- 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-grc2:3.115.1-3.115.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Herodotus expresses skepticism about the existence of the river Eridanus, which yields amber, and the Cassiterides islands, which yield tin, in the western extremities of Europe, due to the lack of eyewitness testimonies.
αὗται μέν νυν ἔν τε τῇ Ἀσίῃ ἐσχατιαί εἰσι καὶ ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέρην ἐσχατιέων ἔχω μὲν οὐκ ἀτρεκέως λέγειν·1 οὔτε γὰρ ἔγωγε ἐνδέκομαι Ἠριδανὸν καλέεσθαι πρὸς βαρβάρων ποταμὸν ἐκδιδόντα2 ἐς θάλασσαν τὴν πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον, ἀπʼ ὅτευ τὸ ἤλεκτρον φοιτᾶν λόγος ἐστί, οὔτε νήσους οἶδα Κασσιτερίδας ἐούσας, ἐκ τῶν ὁ κασσίτερος ἡμῖν φοιτᾷ.
These then are the extremities in Asia and in Libya. But concerning the extremities in Europe towards the west, I am not able to speak with certainty; for indeed I do not admit that a river called Eridanus by barbarians empties into the sea towards the north wind, from which there is a story that amber comes, nor do I know of the existence of islands called Cassiterides, from which tin comes to us.
τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἠριδανὸς αὐτὸ κατηγορέει τὸ οὔνομα ὡς ἔστι Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ οὐ βάρβαρον, ὑπὸ ποιητέω δὲ3 τινὸς ποιηθέν· τοῦτο δὲ οὐδενὸς αὐτόπτεω γενομένου δύναμαι ἀκοῦσαι, τοῦτο μελετῶν, ὅκως θάλασσα ἐστὶ τὰ ἐπέκεινα Εὐρώπης.4 ἐξ ἐσχάτης δʼ ὦν ὁ κασσίτερος ἡμῖν φοιτᾷ καὶ τὸ ἤλεκτρον.
For first, the very name Eridanus accuses itself of being Greek and not barbarian, having been fashioned by some poet; and secondly, though I make this my study, I cannot hear from any eyewitness that there is a sea beyond Europe. But at any rate, both tin and amber do come to us from the extremity.
- 3.115.1ἔχω ... λέγειν
The verb ἔχω followed by an infinitive (here, λέγειν) expresses ability, meaning "to be able to" (equivalent to Latin possum).
- 3.115.1ἐνδέκομαι Ἠριδανὸν καλέεσθαι πρὸς βαρβάρων ποταμὸν ἐκδιδόντα
The verb ἐνδέκομαι ('admit', 'accept') takes an accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction, where Ἠριδανὸν ... ποταμὸν is the subject accusative and καλέεσθαι is the infinitive (with ἐκδιδόντα as an agreeing participle).
- 3.115.2τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ... τοῦτο δὲ ...
τοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δὲ ... is used correlatively to indicate 'firstly ... secondly ...' (or 'on the one hand ... on the other hand'), functioning as adverbial accusatives.
- 3.115.2ὅκως θάλασσα ἐστὶ τὰ ἐπέκεινα Εὐρώπης
ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) is used here as an indirect interrogative conjunction meaning 'whether', introducing the clause 'whether the parts beyond Europe are a sea', which depends on the participle μελετῶν ('studying', 'inquiring').