- 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-grc2:3.137.1-3.137.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The Persians attempt to capture Democedes in Croton, but they are beaten back by the Crotonians, who rescue Democedes and seize their ship, forcing them to return to Asia. Democedes bids them tell Darius that he has become betrothed to the daughter of the famous wrestler Milo.
πλέοντες δὲ ἐνθεῦτεν οἱ Πέρσαι καὶ διώκοντες Δημοκήδεα ἀπικνέονται ἐς τὴν Κρότωνα, εὑρόντες δέ μιν ἀγοράζοντα ἅπτοντο αὐτοῦ.
Sailing from there and pursuing Democedes, the Persians arrived at Croton; and finding him in the marketplace, they laid hands on him.
τῶν δὲ Κροτωνιητέων οἳ μὲν καταρρωδέοντες τὰ Περσικὰ πρήγματα προϊέναι ἕτοιμοι ἦσαν, οἳ δὲ ἀντάπτοντο καὶ τοῖσι σκυτάλοισι ἔπαιον τοὺς Πέρσας προϊσχομένους ἔπεα τάδε. ἄνδρες Κροτωνιῆται, ὁρᾶτε τὰ ποιέετε· ἄνδρα βασιλέος δρηπέτην γενόμενον ἐξαιρέεσθε.
Some of the Crotonians, fearing the power of the Persians, were ready to give him up, but others stood against them and beat with their clubs the Persians, who protested with these words: “Men of Croton, consider what you are doing! You are rescuing a man who is a runaway slave of the King.”
κῶς ταῦτα βασιλέι Δαρείῳ ἐκχρήσει περιυβρίσθαι;1 κῶς δὲ ὑμῖν τὰ ποιεύμενα ἕξει καλῶς, ἢν ἀπέλησθε ἡμέας; ἐπὶ τίνα δὲ τῆσδε προτέρην στρατευσόμεθα πόλιν; τίνα δὲ προτέρην ἀνδραποδίζεσθαι περιησόμεθα;
”How will it satisfy King Darius to be thus outraged? And how will it go well for you if you take him away from us? Against what city shall we march before this one? And which one shall we first attempt to enslave?”
ταῦτα λέγοντες τοὺς Κροτωνιήτας οὔκων ἔπειθον, ἀλλʼ ἐξαιρεθέντες τε τὸν Δημοκήδεα καὶ τὸν γαῦλον τὸν ἅμα ἤγοντο ἀπαιρεθέντες2 ἀπέπλεον ὀπίσω ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην, οὐδʼ ἔτι ἐζήτησαν τὸ προσωτέρω τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀπικόμενοι ἐκμαθεῖν, ἐστερημένοι τοῦ ἡγεμόνος.
Though they said this, they by no means persuaded the Crotonians; instead, having Democedes rescued from them and having the merchant ship which they brought with them taken away, they sailed back to Asia, and did not search any further to explore Greece, since they were deprived of their guide.
τοσόνδε μέντοι ἐνετείλατό σφι Δημοκήδης ἀναγομένοισι, κελεύων εἰπεῖν σφεας Δαρείῳ ὅτι ἅρμοσται3 τὴν Μίλωνος θυγατέρα Δημοκήδης γυναῖκα. τοῦ γὰρ δὴ παλαιστέω Μίλωνος ἦν οὔνομα πολλὸν παρὰ βασιλέι· κατὰ δὲ τοῦτό μοι δοκέει σπεῦσαι τὸν γάμον τοῦτον τελέσας χρήματα μεγάλα Δημοκήδης, ἵνα φανῇ πρὸς Δαρείου ἐὼν καὶ ἐν τῇ ἑωυτοῦ δόκιμος.
However, Democedes gave them this charge as they were putting to sea, bidding them tell Darius that Democedes was betrothed to the daughter of Milo as his wife. For indeed, the name of Milo the wrestler was of great account with the King; and it seems to me that Democedes hastened this marriage by paying a great sum of money for this very reason, so that he might appear to Darius to be a man of distinction in his own country as well.
- 3.137.3ἐκχρήσει περιυβρίσθαι
ἐκχρήσει is the third-person singular future of ἐκχράω ("to be sufficient, suffice"), used here impersonally. περιυβρίσθαι is the perfect passive infinitive of περιυβρίζω ("to outrage exceedingly"), with the preceding neuter plural ταῦτα ("these outrages") acting as its subject. The phrase means "how will it be sufficient (i.e., acceptable) to King Darius to be so greatly outraged?".
- 3.137.4ἐξαιρεθέντες τε τὸν Δημοκήδεα καὶ τὸν γαῦλον ... ἀπαιρεθέντες
The verbs ἐξαιρέω and ἀφαιρέω, which take a double accusative in the active voice ("to deprive [someone] of [something]"), are used here as passive aorist participles in the nominative masculine plural (agreeing with the Persians). Consequently, the things deprived ("Democedes" and "the merchant ship") remain in the accusative case (retained accusative).
- 3.137.5ἅρμοσται
The third-person singular perfect middle-passive of ἁρμόζω ("to fit, (in middle) betroth to oneself"). It is used here with a middle force ("has betrothed to himself"), taking the accusative τὴν Μίλωνος θυγατέρα ("the daughter of Milo") as its direct object, with γυναῖκα ("as wife") serving as an object complement.