- 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-grc2:6.37.1-6.37.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Miltiades is captured by the Lampsacenes, but King Croesus of Lydia secures his release by threatening to destroy them like a pine tree, a metaphor whose meaning the Lampsacenes eventually decipher.
ἀποτειχίσας ὦν τὸν αὐχένα τῆς Χερσονήσου ὁ Μιλτιάδης καὶ τοὺς Ἀψινθίους τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ ὠσάμενος, τῶν λοιπῶν πρώτοισι ἐπολέμησε Λαμψακηνοῖσι· καί μιν οἱ Λαμψακηνοὶ λοχήσαντες αἱρέουσι ζωγρίῃ. ἦν δὲ ὁ Μιλτιάδης Κροίσῳ τῷ Λυδῷ ἐν γνώμῃ γεγονώς·1 πυθόμενος ὦν ὁ Κροῖσος ταῦτα, πέμπων προηγόρευε τοῖσι Λαμψακηνοῖσι μετιέναι Μιλτιάδεα· εἰ δὲ μή σφεας πίτυος τρόπον ἀπείλεε ἐκτρίψειν.
Miltiades, having thus walled off the neck of the Chersonese and repulsed the Apsinthians in this manner, waged war first of all the remaining peoples against the Lampsacenes; but the Lampsacenes took him alive in an ambush. Now Miltiades had come to be in high favor with Croesus the Lydian; therefore Croesus, when he learned of this, sent messengers and commanded the Lampsacenes to let Miltiades go; otherwise, he threatened that he would wipe them out like a pine tree.
πλανωμένων δὲ τῶν Λαμψακηνῶν ἐν τοῖσι λόγοισι τὸ θέλει τὸ ἔπος εἶναι2 τό σφι ἀπείλησε ὁ Κροῖσος, πίτυος τρόπον ἐκτρίψειν, μόγις κοτὲ μαθὼν τῶν τις πρεσβυτέρων εἶπε τὸ ἐόν, ὅτι πίτυς μούνη πάντων δενδρέων ἐκκοπεῖσα βλαστὸν οὐδένα μετιεῖ ἀλλὰ πανώλεθρος ἐξαπόλλυται. δείσαντες ὦν οἱ Λαμψακηνοὶ Κροῖσον λύσαντες μετῆκαν Μιλτιάδεα.
While the Lampsacenes were wondering in uncertainty in their discussions as to what the saying might mean which Croesus had threatened them with—to wipe them out like a pine tree—at last, one of the elders, having with difficulty grasped the truth, explained what it actually was: namely, that the pine is the only one of all trees which, when cut down, sends forth no shoot but perishes utterly. Therefore, the Lampsacenes, fearing Croesus, released Miltiades and let him go.
- 6.37.1Κροίσῳ τῷ Λυδῷ ἐν γνώμῃ γεγονώς
The phrase ἐν γνώμῃ γίγνεσθαι with the dative Κροίσῳ is an idiomatic expression meaning 'to be in favor with someone' or 'to please someone.' The perfect participle γεγονώς combined with the copula ἦν functions periphrastically to express a state in the past (equivalent to a pluperfect).
- 6.37.2τὸ θέλει τὸ ἔπος εἶναι
The verb θέλει (ἐθέλω) is frequently used by Herodotus with inanimate subjects to mean 'to signify' or 'to mean.' Here, τὸ functions as a relative (or indirect interrogative) pronoun, with the entire clause τὸ θέλει τὸ ἔπος εἶναι forming a noun phrase meaning 'what the saying means,' which serves as the object of perplexity for πλανωμένων.