- 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-grc2:3.99.1-3.99.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The author describes the cannibalistic customs of an eastern Indian tribe called the Padaei, who kill and eat their sick companions and the elderly. Consequently, very few of them ever reach old age.
ἄλλοι δὲ τῶν Ἰνδῶν πρὸς ἠῶ οἰκέοντες τούτων1 νομάδες εἰσὶ κρεῶν ἐδεσταὶ ὠμῶν, καλέονται δὲ Παδαῖοι, νομαίοισι δὲ τοιοῖσιδε λέγονται χρᾶσθαι· ὃς ἂν κάμῃ τῶν ἀστῶν, ἤν τε γυνὴ ἤν τε ἀνήρ, τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα ἄνδρες οἱ μάλιστά οἱ ὁμιλέοντες κτείνουσι, φάμενοι αὐτὸν τηκόμενον τῇ νούσῳ τὰ κρέα σφίσι διαφθείρεσθαι·2 ὁ δὲ ἄπαρνος ἐστὶ μὴ μὲν νοσέειν,3 οἱ δὲ οὐ συγγινωσκόμενοι ἀποκτείναντες κατευωχέονται.
Other of the Indians, dwelling to the east of these, are nomads and eaters of raw flesh; they are called Padaei, and they are said to practice the following customs. Whoever among their citizens falls ill, whether it be a woman or a man, if it is a man, the men who associate with him most closely kill him, claiming that his flesh is being ruined for them by his wasting away with the disease. But he denies that he is ill, yet they, not agreeing with him, kill him and feast upon him.
ἣ δὲ ἂν γυνὴ κάμῃ, ὡσαύτως αἱ ἐπιχρεώμεναι μάλιστα γυναῖκες ταὐτὰ τοῖσι ἀνδράσι ποιεῦσι. τὸν γὰρ δὴ ἐς γῆρας ἀπικόμενον θύσαντες κατευωχέονται· ἐς δὲ τούτου λόγον οὐ πολλοί τινες αὐτῶν ἀπικνέονται· πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ4 τὸν ἐς νοῦσον πίπτοντα πάντα κτείνουσι.
If it is a woman who falls ill, the women who associate with her most closely do the same things as the men. For indeed, they sacrifice and feast upon anyone who reaches old age; but not many of them reach this account, for before this, they kill everyone who falls into sickness.
- 3.99.1τούτων
The genitive τούτων functions as a genitive of comparison/reference with the prepositional phrase πρὸς ἠῶ ('to the east'), meaning 'to the east of these [previously mentioned swamp-dwelling Indians]'.
- 3.99.1φάμενοι αὐτὸν τηκόμενον τῇ νούσῳ τὰ κρέα σφίσι διαφθείρεσθαι
An accusative-with-infinitive construction introduced by φάμενοι. The subject of the infinitive διαφθείρεσθαι ('to be ruined') is τὰ κρέα ('the flesh'), while αὐτὸν τηκόμενον ('he, wasting away') functions as the subject/agent of the wasting. σφίσι is a dativus incommodi ('for them').
- 3.99.1ἄπαρνος ἐστὶ μὴ μὲν νοσέειν
The adjective ἄπαρνος ('denying'), which contains a negative concept, is followed by an infinitive with a redundant negative μή. This is a standard classical Greek idiom after verbs/expressions of denial, translated into English as a single negative ('denies that he is ill').
- 3.99.2πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ
The preposition πρό combined with the genitive neuter singular article τοῦ functions as an adverbial phrase πρὸ τοῦ meaning 'before this' or 'beforehand', where the article retains its original demonstrative force.