§8.98.1ταῦτά τε ἅμα Ξέρξης ἐποίεε καὶ ἔπεμπε ἐς Πέρσας ἀγγελέοντα τὴν παρεοῦσάν σφι συμφορήν.
At the same time as Xerxes was doing these things, he also sent a messenger to Persia to announce the disaster that had befallen them.
τούτων δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐστὶ οὐδὲν ὅ τι θᾶσσον παραγίνεται θνητὸν ἐόν· οὕτω τοῖσι Πέρσῃσι ἐξεύρηται τοῦτο.
Of all things mortal, there is nothing that arrives faster than these messengers; so handily has this system been invented by the Persians.
λέγουσι γὰρ ὡς ὁσέων ἂν ἡμερέων ᾖ ἡ πᾶσα ὁδός, τοσοῦτοι ἵπποι τε καὶ ἄνδρες διεστᾶσι κατὰ ἡμερησίην ὁδὸν ἑκάστην ἵππος τε καὶ ἀνὴρ τεταγμένος·
For they say that, of however many days the whole journey may be, so many horses and men are stationed at intervals of a day's journey, a horse and a man being assigned to each day.
τοὺς οὔτε νιφετός, οὐκ ὄμβρος, οὐ καῦμα, οὐ νὺξ ἔργει μὴ οὐ κατανύσαι τὸν προκείμενον αὐτῷ δρόμον τὴν ταχίστην.
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night prevents them from accomplishing the path set before each as quickly as possible.
§8.98.2ὁ μὲν δὴ πρῶτος δραμὼν παραδιδοῖ τὰ ἐντεταλμένα τῷ δευτέρῳ, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος τῷ τρίτῳ· τὸ δὲ ἐνθεῦτεν ἤδη κατʼ ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον διεξέρχεται παραδιδόμενα, κατά περ ἐν Ἕλλησι ἡ λαμπαδηφορίη τὴν τῷ Ἡφαίστῳ ἐπιτελέουσι.
The first messenger, having run his course, hands over the dispatched message to the second, and the second to the third; and from then on, the messages pass along, being handed over from one to another, just like the torch-race which the Greeks perform in honor of Hephaestus.
τοῦτο τὸ δράμημα τῶν ἵππων καλέουσι Πέρσαι ἀγγαρήιον.
This running of horses the Persians call "angareion."