- 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-grc2:6.61.1-6.61.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Prompted by Demaratus' slander of Cleomenes, the latter plots to depose him, leading to the narration of the miraculous transformation of King Ariston's third wife from extreme ugliness to unparalleled beauty.
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ οὕτω γίνεται. τότε δὲ τὸν Κλεομένεα ἐόντα ἐν τῇ Αἰγίνῃ καὶ κοινὰ τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἀγαθὰ προεργαζόμενον ὁ Δημάρητος διέβαλε, οὐκ Αἰγινητέων οὕτω κηδόμενος ὡς φθόνῳ καὶ ἄγῃ χρεώμενος.1 Κλεομένης δὲ νοστήσας ἀπʼ Αἰγίνης ἐβούλευε τὸν Δημάρητον παῦσαι τῆς βασιληίης, διὰ πρῆγμα τοιόνδε ἐπίβασιν ἐς αὐτὸν ποιεύμενος. Ἀρίστωνι βασιλεύοντι ἐν Σπάρτῃ καὶ γήμαντι γυναῖκας δύο παῖδες οὐκ ἐγίνοντο.
These things indeed happened in this way. But at that time, Demaratus slandered Cleomenes while he was in Aegina and working beforehand for the common good of Greece, not out of care for the Aeginetans so much as being driven by envy and malice. Cleomenes, having returned from Aegina, planned to depose Demaratus from the kingship, making an attack on him on the basis of the following matter. To Ariston, who was king in Sparta and had married two wives, no children were born.
καὶ οὐ γὰρ συνεγινώσκετο αὐτὸς τούτων εἶναι αἴτιος,2 γαμέει τρίτην γυναῖκα· ὧδε δὲ γαμέει. ἦν οἱ φίλος τῶν Σπαρτιητέων ἀνήρ, τῷ προσέκειτο τῶν ἀστῶν μάλιστα ὁ Ἀρίστων. τούτῳ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐτύγχανε ἐοῦσα γυνὴ καλλίστη μακρῷ τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γυναικῶν, καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι καλλίστη ἐξ αἰσχίστης γενομένη.3
And since he did not acknowledge himself to be the cause of this, he married a third wife; and he married her in this way. He had a friend among the Spartans, to whom Ariston was most closely attached of all the citizens. This man happened to have a wife who was by far the most beautiful of the women in Sparta, and that too after having become the most beautiful from having been the ugliest.
ἐοῦσαν γάρ μιν τὸ εἶδος φλαύρην ἡ τροφὸς αὐτῆς, οἷα ἀνθρώπων τε ὀλβίων θυγατέρα καὶ δυσειδέα ἐοῦσαν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὁρῶσα τοὺς γονέας συμφορὴν τὸ εἶδος αὐτῆς ποιευμένους, ταῦτα ἕκαστα μαθοῦσα ἐπιφράζεται τοιάδε· ἐφόρεε αὐτὴν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην ἐς τὸ τῆς Ἑλένης ἱρόν. τὸ δʼ ἐστὶ ἐν τῇ Θεράπνῃ καλεομένῃ ὕπερθε τοῦ Φοιβηίου ἱροῦ. ὅκως δὲ ἐνείκειε ἡ τροφός, πρός τε τὤγαλμα ἵστα καὶ ἐλίσσετο τὴν θεὸν ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς δυσμορφίης τὸ παιδίον.
For, as her appearance was ugly, her nurse, seeing that she was the daughter of wealthy people and yet deformed, and moreover seeing that her parents considered her appearance a misfortune, after considering each of these things, devised the following plan: she carried her every day to the temple of Helen. This temple is in the place called Therapne, above the temple of Phoebaeum. Whenever the nurse carried her there, she would stand her before the image and entreat the goddess to rid the child of her ugliness.
καὶ δή κοτε ἀπιούσῃ ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ τῇ τροφῷ γυναῖκα λέγεται ἐπιφανῆναι, ἐπιφανεῖσαν δὲ ἐπειρέσθαι μιν ὅ τι φέρει ἐν τῇ ἀγκάλῃ, καὶ τὴν φράσαι ὡς παιδίον φορέει, τὴν δὲ κελεῦσαί οἱ δέξαι, τὴν δὲ οὐ φάναι·4 ἀπειρῆσθαι γάρ οἱ ἐκ τῶν γειναμένων μηδενὶ ἐπιδεικνύναι· τὴν δὲ πάντως ἑωυτῇ κελεύειν ἐπιδέξαι.
And it is said that once, as the nurse was leaving the temple, a woman appeared to her, and having appeared, she asked her what she was carrying in her arms; and the nurse said that she was carrying a child. Then the woman ordered her to show it to her, but the nurse refused, saying that she had been forbidden by the parents to show it to anyone; but the woman ordered her by all means to show it to her.
ὁρῶσαν δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα περὶ πολλοῦ ποιευμένην ἰδέσθαι, οὕτω δὴ τὴν τροφὸν δέξαι τὸ παιδίον· τὴν δὲ καταψῶσαν τοῦ παιδίου τὴν κεφαλὴν εἶπαι ὡς καλλιστεύσει πασέων τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γυναικῶν. ἀπὸ μὲν δὴ ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρης μεταπεσεῖν τὸ εἶδος. γαμέει δὲ δή μιν ἐς γάμου ὥρην ἀπικομένην Ἄγητος ὁ Ἀλκείδεω, οὗτος δὴ ὁ τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος φίλος.
Seeing that the woman made it a matter of great importance to see it, the nurse thus showed the child. And the woman, caressing the child’s head, said that she would become the most beautiful of all the women in Sparta. From that day indeed, her appearance changed. And when she reached the age for marriage, Agetus the son of Alceides, this very friend of Ariston, married her.
- 6.61.1οὐκ Αἰγινητέων οὕτω κηδόμενος ὡς φθόνῳ καὶ ἄγῃ χρεώμενος
Two causal participles are contrasted by οὐχ οὕτω... ὡς (not so much because... as because...). The participle κηδόμενος governs the genitive case (Αἰγινητέων), whereas χρεώμενος governs the dative case (φθόνῳ καὶ ἄγῃ).
- 6.61.2οὐ γὰρ συνεγινώσκετο αὐτὸς τούτων εἶναι αἴτιος
The passive (or middle) voice of συγγινώσκω followed by an infinitive, where the nominative subject αὐτός agrees with the predicate of the infinitive αἴτιος. It means 'he did not acknowledge in himself that he was the cause of these things (genitive τούτων, i.e., having no children)'.
- 6.61.2καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι καλλίστη ἐξ αἰσχίστης γενομένη
The phrase καὶ ταῦτα is an idiomatic expression adding a striking fact to the previous statement ('and that too'). The preposition ἐκ in ἐξ αἰσχίστης denotes the starting point of a change in state ('from being the ugliest').
- 6.61.4καὶ τὴν φράσαι... τὴν δὲ κελεῦσαι... τὴν δὲ οὐ φάναι
An accusative with infinitive construction within indirect speech (governed by λέγεται). The accusative article τὴν functions as a demonstrative pronoun ('she') and serves as the subject of the infinitives (φράσαι, κελεῦσαι, οὐ φάναι). The alternation between τὴν and τὴν δέ marks the change of speakers between the nurse and the appeared woman.