- 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-grc2:3.68.1-3.68.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Otanes suspects the true identity of the Magian and inquires of his daughter Phaedyme, who is cohabiting with him, but she replies that she cannot verify it because all the wives are kept isolated from one another.
προεῖπε μὲν δὴ ταῦτα αὐτίκα ἐνιστάμενος ἐς τὴν ἀρχήν, ὀγδόῳ δὲ μηνὶ ἐγένετο κατάδηλος τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. Ὀτάνης ἦν Φαρνάσπεω μὲν παῖς, γένεϊ δὲ καὶ χρήμασι ὅμοιος τῷ πρώτῳ Περσέων.
He indeed proclaimed these things immediately upon entering into his reign, but in the eighth month he was exposed in the following manner. Otanes was the son of Pharnaspes, equal in birth and wealth to the first of the Persians.
οὗτος ὁ Ὀτάνης πρῶτος ὑπώπτευσε τὸν Μάγον ὡς οὐκ εἴη ὁ Κύρου Σμέρδις ἀλλʼ ὅς περ ἦν,1 τῇδε συμβαλόμενος, ὅτι τε οὐκ ἐξεφοίτα ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλιος καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἐκάλεε ἐς ὄψιν ἑωυτῷ οὐδένα τῶν λογίμων Περσέων·
This Otanes was the first to suspect that the Magian was not Cyrus’s son Smerdis, but who he actually was, conjecturing this from the fact that he did not go out of the acropolis and that he did not call any of the prominent Persians into his presence;
ὑποπτεύσας δέ μιν ἐποίεε τάδε. ἔσχε αὐτοῦ Καμβύσης θυγατέρα, τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Φαιδύμη· τὴν αὐτὴν δὴ ταύτην εἶχε τότε ὁ Μάγος καὶ ταύτῃ τε συνοίκεε καὶ τῇσι ἄλλῃσι πάσῃσι τῇσι τοῦ Καμβύσεω γυναιξί. πέμπων δὴ ὦν ὁ Ὀτάνης παρὰ ταύτην τὴν θυγατέρα ἐπυνθάνετο παρʼ ὅτεῳ ἀνθρώπων κοιμῷτο, εἴτε μετὰ Σμέρδιος τοῦ Κύρου εἴτε μετὰ ἄλλου τευ.
having suspected him, he did the following. Cambyses had a daughter of his, whose name was Phaedyme; this very same woman the Magian was holding then, cohabiting with her and with all the other wives of Cambyses. So, Otanes sent to this daughter of his and inquired with what man she was sleeping, whether with Cyrus’s son Smerdis or with someone else.
ἣ δέ οἱ ἀντέπεμπε φαμένη οὐ γινώσκειν· οὔτε γὰρ τὸν Κύρου Σμέρδιν ἰδέσθαι οὐδαμὰ οὔτε ὅστις εἴη ὁ συνοικέων αὐτῇ εἰδέναι. ἔπεμπε δεύτερα ὁ Ὀτάνης λέγων εἰ μὴ αὐτὴ Σμέρδιν τὸν Κύρου γινώσκεις, σὺ δὲ παρὰ Ἀτόσσης πύθευ ὅτεῳ τούτῳ συνοικέει αὐτή τε ἐκείνη καὶ σύ·2 πάντως γὰρ δή κου τόν γε ἑωυτῆς ἀδελφεὸν γινώσκει. ἀντιπέμπει πρὸς ταῦτα ἡ θυγάτηρ οὔτε Ἀτόσσῃ δύναμαι ἐς λόγους ἐλθεῖν οὔτε ἄλλην οὐδεμίαν ἰδέσθαι τῶν συγκατημενέων γυναικῶν. ἐπείτε γὰρ τάχιστα οὗτος ὥνθρωπος, ὅστις κοτὲ ἐστί, παρέλαβε τὴν βασιληίην, διέσπειρε ἡμέας ἄλλην ἄλλῃ τάξας.3
She sent back a message to him, saying that she did not know; for she had never seen Cyrus’s son Smerdis, nor did she know who it was that was cohabiting with her. Otanes sent a second time, saying: “If you yourself do not know Cyrus’s son Smerdis, you should find out from Atossa with whom this person is cohabiting, both she herself and you; for surely she must know her own brother.” To this his daughter sent back in reply: “I am neither able to come to speech with Atossa, nor can I see any other of the wives who are kept together with me. For as soon as this man, whoever he may be, took over the kingdom, he scattered us, assigning each of us to a different place.”
- 3.68.2ὡς οὐκ εἴη ὁ Κύρου Σμέρδις ἀλλʼ ὅς περ ἦν
A proleptic construction where the object of suspicion is first expressed in the accusative (τὸν Μάγον). The dependent clause (the ὡς clause) uses the optative of oblique oration (εἴη) due to the past tense of the main verb (ὑπώπτευσε), while the contrasting relative clause (ὅς περ ἦν) retains the indicative past (ἦν) to present a fact established in the narrator's view.
- 3.68.4ὅτεῳ τούτῳ συνοικέει αὐτή τε ἐκείνη καὶ σύ
ὅτεῳ is the dative singular of the indefinite relative pronoun ὅστις (Ionic dialect). Combined with the demonstrative pronoun τούτῳ, it forms a double pronoun structure introducing an indirect question: “with whom as this man she herself and you are cohabiting.”
- 3.68.5ἄλλην ἄλλῃ τάξας
A typical Greek polyptoton (juxtaposition of the same word ἄλλος in different cases) used to express individualization and dispersion: “having stationed one woman in one place, another in another” (i.e., scattering us individually).