- 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-grc2:2.121D.1-2.121D.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
As the king hangs the thief's body under guard, the surviving son, urged by his mother, executes a plan to retrieve it. He drives donkeys with wine, feigns an accident to get the guards drunk, successfully takes down his brother's body, and shaves the right cheeks of the guards before escaping.
ὡς δὲ χαλεπῶς ἐλαμβάνετο ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ περιεόντος παιδὸς καὶ πολλὰ πρὸς αὐτὴν λέγων οὐκ ἔπειθε, ἐπιτεχνήσασθαι1 τοιάδε μιν· ὄνους κατασκευασάμενον καὶ ἀσκοὺς πλήσαντα οἴνου ἐπιθεῖναι ἐπὶ τῶν ὄνων καὶ ἔπειτα ἐλαύνειν αὐτούς· ὡς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς φυλάσσοντας ἦν τὸν κρεμάμενον νέκυν, ἐπισπάσαντα τῶν ἀσκῶν δύο ἢ τρεῖς ποδεῶνας αὐτὸν λύειν ἀπαμμένους·
But since the mother of the surviving son pressed him hard and he could not persuade her though he said many things to her, he devised the following scheme. He prepared donkeys, loaded skins filled with wine upon them, and then drove them along. When he came near those who were guarding the hanging body, he pulled toward himself the feet of two or three of the skins and untied them where they were fastened.
ὡς δὲ ἔρρεε ὁ οἶνος, τὴν κεφαλήν μιν κόπτεσθαι μεγάλα βοῶντα ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντα2 πρὸς ὁκοῖον τῶν ὄνων πρῶτον τράπηται. τοὺς δὲ φυλάκους ὡς ἰδεῖν πολλὸν ῥέοντα τὸν οἶνον, συντρέχειν ἐς τὴν ὁδὸν ἀγγήια ἔχοντας, καὶ τὸν ἐκκεχυμένον οἶνον συγκομίζειν ἐν κέρδεϊ ποιευμένους·
As the wine began to flow, he beat his head, crying out loudly as if he did not know which of the donkeys he should turn to first. When the guards saw the wine flowing in abundance, they ran together into the road with vessels and gathered up the spilled wine, considering it their own gain.
τὸν δὲ διαλοιδορέεσθαι πᾶσι ὀργὴν προσποιεύμενον, παραμυθευμένων δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν φυλάκων χρόνῳ πρηΰνεσθαι προσποιέεσθαι καὶ ὑπίεσθαι τῆς ὀργῆς, τέλος δὲ ἐξελάσαι αὐτὸν τοὺς ὄνους ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ κατασκευάζειν.
He pretended to be angry and abused them all, but as the guards pacified him, he pretended to be appeased in time and to let go of his anger; and at last, he drove his donkeys out of the road and began to rearrange them.
ὡς δὲ λόγους τε πλέους ἐγγίνεσθαι καί τινα καὶ σκῶψαι μιν καὶ ἐς γέλωτα προαγαγέσθαι, ἐπιδοῦναι αὐτοῖσι τῶν ἀσκῶν ἕνα· τοὺς δὲ αὐτοῦ ὥσπερ εἶχον κατακλιθέντας πίνειν διανοέεσθαι, καὶ ἐκεῖνον παραλαμβάνειν καὶ κελεύειν μετʼ ἑωυτῶν μείναντα συμπίνειν· τὸν δὲ πεισθῆναί τε δὴ καὶ καταμεῖναι.
As more conversation ensued and someone even joked with him and moved him to laughter, he gave them one of the skins. They decided to lie down right where they were and drink, and they took him in and urged him to stay and drink with them; and he was indeed persuaded and remained.
ὡς δέ μιν παρὰ τὴν πόσιν φιλοφρόνως ἠσπάζοντο, ἐπιδοῦναι αὐτοῖσι καὶ ἄλλον τῶν ἀσκῶν· δαψιλέι δὲ τῷ ποτῷ χρησαμένους τοὺς φυλάκους ὑπερμεθυσθῆναι καὶ κρατηθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ ἔνθα περ ἔπινον κατακοιμηθῆναι.
As they welcomed him cordially during the drinking, he gave them another of the skins; and the guards, having indulged in the abundant drink, became exceedingly drunk, and being overcome by sleep, fell asleep right where they had been drinking.
τὸν δέ, ὡς πρόσω ἦν τῆς νυκτός, τό τε σῶμα τοῦ ἀδελφεοῦ καταλῦσαι καὶ τῶν φυλάκων3 ἐπὶ λύμῃ πάντων ξυρῆσαι τὰς δεξιὰς παρηίδας, ἐπιθέντα δὲ τὸν νέκυν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὄνους ἀπελαύνειν ἐπʼ οἴκου, ἐπιτελέσαντα τῇ μητρὶ τὰ προσταχθέντα.
When the night was far advanced, he took down the body of his brother, and to disgrace them all, shaved the right cheeks of all the guards, then placed the dead body upon the donkeys and drove them home, having fulfilled what had been commanded by his mother.
- 2.121D.1ἐπιτεχνήσασθαι
From this section onward, the main verbs appear as infinitives (ἐπιθεῖναι, ἐλαύνειν, λύειν, etc.) because the entire narrative is set within indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) based on hearsay. Grammatically, they are analyzed as a sequence of accusative with infinitive constructions depending on an implied main verb of saying.
- 2.121D.2ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντα
The conjunction ὡς indicates that the participle expresses a subjective reason or appearance ("as if..."). The accusative participle ἔχοντα agrees in gender, number, and case with the preceding pronoun μιν (the accusative subject). The following clause (πρὸς ὁκοῖον τῶν ὄνων πρῶτον τράπηται) is an indirect question using the deliberative subjunctive.
- 2.121D.6τῶν φυλάκων
The genitive τῶν φυλάκων functions either as a genitive of possession modifying παρηίδας (cheeks), or as a genitive of separation with the verb of shaving (ξυρῆσαι), which implies depriving someone of something.