- 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-grc2:9.109.1-9.109.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Xerxes receives a splendid robe from Amestris and gives it to Artaynte, setting the stage for his secret affair to be discovered by the queen.
χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος ἀνάπυστα γίνεται τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐξυφήνασα Ἄμηστρις ἡ Ξέρξεω γυνὴ φᾶρος μέγα τε καὶ ποικίλον καὶ θέης ἄξιον διδοῖ Ξέρξῃ. ὁ δὲ ἡσθεὶς περιβάλλεταί τε καὶ ἔρχεται παρὰ τὴν Ἀρταΰντην·
As time went on, the matter became known in the following way. Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, having woven a large, richly patterned, and wondrously beautiful robe, gave it to Xerxes. He, being pleased, put it on and went to Artaynte.
ἡσθεὶς δὲ καὶ ταύτῃ1 ἐκέλευσε αὐτὴν αἰτῆσαι ὃ τι βούλεταί οἱ γενέσθαι ἀντὶ τῶν αὐτῷ ὑπουργημένων· πάντα γὰρ τεύξεσθαι αἰτήσασαν.2 τῇ δὲ κακῶς γὰρ ἔδεε πανοικίῃ γενέσθαι, πρὸς ταῦτα εἶπε Ξέρξῃ δώσεις μοι τὸ ἄν σε αἰτήσω; ὁ δὲ πᾶν μᾶλλον δοκέων κείνην αἰτῆσαι ὑπισχνέετο καὶ ὤμοσε. ἣ δὲ ὡς ὤμοσε ἀδεῶς αἰτέει τὸ φᾶρος.
And being pleased with her too, he bade her ask for whatever she wished to be done for her in return for her services to him; for he said she would obtain everything she asked. But since she was destined to meet with disaster, she and all her house, she said to Xerxes in response to this: “Will you give me whatever I ask of you?” He, thinking that she would ask for anything rather than that robe, promised and swore an oath. And she, as soon as he had sworn, asked for the robe without fear.
Ξέρξης δὲ παντοῖος ἐγίνετο3 οὐ βουλόμενος δοῦναι, κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, φοβεόμενος δὲ Ἄμηστριν, μὴ καὶ πρὶν κατεικαζούσῃ4 τὰ γινόμενα οὕτω ἐπευρεθῇ πρήσσων· ἀλλὰ πόλις τε ἐδίδου καὶ χρυσὸν ἄπλετον καὶ στρατόν, τοῦ ἔμελλε οὐδεὶς ἄρξειν ἀλλʼ ἢ ἐκείνη. Περσικὸν δὲ κάρτα ὁ στρατὸς δῶρον. ἀλλʼ οὐ γὰρ ἔπειθε, διδοῖ τὸ φᾶρος. ἣ δὲ περιχαρὴς ἐοῦσα τῷ δώρῳ ἐφόρεέ τε καὶ ἀγάλλετο.
Xerxes tried every means, being unwilling to give it, for no other reason than that he feared Amestris, lest he should be detected doing what he was doing by her, who even before this had suspected what was going on. Instead, he offered to give her cities, and boundless gold, and an army of which no one but she should have command—and an army is a preeminently Persian gift. But since he could not persuade her, he gave her the robe; and she, overjoyed with the gift, wore it and took pride in it.
- 9.109.2ταύτῃ
Feminine singular dative of the demonstrative pronoun, referring to Artaynte. In contrast to the preceding sentence where Xerxes was pleased with the robe (neuter), here the object of his pleasure shifts to the person.
- 9.109.2τεύξεσθαι αἰτήσασαν
The accusative feminine singular participle αἰτήσασαν serves either as the logical subject of the future infinitive τεύξεσθαι ('that she would obtain') or expresses a conditional force ('if she asked'). It agrees with αὐτήν, which is the direct object of the main verb ἐκέλευσε.
- 9.109.3παντοῖος ἐγίνετο
Literally 'he became of all kinds,' an idiomatic expression meaning 'he tried every possible means' or 'he resorted to all kinds of pleas and excuses' in order to avoid giving the robe.
- 9.109.3κατεικαζούσῃ
Present participle feminine singular dative. Semantically it modifies the preceding accusative Amestris (Ἄμηστριν), but due to a syntactic shift (anakolouthon), it has been attracted into the dative case to function as the dative of agent or interest with the subsequent passive verb ἐπευρεθῇ ('be detected').