- 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-grc2:3.85.1-3.85.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Darius asks his groom Oebares for a plan to win the kingship contest, and Oebares prepares by letting Darius' horse mate with its favorite mare in the suburb at night.
Δαρείῳ δὲ ἦν ἱπποκόμος ἀνὴρ σοφός, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Οἰβάρης. πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα, ἐπείτε διελύθησαν, ἔλεξε Δαρεῖος τάδε. Οἴβαρες, ἡμῖν δέδοκται περὶ τῆς βασιληίης ποιέειν κατὰ τάδε· ὅτευ ἂν ὁ ἵππος πρῶτος φθέγξηται ἅμα τῷ ἡλίῳ ἀνιόντι αὐτῶν ἐπαναβεβηκότων,1 τοῦτον ἔχειν τὴν βασιληίην. νῦν ὦν εἴ τινα ἔχεις σοφίην, μηχανῶ ὡς ἂν ἡμεῖς σχῶμεν τοῦτο τὸ γέρας καὶ μὴ ἄλλος τις.
Darius had a clever groom, whose name was Oebares. To this man, when they had dispersed, Darius said the following: “Oebares, we have decided to act as follows concerning the kingship: whose horse soever should first neigh at the rising of the sun, when we have mounted, he should have the kingship. Now therefore, if you have any cleverness, contrive so that we may obtain this prize and not anyone else.”
ἀμείβεται Οἰβάρης τοῖσιδε. εἰ μὲν δὴ ὦ δέσποτα ἐν τούτῳ τοι ἐστὶ ἢ βασιλέα εἶναι ἢ μή,2 θάρσεε τούτου εἵνεκεν καὶ θυμὸν ἔχε ἀγαθόν, ὡς βασιλεὺς οὐδεὶς ἄλλος πρὸ σεῦ ἔσται· τοιαῦτα ἔχω φάρμακα. λέγει Δαρεῖος εἰ τοίνυν τι τοιοῦτον ἔχεις σόφισμα, ὥρη μηχανᾶσθαι καὶ μὴ ἀναβάλλεσθαι, ὡς τῆς ἐπιούσης ἡμέρης ὁ ἀγὼν ἡμῖν ἐστί.
Oebares answered with these words: “If indeed, my master, it depends on this whether you will be king or not, have courage on this account and keep a good heart, for no other than you shall be king before you; such remedies I have.” Darius said: “If then you have any such clever device, it is time to contrive it and not to delay, since our contest is tomorrow.”
ἀκούσας ταῦτα ὁ Οἰβάρης ποιέει τοιόνδε· ὡς ἐγίνετο ἡ νύξ, τῶν θηλέων ἵππων μίαν, τὴν ὁ Δαρείου ἵππος ἔστεργε μάλιστα, ταύτην ἀγαγὼν ἐς τὸ προάστειον κατέδησε καὶ ἐπήγαγε τὸν Δαρείου ἵππον, καὶ τὰ μὲν πολλὰ περιῆγε ἀγχοῦ τῇ ἵππῳ ἐγχρίμπτων τῇ θηλέῃ, τέλος δὲ ἐπῆκε ὀχεῦσαι τὸν ἵππον.
Having heard this, Oebares did as follows: when night came, having led one of the mares, the one which Darius’ horse loved most, into the suburb, he tied her up, and brought Darius’ horse to her; and for a long time he led him around close to the mare, letting him brush against the female, and at last he let the horse mount her.
- 3.85.1αὐτῶν ἐπαναβεβηκότων
Genitive absolute construction. Although the semantic subject of the participle (the seven conspirators) overlaps with the preceding dative pronoun ἡμῖν (to us), it is inserted as a grammatically independent genitive clause.
- 3.85.2ἐν τούτῳ τοι ἐστὶ ἢ βασιλέα εἶναι ἢ μή
The phrase ἐν τούτῳ ἐστί is an idiomatic expression meaning "it depends on this." Its subject is the infinitive phrase ἢ βασιλέα εἶναι ἢ μή (whether to be king or not), which explains the reference of the demonstrative τούτῳ (this).