- 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-grc2:7.137.1-7.137.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Although the wrath of Talthybius ceased temporarily, it was later rekindled during the Peloponnesian War, leading to the tragic execution of the sons of Sperthias and Bulis by the Athenians. Herodotus considers this event a clear manifestation of divine justice.
οὕτω ἡ Ταλθυβίου μῆνις καὶ ταῦτα ποιησάντων Σπαρτιητέων ἐπαύσατο τὸ παραυτίκα, καίπερ ἀπονοστησάντων1 ἐς Σπάρτην Σπερθίεώ τε καὶ Βούλιος. χρόνῳ δὲ μετέπειτα πολλῷ ἐπηγέρθη κατὰ τὸν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων πόλεμον, ὡς λέγουσι Λακεδαιμόνιοι. τοῦτο μοι ἐν τοῖσι θειότατον2 φαίνεται γενέσθαι.
Thus the wrath of Talthybius ceased for the immediate present because the Spartans had done this, even though Sperthias and Bulis returned safe to Sparta. But a long time afterwards, it was aroused during the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, as the Lacedaemonians say. This seems to me to have been a most divine occurrence.
ὅτι μὲν γὰρ κατέσκηψε ἐς ἀγγέλους ἡ Ταλθυβίου μῆνις οὐδὲ ἐπαύσατο πρὶν ἢ ἐξῆλθε, τὸ δίκαιον οὕτω ἔφερε· τὸ δὲ συμπεσεῖν ἐς τοὺς παῖδας τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων τῶν ἀναβάντων πρὸς βασιλέα διὰ τὴν μῆνιν, ἐς Νικόλαν τε τὸν Βούλιος καὶ ἐς Ἀνήριστον τὸν Σπερθίεω, ὃς εἷλε Ἁλιέας τοὺς ἐκ Τίρυνθος ὁλκάδι καταπλώσας πλήρεϊ ἀνδρῶν, δῆλον ὦν μοι ὅτι3 θεῖον ἐγένετο τὸ πρῆγμα ἐκ τῆς μήνιος·
For that the wrath of Talthybius fell upon messengers, and did not cease until it was satisfied, was but just; but that it should fall upon the sons of those men who went up to the King because of the wrath—namely, upon Nicolas the son of Bulis and Aneristus the son of Sperthias (the same who captured the Halieis from Tiryns by sailing down in a merchant vessel full of men)—makes it clear to me that the matter was indeed a divine event arising from that wrath.
οἳ4 γὰρ πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἄγγελοι ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην, προδοθέντες δὲ ὑπὸ Σιτάλκεω τοῦ Τήρεω Θρηίκων βασιλέος καὶ Νυμφοδώρου τοῦ Πύθεω ἀνδρὸς Ἀβδηρίτεω, ἥλωσαν κατὰ Βισάνθην τὴν ἐν Ἑλλησπόντῳ, καὶ ἀπαχθέντες ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἀπέθανον ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων, μετὰ δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ Ἀριστέας ὁ Ἀδειμάντου Κορίνθιος ἀνήρ. ταῦτα μέν νυν πολλοῖσι ἔτεσι ὕστερον ἐγένετο τοῦ βασιλέος στόλου,5 ἐπάνειμι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πρότερον λόγον.
For these men, having been sent as messengers by the Lacedaemonians to Asia, and having been betrayed by Sitalces the son of Teres, king of the Thracians, and by Nymphodorus the son of Pythes, a man of Abdera, were captured near Bisanthe on the Hellespont; and having been carried off to Attica, they were put to death by the Athenians, and with them also Aristeas the son of Adeimantus, a Corinthian. These things, however, happened many years after the King’s expedition; and I shall now return to my former narrative.
- 7.137.1καίπερ ἀπονοστησάντων
A genitive absolute construction with the concessive particle καίπερ (καίπερ ἀπονοστησάντων Σπερθίεώ τε καὶ Βούλιος), meaning "even though Sperthias and Bulis had returned."
- 7.137.1ἐν τοῖσι θειότατον
A characteristic Herodotian idiom where the superlative is strengthened by the dative plural of the demonstrative pronoun with ἐν (ἐν τοῖσι θειότατον), meaning "among the most divine" or "especially divine."
- 7.137.2τὸ δὲ συμπεσεῖν ... δῆλον ὦν μοι ὅτι...
An anacoluthon (broken grammatical sequence) where the sentence starts with the articular infinitive in the nominative τὸ δὲ συμπεσεῖν... ("but that it should fall upon...") as the intended subject, but due to intervening explanatory phrases, it resolves directly into δῆλον ὦν μοι ὅτι... ("it is clear to me then that...") without a main finite verb for the initial subject.
- 7.137.3οἳ
A relative pronoun used in a coordinating or connecting sense at the beginning of a sentence, functioning as a demonstrative pronoun ("they" / "these men") referring back to Nicolas and Aneristus.
- 7.137.3τοῦ βασιλέος στόλου
A genitive of comparison dependent on the comparative adverb ὕστερον ("later than the King's expedition").