- 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-grc2:4.166.1-4.166.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
This passage describes how Aryandes, the governor of Egypt, imitated Darius by minting extremely pure silver coins, which eventually led Darius to execute him under a false charge of rebellion.
ὁ δὲ Ἀρυάνδης ἦν οὗτος τῆς Αἰγύπτου ὕπαρχος ὑπὸ Καμβύσεω κατεστεώς, ὃς ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ τούτων1 παρισούμενος Δαρείῳ διεφθάρη. πυθόμενος γὰρ καὶ ἰδὼν Δαρεῖον ἐπιθυμέοντα μνημόσυνον ἑωυτοῦ λιπέσθαι τοῦτο τὸ μὴ ἄλλῳ εἴη βασιλέι κατεργασμένον,2 ἐμιμέετο τοῦτον, ἐς οὗ ἔλαβε τὸν μισθόν.3
This Aryandes was the governor of Egypt appointed by Cambyses, who at a later time than these events was destroyed because he tried to make himself equal to Darius. For having heard and seen that Darius desired to leave behind a memorial of himself such as had not been accomplished by any other king, he imitated him, until he received his reward.
Δαρεῖος μὲν γὰρ χρυσίον καθαρώτατον ἀπεψήσας ἐς τὸ δυνατώτατον νόμισμα ἐκόψατο, Ἀρυάνδης δὲ ἄρχων Αἰγύπτου ἀργύριον τὠυτὸ τοῦτο ἐποίεε, καὶ νῦν ἐστὶ ἀργύριον καθαρώτατον τὸ Ἀρυανδικόν. μαθὼν δέ μιν Δαρεῖος ταῦτα ποιεῦντα, αἰτίην οἱ ἄλλην ἐπενείκας ὥς οἱ ἐπανίσταιτο,4 ἀπέκτεινε.
For Darius, having refined gold to the utmost purity, struck a coin, and Aryandes, as ruler of Egypt, did this very same thing with silver; and even now the Aryandic silver is the purest silver. But when Darius learned that he was doing this, he brought another charge against him, namely that he was rebelling against him, and put him to death.
- 4.166.1ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ τούτων
τούτων is a genitive of comparison, meaning "at a time later than these events" (i.e., the events concerning Pheretime's supplication described in the previous chapter).
- 4.166.1τοῦτο τὸ μὴ ἄλλῳ εἴη βασιλέι κατεργασμένον
τοῦτο functions like a relative pronoun modifying the antecedent μνημόσυνον. The optative without ἄν (εἴη) coupled with the negative μή expresses a characteristic or potential feature ("such as would not have been accomplished by any other king").
- 4.166.1ἐς οὗ ἔλαβε τὸν μισθόν
ἐς οὗ is an idiomatic temporal formula equivalent to ἐς τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ᾧ (until the time when). μισθός ("reward/payment") is used here ironically to refer to his execution.
- 4.166.2ὥς οἱ ἐπανίσταιτο
ὡς followed by the oblique optative (ἐπανίσταιτο) after a past main verb (ἀπέκτεινε) expresses the subjective reason alleged by Darius ("on the grounds that he was rebelling"). The indirect reflexive pronoun οἱ refers to Darius, the subject of the main clause.