§3.156.1ταῦτα ἐντειλάμενος ἤιε ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας, ἐπιστρεφόμενος ὡς δὴ ἀληθέως αὐτόμολος.
Having given these instructions, he went toward the gates, turning back repeatedly as if he were indeed a real deserter.
ὁρῶντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν πύργων οἱ κατὰ τοῦτο τεταγμένοι κατέτρεχον κάτω καὶ ὀλίγον τι παρακλίναντες τὴν ἑτέρην πύλην εἰρώτων τίς τε εἴη καὶ ὅτευ δεόμενος ἥκοι.
Those who were stationed at this part, seeing him from the towers, ran down and, having opened one of the gates a little, asked him who he was and for what he had come needing.
ὁ δέ σφι ἠγόρευε ὡς εἴη τε Ζώπυρος καὶ αὐτομολέοι ἐς ἐκείνους.
And he told them that he was Zopyrus and was deserting to them.
§3.156.2ἦγον δή μιν οἱ πυλουροί, ταῦτα ὡς ἤκουσαν, ἐπὶ τὰ κοινὰ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων· καταστὰς δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτὰ κατοικτίζετο, φὰς ὑπὸ Δαρείου πεπονθέναι τὰ ἐπεπόνθεε ὑπʼ ἑωυτοῦ, παθεῖν δὲ ταῦτα διότι συμβουλεῦσαι οἱ ἀπανιστάναι τὴν στρατιήν, ἐπείτε δὴ οὐδεὶς πόρος ἐφαίνετο τῆς ἁλώσιος.
So the gatekeepers, when they heard this, led him to the public assembly of the Babylonians; and standing before them, he began to lament, saying that he had suffered at the hands of Darius what he had actually suffered at his own hands, and that he had suffered this because he had advised him to withdraw his army, since indeed no means of capturing the city appeared.
§3.156.3νῦν τε
ἔφη λέγων
ἐγὼ ὑμῖν ὦ Βαβυλώνιοι ἥκω μέγιστον ἀγαθόν, Δαρείῳ δὲ καὶ τῇ στρατιῇ καὶ Πέρσῃσι μέγιστον κακόν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἐμέ γε ὧδε λωβησάμενος καταπροΐξεται· ἐπίσταμαι δʼ αὐτοῦ πάσας τὰς διεξόδους τῶν βουλευμάτων. τοιαῦτα ἔλεγε.
"And now," he said, "I have come to you, O Babylonians, as the greatest good, but to Darius and his army and the Persians as the greatest evil; for he shall certainly not get off scot-free after having mutilated me in this way, and I know all the turnings of his plans." Such were his words.