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Herodotus · Histories §9.64.1-9.64.2

Fulfillment of Leonidas' Revenge and Pausanias' Victory

Passage 1519 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The death of Mardonius fulfills the oracle's retribution for Leonidas, bringing Pausanias the most glorious victory in history, while the subsequent death of Mardonius' slayer, Aeimnestus, in a later war against the Messenians is recorded.

§9.64.1ἐνθαῦτα ἥ τε δίκη τοῦ Λεωνίδεω κατὰ τὸ χρηστήριον τοῖσι Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἐκ Μαρδονίου ἐπετελέετο, καὶ νίκην ἀναιρέεται καλλίστην ἁπασέων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν Παυσανίης ὁ Κλεομβρότου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδεω·
There, the retribution for Leonidas was exacted from Mardonius for the Spartans according to the oracle, and Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, the son of Anaxandrides, won a victory the most glorious of all those we know of.
§9.64.2τῶν δὲ κατύπερθέ οἱ προγόνων τὰ οὐνόματα εἴρηται ἐς Λεωνίδην· ὡυτοὶ γάρ σφι τυγχάνουσι ἐόντες.
The names of his ancestors higher up have been told as far as Leonidas; for they happen to be the same for them.
ἀποθνήσκει δὲ Μαρδόνιος ὑπὸ Ἀειμνήστου ἀνδρὸς ἐν Σπάρτῃ λογίμου, ὃς χρόνῳ ὕστερον μετὰ τὰ Μηδικὰ ἔχων ἄνδρας τριηκοσίους συνέβαλε ἐν Στενυκλήρῳ πολέμου ἐόντος Μεσσηνίοισι πᾶσι, καὶ αὐτός τε ἀπέθανε καὶ οἱ τριηκόσιοι.
And Mardonius was killed by Aeimnestus, a man of note in Sparta, who, some time later after the Persian War, having three hundred men, clashed at Stenyclerus when there was a war against all the Messenians, and both he himself died and the three hundred.

Notes

  1. §9.64.1τοῦ Λεωνίδεω — Genitive of the proper name Λεωνίδης, functioning as an objective genitive dependent on the noun δίκη (retribution), meaning 'retribution for Leonidas'.
  2. §9.64.2ὡυτοὶ γάρ σφι τυγχάνουσι ἐόντες — ὡυτοὶ is a crasis for ὁ αὐτοί (the same). σφι is the third-person plural dative pronoun, referring here to Pausanias and Leonidas, functioning as a dative of relationship or possession ('to/for them both'). τυγχάνουσι ἐόντες is the construction of τυγχάνω with the participle of εἰμί, meaning 'they happen to be/actually are'.
  3. §9.64.2πολέμου ἐόντος Μεσσηνίοισι πᾶσι — πολέμου ἐόντος is a genitive absolute expressing time or circumstance ('when there was a war'). The dative Μεσσηνίοισι πᾶσι depends on the noun πολέμου, functioning as a dative of hostility ('against all the Messenians').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.64.1-9.64.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.64.1-9.64.2

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