- 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-grc2:4.157.1-4.157.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Finding life on the island of Platea unsuccessful, the Theraeans consult the Delphic oracle again; prompted by the Pythia to go to the mainland of Libya, they settle at Aziris.
ταύτην οἰκέοντες δύο ἔτεα, οὐδὲν γάρ σφι χρηστὸν συνεφέρετο, ἕνα αὐτῶν καταλιπόντες οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες ἀπέπλεον ἐς Δελφούς, ἀπικόμενοι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστήριον ἐχρέωντο, φάμενοι οἰκέειν τε τὴν Λιβύην καὶ οὐδὲν ἄμεινον πρήσσειν οἰκεῦντες.
After living on this island for two years, since nothing turned out well for them, they left one of their number behind, and all the rest sailed back to Delphi. Having arrived at the oracle, they consulted it, saying that they were living in Libya, but that they fared no better for living there.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφι πρὸς ταῦτα χρᾷ τάδε. "αἰ τὺ ἐμεῦ Λιβύην μηλοτρόφον οἶδας ἄμεινον, μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐλθόντος,1 ἄγαν ἄγαμαι σοφίην σεῦ." ἀκούσαντες δὲ τούτων οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Βάττον ἀπέπλωον ὀπίσω· οὐ γὰρ δή σφεας ἀπίει ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἀποικίης, πρὶν δὴ ἀπίκωνται ἐς αὐτὴν Λιβύην.
And the Pythia gave them this response: “If you, who have not gone there, know Libya, the nurse of sheep, better than I who have gone, I marvel greatly at your wisdom.” Hearing this, Battus and his companions sailed back; for the god would not release them from the colony until they should come to Libya itself.
ἀπικόμενοι δὲ ἐς τὴν νῆσον καὶ ἀναλαβόντες τὸν ἔλιπον, ἔκτισαν αὐτῆς τῆς Λιβύης χῶρον2 ἀντίον τῆς νήσου τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Ἄζιρις· τὸν νάπαι τε κάλλισται ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα συγκληίουσι3 καὶ ποταμὸς τὰ ἐπὶ θάτερα παραρρέει.
So when they came to the island and took off the man they had left, they settled a place in Libya itself opposite the island, whose name was Aziris; this place is enclosed on both sides by most beautiful valleys, and a river flows past it on the other side.
- 4.157.2μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐλθόντος
The nominative participle μὴ ἐλθὼν ("not having gone") agrees with the subject τὺ (σύ), while the genitive participle ἐλθόντος ("having gone") modifies the genitive of comparison ἐμεῦ ("than me"). This creates a sharp contrast between the colonists who have not yet reached the mainland and the all-knowing god.
- 4.157.3αὐτῆς τῆς Λιβύης χῶρον
The genitive αὐτῆς τῆς Λιβύης functions as a partitive genitive or a genitive of place with the accusative χῶρον ("a place in Libya itself"). It emphasizes that they finally settled on the mainland of Libya, as opposed to the offshore island of Platea where they had been.
- 4.157.3τὸν νάπαι τε κάλλισται... συγκληίουσι
The word τὸν is a relative pronoun in the accusative case, referring back to the masculine antecedent χῶρον. The subject is the feminine plural noun νάπαι ("valleys, glens"), taking the plural verb συγκληίουσι.