- 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-grc2:3.113.1-3.113.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The author concludes the account of Arabian spices and describes the wonderful scent of the land, along with two unique breeds of sheep found nowhere else: one with extremely long tails supported by wooden carts to prevent injury, and another with very broad tails.
τοσαῦτα μὲν θυωμάτων πέρι εἰρήσθω,1 ἀπόζει2 δὲ τῆς χώρης τῆς Ἀραβίης θεσπέσιον ὡς ἡδύ.3 δύο δὲ γένεα ὀίων σφι ἐστὶ θώματος ἄξια, τὰ οὐδαμόθι ἑτέρωθι ἐστί. τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν ἕτερον ἔχει τὰς οὐρὰς μακράς, τριῶν πηχέων οὐκ ἐλάσσονας, τὰς εἴ τις ἐπείη σφι ἐπέλκειν,4 ἕλκεα ἂν ἔχοιεν ἀνατριβομενέων πρὸς τῇ γῇ τῶν οὐρέων·5
Let so much have been said about the spices, but from the land of Arabia there blows a scent wonderfully sweet. They have two kinds of sheep worthy of wonder, which exist nowhere else. One of them has long tails, not less than three cubits, which, if anyone should allow them to drag them along, they would have sores from the tails rubbing against the ground.
νῦν δʼ ἅπας τις τῶν ποιμένων ἐπίσταται ξυλουργέειν ἐς τοσοῦτο· ἁμαξίδας γὰρ ποιεῦντες ὑποδέουσι αὐτὰς τῇσι οὐρῇσι, ἑνὸς ἑκάστου κτήνεος τὴν οὐρὴν ἐπὶ ἁμαξίδα ἑκάστην καταδέοντες. τὸ δὲ ἕτερον γένος τῶν ὀίων τὰς οὐρὰς πλατέας φορέουσι6 καὶ ἐπὶ πῆχυν πλάτος.
But as it is, every one of the shepherds knows enough of woodworking for this: for they make small carts and bind them under the tails, fastening the tail of each individual beast to each single cart. The other kind of sheep bear broad tails, even up to a cubit in width.
- 3.113.1εἰρήσθω
The third-person singular perfect passive imperative, used impersonally. This is a formulaic expression used to conclude a topic and transition to the next, meaning 'let so much have been said about...'.
- 3.113.1ἀπόζει
An intransitive verb used impersonally, meaning 'a scent wafts'. It is accompanied by the genitive of origin/source, τῆς χώρης τῆς Ἀραβίης.
- 3.113.1θεσπέσιον ὡς ἡδύ
The adjective θεσπέσιον ('divine', 'wondrous') combined with the conjunction ὡς ('how') functions as a compound adverbial phrase modifying the adjective ἡδύ, meaning 'wondrously sweet'.
- 3.113.1τὰς εἴ τις ἐπείη σφι ἐπέλκειν
A relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun τὰς (whose antecedent is τὰς οὐράς), inside of which a conditional clause εἴ τις ἐπείη is embedded. The verb ἐπείη is the third-person singular present optative of ἐάω (or ἐφίημι) in the Ionic dialect, meaning 'if anyone should allow'. The dative pronoun σφι refers to the sheep and acts as the subject of the infinitive ἐπέλκειν ('to drag along').
- 3.113.1ἀνατριβομενέων ... τῶν οὐρέων
A genitive absolute construction. Both the noun and the participle are in the genitive plural feminine, showing Ionic dialectal forms (corresponding to Attic οὐρῶν and ἀνατριβομένων respectively), expressing the cause or condition for the main verb ἂν ἔχοιεν.
- 3.113.2φορέουσι
Although the subject, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον γένος, is neuter singular, the verb φορέουσι is in the plural form. This is an instance of constructio ad sensum (agreement according to sense), as the collective noun refers to a plural group of animals.