- 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-grc2:1.48.1-1.48.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
Croesus examines the replies from the various oracles and finds only the Delphic one to be true, as it correctly revealed his bizarre action of boiling a tortoise and a lamb in a bronze kettle.
ταῦτα οἱ Λυδοὶ θεσπισάσης τῆς Πυθίης συγγραψάμενοι οἴχοντο ἀπιόντες1 ἐς τὰς Σάρδις. ὡς δὲ καὶ ὧλλοι οἱ περιπεμφθέντες παρῆσαν φέροντες τοὺς χρησμούς, ἐνθαῦτα ὁ Κροῖσος ἕκαστα ἀναπτύσσων ἐπώρα τῶν συγγραμμάτων, τῶν μὲν δὴ οὐδὲν προσίετό μιν·2 ὁ δὲ ὡς τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν ἤκουσε, αὐτίκα προσεύχετό τε καὶ προσεδέξατο, νομίσας μοῦνον εἶναι μαντήιον τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖσι, ὅτι οἱ ἐξευρήκεε τὰ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε.3
When the Pythia had delivered these answers, the Lydians wrote them down and departed for Sardis. And when the others who had been sent out also returned carrying their oracles, Croesus then opened and examined each of the writings; indeed, none of them pleased him. But when he heard the one from Delphi, he immediately offered prayers and accepted it, believing that the oracle at Delphi was the only true one, because it had discovered what he himself had done.
ἐπείτε γὰρ δὴ διέπεμψε παρὰ τὰ χρηστήρια τοὺς θεοπρόπους, φυλάξας τὴν κυρίην τῶν ἡμερέων ἐμηχανᾶτο τοιάδε· ἐπινοήσας τὰ ἦν ἀμήχανον ἐξευρεῖν τε καὶ ἐπιφράσασθαι, χελώνην καὶ ἄρνα κατακόψας ὁμοῦ ἧψε αὐτὸς ἐν λέβητι χαλκέῳ, χάλκεον ἐπίθημα ἐπιθείς.
For when he had sent his messengers to the oracles, he waited for the appointed day and devised the following plan: having thought of something that was impossible to discover or conceive, he cut up a tortoise and a lamb together and boiled them himself in a bronze kettle, having covered it with a bronze lid.
- 1.48.1οἴχοντο ἀπιόντες
An idiomatic expression combining the verb οἴχομαι with the present participle ἀπιών, expressing the completion or continuation of the movement ("they departed and were gone").
- 1.48.1τῶν μὲν δὴ οὐδὲν προσίετό μιν
The middle-voice verb προσίεμαι means "to admit to oneself" and metaphorically "to please" or "to satisfy." The subject is οὐδὲν ("nothing"), and it takes μιν (Ionic third-person singular accusative pronoun, referring to Croesus) as its object.
- 1.48.1ὅτι οἱ ἐξευρήκεε τὰ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε
οἱ is the third-person singular dative (dative of advantage) referring to Croesus. ἐξευρήκεε is the Ionic form of the pluperfect of ἐξευρίσκω. τὰ functions as a relative pronoun (neuter plural accusative) containing its own antecedent, serving as the direct object of ἐξευρήκεε.