§1.129.1ἐόντι δὲ αἰχμαλώτῳ τῷ Ἀστυάγεϊ προσστὰς ὁ Ἅρπαγος κατέχαιρέ τε καὶ κατεκερτόμεε, καὶ ἄλλα λέγων ἐς αὐτὸν θυμαλγέα ἔπεα, καὶ δὴ καὶ εἴρετό μιν πρὸς τὸ ἑωυτοῦ δεῖπνον, τὸ μιν ἐκεῖνος σαρξὶ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐθοίνησε, ὅ τι εἴη ἡ ἐκείνου δουλοσύνη ἀντὶ τῆς βασιληίης.
Standing before Astyages, who was now a prisoner, Harpagus exulted over him and mocked him; and besides saying other words to him that were painful to his heart, he particularly asked him, in reference to his own banquet—the one with which that man had feasted him on the flesh of his own child—what his slavery was like in exchange for his kingship.
§1.129.2ὁ δέ μιν προσιδὼν ἀντείρετο εἰ ἑωυτοῦ ποιέεται τὸ Κύρου ἔργον.
But Astyages, looking at him, asked in return whether he made Cyrus's deed his own.
Ἅρπαγος δὲ ἔφη, αὐτὸς γὰρ γράψαι, τὸ πρῆγμα ἑωυτοῦ δὴ δικαίως εἶναι.
Harpagus said that, since he himself had written the letter, the affair was indeed justly his own.
§1.129.3Ἀστυάγης δέ μιν ἀπέφαινε τῷ λόγῳ σκαιότατόν τε καὶ ἀδικώτατον ἐόντα πάντων ἀνθρώπων, σκαιότατον μέν γε, εἰ παρεὸν αὐτῷ βασιλέα γενέσθαι, εἰ δὴ διʼ ἑωυτοῦ γε ἐπρήχθη τὰ παρεόντα, ἄλλῳ περιέθηκε τὸ κράτος, ἀδικώτατον δέ, ὅτι τοῦ δείπνου εἵνεκεν Μήδους κατεδούλωσε.
Then Astyages proved him by argument to be the most foolish and most unjust of all men: the most foolish, because, if indeed the present events had been brought about through him, when it was possible for himself to become king, he had bestowed the power upon another; and the most unjust, because for the sake of a dinner he had enslaved the Medes.
§1.129.4εἰ γὰρ δὴ δεῖν πάντως περιθεῖναι ἄλλῳ τεῷ τὴν βασιληίην καὶ μὴ αὐτὸν ἔχειν, δικαιότερον εἶναι Μήδων τεῷ περιβαλεῖν τοῦτο τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἢ Περσέων.
For if it was indeed necessary by all means to bestow the kingship upon some other person and not to hold it himself, it would have been more just to invest some Mede with this good fortune rather than a Persian.
νῦν δὲ Μήδους μὲν ἀναιτίους τούτου ἐόντας δούλους ἀντὶ δεσποτέων γεγονέναι, Πέρσας δὲ δούλους ἐόντας τὸ πρὶν Μήδων νῦν γεγονέναι δεσπότας.
But now, the Medes, who were guiltless in this matter, had become slaves instead of masters, and the Persians, who were formerly the slaves of the Medes, had now become masters.