- 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-grc2:8.105.1-8.105.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The passage describes how Hermotimus was castrated by Panionius of Chios, who made a living from this business, and how Hermotimus eventually became the most highly valued eunuch under King Xerxes.
τῷ μεγίστη τίσις ἤδη ἀδικηθέντι1 ἐγένετο πάντων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. ἁλόντα γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ πολεμίων καὶ πωλεόμενον ὠνέεται Πανιώνιος ἀνὴρ Χῖος, ὃς τὴν ζόην κατεστήσατο ἀπʼ ἔργων ἀνοσιωτάτων· ὅκως γὰρ κτήσαιτο2 παῖδας εἴδεος ἐπαμμένους,3 ἐκτάμνων ἀγινέων ἐπώλεε ἐς Σάρδις τε καὶ Ἔφεσον χρημάτων μεγάλων.
To this man, who had been wronged, there came the greatest vengeance of all that we know. For when he had been captured by enemies and was being offered for sale, a Chian man named Panionius bought him, who made his living from the most impious deeds; for whenever he acquired boys of beautiful appearance, he would castrate them and take them to Sardis and Ephesus and sell them for great sums of money.
παρὰ γὰρ τοῖσι βαρβάροισι τιμιώτεροι εἰσὶ οἱ εὐνοῦχοι πίστιος εἵνεκα τῆς πάσης τῶν ἐνορχίων.4 ἄλλους τε δὴ ὁ Πανιώνιος ἐξέταμε πολλούς, ἅτε ποιεύμενος ἐκ τούτου τὴν ζόην, καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦτον. καὶ οὐ γὰρ τὰ πάντα ἐδυστύχεε ὁ Ἑρμότιμος, ἀπικνέεται ἐκ τῶν Σαρδίων παρὰ βασιλέα μετʼ ἄλλων δώρων, χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος πάντων τῶν εὐνούχων ἐτιμήθη μάλιστα παρὰ Ξέρξῃ.
For among the barbarians, eunuchs are more valued than those who are not castrated, because of their complete trustworthiness. So Panionius castrated many others, since he made his living from this, and indeed this man too. And since Hermotimus was not unfortunate in all things, he came from Sardis to the king along with other gifts, and as time went on, he was honored most of all the eunuchs by Xerxes.
- 8.105.1τῷ ... ἀδικηθέντι
Dative articular participle. Grammatically, it functions as a dative of interest ('happened to him') with the verb ἐγένετο, while being modified by the following participle ἀδικηθέντι ('having been wronged').
- 8.105.1ὅκως γὰρ κτήσαιτο
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic form of ὅπως) followed by the optative κτήσαιτο expresses a repeated action in the past ('whenever he acquired').
- 8.105.1εἴδεος ἐπαμμένους
εἴδεος is the Ionic genitive of εἶδος (appearance, beauty), governed by the perfect passive participle ἐπαμμένους (Ionic for ἐφημμένους, from ἐφάπτω 'to bind to'), meaning 'endowed with, possessing'.
- 8.105.2τῶν ἐνορχίων
Genitive plural of the adjective ἐνόρχης (not castrated, having testicles), functioning as a genitive of comparison with the comparative adjective τιμιώτεροι ('more valued than those who are not castrated').