- 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-grc2:3.36.1-3.36.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Croesus admonishes Cambyses for his violent acts, prompting Cambyses to try to kill him. Servants secretly keep Croesus alive and later present him when Cambyses regrets his action, but Cambyses, though pleased, executes the servants for disobedience.
ταῦτα δέ μιν ποιεῦντα ἐδικαίωσε Κροῖσος ὁ Λυδὸς νουθετῆσαι1 τοῖσιδε τοῖσι ἔπεσι. ὦ βασιλεῦ, μὴ πάντα ἡλικίῃ καὶ θυμῷ ἐπίτραπε, ἀλλʼ ἴσχε καὶ καταλάμβανε σεωυτόν· ἀγαθόν τι πρόνοον εἶναι, σοφὸν δὲ ἡ προμηθίη. σὺ δὲ κτείνεις μὲν ἄνδρας σεωυτοῦ πολιήτας ἐπʼ οὐδεμιῇ αἰτίῃ ἀξιοχρέῳ ἑλών, κτείνεις δὲ παῖδας.
As he was doing these things, Croesus the Lydian deemed it right to admonish him with these words: “O King, do not entrust everything to youth and anger, but restrain and check yourself. It is a good thing to be prudent, and foresight is wise. But you are killing men who are your own citizens, having seized them for no worthy cause, and you are killing children.
ἢν δὲ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ποιέῃς, ὅρα ὅκως μή σευ ἀποστήσονται Πέρσαι. ἐμοὶ δὲ πατὴρ σὸς Κῦρος ἐνετέλλετο πολλὰ κελεύων σε νουθετέειν καὶ ὑποτίθεσθαι ὅ τι ἂν εὑρίσκω ἀγαθόν. ὃ μὲν δὴ εὐνοίην φαίνων συνεβούλευέ οἱ ταῦτα· ὃ δʼ ἀμείβετο τοῖσιδε.
If you do many such things, see to it that the Persians do not revolt from you. To me your father Cyrus gave many injunctions, ordering me to admonish you and suggest whatever good thing I might find.” Croesus indeed, showing goodwill, advised him these things; but Cambyses replied with these words:
σὺ καὶ ἐμοὶ τολμᾷς συμβουλεύειν, ὃς χρηστῶς μὲν τὴν σεωυτοῦ πατρίδα ἐπετρόπευσας, εὖ δὲ τῷ πατρὶ τῷ ἐμῷ συνεβούλευσας, κελεύων αὐτὸν Ἀράξεα ποταμὸν διαβάντα ἰέναι ἐπὶ Μασσαγέτας, βουλομένων ἐκείνων διαβαίνειν ἐς τὴν ἡμετέρην, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν σεωυτὸν ὤλεσας2 τῆς σεωυτοῦ πατρίδος3 κακῶς προστάς, ἀπὸ δὲ ὤλεσας Κῦρον πειθόμενον σοί, ἀλλʼ οὔτι χαίρων, ἐπεί τοι καὶ πάλαι ἐς σὲ προφάσιός τευ ἐδεόμην ἐπιλαβέσθαι.
”Do you dare to advise even me?—you, who governed your own fatherland so excellently, and advised my father so well, bidding him cross the river Araxes and go against the Massagetae when they wanted to cross over into our land, and on the one hand destroyed yourself by ruling your fatherland badly, and on the other hand destroyed Cyrus, who obeyed you. But you shall not escape unpunished, since indeed for a long time I have been wanting to lay hold of some pretext against you.”
ταῦτα δὲ εἴπας ἐλάμβανε τὸ τόξον ὡς κατατοξεύσων αὐτόν, Κροῖσος δὲ ἀναδραμὼν ἔθεε ἔξω. ὁ δὲ ἐπείτε τοξεῦσαι οὐκ εἶχε, ἐνετείλατο τοῖσι θεράπουσι λαβόντας4 μιν ἀποκτεῖναι.
Having said this, he began to take up his bow in order to shoot him down, but Croesus, leaping up, ran outside. And when Cambyses was unable to shoot him, he ordered his servants to take him and kill him.
οἱ δὲ θεράποντες ἐπιστάμενοι τὸν τρόπον αὐτοῦ κατακρύπτουσι τὸν Κροῖσον ἐπὶ τῷδε τῷ λόγῳ ὥστε, εἰ μὲν μεταμελήσῃ τῷ Καμβύσῃ καὶ ἐπιζητέῃ τὸν Κροῖσον, οἳ δὲ ἐκφήναντες αὐτὸν δῶρα λάμψονται ζωάγρια Κροίσου, ἢν δὲ μὴ μεταμέληται μηδὲ ποθέῃ μιν, τότε καταχρᾶσθαι.5
But the servants, knowing his character, hid Croesus on this calculation: so that, if Cambyses should repent and look for Croesus, they, by showing him forth, would receive gifts for saving Croesus’ life; but if he should not repent nor miss him, then they would dispatch him.
ἐπόθησέ τε δὴ ὁ Καμβύσης τὸν Κροῖσον οὐ πολλῷ μετέπειτα χρόνῳ ὕστερον, καὶ οἱ θεράποντες μαθόντες τοῦτο ἐπηγγέλλοντο αὐτῷ ὡς περιείη. Καμβύσης δὲ Κροίσῳ μὲν συνήδεσθαι ἔφη περιεόντι, ἐκείνους μέντοι τοὺς περιποιήσαντας οὐ καταπροΐξεσθαι ἀλλʼ ἀποκτενέειν· καὶ ἐποίησε ταῦτα.
And indeed Cambyses missed Croesus not much time afterwards, and the servants, learning this, announced to him that Croesus was still alive. Cambyses said that he was glad for Croesus being alive, but that those who had saved him would not escape unpunished, but he would kill them; and he did this.
- 3.36.1νουθετῆσαι
Complementary infinitive of the verb ἐδικαίωσε ('deemed it right'). Its direct object is the accusative pronoun μιν (referring to Cambyses), which is modified by the circumstantial participle ποιεῦντα.
- 3.36.3ἀπὸ μὲν σεωυτὸν ὤλεσας
An instance of tmesis, where the prepositional prefix ἀπό is separated from the verb ὤλεσας (second-person singular aorist of ἀπόλλυμι, 'destroy') by the particle μέν and the object σεωυτόν. The same structure is repeated in ἀπὸ δὲ ὤλεσας.
- 3.36.3τῆς σεωυτοῦ πατρίδος
Genitive case governed by the participle προστάς (from προΐστημι, 'rule over, manage'), meaning 'having managed your own fatherland badly.' It is not the object or genitive of separation of the preceding verb ἀπὸ ... ὤλεσας.
- 3.36.4λαβόντας
Although the main verb ἐνετείλατο ('ordered') governs the dative τοῖσι θεράπουσι ('servants'), the participle modifying the unexpressed subject of the infinitive ἀποκτεῖναι is put in the accusative plural (λαβόντας), which is the regular syntax for the subject of an infinitive.
- 3.36.5καταχρᾶσθαι
Present infinitive (meaning 'to dispatch, put to death') within the result clause introduced by ὥστε. While the first conditional branch (εἰ μὲν...) uses the future indicative λάμψονται in the apodosis, the second branch (ἢν δὲ...) returns to the infinitive construction directly dependent on ὥστε.