- 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-grc2:3.61.1-3.61.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
While Cambyses is in Egypt, two Magian brothers rebel, seating a lookalike brother of the deceased Smerdis on the throne and ordering the army to obey him.
Καμβύσῃ δὲ τῷ Κύρου χρονίζοντι περὶ Αἴγυπτον καὶ παραφρονήσαντι ἐπανιστέαται ἄνδρες Μάγοι δύο ἀδελφεοί, τῶν τὸν ἕτερον καταλελοίπεε τῶν οἰκίων μελεδωνὸν ὁ Καμβύσης. οὗτος δὴ ὦν οἱ ἐπανέστη μαθών τε τὸν Σμέρδιος θάνατον ὡς κρύπτοιτο1 γενόμενος, καὶ ὡς ὀλίγοι εἴησαν οἱ ἐπιστάμενοι αὐτὸν Περσέων, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ περιεόντα μιν εἰδείησαν.
While Cambyses, son of Cyrus, was lingering in Egypt and losing his mind, two Magians who were brothers rebelled against him. Cambyses had left one of them to be the steward of his household. It was this man indeed who, having learned of the death of Smerdis, how it was kept secret, and that there were only a few Persians who knew of it, while the majority believed that he was still alive, rose in rebellion against him.
πρὸς ταῦτα βουλεύσας τάδε ἐπεχείρησε τοῖσι βασιληίοισι. ἦν οἱ ἀδελφεός, τὸν εἶπά οἱ συνεπαναστῆναι,2 οἰκὼς μάλιστα τὸ εἶδος Σμέρδι τῷ Κύρου, τὸν ὁ Καμβύσης ἐόντα ἑωυτοῦ ἀδελφεὸν ἀπέκτεινε· ἦν τε δὴ ὅμοιος εἶδος τῷ Σμέρδι καὶ δὴ καὶ οὔνομα τὠυτὸ εἶχε Σμέρδιν.
Reflecting on this, he devised a plan and made an attempt on the kingship as follows. He had a brother, whom I have mentioned as having joined him in the rebellion, who was extremely similar in appearance to Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, whom Cambyses, though his own brother, had put to death. Not only was he similar in appearance to Smerdis, but he also bore the very same name, Smerdis.
τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα ἀναγνώσας ὁ Μάγος Πατιζείθης ὥς οἱ αὐτὸς πάντα διαπρήξει, εἷσε ἄγων ἐς τὸν βασιλήιον θρόνον. ποιήσας δὲ τοῦτο κήρυκας τῇ τε ἄλλῃ διέπεμπε καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐς Αἴγυπτον προερέοντα τῷ στρατῷ ὡς Σμέρδιος τοῦ Κύρου ἀκουστέα εἴη3 τοῦ λοιποῦ ἀλλʼ οὐ Καμβύσεω.
The Magian Patizeithes persuaded this man, promising that he himself would manage everything for him, and led him to the royal throne and seated him on it. Having done this, he sent heralds to various other places, and especially to Egypt, to proclaim to the army that from then on they must obey Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, and no longer Cambyses.
- 3.61.1τὸν Σμέρδιος θάνατον ὡς κρύπτοιτο
A construction of prolepsis (anticipation). The phrase "the death of Smerdis" (τὸν Σμέρδιος θάνατον), which logically should function as the subject of the following ὡς clause, is pulled forward into the accusative as the direct object of the participle μαθών. Additionally, γενόμενος acts as a circumstantial participle meaning "(the death) having actually occurred."
- 3.61.2τὸν εἶπά οἱ συνεπαναστῆναι
The relative pronoun τὸν serves as the subject accusative of the infinitive συνεπαναστῆναι. The verb εἶπα is the first-person singular aorist referring to Herodotus himself ("whom I said..."). The pronoun οἱ is the third-person singular dative (equivalent to αὐτῷ), referring to Patizeithes, meaning "joined him in the rebellion."
- 3.61.3ἀκουστέα εἴη
An impersonal construction using the neuter plural of the verbal adjective ἀκουστέος (from ἀκούω, "to obey"), here in the optative mood (εἴη) due to indirect discourse. While the dative of agent is omitted, it takes the genitive (Σμέρδιος) as its object, expressing the necessity of obeying Smerdis.