- 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-grc2:5.44.1-5.44.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Regarding Dorieus' involvement in the war between Croton and Sybaris, the Sybarites claim he aided Croton in capturing their city, while the Crotoniates deny any foreign assistance except for that of the prophet Callias.
τὸν χρόνον δὲ τοῦτον, ὡς λέγουσι Συβαρῖται, σφέας τε αὐτοὺς καὶ Τῆλυν τὸν ἑωυτῶν βασιλέα ἐπὶ Κρότωνα μέλλειν1 στρατεύεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ Κροτωνιήτας περιδεέας γενομένους δεηθῆναι Δωριέος σφίσι τιμωρῆσαι καὶ τυχεῖν δεηθέντας·2 συστρατεύεσθαί τε δὴ ἐπὶ Σύβαριν Δωριέα καὶ συνελεῖν τὴν Σύβαριν.
At this time, as the Sybarites say, they themselves and Telys their king were about to march against Croton, and the Crotoniates, becoming terrified, begged Dorieus to help them and had their request granted; and indeed Dorieus joined in the campaign against Sybaris and helped to capture Sybaris.
ταῦτα μέν νυν Συβαρῖται λέγουσι ποιῆσαι Δωριέα τε καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, Κροτωνιῆται δὲ οὐδένα σφίσι φασὶ ξεῖνον προσεπιλαβέσθαι3 τοῦ πρὸς Συβαρίτας πολέμου εἰ μὴ Καλλίην τῶν Ἰαμιδέων μάντιν Ἠλεῖον μοῦνον, καὶ τοῦτον τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· παρὰ Τήλυος τοῦ Συβαριτέων τυράννου ἀποδράντα ἀπικέσθαι παρὰ σφέας, ἐπείτε οἱ τὰ ἱρὰ οὐ προεχώρεε χρηστὰ θυομένῳ4 ἐπὶ Κρότωνα.
Now this is what the Sybarites say Dorieus and his men did, but the Crotoniates say that no foreigner helped them in the war against the Sybarites except only Callias, an Elean prophet of the family of the Iamidae, and he did so in the following manner: he had run away from Telys, the tyrant of Sybaris, and came to them, because when he was offering sacrifice for the campaign against Croton, the omens did not turn out favorable for him.
- 5.44.1ὡς λέγουσι Συβαρῖται ... μέλλειν
Following the parenthetical clause ὡς λέγουσι ('as the Sybarites say'), where a finite verb (μέλλουσι) would normally be expected, the infinitive of indirect discourse μέλλειν is used. This is a characteristic Herodotean syntactic feature employed to sustain the reportative tone throughout the narrative.
- 5.44.1τυχεῖν δεηθέντας
The aorist infinitive τυχεῖν ('to obtain') combined with the aorist participle δεηθέντας ('having begged') expresses the idiomatic sense of 'to obtain what they begged for' (i.e., that their request for help was granted by Dorieus).
- 5.44.2προσεπιλαβέσθαι
The middle-voice verb προσεπιλαμβάνομαι takes a genitive object (here τοῦ πρὸς Συβαρίτας πολέμου) to mean 'to take part in, help in, or take a share in' the war.
- 5.44.2οἱ τὰ ἱρὰ οὐ προεχώρεε χρηστὰ θυομένῳ
The present middle participle θυομένῳ ('when sacrificing') agrees with the dative pronoun οἱ ('for him'). The verb προεχώρεε combined with the neuter plural χρηστά is used impersonally to mean 'things went well', here referring to the ritual omens not turning out favorable for him.