- 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-grc2:3.66.1-3.66.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Upon seeing the king grieve, the Persians tear their clothes and mourn. Cambyses soon dies childless from his infected wound, but the Persians disbelieve his dying warning, suspecting his account of Smerdis's death was a slander to incite war.
πέρσαι δὲ ὡς τὸν βασιλέα εἶδον ἀνακλαύσαντα πάντες τά τε ἐσθῆτος ἐχόμενα εἶχον,1 ταῦτα κατηρείκοντο καὶ οἰμωγῇ ἀφθόνῳ διεχρέωντο.
When the Persians saw the king weep, they all tore the garments they were wearing and gave themselves up to abundant lamentation.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὡς ἐσφακέλισέ τε τὸ ὀστέον καὶ ὁ μηρὸς τάχιστα ἐσάπη, ἀπήνεικε2 Καμβύσεα τὸν Κύρου, βασιλεύσαντα μὲν τὰ πάντα ἑπτὰ ἔτεα καὶ πέντε μῆνας, ἄπαιδα δὲ τὸ παράπαν ἐόντα ἔρσενος καὶ θήλεος γόνου.
After this, as the bone mortified and the thigh rapidly rotted, it carried off Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who had reigned in all seven years and five months, leaving absolutely no offspring, male or female.
Περσέων δὲ τοῖσι παρεοῦσι ἀπιστίη πολλὴ ὑπεκέχυτο τοὺς Μάγους ἔχειν τὰ πρήγματα, ἀλλʼ ἠπιστέατο3 ἐπὶ διαβολῇ εἰπεῖν Καμβύσεα τὰ εἶπε περὶ τοῦ Σμέρδιος θανάτου, ἵνα οἱ ἐκπολεμωθῇ πᾶν τὸ Περσικόν.
But among the Persians who were present, great disbelief was spread abroad that the Magians held power; they were convinced that Cambyses had spoken what he said about Smerdis’s death with slanderous intent, in order that the whole Persian nation might be stirred up to war against him.
- 3.66.1τά τε ἐσθῆτος ἐχόμενα εἶχον
The middle verb ἔχομαι with the genitive (ἐσθῆτος) means 'to border on' or 'to belong to'. Combined with the relative pronoun τά and the verb εἶχον, it forms a circumlocution meaning 'whatever clothing they had on' or 'the garments they were wearing'.
- 3.66.2ἀπήνεικε
The third-person singular active aorist of ἀποφέρω. Though there is no explicit subject, the context implies that the mortification of the bone and rotting of the thigh (or illness/death in general) acts as the subject, meaning 'carried off' or 'brought to his end' Cambyses.
- 3.66.3ἠπιστέατο
The third-person plural imperfect of ἐπίσταμαι (to believe, be convinced) in the Ionic dialect, corresponding to Attic ἠπίσταντο. It expresses the strong subjective conviction of the Persians who (mistakenly) believed that Cambyses was speaking out of slander.