Exegesis:

kai hoi boskountes autous ‘and the men tending them (the pigs),’ i.e. ‘the (their) herdsmen.’

ephugon (13.14; 14.50, 52; 16.8) ‘they fled,’ ‘they ran away.’

apēggeilan (5.19; 6.30; 16.10, 13) ‘they announced,’ ‘they told,’ ‘they related.’

eis tēn polin kai eis tous agrous ‘in the city and in the country towns.’

hē polis ‘the city,’ would be here the important city of that region.

agros ‘field,’ ‘country’: the word is used in three ways in Mark: (1) meaning literally ‘field’ (i.e. a plot of ground) in singular and plural, 10.29, 30; 11.8; 13.16; (2) meaning ‘country towns,’ ‘hamlets,’ in the plural only, 5.14; 6.36, 56; (3) meaning ‘rural region,’ ‘country district’ (as opposed to the urban region), in the singular and without the definite article, 15.21; 16.12.

ti estin to gegonos ‘what is it that has happened’: the neuter perfect participle of ginomai ‘happen,’ ‘take place.’

ēlthon ‘they came’: another impersonal plural, i.e. ‘people’ in general (Revised Standard Version), ‘men’ (Translator’s New Testament).

Translation:

The herdsmen are ‘those who watched the pigs,’ or ‘those who took care of the pigs,’ or ‘those who guarded the pigs while they ate.’

Told it must in some instances be expanded to ‘told the people what had happened.’

In the city and in the country must usually modify ‘people,’ i.e. ‘told the news to the people in the city and the people in the country.’ The repetition of ‘people’ may be required because the same people could not be both in the city and in the country at the same time.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .