- 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-grc2:3.104.1-3.104.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
It describes how the Indians retrieve gold during the intensely hot morning when giant ants retreat underground, and explains the unique climate of India where mornings are the hottest and evenings become extremely cold.
οἱ δὲ δὴ Ἰνδοὶ τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ καὶ ζεύξι τοιαύτῃ χρεώμενοι ἐλαύνουσι ἐπὶ τὸν χρυσὸν λελογισμένως ὅκως καυμάτων τῶν θερμοτάτων ἐόντων ἔσονται1 ἐν τῇ ἁρπαγῇ· ὑπὸ γὰρ τοῦ καύματος οἱ μύρμηκες ἀφανέες γίνονται ὑπὸ γῆν.
The Indians, employing such a method and such a harnessing, drive after the gold with calculation, so that they will be engaged in the seizure when the heat is at its hottest; for because of the heat, the ants disappear under the earth.
θερμότατος δὲ ἐστὶ ὁ ἥλιος τούτοισι τοῖσι ἀνθρώποισι τὸ ἑωθινόν, οὐ κατά περ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι μεσαμβρίης, ἀλλʼ ὑπερτείλας μέχρι οὗ ἀγορῆς διαλύσιος.2 τοῦτον δὲ τὸν χρόνον καίει πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ μεσαμβρίῃ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, οὕτω ὥστʼ ἐν ὕδατι λόγος αὐτούς ἐστι βρέχεσθαι3 τηνικαῦτα.
For these people, the sun is hottest in the morning, not at midday as it is for other people, but from its rising until the time of the dispersing of the market. During this time, it burns much more than it does in Greece at midday, so that there is a report that they drench themselves in water at that time.
μεσοῦσα δὲ ἡ ἡμέρη σχεδὸν παραπλησίως καίει τούς τε ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοὺς Ἰνδούς. ἀποκλινομένης δὲ τῆς μεσαμβρίης γίνεταί σφι ὁ ἥλιος κατά περ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι ὁ ἑωθινός, καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου ἀπιὼν4 ἐπὶ μᾶλλον ψύχει, ἐς ὃ ἐπὶ δυσμῇσι ἐὼν καὶ τὸ κάρτα ψύχει.
When midday comes, the day burns almost equally for both other people and the Indians. But as the midday declines, the sun becomes for them like the morning sun for other people, and departing from this point, it grows cooler and cooler, until, being at its setting, it becomes extremely cold.
- 3.104.1ὅκως... ἔσονται
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) followed by the future indicative introduces a clause of purpose or intention, modifying the adverb λελογισμένως, meaning 'calculating so that they will be...'.
- 3.104.2μέχρι οὗ ἀγορῆς διαλύσιος
μέχρι οὗ functions as a temporal conjunction meaning 'until'. Here, οὗ is the genitive of the temporal relative pronoun, acting prepositionally with the noun phrase ἀγορῆς διαλύσιος (the dispersal of the market, i.e., late morning around 10 to 11 AM).
- 3.104.2λόγος αὐτούς ἐστι βρέχεσθαι
The impersonal expression λόγος ἐστί ('there is a report', 'it is said') takes an accusative and infinitive construction, with the accusative subject αὐτούς and the infinitive βρέχεσθαι. It is equivalent to λέγεται αὐτοὺς βρέχεσθαι.
- 3.104.3ἀπιὼν
The present participle of ἀπειμι or ἀπέρχομαι. Its subject is ὁ ἥλιος (the sun) carried over from the previous clause, meaning 'as the sun departs'. The following verb ψύχει is used intransitively to mean 'it grows cold'.