- 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-grc2:4.16.1-4.16.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Herodotus points out that no one has accurate knowledge of the northern regions beyond the land under discussion, noting that even Aristeas relied on hearsay from the Issedones; he promises to record all that can be reached as far as possible by hearsay.
τῆς δὲ γῆς,1 τῆς πέρι ὅδε ὁ λόγος ὅρμηται λέγεσθαι, οὐδεὶς οἶδε ἀτρεκέως ὃ τι τὸ κατύπερθε ἐστί· οὐδενὸς γὰρ δὴ αὐτόπτεω εἰδέναι φαμένου δύναμαι πυθέσθαι·2 οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ Ἀριστέης, τοῦ περ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον τούτων μνήμην ἐποιεύμην, οὐδὲ οὗτος προσωτέρω Ἰσσηδόνων ἐν αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι ἔπεσι ποιέων3 ἔφησε ἀπικέσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὰ κατύπερθε ἔλεγε ἀκοῇ, φας Ἰσσηδόνας εἶναι τοὺς ταῦτα λέγοντας.
But of the land concerning which this account has set out to speak, no one knows for certain what is beyond it; for I am unable to learn from any eyewitness who claims to know. For not even Aristeas, of whom I made mention just a little before this, even he did not claim in his very verses, while composing poetry, to have gone further than the Issedones, but he spoke of the region beyond by hearsay, saying that the Issedones were the ones who said these things.
ἀλλʼ ὅσον μὲν ἡμεῖς ἀτρεκέως ἐπὶ μακρότατον οἷοι τε ἐγενόμεθα ἀκοῇ ἐξικέσθαι, πᾶν εἰρήσεται.
But as much as we were able to reach for certain by hearsay to the furthest limit, all shall be told.
- 4.16.1τῆς δὲ γῆς
The genitive τῆς γῆς at the beginning of the sentence serves as a genitive of respect/topic, presenting the theme of the sentence, while also functioning as the antecedent of the following relative clause τῆς πέρι.
- 4.16.1οὐδενὸς γὰρ δὴ αὐτόπτεω εἰδέναι φαμένου δύναμαι πυθέσθαι
Since the infinitive πυθέσθαι (aorist of πυνθάνομαι) takes a genitive of the source from whom one learns, the entire genitive phrase from οὐδενὸς to φαμένου functions as its complement. εἰδέναι is the complement of the participle φαμένου (claiming to know).
- 4.16.1ποιέων
The present active participle ποιέων (Ionic uncontracted form, equivalent to Attic ποιῶν) is used here absolutely in the sense of 'writing poetry' or 'composing verses' in relation to the work of a poet (ποιητής).