- 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-grc2:7.153.1-7.153.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
Finishing the account of the Argives, the author introduces the ancestry of Gelon of Sicily, describing how his ancestor Telines, despite being reputed as effeminate, restored exiles to Gela using only the sacred objects of the underworld deities and thereby secured the priesthood for his descendants.
τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἀργείων εἴρηται· ἐς δὲ τὴν Σικελίην ἄλλοι τε ἀπίκατο ἄγγελοι ἀπὸ τῶν συμμάχων συμμίξοντες Γέλωνι καὶ δὴ καὶ ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων Σύαγρος. τοῦ δὲ Γέλωνος τούτου πρόγονος, οἰκήτωρ ὁ ἐν Γέλῃ, ἦν ἐκ νήσου Τήλου τῆς ἐπὶ Τριοπίῳ κειμένης· ὃς κτιζομένης Γέλης ὑπὸ Λινδίων τε τῶν ἐκ Ῥόδου καὶ Ἀντιφήμου οὐκ ἐλείφθη.
What concerns the Argives has been told. On the other hand, other envoys from the allies had arrived in Sicily to meet with Gelon, and in particular Syagrus from the Lacedaemonians. An ancestor of this Gelon, who was a settler in Gela, was from the island of Telos, which lies off Triopion. When Gela was being founded by the Lindians from Rhodes and by Antiphemus, he was not left behind.
ἀνὰ χρόνον δὲ αὐτοῦ οἱ ἀπόγονοι γενόμενοι ἱροφάνται τῶν χθονίων θεῶν διετέλεον ἐόντες, Τηλίνεω ἑνός τευ τῶν προγόνων κτησαμένου1 τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐς Μακτώριον πόλιν τὴν ὑπὲρ Γέλης οἰκημένην ἔφυγον ἄνδρες Γελῴων στάσι ἑσσωθέντες·
In course of time his descendants became and continued to be priests of the underworld deities, after Telines, one of their ancestors, had acquired it in the following manner. Some men of Gela, having been defeated in a factional strife, fled to the city of Mactorium, which is situated above Gela.
τούτους ὦν ὁ Τηλίνης κατήγαγε ἐς Γέλην, ἔχων οὐδεμίαν ἀνδρῶν δύναμιν ἀλλὰ ἱρὰ τούτων τῶν θεῶν· ὅθεν δὲ αὐτὰ ἔλαβε ἢ αὐτὸς ἐκτήσατο, τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν· τούτοισι δʼ ὦν πίσυνος ἐὼν κατήγαγε, ἐπʼ ᾧ τε2 οἱ ἀπόγονοι αὐτοῦ ἱροφάνται τῶν θεῶν ἔσονται.
Now Telines brought these men back to Gela, having no force of men but only the sacred objects of these deities. From where he received them or how he himself acquired them, this I cannot say; but trusting in these, at any rate, he brought them back, on the condition that his descendants should be the priests of the deities.
θῶμά μοι ὦν καὶ τοῦτο γέγονε πρὸς τὰ πυνθάνομαι, κατεργάσασθαι3 Τηλίνην ἔργον τοσοῦτον· τὰ τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἔργα οὐ πρὸς τοῦ ἅπαντος ἀνδρὸς4 νενόμικα γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ψυχῆς τε ἀγαθῆς καὶ ῥώμης ἀνδρηίης· ὁ δὲ λέγεται πρὸς τῆς Σικελίης τῶν οἰκητόρων τὰ ὑπεναντία τούτων πεφυκέναι θηλυδρίης τε καὶ μαλακώτερος ἀνὴρ.
Therefore, in view of what I learn, this also has become a wonder to me, that Telines accomplished so great a deed; for I do not think such deeds belong to any ordinary man, but rather to a noble soul and manly strength. Yet he is said by the inhabitants of Sicily to have been of a nature contrary to these things, an effeminate and rather soft man.
- 7.153.2κτησαμένου
Genitive absolute construction with Τηλίνεω as the subject, explaining the historical cause or circumstance of how the descendants came to hold the priesthood.
- 7.153.3ἐπʼ ᾧ τε
An idiomatic expression meaning "on condition that," here taking the future indicative (ἔσονται).
- 7.153.4κατεργάσασθαι
Infinitive in apposition to τοῦτο, explaining the specific content of the "wonder" (θῶμα), meaning "that Telines accomplished...".
- 7.153.4πρὸς τοῦ ἅπαντος ἀνδρὸς
Preposition πρός with the genitive case, meaning "belonging to" or "characteristic of" an ordinary man. Note the contrast in usage with πρὸς τῆς Σικελίης τῶν οἰκητόρων later in the same sentence, which denotes the agent ("by").