- 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-grc2:3.64.1-3.64.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Cambyses realizes the truth of the dream and the Magians' rebellion and prepares to march, but accidentally wounds himself in the thigh. Upon learning that the place is named Agbatana, he recalls an old oracle predicting his death there and accepts his fate.
ἐνθαῦτα ἀκούσαντα Καμβύσεα τὸ Σμέρδιος οὔνομα ἔτυψε ἡ ἀληθείη τῶν τε λόγων καὶ τοῦ ἐνυπνίου· ὃς ἐδόκεε1 ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ ἀπαγγεῖλαι τινά οἱ ὡς Σμέρδις ἱζόμενος ἐς τὸν βασιλήιον θρόνον ψαύσειε τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
Then, when Cambyses heard the name of Smerdis, the truth of both the words and the dream struck him—the dream in which he thought someone had reported to him in his sleep that Smerdis, sitting upon the royal throne, touched the heaven with his head.
μαθὼν δὲ ὡς μάτην ἀπολωλεκὼς εἴη τὸν ἀδελφεόν, ἀπέκλαιε Σμέρδιν· ἀποκλαύσας δὲ καὶ περιημεκτήσας τῇ ἁπάσῃ συμφορῇ ἀναθρώσκει ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον, ἐν νόῳ ἔχων τὴν ταχίστην ἐς Σοῦσα στρατεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τὸν Μάγον.
Realizing that he had killed his brother in vain, he wept for Smerdis; and having wept and being deeply distressed by the whole misfortune, he leaped upon his horse, intending to march to Susa against the Magian as quickly as possible.
καί οἱ ἀναθρώσκοντι ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον τοῦ κολεοῦ τοῦ ξίφεος ὁ μύκης ἀποπίπτει, γυμνωθὲν δὲ τὸ ξίφος παίει τὸν μηρόν· τρωματισθεὶς δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο τῇ αὐτὸς πρότερον τὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων θεὸν Ἆπιν ἔπληξε, ὥς οἱ καιρίῃ ἔδοξε τετύφθαι,2 εἴρετο ὁ Καμβύσης ὅ τι τῇ πόλι οὔνομα εἴη· οἳ δὲ εἶπαν ὅτι Ἀγβάτανα.
As he was leaping upon his horse, the cap of his sword’s scabbard fell off, and the naked sword struck his thigh. Being wounded in the very place where he himself had previously struck Apis, the god of the Egyptians, when it seemed to him that he had been mortally wounded, Cambyses asked what the name of the city was. They said that it was Agbatana.
τῷ δὲ ἔτι πρότερον ἐκέχρηστο3 ἐκ Βουτοῦς πόλιος ἐν Ἀγβατάνοισι τελευτήσειν τὸν βίον. ὃ μὲν δὴ ἐν τοῖσι Μηδικοῖσι Ἀγβατάνοισι ἐδόκεε τελευτήσειν γηραιός, ἐν τοῖσί οἱ ἦν τὰ πάντα πρήγματα· τὸ δὲ χρηστήριον ἐν τοῖσι ἐν Συρίῃ Ἀγβατάνοισι ἔλεγε ἄρα.
Moreover, an oracle had been given to him even earlier from the city of Buto that he would end his life in Agbatana. He indeed had expected to end his life in old age in Median Agbatana, where all his affairs were; but the oracle, as it turned out, spoke of Agbatana in Syria.
καὶ δὴ ὡς τότε ἐπειρόμενος ἐπύθετο τῆς πόλιος τὸ οὔνομα, ὑπὸ τῆς συμφορῆς τῆς τε ἐκ τοῦ Μάγου ἐκπεπληγμένος καὶ τοῦ τρώματος ἐσωφρόνησε, συλλαβὼν4 δὲ τὸ θεοπρόπιον εἶπε ἐνθαῦτα Καμβύσεα τὸν Κύρου ἐστὶ πεπρωμένον τελευτᾶν.
And so, when he then heard the name of the city upon inquiring, shocked by both the misfortune caused by the Magian and his wound, he came to his senses, and understanding the oracle, he said: “Here it is fated for Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, to die.”
- 3.64.1ὃς ἐδόκεε
Interpretation of the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃς. Although some suggest it refers to the preceding neuter noun ἐνυπνίου through personification, it is more natural in this context to take it as referring to Cambyses, the subject of the main clause, meaning 'he thought in his dream that...'.
- 3.64.3ὥς οἱ καιρίῃ ἔδοξε τετύφθαι
ὥς is the conjunction ὡς (when/as) written with an accent due to certain syntactical or accentual environments. καιρίῃ is a feminine dative adjective with the noun πληγῇ (blow, wound) omitted, meaning 'with a mortal blow.' τετύφθαι is the perfect passive infinitive of the verb τύπτω (to strike).
- 3.64.4ἐκέχρηστο
The third-person singular pluperfect middle-passive of the verb χράω (to give an oracle), used impersonally here to mean 'an oracle had been given.' It is accompanied by the dative τῷ (to him), with the infinitive clause τελευτήσειν (that he would end his life) serving as the logical subject indicating the content of the oracle.
- 3.64.5συλλαβὼν
Aorist active participle of the verb συλλαμβάνω (to take together, gather). Here it is used in an intellectual sense, meaning 'having comprehended' or 'having fully grasped the meaning of' the oracle.