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Herodotus · Histories §9.15.1-9.15.3

Mardonius' Retreat to Thebes and Fortification

Passage 1470 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Receiving news that the Greeks had assembled at the Isthmus, Mardonius retreats through Decelea and Tanagra into Theban territory. There, to prepare for emergencies, he establishes a large camp and builds a fortification along the Asopus River.

§9.15.1μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Μαρδονίῳ ἦλθε ἀγγελίη ὡς ἁλέες εἴησαν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ.
After this, news came to Mardonius that the Greeks were assembled at the Isthmus.
οὕτω δὴ ὀπίσω ἐπορεύετο διὰ Δεκελέης· οἱ γὰρ βοιωτάρχαι μετεπέμψαντο τοὺς προσχώρους τῶν Ἀσωπίων, οὗτοι δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν ἡγέοντο ἐς Σφενδαλέας, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ἐς Τάναγραν·
So indeed he marched back through Decelea; for the Boeotarchs had sent for the neighbors of the Asopians, and these guided the way for him to Sphendale, and from there to Tanagra.
§9.15.2ἐν Τανάγρῃ δὲ νύκτα ἐναυλισάμενος, καὶ τραπόμενος τῇ ὑστεραίῃ ἐς Σκῶλον ἐν γῇ τῇ Θηβαίων ἦν.
Having spent the night in Tanagra, and having turned on the following day toward Scolus, he was in the territory of the Thebans.
ἐνθαῦτα δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων καίπερ μηδιζόντων ἔκειρε τοὺς χώρους, οὔτι κατὰ ἔχθος αὐτῶν ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ ἀναγκαίης μεγάλης ἐχόμενος ἔρυμά τε τῷ στρατῷ ποιήσασθαι, καὶ ἢν συμβαλόντι οἱ μὴ ἐκβαίνῃ ὁκοῖόν τι ἐθέλοι, κρησφύγετον τοῦτο ἐποιέετο.
There, although the Thebans were medizing, he laid waste their lands, not out of any hatred for them, but because he was constrained by a great necessity to construct a fortification for his army, and, if the battle should not turn out for him as he wished, he made this a place of refuge.
§9.15.3παρῆκε δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀρξάμενον ἀπὸ Ἐρυθρέων παρὰ Ὑσιάς, κατέτεινε δὲ ἐς τὴν Πλαταιίδα γῆν, παρὰ τὸν Ἀσωπὸν ποταμὸν τεταγμένον.
And his camp extended, beginning from Erythrae, past Hysiae, and stretched into the Plataean land, being drawn up along the river Asopus.
οὐ μέντοι τό γε τεῖχος τοσοῦτο ἐποιέετο, ἁλλʼ ὡς ἐπὶ δέκα σταδίους μάλιστά κῃ μέτωπον ἕκαστον.
However, he did not make the wall itself so large, but approximately ten stades on each face.

Notes

  1. 9.15.1ὡς ἁλέες εἴησαν — The optative (εἴησαν) is used in an indirect speech clause following the past main verb (ἦλθε) (oblique optative). ἁλέες is the Ionic nominative plural form of the adjective ἁλής (assembled).
  2. 9.15.2ὑπʼ ἀναγκαίης μεγάλης ἐχόμενος ἔρυμά τε τῷ στρατῷ ποιήσασθαι — The passive participle ἐχόμενος (present passive of ἔχω, meaning "held" or "constrained") is accompanied by the prepositional phrase ὑπʼ ἀναγκαίης μεγάλης, and the infinitive ποιήσασθαι serves to specify the content or consequence of this necessity ("to build...").
  3. 9.15.2ἢν συμβαλόντι οἱ μὴ ἐκβαίνῃ — Within the conditional clause ἢν ... μὴ ἐκβαίνῃ (present subjunctive, "if it should not turn out"), the dative pronoun οἱ (for him) is modified by the agreeing dative aorist active participle συμβαλόντι (having engaged). The verb συμβάλλω is used here intransitively to mean "to join battle".
  4. 9.15.3ἀρξάμενον — An aorist middle participle in the neuter nominative singular, agreeing with the subject τὸ στρατόπεδον and functioning adverbially to express "beginning from...". Similarly, the subsequent τεταγμένον is a perfect passive participle agreeing with the same subject.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.15.1-9.15.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.15.1-9.15.3

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