You guys knew it was coming, right? 
Anyway, I've run into the first sentence where I had some serious difficulty. Even after consulting two different commentaries, I'm a bit puzzled about a few things here.
[8] πρὸς δὲ βασιλέα πέμπων ἠξίου ἀδελφὸς ὢν αὐτοῦ δοθῆναι οἷ ταύτας τὰς πόλεις μᾶλλον ἢ Τισσαφέρνην ἄρχειν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ συνέπραττεν αὐτῷ ταῦτα:
My word-for-word attempt: "And, sending [word]* to the King, [he said that]* he -- being his [Artaxerxes'] brother -- believed it to be right that these cities [i.e. the ones that had revolted from Tissaphernes] be given to him [Cyrus], and that he, rather than Tissaphernes, should rule them; and his mother helped him in this."
- I don't understand why βασιλέα has no definite article.
- I'm still rather unsure about the two places I've marked with *, because it feels like I'm adding things that perhaps shouldn't be added; but I don't see how else to make sense out of this.
Thanks in advance!
Anyway, I've run into the first sentence where I had some serious difficulty. Even after consulting two different commentaries, I'm a bit puzzled about a few things here.
[8] πρὸς δὲ βασιλέα πέμπων ἠξίου ἀδελφὸς ὢν αὐτοῦ δοθῆναι οἷ ταύτας τὰς πόλεις μᾶλλον ἢ Τισσαφέρνην ἄρχειν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ συνέπραττεν αὐτῷ ταῦτα:
My word-for-word attempt: "And, sending [word]* to the King, [he said that]* he -- being his [Artaxerxes'] brother -- believed it to be right that these cities [i.e. the ones that had revolted from Tissaphernes] be given to him [Cyrus], and that he, rather than Tissaphernes, should rule them; and his mother helped him in this."
- I don't understand why βασιλέα has no definite article.
- I'm still rather unsure about the two places I've marked with *, because it feels like I'm adding things that perhaps shouldn't be added; but I don't see how else to make sense out of this.
Thanks in advance!
