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Herodotus · Histories §9.65.1-9.65.2

Persian Retreat to the Camp and the Miracle at Demeter's Precinct

Passage 1520 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Narrates the disorderly retreat of the defeated Persian forces to their camp and wooden wall in Plataea, and records the wondrous phenomenon that despite fighting near Demeter's grove, not a single Persian entered or died within the sacred precinct.

§9.65.1ἐν δὲ Πλαταιῇσι οἱ Πέρσαι ὡς ἐτράποντο ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, ἔφευγον οὐδένα κόσμον ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ ἑωυτῶν καὶ ἐς τὸ τεῖχος τὸ ξύλινον τὸ ἐποιήσαντο ἐν μοίρῃ τῇ Θηβαΐδι.
In Plataea, when the Persians were routed by the Lacedaemonians, they fled in utter disorder to their own camp and to the wooden wall which they had built in the territory of Thebes.
§9.65.2θῶμα δέ μοι ὅκως παρὰ τῆς Δήμητρος τὸ ἄλσος μαχομένων οὐδὲ εἷς ἐφάνη τῶν Περσέων οὔτε ἐσελθὼν ἐς τὸ τέμενος οὔτε ἐναποθανών, περί τε τὸ ἱρὸν οἱ πλεῖστοι ἐν τῷ βεβήλῳ ἔπεσον.
And it is a marvel to me how, though they fought near the grove of Demeter, not a single one of the Persians was seen either to enter the sacred precinct or to die in it, but most of them fell around the temple on profane ground.
δοκέω δέ, εἴ τι περὶ τῶν θείων πρηγμάτων δοκέειν δεῖ, ἡ θεὸς αὐτή σφεας οὐκ ἐδέκετο ἐμπρήσαντας τὸ ἱρὸν τὸ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι ἀνάκτορον.
And I think, if indeed one must have an opinion about divine matters, that the goddess herself did not admit them because they had burned her temple, the anaktoron in Eleusis.

Notes

  1. 9.65.2θῶμα δέ μοι ὅκως — The noun `θῶμα` (marvel) is followed by an indirect question clause introduced by `ὅκως` (how). The structure means "how ... is a marvel to me."
  2. 9.65.2εἴ τι περὶ τῶν θείων πρηγμάτων δοκέειν δεῖ — A combination of the impersonal verb `δεῖ` (it is necessary / one must) and the infinitive `δοκέειν` (to think / have an opinion) within a conditional clause. It means "if indeed one must have some opinion about divine matters."
  3. 9.65.2ἐμπρήσαντας — An aorist active participle in the accusative plural, modifying the preceding pronoun `σφεας` (them), and functioning adverbially to express cause ("because they had burned").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.65.1-9.65.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.65.1-9.65.2

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