- 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-grc2:5.65.1-5.65.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Due to the capture of their children, the Pisistratidae agree to surrender and leave Attica, freeing Athens from tyranny. Before recounting the subsequent history of Athens, the author explains the Pylian origin of the tyrant family.
καὶ οὐδέν τι πάντως ἂν ἐξεῖλον1 Πεισιστρατίδας οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι· οὔτε γὰρ ἐπέδρην ἐπενόεον ποιήσασθαι, οἵ τε Πεισιστρατίδαι σίτοισι καὶ ποτοῖσι εὖ παρεσκευάδατο, πολιορκήσαντές τε ἂν ἡμέρας ὀλίγας ἀπαλλάσσοντο ἐς τὴν Σπάρτην. νῦν δὲ συντυχίη τοῖσι μὲν κακὴ ἐπεγένετο, τοῖσι δὲ ἡ αὐτὴ αὕτη σύμμαχος· ὑπεκτιθέμενοι2 γὰρ ἔξω τῆς χώρης οἱ παῖδες τῶν Πεισιστρατιδέων ἥλωσαν.
And the Lacedaemonians would certainly not have taken the Pisistratidae at all; for they did not intend to conduct a long siege, and the Pisistratidae were well provisioned with food and drink, so that after besieging them for a few days they would have departed for Sparta. But as it was, a turn of fortune occurred, a bad one for the former, but this very same fortune as an ally for the latter; for the children of the Pisistratidae, while being secretly sent out of the country, were captured.
τοῦτο δὲ ὡς ἐγένετο, πάντα αὐτῶν τὰ πρήγματα συνετετάρακτο, παρέστησαν δὲ ἐπὶ μισθῷ τοῖσι τέκνοισι,3 ἐπʼ οἷσι ἐβούλοντο οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὥστε ἐν πέντε ἡμέρῃσι ἐκχωρῆσαι ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς.
When this happened, all their affairs were thrown into confusion, and they surrendered on the condition of getting their children back, on whatever terms the Athenians wished, so that they should depart from Attica within five days.
μετὰ δὲ ἐξεχώρησαν ἐς Σίγειον τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ Σκαμάνδρῳ, ἄρξαντες μὲν Ἀθηναίων ἐπʼ ἔτεα ἕξ τε καὶ τριήκοντα, ἐόντες δὲ καὶ οὗτοι ἀνέκαθεν Πύλιοί τε καὶ Νηλεῖδαι, ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν γεγονότες καὶ οἱ ἀμφὶ Κόδρον τε καὶ Μέλανθον, οἳ πρότερον ἐπήλυδες ἐόντες ἐγένοντο Ἀθηναίων βασιλέες.
Thereafter they departed for Sigeum on the Scamander, having ruled the Athenians for thirty-six years; they too were originally Pylians and Neleidae, descended from the same ancestors as Codrus and Melanthus and their house, who in former times had become kings of the Athenians, though they had been immigrants.
ἐπὶ τούτου δὲ καὶ τὠυτὸ οὔνομα ἀπεμνημόνευσε Ἱπποκράτης τῷ παιδὶ θέσθαι τὸν Πεισίστρατον,4 ἐπὶ τοῦ Νέστορος Πεισιστράτου ποιεύμενος τὴν ἐπωνυμίην.
On this account, Hippocrates also minded to give his child the same name, Pisistratus, taking the name from Pisistratus the son of Nestor.
οὕτω μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι τυράννων ἀπαλλάχθησαν· ὅσα δὲ ἐλευθερωθέντες ἔρξαν ἢ ἔπαθον ἀξιόχρεα ἀπηγήσιος, πρὶν ἢ Ἰωνίην τε ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ Δαρείου καὶ Ἀρισταγόρεα τὸν Μιλήσιον ἀπικόμενον ἐς Ἀθήνας χρηίσαι σφέων βοηθέειν, ταῦτα πρῶτα φράσω.
In this way the Athenians were freed from tyrants; and what worthy of mention they did or suffered after they were freed, before Ionia revolted from Darius and Aristagoras the Milesian arrived in Athens to ask for their help, these things I shall tell first.
- 5.65.1ἂν ἐξεῖλον
Expresses the apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact condition with the protasis omitted. The following clauses (οὔτε γὰρ...) explain why they would not have taken them if the children had not been captured.
- 5.65.1ὑπεκτιθέμενοι
Middle-passive present participle of ὑπεκτίθημι. It carries an imperfective aspect, indicating an action in progress or attempted: 'while being secretly sent out (for safety)'.
- 5.65.2παρέστησαν δὲ ἐπὶ μισθῷ τοῖσι τέκνοισι
παρέστησαν is the intransitive active second aorist meaning 'they surrendered'. The preposition ἐπί with the dative indicates the condition, which is further defined by the dative noun phrase τοῖσι τέκνοισι ('on the condition/ransom of their children').
- 5.65.4ἀπεμνημόνευσε ... τῷ παιδὶ θέσθαι τὸν Πεισίστρατον
The infinitive θέσθαι ('to give/set a name') functions as the complement of ἀπεμνημόνευσε ('minded/recalled'). τὸν Πεισίστρατον is the direct object of the infinitive, meaning 'to give his child (τῷ παιδὶ) the same name (τὠυτὸ οὔνομα), namely Pisistratus'.