- 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-grc2:6.60.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Explains that the offices of heralds, flute-players, and cooks among the Lacedaemonians are hereditary, just as among the Egyptians.
συμφέρονται δὲ καὶ τάδε Αἰγυπτίοισι Λακεδαιμόνιοι· οἱ κήρυκες αὐτῶν καὶ αὐληταὶ καὶ μάγειροι ἐκδέκονται τὰς πατρωίας τέχνας, καὶ αὐλητής τε αὐλητέω1 γίνεται καὶ μάγειρος μαγείρου καὶ κῆρυξ κήρυκος· οὐ κατὰ λαμπροφωνίην ἐπιτιθέμενοι2 ἄλλοι σφέας παρακληίουσι,3 ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰ πάτρια ἐπιτελέουσι.
And the Lacedaemonians agree also in these things with the Egyptians: their heralds, flute-players, and cooks inherit their ancestral crafts, and a flute-player is born from a flute-player, a cook from a cook, and a herald from a herald; others do not, by applying themselves to these crafts on account of a clear voice, shut them out, but they perform their duties according to ancestral custom.
- 6.60.1αὐλητέω
Genitive of origin with γίνεται, meaning "a flute-player is born from a flute-player." The subsequent genitives μαγείρου and κήρυκος function in the same way, concisely expressing the hereditary nature of these occupations.
- 6.60.1ἐπιτιθέμενοι
Nominative masculine plural of the present participle of the verb ἐπιτίθεμαι (to apply oneself to, attempt), modifying the subject ἄλλοι (others). In this context, it means "by applying themselves to these crafts" or "by making an attempt on these offices."
- 6.60.1παρακληίουσι
Third-person plural present active indicative of παρακληίω (to shut out, exclude). Its object σφέας (them) refers to the hereditary practitioners, meaning that others do not exclude them from their offices based on merit (such as a clear voice).