- 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-grc2:1.26.1-1.26.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
After the death of Alyattes, Croesus succeeded to the throne and first besieged Ephesus, whose citizens dedicated their city to Artemis by tying a rope to her temple; Croesus then proceeded to attack other Ionian and Aeolian cities under various pretexts.
τελευτήσαντος δὲ Ἀλυάττεω ἐξεδέξατο τὴν βασιληίην Κροῖσος ὁ Ἀλυάττεω, ἐτέων ἐὼν ἡλικίην πέντε καὶ τριήκοντα·1 ὃς δὴ Ἑλλήνων πρώτοισι ἐπεθήκατο Ἐφεσίοισι.
Upon the death of Alyattes, Croesus, the son of Alyattes, succeeded to the kingdom, being thirty-five years of age; he it was who first of the Greeks attacked the Ephesians.
ἔνθα δὴ οἱ Ἐφέσιοι πολιορκεόμενοι ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀνέθεσαν τὴν πόλιν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι, ἐξάψαντες ἐκ τοῦ νηοῦ σχοινίον ἐς τὸ τεῖχος.2 ἔστι δὲ μεταξὺ τῆς τε παλαιῆς πόλιος, ἣ τότε ἐπολιορκέετο, καὶ τοῦ νηοῦ ἑπτὰ στάδιοι.
Thereupon the Ephesians, being besieged by him, dedicated their city to Artemis, by stretching a rope from the temple to the wall. Now, between the old city, which was then being besieged, and the temple, there is a distance of seven stades.
πρώτοισι μὲν δὴ τούτοισι ἐπεχείρησε ὁ Κροῖσος, μετὰ δὲ ἐν μέρεϊ ἑκάστοισι Ἰώνων τε καὶ Αἰολέων, ἄλλοισι ἄλλας αἰτίας ἐπιφέρων, τῶν μὲν ἐδύνατο μέζονας παρευρίσκειν, μέζονα ἐπαιτιώμενος, τοῖσι δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ φαῦλα ἐπιφέρων.3
Croesus, then, made his first attempt upon these people, and afterwards upon each of the Ionians and Aeolians in turn, bringing various charges against various states; against some of them, where he was able to find greater pretexts, he alleged greater charges, while against others of them he brought even trivial complaints.
- 1.26.1ἐτέων ἐὼν ἡλικίην πέντε καὶ τριήκοντα
The genitive ἐτέων (of years) is a genitive of quality or measure qualifying πέντε καὶ τριήκοντα (thirty-five). The accusative ἡλικίην (age) is an accusative of respect ('with respect to age'). The entire phrase means 'being thirty-five years of age'.
- 1.26.2ἐξάψαντες ἐκ τοῦ νηοῦ σχοινίον ἐς τὸ τεῖχος
The aorist participle ἐξάψαντες expresses the means ('by binding/stretching') by which they dedicated (ἀνέθεσαν) their city. Connecting the city wall to the temple with a rope was a ritual act to place the entire city under the protection and inviolability (asylia) of the deity.
- 1.26.3τῶν μὲν ἐδύνατο μέζονας παρευρίσκειν, μέζονα ἐπαιτιώμενος, τοῖσι δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ φαῦλα ἐπιφέρων
The genitive τῶν μὲν in the first clause is governed by the participle ἐπαιτιώμενος, which takes a genitive of the person and an accusative of the charge ('accusing someone of something'). In contrast, the dative τοῖσι δὲ in the second clause is governed by ἐπιφέρων, which takes a dative of the person ('bringing charges against someone'). The asymmetry in grammatical case reflects the different syntactic requirements of the respective verbs. Both τῶν and αὐτῶν also function as partitive genitives referring back to the Ionians and Aeolians.