- 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-grc2:3.40.1-3.40.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Amasis, concerned that Polycrates' excessive success will provoke the jealousy of the gods, writes a letter advising him to deliberately court misfortune by discarding his most precious possession to avoid ruin.
καί κως τὸν Ἄμασιν εὐτυχέων μεγάλως ὁ Πολυκράτης οὐκ ἐλάνθανε,1 ἀλλά οἱ τοῦτʼ ἦν ἐπιμελές. πολλῷ δὲ ἔτι πλεῦνός οἱ εὐτυχίης γινομένης γράψας ἐς βυβλίον τάδε ἐπέστειλε ἐς Σάμον. Ἄμασις Πολυκράτεϊ ὧδε λέγει.
And somehow the great success of Polycrates did not escape the notice of Amasis, but this was a matter of concern to him. And as still much more success accrued to him, he wrote these words in a letter and sent them to Samos. “Amasis speaks thus to Polycrates:
ἡδὺ μὲν πυνθάνεσθαι ἄνδρα φίλον καὶ ξεῖνον εὖ πρήσσοντα· ἐμοὶ δὲ αἱ σαὶ μεγάλαι εὐτυχίαι οὐκ ἀρέσκουσι, τὸ θεῖον ἐπισταμένῳ2 ὡς ἔστι φθονερόν· καί κως βούλομαι καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ τῶν ἂν κήδωμαι3 τὸ μέν τι εὐτυχέειν τῶν πρηγμάτων τὸ δὲ προσπταίειν, καὶ οὕτω διαφέρειν τὸν αἰῶνα ἐναλλὰξ πρήσσων ἢ εὐτυχέειν τὰ πάντα.
It is pleasant indeed to hear that a friend and guest-friend is faring well; but your great successes do not please me, knowing as I do how jealous the divine nature is; and somehow I wish, both for myself and for those I care for, to succeed in some of our affairs but to stumble in others, and thus to pass through life faring alternately rather than being successful in everything.
οὐδένα γάρ κω λόγῳ οἶδα ἀκούσας ὅστις ἐς τέλος οὐ κακῶς ἐτελεύτησε πρόρριζος, εὐτυχέων τὰ πάντα. σύ νυν ἐμοὶ πειθόμενος ποίησον πρὸς τὰς εὐτυχίας τοιάδε·
For I have never yet heard by report of anyone who, being successful in everything, did not end miserably in the end, destroyed root and branch. Do you then now, obeying me, do as follows against your successes:
φροντίσας τὸ ἂν εὕρῃς ἐόν τοι πλείστου ἄξιον καὶ ἐπʼ ᾧ σὺ ἀπολομένῳ4 μάλιστα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλγήσεις, τοῦτο ἀπόβαλε οὕτω ὅκως μηκέτι ἥξει ἐς ἀνθρώπους· ἤν τε μὴ ἐναλλὰξ ἤδη τὠπὸ τούτου αἱ εὐτυχίαι τοι τῇσι πάθῃσι προσπίπτωσι, τρόπῳ τῷ ἐξ ἐμεῦ ὑποκειμένῳ ἀκέο.
having considered what you find to be of most value to you and for the loss of which you will most grieve in your soul, throw this away in such a manner that it will never again come among men. And if, from this time forward, your successes do not alternate with sufferings, cure it in the manner suggested by me.”
- 3.40.1οὐκ ἐλάνθανε
The construction of λανθάνω with a participle (here, εὐτυχέων). It means "to do something unnoticed"; with the negative οὐκ, it signifies "did not fail to be noticed as being successful," i.e., "was well known to be successful."
- 3.40.2ἐπισταμένῳ
A dative participle agreeing with and modifying the preceding dative pronoun ἐμοί ("to me"). In its object clause ὡς ἔστι φθονερόν, the natural subject τὸ θεῖον is anticipated (prolepsis) as the accusative object of the participle.
- 3.40.2τῶν ἂν κήδωμαι
A relative clause with the verb κήδομαι (to care for), which governs the genitive. It represents a contraction where the antecedent is omitted from τῶν ὧν ἂν κήδωμαι ("those whom I care for"). The particle ἄν with the subjunctive expresses a general or future condition.
- 3.40.4ἀπολομένῳ
An aorist middle participle in the dative, agreeing with the dative relative pronoun ᾧ ("for which"). It carries a temporal or conditional force: "when it is lost" or "if it should be lost."