- 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-grc2:4.114.1-4.114.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Once the Scythian youths and Amazons understand each other's language, they discuss how to live together. The men propose returning to their tribe, but the Amazons refuse due to differing customs, suggesting instead that the men collect their inheritance and live independently with them, which the youths agree to do.
μετὰ δὲ συμμίξαντες τὰ στρατόπεδα οἴκεον ὁμοῦ, γυναῖκα ἔχων ἕκαστος ταύτην τῇ τὸ πρῶτον συνεμίχθη.1 τὴν δὲ φωνὴν τὴν μὲν τῶν γυναικῶν οἱ ἄνδρες οὐκ ἐδυνέατο μαθεῖν, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν αἱ γυναῖκες συνέλαβον.
Afterward, they joined their camps and lived together, each man having as his wife the woman with whom he had first united. As for their language, the men were not able to learn that of the women, but the women mastered that of the men.
ἐπεὶ δὲ συνῆκαν ἀλλήλων, ἔλεξαν πρὸς τὰς Ἀμαζόνας τάδε οἱ ἄνδρες. ἡμῖν εἰσὶ μὲν τοκέες, εἰσὶ δὲ κτήσιες· νῦν ὦν μηκέτι πλεῦνα χρόνον ζόην τοιήνδε ἔχωμεν, ἀλλʼ ἀπελθόντες ἐς τὸ πλῆθος διαιτώμεθα. γυναῖκας δὲ ἕξομεν ὑμέας καὶ οὐδαμὰς ἄλλας. αἳ δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα ἔλεξαν τάδε.
When they understood each other, the men said to the Amazons: “We have parents and we have possessions; let us therefore no longer lead such a life as this, but let us return to our people and live with them. And we will have you as our wives and no others.” To this, the women replied as follows:
ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἂν δυναίμεθα οἰκέειν μετὰ τῶν ὑμετερέων γυναικῶν· οὐ γὰρ τὰ αὐτὰ νόμαια ἡμῖν τε κἀκείνῃσι ἐστί. ἡμεῖς μὲν τοξεύομέν τε καὶ ἀκοντίζομεν καὶ ἱππαζόμεθα, ἔργα δὲ γυναικήια οὐκ ἐμάθομεν· αἱ δὲ ὑμέτεραι γυναῖκες τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν ἡμεῖς κατελέξαμεν2 ποιεῦσι, ἔργα δὲ γυναικήια ἐργάζονται μένουσαι ἐν τῇσι ἁμάξῃσι, οὔτʼ ἐπὶ θήρην ἰοῦσαι οὔτε ἄλλῃ οὐδαμῇ.
”We could not live with your women; for our customs are not the same as theirs. We shoot with bows, hurl javelins, and ride horses, but we have not learned women’s works. Your women do none of these things we have mentioned, but perform women’s works remaining in their wagons, neither going out to hunt nor anywhere else.
οὐκ ἂν ὦν δυναίμεθα ἐκείνῃσι συμφέρεσθαι. ἀλλʼ εἰ βούλεσθε γυναῖκας ἔχειν ἡμέας καὶ δοκέειν εἶναι δίκαιοι,3 ἐλθόντες παρὰ τοὺς τοκέας ἀπολάχετε τῶν κτημάτων τὸ μέρος, καὶ ἔπειτα ἐλθόντες οἰκέωμεν ἐπὶ ἡμέων αὐτῶν. ἐπείθοντο καὶ ἐποίησαν ταῦτα οἱ νεηνίσκοι.
Therefore, we could not get along with them. But if you wish to have us as wives and to be thought just, go to your parents and receive your portion of the possessions, and then let us go and live by ourselves.” The young men complied and did this.
- 4.114.1γυναῖκα ἔχων ἕκαστος ταύτην τῇ τὸ πρῶτον συνεμίχθη
Meaning "each had as his wife that woman with whom he had first united." γυναῖκα is a predicate accusative to the direct object ταύτην, meaning "as a wife." The relative pronoun τῇ is in the dative case because the verb of association, συνεμίχθη (aorist passive third singular of συγμείγνυμι), governs the dative.
- 4.114.3τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν ἡμεῖς κατελέξαμεν
Meaning "none of these things which we enumerated." The relative pronoun τῶν would expectedly be in the accusative case (ἅ) as the direct object of the transitive verb κατελέξαμεν ("enumerated"), but it has been attracted into the genitive case of its antecedent τούτων (a partitive genitive), a common Greek syntax phenomenon known as attraction of the relative.
- 4.114.4δοκέειν εἶναι δίκαιοι
Meaning "to be thought just." Since the subject of the infinitive εἶναι is the same as the subject of the main verb βούλεσθε ("you"), the predicate adjective δίκαιοι ("just") is kept in the nominative case (masculine plural) rather than the accusative (δικαίους), through the syntactic rule of case agreement with the subject of the governing verb.