- 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-grc2:6.79.1-6.79.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Cleomenes obtained information from deserters and deceitfully called out the Argives trapped in the sacred precinct to kill them in groups of fifty, until one of them climbed a tree and witnessed the slaughter, prompting the rest to refuse to come out.
ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ὁ Κλεομένης ἐποίεε τοιόνδε. ἔχων αὐτομόλους ἄνδρας καὶ πυνθανόμενος τούτων,1 ἐξεκάλεε πέμπων κήρυκα ὀνομαστὶ λέγων τῶν Ἀργείων τοὺς ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ ἀπεργμένους, ἐξεκάλεε δὲ φὰς αὐτῶν ἔχειν τὰ ἄποινα. ἄποινα δὲ ἐστὶ Πελοποννησίοισι δύο μνέαι τεταγμέναι κατʼ ἄνδρα αἰχμάλωτον ἐκτίνειν. κατὰ πεντήκοντα δὴ ὦν τῶν Ἀργείων ὡς ἑκάστους2 ἐκκαλεύμενος ὁ Κλεομένης ἔκτεινε.
Thereupon Cleomenes did as follows. Having deserters with him and learning from them, he sent a herald and called out by name those of the Argives who were shut up in the sacred precinct, and he called them out, saying that he had received their ransom. Now, for the Peloponnesians, the ransom is fixed at two minae to be paid for each captive. So Cleomenes called them out about fifty at a time and put them to death.
ταῦτα δέ κως γινόμενα ἐλελήθεε3 τοὺς λοιποὺς τοὺς ἐν τῷ τεμένεϊ· ἅτε γὰρ πυκνοῦ ἐόντος τοῦ ἄλσεος, οὐκ ὥρων οἱ ἐντὸς τοὺς ἐκτὸς ὅ τι ἔπρησσον, πρίν γε δὴ αὐτῶν τις ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ δένδρον κατεῖδε τὸ ποιεύμενον.4 οὔκων δὴ ἔτι καλεόμενοι ἐξήισαν.
But that this was being done remained somehow unknown to the rest who were in the sacred precinct; for, as the grove was thick, those inside could not see what those outside were doing, until indeed one of them climbed up a tree and saw what was being done. After that, they would no longer come out when they were called.
- 6.79.1τούτων
The genitive τούτων ('from them') is used with the participle πυνθανόμενος ('inquiring/learning') to denote the source of the information.
- 6.79.1κατὰ πεντήκοντα ... ὡς ἑκάστους
The preposition κατά with the numeral πεντήκοντα ('fifty') expresses a distributive sense ('by fifties'), which, combined with ὡς ἑκάστους ('each/severally'), means 'in groups of fifty at a time successively.'
- 6.79.2ταῦτα δέ κως γινόμενα ἐλελήθεε
The verb λανθάνω (Ionic pluperfect ἐλελήθεε) is construed with the participle γινόμενα, meaning 'to do something escape notice.' With ταῦτα as the subject, it means 'that these things were happening escaped the notice of...'
- 6.79.2πρίν γε δὴ αὐτῶν τις ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ δένδρον κατεῖδε τὸ ποιεύμενον
The temporal conjunction πρίν is followed by the indicative past (κατεῖδε) in a sentence where the main clause is virtually negative ('it was unknown'), indicating that the state of ignorance continued 'until' a specific past event actually occurred ('until one of them climbed a tree and saw...').
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — note 1