- 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-grc2:3.133.1-3.133.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Atossa suffers from a swelling on her breast and calls for the physician Democedes, who promises to cure her on the condition that she swears to grant him a future request.
ἐν χρόνῳ δὲ ὀλίγῳ μετὰ ταῦτα τάδε ἄλλα συνήνεικε γενέσθαι. Ἀτόσσῃ τῇ Κύρου μὲν θυγατρὶ Δαρείου δὲ γυναικὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μαστοῦ ἔφυ φῦμα, μετὰ δὲ ἐκραγὲν ἐνέμετο πρόσω. ὅσον μὲν δὴ χρόνον ἦν ἔλασσον, ἣ δὲ κρύπτουσα καὶ αἰσχυνομένη ἔφραζε οὐδενί· ἐπείτε δὲ ἐν κακῷ ἦν,1 μετεπέμψατο τὸν Δημοκήδεα καί οἱ ἐπέδεξε.
Not long after this, it happened that these other things occurred. A swelling grew upon the breast of Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Darius, and afterwards, having burst, it spread further. As long as it was smaller, she hid it and, feeling ashamed, told no one; but when she was in a bad way, she sent for Democedes and showed it to him.
ὁ δὲ φὰς ὑγιέα ποιήσειν ἐξορκοῖ μιν ἦ μέν οἱ ἀντυπουργήσειν ἐκείνην τοῦτο τὸ ἂν αὐτῆς δεηθῇ·2 δεήσεσθαι δὲ3 οὐδενὸς τῶν ὅσα ἐς αἰσχύνην ἐστὶ φέροντα.
He, saying that he would make her well, bound her by oath that she would indeed do for him in return whatever he might ask of her; adding that he would ask for nothing of those things which lead to shame.
- 3.133.1ἐν κακῷ ἦν
Although the subject is omitted, it is standard to take it as Atossa (referring back to ἣ δὲ), meaning 'when she was in a bad way.' However, it could also grammatically take φῦμα (the swelling) as the subject ('when the swelling became bad'). We have consistently translated it with Atossa as the subject across all languages.
- 3.133.2τοῦτο τὸ ἂν αὐτῆς δεηθῇ
τοῦτο is the cognate object of ἀντυπουργήσειν. τὸ functions as the relative pronoun ὅ (or ὅτι) in the Ionic dialect, which, accompanied by ἂν and the subjunctive δεηθῇ, expresses a general condition ('whatever he might ask of her'). δεηθῇ is the aorist subjunctive of δέομαι (to ask/need), which governs the genitive αὐτῆς.
- 3.133.2δεήσεσθαι δὲ
This is a future infinitive depending on the main verb ἐξορκοῖ (binds by oath). The semantic subject of this infinitive is Democedes himself, indicating his promise that he would ask for nothing that brings shame.