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The History of Herodotus, parallel English/Greek, tr. G. C. Macaulay, [1890], at sacred-texts.com

Herodotus Book 7: Polymnia [190]

190. In this disaster the number of the ships which were lost was not less than four hundred, according to the report of those who state the number which is lowest, with men innumerable and an immense quantity of valuable things; insomuch that to Ameinocles the son of Cretines, a Magnesian who held lands about Sepias, this shipwreck proved very gainful; for he picked up many cups of gold which were thrown up afterwards on the shore, and many also of silver, and found treasure- chests which had belonged to the Persians, and made acquisition of other things of gold more than can be described. This man however, though he became very wealthy by the things which he found, yet in other respects was not fortunate; for he too suffered misfortune, being troubled by the slaying of a child.

190. [1] ἐν τούτῳ τῷ πόνῳ νέας οἳ ἐλαχίστας λέγουσι διαφθαρῆναι τετρακοσιέων οὐκ ἐλάσσονας, ἄνδρας τε ἀναριθμήτους χρημάτων τε πλῆθος ἄφθονον. ὥστε Ἀμεινοκλέι τῷ Κρητίνεω ἀνδρὶ Μάγνητι γηοχέοντι περὶ Σηπιάδα μεγάλως ἡ ναυηγίη αὕτη ἐγένετο χρηστή· ὃς πολλὰ μὲν χρύσεα ποτήρια ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ ἐκβρασσόμενα ἀνείλετο πολλὰ δὲ ἀργύρεα, θησαυρούς τε τῶν Περσέων εὗρε, ἄλλα τε ἄφατα χρήματα περιεβάλετο. ἀλλ᾽ ὃ μὲν τἆλλα οὐκ εὐτυχέων εὑρήμασι μέγα πλούσιος ἐγένετο· ἦν γάρ τις καὶ τοῦτον ἄχαρις συμφορὴ λυπεῦσα παιδοφόνος.

191. Of the corn-transplants and other vessels which perished there was no numbering made; and so great was the loss that the commanders of the fleet, being struck with fear lest the Thessalians should attack them now that they had been brought into an evil plight, threw round their camp a lofty palisade built of the fragments of wreck. For the storm continued during three days; but at last the Magians, making sacrifice of victims and singing incantations to appease the Wind by enchantments, and in addition to this, offering to Thetis and the Nereïds, caused it to cease on the fourth day, or else for some other reason it abated of its own will. Now they offered sacrifice to Thetis, being informed by the Ionians of the story that she was carried off from the place by Peleus, and that the whole headland of Sepias belonged to her and to the other Nereïds.

191. [1] σιταγωγῶν δὲ ὁλκάδων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πλοίων διαφθειρομένων οὐκ ἐπῆν ἀριθμός. ὥστε δείσαντες οἱ στρατηγοὶ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ στρατοῦ μή σφι κεκακωμένοισι ἐπιθέωνται οἱ Θεσσαλοί, ἕρκος ὑψηλὸν ἐκ τῶν ναυηγίων περιεβάλοντο· [2] ἡμέρας γὰρ δὴ ἐχείμαζε τρεῖς. τέλος δὲ ἔντομά τε ποιεῦντες καὶ καταείδοντες γόησι οἱ Μάγοι τῷ ἀνέμῳ, πρός τε τούτοισι καὶ τῇ Θέτι καὶ τῇσι Νηρηίσι θύοντες, ἔπαυσαν τετάρτῃ ἡμέρῃ, ἢ ἄλλως κως αὐτὸς ἐθέλων ἐκόπασε. τῇ δὲ Θέτι ἔθυον πυθόμενοι παρὰ τῶν Ἰώνων τὸν λόγον. ὡς ἐκ τοῦ χώρου τούτου ἁρπασθείη ὑπὸ Πηλέος, εἴη τε ἅπασα ἡ ἀκτὴ ἡ Σηπιὰς ἐκείνης τε καὶ τῶν ἀλλέων Νηρηίδων.

192. The storm then had ceased on the fourth day; and meanwhile the day-watchers had run down from the heights of Eubœa on the day after the first storm began, and were keeping the Hellenes informed of all that had happened as regards the shipwreck. They then, being informed of it, prayed first to Poseidon the Saviour and poured libations, and then they hastened to go back to Artemision, expecting that there would be but a very few ships of the enemy left to come against them.

