- 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-grc2:3.101.1-3.101.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Herodotus describes the open intercourse of the aforementioned Indians, as well as their black skin and semen, which resemble those of the Ethiopians. He also notes that these Indians live far to the south of the Persians and were never subject to King Darius.
μίξις δὲ τούτων τῶν Ἰνδῶν τῶν κατέλεξα πάντων ἐμφανής ἐστι κατά περ τῶν προβάτων,1 καὶ τὸ χρῶμα φορέουσι ὅμοιον πάντες καὶ παραπλήσιον Αἰθίοψι.
The intercourse of all these Indians whom I have mentioned is open, just like that of cattle, and they all have a skin color that is similar to one another and very like that of the Ethiopians.
ἡ γονὴ δὲ αὐτῶν, τὴν ἀπίενται2 ἐς τὰς γυναῖκας, οὐ κατά περ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶ λευκή, ἀλλὰ μέλαινα κατά περ τὸ χρῶμα. τοιαύτην δὲ καὶ Αἰθίοπες ἀπίενται θορήν. οὗτοι μὲν τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἑκαστέρω τῶν Περσέων3 οἰκέουσι καὶ πρὸς νότου ἀνέμου, καὶ Δαρείου βασιλέος οὐδαμὰ ὑπήκουσαν.
And their semen, which they emit into the women, is not white like that of other men, but black like their skin. The Ethiopians also emit such semen. These of the Indians dwell further away from the Persians and towards the south wind, and they never became subject to King Darius.
- 3.101.1κατά περ τῶν προβάτων
The prepositional phrase κατά περ governs the genitive case, meaning 'just as'. Grammatically, 'their intercourse (μίξις)' is directly compared with 'cattle (προβάτων)', which is a brachylogy (omission of comparative elements) for 'the intercourse of cattle'.
- 3.101.2τὴν ἀπίενται
The word τὴν is the Ionic relative pronoun in the accusative case (equivalent to Attic ἥν), referring back to the antecedent τὴν γονήν. The verb ἀπίενται is the Ionic form of ἀφίενται (the third-person plural present middle of ἀφίημι, 'to emit', showing the Ionic de-aspiration).
- 3.101.2ἑκαστέρω τῶν Περσέων
The comparative adverb ἑκαστέρω (from the positive ἑκάς, 'far off') governs the genitive of comparison τῶν Περσέων, meaning 'further away from the Persians' than the other Indians.