Divided Responses of the Kings to the Scythian Appeal — Herodotus, Histories Book 4 (4.119.1–4.119.4), Greek & English

§4.119.1

ταῦτα Σκυθέων ἐπαγγελλομένων ἐβουλεύοντο οἱ βασιλέες οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνέων ἥκοντες, καί σφεων ἐσχίσθησαν αἱ γνῶμαι· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Γελωνὸς καὶ ὁ Βουδῖνος καὶ ὁ Σαυρομάτης κατὰ τὠυτὸ γενόμενοι¹ ὑπεδέκοντο Σκύθῃσι τιμωρήσειν, ὁ δὲ Ἀγάθυρσος καὶ Νευρὸς καὶ Ἀνδροφάγος καὶ οἱ τῶν Μελαγχλαίνων καὶ Ταύρων τάδε Σκύθῃσι ὑπεκρίναντο.

When the Scythians made these proposals, the kings who had come from the nations held a council, and their opinions were divided. For the Gelonian, the Budinian, and the Sauromatian, acting in unison, promised to help the Scythians; but the Agathyrsian, the Neurian, the Androphagian, and the kings of the Melanchlaenians and the Taurians answered the Scythians as follows:

§4.119.2

εἰ μὲν μὴ ὑμεῖς ἔατε² οἱ πρότεροι ἀδικήσαντες Πέρσας καὶ ἄρξαντες πολέμου, τούτων δεόμενοι τῶν νῦν δέεσθε³ λέγειν τε ἂν ἐφαίνεσθε ἡμῖν ὀρθά, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑπακούσαντες τὠυτὸ ἂν ὑμῖν ἐπρήσσομεν.

”If you had not been the ones who first wronged the Persians and began the war, in making these requests which you now make, you would have seemed to us to speak justly, and we, obeying you, would have acted in unison with you.

§4.119.3

νῦν δὲ ὑμεῖς τε ἐς τὴν ἐκείνων ἐσβαλόντες γῆν ἄνευ ἡμέων ἐπεκρατέετε Περσέων ὅσον χρόνον ὑμῖν ὁ θεὸς παρεδίδου, καὶ ἐκεῖνοι, ἐπεί σφεας ὡυτὸς θεὸς ἐγείρει, τὴν ὁμοίην⁴ ὑμῖν ἀποδιδοῦσι.

But as it is, you invaded their land without us and ruled over the Persians for as long as God granted it to you; and they, now that the same God rouses them, are paying you back in like coin.

§4.119.4

ἡμεῖς δὲ οὔτε τι τότε ἠδικήσαμεν τοὺς ἄνδρας τούτους οὐδὲν οὔτε νῦν πρότεροι πειρησόμεθα ἀδικέειν. ἢν μέντοι ἐπίῃ καὶ τὴν ἡμετέρην ἄρξῃ τε ἀδικέων, καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐ πεισόμεθα,⁵μέχρι δὲ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, μενέομεν παρʼ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖσι· ἥκειν γὰρ δοκέομεν οὐκ ἐπʼ ἡμέας Πέρσας ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀδικίης γενομὲνους.

As for us, we did not do these men any wrong at all back then, nor will we now be the first to try to do them wrong. If, however, they should invade our land also and begin to do us wrong, we too will not tolerate it; but until we see this, we shall remain by ourselves. For we think that the Persians have come not against us, but against those who became the cause of the wrong.”

Syntax notes5 items

4.119.1κατὰ τὠυτὸ γενόμενοι
The prepositional phrase κατὰ τὠυτὸ (according to the same) combined with the participle γενόμενοι (having become) means "acting in unison" or "coming to the same opinion."
4.119.2ἔατε
The 2nd person plural imperfect of εἰμί in the Ionic dialect, corresponding to ἦτε in Attic.
4.119.2τῶν νῦν δέεσθε
The relative pronoun τῶν is attracted to the genitive of its antecedent τούτων, whereas it would grammatically be expected to be in the accusative as the object of δέεσθε.
4.119.3τὴν ὁμοίην
The feminine accusative singular of the adjective τὴν ὁμοίην (the same, similar) with a noun such as χάριν (return), τίσιν (retribution), or μοῖραν (portion) omitted, meaning "the same treatment" or "repayment in kind."
4.119.4πεισόμεθα
This form can be interpreted as the future of two different verbs: either (1) from πάσχω (to suffer/endure), future πείσομαι, meaning with οὐ "we shall not tolerate/endure it"; or (2) from πείθομαι (to obey/submit), future πείσομαι, meaning "we shall not submit/obey." In this context, both interpretations yield a similar overall sense of resistance, but this translation leans toward the former ("we will not tolerate it").

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.119.1-4.119.4