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Herodotus · Histories §1.44.1-1.44.2

Grief of Croesus and His Appeal to Zeus

Passage 44 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Croesus deeply laments the death of his son, complaining to Zeus about the injustice of having his son killed by Adrastus, whom he had purified, and calling upon the god under various attributes.

§1.44.1ὁ δὲ Κροῖσος τῳ θανάτῳ τοῦ παιδὸς συντεταραγμένος μᾶλλον τι ἐδεινολογέετο ὅτι μιν ἀπέκτεινε τὸν αὐτὸς φόνου ἐκάθηρε·
Croesus, deeply distraught by the death of his son, complained all the more bitterly that the very man whom he himself had cleansed of murder had killed him.
§1.44.2περιημεκτέων δὲ τῇ συμφορῇ δεινῶς ἐκάλεε μὲν Δία καθάρσιον μαρτυρόμενος τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ξείνου πεπονθὼς εἴη ἐκάλεε δὲ ἐπίστιόν τε καὶ ἑταιρήιον, τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον ὀνομάζων θεόν, τὸν μὲν ἐπίστιον καλέων, διότι δὴ οἰκίοισι ὑποδεξάμενος τὸν ξεῖνον φονέα τοῦ παιδὸς ἐλάνθανε βόσκων, τὸν δὲ ἑταιρήιον, ὡς φύλακα συμπέμψας αὐτὸν εὑρήκοι πολεμιώτατον.
Terribly grieved by the misfortune, he called upon Zeus the Purifier, calling him to witness what he had suffered at the hands of the stranger; and he called upon him also as the protector of the hearth and of friendship, naming this same god—calling him protector of the hearth because, by receiving the stranger into his house, he had unknowingly been feeding the murderer of his son; and protector of friendship because, having sent him along as a guardian, he had found him to be his bitterest enemy.

Notes

  1. §1.44.1τὸν αὐτὸς φόνου ἐκάθηρε — The antecedent of the relative pronoun τὸν is the omitted subject of the verb ἀπέκτεινε (Adrastus). αὐτὸς refers to Croesus, the subject of the main clause. φόνου is a genitive of separation governed by the verb ἐκάθηρε (to cleanse).
  2. §1.44.2ἐλάνθανε βόσκων — A combination of the verb λανθάνω with the participle βόσκων (from βόσκω, 'to feed'). This is an idiomatic construction meaning 'he was feeding [him] without realizing it.'
  3. §1.44.2εὑρήκοι — Optative mood in the subordinate clause introduced by ὡς. It is an oblique optative in indirect speech (expressing subjective reason) triggered by the past tense verb of the main clause (ἐκάλεε).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.44.1-1.44.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.44.1-1.44.2

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