ἐξέβαλε), it expresses a past unreal potentiality: 'how he would not have cast out...' (implying 'he certainly would have cast out').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.119.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.119.1

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.