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Herodotus · Histories §1.100.1-1.100.2

Deioces's Written Justice and Network of Spies

Passage 100 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Deioces established a strict system of written judicial administration and deployed spies and eavesdroppers throughout his kingdom to punish any acts of lawlessness.

§1.100.1ἐπείτε δὲ ταῦτα διεκόσμησε καὶ ἐκράτυνε ἑωυτὸν τῇ τυραννίδι, ἦν τὸ δίκαιον φυλάσσων χαλεπός·
When he had arranged these matters and secured himself in the tyranny, he was strict in guarding justice.
καὶ τάς τε δίκας γράφοντες ἔσω παρʼ ἐκεῖνον ἐσπέμπεσκον, καὶ ἐκεῖνος διακρίνων τὰς ἐσφερομένας ἐκπέμπεσκε.
They would write down their lawsuits and send them inside to him, and he, after judging the cases brought in, would send them back out.
§1.100.2ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ τὰς δίκας ἐποίεε, τάδε δὲ ἄλλα ἐκεκοσμέατὸ οἱ· εἴ τινα πυνθάνοιτο ὑβρίζοντα, τοῦτον ὅκως μεταπέμψαιτο κατʼ ἀξίην ἑκάστου ἀδικήματος ἐδικαίευ, καὶ οἱ κατάσκοποί τε καὶ κατήκοοι ἦσαν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν χώρην τῆς ἦρχε.
This is what he did regarding the lawsuits, but these other arrangements had also been established for him: if he should learn of anyone committing acts of insolence, he would summon him and punish him according to the desert of each offense; and he had spies and eavesdroppers throughout all the land over which he ruled.

Notes

  1. 1.100.1ἦν τὸ δίκαιον φυλάσσων χαλεπός — This can be interpreted either as a periphrastic construction where the copula ἦν is combined with the participle φυλάσσων, or as a participle clause specifying the area ('in guarding justice') in which he was strict (ἦν χαλεπός). In either case, it emphasizes Deioces' uncompromising strictness in maintaining the law.
  2. 1.100.1ἐσπέμπεσκον / ἐκπέμπεσκε — These are iterative imperfects characterized by the suffix -sk-, common in the Ionic dialect, which denote repeated or habitual actions in the past ('they used to send in' / 'he used to send out').
  3. 1.100.2ἐκεκοσμέατό οἱ — This is the third-person plural pluperfect passive of κοσμέω (the Ionic form ending in -ατο, corresponding to Attic ἐκεκόσμηντο) agreeing with the neuter plural subject τάδε ἄλλα. The pronoun οἱ is a dative of interest/possession ('for him').
  4. 1.100.2ὅκως μεταπέμψαιτο — The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) followed by the optative indicates here a repeated action in the past ('whenever he summoned them'), or perhaps means ('how he might summon them'). It functions as part of the habitual sequence of events dependent on the conditional clause (εἴ... πυνθάνοιτο) and leading to the main verb ἐδικαίευ.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.100.1-1.100.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.100.1-1.100.2

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