Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §8.82.1-8.82.2

Defection of a Tenian Ship and Total Strength of the Fleet

Passage 1390 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

A Tenian trireme deserts to the Greeks, confirming the truth of the Persian encirclement, which brings the total number of the Greek fleet to 380 ships.

§8.82.1ἀπιστεόντων δὲ τούτων ἧκε τριήρης ἀνδρῶν Τηνίων αὐτομολέουσα, τῆς ἦρχε ἀνὴρ Παναίτιος ὁ Σωσιμένεος, ἥ περ δὴ ἔφερε τὴν ἀληθείην πᾶσαν.
While they were still disbelieving, there arrived a trireme of Tenians deserting to them, commanded by a man named Panaetius, son of Sosimenes, which indeed brought the whole truth.
διὰ δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον ἐνεγράφησαν Τήνιοι ἐν Δελφοῖσι ἐς τὸν τρίποδα ἐν τοῖσι τὸν βάρβαρον κατελοῦσι.
Because of this deed, the Tenians were inscribed at Delphi on the tripod among those who defeated the barbarian.
§8.82.2σὺν δὲ ὦν ταύτῃ τῇ νηὶ τῇ αὐτομολησάσῃ ἐς Σαλαμῖνα καὶ τῇ πρότερον ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμίσιον τῇ Λημνίῃ ἐξεπληροῦτο τὸ ναυτικὸν τοῖσι Ἕλλησι ἐς τὰς ὀγδώκοντα καὶ τριηκοσίας νέας· δύο γὰρ δὴ νεῶν τότε κατέδεε ἐς τὸν ἀριθμόν.
Now, with this ship that had deserted to Salamis and the Lemnian one that had previously done so at Artemisium, the navy was completed for the Greeks to the number of three hundred and eighty ships; for until then it had lacked two ships of that number.

Notes

  1. 8.82.1ἀπιστεόντων δὲ τούτων — 'While they were disbelieving.' A genitive absolute construction, continuing the state of skepticism among the Greek generals mentioned in the previous sentence (οὐκ ἐπείθοντο).
  2. 8.82.1τῆς ἦρχε — 'which he commanded.' The relative pronoun τῆς (feminine genitive) refers back to the antecedent τριήρης. The genitive case is governed by the verb ἄρχω (to rule, command).
  3. 8.82.2ἐξεπληροῦτο τὸ ναυτικὸν τοῖσι Ἕλλησι — 'the navy was completed for the Greeks.' τοῖσι Ἕλλησι is a dative of advantage (or reference). The imperfect verb ἐξεπληροῦτο describes the process of the fleet being filled up to the total number of 380 by the addition of the two ships.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.82.1-8.82.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.82.1-8.82.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.