- 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-grc2:1.56.1-1.56.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Relieved by interpreting the oracle of the "mule king" as an impossibility, Croesus seeks to form an alliance with the most powerful Greeks. He identifies the Athenians (indigenous Pelasgians) and the Lacedaemonians (highly migratory Hellenes/Dorians) as the preeminent powers, tracing the extensive migrations of the latter.
τούτοισι ἐλθοῦσι τοῖσι ἔπεσι ὁ Κροῖσος πολλόν τι μάλιστα πάντων ἥσθη, ἐλπίζων ἡμίονον οὐδαμὰ ἀντʼ ἀνδρὸς βασιλεύσειν Μήδων, οὐδʼ ὦν αὐτὸς οὐδὲ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ1 παύσεσθαι κοτὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐφρόντιζε ἱστορέων τοὺς ἂν Ἑλλήνων δυνατωτάτους ἐόντας προσκτήσαιτο2 φίλους, ἱστορέων δὲ εὕρισκε Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Ἀθηναίους προέχοντας τοὺς μὲν τοῦ Δωρικοῦ γένεος τοὺς δὲ τοῦ Ἰωνικοῦ. ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν τὰ προκεκριμένα, ἐόντα τὸ ἀρχαῖον τὸ μὲν Πελασγικὸν τὸ δὲ Ἑλληνικὸν ἔθνος. καὶ τὸ μὲν οὐδαμῇ κω ἐξεχώρησε, τὸ δὲ πολυπλάνητον3 κάρτα.
Croesus was by far the most pleased of all with these verses when they arrived, hoping that a mule would never rule the Medes in place of a man, and therefore that neither he himself nor his descendants would ever lose their power. After this, he considered, by inquiring, who were the most powerful of the Greeks whom he might acquire as allies. And in inquiring he found that the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians were preeminent, the former of the Doric race, the latter of the Ionic. For these were the most distinguished of old, being the one a Pelasgian, the other a Hellenic nation. And the former had never yet migrated anywhere, while the latter was exceedingly migratory.
ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Δευκαλίωνος βασιλέος οἴκεε γῆν τὴν Φθιῶτιν, ἐπὶ δὲ Δώρου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν Ὄσσαν τε καὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χώρην, καλεομένην δὲ Ἱστιαιῶτιν· ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἱστιαιώτιδος ὡς ἐξανέστη ὑπὸ Καδμείων, οἴκεε ἐν Πίνδῳ Μακεδνὸν καλεόμενον· ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ αὖτις ἐς τὴν Δρυοπίδα μετέβη καὶ ἐκ τῆς Δρυοπίδος οὕτω ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐλθὸν Δωρικὸν ἐκλήθη.
For in the reign of King Deucalion it inhabited the land of Phthiotis; and in the time of Dorus, the son of Hellen, the region under Ossa and Olympus, called Histiaeotis; but being driven out of Histiaeotis by the Cadmeans, it dwelt on Mount Pindus, being called Macednian; and from there it moved again to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came in this way to the Peloponnese and was called Doric.
- 1.56.1αὐτὸς οὐδὲ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ
The subject of the infinitive παύσεσθαι. Although the subject of an infinitive in indirect discourse is normally in the accusative (AcI), here it is in the nominative (αὐτός) because it refers back to the subject of the main clause (Croesus himself and his descendants), following the standard rule of Greek syntax.
- 1.56.1τοὺς ἂν Ἑλλήνων δυνατωτάτους ἐόντας προσκτήσαιτο
This structure functions as an indirect question-like clause depending on ἐφρόντιζε. τοὺς ... ἐόντας is a participle phrase functioning as the object ('those who were the most powerful of the Greeks'), and προσκτήσαιτο with ἄν forms a potential optative in secondary sequence (after the past verb ἐφρόντιζε). The whole expression means 'which of the Greeks, being the most powerful, he might acquire as allies'.
- 1.56.2τὸ μὲν οὐδαμῇ κω ἐξεχώρησε, τὸ δὲ πολυπλάνητον
Refers respectively to 'the Pelasgian nation (the Athenians)' and 'the Hellenic nation (the Lacedaemonians)' mentioned in the previous sentence (τὸ μὲν for the former, τὸ δὲ for the latter). According to Herodotus, the Athenians were indigenous (Pelasgian) and never migrated, whereas the Lacedaemonians (Doric-Hellenic) were highly migratory.