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Herodotus · Histories §3.100.1

Customs of Vegetarian and Nomadic Indians

Passage 504 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Herodotus describes the lifestyle of another tribe of Indians, who do not kill living things, practice no agriculture, live on wild plants, and abandon their sick and dead in the wilderness.

§3.100.1ἑτέρων δὲ ἐστὶ Ἰνδῶν ὅδε ἄλλος τρόπος· οὔτε κτείνουσι οὐδὲν ἔμψυχον οὔτε τι σπείρουσι οὔτε οἰκίας νομίζουσι ἐκτῆσθαι ποιηφαγέουσί τε·
But of other Indians, this is another custom: they neither kill any living thing, nor sow anything, nor are they accustomed to possess houses, and they live on plants.
καὶ αὐτοῖσι ἐστὶ ὅσον κέγχρος τὸ μέγαθος ἐν κάλυκι, αὐτόματον ἐκ τῆς γῆς γινόμενον, τὸ συλλέγοντες αὐτῇ τῇ κάλυκι ἕψουσί τε καὶ σιτέονται.
And they have a certain grain of the size of millet in a husk, which grows spontaneously from the earth; they gather this, husk and all, and boil and eat it.
ὃς δʼ ἂν ἐς νοῦσον αὐτῶν πέσῃ, ἐλθὼν ἐς τὴν ἔρημον κεῖται· φροντίζει δὲ οὐδεὶς οὔτε ἀποθανόντος οὔτε κάμνοντος.
Whoever among them falls into sickness goes into the desert and lies there; and no one cares either for the dead or for the sick.

Notes

  1. §3.100.1νομίζουσι ἐκτῆσθαι — The verb νομίζω followed by the perfect infinitive ἐκτῆσθαι (from κτάομαι "to acquire", meaning "to possess" in the perfect) expresses the meaning "to be accustomed to do" or "to make it a custom to possess".
  2. §3.100.1τὸ μέγαθος — Accusative of respect (accusative of specification), expressing "with respect to size" or "in size". Combined with ὅσον κέγχρος, it means "about the size of millet".
  3. §3.100.1αὐτῇ τῇ κάλυκι — Meaning "husk and all". The dative of the pronoun αὐτός combined with a noun in the dative case is an idiomatic expression denoting accompaniment or attendant circumstance ("together with...").
  4. §3.100.1οὔτε ἀποθανόντος οὔτε κάμνοντος — Genitive case governed by the verb φροντίζω ("to care for"). These are substantivized participles, referring respectively to "one who is dead" and "one who is sick".

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.100.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.100.1

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