Rejection of the Peloponnesian Tale of Anacharsis — Herodotus, Histories Book 4 (4.77.1–4.77.2), Greek & English

§4.77.1

καίτοι τινὰ ἤδη ἤκουσα λόγον ἄλλον ὑπὸ Πελοποννησίων λεγόμενον, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ Σκυθέων βασιλέος Ἀνάχαρσις ἀποπεμφθεὶς τῆς Ἑλλάδος¹ μαθητὴς γένοιτο, ὀπίσω τε ἀπονοστήσας φαίη² πρὸς τὸν ἀποπέμψαντα Ἕλληνας πάντας ἀσχόλους εἶναι³ ἐς πᾶσαν σοφίην πλὴν Λακεδαιμονίων, τούτοισι δὲ εἶναι μούνοισι σωφρόνως δοῦναι τε καὶ δέξασθαι λόγον.

And yet, I have already heard another story told by the Peloponnesians, to the effect that Anacharsis, having been sent by the king of the Scythians, became a disciple of Greece, and when he returned back, he said to the one who had sent him that all the other Greeks had no leisure for any kind of wisdom except the Lacedaemonians, and that to these alone was it possible to give and receive argument sensibly.

§4.77.2

ἀλλʼ οὗτος μὲν ὁ λόγος ἄλλως πέπλασται ὑπʼ αὐτῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὁ δʼ ὦν ἀνὴρ ὥσπερ πρότερον εἰρέθη διεφθάρη.

But this story has been idly fabricated by the Greeks themselves, and the man was in fact destroyed in the manner previously described.

Syntax notes3 items

4.77.1τῆς Ἑλλάδος
Objective genitive dependent on the noun μαθητής, meaning 'a student of Greece' or 'one who learns from Greece.'
4.77.1γένοιτο, φαίη
Optatives of indirect discourse (optativus obliquus) representing reported actions, triggered by the historical main verb ἤκουσα.
4.77.1εἶναι
Infinitive in indirect discourse used impersonally like ἔξεστι ('it is possible'), taking the dative toútoisi moúnoisi to express for whom the actions of the subsequent infinitives are possible.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.77.1-4.77.2