- 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-grc2:1.174.1-1.174.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
As Harpagus's conquest approached, the Cnidians attempted to turn their territory into an island by digging a canal through their isthmus. However, facing supernatural obstacles, they consulted the Delphic oracle and, following its guidance, ceased their digging and surrendered.
οἱ μέν νυν Κᾶρες οὐδὲν λαμπρὸν ἔργον ἀποδεξάμενοι ἐδουλώθησαν ὑπὸ Ἁρπάγου, οὔτε αὐτοὶ οἱ Κᾶρες ἀποδεξάμενοι οὐδέν, οὔτε ὅσοι Ἑλλήνων ταύτην τὴν χώρην οἰκέουσι·
Now the Carians were enslaved by Harpagus without having displayed any brilliant deed, neither the Carians themselves having displayed anything, nor those of the Greeks who inhabit this country.
οἰκέουσι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἄποικοι Κνίδιοι. οἳ τῆς χώρης τῆς σφετέρης τετραμμένης ἐς πόντον, τὸ δὴ Τριόπιον καλέεται, ἀργμένης δὲ ἐκ τῆς Χερσονήσου τῆς Βυβασσίης, ἐούσης τε πάσης τῆς Κνιδίης πλὴν ὀλίγης περιρρόου1 (τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ὁ Κεραμεικὸς κόλπος ἀπέργει, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότον ἡ κατὰ Σύμην τε καὶ Ῥόδον θάλασσα), τὸ ὦν δὴ ὀλίγον τοῦτο, ἐὸν ὅσον τε ἐπὶ πέντε στάδια, ὤρυσσον οἱ Κνίδιοι ἐν ὅσῳ Ἅρπαγος τὴν Ἰωνίην κατεστρέφετο, βουλόμενοι νῆσον τὴν χώρην ποιῆσαι. ἐντὸς δὲ πᾶσά σφι ἐγίνετο· τῇ γὰρ ἡ Κνιδίη χώρη ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τελευτᾷ, ταύτῃ ὁ ἰσθμός ἐστι τὸν ὤρυσσον.
Others also inhabit it, and among them the Cnidians, colonists of the Lacedaemonians. Since their territory was turned toward the sea, which indeed is called Triopium, and began from the peninsula of Bybassia, and all the Cnidian territory, except for a small part, was surrounded by water (for on its north side the Ceramic Gulf shuts it off, and on the south the sea near Syme and Rhodes), therefore this small part, being about five stades wide, the Cnidians began to dig while Harpagus was conquering Ionia, wishing to make their territory an island. And all their land was to be within it; for where the Cnidian territory ends at the mainland, there is the isthmus which they were digging.
καὶ δὴ πολλῇ χειρὶ ἐργαζομένων τῶν Κνιδίων, μᾶλλον γάρ τι καὶ θειότερον ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τοῦ οἰκότος2 τά τε ἄλλα τοῦ σώματος καὶ μάλιστα τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς θραυομένης τῆς πέτρης, ἔπεμπον ἐς Δελφοὺς θεοπρόπους ἐπειρησομένους τὸ ἀντίξοον.
And indeed, while the Cnidians were working with many hands, since the workmen seemed to be wounded more than was natural and in a somewhat more supernatural manner, both on other parts of their bodies and especially about their eyes as the stone was shattered, they sent envoys to Delphi to ask about this opposition.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφι, ὡς αὐτοὶ Κνίδιοι λέγουσι, χρᾷ ἐν τριμέτρῳ τόνῳ τάδε. "Ἰσθμὸν δὲ μὴ πυργοῦτε μηδʼ ὀρύσσετε· Ζεὺς γάρ κʼ ἔθηκε νῆσον, εἴ κʼ ἐβούλετο.3"
And the Pythia, as the Cnidians themselves say, gave them an oracle in trimeter verse as follows: “Do not fortify the isthmus, nor dig it; for Zeus would have made it an island, if he had wished.”
Κνίδιοι μὲν ταῦτα τῆς Πυθίης χρησάσης τοῦ τε ὀρύγματος ἐπαύσαντο καὶ Ἁρπάγῳ ἐπιόντι σὺν τῷ στρατῷ ἀμαχητὶ σφέας αὐτοὺς παρέδοσαν.
When the Pythia had given this oracle, the Cnidians ceased from their digging and, when Harpagus came against them with his army, they surrendered themselves to him without a fight.
- 1.174.2οἳ τῆς χώρης τῆς σφετέρης τετραμμένης ἐς πόντον ... ἀργμένης δὲ ... ἐούσης τε πάσης ... περιρρόου
Beginning with the relative pronoun οἳ as the subject, a series of genitive absolute constructions with three participles (τετραμμένης, ἀργμένης, ἐούσης ... περιρρόου) continues, leading to the main clause ὤρυσσον οἱ Κνίδιοι in §1.174.3. The relative οἳ functionally acts as a demonstrative coordinating the thought, redundant with the subject of the main verb.
- 1.174.4μᾶλλον γάρ τι καὶ θειότερον ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τοῦ οἰκότος
τοῦ οἰκότος is a genitive of comparison governed by the comparatives μᾶλλον and θειότερον ("more than was natural/expected"). τι is used adverbially ("somewhat", "somehow"). ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι is a personal construction meaning "the workmen appeared to be wounded."
- 1.174.5Ζεὺς γάρ κʼ ἔθηκε νῆσον, εἴ κʼ ἐβούλετο
A contrary-to-fact conditional construction referring to the past, with the particle κε (Ionic for ἄν). Both the aorist indicative ἔθηκε in the apodosis and the imperfect indicative ἐβούλετο in the protasis indicate a past unreal condition.