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Herodotus · Histories §9.9.1-9.9.2

Chileus of Tegea Urges the Ephors to Aid Athens

Passage 1464 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Chileus of Tegea learns of the Athenians' demands from the Spartan ephors and warns them that the wall at the Isthmus will be useless if Athens allies with Persia, urging them to accept the Athenian demands.

§9.9.1τέλος δὲ τῆς τε ὑποκρίσιος καὶ ἐξόδου τῶν Σπαρτιητέων ἐγένετο τρόπος τοιόσδε.
The outcome of both the reply and the departure of the Spartans came about in the following manner.
τῇ προτεραίῃ τῆς ὑστάτης καταστάσιος μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι Χίλεος ἀνὴρ Τεγεήτης, δυνάμενος ἐν Λακεδαίμονι μέγιστον ξείνων, τῶν ἐφόρων ἐπύθετο πάντα λόγον τὸν δὴ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἔλεγον·
On the day before the final audience was to take place, Chileus, a man of Tegea, who had the greatest influence in Lacedaemon among foreign guests, learned from the ephors all the arguments that the Athenians had indeed spoken.
ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Χίλεος ἔλεγε ἄρα σφι τάδε. §9.9.2οὕτω ἔχει, ἄνδρες ἔφοροι· Ἀθηναίων ἡμῖν ἐόντων μὴ ἀρθμίων τῷ δὲ βαρβάρῳ συμμάχων, καίπερ τείχεος διὰ τοῦ Ἰσθμοῦ ἐληλαμένου καρτεροῦ, μεγάλαι κλισιάδες ἀναπεπτέαται ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον τῷ Πέρσῃ.
Having heard them, Chileus then said to them: "This is how it stands, men ephors: if the Athenians are not friendly to us but are allies to the barbarian, although a strong wall has been built across the Isthmus, great gates will lie open into the Peloponnese for the Persian.
ἀλλʼ ἐσακούσατε, πρίν τι ἄλλο Ἀθηναίοισι δόξαι σφάλμα φέρον τῇ Ἑλλάδι.
But listen to them, before some other decision, bringing ruin to Greece, seems good to the Athenians."

Notes

  1. 9.9.1τῇ προτεραίῃ τῆς ὑστάτης καταστάσιος μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι — The dative expression τῇ προτεραίῃ ("on the day before") is followed by the genitive absolute construction τῆς ὑστάτης καταστάσιος μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι, where the participle μελλούσης indicates a future expectation, meaning "on the day before the final audience was to take place."
  2. 9.9.2Ἀθηναίων ἡμῖν ἐόντων μὴ ἀρθμίων τῷ δὲ βαρβάρῳ συμμάχων — A genitive absolute construction functioning conditionally: "if the Athenians are not friendly to us but are allies to the barbarian." The dative ἡμῖν depends on the adjective ἀρθμίων ("in agreement with", "friendly to").
  3. 9.9.2ἀναπεπτέαται — The third-person plural perfect indicative passive of ἀναπετάννυμι ("to open wide"), showing the Ionic ending -αται equivalent to Attic -νται (i.e., ἀναπεπταμέναι εἰσί).
  4. 9.9.2πρίν τι ἄλλο Ἀθηναίοισι δόξαι — An infinitive clause introduced by the conjunction πρίν. δόξαι is the aorist infinitive of the impersonal verb δοκεῖ ("it seems good", "it is decided"), which takes the dative Ἀθηναίοισι as its logical subject.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.9.1-9.9.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.9.1-9.9.2

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