- 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-grc2:5.67.1-5.67.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Cleisthenes of Athens, in reforming the tribes, imitated his maternal grandfather and namesake, Cleisthenes the tyrant of Sicyon. The elder Cleisthenes, out of hostility toward Argos, had banned rhapsodic competitions and sought to expel the Argive hero Adrastus by installing his bitter enemy Melanippus and transferring Adrastus' honors to him.
ταῦτα δέ, δοκέειν ἐμοί,1 ἐμιμέετο ὁ Κλεισθένης οὗτος τὸν ἑωυτοῦ μητροπάτορα Κλεισθένεα τὸν Σικυῶνος τύραννον. Κλεισθένης γὰρ Ἀργείοισι πολεμήσας τοῦτο μὲν ῥαψῳδοὺς ἔπαυσε ἐν Σικυῶνι ἀγωνίζεσθαι τῶν Ὁμηρείων ἐπέων εἵνεκα, ὅτι Ἀργεῖοί τε καὶ Ἄργος τὰ πολλὰ πάντα ὑμνέαται· τοῦτο δέ,2 ἡρώιον γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἔστι ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἀγορῇ τῶν Σικυωνίων Ἀδρήστου τοῦ Ταλαοῦ, τοῦτον ἐπεθύμησε ὁ Κλεισθένης ἐόντα Ἀργεῖον ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς χώρης.
In my opinion, this Cleisthenes was imitating his own maternal grandfather, Cleisthenes the tyrant of Sicyon. For Cleisthenes, having waged war against the Argives, on the one hand stopped the rhapsodists from competing in Sicyon on account of the Homeric verses, because the Argives and Argos are celebrated in almost all of them; on the other hand, since there was and still is a hero-shrine of Adrastus, son of Talaus, in the very marketplace of the Sicyonians, Cleisthenes, because Adrastus was an Argive, desired to cast him out of the country.
ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐχρηστηριάζετο εἰ ἐκβάλοι3 τὸν Ἄδρηστον· ἡ δὲ Πυθίη οἱ χρᾷ φᾶσα Ἄδρηστον μὲν εἶναι Σικυωνίων βασιλέα, κεῖνον δὲ λευστῆρα. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ θεὸς τοῦτό γε οὐ παρεδίδου, ἀπελθὼν ὀπίσω ἐφρόντιζε μηχανὴν τῇ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἄδρηστος ἀπαλλάξεται. ὡς δέ οἱ ἐξευρῆσθαι ἐδόκεε,4 πέμψας ἐς Θήβας τὰς Βοιωτίας ἔφη θέλειν ἐπαγαγέσθαι Μελάνιππον τὸν Ἀστακοῦ· οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι ἔδοσαν.
He went to Delphi and consulted the oracle as to whether he might cast Adrastus out; but the Pythia gave him an oracle, saying that Adrastus was the king of the Sicyonians, whereas he was a stone-thrower. Since the god would not grant him this, he went back and devised a scheme by which Adrastus himself would depart. When it seemed to him that he had found a way, he sent to Boeotian Thebes, saying that he wished to introduce Melanippus, the son of Astacus; and the Thebans gave him.
ἐπαγαγόμενος δὲ ὁ Κλεισθένης τὸν Μελάνιππον τέμενός οἱ ἀπέδεξε ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πρυτανηίῳ καί μιν ἵδρυσε ἐνθαῦτα ἐν τῷ ἰσχυροτάτῳ. ἐπηγάγετο δὲ τὸν Μελάνιππον ὁ Κλεισθένης (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο δεῖ ἀπηγήσασθαι) ὡς ἔχθιστον ἐόντα5 Ἀδρήστῳ, ὃς τόν τε ἀδελφεόν οἱ Μηκιστέα ἀπεκτόνεε καὶ τὸν γαμβρὸν Τυδέα.
Having introduced Melanippus, Cleisthenes designated a sacred precinct for him in the very prytaneum and established him there in the strongest place. Cleisthenes introduced Melanippus—for this too must be related—because he was the bitterest enemy of Adrastus, having killed his brother Mecisteus and his son-in-law Tydeus.
ἐπείτε δέ οἱ τὸ τέμενος ἀπέδεξε, θυσίας τε καὶ ὁρτὰς Ἀδρήστου ἀπελόμενος ἔδωκε τῷ Μελανίππῳ. οἱ δὲ Σικυώνιοι ἐώθεσαν μεγαλωστὶ κάρτα τιμᾶν τὸν Ἄδρηστον· ἡ γὰρ χώρη ἦν αὕτη Πολύβου, ὁ δὲ Ἄδρηστος ἦν Πολύβου θυγατριδέος, ἄπαις δὲ Πόλυβος τελευτῶν διδοῖ Ἀδρήστῳ τὴν ἀρχήν.
When he had designated the precinct for him, he took away the sacrifices and festivals of Adrastus and gave them to Melanippus. Now the Sicyonians had been accustomed to honor Adrastus very greatly; for this country had belonged to Polybus, and Adrastus was the grandson of Polybus by his daughter, and Polybus, dying without children, left the rule to Adrastus.
τά τε δὴ ἄλλα οἱ Σικυώνιοι ἐτίμων τὸν Ἄδρηστον καὶ δὴ πρὸς τὰ πάθεα αὐτοῦ τραγικοῖσι χοροῖσι ἐγέραιρον, τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον οὐ τιμῶντες, τὸν δὲ Ἄδρηστον. Κλεισθένης δὲ χοροὺς μὲν τῷ Διονύσῳ ἀπέδωκε, τὴν δὲ ἄλλην θυσίην Μελανίππῳ.
The Sicyonians honored Adrastus in other ways, and especially they glorified his sufferings with tragic choruses, not honoring Dionysus, but Adrastus. But Cleisthenes restored the choruses to Dionysus, and the rest of the sacrifice to Melanippus.
- 5.67.1δοκέειν ἐμοί
An absolute infinitive construction acting as a parenthetical expression, meaning "in my opinion" or "as it seems to me."
- 5.67.1τοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δέ
Used adverbially in a correlative sense, equivalent to τὸ μὲν ... τὸ δέ, establishing a contrast: "on the one hand... on the other hand."
- 5.67.2εἰ ἐκβάλοι
An oblique optative (optativus obliquus) in an indirect question introduced by εἰ. Since the main verb ἐχρηστηριάζετο is in the past tense (imperfect), it represents a deliberative subjunctive εἰ ἐκβάλω ("whether I should cast out") shifted into the optative.
- 5.67.2ὡς δέ οἱ ἐξευρῆσθαι ἐδόκεε
The perfect passive infinitive ἐξευρῆσθαι serves as the subject (or complement) of the impersonal verb ἐδόκεε ("it seemed"), with οἱ as a dative of agent, meaning "and when it seemed to him that [a scheme] had been discovered."
- 5.67.3ὡς ἔχθιστον ἐόντα
A participle clause with the conjunction ὡς, expressing a subjective reason or allegation: "on the grounds of being the bitterest enemy [to Adrastus]."
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 1