Herodotus · Histories §8.58.1-8.58.2

Themistocles Persuading Eurybiades to Reconvene the Council

Passage 1360 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Themistocles, highly pleased with Mnesiphilus' advice, goes to Eurybiades' ship and requests a discussion on a matter of common interest. Sitting beside him, he presents Mnesiphilus' arguments as his own and successfully persuades Eurybiades to disembark and convene the generals.

§8.58.1κάρτα τε τῷ Θεμιστοκλέι ἤρεσε ἡ ὑποθήκη, καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ταῦτα ἀμειψάμενος ἤιε ἐπὶ τὴν νέα τὴν Εὐρυβιάδεω.

And the suggestion pleased Themistocles very much, and without making any reply to this, he went to the ship of Eurybiades.

ἀπικόμενος δὲ ἔφη ἐθέλειν οἱ κοινόν τι πρῆγμα συμμῖξαι· ὃ δʼ αὐτὸν ἐς τὴν νέα ἐκέλευε ἐσβάντα λέγειν, εἴ τι θέλει.

Having arrived, he said that he wished to communicate a certain matter of common interest to him; and he bade him come on board the ship and speak, if he wished anything.

§8.58.2ἐνθαῦτα ὁ Θεμιστοκλέης παριζόμενός οἱ καταλέγει ἐκεῖνά τε πάντα τὰ ἤκουσε Μνησιφίλου, ἑωυτοῦ ποιεύμενος, καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ προστιθείς, ἐς ὃ ἀνέγνωσε χρηίζων ἔκ τε τῆς νεὸς ἐκβῆναι συλλέξαι τε τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἐς τὸ συνέδριον.

Thereupon Themistocles, sitting down beside him, related all those things which he had heard from Mnesiphilus, making them his own, and adding many other things, until he persuaded him, urging him both to go ashore from the ship and to assemble the generals to the council.

Notes

8.58.1ὃ δʼ — Demonstrative pronoun with a connective particle (deictic use), introducing the patient of the previous clause (Eurybiades) as the new subject.
8.58.2ἑωυτοῦ ποιεύμενος — The genitive of the reflexive pronoun ἑωυτοῦ (Attic ἑαυτοῦ) here denotes possession or attribution ("making them his own"). It indicates that Themistocles presented Mnesiphilus' ideas as if they were his own.
8.58.2ἀνέγνωσε — Aorist of the verb ἀναγινώσκω. While in Attic Greek it usually means "to read", in Herodotus (Ionic) it regularly means "to persuade" or "to induce (someone to do something)".
8.58.2ἐς ὃ — A combination of the preposition ἐς and the neuter accusative singular relative pronoun ὅ (with psilosis as ὃ), functioning in Ionic Greek as a conjunction meaning "until" or "up to the point that".

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.58.1-8.58.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.58.1-8.58.2

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