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Herodotus · Histories §8.68B.1-8.68B.2

Artemisia on a Land Campaign and Greek Division

Passage 1375 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Artemisia advises Xerxes that if he avoids a sea-fight and advances by land, the Persian goals will be easily achieved, while the Greeks, lacking food, will scatter to their own cities.

§8.68B.1τῇ δὲ ἐγὼ δοκέω ἀποβήσεσθαι τὰ τῶν ἀντιπολέμων πρήγματα, τοῦτο φράσω.
But I will tell you this, how I think the affairs of our adversaries will turn out.
ἢν μὲν μὴ ἐπειχθῇς ναυμαχίην ποιεύμενος, ἀλλὰ τὰς νέας αὐτοῦ ἔχῃς πρὸς γῇ μένων ἢ καὶ προβαίνων ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, εὐπετέως τοι δέσποτα χωρήσει τὰ νοέων ἐλήλυθας.
If you do not rush to engage in a sea-fight, but keep your ships here, remaining near the land, or even advancing into the Peloponnese, what you came intending to do, master, will easily succeed for you.
§8.68B.2οὐ γὰρ οἷοί τε πολλὸν χρόνον εἰσί τοι ἀντέχειν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ σφέας διασκεδᾷς, κατὰ πόλις δὲ ἕκαστοι φεύξονται.
For the Greeks are not able to hold out against you for a long time, but you will scatter them, and they will flee each to their own cities.
οὔτε γὰρ σῖτος πάρα σφι ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, οὔτε αὐτοὺς οἰκός, ἢν σὺ ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐλαύνῃς τὸν πεζὸν στρατόν, ἀτρεμιεῖν τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῶν ἥκοντας, οὐδέ σφι μελήσει πρὸ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ναυμαχέειν.
For they have no food in this island, as I learn, nor is it likely, if you march your land army against the Peloponnese, that those of them who have come from there will remain quiet; nor will they care to fight a sea-battle on behalf of Athens.

Notes

  1. 8.68B.1τῇ — Relative adverb (corresponding to Attic ᾗ) introducing an indirect question, meaning 'how' or 'in what way'. It governs the following construction with the future infinitive ἀποβήσεσθαι.
  2. 8.68B.1τὰ νοέων ἐλήλυθας — A relative clause with the relative pronoun τὰ (Attic ἅ) whose antecedent is omitted. The present participle νοέων ('intending', 'thinking') denotes the circumstance of the main verb ἐλήλυθας ('you have come'), meaning as a whole 'the things which you came intending to do'.
  3. 8.68B.2οὔτε αὐτοὺς οἰκός ... ἀτρεμιεῖν — οἰκός (Attic εἰκός) is used impersonally as οἰκός ἐστι ('it is likely', 'it is natural'). The accusative αὐτούς ('them') functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive ἀτρεμιεῖν ('to remain quiet'), which is further specified by the appositive participle phrase τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῶν ἥκοντας ('those of them who have come from there').
  4. 8.68B.2οὐδέ σφι μελήσει ... ναυμαχέειν — A construction using the future of the impersonal verb μέλει (μελήσει). With the dative σφι ('for them'), the infinitive phrase ναυμαχέειν πρὸ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ('to fight a sea-battle on behalf of Athens') acts as the subject, meaning 'it will not concern them (i.e., they will not care) to fight for Athens'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.68B.1-8.68B.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.68B.1-8.68B.2

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