- 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-grc2:3.41.1-3.41.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Polycrates follows Amasis's advice and decides to discard his most precious possession, an emerald signet ring crafted by Theodorus. He sails out to sea and casts the ring away, but returns home in deep grief.
ταῦτα ἐπιλεξάμενος ὁ Πολυκράτης καὶ νόῳ λαβὼν ὥς οἱ εὖ ὑπετίθετο Ἄμασις, ἐδίζητο ἐπʼ ᾧ ἂν μάλιστα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀσηθείη ἀπολομένῳ τῶν κειμηλίων,1 διζήμενος δὲ εὕρισκε τόδε. ἦν οἱ σφρηγὶς τὴν ἐφόρεε χρυσόδετος, σμαράγδου μὲν λίθου ἐοῦσα, ἔργον δὲ ἦν Θεοδώρου τοῦ Τηλεκλέος Σαμίου.
Polycrates, having read this and having understood in his mind that Amasis was advising him well, began to search which of his treasures, if lost, would most grieve his soul; and as he searched, he found the following. He had a signet ring which he used to wear, set in gold, being of emerald stone, and it was the work of Theodorus, the son of Telecles, the Samian.
ἐπεὶ ὦν ταύτην οἱ ἐδόκεε ἀποβαλεῖν, ἐποίεε τοιάδε· πεντηκόντερον πληρώσας ἀνδρῶν ἐσέβη ἐς αὐτήν, μετὰ δὲ2 ἀναγαγεῖν ἐκέλευε ἐς τὸ πέλαγος· ὡς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου ἑκὰς ἐγένετο, περιελόμενος τὴν σφρηγῖδα πάντων ὁρώντων τῶν συμπλόων ῥίπτει ἐς τὸ πέλαγος. τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσας ἀπέπλεε, ἀπικόμενος δὲ ἐς τὰ οἰκία συμφορῇ ἐχρᾶτο.3
When, therefore, it seemed good to him to throw this away, he did as follows: having manned a fifty-oared ship with men, he went on board it, and then ordered them to put out into the deep sea. And when he was far from the island, taking off the signet ring in the sight of all his fellow-voyagers, he threw it into the deep sea. Having done this, he sailed back, and coming to his house, he behaved as if a great misfortune had befallen him.
- 3.41.1ἐπʼ ᾧ ἂν μάλιστα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀσηθείη ἀπολομένῳ τῶν κειμηλίων
The relative pronoun ᾧ (governed by the preposition ἐπί) refers to a specific item among the partitive genitive τῶν κειμηλίων, with the aorist participle ἀπολομένῳ agreeing with it to express a condition ("if it were lost"). The combination of ἂν ... ἀσηθείη (optative + ἄν) denotes potentiality ("would grieve most").
- 3.41.2μετὰ δὲ
Here μετά is not a preposition but functions as an adverb with the particle δέ, meaning "afterwards" or "after that" (equivalent to μετὰ ταῦτα in Classical prose).
- 3.41.2συμφορῇ ἐχρᾶτο
Beyond the literal sense of "experiencing a misfortune," this is an idiomatic expression denoting outward behavior, meaning "he behaved as if a great misfortune had befallen him" or "he showed deep mourning."