- 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-grc2:3.46.1-3.46.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The Samians exiled by Polycrates seek aid from Sparta; their first verbose petition is ignored, but when they make a second, laconic request using a sack, the Spartans agree to help despite pointing out their redundancy.
ἐπείτε δὲ οἱ ἐξελασθέντες Σαμίων ὑπὸ Πολυκράτεος ἀπίκοντο ἐς τὴν Σπάρτην, καταστάντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἔλεγον πολλὰ οἷα κάρτα δεόμενοι·1 οἳ δέ σφι τῇ πρώτῃ καταστάσι ὑπεκρίναντο τὰ μὲν πρῶτα λεχθέντα ἐπιλελῆσθαι,2 τὰ δὲ ὕστατα οὐ συνιέναι.
When the Samians who had been expelled by Polycrates arrived in Sparta, they presented themselves before the magistrates and spoke at length as people in great need; but the magistrates answered them at their first audience that they had forgotten the first part of the speech, and did not understand the last.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δεύτερα καταστάντες ἄλλο μὲν εἶπον οὐδέν, θύλακον δὲ φέροντες ἔφασαν τὸν θύλακον ἀλφίτων δέεσθαι. οἳ δέ σφι ὑπεκρίναντο τῷ θυλάκῳ περιεργάσθαι·3 βοηθέειν δʼ ὦν ἔδοξε αὐτοῖσι.4
After this, presenting themselves a second time, they said nothing else, but bringing a sack, they said that the sack needed flour. The magistrates answered them that they had been over-elaborate with the “sack”; nevertheless, they resolved to help them.
- 3.46.1οἷα κάρτα δεόμενοι
οἷα (like ἅτε or ὡς) is used with the participle δεόμενοι to emphasize an objective cause or state ("as being in great need").
- 3.46.1ἐπιλελῆσθαι
Perfect middle/passive infinitive of ἐπιλανθάνομαι, depending on ὑπεκρίναντο in indirect speech. Its subject (the Spartan magistrates) is omitted as it is identical to the main subject. Although this verb usually governs the genitive, here it takes the accusative τὰ μὲν πρῶτα λεχθέντα as its object.
- 3.46.2τῷ θυλάκῳ περιεργάσθαι
Perfect middle/passive infinitive of περιεργάζομαι (to be over-elaborate, do superfluous work). The dative τῷ θυλάκῳ represents respect or instrument ("with regard to the sack" or "with the word 'sack'"). This reflects the famous Laconic brevity, meaning that the Samians were redundant in saying the word "sack" when merely showing it was already sufficient.
- 3.46.2βοηθέειν δʼ ὦν ἔδοξε αὐτοῖσι
ἔδοξε αὐτοῖσι ("it seemed good to them" / "they resolved") is an impersonal construction of decision, taking the infinitive βοηθέειν ("to help"). The particle combination δʼ ὦν ("anyway", "nevertheless") marks a transition, indicating that despite mocking the Samians' verbosity, the Spartans ultimately decided to grant the request.