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Herodotus · Histories §9.77.1-9.77.3

Late Arrival of the Mantineans and Eleans

Passage 1532 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes how the Mantineans and Eleans, arriving after the battle of Plataea, regretted their delay and banished their respective military commanders upon returning home.

§9.77.1μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἄπιξιν τῆς γυναικός, αὐτίκα μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπίκοντο Μαντινέες ἐπʼ ἐξεργασμένοισι·
After the arrival of the woman, immediately after this, the Mantineans arrived when everything was already finished.
μαθόντες δὲ ὅτι ὕστεροι ἥκουσι τῆς συμβολῆς, συμφορὴν ἐποιεῦντο μεγάλην, ἄξιοί τε ἔφασαν εἶναι σφέας ζημιῶσαι.
And when they learned that they had come too late for the battle, they considered it a great misfortune, and said that they deserved to be punished.
§9.77.2πυνθανόμενοι δὲ τοὺς Μήδους τοὺς μετὰ Ἀρταβάζου φεύγοντας, τούτους ἐδίωκον μέχρι Θεσσαλίης· Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ οὐκ ἔων φεύγοντας διώκειν.
And learning of the Persians who were fleeing with Artabazus, they pursued them as far as Thessaly; but the Lacedaemonians would not permit them to pursue the fugitives.
οἳ δὲ ἀναχωρήσαντες ἐς τὴν ἑωυτῶν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῆς στρατιῆς ἐδίωξαν ἐκ τῆς γῆς.
So they, having returned to their own land, banished the commanders of their army from the country.
§9.77.3μετὰ δὲ Μαντινέας ἧκον Ἠλεῖοι, καὶ ὡσαύτως οἱ Ἠλεῖοι τοῖσι Μαντινεῦσι συμφορὴν ποιησάμενοι ἀπαλλάσσοντο· ἀπελθόντες δὲ καὶ οὗτοι τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐδίωξαν.
After the Mantineans came the Eleans, and in the same manner as the Mantineans, the Eleans, having considered it a misfortune, departed; and they also, having returned, banished their commanders.
τὰ κατὰ Μαντινέας μὲν καὶ Ἠλείους τοσαῦτα.
Such were the matters concerning the Mantineans and the Eleans.

Notes

  1. §9.77.1ἐπʼ ἐξεργασμένοισι — An idiomatic expression consisting of the preposition ἐπί and the neuter plural dative of the perfect passive participle of ἐξεργάζομαι, meaning "when everything had already been done" or "too late."
  2. §9.77.1ὕστεροι ἥκουσι τῆς συμβολῆς — The adjective ὕστερος (later, too late) agrees with the subject and functions adverbially, taking the genitive of comparison τῆς συμβολῆς (the battle, engagement) to mean "they had come too late for the battle."
  3. §9.77.1ἄξιοί τε ἔφασαν εἶναι σφέας ζημιῶσαι — The adjective ἄξιος (worthy, deserving) takes the infinitive ζημιῶσαι (to punish, fine). The accusative pronoun σφέας (themselves) serves as the object of the active infinitive, yielding the passive sense "they said they deserved to be punished (by others)."
  4. §9.77.2ἐδίωξαν — While the verb διώκω normally means "to pursue" (as in the earlier part of the section τούτους ἐδίωκον), here it is used in the sense of "to banish" or "drive out into exile" from the land.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.77.1-9.77.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.77.1-9.77.3

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