- 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-grc2:1.47.1-1.47.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
Croesus instructs his messengers to ask the oracles on the hundredth day of their departure what he is doing. The Delphic oracle delivers a hexameter response correctly divining that he is boiling a tortoise and lamb's meat in a bronze vessel.
ἐντειλάμενος δὲ τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι τάδε ἀπέπεμπε ἐς τὴν διάπειραν τῶν χρηστηρίων, ἀπʼ ἧς ἂν ἡμέρης ὁρμηθέωσι ἐκ Σαρδίων, ἀπὸ ταύτης ἡμερολογέοντας1 τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἑκατοστῇ ἡμέρῃ χρᾶσθαι τοῖσι χρηστηρίοισι, ἐπειρωτῶντας ὅ τι ποιέων τυγχάνοι ὁ Λυδῶν βασιλεὺς Κροῖσος ὁ Ἀλυάττεω· ἅσσα δʼ ἂν ἕκαστα τῶν χρηστηρίων θεσπίσῃ, συγγραψαμένους ἀναφέρειν παρʼ ἑωυτόν.
Having given these instructions to the Lydians, he sent them to test the oracles: that from the day they set out from Sardis, they should keep count of the remaining time from that day, and on the hundredth day they should consult the oracles, inquiring what Croesus, the son of Alyattes and king of the Lydians, was then doing; and whatever each of the oracles should prophesy, they should write it down and bring it back to him.
ὅ τι μέν νυν τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν χρηστηρίων ἐθέσπισε, οὐ λέγεται πρὸς οὐδαμῶν· ἐν δὲ Δελφοῖσι ὡς ἐσῆλθον τάχιστα2 ἐς τὸ μέγαρον οἱ Λυδοὶ χρησόμενοι τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐπειρώτων τὸ ἐντεταλμένον, ἡ Πυθίη ἐν ἑξαμέτρῳ τόνῳ λέγει τάδε.
Now, what the rest of the oracles prophesied is not told by anyone; but in Delphi, as soon as the Lydians entered the temple to consult the god and asked what they had been commanded, the Pythia spoke these words in hexameter verse:
" οἶδα δʼ ἐγὼ ψάμμου τʼ ἀριθμὸν καὶ μέτρα θαλάσσης, καὶ κωφοῦ συνίημι, καὶ οὐ φωνεῦντος ἀκούω. ὀδμή μʼ ἐς φρένας ἦλθε κραταιρίνοιο χελώνης ἑψομένης ἐν χαλκῷ ἅμʼ ἀρνείοισι κρέεσσιν, ᾗ3 χαλκὸς μὲν ὑπέστρωται, χαλκὸν δʼ ἐπιέσται."
” I know the number of the sand and the measure of the sea, and I understand the mute, and hear him who does not speak. The smell of a hard-shelled tortoise boiled in bronze along with lamb’s flesh has come to my senses; bronze is laid beneath it, and bronze is cast over it.”
- 1.47.1ἡμερολογέοντας
Accusative plural of the present participle. While it shares its semantic subject with the preceding dative τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι, it is attracted into the accusative case as the subject of the following infinitive χρᾶσθαι.
- 1.47.2ὡς ἐσῆλθον τάχιστα
ὡς ... τάχιστα forms a temporal clause meaning "as soon as". The connected clause καὶ ἐπειρώτων (imperfect) indicates that they were attempting to ask (or began asking) the question immediately upon entering, showing a close sequence of actions.
- 1.47.3ᾗ
Dative feminine singular of the relative pronoun. Here it is used adverbially to mean "wherein" or "where", referring to the internal situation of the bronze vessel in which the tortoise and lamb's flesh are being boiled.