- 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-grc2:2.141.1-2.141.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The priest of Hephaestus, Sethos, becomes king but deprives the warrior class of their privileges, leading them to refuse to fight when Sennacherib invades. Encouraged by a divine dream, Sethos leads an army of commoners to Pelusium, where a plague of field-mice destroys the enemy's weapons in the night, securing an Egyptian victory.
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον βασιλεῦσαι τὸν ἱρέα τοῦ Ἡφαίστου, τῷ οὔνομα εἶναι Σεθῶν· τὸν ἐν ἀλογίῃσι ἔχειν παραχρησάμενον τῶν μαχίμων Αἰγυπτίων ὡς οὐδὲν δεησόμενον αὐτῶν,1 ἄλλα τε δὴ ἄτιμα ποιεῦντα ἐς αὐτούς, καί σφεας ἀπελέσθαι τὰς ἀρούρας·2 τοῖσι ἐπὶ τῶν προτέρων βασιλέων δεδόσθαι ἐξαιρέτους ἑκάστῳ δυώδεκα ἀρούρας.
After him, they said, the priest of Hephaestus, whose name was Sethos, became king. He held the warrior class of the Egyptians in no esteem and neglected them as if he would have no need of them; and besides doing other dishonorable things to them, he deprived them of their fields, twelve arouras of which had been given as a special privilege to each man under the former kings.
μετὰ δὲ ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον ἐλαύνειν στρατὸν μέγαν Σαναχάριβον βασιλέα Ἀραβίων τε καὶ Ἀσσυρίων· οὔκων δὴ ἐθέλειν τοὺς μαχίμους τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βοηθέειν.
Afterwards, Sennacherib, king of the Arabs and Assyrians, marched a great army against Egypt; and so the warriors of the Egyptians refused to come to the rescue.
τὸν δʼ ἱρέα ἐς ἀπορίην ἀπειλημένον ἐσελθόντα ἐς τὸ μέγαρον πρὸς τὤγαλμα ἀποδύρεσθαι οἷα κινδυνεύει παθεῖν. ὀλοφυρόμενον δʼ ἄρα μιν ἐπελθεῖν ὕπνον,3 καί οἱ δόξαι ἐν τῇ ὄψι ἐπιστάντα τὸν θεὸν θαρσύνειν ὡς οὐδὲν πείσεται ἄχαρι ἀντιάζων τὸν Ἀραβίων στρατόν· αὐτὸς γάρ οἱ πέμψειν τιμωρούς.
The priest, driven to despair, entered into the sanctuary and before the statue lamented what kind of things he was in danger of suffering. As he was wailing, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision that the god stood over him and encouraged him, saying that he would suffer nothing unpleasant when opposing the army of the Arabs, for he himself would send him helpers.
τούτοισι δή μιν πίσυνον τοῖσι ἐνυπνίοισι, παραλαβόντα Αἰγυπτίων τοὺς βουλομένους οἱ ἕπεσθαι, στρατοπεδεύσασθαι ἐν Πηλουσίῳ· ταύτῃ γὰρ εἰσὶ αἱ ἐσβολαί· ἕπεσθαι δέ οἱ τῶν μαχίμων μὲν οὐδένα ἀνδρῶν, καπήλους δὲ καὶ χειρώνακτας καὶ ἀγοραίους ἀνθρώπους.
Trusting indeed in these dreams, he took with him those of the Egyptians who were willing to follow him and encamped at Pelusium, for this is where the entrance is. But none of the warrior class followed him, only merchants, artisans, and market-folk.
ἐνθαῦτα ἀπικομένοισι τοῖσι ἐναντίοισι αὐτοῖσι ἐπιχυθέντας νυκτὸς μῦς ἀρουραίους4 κατὰ μὲν φαγεῖν τοὺς φαρετρεῶνας αὐτῶν κατὰ δὲ τὰ τόξα, πρὸς δὲ τῶν ἀσπίδων τὰ ὄχανα, ὥστε τῇ ὑστεραίῃ φευγόντων σφέων γυμνῶν πεσεῖν πολλούς.
When the opponents arrived there, field-mice swarmed upon them by night and devoured their quivers, their bows, and furthermore the handles of their shields, so that on the next day, as they fled unarmed, many of them fell.
καὶ νῦν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἕστηκε ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ τοῦ Ἡφαίστου λίθινος, ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς χειρὸς μῦν, λέγων διὰ γραμμάτων τάδε· ἐς ἐμέ τις ὁρέων εὐσεβὴς ἔστω.
And now this king stands in the temple of Hephaestus, made of stone, holding a mouse in his hand, and saying through an inscription these words: “Let anyone who looks upon me be pious.”
- 2.141.1τὸν ἐν ἀλογίῃσι ἔχειν παραχρησάμενον τῶν μαχίμων Αἰγυπτίων ὡς οὐδὲν δεησόμενον αὐτῶν
This is an accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse (subject τὸν, verb ἔχειν). The participle παραχρησάμενον modifies τὸν and governs the genitive τῶν μαχίμων Αἰγυπτίων. ὡς οὐδὲν δεησόμενον is an accusative absolute (or a participle agreeing with τὸν) accompanied by ὡς, representing the subjective belief of the agent ("on the ground that he would not need them").
- 2.141.1σφεας ἀπελέσθαι τὰς ἀρούρας
The aorist infinitive ἀπελέσθαι (from ἀπαιρέω / ἀποαιρέω, "to deprive/take away") takes a double accusative: the person deprived (σφέας) and the thing taken away (τὰς ἀρούρας).
- 2.141.3ὀλοφυρόμενον δʼ ἄρα μιν ἐπελθεῖν ὕπνον
In this indirect discourse clause, the subject of the infinitive ἐπελθεῖν is ὕπνον (accusative), and the object is μιν (accusative). The present participle ὀλοφυρόμενον modifies the object μιν (referring to the priest).
- 2.141.5ἐνθαῦτα ἀπικομένοισι τοῖσι ἐναντίοισι αὐτοῖσι ἐπιχυθέντας νυκτὸς μῦς ἀρουραίους
The dative construction ἀπικομένοισι τοῖσι ἐναντίοισι αὐτοῖσι ("upon those enemies who had arrived there") is governed by the participle ἐπιχυθέντας ("having swarmed over", from ἐπιχέομαι, which takes a dative). The subject of this accusative-and-infinitive construction is μῦς ἀρουραίους, with which the accusative plural participle ἐπιχυθέντας agrees.