- 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-grc2:4.2.1-4.2.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The passage describes how the Scythians blind their slaves for milk production and process the milk according to their nomadic way of life.
τοὺς δὲ δούλους οἱ Σκύθαι πάντας τυφλοῦσι τοῦ γάλακτος εἵνεκεν τοῦ πίνουσι1 ποιεῦντες ὧδε. ἐπεάν φυσητῆρας λάβωσι ὀστεΐνους αὐλοῖσι προσεμφερεστάτους, τούτους ἐσθέντες ἐς τῶν θηλέων ἵππων τά ἄρθρα2 φυσῶσι τοῖσι στόμασι, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλων φυσώντων3 ἀμέλγουσι. φασὶ δὲ τοῦδε εἵνεκα τοῦτο ποιέειν· τὰς φλέβας τε πίμπλασθαι φυσωμένας τῆς ἵππου καὶ τὸ οὖθαρ κατίεσθαι.
The Scythians blind all their slaves for the sake of the milk which they drink, doing as follows. When they have taken bone blowpipes very much resembling flutes, they insert them into the passages of the mare and blow with their mouths, while others milk while those blow. And they say they do this for this reason: that the veins of the mare are filled when blown into, and the udder is let down.
ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀμέλξωσι τὸ γάλα, ἐσχέαντες ἐς ξύλινα ἀγγήια κοῖλα καὶ περιστίξαντες κατὰ τὰ ἀγγήια τοὺς τυφλοὺς δονέουσι τὸ γάλα, καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ ἐπιστάμενον ἀπαρύσαντες ἡγεῦνται εἶναι τιμιώτερον, τό δʼ ὑπιστάμενον4 ἧσσον τοῦ ἑτέρου. τούτων μὲν εἵνεκα ἅπαντα τὸν ἂν λάβωσι οἱ Σκύθαι ἐκτυφλοῦσι. οὐ γὰρ ἀρόται εἰσὶ ἀλλὰ νομάδες.
When they have milked the milk, they pour it into hollow wooden vessels, and having stationed the blind men around the vessels, they stir the milk; and that which stands on the surface of it they skim off and consider to be more valuable, while that which sinks to the bottom they deem less valuable than the other. For these reasons the Scythians blind every one whom they take captive. For they are not tillers of the soil, but nomads.
- 4.2.1τοῦ πίνουσι
An example of 'attraction of the relative pronoun,' where the genitive case of the relative pronoun is attracted by its antecedent τοῦ γάλακτος. It would otherwise be in the accusative case as the direct object of the transitive verb πίνουσι.
- 4.2.1τὰ ἄρθρα
Usually meaning 'joints' or 'limbs,' here used as a euphemism for the genital organs or passages of the mare.
- 4.2.1ἄλλων φυσώντων
A genitive absolute construction. It expresses a simultaneous action carried out by a different group of people ('others blowing') while the main subject (ἄλλοι, 'others milking') performs the action of the main verb.
- 4.2.2ἐπιστάμενον ... ὑπιστάμενον
Present participles of ἐφίσταμαι ('to stand upon') and ὑφίσταμαι ('to stand under'), respectively. They refer to 'that which floats on top' (cream or butter) and 'that which sinks to the bottom' (whey or skimmed milk), describing the separation process in nomadic dairy production.