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Herodotus · Histories §8.30.1-8.30.2

Phocian Refusal and Reasons for Opposing Persia

Passage 1332 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes how the Phocians rejected the demands of the Thessalians and presents the author's inference that the Phocians' refusal to side with the Persians was motivated solely by their hatred of the Thessalians.

§8.30.1ταῦτά σφι ἐπαγγέλλοντο οἱ Θεσσαλοί.
These were the proposals that the Thessalians made to them.
οἱ γὰρ Φωκέες μοῦνοι τῶν ταύτῃ ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἐμήδιζον, κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, ὡς ἐγὼ συμβαλλόμενος εὑρίσκω, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἔχθος τὸ Θεσσαλῶν·
For the Phocians were the only people in these parts who did not side with the Medes, for no other reason, as I find by conjecturing, than because of their hatred of the Thessalians.
§8.30.2εἰ δὲ Θεσσαλοὶ τὰ Ἑλλήνων ηὖξον, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέειν, ἐμήδιζον ἂν οἱ Φωκέες.
Indeed, if the Thessalians had supported the cause of the Greeks, in my opinion, the Phocians would have sided with the Medes.
ταῦτα ἐπαγγελλομένων Θεσσαλῶν, οὔτε δώσειν ἔφασαν χρήματα, παρέχειν τε σφίσι Θεσσαλοῖσι ὁμοίως μηδίζειν, εἰ ἄλλως βουλοίατο· ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἔσεσθαι ἑκόντες εἶναι προδόται τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
When the Thessalians made these proposals, the Phocians said they would not give them any money, and that they had just as much opportunity as the Thessalians to side with the Medes, if they wished to do otherwise; but they would not, of their own free will, be traitors to Greece.

Notes

  1. §8.30.1ὡς ἐγὼ συμβαλλόμενος εὑρίσκω — A parenthetical clause containing the present participle συμβαλλόμενος ("putting things together," "conjecturing"), indicating that the author is drawing an inference based on the available evidence.
  2. §8.30.2ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέειν — An absolute or restrictive infinitive (δοκέειν, the Ionic form of δοκεῖν), used parenthetically to mean "in my opinion" or "as it seems to me."
  3. §8.30.2εἰ δὲ Θεσσαλοὶ τὰ Ἑλλήνων ηὖξον... ἐμήδιζον ἂν — A counterfactual conditional sentence using the imperfect indicative in both the protasis (ηὖξον) and apodosis with ἂν (ἐμήδιζον ἂν), expressing a past or ongoing present counterfactual situation.
  4. §8.30.2παρέχειν — The infinitive of the impersonal verb παρέχει ("it is possible / allowed"), depending on the preceding ἔφασαν ("they said") in indirect speech. Its logical subject is the dative indirect reflexive pronoun σφίσι (referring to the Phocians themselves).
  5. §8.30.2ἑκόντες εἶναι — An idiomatic absolute infinitive construction consisting of the adjective ἑκών and the infinitive εἶναι, typically used in negative sentences to mean "of their own free will" or "willingly."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.30.1-8.30.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.30.1-8.30.2

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