- 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-grc2:5.92F.1-5.92F.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
After Cypselus' death, his son Periander succeeds as tyrant. Periander sends a messenger to Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus, to ask for advice on ruling, but Thrasybulus responds only with the wordless action of cutting off the tallest ears of corn.
ἄρξαντος δὲ τούτου ἐπὶ τριήκοντα ἔτεα καὶ διαπλέξαντος τὸν βίον εὖ, διάδοχός οἱ1 τῆς τυραννίδος ὁ παῖς Περίανδρος γίνεται. ὁ τοίνυν Περίανδρος κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἦν ἠπιώτερος τοῦ πατρός, ἐπείτε δὲ ὡμίλησε διʼ ἀγγέλων Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλήτου τυράννῳ, πολλῷ ἔτι ἐγένετο Κυψέλου μιαιφονώτερος.
When this man had ruled for thirty years and had brought his life to a good end, his son Periander became his successor to the tyranny. Now Periander was at first milder than his father, but after he had communicated through messengers with Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, he became far more bloodthirsty than Cypselus.
πέμψας γὰρ παρὰ Θρασύβουλον κήρυκα ἐπυνθάνετο ὅντινα ἂν τρόπον ἀσφαλέστατον καταστησάμενος τῶν πρηγμάτων κάλλιστα τὴν πόλιν ἐπιτροπεύοι.2 Θρασύβουλος δὲ τὸν ἐλθόντα παρὰ τοῦ Περιάνδρου ἐξῆγε ἔξω τοῦ ἄστεος, ἐσβὰς δὲ ἐς ἄρουραν ἐσπαρμένην ἅμα τε διεξήιε τὸ λήιον ἐπειρωτῶν τε καὶ ἀναποδίζων τὸν κήρυκα κατὰ τὴν ἀπὸ Κορίνθου ἄπιξιν, καὶ ἐκόλουε αἰεὶ ὅκως τινὰ ἴδοι3 τῶν ἀσταχύων ὑπερέχοντα, κολούων δὲ ἔρριπτε, ἐς ὃ τοῦ ληίου τὸ κάλλιστόν τε καὶ βαθύτατον διέφθειρε τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ·
For he sent a messenger to Thrasybulus and inquired in what safest way he might establish his affairs and best govern the city. Thrasybulus led the messenger who had come from Periander out of the town, and entering a sown field, he walked through the standing corn, questioning and cross-examining the messenger about his journey from Corinth, and all the while he would keep cutting off any of the ears of corn that he saw standing higher than the rest, and as he cut them, he threw them away, until in this manner he had destroyed the finest and tallest of the crop.
διεξελθὼν δὲ τὸ χωρίον καὶ ὑποθέμενος ἔπος οὐδὲν ἀποπέμπει τὸν κήρυκα. νοστήσαντος δὲ τοῦ κήρυκος ἐς τὴν Κόρινθον ἦν πρόθυμος πυνθάνεσθαι τὴν ὑποθήκην ὁ Περίανδρος· ὁ δὲ οὐδέν οἱ ἔφη Θρασύβουλον ὑποθέσθαι, θωμάζειν τε αὐτοῦ παρʼ οἷόν μιν ἄνδρα ἀποπέμψειε,4 ὡς παραπλῆγά τε καὶ τῶν ἑωυτοῦ σινάμωρον, ἀπηγεόμενος τά περ πρὸς Θρασυβούλου ὀπώπεε.
Having gone through the field and given no word of advice, he sent the messenger away. When the messenger returned to Corinth, Periander was eager to learn the advice. But the messenger said that Thrasybulus had given him no advice, and that he wondered at what kind of man Periander had sent him to, as if he were a madman and a destroyer of his own possessions, and he related all that he had seen Thrasybulus do.
- 5.92F.1διάδοχός οἱ
The dative pronoun οἱ (third person singular) expresses possession or relation, modifying the noun διάδοχος ('his successor').
- 5.92F.2ὅντινα ἂν τρόπον ... ἐπιτροπεύοι
The optative ἐπιτροπεύοι with ἂν is a potential optative in an indirect question, representing the direct form 'how might I best govern?' (ἂν ἐπιτροπεύοιμι). The participle καταστησάμενος carries a conditional force ('if he established').
- 5.92F.2ὅκως τινὰ ἴδοι
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως, here used temporally/conditionally) with the optative ἴδοι (aorist of ὁράω) expresses past general repetition ('whenever he saw'). The imperfect verbs ἐκόλουε and ἔρριπτε in the main clause reinforce this repetitive aspect.
- 5.92F.3θωμάζειν τε αὐτοῦ παρʼ οἷόν μιν ἄνδρα ἀποπέμψειε
The infinitive θωμάζειν is part of the indirect discourse introduced by ἔφη. The verb θωμάζω takes the genitive (αὐτοῦ, referring to Periander), while the specific ground of wonder is expressed by the indirect question clause παρʼ οἷόν μιν ἄνδρα ἀποπέμψειε ('to what kind of man he had sent him'). The pronoun μιν is the third-person accusative referring to the messenger himself.