- 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-grc2:1.78.1-1.78.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
After witnessing an ominous prodigy of horses devouring snakes, Croesus sends messengers to the interpreters of Telmessus. However, before the messengers can return with the interpretation predicting a foreign invasion, Sardis is captured.
ταῦτα ἐπιλεγομένῳ Κροίσῳ τὸ προάστειον πᾶν ὀφίων ἐνεπλήσθη· φανέντων δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ ἵπποι μετιέντες τὰς νομὰς νέμεσθαι1 φοιτέοντες κατήσθιον. ἰδόντι δὲ τοῦτο Κροίσῳ, ὥσπερ καὶ ἦν ἔδοξε τέρας εἶναι·
While Croesus was considering these things, the whole suburb became filled with snakes; and when they appeared, the horses, giving up feeding in their pastures, came constantly and devoured them. To Croesus, when he saw this, it seemed to be a prodigy, as indeed it was.
αὐτίκα δὲ ἔπεμπε θεοπρόπους ἐς τῶν ἐξηγητέων Τελμησσέων.2 ἀπικομένοισι δὲ τοῖσι θεοπρόποισι καὶ μαθοῦσι πρὸς Τελμησσέων τὸ θέλει σημαίνειν τὸ τέρας, οὐκ ἐξεγένετο Κροίσῳ ἀπαγγεῖλαι·3 πρὶν γὰρ ἢ ὀπίσω σφέας ἀναπλῶσαι ἐς τὰς Σάρδις ἥλω ὁ Κροῖσος.
Immediately he sent messengers to the place of the interpreters of Telmessus. But though the messengers arrived and learned from the Telmessians what the prodigy meant to signify, it was not possible for them to report it to Croesus; for before they sailed back to Sardis, Croesus was captured.
Τελμησσέες μέντοι τάδε ἔγνωσαν, στρατὸν ἀλλόθροον προσδόκιμον εἶναι Κροίσῳ4 ἐπὶ τὴν χώρην, ἀπικόμενον δὲ τοῦτον καταστρέψεσθαι τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους, λέγοντες ὄφιν εἶναι γῆς παῖδα, ἵππον δὲ πολέμιόν τε καὶ ἐπήλυδα. Τελμησσέες μέν νυν ταῦτα ὑπεκρίναντο Κροίσῳ ἤδη ἡλωκότι, οὐδὲν κω εἰδότες τῶν ἦν περὶ Σάρδις τε καὶ αὐτὸν Κροῖσον.
The Telmessians, however, decided thus: that an army speaking a foreign tongue was to be expected by Croesus to invade his land, and that on its arrival it would subdue the inhabitants of the country; saying that the snake is a child of the earth, but the horse is an enemy and an invader. These were the answers the Telmessians gave to Croesus when he had already been captured, knowing nothing as yet of what had happened concerning Sardis and Croesus himself.
- 1.78.1μετιέντες τὰς νομὰς νέμεσθαι
The participle μετιέντες (from μεθίημι, "to give up, leave off") takes both the accusative noun τὰς νομάς ("pasturage, pastures") and the infinitive νέμεσθαι ("to graze, feed"), meaning "giving up grazing in their pastures."
- 1.78.2ἐς τῶν ἐξηγητέων Τελμησσέων
The preposition ἐς is followed by the genitive τῶν ἐξηγητέων. This is an idiomatic construction where a noun indicating destination (such as οἶκον, "house", or χώρην, "place") is omitted, meaning "to the [place] of the interpreters of Telmessus."
- 1.78.2ἀπικομένοισι δὲ τοῖσι θεοπρόποισι ... οὐκ ἐξεγένετο Κροίσῳ ἀπαγγεῖλαι
This passage contains multiple dative elements that require careful distinction. The dative participle phrase ἀπικομένοισι... καὶ μαθοῦσι... functions either as the dative modifier with the impersonal verb ἐξεγένετο ("it was not granted/possible for...") or as the logical subject of the infinitive ἀπαγγεῖλαι (referring to the messengers). On the other hand, Κροίσῳ is also in the dative, but serves as the dative object of the infinitive ἀπαγγεῖλαι ("to report [to Croesus]").
- 1.78.3στρατὸν ἀλλόθροον προσδόκιμον εἶναι Κροίσῳ
The adjective προσδόκιμος ("expected") carries a passive sense, and the dative Κροίσῳ denotes the agent ("by Croesus") or the person concerned ("for Croesus"). Together with the subject accusative στρατὸν ἀλλόθροον, it forms an accusative and infinitive clause (object of τάδε ἔγνωσαν), meaning "that a foreign-tongued army was to be expected by Croesus."