- 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-grc2:2.38.1-2.38.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
The passage describes the strict examination process for male cattle dedicated to Epaphos, the criteria for disqualification (such as a single black hair), the sealing method for approved beasts, and the capital punishment for sacrificing an unmarked beast.
τοὺς δὲ βοῦς τοὺς ἔρσενας τοῦ Ἐπάφου εἶναι νομίζουσι, καὶ τούτου εἵνεκα δοκιμάζουσι αὐτοὺς ὧδε· τρίχα ἢν καὶ μίαν ἴδηται ἐπεοῦσαν μέλαιναν, οὐ καθαρὸν εἶναι νομίζει.1
They consider the male cattle to belong to Epaphos, and for this reason they examine them in the following way: if he sees even a single black hair on it, he considers it not to be clean.
δίζηται δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τούτῳ τεταγμένος τῶν τις ἱρέων καὶ ὀρθοῦ ἑστεῶτος τοῦ κτήνεος καὶ ὑπτίου,2 καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἐξειρύσας, εἰ καθαρὴ τῶν προκειμένων σημηίων, τὰ ἐγὼ ἐν ἄλλῳ λόγῳ ἐρέω· κατορᾷ δὲ καὶ τὰς τρίχας τῆς οὐρῆς εἰ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχει πεφυκυίας.3
One of the priests appointed for this purpose examines these things, both when the beast is standing upright and when it is lying on its back, and having pulled out its tongue, he checks if it is clean of the prescribed marks, which I shall mention in another account; and he also inspects the hairs of the tail to see if they are grown according to nature.
ἢν δὲ τούτων πάντων ᾖ καθαρός, σημαίνεται βύβλῳ περὶ τὰ κέρεα εἱλίσσων καὶ ἔπειτα γῆν σημαντρίδα ἐπιπλάσας ἐπιβάλλει τὸν δακτύλιον, καὶ οὕτω ἀπάγουσι. ἀσήμαντον δὲ θύσαντι4 θάνατος ἡ ζημίη ἐπικέεται. δοκιμάζεται μέν νυν τὸ κτῆνος τρόπῳ τοιῷδε, θυσίη δέ σφι ἥδε κατέστηκε.
If it is clean of all these things, he marks it by wrapping papyrus around its horns and then, having smeared sealing earth on it, he stamps his signet ring, and in this way they lead it away. But for one who sacrifices an unmarked beast, death is imposed as the penalty. Now the beast is examined in this manner, and the following method of sacrifice is established among them.
- 2.38.1ἴδηται... νομίζει
The subject is not explicitly stated but contextually refers to "one of the priests" appointed for the task, who is formally introduced in the next sentence.
- 2.38.2ὀρθοῦ ἑστεῶτος τοῦ κτήνεος καὶ ὑπτίου
Genitive absolute construction. With τοῦ κτήνεος acting as the subject, the perfect participle ἑστεῶτος ὀρθοῦ (standing upright) and the adjective ὑπτίου (lying on its back) are coordinated to describe the two different postures during the examination.
- 2.38.2εἰ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχει πεφυκυίας
A proleptic construction where the preceding τὰς τρίχας (the hairs) is anticipated as the logical subject of the indirect question. ἔχει functions intransitively ("to be in a state"), and the perfect participle πεφυκυίας (feminine accusative plural) agrees with τρίχας, meaning "whether they are naturally grown".
- 2.38.3ἀσήμαντον δὲ θύσαντι
The dative participle θύσαντι (to the one who sacrificed) is used substantively and functions as the dative complement of the main verb ἐπικέεται. The neuter singular accusative ἀσήμαντον (an unmarked thing) serves as its direct object.