- 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-grc2:4.84.1-4.84.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Oeobazus entreats Darius to leave one of his three sons behind from the campaign. Darius promises to leave all of them, which rejoices Oeobazus, but then orders his executioners to kill all the sons.
ἐνθαῦτα τῶν Περσέων Οἰόβαζος ἐδεήθη Δαρείου τριῶν ἐόντων οἱ παίδων1 καὶ πάντων στρατευομένων ἕνα αὐτῷ καταλειφθῆναι. ὁ δὲ ἔφη ὡς φίλῳ ἐόντι2 καὶ μετρίων δεομένῳ πάντας τοὺς παῖδας καταλείψειν.
Then Oeobazus, one of the Persians, since he had three sons and all of them were going on the campaign, entreated Darius that one might be left behind for him. And Darius said that, as to one who was a friend and made a moderate request, he would leave all his sons behind.
ὁ μὲν δὴ Οἰόβαζος περιχαρὴς ἦν, ἐλπίζων τοὺς υἱέας στρατηίης ἀπολελύσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἐκέλευσε τοὺς ἐπὶ τούτων ἐπεστεῶτας3 ἀποκτεῖναι πάντας τοὺς Οἰοβάζου παῖδας.
Oeobazus then was overjoyed, hoping that his sons had been released from the campaign. But Darius ordered those appointed over these matters to kill all the sons of Oeobazus.
- 4.84.1τριῶν ἐόντων οἱ παίδων
Genitive absolute construction. The third-person singular pronoun in the dative, οἱ (equivalent to Attic αὐτῷ), acts as a dative of possession with the participle ἐόντων, meaning "since he had three children."
- 4.84.1ὡς φίλῳ ἐόντι
The conjunction ὡς with the dative participles ἐόντι and δεομένῳ expresses the subjective reason or ground from the viewpoint of the main subject (Darius), meaning "as to one who was...". The dative case agrees with the implied indirect object (Oeobazus).
- 4.84.2τοὺς ἐπὶ τούτων ἐπεστεῶτας
ἐπεστεῶτας is the Ionic form of the perfect active participle ἐφεστηκότας (from ἐφίστημι). Combined with the preposition ἐπί and the genitive τούτων (neuter plural, referring here to the task of execution), it means "those appointed over these matters" (i.e., the executioners).
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — note 1