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Herodotus · Histories §8.126.1-8.126.3

Artabazus's Plan to Besiege Potidaea

Passage 1434 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After escorting King Xerxes to the Hellespont, Artabazus decides on his return journey in Pallene to subdue Potidaea and other towns that had openly revolted from the Persians following the king's retreat.

§8.126.1Ἀρτάβαζος δὲ ὁ Φαρνάκεος ἀνὴρ ἐν Πέρσῃσι λόγιμος καὶ πρόσθε ἐών, ἐκ δὲ τῶν Πλαταιικῶν καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτι γενόμενος, ἔχων ἓξ μυριάδας στρατοῦ τοῦ Μαρδόνιος ἐξελέξατο, προέπεμπε βασιλέα μέχρι τοῦ πόρου.
Artabazus, the son of Pharnaces, a man who was already of high repute among the Persians and became still more so after the battle of Plataea, escorted the king as far as the crossing, having with him sixty thousand men of the army which Mardonius had selected.
§8.126.2ὡς δὲ ὃ μὲν ἦν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ, ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω πορευόμενος κατὰ τὴν Παλλήνην ἐγίνετο, ἅτε Μαρδονίου τε χειμερίζοντος περὶ Θεσσαλίην τε καὶ Μακεδονίην καὶ οὐδέν κω κατεπείγοντος ἥκειν ἐς τὸ ἄλλο στρατόπεδον, οὐκ ἐδικαίου ἐντυχὼν ἀπεστεῶσι Ποτιδαιήτῃσι μὴ οὐκ ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι σφέας.
But when the king was in Asia, and Artabazus, on his way back, had reached Pallene—since Mardonius was wintering in Thessaly and Macedonia, and there was as yet no urgency for him to join the rest of the army—he did not think it right, falling in as he did with the revolted Potidaeans, not to reduce them to slavery.
§8.126.3οἱ γὰρ Ποτιδαιῆται, ὡς βασιλεὺς παρεξεληλάκεε καὶ ὁ ναυτικὸς τοῖσι Πέρσῃσι οἰχώκεε φεύγων ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος, ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ ἀπέστασαν ἀπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων· ὣς δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οἱ τὴν Παλλήνην ἔχοντες.
For the Potidaeans, as soon as the king had marched past and the Persian fleet had fled and gone from Salamis, openly revolted from the barbarians; and so did the others who held Pallene.

Notes

  1. 8.126.1ἐκ δὲ τῶν Πλαταιικῶν — Refers to the battle of Plataea (479 BC), which was yet to take place in the narrative timeline, showing Herodotus' retrospective perspective. It means 'as a result of/after the events of Plataea.'
  2. 8.126.1τοῦ — An Ionic relative pronoun corresponding to Attic `οὗ` (or `ὅν` attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent `στρατοῦ`).
  3. 8.126.2μὴ οὐκ ἐξανδραποδίσασθαι — The double negative particles `μὴ οὐκ` are used with the infinitive because they follow the negative verbal expression `οὐκ ἐδικαίου` ('did not think it right'). The phrase functions as a strong assertion of necessity: 'he did not think it right *not* to enslave them,' meaning he felt compelled to do so.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.126.1-8.126.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.126.1-8.126.3

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