- 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-grc2:6.139.1-6.139.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Suffering from famine and barrenness as punishment for their crime, the Pelasgians seek a remedy from Delphi and offer reparations to Athens, but they refuse the Athenian demands by proposing an impossible sailing condition.
ἀποκτείνασι δὲ τοῖσι Πελασγοῖσι1 τοὺς σφετέρους παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας οὔτε γῆ καρπὸν ἔφερε οὔτε γυναῖκές τε καὶ ποῖμναι ὁμοίως ἔτικτον καὶ πρὸ τοῦ. πιεζόμενοι δὲ λιμῷ καὶ ἀπαιδίῃ ἐς Δελφοὺς ἔπεμπον λύσιν τινὰ αἰτησόμενοι τῶν παρεόντων κακῶν.
And when the Pelasgians had killed their own children and wives, neither did the earth bear fruit for them, nor did their women and flocks bring forth offspring as before. Being hard pressed by famine and childlessness, they sent to Delphi to ask for some release from their present evils.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφέας ἐκέλευε Ἀθηναίοισι δίκας διδόναι ταύτας τὰς ἂν αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι δικάσωσι.2 ἦλθόν τε δὴ ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας οἱ Πελασγοὶ καὶ δίκας ἐπαγγέλλοντο βουλόμενοι διδόναι παντὸς τοῦ ἀδικήματος.
And the Pythia ordered them to pay such penalties to the Athenians as the Athenians themselves should adjudge. So the Pelasgians came to Athens and offered to pay penalties for all their wrongdoing, wishing to do so.
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ἐν τῷ πρυτανηίῳ κλίνην στρώσαντες ὡς εἶχον κάλλιστα καὶ τράπεζαν ἐπιπλέην ἀγαθῶν πάντων παραθέντες, ἐκέλευον τοὺς Πελασγοὺς τὴν χώρην σφίσι παραδιδόναι οὕτω ἔχουσαν.3
But the Athenians, having spread a couch in the prytaneum as beautifully as they could, and having set beside it a table full of all good things, ordered the Pelasgians to deliver up their land to them in such a condition.
οἱ δὲ Πελασγοὶ ὑπολαβόντες εἶπαν ἐπεὰν βορέῃ ἀνέμῳ αὐτημερὸν ἐξανύσῃ4 νηῦς ἐκ τῆς ὑμετέρης ἐς τὴν ἡμετέρην, τότε παραδώσομεν, ἐπιστάμενοι τοῦτο εἶναι ἀδύνατον γενέσθαι. ἡ γὰρ Ἀττικὴ πρὸς νότον κεῖται πολλὸν τῆς Λήμνου.
And the Pelasgians answered and said: “Whenever a ship, with a north wind, shall accomplish the voyage from your land to ours in a single day, then we will deliver it up,” knowing that this was impossible to happen. For Attica lies far to the south of Lemnos.
- 6.139.1ἀποκτείνασι δὲ τοῖσι Πελασγοῖσι
Analyzed as a dative of disadvantage (dativus incommodi), meaning "for the Pelasgians who had killed their own children and wives."
- 6.139.2ταύτας τὰς ἂν αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι δικάσωσι
The relative clause features ἂν with the subjunctive (aorist), expressing a future general condition or expectation: "such [penalties] as the Athenians themselves should adjudge."
- 6.139.3οὕτω ἔχουσαν
A feminine accusative singular participle modifying τὴν χώρην ("the land"), indicating the state in which the land is to be delivered: "in such a condition" (i.e., as richly furnished as the couch and table prepared by the Athenians).
- 6.139.4ἐπεὰν ... ἐξανύσῃ
The construction ἐπεάν (equivalent to ἐπειδάν) with the subjunctive (aorist) expresses a future conditional limitation: "whenever / once [a ship] shall have accomplished."