192. [1] ὃ μὲν δὴ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρῃ ἐπέπαυτο· τοῖσι δὲ Ἕλλησι οἱ ἡμεροσκόποι ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων τῶν Εὐβοϊκῶν καταδραμόντες δευτέρῃ ἡμέρῃ ἀπ᾽ ἧς ὁ χειμὼν ὁ πρῶτος ἐγένετο, ἐσήμαινον πάντα τὰ γενόμενα περὶ τὴν ναυηγίην. [2] οἳ δὲ ὡς ἐπύθοντο, Ποσειδέωνι σωτῆρι εὐξάμενοι καὶ σπονδὰς προχέαντες τὴν ταχίστην ὀπίσω ἠπείγοντο ἐπὶ τὸ Ἀρτεμίσιον, ἐλπίσαντες ὀλίγας τινάς σφι ἀντιξόους ἔσεσθαι νέας.

193. They, I say, came for the second time and lay with their ships about Artemision: and from that time even to this they preserve the use of the surname "Saviour" for Poseidon. Meanwhile the Barbarians, when the wind had ceased and the swell of the sea had calmed down, drew their ships into the sea and sailed on along the shore of the mainland, and having rounded the extremity of Magnesia they sailed straight into the gulf which leads towards Pagasai. In this gulf of Magnesia there is a place where it is said that Heracles was left behind by Jason and his comrades, having been sent from the Argo to fetch water, at the time when they were sailing for the fleece to Aia in the land of Colchis: for from that place they designed, when they had taken in water, to loose their ship into the open sea; and from this the place has come to have the name Aphetai. Here then the fleet of Xerxes took up its moorings.

193. [1] οἳ μὲν δὴ τὸ δεύτερον ἐλθόντες περὶ τὸ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἐναυλόχεον, Ποσειδέωνος σωτῆρος ἐπωνυμίην ἀπὸ τούτου ἔτι καὶ ἐς τόδε νομίζοντες. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι, ὡς ἐπαύσατό τε ὁ ἄνεμος καὶ τὸ κῦμα ἔστρωτο, κατασπάσαντες τὰς νέας ἔπλεον παρὰ τὴν ἤπειρον, κάμψαντες δὲ τὴν ἄκρην τῆς Μαγνησίης ἰθέαν ἔπλεον ἐς τὸν κόλπον τὸν ἐπὶ Παγασέων φέροντα. [2] ἔστι δὲ χῶρος ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τούτῳ τῆς Μαγνησίης, ἔνθα λέγεται τὸν Ἡρακλέα καταλειφθῆναι ὑπὸ Ἰήσονος τε καὶ τῶν συνεταίρων ἐκ τῆς Ἀργοῦς ἐπ᾽ ὕδωρ πεμφθέντα, εὖτ᾽ ἐπὶ τὸ κῶας ἔπλεον ἐς Αἶαν τὴν Κολχίδα· ἐνθεῦτεν γὰρ ἔμελλον ὑδρευσάμενοι ἐς τὸ πέλαγος ἀφήσειν. ἐπὶ τούτου δὲ τῷ χώρῳ οὔνομα γέγονε Ἀφέται. ἐν τούτῳ ὦν ὅρμον οἱ Ξέρξεω ἐποιεῦντο.

194. Now it chanced that fifteen of these ships put out to sea a good deal later than the rest, and they happened to catch sight of the ships of the Hellenes at Artemision. These ships the Barbarians supposed to be their own, and they sailed thither accordingly and fell among the enemy. Of these the commander was Sandokes the son of Thamasios, the governor of Kyme in Aiolia, whom before this time king Dareios had taken and crucified (he being one of the Royal Judges) for this reason, namely that Sandokes had pronounced judgment unjustly for money. So then after he was hung up, Dareios reckoned and found that more good services had been done by him to the royal house than were equal to his offences; and having found this, and perceived that he had himself acted with more haste than wisdom, he let him go. Thus he escaped from king Dareios, and did not perish but survived; now, however, when he sailed in toward the Hellenes, he was destined not to escape the second time; for when the Hellenes saw them sailing up, perceiving the mistake which was being made they put out against them and captured them without difficulty.

