- 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-grc2:6.125.1-6.125.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The famous anecdote of how the Alcmaeonid family acquired their great wealth is recounted, detailing how Alcmaeon assisted Croesus' envoys and was rewarded with as much gold dust as he could carry out from the treasury, which he did by stuffing it into his clothes, boots, and mouth.
οἱ δὲ Ἀλκμεωνίδαι ἦσαν μὲν καὶ τὰ ἀνέκαθεν1 λαμπροὶ ἐν τῇσι Ἀθήνῃσι, ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀλκμέωνος καὶ αὖτις Μεγακλέος ἐγένοντο καὶ κάρτα λαμπροί.
The Alcmaeonidae were illustrious in Athens even from of old, but from the time of Alcmaeon and later Megacles they became exceedingly illustrious.
τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ Ἀλκμέων ὁ Μεγακλέος τοῖσι ἐκ Σαρδίων Λυδοῖσι παρὰ Κροίσου ἀπικνεομένοισι ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστήριον τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖσι συμπρήκτωρ τε ἐγίνετο καὶ συνελάμβανε προθύμως, καί μιν Κροῖσος πυθόμενος τῶν Λυδῶν τῶν ἐς τὰ χρηστήρια φοιτεόντων ἑωυτὸν εὖ ποιέειν μεταπέμπεται ἐς Σάρδις, ἀπικόμενον δὲ δωρέεται χρυσῷ τὸν ἂν δύνηται2 τῷ ἑωυτοῦ σώματι ἐξενείκασθαι ἐσάπαξ.
For in the first place, Alcmaeon the son of Megacles became a helper to the Lydians from Sardis who came from Croesus to the oracle at Delphi, and assisted them eagerly; and Croesus, learning from the Lydians who frequented the oracles that Alcmaeon had done him a service, summoned him to Sardis, and upon his arrival presented him with as much gold as he could carry out at one time on his own person.
ὁ δὲ Ἀλκμέων πρὸς τὴν δωρεὴν ἐοῦσαν τοιαύτην τοιάδε ἐπιτηδεύσας προσέφερε·3 ἐνδὺς κιθῶνα μέγαν καὶ κόλπον βαθὺν καταλιπόμενος τοῦ κιθῶνος, κοθόρνους τε τοὺς εὕρισκε εὐρυτάτους ἐόντας ὑποδησάμενος, ἤιε ἐς τὸν θησαυρὸν ἐς τόν οἱ κατηγέοντο.
Alcmaeon, preparing himself as follows for a gift of this kind, applied himself to the task: having put on a large tunic and left a deep fold in it, and having shod himself with the widest boots he could find, he went into the treasury to which they guided him.
ἐσπεσὼν δὲ ἐς σωρὸν ψήγματος πρῶτα μὲν παρέσαξε παρὰ τὰς κνήμας τοῦ χρυσοῦ ὅσον ἐχώρεον οἱ κόθορνοι, μετὰ δὲ τὸν κόλπον πάντα πλησάμενος τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐς τὰς τρίχας τῆς κεφαλῆς διαπάσας τοῦ ψήγματος καὶ ἄλλο λαβὼν ἐς τὸ στόμα, ἐξήιε ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ ἕλκων μὲν μόγις τοὺς κοθόρνους, παντὶ δὲ τεῷ4 οἰκὼς μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώπῳ· τοῦ τό τε στόμα ἐβέβυστο καὶ πάντα ἐξώγκωτο.
Falling upon a heap of gold dust, first he stuffed into his boots, around his shins, as much gold as they would hold; next, he filled his whole fold with gold, sprinkled some of the gold dust into the hair of his head, and took more into his mouth, and then came out of the treasury, barely dragging his boots, looking like anything rather than a human being; for his mouth was stuffed full and everything was bloated.
ἰδόντα δὲ τὸν Κροῖσον γέλως ἐσῆλθε,5 καί οἱ πάντα τε ἐκεῖνα διδοῖ καὶ πρὸς ἕτερα δωρέεται οὐκ ἐλάσσω ἐκείνων. οὕτω μὲν ἐπλούτησε ἡ οἰκίη αὕτη μεγάλως, καὶ ὁ Ἀλκμέων οὗτος οὕτω τεθριπποτροφήσας Ὀλυμπιάδα ἀναιρέεται.
When Croesus saw him, laughter came upon him, and he not only gave him all that gold but also presented him with other gifts no less valuable than those. Thus this house became exceedingly rich, and this Alcmaeon, keeping a four-horse chariot in this way, won a victory at the Olympic games.
- 6.125.1τὰ ἀνέκαθεν
Adverbial accusative meaning 'from of old' or 'originally'.
- 6.125.2τὸν ἂν δύνηται
The relative pronoun τὸν has its antecedent (the demonstrative τοσοῦτον) omitted. The combination of the subjunctive δύνηται with the particle ἂν forms a general relative clause ('as much as he might be able').
- 6.125.3προσέφερε
Imperfect of προσφέρω. Here used intransitively (or reflexively) meaning 'to conduct oneself' or 'to apply oneself to', constructed with the prepositional phrase πρὸς τὴν δωρεὴν ('in response to the gift').
- 6.125.4παντὶ δὲ τεῷ
τεῷ is the Ionic dialect form for the dative singular of the indefinite pronoun τινί. The perfect participle οἰκώς (from ἔοικα, 'to be like') governs the dative, meaning 'resembling anything rather than a human being'.
- 6.125.5ἰδόντα δὲ τὸν Κροῖσον γέλως ἐσῆλθε
The accusative phrase ἰδόντα τὸν Κροῖσον is the direct object of the verb ἐσῆλθε, whose subject is γέλως ('laughter'). The construction literally says 'laughter entered Croesus who saw him', expressing 'Croesus fell into laughter upon seeing him'.