- 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-grc2:1.30.1-1.30.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
Solon visits Egypt and Sardis, where he is welcomed at Croesus's palace. After showing off his wealth, Croesus asks Solon who the happiest man in the world is, and Solon names Tellus the Athenian, describing his noble life and death.
αὐτῶν δὴ ὦν τούτων καὶ τῆς θεωρίης ἐκδημήσας ὁ Σόλων εἵνεκεν1 ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἀπίκετο παρὰ Ἄμασιν καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐς Σάρδις παρὰ Κροῖσον. ἀπικόμενος δὲ ἐξεινίζετο ἐν τοῖσι βασιληίοισι ὑπὸ τοῦ Κροίσου· μετὰ δὲ ἡμέρῃ τρίτῃ ἢ τετάρτῃ κελεύσαντος Κροίσου τὸν Σόλωνα θεράποντες περιῆγον κατὰ τοὺς θησαυρούς, καὶ ἐπεδείκνυσαν πάντα ἐόντα μεγάλα τε καὶ ὄλβια.2
Solon, having gone abroad for the sake of these very things and of travel, arrived in Egypt to visit Amasis, and in particular in Sardis to visit Croesus. Upon his arrival, he was entertained in the palace by Croesus; and on the third or fourth day, at the command of Croesus, servants conducted Solon around the treasuries and showed him that everything was both vast and wealthy.
θεησάμενον δέ μιν τὰ πάντα καὶ σκεψάμενον3 ὥς οἱ κατὰ καιρὸν ἦν, εἴρετο ὁ Κροῖσος τάδε. ξεῖνε Ἀθηναῖε, παρʼ ἡμέας γὰρ περὶ σέο λόγος ἀπῖκται πολλὸς καὶ σοφίης εἵνεκεν τῆς σῆς καὶ πλάνης, ὡς φιλοσοφέων γῆν πολλὴν θεωρίης εἵνεκεν ἐπελήλυθας· νῦν ὦν ἐπειρέσθαι με ἵμερος ἐπῆλθέ σε4 εἴ τινα ἤδη πάντων εἶδες ὀλβιώτατον.
When he had viewed and examined all of them as was convenient for him, Croesus asked him the following: “My Athenian guest, indeed much talk has reached us about you, because of both your wisdom and your travels, how you, seeking wisdom, have traversed many lands for the sake of seeing the world; now, therefore, a desire has come upon me to ask you whether you have already seen anyone who is the most happy of all.”
ὃ μὲν ἐλπίζων εἶναι ἀνθρώπων ὀλβιώτατος ταῦτα ἐπειρώτα· Σόλων δὲ οὐδὲν ὑποθωπεύσας ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐόντι χρησάμενος λέγει ὦ βασιλεῦ, Τέλλον Ἀθηναῖον.
Croesus asked this, expecting himself to be the most happy of men; but Solon, flattering him not at all but speaking the plain truth, said: “O King, Tellus the Athenian.”
ἀποθωμάσας δὲ Κροῖσος τὸ λεχθὲν εἴρετο ἐπιστρεφέως· κοίῃ δὴ κρίνεις Τέλλον εἶναι ὀλβιώτατον; ὁ δὲ εἶπε Τέλλῳ τοῦτο μὲν τῆς πόλιος εὖ ἡκούσης5 παῖδες ἦσαν καλοί τε κἀγαθοί, καί σφι εἶδε ἅπασι τέκνα ἐκγενόμενα καὶ πάντα παραμείναντα· τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ βίου εὖ ἥκοντι,6 ὡς τὰ παρʼ ἡμῖν, τελευτὴ τοῦ βίου λαμπροτάτη ἐπεγένετο·
Croesus, astonished at what was said, asked him sharply: “In what way indeed do you judge Tellus to be the most happy?” And Solon said: “In the first place, while his city was in a prosperous state, Tellus had beautiful and good children, and he saw children born to all of them, and all of them survived; and in the second place, when he was in a prosperous condition of life, by our human standards, a most glorious end of life came upon him.
γενομένης γὰρ Ἀθηναίοισι μάχης πρὸς τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι, βοηθήσας καὶ τροπὴν ποιήσας τῶν πολεμίων ἀπέθανε κάλλιστα, καί μιν Ἀθηναῖοι δημοσίῃ τε ἔθαψαν αὐτοῦ τῇ περ ἔπεσε καὶ ἐτίμησαν μεγάλως.
For when a battle occurred between the Athenians and their neighbors in Eleusis, he came to their aid, put the enemy to flight, and died most nobly; and the Athenians buried him at public expense on the very spot where he fell, and honored him greatly.”
- 1.30.1αὐτῶν δὴ ὦν τούτων καὶ τῆς θεωρίης... εἵνεκεν
The postpositive preposition εἵνεκεν (Ionic form of ἕνεκα) governs both preceding genitives, αὐτῶν... τούτων and τῆς θεωρίης.
- 1.30.1πάντα ἐόντα μεγάλα τε καὶ ὄλβια
ἐόντα (Ionic for ὤν) is a predicative participle complementing the direct object πάντα of the verb ἐπεδείκνυσαν ("showed"), indicating the state of the objects shown.
- 1.30.2θεησάμενον δέ μιν τὰ πάντα καὶ σκεψάμενον
The accusative pronoun μιν (= αὐτόν, referring to Solon) and its agreeing participles θεησάμενον... καὶ σκεψάμενον function as the direct object of the main verb εἴρετο. The subject of the main clause is ὁ Κροῖσος (nominative), and the participle construction indicates a temporal relation ("after he had viewed and examined...").
- 1.30.2ἐπειρέσθαι με ἵμερος ἐπῆλθέ σε
An impersonal expression ἵμερος ἐπῆλθέ με ("desire came upon me") combined with the infinitive ἐπειρέσθαι ("to ask", which takes a double accusative). με is the object of ἐπῆλθε, while σε is the object of the infinitive ἐπειρέσθαι.
- 1.30.4Τέλλῳ τοῦτο μὲν τῆς πόλιος εὖ ἡκούσης
Τέλλῳ is a dative of possession. τοῦτο μὲν... τοῦτο δὲ... are used correlatively to mean "on the one hand... on the other hand...". τῆς πόλιος εὖ ἡκούσης is a genitive absolute construction, where the phrase εὖ ἥκειν (to be in a good state) governs the genitive.
- 1.30.4τοῦ βίου εὖ ἥκοντι
εὖ ἥκοντι is a dative participle agreeing with Τέλλῳ in the preceding clause. τοῦ βίου is the genitive governed by εὖ ἥκειν (to be in a good state of...), meaning "being in a prosperous state of life."