194. [1] πεντεκαίδεκα δὲ τῶν νεῶν τουτέων ἔτυχόν τε ὕσταται πολλὸν ἐξαναχθεῖσαι καί κως κατεῖδον τὰς ἐπ᾽ Ἀρτεμισίῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων νέας. ἔδοξάν τε δὴ τὰς σφετέρας εἶναι οἱ βάρβαροι καὶ πλέοντες ἐσέπεσον ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους· τῶν ἐστρατήγεε ὁ ἀπὸ Κύμης τῆς Αἰολίδος ὕπαρχος Σανδώκης ὁ Θαμασίου τὸν δὴ πρότερον τούτων βασιλεὺς Δαρεῖος ἐπ᾽ αἰτίῃ τοιῇδε λαβὼν ἀνεσταύρωσε ἐόντα τῶν βασιληίων δικαστέων. ὁ Σανδώκης ἐπὶ χρήμασι ἄδικον δίκην ἐδίκασε. [2] ἀνακρεμασθέντος ὦν αὐτοῦ, λογιζόμενος ὁ Δαρεῖος εὗρέ οἱ πλέω ἀγαθὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων πεποιημένα ἐς οἶκον τὸν βασιλήιον· εὑρὼν δὲ τοῦτο ὁ Δαρεῖος, καὶ γνοὺς ὡς ταχύτερα αὐτὸς ἢ σοφώτερα ἐργασμένος εἴη, ἔλυσε. [3] βασιλέα μὲν δὴ Δαρεῖον οὕτω διαφυγὼν μὴ ἀπολέσθαι περιῆν, τότε δὲ ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καταπλώσας ἔμελλε οὐ τὸ δεύτερον διαφυγὼν ἔσεσθαι· ὡς γὰρ σφέας εἶδον προσπλέοντας οἱ Ἕλληνες, μαθόντες αὐτῶν τὴν γινομένην ἁμαρτάδα, ἐπαναχθέντες εὐπετέως σφέας εἷλον.

195. Sailing in one of these ships Aridolis was captured, the despot of Alabanda in Caria, and in another the Paphian commander Penthylos son of Demonoös, who brought twelve ships from Paphos, but had lost eleven of them in the storm which had come on by Sepias, and now was captured sailing in towards Artemision with the one which had escaped. These men the Hellenes sent away in bonds to the Isthmus of the Corinthians, after having inquired of them that which they desired to learn of the army of Xerxes.

195. [1] ἐν τουτέων μιῇ Ἀρίδωλις πλέων ἥλω, τύραννος Ἀλαβάνδων τῶν ἐν Καρίῃ, ἐν ἑτέρῃ δὲ ὁ Πάφιος στρατηγὸς Πενθύλος ὁ Δημονόου, ὃς ἦγε μὲν δυώδεκα νέας ἐκ Πάφου, ἀποβαλὼν δὲ σφέων τὰς ἕνδεκα τῷ χειμῶνι τῷ γενομένῳ κατὰ Σηπιάδα, μιῇ τῇ περιγενομένῃ καταπλέων ἐπ᾽ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἥλω. τούτους οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐξιστορήσαντες τὰ ἐβούλοντο πυθέσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς Ξέρξεω στρατιῆς, ἀποπέμπουσι δεδεμένους ἐς τὸν Κορινθίων ἰσθμόν.

196. The fleet of the Barbarians then, except the fifteen ships of which I said that Sandokes was in command, had arrived at Aphetai; and Xerxes meanwhile with the land-army, having marched through Thessalia and Achaia, had already entered the land of the Malians two days before, after having held in Thessaly a contest for his own horses, making trial also of the Thessalian cavalry, because he was informed that it was the best of all among the Hellenes; and in this trial the horses of Hellas were far surpassed by the others. Now of the rivers in Thessalia the Onochonos alone failed to suffice by its stream for the drinking of the army; but of the rivers which flow in Achaia even that which is the largest of them, namely Epidanos, even this, I say, held out but barely.

