- 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-grc2:9.93.1-9.93.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
As the Greek forces offer sacrifices, the story of Evenius, the father of their seer Deiphonus, is narrated: he was blinded by the citizens of Apollonia for failing to guard the sacred sheep of the Sun, which led to divine wrath and a subsequent oracle.
οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες ἐπισχόντες ταύτην τὴν ἡμέρην τῇ ὑστεραίῃ ἐκαλλιερέοντο, μαντευομένου σφι Δηιφόνου τοῦ Εὐηνίου ἀνδρὸς Ἀπολλωνιήτεω, Ἀπολλωνίης δὲ τῆς ἐν τῷ Ἰονίῳ κόλπῳ. τούτου τὸν πατέρα Εὐήνιον κατέλαβε πρῆγμα τοιόνδε. ἔστι ἐν τῇ Ἀπολλωνίῃ ταύτῃ ἱρὰ ἡλίου πρόβατα, τὰ τὰς μὲν ἡμέρας βόσκεται παρὰ Χῶνα ποταμόν, ὃς ἐκ Λάκμονος ὄρεος ῥέει διὰ τῆς Ἀπολλωνίης χώρης ἐς θάλασσαν παρʼ Ὤρικον λιμένα, τὰς δὲ νύκτας ἀραιρημένοι ἄνδρες οἱ πλούτῳ τε καὶ γένεϊ δοκιμώτατοι τῶν ἀστῶν, οὗτοι φυλάσσουσι1 ἐνιαυτὸν ἕκαστος· περὶ πολλοῦ γὰρ δὴ ποιεῦνται Ἀπολλωνιῆται τὰ πρόβατα ταῦτα ἐκ θεοπροπίου τινός· ἐν δὲ ἄντρῳ αὐλίζονται ἀπὸ τῆς πόλιος ἑκάς.
The Greeks, having waited for this day, offered sacrifices for favorable omens on the next day, while Deiphonus, the son of Evenius, a man of Apollonia, and indeed of that Apollonia in the Ionian gulf, acted as seer for them. A thing of the following sort befell Evenius, the father of this man. There are in this Apollonia certain sacred sheep of the Sun, which by day graze along the river Chon, which flows from Mount Lacmon through the territory of Apollonia into the sea near the harbor of Oricum, but by night, men chosen from the citizens, the most distinguished for wealth and birth, guard these, each for a year; for the Apolloniates hold these sheep in high esteem because of a certain oracle; and they are folded in a cave far from the city.
ἔνθα δὴ τότε ὁ Εὐήνιος οὗτος ἀραιρημένος ἐφύλασσε. καὶ κοτὲ αὐτοῦ κατακοιμήσαντος φυλακὴν2 παρελθόντες λύκοι ἐς τὸ ἄντρον διέφθειραν τῶν προβάτων ὡς ἑξήκοντα. ὁ δὲ ὡς ἐπήισε, εἶχε σιγῇ καὶ ἔφραζε οὐδενί, ἐν νόῳ ἔχων ἀντικαταστήσειν ἄλλα πριάμενος.
There indeed at that time this Evenius, having been chosen, was keeping guard. And once, when he had fallen asleep during his watch, wolves entered the cave and destroyed about sixty of the sheep. When he perceived this, he kept silent and told no one, intending to buy others and substitute them.
καὶ οὐ γὰρ ἔλαθε τοὺς Ἀπολλωνιήτας ταῦτα γενόμενα, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐπύθοντο, ὑπαγαγόντες μιν ὑπὸ δικαστήριον κατέκριναν, ὡς τὴν φυλακὴν κατακοιμήσαντα, τῆς ὄψιος στερηθῆναι.3 ἐπείτε δὲ τὸν Εὐήνιον ἐξετύφλωσαν, αὐτίκα μετὰ ταῦτα οὔτε πρόβατά σφι ἔτικτε οὔτε γῆ ἔφερε ὁμοίως καρπόν.
But this occurrence did not escape the notice of the Apolloniates, and as soon as they learned of it, they brought him before a court of justice and condemned him, on the ground that he had fallen asleep during his watch, to be deprived of his sight. But after they had blinded Evenius, immediately after this, neither did their sheep bear young for them, nor did the land bear fruit as before.
πρόφαντα δέ σφι ἔν τε Δωδώνῃ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖσι ἐγίνετο, ἐπείτε ἐπειρώτων τοὺς προφήτας τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ παρεόντος κακοῦ, οἳ δὲ αὐτοῖσι ἔφραζον ὅτι ἀδίκως τὸν φύλακον τῶν ἱρῶν προβάτων Εὐήνιον τῆς ὄψιος ἐστέρησαν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἐπορμῆσαι τοὺς λύκους, οὐ πρότερόν τε παύσεσθαι τιμωρέοντες ἐκείνῳ πρὶν ἢ δίκας δῶσι τῶν ἐποίησαν ταύτας τὰς ἂν αὐτὸς ἕληται4 καὶ δικαιοῖ· τούτων δὲ τελεομένων αὐτοὶ δώσειν Εὐηνίῳ δόσιν τοιαύτην τὴν πολλούς μιν μακαριεῖν ἀνθρώπων ἔχοντα.
And declarations were made to them both at Dodona and at Delphi, when they asked the prophets the cause of the present evil; and these declared to them that they had unjustly deprived Evenius, the guardian of the sacred sheep, of his sight; for they themselves had sent the wolves, and would not cease from taking vengeance for him until they should give him such recompense for what they had done as he himself should choose and think right; and when this was fulfilled, they themselves would give Evenius such a gift as would cause many men to call him blessed for possessing it.
- 9.93.1ἀραιρημένοι ἄνδρες ... οὗτοι φυλάσσουσι
The perfect passive participle ἀραιρημένοι (Ionic for ᾑρημένοι) is in the nominative plural, but the pronoun οὗτοι is repeated to serve as the subject of the main verb φυλάσσουσι. This is an anacoluthon or pendens structure where the participial phrase is left standing, functioning as an appositive emphasis on the subject.
- 9.93.2αὐτοῦ κατακοιμήσαντος φυλακὴν
αὐτοῦ κατακοιμήσαντος is a genitive absolute. The accusative noun φυλακήν functions either as an accusative of duration of time ('during his watch') or as a cognate-like accusative modifying the action of falling asleep ('sleeping through his watch').
- 9.93.3τῆς ὄψιος στερηθῆναι
This infinitive phrase is the complement of κατέκριναν. The verb κατακρίνω takes an accusative (of the person, here μιν) and an infinitive representing the sentence or punishment. The passive infinitive στερηθῆναι ('to be deprived of') governs the genitive of separation/deprivation τῆς ὄψιος ('sight').
- 9.93.4δίκας δῶσι τῶν ἐποίησαν ταύτας τὰς ἂν αὐτὸς ἕληται
τῶν ἐποίησαν features an attraction of the relative pronoun from τούτων ἃ ἐποίησαν. ταύτας τὰς refers back to δίκας ('recompense'), where τὰς ἂν (Ionic for ἃς ἂν) introduces a relative conditional clause with the subjunctive ἕληται ('such as he himself might choose').