Herodotus · Histories §8.86.1

Order of the Greeks and Disarray of the Persians

Passage 1394 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

This passage contrasts the orderly Greeks with the disorganized Persians at the Battle of Salamis, noting that the Persians nevertheless fought far more bravely than before out of fear of Xerxes.

§8.86.1περὶ μέν νυν τούτους οὕτω εἶχε· τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν νεῶν ἐν τῇ Σαλαμῖνι ἐκεραΐζετο, αἳ μὲν ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων διαφθειρόμεναι αἳ δὲ ὑπʼ Αἰγινητέων.

Now, as for these men, this was how it stood; but the greater part of their ships in Salamis were being destroyed, some being ruined by the Athenians, others by the Aeginetans.

ἅτε γὰρ τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων σὺν κόσμῳ ναυμαχεόντων καὶ κατὰ τάξιν, τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων οὔτε τεταγμένων ἔτι οὔτε σὺν νόῳ ποιεόντων οὐδέν, ἔμελλε τοιοῦτό σφι συνοίσεσθαι οἷόν περ ἀπέβη.

For since the Greeks fought with order and in line, whereas the barbarians were no longer arrayed in order nor did anything with intelligence, it was bound to turn out for them just as it did.

καίτοι ἦσάν γε καὶ ἐγένοντο ταύτην τὴν ἡμέρην μακρῷ ἀμείνονες αὐτοὶ ἑωυτῶν ἢ πρὸς Εὐβοίῃ, πᾶς τις προθυμεόμενος καὶ δειμαίνων Ξέρξην, ἐδόκεέ τε ἕκαστος ἑωυτὸν θεήσασθαι βασιλέα.

And yet on this day they were, and proved themselves, far better than they had been off Euboea, every man being full of zeal and fearing Xerxes, and each one thinking that the king was watching him.

Notes

8.86.1αἳ μὲν ... αἳ δὲ — An instance of partitive apposition. The feminine plural pronouns αἳ μὲν ... αἳ δὲ grammatically refer to the individual ships implied by the neuter singular collective noun τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νεῶν, describing how different parts of the whole were destroyed.
8.86.1ἔμελλε τοιοῦτό σφι συνοίσεσθαι — The impersonal verb ἔμελλε (imperfect of μέλλω) combined with the future infinitive συνοίσεσθαι (from συμφέρω, meaning 'to turn out, befall') denotes destiny or a natural outcome ('it was bound to turn out'). σφι is the dative of interest referring to the Persians.
8.86.1ἀμείνονες αὐτοὶ ἑωυτῶν — A comparative idiom using the genitive of the reflexive pronoun ἑωυτῶν ('better than themselves'), indicating a comparison of the same subject under different circumstances or times (i.e., 'better than they had ever been' or 'surpassing their usual selves').
8.86.1ἕκαστος ἑωυτὸν θεήσασθαι βασιλέα — In the accusative with infinitive construction dependent on ἐδόκεε, βασιλέα (the king) is the subject accusative of the infinitive θεήσασθαι (aorist middle infinitive of θεάομαι, 'to watch, look at'), and ἑωυτόν (himself) is its direct object. Thus, 'each one thought that the king was watching him.'

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.86.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.86.1

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