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Herodotus · Histories §8.5.1-8.5.3

Bribery to Retain the Fleet at Artemisium

Passage 1307 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Themistocles successfully bribed Eurybiades and Adeimantus with a portion of the money he received from the Euboeans, ensuring that the Greek fleet remained at Artemisium.

§8.5.1ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλέης τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπισχεῖν ὧδε ποιέει· Εὐρυβιάδῃ τούτων τῶν χρημάτων μεταδιδοῖ πέντε τάλαντα ὡς παρʼ ἑωυτοῦ δῆθεν διδούς.
Themistocles made the Greeks stay in the following way: he gave Eurybiades five talents of this money, sharing it as if he were giving it from his own resources.
ὡς δέ οἱ οὗτος ἀνεπέπειστο, Ἀδείμαντος γὰρ ὁ Ὠκύτου ὁ Κορίνθιος στρατηγὸς τῶν λοιπῶν ἤσπαιρε μοῦνος, φάμενος ἀποπλεύσεσθαί τε ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀρτεμισίου καὶ οὐ παραμενέειν, πρὸς δὴ τοῦτον εἶπε ὁ Θεμιστοκλέης ἐπομόσας §8.5.2οὐ σύ γε ἡμέας ἀπολείψεις, ἐπεί τοι ἐγὼ μέζω δῶρα δώσω ἢ βασιλεὺς ἄν τοι ὁ Μήδων πέμψειε ἀπολιπόντι τοὺς συμμάχους. ταῦτά τε ἅμα ἠγόρευε καὶ πέμπει ἐπὶ τὴν νέα τὴν Ἀδειμάντου τάλαντα ἀργυρίου τρία·
When this man had been won over by him—for Adeimantus, the son of Ocytus, the Corinthian commander, was the only one of the rest who was still resisting, saying that he would sail away from Artemisium and would not remain—Themistocles spoke to him under oath: "You indeed shall not abandon us, for I will give you greater gifts than the king of the Medes would send you for abandoning the allies." At the same time as he was saying this, he also sent three talents of silver to the ship of Adeimantus.
§8.5.3οὗτοί τε δὴ πάντες δώροισι ἀναπεπεισμένοι ἦσαν καὶ τοῖσι Εὐβοεῦσι ἐκεχάριστο, αὐτός τε ὁ Θεμιστοκλέης ἐκέρδηνε, ἐλάνθανε δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔχων, ἀλλʼ ἠπιστέατο οἱ μεταλαβόντες τούτων τῶν χρημάτων ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ τὰ χρήματα.
And so all these men were won over by the gifts, and the Euboeans were gratified. Themistocles himself made a profit, but he secretly kept the rest, while those who shared in this money believed that the money had come from Athens for this very purpose.

Notes

  1. 8.5.1οἱ — The dative pronoun οἱ functions as the dative of agent with the pluperfect passive verb ἀνεπέπειστο (from ἀναπείθω), referring to Themistocles. It is translated as 'when this man had been persuaded by him.'
  2. 8.5.2ἀπολιπόντι — The aorist participle in the dative case agrees with the indirect object pronoun τοι. It functions as a conditional clause ('if you should abandon the allies') corresponding to the potential optative ἄν ... πέμψειε in the main clause.
  3. 8.5.3ἐλάνθανε δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔχων — The verb λανθάνω with the present participle ἔχων forms an idiomatic construction meaning 'to do something secretly' or 'without being noticed.' Here it means 'he secretly kept the rest.'

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.5.1-8.5.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.5.1-8.5.3

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