196. [1] ὁ μὲν δὴ ναυτικὸς ὁ τῶν βαρβάρων στρατός, πάρεξ τῶν πεντεκαίδεκα νεῶν τῶν εἶπον Σανδώκεα στρατηγέειν, ἀπίκοντο ἐς Ἀφέτας. Ξέρξης δὲ καὶ ὁ πεζὸς πορευθεὶς διὰ Θεσσαλίης καὶ Ἀχαιίης ἐσβεβληκὼς ἦν καὶ δὴ τριταῖος ἐς Μηλιέας, ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ μὲν ἅμιλλαν ποιησάμενος ἵππων τῶν τε ἑωυτοῦ ἀποπειρώμενος καὶ τῆς Θεσσαλίης ἵππου, πυθόμενος ὡς ἀρίστη εἴη τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι· ἔνθα δὴ αἱ Ἑλληνίδες ἵπποι ἐλείποντο πολλόν. τῶν μέν νυν ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ ποταμῶν Ὀνόχωνος μοῦνος οὐκ ἀπέχρησε τῇ στρατιῇ τὸ ῥέεθρον πινόμενος· τῶν δὲ ἐν Ἀχαιίῃ ποταμῶν ῥεόντων οὐδὲ ὅστις μέγιστος αὐτῶν ἐστι Ἠπιδανός, οὐδὲ οὗτος ἀντέσχε εἰ μὴ φλαύρως.

197. When Xerxes had reached Alos of Achaia, the guides who gave him information of the way, wishing to inform him fully of everything, reported to him a legend of the place, the things, namely, which have to do with the temple of Zeus Laphystios; how Athamas the son of Aiolos contrived death for Phrixos, having taken counsel with Ino, and after this how by command of an oracle the Achaians propose to his descendants the following tasks to be performed:--whosoever is the eldest of this race, on him they lay an injunction that he is forbidden to enter the City Hall, and they themselves keep watch; now the City Hall is called by the Achaians the "Hall of the People"; and if he enter it, it may not be that he shall come forth until he is about to be sacrificed. They related moreover in addition to this, that many of these who were about to be sacrificed had before now run away and departed to another land, because they were afraid; and if afterwards in course of time they returned to their own land and were caught, they were placed in the City Hall: and they told how the man is sacrificed all thickly covered with wreaths, and with what form of procession he is brought forth to the sacrifice. This is done to the descendants of Kytissoros the son of Phrixos, because, when the Achaians were making of Athamas the son of Aiolos a victim to purge the sins of the land according to the command of an oracle, and were just about to sacrifice him, this Kytissoros coming from Aia of the Colchians rescued him; and having done so he brought the wrath of the gods upon his own descendants. Having heard these things, Xerxes, when he came to the sacred grove, both abstained from entering it himself, and gave the command to his whole army to so likewise; and he paid reverence both to the house and to the sacred enclosure of the descendants of Athamas.

197. [1] ἐς Ἄλον δὲ τῆς Ἀχαιίης ἀπικομένῳ Ξέρξῃ οἱ κατηγεμόνες τῆς ὁδοῦ βουλόμενοι τὸ πᾶν ἐξηγέεσθαι ἔλεγόν οἱ ἐπιχώριον λόγον, τὰ περὶ τὸ ἱρὸν τοῦ Λαφυστίου Διός, ὡς Ἀθάμας ὁ Αἰόλου ἐμηχανήσατο Φρίξῳ μόρον σὺν Ἰνοῖ βουλεύσας, μετέπειτα δὲ ὡς ἐκ θεοπροπίου Ἀχαιοὶ προτιθεῖσι τοῖσι ἐκείνου ἀπογόνοισι ἀέθλους τοιούσδε· [2] ὃς ἂν ᾖ τοῦ γένεος τούτου πρεσβύτατος, τούτῳ ἐπιτάξαντες ἔργεσθαι τοῦ ληίτου αὐτοὶ φυλακὰς ἔχουσι. λήιτον δὲ καλέουσι τὸ πρυτανήιον οἱ Ἀχαιοί. ἢν δὲ ἐσέλθῃ, οὐκ ἔστι ὅκως ἔξεισι πρὶν ἢ θύσεσθαι μέλλῃ· ὥς τ᾽ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοισι πολλοὶ ἤδη τούτων τῶν μελλόντων θύσεσθαι δείσαντες οἴχοντο ἀποδράντες ἐς ἄλλην χώρην, χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος ὀπίσω κατελθόντες ἢν ἁλίσκωνται ἐστέλλοντο ἐς τὸ πρυτανήιον· ὡς θύεταί τε ἐξηγέοντο στέμμασι πᾶς πυκασθεὶς καὶ ὡς σὺν πομπῇ ἐξαχθείς. [3] ταῦτα δὲ πάσχουσι οἱ Κυτισσώρου τοῦ Φρίξου παιδὸς ἀπόγονοι, διότι καθαρμὸν τῆς χώρης ποιευμένων Ἀχαιῶν ἐκ θεοπροπίου Ἀθάμαντα τὸν Αἰόλου καὶ μελλόντων μιν θύειν ἀπικόμενος οὗτος ὁ Κυτίσσωρος ἐξ Αἴης τῆς Κολχίδος ἐρρύσατο, ποιήσας δὲ τοῦτο τοῖσι ἐπιγενομένοισι ἐξ ἑωυτοῦ μῆνιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνέβαλε. [4] Ξέρξης δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὡς κατὰ τὸ ἄλσος ἐγίνετο, αὐτός τε ἔργετο αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ στρατιῇ πάσῃ παρήγγειλε, τῶν τε Ἀθάμαντος ἀπογόνων τὴν οἰκίην ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ τέμενος ἐσέβετο.

