- 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-grc2:1.116.1-1.116.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Hearing Cyrus's words, Astyages begins to suspect his true identity due to his appearance and age. He dismisses Artembares and, by threatening the herdsman with torture, forces him to confess the truth.
ταῦτα λέγοντος τοῦ παιδὸς τὸν Ἀστυάγεα ἐσήιε ἀνάγνωσις αὐτοῦ,1 καὶ οἱ ὅ τε χαρακτὴρ τοῦ προσώπου προσφέρεσθαι ἐδόκεε ἐς ἑωυτὸν2 καὶ ἡ ὑπόκρισις ἐλευθερωτέρη εἶναι, ὅ τε χρόνος τῆς ἐκθέσιος τῇ ἡλικίῃ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐδόκεε συμβαίνειν.
As the boy was saying this, a recognition of him came upon Astyages; and it seemed to him that the features of his face resembled his own, and that his manner of response was of a more noble character, and the time of the exposure seemed to agree with the age of the boy.
ἐκπλαγεὶς δὲ τούτοισι ἐπὶ χρόνον ἄφθογγος ἦν· μόγις δὲ δή κοτε ἀνενειχθεὶς εἶπε, θέλων ἐκπέμψαι τὸν Ἀρτεμβάρεα, ἵνα τὸν βουκόλον μοῦνον λαβὼν βασανίσῃ, Ἀρτέμβαρες, ἐγὼ ταῦτα ποιήσω ὥστε σὲ καὶ τὸν παῖδα τὸν σὸν μηδὲν ἐπιμέμφεσθαι.
Astounded by these things, he was speechless for a time. But when at last he recovered himself, wishing to send Artembares away so that he might question the herdsman alone, he said: “Artembares, I will manage this in such a way that neither you nor your son shall have any cause to complain.”
τὸν μὲν δὴ Ἀρτεμβάρεα πέμπει, τὸν δὲ Κῦρον ἦγον ἔσω οἱ θεράποντες κελεύσαντος τοῦ Ἀστυάγεος, ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑπελέλειπτο ὁ βουκόλος μοῦνος μουνόθεν,3 τάδε αὐτὸν εἴρετο ὁ Ἀστυάγεος, κόθεν λάβοι τὸν παῖδα καὶ τίς εἴη ὁ παραδούς.
So he sent Artembares away, and the servants led Cyrus inside at the command of Astyages. When the herdsman was left completely alone, Astyages asked him this: from where he had got the boy, and who was the one who had handed him over.
ὁ δὲ ἐξ ἑωυτοῦ τε ἔφη γεγονέναι καὶ τὴν τεκοῦσαν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἔτι παρʼ ἑωυτῷ. Ἀστυάγης δὲ μιν οὐκ εὖ βουλεύεσθαι ἔφη ἐπιθυμέοντα ἐς ἀνάγκας μεγάλας ἀπικνέεσθαι, ἅμα τε λέγων ταῦτα ἐσήμαινε τοῖσι δορυφόροισι λαμβάνειν αὐτόν.
The herdsman said that the boy was of his own offspring, and that she who had given him birth was still with him. But Astyages said that he was not taking good counsel, desiring to bring great trouble upon himself, and as he said this, he signaled to his guards to seize him.
ὁ δὲ ἀγόμενος ἐς τὰς ἀνάγκας οὕτω δὴ ἔφαινε τὸν ἐόντα λόγον· ἀρχόμενος δὲ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς διεξήιε τῇ ἀληθείῃ χρεώμενος, καὶ κατέβαινε ἐς λιτάς τε καὶ συγγνώμην ἑωυτῷ κελεύων ἔχειν αὐτόν.4
As he was being led away to the torture, he then indeed revealed the true story; beginning from the start, he went through it telling the truth, and ended in entreaties, begging him to have forgiveness for him.
- 1.116.1τὸν Ἀστυάγεα ἐσήιε ἀνάγνωσις αὐτοῦ
Meaning "a recognition of him entered Astyages." The verb ἐσήιε (imperfect of ἐσέρχομαι, "to enter, occur to") here takes the accusative τὸν Ἀστυάγεα as its direct object. The genitive αὐτοῦ is an objective genitive depending on ἀνάγνωσις, meaning "recognition of him (Cyrus)."
- 1.116.1προσφέρεσθαι ἐς ἑωυτὸν
Meaning "to resemble himself (Astyages)." The passive/middle verb προσφέρομαι followed by the prepositional phrase ἐς with the accusative means "to resemble, look like."
- 1.116.3μοῦνος μουνόθεν
An emphatic expression combining the adjective μοῦνος ("alone") and the adverb μουνόθεν ("from one, solely") derived from the same root. It means "completely alone" or "strictly face to face, with no one else present."
- 1.116.5συγγνώμην ἑωυτῷ κελεύων ἔχειν αὐτόν
A construction containing the reflexive pronoun ἑωυτῷ referring to the subject of the main clause (the herdsman) and the demonstrative pronoun αὐτόν acting as the subject of the infinitive ἔχειν (referring to Astyages). The phrase means "asking him (Astyages) to have forgiveness for himself (the herdsman)."