- 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-grc2:6.67.1-6.67.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
After being deposed and taking a minor office, Demaratus is mocked by the new king Leotychides at a festival; he predicts that this insult will bring either great ruin or great fortune to Sparta, and then returns home to sacrifice and summon his mother.
κατὰ μὲν δὴ Δημαρήτου τὴν κατάπαυσιν τῆς βασιληίης οὕτω ἐγένετο, ἔφυγε δὲ Δημάρητος ἐκ Σπάρτης ἐς Μήδους ἐκ τοιοῦδε ὀνείδεος. μετὰ τῆς βασιληίης τὴν κατάπαυσιν ὁ Δημάρητος ἦρχε αἱρεθεὶς ἀρχήν.1
Thus it happened concerning the deposition of Demaratus from his kingship; and Demaratus fled from Sparta to the Medes because of an insult of the following kind. After the deposition from his kingship, Demaratus held an office, having been elected to a magistracy.
ἦσαν μὲν δὴ γυμνοπαιδίαι, θεωμένου δὲ τοῦ Δημαρήτου ὁ Λευτυχίδης γεγονὼς ἤδη βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς ἀντʼ ἐκείνου, πέμψας τὸν θεράποντα ἐπὶ γέλωτί τε καὶ λάσθῃ2 εἰρώτα τὸν Δημάρητον ὁκοῖόν τι εἴη τὸ ἄρχειν μετὰ τὸ βασιλεύειν.
It was the time of the Gymnopaediae, and while Demaratus was watching the festival, Leotychides, who had already become king himself in his place, sent his servant, to mock and insult him, and asked Demaratus what kind of thing it was to hold office after being king.
ὁ δὲ ἀλγήσας τῷ ἐπειρωτήματι εἶπε φὰς3 αὐτὸς μὲν ἀμφοτέρων ἤδη πεπειρῆσθαι, κεῖνον δὲ οὔ, τὴν μέντοι ἐπειρώτησιν ταύτην ἄρξειν4 Λακεδαιμονίοισι ἢ μυρίης κακότητος ἢ μυρίης εὐδαιμονίης. ταῦτα δὲ εἴπας καὶ κατακαλυψάμενος ἤιε ἐκ τοῦ θεήτρου ἐς τὰ ἑωυτοῦ οἰκία, αὐτίκα δὲ παρασκευασάμενος ἔθυε τῷ Διὶ βοῦν, θύσας δὲ τὴν μητέρα ἐκάλεσε.
But he, grieved by the question, replied, saying that he himself had already experienced both, but that man had not; nevertheless, this question would be the beginning for the Lacedaemonians either of infinite misery or of infinite prosperity. Having said this and covered his head, he went out of the theatre to his own house, and immediately making preparations, he sacrificed an ox to Zeus, and having sacrificed, he called his mother.
- 6.67.1αἱρεθεὶς ἀρχήν
ἀρχήν (accusative singular of ἀρχή) is an accusative of respect (specification) or a cognate accusative modifying ἦρχε or the passive participle αἱρεθείς, meaning "having been elected to a public office (magistracy)."
- 6.67.2ἐπὶ γέλωτί τε καὶ λάσθῃ
The preposition ἐπί with the dative case (γέλωτι, λάσθῃ) expresses the purpose or intention of the action ("for the purpose of mockery and insult", "to mock and insult").
- 6.67.3εἶπε φὰς
The indicative aorist εἶπε (said) and the present participle φάς (asserting/saying) are used together pleonastically, a common feature in Herodotus' prose style to introduce direct or indirect speech.
- 6.67.3ἄρξειν
The future infinitive of ἄρχω, used here in indirect discourse with the meaning "to be the beginning of." It governs the dative Λακεδαιμονίοισι ("for the Lacedaemonians") and the genitive ἢ μυρίης κακότητος ἢ μυρίης εὐδαιμονίης ("either of infinite misery or of infinite prosperity").