- 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-grc2:4.81.1-4.81.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Regarding the population of the Scythians, the author introduces the story of a giant bronze vessel in Exampaeus, made from arrowheads collected by King Ariantas, as a clue to their numbers.
πλῆθος δὲ τὸ Σκυθέων οὐκ οἷος τε ἐγενόμην ἀτρεκέως πυθέσθαι, ἀλλὰ διαφόρους λόγους περὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ἤκουον· καὶ γὰρ κάρτα πολλοὺς εἶναι σφέας καὶ ὀλίγους ὡς Σκύθας εἶναι.1
As for the number of the Scythians, I was not able to learn it with accuracy, but I heard different accounts concerning their number; for some said that they are very numerous, and others that they are few, considering they are Scythians.
τοσόνδε μέντοι ἀπέφαινόν μοι ἐς ὄψιν. ἔστι μεταξὺ Βορυσθένεός τε ποταμοῦ καὶ Ὑπάνιος χῶρος, οὔνομα δέ οἱ ἐστὶ Ἐξαμπαῖος· τοῦ καὶ ὀλίγῳ τι πρότερον τούτων μνήμην εἶχον,2 φάμενος ἐν αὐτῷ κρήνην ὕδατος πικροῦ εἶναι, ἀπʼ ἧς τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπορρέον τὸν Ὕπανιν ἄποτον ποιέειν.
However, they showed me the following to my own eyes. There is a place between the river Borysthenes and the Hypanis, and its name is Exampaeus; of which also a little before this I made mention, saying that there is in it a spring of bitter water, from which the water flowing out makes the Hypanis unfit to drink.
ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χώρῳ κέεται χαλκήιον, μεγάθει καὶ ἑξαπλήσιον τοῦ ἐπὶ στόματι τοῦ Πόντου κρητῆρος, τὸν Παυσανίης ὁ Κλεομβρότου ἀνέθηκε.
In this place lies a bronze vessel, in capacity six times as large as the mixing-bowl at the mouth of the Pontus, which Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus dedicated.
ὃς δὲ μὴ εἶδε κω τοῦτον,3 ὧδε δηλώσω. ἑξακοσίους ἀμφορέας εὐπετέως χωρέει τὸ ἐν Σκύθῃσι χαλκήιον, πάχος δὲ τὸ Σκυθικὸν τοῦτο χαλκήιον ἐστὶ δακτύλων ἕξ. τοῦτο ὦν ἔλεγον οἱ ἐπιχώριοι ἀπὸ ἀρδίων γενέσθαι.
But for anyone who has not yet seen this, I will make it clear as follows: this bronze vessel among the Scythians easily holds six hundred amphorae, and the thickness of this Scythian bronze vessel is six fingers. This, then, the inhabitants said was made from arrowheads.
βουλόμενον γὰρ τὸν σφέτερον βασιλέα, τῶ οὔνομα εἶναι Ἀριάνταν,4 τοῦτον εἰδέναι τὸ πλῆθος τὸ Σκυθέων κελεύειν μιν πάντας Σκύθας ἄρδιν ἕκαστον μίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀιστοῦ κομίσαι. ὃς δʼ ἄν μὴ κομίσῃ, θάνατον ἀπείλεε.
For, wishing their king, whose name was Ariantas, to know the number of the Scythians, he commanded all the Scythians to bring each one arrowhead from his arrow; and whoever should not bring one, he threatened with death.
κομισθῆναι τε δὴ χρῆμα πολλὸν ἀρδίων καί οἱ δόξαι ἐξ αὐτέων μνημόσυνον ποιήσαντι λιπέσθαι.5 ἐκ τουτέων δή μιν τὸ χαλκήιον ποιῆσαι τοῦτο καὶ ἀναθεῖναι ἐς τὸν Ἐξαμπαῖον τοῦτον. ταῦτα δὲ περὶ τοῦ πλήθεος τοῦ Σκυθέων ἤκουον.
So a vast number of arrowheads was brought, and it pleased him to leave a memorial made from them; from these, then, he made this bronze vessel and dedicated it in this Exampaeus. These are the things which I heard concerning the number of the Scythians.
- 4.81.1ὡς Σκύθας εἶναι
The infinitive εἶναι with ὡς is used as an absolute infinitive expressing limitation ("considering...", "for..."). Here it means "considering that they are Scythians."
- 4.81.2τοῦ καὶ ὀλίγῳ τι πρότερον τούτων μνήμην εἶχον
The relative pronoun τοῦ is in the genitive case, referring back to the antecedent χῶρος (Exampaeus), governed by the phrase μνήμην εἶχον (which takes a genitive). ὀλίγῳ is a dative of measure of difference with πρότερον.
- 4.81.4ὃς δὲ μὴ εἶδε κω τοῦτον
The relative pronoun ὃς contains its own antecedent ("he who" or "whoever"), functioning with the aorist εἶδε to state a general condition ("whoever has not yet seen this"), serving as a conditional clause to the main clause ὧδε δηλώσω.
- 4.81.5τῶ οὔνομα εἶναι Ἀριάνταν
An parenthetical relative clause with the dative relative pronoun τῶ (= ᾧ) and the infinitive εἶναι. The infinitive is attracted by the indirect discourse of the surrounding narrative to express "whose name was Ariantas."
- 4.81.6καί οἱ δόξαι ἐξ αὐτέων μνημόσυνον ποιήσαντι λιπέσθαι
The infinitive δόξαι represents the impersonal ἔδοξε ("it seemed good to him", i.e., "he resolved") in indirect discourse. The subject of this resolution is expressed by the dative pronoun οἱ (referring to the king), with which the participle ποιησάντι agrees in the dative case.