- 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-grc2:6.63.1-6.63.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Ariston's third wife gives birth to Demaratus in less than ten months, prompting Ariston to declare that the child cannot be his, a statement he later regrets. The origin of the name Demaratus is explained by the prayer of the Spartan people.
οὕτω μὲν δὴ τὴν τρίτην ἐσηγάγετο γυναῖκα ὁ Ἀρίστων, τὴν δευτέρην ἀποπεμψάμενος. ἐν δέ οἱ χρόνῳ ἐλάσσονι καὶ οὐ πληρώσασα τοὺς δέκα μῆνας ἡ γυνὴ αὕτη τίκτει τοῦτον δὴ τὸν Δημάρητον.
In this way, then, Ariston brought in his third wife, having sent away the second. And in a shorter time, and not having completed the ten months, this woman gave birth to this very Demaratus.
καί τίς οἱ τῶν οἰκετέων ἐν θώκῳ κατημένῳ μετὰ τῶν ἐφόρων ἐξαγγέλλει ὥς οἱ παῖς γέγονε. ὁ δὲ ἐπιστάμενός τε τὸν χρόνον τῷ1 ἠγάγετο τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ ἐπὶ δακτύλων συμβαλλόμενος τοὺς μῆνας, εἶπε ἀπομόσας οὐκ ἂν ἐμὸς εἴη.2 τοῦτο ἤκουσαν μὲν οἱ ἔφοροι, πρῆγμα μέντοι οὐδὲν ἐποιήσαντο τὸ παραυτίκα. ὁ δὲ παῖς ηὔξετο, καὶ τῷ Ἀρίστωνι τὸ εἰρημένον μετέμελε·3 παῖδα γὰρ τὸν Δημάρητον ἐς τὰ μάλιστά οἱ ἐνόμισε εἶναι.
And one of his servants announced to him, as he was sitting on a seat with the ephors, that a boy had been born to him. But he, knowing the time at which he had married the woman and calculating the months on his fingers, said with an oath: “He cannot be mine.” The ephors heard this, but indeed made nothing of it for the moment. However, the boy grew, and Ariston repented of what had been said; for he came to believe Demaratus to be his own son to the highest degree.
Δημάρητον δὲ αὐτῷ οὔνομα ἔθετο διὰ τόδε· πρότερον τούτων πανδημεὶ Σπαρτιῆται Ἀρίστωνι, ὡς ἀνδρὶ εὐδοκιμέοντι διὰ πάντων δὴ τῶν βασιλέων τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ γενομένων, ἀρὴν ἐποιήσαντο4 παῖδα γενέσθαι.
And he gave him the name Demaratus for this reason: before this, the Spartans, in a body, had made a prayer for Ariston, as a man highly esteemed among all the kings indeed who had been in Sparta, that a child might be born to him.
- 6.63.2τῷ
Relative pronoun. It is the Ionic relative use of the article, corresponding to Attic ᾧ. Here it functions as a dative of time, modifying the antecedent τὸν χρόνον ("the time") to form the relative clause "at which...".
- 6.63.2οὐκ ἂν ἐμὸς εἴη
Potential optative with ἄν. It expresses Ariston's strong logical inference at that moment, conveying a firm, albeit subjective, disbelief: "He cannot be mine" or "He would not be mine."
- 6.63.2τῷ Ἀρίστωνι τὸ εἰρημένον μετέμελε
Past tense of the verb μεταμέλει (to repent/regret), used with a personal subject-like noun. The person who regrets is in the dative (τῷ Ἀρίστωνι), and the object of regret is the subject in the nominative (τὸ εἰρημένον, "what had been said"). Literally, "what had been said caused regret to Ariston," meaning "Ariston regretted what he had said."
- 6.63.3ἀρὴν ἐποιήσαντο
Meaning "to make a prayer" or "to vow." A combination of the noun ἀρή (here, "prayer") and the verb ποιέομαι ("to make"). The following accusative-with-infinitive phrase παῖδα γενέσθαι ("that a child should be born") expresses the content of the prayer. This prayer of the people (δῆμος + ἀρή) serves as the etymological explanation for the name Demaratus (Δημάρητος).