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Herodotus · Histories §9.54.1-9.54.2

Athenian Vigilance and Envoy Sent to the Spartans

Passage 1509 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians, suspicious of the Lacedaemonians' true intentions, remain in their positions and send a horseman to scout the Spartans' movements once the army begins to march.

§9.54.1καὶ οἳ μὲν παρηγόρεον Ἀμομφάρετον μοῦνον Λακεδαιμονίων τε καὶ Τεγεητέων λελειμμένον, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ἐποίευν τοιάδε· εἶχον ἀτρέμας σφέας αὐτοὺς ἵνα ἐτάχθησαν, ἐπιστάμενοι τὰ Λακεδαιμονίων φρονήματα ὡς ἄλλα φρονεόντων καὶ ἄλλα λεγόντων·
And while they on their part were trying to persuade Amompharetus, who alone of the Lacedaemonians and Tegeates was left behind, the Athenians did as follows: they kept themselves quiet where they had been stationed, knowing the character of the Lacedaemonians, how they thought one thing and said another.
§9.54.2ὡς δὲ ἐκινήθη τὸ στρατόπεδον, ἔπεμπον σφέων ἱππέα ὀψόμενόν τε εἰ πορεύεσθαι ἐπιχειρέοιεν οἱ Σπαρτιῆται, εἴτε καὶ τὸ παράπαν μὴ διανοεῦνται ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι, ἐπειρέσθαι τε Παυσανίην τὸ χρεὸν εἴη ποιέειν.
But when the army moved, they sent one of their horsemen, both to see whether the Spartans were attempting to march or whether they had no intention at all of departing, and to ask Pausanias what they ought to do.

Notes

  1. §9.54.1λελειμμένον — Accusative masculine singular of the perfect middle-passive participle, agreeing with and modifying Ἀμομφάρετον, describing his state of being left behind. The preceding genitive Λακεδαιμονίων τε καὶ Τεγεητέων can be interpreted either as a genitive of separation or a partitive genitive; it is translated here as partitive.
  2. §9.54.1ὡς ἄλλα φρονεόντων — The participles φρονεόντων and λεγόντων are in the genitive, agreeing with Λακεδαιμονίων. The particle ὡς indicates the subjective ground of the Athenians' knowledge or the content of their perception ('knowing that...'). Thus, the phrase means 'knowing that they thought one thing and said another.'
  3. §9.54.2ὀψόμενόν τε ... ἐπειρέσθαι τε — These two elements, expressing the purpose of the action in ἔπεμπον, are coordinated by τε ... τε. The first, ὀψόμενον, is a future participle of purpose, while the second, ἐπειρέσθαι, is an aorist infinitive of purpose. The coordination of a future participle with an infinitive to express purpose is an instance of stylistic variation (variatio).
  4. §9.54.2εἰ πορεύεσθαι ἐπιχειρέοιεν — This introduces an indirect question clause led by εἰ and εἴτε. In response to the past tense of the main clause (ἔπεμπον), the former verb is in the optative mood (ἐπιχειρέοιεν), whereas the latter retains the present indicative (διανοεῦνται). This mixture of moods reflects the influence of the vividness of direct discourse.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.54.1-9.54.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.54.1-9.54.2

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