- 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-grc2:3.25.1-3.25.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Cambyses launches his Ethiopian expedition without proper preparation; however, due to a severe famine on the march that drives the soldiers to cannibalism, he is forced to abandon the campaign and retreat with heavy losses.
θεησάμενοι δὲ τὰ πάντα οἱ κατάσκοποι ἀπαλλάσσοντο ὀπίσω. ἀπαγγειλάντων δὲ ταῦτα τούτων, αὐτίκα ὁ Καμβύσης ὀργὴν ποιησάμενος ἐστρατεύετο ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰθίοπας, οὔτε παρασκευὴν σίτου οὐδεμίαν παραγγείλας, οὔτε λόγον ἑωυτῷ δοὺς ὅτι1 ἐς τὰ ἔσχατα γῆς ἔμελλε στρατεύεσθαι·
And having viewed everything, the spies departed back again. When they reported these things, Cambyses immediately flew into a rage and marched against the Ethiopians, neither ordering any preparation of food, nor giving thought to himself that he was about to march to the ends of the earth.
οἷα δὲ ἐμμανής τε ἐὼν καὶ οὐ φρενήρης, ὡς ἤκουε τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων, ἐστρατεύετο, Ἑλλήνων μὲν τοὺς παρεόντας αὐτοῦ τάξας ὑπομένειν, τὸν δὲ πεζὸν πάντα ἅμα ἀγόμενος.
Since he was mad and not in his right mind, as soon as he heard the Fish-Eaters, he began his march, ordering those of the Greeks who were present with him to remain there, while taking all his infantry along with him.
ἐπείτε δὲ στρατευόμενος ἐγένετο ἐν Θήβῃσι, ἀπέκρινε τοῦ στρατοῦ ὡς πέντε μυριάδας, καὶ τούτοισι μὲν ἐνετέλλετο Ἀμμωνίους ἐξανδραποδισαμένους τὸ χρηστήριον τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἐμπρῆσαι, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν λοιπὸν ἄγων στρατὸν ἤιε ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰθίοπας.
And when in his march he arrived at Thebes, he separated about fifty thousand of his army, and to these he gave orders to enslave the Ammonians and burn the oracle of Zeus, while he himself with the rest of the army went on against the Ethiopians.
πρὶν δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ πέμπτον μέρος διεληλυθέναι τὴν στρατιήν, αὐτίκα πάντα αὐτοὺς τὰ εἶχον σιτίων ἐχόμενα2 ἐπελελοίπεε, μετὰ δὲ τὰ σιτία καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια ἐπέλιπε κατεσθιόμενα.
But before the army had traversed a fifth part of the way, immediately all that they had in the way of provisions failed them, and after the provisions, the beasts of burden also failed, being devoured.
εἰ μέν νυν μαθὼν ταῦτα ὁ Καμβύσης ἐγνωσιμάχεε καὶ ἀπῆγε ὀπίσω τὸν στρατόν, ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρχῆθεν γενομένῃ ἁμαρτάδι ἦν ἂν ἀνὴρ σοφός·3 νῦν δὲ οὐδένα λόγον ποιεύμενος ἤιε αἰεὶ ἐς τὸ πρόσω.
Now if, upon learning this, Cambyses had changed his mind and led his army back, he would have been a wise man, despite the error committed at the beginning; but as it was, taking no account of it, he went on ever forward.
οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται ἕως μέν τι εἶχον ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαμβάνειν,4 ποιηφαγέοντες διέζωον, ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐς τὴν ψάμμον ἀπίκοντο, δεινὸν ἔργον αὐτῶν τινες ἐργάσαντο· ἐκ δεκάδος γὰρ ἕνα σφέων αὐτῶν ἀποκληρώσαντες κατέφαγον.
And as long as the soldiers had anything to get from the land, they kept themselves alive by eating grass; but when they came to the sand, some of them committed a terrible deed; for casting lots among themselves, they devoured one man out of every ten.
πυθόμενος δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Καμβύσης, δείσας τὴν ἀλληλοφαγίην, ἀπεὶς τὸν ἐπʼ Αἰθίοπας στόλον ὀπίσω ἐπορεύετο καὶ ἀπικνέεται ἐς Θήβας πολλοὺς ἀπολέσας τοῦ στρατοῦ· ἐκ Θηβέων δὲ καταβὰς ἐς Μέμφιν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀπῆκε ἀποπλέειν.
When Cambyses heard this, fearing their eating of one another, he abandoned the expedition against the Ethiopians and marched back, and arrived at Thebes, having lost many of his army; and going down from Thebes to Memphis, he dismissed the Greeks to sail away.
- 3.25.1λόγον ἑωυτῷ δοὺς ὅτι
The idiomatic expression λόγον ἑωυτῷ δοὺς (literally, "giving an account to oneself") means "to reflect" or "to take into consideration." The ὅτι clause introduces the content of this reflection.
- 3.25.4τὰ εἶχον σιτίων ἐχόμενα
The phrase τὰ εἶχον, employing the demonstrative (or relative) pronoun τὰ, is equivalent to ἃ εἶχον ("what they had"). The participle ἐχόμενα governs the genitive σιτίων, meaning "having to do with provisions" or "of the nature of food." Thus, the whole phrase means "all that they possessed in the way of provisions."
- 3.25.5εἰ μέν νυν μαθὼν ταῦτα ὁ Καμβύσης ἐγνωσιμάχεε... ἦν ἂν ἀνὴρ σοφός
A contrary-to-fact conditional sentence referring to the past. The imperfect ἐγνωσιμάχεε ("had he changed his mind") in the protasis, paired with ἦν ἂν (imperfect ἦν with ἄν, "he would have been") in the apodosis, expresses a continuous state or unrealized condition in the past.
- 3.25.6ἕως μέν τι εἶχον ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαμβάνειν
The conjunction ἕως means "as long as." The infinitive λαμβάνειν is used with εἶχον, conveying a potential or descriptive sense: "as long as they had something that they could obtain from the land."