- 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-grc2:4.67.1-4.67.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The text describes various methods of divination among the Scythians, introducing the hereditary practice using willow wands and the linden-bark method used by the Enarees, who are hermaphrodites and claim to have received this art from Aphrodite.
μάντιες δὲ Σκυθέων εἰσὶ πολλοί, οἳ μαντεύονται ῥάβδοισι ἰτεΐνῃσι πολλῇσι ὧδε· ἐπεὰν φακέλους ῥάβδων μεγάλους ἐνείκωνται,1 θέντες χαμαὶ διεξειλίσσουσι αὐτούς, καὶ ἐπὶ μίαν ἑκάστην ῥάβδον τιθέντες θεσπίζουσι, ἅμα τε λέγοντες2 ταῦτα συνειλέουσι τὰς ῥάβδους ὀπίσω καὶ αὖτις κατὰ μίαν συντιθεῖσι.
There are many diviners among the Scythians, who divine by means of many willow wands in the following manner. When they have brought great bundles of wands, they put them on the ground and untie them, and placing each wand by itself, they utter their prophecy; and while they are saying this, they gather the wands together again and once more place them one by one.
αὕτη μὲν σφι ἡ μαντικὴ πατρωίη ἐστί. οἱ δὲ Ἐνάρεες οἱ ἀνδρόγυνοι τὴν Ἀφροδίτην σφίσι λέγουσι μαντικὴν δοῦναι·3 φιλύρης δʼ ὦν φλοιῷ μαντεύονται· ἐπεὰν τὴν φιλύρην τρίχα σχίσῃ, διαπλέκων ἐν τοῖσι δακτύλοισι τοῖσι ἑωυτοῦ καὶ διαλύων χρᾷ.4
This is their hereditary art of divination. But the Enarees, who are hermaphrodites, say that Aphrodite gave them the art of divination; they divine by the bark of the linden tree. When one has split the linden bark into three pieces, he weaves it among his own fingers and, untying it, utters the oracle.
- 4.67.1ἐπεὰν ... ἐνείκωνται
The construction of ἐπεὰν (equivalent to ἐπήν = ἐπεί + ἄν) with the subjunctive mood expresses a present general temporal-conditional clause ('whenever they bring'). The verb ἐνείκωνται is the Ionic form of ἐνέγκωνται (3rd person plural aorist middle subjunctive of φέρω).
- 4.67.1ἅμα τε λέγοντες
The adverb ἅμα modifies the present participle λέγοντες, forming an idiomatic participial construction emphasizing simultaneity ('at the same time as they say this' or 'while saying this').
- 4.67.2λέγουσι μαντικὴν δοῦναι
An accusative-with-infinitive (AcI) construction. Dependent on the main verb λέγουσι ('they say'), the infinitive δοῦναι ('to have given') has its subject in the accusative case (τὴν Ἀφροδίτην) and takes the indirect reflexive pronoun σφίσι ('to themselves') in the dative case.
- 4.67.2χρᾷ
The third-person singular present active indicative of the contract verb χράω ('to utter an oracle'), formed by contraction (χράει to χρᾷ). The implicit subject refers to the individual diviner implied by the singular verb σχίσῃ in the preceding conditional clause.