- 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-grc2:2.171.1-2.171.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The author keeps holy silence on the mysteries of Osiris' sufferings and the Thesmophoria of Demeter. He explains that the daughters of Danaus brought this rite from Egypt, and only the Arcadians preserved it after the Dorian invasion.
ἐν δὲ τῇ λίμνῃ ταύτῃ τὰ δείκηλα τῶν παθέων αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς ποιεῦσι, τὰ καλέουσι μυστήρια Αἰγύπτιοι. περὶ μέν νυν τούτων εἰδότι μοι1 ἐπὶ πλέον ὡς ἕκαστα αὐτῶν ἔχει, εὔστομα κείσθω.2
On this lake they perform by night the representations of his sufferings, which the Egyptians call “mysteries”. Now concerning these, though I know more details about how each of them is, let them be kept in holy silence.
καὶ τῆς Δήμητρος τελετῆς πέρι, τὴν οἱ Ἕλληνες θεσμοφόρια καλέουσι, καὶ ταύτης μοι πέρι εὔστομα κείσθω, πλὴν ὅσον αὐτῆς ὁσίη ἐστὶ λέγειν·
And concerning the rite of Demeter, which the Greeks call Thesmophoria, concerning this too let it be kept in holy silence by me, except so much of it as it is lawful to speak.
αἱ Δαναοῦ θυγατέρες ἦσαν αἱ τὴν τελετὴν ταύτην ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐξαγαγοῦσαι καὶ διδάξασαι τὰς Πελασγιώτιδας γυναῖκας· μετὰ δὲ ἐξαναστάσης πάσης Πελοποννήσου ὑπὸ Δωριέων3 ἐξαπώλετο ἡ τελετή, οἱ δὲ ὑπολειφθέντες Πελοποννησίων4 καὶ οὐκ ἐξαναστάντες Ἀρκάδες διέσωζον αὐτὴν μοῦνοι.
It was the daughters of Danaus who brought this rite out of Egypt and taught it to the Pelasgian women; but afterwards, when the whole Peloponnese was depopulated by the Dorians, the rite perished, and those of the Peloponnesians who were left behind and not driven out, namely the Arcadians, alone preserved it.
- 2.171.1εἰδότι μοι
The participle εἰδότι (dative singular masculine of εἰδώς) modifies the personal pronoun μοι. In the impersonal-like imperative construction εὔστομα κείσθω ("let it be kept in holy silence"), it functions as a dative of relation or ethical dative indicating the person who has the knowledge of the matter.
- 2.171.1εὔστομα κείσθω
Literally, "let it lie in well-spoken/holy things." This is a standard religious and idiomatic formula meaning "let a holy silence be maintained" or "let it remain unmentioned" out of reverence.
- 2.171.3ἐξαναστάσης πάσης Πελοποννήσου ὑπὸ Δωριέων
A genitive absolute construction with the aorist active participle ἐξαναστάσης (from ἐξανιστάω, used intransitively) and πάσης Πελοποννήσου. Accompanied by the prepositional phrase ὑπὸ Δωριέων (by the Dorians), it conveys a passive sense ("when the entire Peloponnese was driven out / depopulated").
- 2.171.3οἱ δὲ ὑπολειφθέντες Πελοποννησίων
The genitive plural noun Πελοποννησίων functions as a partitive genitive dependent on the substantivized passive participle οἱ ὑπολειφθέντες ("those of the Peloponnesians who were left behind").