- 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-grc2:3.30.1-3.30.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Cambyses falls into madness as punishment for his crime against Apis, and as his first evil deed, plots the assassination of his brother Smerdis, whom he had sent back to Persia out of jealousy. Terrified by a dream in which Smerdis usurps the throne, Cambyses dispatches his trusted servant Prexaspes to murder him.
Καμβύσης δέ, ὡς λέγουσι Αἰγύπτιοι, αὐτίκα διὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἀδίκημα ἐμάνη, ἐὼν οὐδὲ πρότερον φρενήρης.1 καὶ πρῶτα μὲν τῶν κακῶν ἐξεργάσατο τὸν ἀδελφεὸν Σμέρδιν ἐόντα πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς τῆς αὐτῆς, τὸν ἀπέπεμψε ἐς Πέρσας φθόνῳ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, ὅτι τὸ τόξον μοῦνος Περσέων ὅσον τε ἐπὶ δύο δακτύλους εἴρυσε, τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος ἤνεικαν οἱ Ἰχθυοφάγοι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων Περσέων οὐδεὶς οἷός τε ἐγένετο.
Cambyses, as the Egyptians say, immediately became mad because of this crime, though even before this he was not of sound mind. And first among his evil deeds, he committed it against his brother Smerdis, who was of the same father and mother; whom he had sent away from Egypt into Persia out of jealousy, because Smerdis alone of the Persians had drawn the bow which the Fish-eaters had brought from the Ethiopian by about two fingers’ breadth, while none of the other Persians was able to do so.
ἀποιχομένου ὦν ἐς Πέρσας τοῦ Σμέρδιος ὄψιν εἶδε ὁ Καμβύσης ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ τοιήνδε· ἔδοξέ οἱ ἄγγελον ἐλθόντα ἐκ Περσέων ἀγγέλλειν ὡς ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ τῷ βασιληίῳ ἱζόμενος Σμέρδις τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ψαύσειε.2
Now when Smerdis had departed into Persia, Cambyses saw a vision of this kind in his sleep: it seemed to him that a messenger came from Persia and reported that Smerdis, sitting upon the royal throne, touched the heaven with his head.
πρὸς ὦν ταῦτα δείσας περὶ ἑωυτοῦ μή μιν ἀποκτείνας ὁ ἀδελφεὸς ἄρχῃ,3 πέμπει Πρηξάσπεα ἐς Πέρσας, ὃς ἦν οἱ ἀνὴρ Περσέων πιστότατος, ἀποκτενέοντά μιν. ὁ δὲ ἀναβὰς ἐς Σοῦσα ἀπέκτεινε Σμέρδιν, οἳ μὲν λέγουσι ἐπʼ ἄγρην ἐξαγαγόντα, οἳ δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν θάλασσαν προαγαγόντα καταποντῶσαι.
Fearing therefore for himself because of this, lest his brother should kill him and rule, he sent Prexaspes to Persia, who was the most faithful to him of the Persians, to kill him. And he, having gone up to Susa, killed Smerdis; some say that he took him out to a hunt and killed him, and others that he led him to the Red Sea and drowned him.
- 3.30.1ἐὼν οὐδὲ πρότερον φρενήρης
The present participle ἐών (Ionic for ὤν) is used concessively, meaning 'although even before this he was not of sound mind.'
- 3.30.2ψαύσειε
Since the main verb ἔδοξε is in the past tense, the optative of oblique narration (aorist optative 3rd sg) is used in the ὡς clause instead of the indicative.
- 3.30.3μή μιν ἀποκτείνας ὁ ἀδελφεὸς ἄρχῃ
A fear clause introduced by μή with the subjunctive ἄρχῃ, dependent on the participle of fearing δείσας ('fearing lest...'). The pronoun μιν is the Ionic third-person singular accusative (equivalent to Attic αὐτόν), functioning as the object of the participle ἀποκτείνας (whose subject is ὁ ἀδελφεός) and referring to Cambyses himself.