- 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-grc2:5.66.1-5.66.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
In Athens, which grew stronger after being freed from tyrants, Cleisthenes and Isagoras vied for power. To overcome his disadvantage, Cleisthenes allied with the common people and reorganized the traditional four tribes into ten new tribes named after local heroes.
Ἀθῆναι, ἐοῦσαι καὶ πρὶν μεγάλαι, τότε ἀπαλλαχθεῖσαι τυράννων ἐγίνοντο μέζονες· ἐν δὲ αὐτῇσι δύο ἄνδρες ἐδυνάστευον, Κλεισθένης τε ἀνὴρ Ἀλκμεωνίδης, ὅς περ δὴ λόγον ἔχει τὴν Πυθίην ἀναπεῖσαι,1 καὶ Ἰσαγόρης Τισάνδρου οἰκίης μὲν ἐὼν δοκίμου, ἀτὰρ τὰ ἀνέκαθεν οὐκ ἔχω φράσαι· θύουσι δὲ οἱ συγγενέες αὐτοῦ Διὶ Καρίῳ.
Athens, which had been great even before, then having been freed from tyrants, became still greater. In Athens, two men were vying for power: Cleisthenes, a man of the Alcmaeonid family, the very one who is rumored to have bribed the Pythia, and Isagoras the son of Tisander, who was of an illustrious house, though I cannot declare his ancestry; but his kinsmen sacrifice to Carian Zeus.
οὗτοι οἱ ἄνδρες ἐστασίασαν περὶ δυνάμιος, ἑσσούμενος2 δὲ ὁ Κλεισθένης τὸν δῆμον προσεταιρίζεται. μετὰ δὲ τετραφύλους ἐόντας Ἀθηναίους δεκαφύλους ἐποίησε, τῶν Ἴωνος παίδων Γελέοντος καὶ Αἰγικόρεος καὶ Ἀργάδεω καὶ Ὅπλητος ἀπαλλάξας τὰς ἐπωνυμίας, ἐξευρὼν δὲ ἑτέρων ἡρώων ἐπωνυμίας ἐπιχωρίων, πάρεξ Αἴαντος· τοῦτον δὲ ἅτε ἀστυγείτονα καὶ σύμμαχον, ξεῖνον ἐόντα προσέθετο.
These men contended for power, and Cleisthenes, being worsted, won the common people to his side. Thereafter, he made the Athenians, who had been divided into four tribes, into ten tribes, doing away with the names derived from the sons of Ion—Geleon, Aegicores, Argades, and Hoples—and devising names from other indigenous heroes, except for Ajax; him, though he was a foreigner, he added as being a neighbor and an ally.
- 5.66.1λόγον ἔχει τὴν Πυθίην ἀναπεῖσαι
The expression 'λόγον ἔχει' ('he is rumored' or 'is said to') takes an accusative and infinitive construction (τὴν Πυθίην ἀναπεῖσαι). The verb 'ἀναπεῖσαι' (aorist active infinitive of ἀναπείθω), beyond its basic meaning of 'to persuade', carries a contextual connotation of 'to win over by improper means' or 'to bribe'.
- 5.66.2ἑσσούμενος
This is the present middle-passive participle of the verb ἑσσόομαι (the Ionic form of the Attic ἡσσάομαι, 'to be defeated' or 'be inferior'). Here, it represents an ongoing state of 'being worsted' or 'getting the worse of it' in the political rivalry, serving as the causal or circumstantial background to the main verb.