198. These then are the things which happened in Thessalia and in Achaia; and from these regions he proceeded to the Malian land, going along by a gulf of the sea, in which there is an ebb and flow of the tide every day. Round about this gulf there is a level space, which in parts is broad but in other parts very narrow; and mountains lofty and inaccessible surrounding this place enclose the whole land of Malis and are called the rocks of Trachis. The first city upon this gulf as one goes from Achaia is Antikyra, by which the river Spercheios flowing from the land of the Enianians runs out into the sea. At a distance of twenty furlongs or thereabouts from this river there is another, of which the name is Dyras; this is said to have appeared that it might bring assistance to Heracles when he was burning: then again at a distance of twenty furlongs from this there is another river called Melas.

198. [1] ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν Ἀχαιίῃ· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χώρων ἤιε ἐς τὴν Μηλίδα παρὰ κόλπον θαλάσσης, ἐν τῷ ἄμπωτίς τε καὶ ῥηχίη ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην γίνεται. περὶ δὲ τὸν κόλπον τοῦτον ἐστὶ χῶρος πεδινός, τῇ μὲν εὐρὺς τῇ δὲ καὶ κάρτα στεινός· περὶ δὲ τὸν χῶρον ὄρεα ὑψηλὰ καὶ ἄβατα περικληίει πᾶσαν τὴν Μηλίδα γῆν, Τρηχίνιαι πέτραι καλεόμεναι. [2] πρώτη μέν νυν πόλις ἐστὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ ἰόντι ἀπὸ Ἀχαιίης Ἀντικύρη, παρ᾽ ἣν Σπερχειὸς ποταμὸς ῥέων ἐξ Ἐνιήνων ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῖ. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου διὰ εἴκοσί κου σταδίων ἄλλος ποταμὸς τῷ οὔνομα κεῖται Δύρας, τὸν βοηθέοντα τῷ Ἡρακλέι καιομένῳ λόγος ἐστὶ ἀναφανῆναι. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου δι᾽ ἄλλων εἴκοσι σταδίων ἄλλος ποταμός ἐστι ὃς καλέεται Μέλας.

199. From this river Melas the city of Trachis is distant five furlongs; and here, in the parts where Trachis is situated, is even the widest portion of all this district, as regards the space from the mountains to the sea; for the plain has an extent of twenty-two thousand plethra. In the mountain-range which encloses the land of Trachis there is a cleft to the South of Trachis itself; and through this cleft the river Asopos flows, and runs along by the foot of the mountain.

199. [1] Τρηχὶς δὲ πόλις ἀπὸ τοῦ Μέλανος τούτου ποταμοῦ πέντε στάδια ἀπέχει. ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ εὐρύτατον ἐστὶ πάσης τῆς χώρης ταύτης ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς θάλασσαν, κατ᾽ ἃ Τρηχὶς πεπόλισται· δισχίλιά τε γὰρ καὶ δισμύρια πλέθρα τοῦ πεδίου ἐστί. τοῦ δὲ ὄρεος τὸ περικληίει τὴν γῆν τὴν Τρηχινίην ἐστὶ διασφὰξ πρὸς μεσαμβρίην Τρηχῖνος, διὰ δὲ τῆς διασφάγος Ἀσωπὸς ποταμὸς ῥέει παρὰ τὴν ὑπωρείαν τοῦ ὄρεος.

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