- 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-grc2:1.87.1-1.87.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Croesus's prayer to Apollo brings a sudden torrential rain that extinguishes the pyre. Realizing that Croesus is favored by the gods, Cyrus releases him and asks why he initiated the war, to which Croesus blames the Greek deity and laments the tragedy of war.
ἐνθαῦτα λέγεται ὑπὸ Λυδῶν Κροῖσον μαθόντα τὴν Κύρου μετάγνωσιν, ὡς ὥρα πάντα μὲν ἄνδρα σβεννύντα τὸ πῦρ, δυναμένους δὲ οὐκέτι καταλαβεῖν, ἐπιβώσασθαι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἐπικαλεόμενον, εἴ τί οἱ κεχαρισμένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ1 ἐδωρήθη, παραστῆναι καὶ ῥύσασθαι αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ παρεόντος κακοῦ.
Thereupon, it is said by the Lydians that Croesus, having learned of Cyrus’s change of mind, when he saw every man trying to extinguish the fire but no longer able to master it, cried out to Apollo, invoking him and praying that if any pleasing gift had ever been given by him to the god, he would come to his aid and rescue him from the present evil.
τὸν μὲν δακρύοντα ἐπικαλέεσθαι τὸν θεόν, ἐκ δὲ αἰθρίης τε καὶ νηνεμίης συνδραμεῖν ἐξαπίνης νέφεα καὶ χειμῶνά τε καταρραγῆναι καὶ ὗσαι ὕδατι λαβροτάτῳ, κατασβεσθῆναί τε τὴν πυρήν. οὕτω δὴ μαθόντα τὸν Κῦρον ὡς εἴη ὁ Κροῖσος καὶ θεοφιλὴς καὶ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός, καταβιβάσαντα αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πυρῆς εἰρέσθαι τάδε.
While he was thus invoking the god with tears, suddenly, out of a clear and windless sky, clouds gathered, a storm broke out, and it rained most violently, so that the pyre was extinguished. Thus Cyrus, having learned that Croesus was both beloved of the gods and a good man, brought him down from the pyre and asked him this:
Κροῖσε, τίς σε ἀνθρώπων ἀνέγνωσε ἐπὶ γῆν τὴν ἐμὴν στρατευσάμενον πολέμιον ἀντὶ φίλου ἐμοὶ καταστῆναι; ὁ δὲ εἶπε ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἐγὼ ταῦτα ἔπρηξα τῇ σῇ μὲν εὐδαιμονίῃ, τῇ ἐμεωυτοῦ δὲ κακοδαιμονίῃ,2 αἴτιος δὲ τούτων ἐγένετο ὁ Ἑλλήνων θεὸς ἐπαείρας ἐμὲ στρατεύεσθαι.
”Croesus, who among men persuaded you to march against my land as an enemy instead of being a friend to me?” And he said: “O King, I did this to your good fortune but to my own ill fortune, and the cause of this was the god of the Greeks, who encouraged me to make war.
οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτω ἀνόητος ἐστὶ ὅστις πόλεμον πρὸ εἰρήνης αἱρέεται· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ οἱ παῖδες τοὺς πατέρας θάπτουσι, ἐν δὲ τῷ3 οἱ πατέρες τοὺς παῖδας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα δαίμοσί κου φίλον ἦν οὕτω γενέσθαι.
For no one is so foolish as to choose war instead of peace; for in peace, sons bury their fathers, but in war, fathers bury their sons. However, it must have been pleasing to the gods for these things to happen so.”
- 1.87.1ἐξ αὐτοῦ
The pronoun αὐτοῦ refers to Croesus. The preposition ἐκ (ἐξ), together with the passive verb ἐδωρήθη ('was given'), denotes the agent or source of the action, meaning 'given by him' or 'from his part'.
- 1.87.3τῇ σῇ μὲν εὐδαιμονίῃ, τῇ ἐμεωυτοῦ δὲ κακοδαιμονίῃ
Datives of cause, result, or reference. They express the consequence or impact on both parties: 'resulting in your good fortune, but in my own ill fortune'.
- 1.87.4ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ ... ἐν δὲ τῷ
Due to the difference in the gender of the definite articles, the preceding nouns are omitted. The feminine dative singular τῇ refers back to εἰρήνης ('peace', a feminine noun), and the masculine dative singular τῷ refers back to πόλεμον ('war', a masculine noun), meaning 'for in the one [peace]... but in the other [war]...'.