- 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-grc2:2.118.1-2.118.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Herodotus learns from the Egyptian priests the historical background of the Trojan War, which traces back to Menelaus himself. The Greek army besieged and captured Troy because they did not believe the Trojans' claim that Helen was not there, only to send Menelaus to Egypt after finding out the truth.
Ὅμηρος μέν νυν καὶ τὰ Κύπρια ἔπεα χαιρέτω. εἰρομένου δέ μευ1 τοὺς ἱρέας εἰ μάταιον λόγον λέγουσι οἱ Ἕλληνες τὰ περὶ Ἴλιον γενέσθαι ἢ οὔ, ἔφασαν πρὸς ταῦτα τάδε, ἱστορίῃσι φάμενοι εἰδέναι παρʼ αὐτοῦ Μενέλεω.
Let Homer and the “Cypria” be dismissed for now. When I asked the priests whether the story that the Greeks tell about the events at Ilion is a foolish tale or not, they replied to this as follows, saying that they knew it from inquiries made to Menelaus himself.
ἐλθεῖν μὲν γὰρ μετὰ τὴν Ἑλένης ἁρπαγὴν ἐς τὴν Τευκρίδα γῆν Ἑλλήνων στρατιὴν πολλὴν βοηθεῦσαν Μενέλεῳ, ἐκβᾶσαν δὲ ἐς γῆν καὶ ἱδρυθεῖσαν τὴν στρατιὴν πέμπειν ἐς τὸ Ἴλιον ἀγγέλους, σὺν δέ σφι ἰέναι2 καὶ αὐτὸν Μενέλεων·
For they said that after the abduction of Helen, a great army of Greeks came to the Teucrian land to help Menelaus, and having disembarked and encamped, the army sent messengers to Ilion, and with them went Menelaus himself.
τοὺς δʼ ἐπείτε ἐσελθεῖν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος, ἀπαιτέειν Ἑλένην τε καὶ τὰ χρήματα τά οἱ οἴχετο κλέψας3 Ἀλέξανδρος, τῶν4 τε ἀδικημάτων δίκας αἰτέειν· τοὺς δὲ Τευκροὺς τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον λέγειν τότε καὶ μετέπειτα, καὶ ὀμνύντας καὶ ἀνωμοτί, μὴ μὲν ἔχειν Ἑλένην μηδὲ τὰ ἐπικαλεύμενα χρήματα, ἀλλʼ εἶναι αὐτὰ πάντα ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἂν δικαίως αὐτοὶ δίκας ὑπέχειν τῶν Πρωτεὺς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος βασιλεὺς ἔχει.
When these had entered within the wall, they demanded Helen and the possessions which Alexander had stolen and gone off with, and demanded justice for the wrongs. But the Teucrians told the same story then and thereafter, both under oath and without oath, that they did not have Helen nor the demanded possessions, but they were all in Egypt, and that they could not justly suffer punishment for what Proteus, the Egyptian king, possessed.
οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες καταγελᾶσθαι δοκέοντες ὑπʼ αὐτῶν οὕτω δὴ ἐπολιόρκεον, ἐς ὃ ἐξεῖλον· ἑλοῦσι δὲ τὸ τεῖχος ὡς οὐκ ἐφαίνετο ἡ Ἑλένη, ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον τῷ προτέρῳ ἐπυνθάνοντο, οὕτω δὴ πιστεύσαντες τῷ λόγῳ τῷ πρώτῳ οἱ Ἕλληνες αὐτὸν Μενέλεων ἀποστέλλουσι παρὰ Πρωτέα.
The Greeks, however, thinking they were being mocked by them, thus besieged the city until they captured it. But when they had taken the wall and Helen did not appear, but they heard the same story as before, the Greeks, then finally believing that first story, sent Menelaus himself to Proteus.
- 2.118.1εἰρομένου δέ μευ
Genitive absolute construction. The pronoun μευ (Ionic for μου) acts as the subject, meaning "when I asked (the priests)."
- 2.118.2ἐλθεῖν μὲν γὰρ... πέμπειν... ἰέναι
The series of infinitives spanning §2.118.2 and §2.118.3 are in indirect speech (accusative with infinitive) governed by the verb ἔφασαν ("they said") in the previous section, indicating the testimony of the priests.
- 2.118.3οἴχετο κλέψας
An idiomatic construction where the verb οἴχομαι ("to have gone/departed") combined with a participle (κλέψας) emphasizes the departure after performing the action, meaning "stole and went off."
- 2.118.3τῶν
Relative pronoun. The antecedent (likely τούτων) is omitted, and attraction to the genitive case has occurred because the main verb phrase δίκας ὑπέχειν ("to suffer punishment/make amends for") requires the genitive.