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Herodotus · Histories §1.114.1-1.114.5

Cyrus Playing King and the Complaint of Artembares

Passage 114 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

At the age of ten, Cyrus is chosen as king by the village children in a game and punishes a noble's son who disobeyed him. The boy's father, Artembares, appeals to King Astyages for the outrage committed against his son.

§1.114.1καὶ ὅτε ἦν δεκαέτης ὁ παῖς, πρῆγμα ἐς αὑτὸν τοιόνδε γενόμενον ἐξέφηνέ μιν.
And when the boy was ten years old, an event that happened to him in the following manner revealed who he was.
ἔπαιζε ἐν τῇ κώμῃ ταύτῃ ἐν τῇ ἦσαν καὶ αἱ βουκολίαι αὗται, ἔπαιζε δὲ μετʼ ἄλλων ἡλίκων ἐν ὁδῷ.
He was playing in this village in which these herds of cattle also were, and he was playing in the road with other boys of his age.
καὶ οἱ παῖδες παίζοντες εἵλοντο ἑωυτῶν βασιλέα εἶναι τοῦτον δὴ τὸν τοῦ βουκόλου ἐπίκλησιν παῖδα.
And the boys, while playing, chose this very boy, who was called the son of the herdsman, to be their king.
§1.114.2ὁ δὲ αὐτῶν διέταξε τοὺς μὲν οἰκίας οἰκοδομέειν, τοὺς δὲ δορυφόρους εἶναι, τὸν δέ κου τινὰ αὐτῶν ὀφθαλμὸν βασιλέος εἶναι, τῷ δὲ τινὶ τὰς ἀγγελίας φέρειν ἐδίδου γέρας, ὡς ἑκάστῳ ἔργον προστάσσων.
And he organized them, ordering some to build houses, others to be his bodyguards, one of them to be the "King's eye," and to another he gave the privilege of bringing messages, assigning a task to each one.
§1.114.3εἷς δὴ τούτων τῶν παίδων συμπαίζων, ἐὼν Ἀρτεμβάρεος παῖς ἀνδρὸς δοκίμου ἐν Μήδοισι, οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἐποίησε τὸ προσταχθὲν ἐκ τοῦ Κύρου, ἐκέλευε αὐτὸν τοὺς ἄλλους παῖδας διαλαβεῖν, πειθομένων δὲ τῶν παίδων ὁ Κῦρος τὸν παῖδα τρηχέως κάρτα περιέσπε μαστιγέων.
But one of these boys who was playing with them, being the son of Artembares, a man of distinction among the Medes, did not do what was ordered of him by Cyrus. Therefore, Cyrus commanded the other boys to seize him, and when the boys obeyed, Cyrus treated the boy very roughly, whipping him.
§1.114.4ὁ δὲ ἐπείτε μετείθη τάχιστα, ὡς γε δὴ ἀνάξια ἑωυτοῦ παθών, μᾶλλόν τι περιημέκτεε, κατελθὼν δὲ ἐς πόλιν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀποικτίζετο τῶν ὑπὸ Κύρου ἤντησε, λέγων δὲ οὐ Κύρου (οὐ γάρ κω ἦν τοῦτο τοὔνομα), ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῦ βουκόλου τοῦ Ἀστυάγεος παιδός. §1.114.5ὁ δὲ Ἀρτεμβάρης ὀργῇ ὡς εἶχε ἐλθὼν παρὰ τὸν Ἀστυάγεα καὶ ἅμα ἀγόμενος τὸν παῖδα ἀνάρσια πρήγματα ἔφη πεπονθέναι, λέγων ὦ βασιλεῦ, ὑπὸ τοῦ σοῦ δούλου, βουκόλου δὲ παιδὸς ὧδε περιυβρίσμεθα, δεικνὺς τοῦ παιδὸς τοὺς ὤμους.
As soon as he was released, feeling that he had suffered things unworthy of his status, he was all the more resentful; and going down to the city, he complained to his father of the treatment he had met with from Cyrus—not saying "from Cyrus" (for he did not yet have this name), but "from the son of Astyages' herdsman." And Artembares, in the anger of his heart, went to Astyages, taking his boy with him, and said that they had suffered intolerable things, saying: "O King, by your slave, who is the son of a herdsman, we have been thus outraged," showing the shoulders of his boy.

Notes

  1. §1.114.1ἐξέφηνέ μιν — μιν is the third-person singular accusative pronoun in the Ionic dialect (equivalent to αὐτόν), serving as the direct object of ἐξέφηνε. The verb ἐξέφηνε means "to bring to light" or "reveal," expressing proleptically that subsequent events would reveal his true identity.
  2. §1.114.1ἐπίκλησιν — An accusative of specification (or adverbial accusative) meaning "by name" or "so-called." It qualifies τὸν τοῦ βουκόλου... παῖδα to indicate that he was only called the herdsman's son, though he was not actually so.
  3. §1.114.4τῶν ὑπὸ Κύρου ἤντησε — The verb ἤντησε (aorist of ἀντάω, "to meet with, experience") governs the genitive case. The relative pronoun has been attracted to the genitive case of its omitted antecedent τούτων, resulting in a condensed structure equivalent to τούτων ὧν ὑπὸ Κύρου ἤντησε ("the things which he met with from Cyrus").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.114.1-1.114.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.114.1-1.114.5

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