- 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-grc2:1.73.1-1.73.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Croesus' motivations for marching against Cappadocia are explained, focusing on avenging his brother-in-law Astyages; this leads to the story of the Scythians' offense against Cyaxares and their flight to Lydia.
ἐστρατεύετο δὲ ὁ Κροῖσος ἐπὶ τὴν Καππαδοκίην τῶνδε εἵνεκα, καὶ γῆς ἱμέρῳ προσκτήσασθαι1 πρὸς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ μοῖραν βουλόμενος, καὶ μάλιστα τῷ χρηστηρίῳ πίσυνος ἐὼν καὶ τίσασθαι θέλων ὑπὲρ Ἀστυάγεος Κῦρον.
Croesus marched against Cappadocia for the following reasons: both because he desired to acquire more land and add it to his own portion, and most of all because he trusted in the oracle and wished to punish Cyrus on behalf of Astyages.
Ἀστυάγεα γὰρ τὸν Κυαξάρεω, ἐόντα Κροίσου μὲν γαμβρὸν Μήδων δὲ βασιλέα, Κῦρος ὁ Καμβύσεω καταστρεψάμενος εἶχε,2 γενόμενον γαμβρὸν Κροίσῳ ὧδε.
For Astyages son of Cyaxares, who was Croesus’ brother-in-law and king of the Medes, had been conquered and held by Cyrus son of Cambyses; and he had become Croesus’ brother-in-law in the following way.
Σκυθέων τῶν νομάδων εἴλῃ ἀνδρῶν στασιάσασα ὑπεξῆλθε ἐς γῆν τὴν Μηδικήν· ἐτυράννευε δὲ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον Μήδων Κυαξάρης ὁ Φραόρτεω τοῦ Δηιόκεω, ὃς τοὺς Σκύθας τούτους τὸ μὲν πρῶτον περιεῖπε εὖ ὡς ἐόντας ἱκέτας· ὥστε δὲ περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεόμενος3 αὐτούς, παῖδάς σφι παρέδωκε τὴν γλῶσσάν τε ἐκμαθεῖν καὶ τὴν τέχνην τῶν τόξων.
A band of nomadic Scythians, having fallen into mutiny, withdrew secretly into the Median land. At this time Cyaxares, son of Phraortes, son of Deioces, was ruling over the Medes, and at first he treated these Scythians well as being suppliants. Holding them in high esteem, he entrusted boys to them to learn their language and the art of archery.
χρόνου δὲ γενομένου, καὶ αἰεὶ φοιτεόντων τῶν Σκυθέων ἐπʼ ἄγρην καὶ αἰεί τι φερόντων, καὶ κοτε συνήνεικε4 ἑλεῖν σφεας μηδέν· νοστήσαντας δὲ αὐτοὺς κεινῇσι χερσὶ ὁ Κυαξάρης (ἦν γάρ, ὡς διέδεξε, ὀργὴν ἄκρος) τρηχέως κάρτα περιέσπε ἀεικείῃ.
As time went on, and the Scythians kept going out to the hunt and always bringing something back, it happened once that they caught nothing. When they returned with empty hands, Cyaxares (for he was, as he clearly showed, extremely quick-tempered) treated them very harshly and with great insult.
οἳ δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς Κυαξάρεω παθόντες, ὥστε ἀνάξια σφέων αὐτῶν πεπονθότες, ἐβούλευσαν τῶν παρὰ σφίσι διδασκομένων παίδων ἕνα κατακόψαι, σκευάσαντες δὲ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ ἐώθεσαν καὶ τὰ θηρία σκευάζειν, Κυαξάρῃ δοῦναι φέροντες ὡς ἄγρην δῆθεν, δόντες δὲ τὴν ταχίστην κομίζεσθαι5 παρὰ Ἀλυάττεα τὸν Σαδυάττεω ἐς Σάρδις.
Having suffered this treatment from Cyaxares, and feeling they had suffered what was unworthy of them, they planned to cut up one of the boys who were being taught by them, prepare him just as they were accustomed to prepare wild beasts, bring and give him to Cyaxares as though he were game, and having given him, to flee as quickly as possible to Alyattes son of Sadyattes at Sardis.
ταῦτα καὶ ἐγένετο. καὶ γὰρ Κυαξάρης καὶ οἱ παρεόντες δαιτυμόνες τῶν κρεῶν τούτων ἐπάσαντο, καὶ οἱ Σκύθαι ταῦτα ποιήσαντες Ἀλυάττεω ἱκέται ἐγένοντο.
And this is indeed what happened. For Cyaxares and the guests present tasted of this meat, and the Scythians, having done this, became suppliants of Alyattes.
- 1.73.1προσκτήσασθαι
The infinitive προσκτήσασθαι is a complementary infinitive depending on βουλόμενος. In the sentence structure, three participial clauses (βουλόμενος, ἐὼν, and θέλων) are coordinated by καὶ... καὶ... καὶ... to explain the reasons introduced by τῶνδε εἵνεκα (for the following reasons).
- 1.73.2καταστρεψάμενος εἶχε
A periphrastic construction combining an aorist participle with ἔχω, similar in meaning to a perfect. It expresses not just the past action of conquering, but the continuation of the state (having conquered and still holding captive). This is a characteristic feature of Ionic prose, especially in Herodotus.
- 1.73.3ὥστε δὲ περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεόμενος
The participle ποιεόμενος (uncontracted Ionic form corresponding to Attic ποιούμενος) follows the conjunction ὥστε introducing a result, instead of the usual indicative or infinitive. This construction is highly frequent in Herodotus, closely linking the result or attendant circumstance to the main verb (παρέδωκε).
- 1.73.4συνήνεικε
Used impersonally to mean 'it happened that...' (an Ionic form equivalent to Attic συνέβη). The logical subject is the accusative-and-infinitive clause ἑλεῖν σφεας μηδέν (that they caught nothing).
- 1.73.5κομίζεσθαι
The third infinitive depending on the main verb ἐβούλευσαν (they planned). The first is κατακόψαι (to cut up) and the second is δοῦναι (to give), both in the aorist (single acts), followed by the present infinitive κομίζεσθαι (to make their escape/journey). In the middle voice, κομίζω means 'to convey oneself,' hence used intransitively to mean 'to withdraw, escape.'