- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.113.1-1.113.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Following his wife's advice, the herdsman exposed his own stillborn child in the mountains in place of the royal infant. Three days later, Harpagus's bodyguards confirmed and buried the corpse, while the surviving royal child, later named Cyrus, was raised by the herdsman's wife under a different name.
κάρτα τε ἔδοξε τῷ βουκόλῳ πρὸς τὰ παρεόντα εὖ λέγειν ἡ γυνή, καὶ αὐτίκα ἐποίεε ταῦτα· τὸν μὲν ἔφερε θανατώσων παῖδα, τοῦτον μὲν παραδιδοῖ1 τῇ ἑωυτοῦ γυναικί, τὸν δὲ ἑωυτοῦ ἐόντα νεκρὸν λαβὼν ἔθηκε ἐς τὸ ἄγγος ἐν τῷ ἔφερε τὸν ἕτερον·
And it seemed to the herdsman that his wife spoke very well under the circumstances, and he immediately did this: the child whom he was carrying to put to death, this one indeed he handed over to his own wife, and taking his own child who was dead, he placed him in the chest in which he had carried the other.
κοσμήσας δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ παντὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου παιδός, φέρων ἐς τὸ ἐρημότατον τῶν ὀρέων τίθει. ὡς δὲ τρίτη ἡμέρη τῷ παιδίῳ ἐκκειμένῳ2 ἐγένετο, ἤιε ἐς πόλιν ὁ βουκόλος, τῶν τινα προβοσκῶν φύλακον αὐτοῦ καταλιπών, ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐς τοῦ Ἁρπάγου3 ἀποδεικνύναι ἔφη ἕτοιμος εἶναι τοῦ παιδίου τὸν νέκυν.
And having adorned him with all the finery of the other child, he carried him to the most desolate part of the mountains and exposed him. When it was the third day for the child being exposed, the herdsman went to the city, leaving one of his under-herdsmen as a guard over him, and having come to the house of Harpagus, he said he was ready to display the corpse of the child.
πέμψας δὲ ὅ Ἅρπαγος τῶν ἑωυτοῦ δορυφόρων τοὺς πιστοτάτους εἶδέ τε διὰ τούτων καὶ ἔθαψε τοῦ βουκόλου τὸ παιδίον, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐτέθαπτο, τὸν δὲ ὕστερον τούτων Κῦρον ὀνομασθέντα παραλαβοῦσα ἔτρεφε ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ βουκόλου, οὔνομα ἄλλο κού τι καὶ οὐ Κῦρον θεμένη.
And Harpagus, having sent the most faithful of his own bodyguards, saw through them and buried the child of the herdsman; and the one indeed had been buried, but the other, who was afterwards named Cyrus, the wife of the herdsman took and brought up, giving him some other name and not Cyrus.
- 1.113.1τὸν μὲν ἔφερε θανατώσων παῖδα, τοῦτον μὲν παραδιδοῖ
The noun phrase τὸν μὲν ... παῖδα is the direct object of παραδιδοῖ, within which the imperfect ἔφερε and the future participle θανατώσων (expressing purpose) are embedded. To reinforce this fronted object, the demonstrative pronoun τοῦτον is repeated with μὲν. The double occurrence of μὲν contrasts with τὸν δὲ ἑωυτοῦ... in the subsequent clause.
- 1.113.2τῷ παιδίῳ ἐκκειμένῳ
A dative of reference or interest used with an expression of time, literally translating to "when the third day came for the child being exposed," meaning "when the child had been exposed for three days."
- 1.113.2ἐς τοῦ Ἁρπάγου
The preposition ἐς (Ionic form of εἰς) is followed by the genitive τοῦ Ἁρπάγου with the ellipsis of a noun meaning "house" or "dwelling" (such as οἶκον), a standard idiomatic construction.