- 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-grc2:6.74.1-6.74.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Cleomenes flees after his conspiracy against Demaratus is exposed, and attempts to instigate a rebellion against Sparta in Arcadia by forcing its leaders to swear by the water of the Styx, the spring of which in Nonacris is described.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κλεομένεα ἐπάιστον γενόμενον κακοτεχνήσαντα ἐς Δημάρητον δεῖμα ἔλαβε Σπαρτιητέων,1 καὶ ὑπεξέσχε ἐς Θεσσαλίην. ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ἀπικόμενος ἐς τὴν Ἀρκαδίην νεώτερα ἔπρησσε πρήγματα, συνιστὰς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἐπὶ τῆ Σπάρτῃ, ἄλλους τε ὅρκους προσάγων σφι ἦ μὲν ἕψεσθαι σφέας αὐτῷ2 τῇ ἂν ἐξηγέηται, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐς Νώνακριν πόλιν πρόθυμος ἦν τῶν Ἀρκάδων τοὺς προεστεῶτας ἀγινέων ἐξορκοῦν τὸ Στυγὸς ὕδωρ.3
After these events, when it became known that Cleomenes had acted maliciously against Demaratus, fear of the Spartans seized him, and he withdrew secretly to Thessaly. Arriving from there in Arcadia, he began to plot revolutionary activities, uniting the Arcadians against Sparta and binding them by other oaths, to the effect that they would surely follow him wherever he might lead; and in particular, he was eager to bring the leaders of the Arcadians to the city of Nonacris to bind them by oath by the water of the Styx.
ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ πόλι λέγεται εἶναι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρκάδων4 τὸ Στυγὸς ὕδωρ, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔστι τοιόνδε τι· ὕδωρ ὀλίγον φαινόμενον ἐκ πέτρης στάζει ἐς ἄγκος, τὸ δὲ ἄγκος αἱμασιῆς τις περιθέει κύκλος. ἡ δὲ Νώνακρις, ἐν τῇ ἡ πηγὴ αὕτη τυγχάνει ἐοῦσα, πόλις ἐστὶ τῆς Ἀρκαδίης πρὸς Φενεῷ.
In this city, the water of the Styx is said by the Arcadians to exist, and indeed it is something of this sort: a small amount of water appearing trickles from a rock into a hollow, and a certain stone wall runs around the hollow in a circle. Now Nonacris, in which this spring happens to be, is a city of Arcadia near Pheneus.
- 6.74.1Κλεομένεα ... δεῖμα ἔλαβε Σπαρτιητέων
The accusative Κλεομένεα is the direct object of the verb ἔλαβε and is modified by the preceding circumstantial participle phrase ἐπάιστον γενόμενον ... (having been detected). The genitive Σπαρτιητέων depending on δεῖμα (fear) is a subjective genitive, meaning 'fear inspired by the Spartans' (i.e. fear of the Spartans).
- 6.74.1ἦ μὲν ἕψεσθαι σφέας αὐτῷ
The particles ἦ μὲν introduce the content of a solemn oath. The subject of the future infinitive ἕψεσθαι is the accusative σφέας (referring to the Arcadians), and the dative αὐτῷ is the object (referring to Cleomenes) governed by the verb of following.
- 6.74.1ἐξορκοῦν τὸ Στυγὸς ὕδωρ
The verb ἐξορκόω (to bind by oath) governs a double accusative: the person who is bound (here τοὺς προεστεῶτας, the leaders) and the object sworn by (here τὸ Στυγὸς ὕδωρ, the water of the Styx).
- 6.74.2λέγεται εἶναι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρκάδων
The prepositional phrase ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρκάδων expresses the agent of the passive verb λέγεται (it is said). The infinitive εἶναι is used existentially, meaning 'to exist' or 'to be present'.