- 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-grc2:5.92D.1-5.92D.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Labda overhears the conspirators' plan and hides her child in a chest; the searchers return empty-handed and falsely report that they have executed their mission.
ἔδει δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἠετίωνος γόνου Κορίνθῳ κακὰ ἀναβλαστεῖν.1 ἡ Λάβδα γὰρ πάντα ταῦτα ἤκουε ἑστεῶσα πρὸς αὐτῇσι τῇσι θύρῃσι· δείσασα δὲ μή σφι μεταδόξῃ καὶ τὸ δεύτερον λαβόντες τὸ παιδίον ἀποκτείνωσι, φέρουσα κατακρύπτει ἐς τὸ ἀφραστότατόν οἱ ἐφαίνετο εἶναι,2 ἐς κυψέλην, ἐπισταμένη ὡς εἰ ὑποστρέψαντες ἐς ζήτησιν ἀπικνεοίατο πάντα ἐρευνήσειν μέλλοιεν· τὰ δὴ καὶ ἐγίνετο.
But it was destined that from the offspring of Eetion evils should sprout up for Corinth. For Labda was listening to all this, standing close by the very doors; and fearing lest they should change their minds and, taking the child a second time, kill it, she carried and hid it in what seemed to her to be the most unsuspected place, in a chest, knowing that if they should return to search, they would be likely to search everywhere; which indeed actually happened.
ἐλθοῦσι δὲ καὶ διζημένοισι αὐτοῖσι ὡς οὐκ ἐφαίνετο,3 ἐδόκεε ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι καὶ λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς ἀποπέμψαντας ὡς πάντα ποιήσειαν τὰ ἐκεῖνοι ἐνετείλαντο. οἳ μὲν δὴ ἀπελθόντες ἔλεγον ταῦτα.
And when they came and searched but the child did not appear to them, it seemed best to them to depart and to say to those who had sent them that they had done all that they had commanded. So they departed and said this.
- 5.92D.1ἔδει δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἠετίωνος γόνου Κορίνθῳ κακὰ ἀναβλαστεῖν
The impersonal verb ἔδει takes an accusative and infinitive construction (with κακά as the subject and ἀναβλαστεῖν as the infinitive), expressing inevitable destiny. Κορίνθῳ is a dative of disadvantage, indicating that the evils would arise 'for Corinth'.
- 5.92D.1τὸ ἀφραστότατόν οἱ ἐφαίνετο εἶναι
οἱ is the dative of the third-person singular pronoun (dative of reference), meaning 'to her' (Labda). It limits the superlative adjective ἀφραστότατον ('the most unsuspected' or 'the most hidden').
- 5.92D.2ἐλθοῦσι δὲ καὶ διζημένοισι αὐτοῖσι ὡς οὐκ ἐφαίνετο
The dative participle phrase ἐλθοῦσι δὲ καὶ διζημένοισι αὐτοῖσι depends on the subsequent impersonal verb ἐδόκεε ('it seemed good to them' / 'they decided'). In the ὡς clause ('when/since'), the subject ('the child') is omitted from the context.