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Herodotus · Histories §3.50.1-3.50.3

Murder of Periander's Wife and Lycophron's Estrangement

Passage 454 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After Periander killed his wife, his two sons visited their maternal grandfather Procles, who asked them if they knew who killed their mother; the younger son, Lycophron, was so deeply grieved that he refused to speak to his father.

§3.50.1ἐπείτε γὰρ τὴν ἑωυτοῦ γυναῖκα Μέλισσαν Περίανδρος ἀπέκτεινε, συμφορὴν τοιήνδε οἱ ἄλλην συνέβη πρὸς τῇ γεγονυίῃ γενέσθαι.
For when Periander had killed his own wife Melissa, it happened to him that another misfortune, such as follows, befell him in addition to the one that had already occurred.
ἦσάν οἱ ἐκ Μελίσσης δύο παῖδες, ἡλικίην ὃ μὲν ἑπτακαίδεκα ὁ δὲ ὀκτωκαίδεκα ἔτεα γεγονώς.
He had two sons by Melissa, one of them seventeen and the other eighteen years of age.
§3.50.2τούτους ὁ μητροπάτωρ Προκλέης ἐὼν Ἐπιδαύρου τύραννος μεταπεμψάμενος παρʼ ἑωυτὸν ἐφιλοφρονέετο, ὡς οἰκὸς ἦν θυγατρὸς ἐόντας τῆς ἑωυτοῦ παῖδας.
Their mother's father Procles, who was tyrant of Epidaurus, sent for them to come to him and treated them with affection, as was natural since they were the children of his own daughter.
ἐπείτε δὲ σφέας ἀπεπέμπετο, εἶπε προπέμπων αὐτούς §3.50.3ἆρα ἴστε, ὦ παῖδες, ὃς ὑμέων τὴν μητέρα ἀπέκτεινε; τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος ὁ μὲν πρεσβύτερος αὐτῶν ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ἐποιήσατο· ὁ δὲ νεώτερος, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Λυκόφρων, ἤλγησε ἀκούσας οὕτω ὥστε ἀπικόμενος ἐς τὴν Κόρινθον ἅτε φονέα τῆς μητρὸς τὸν πατέρα οὔτε προσεῖπε, διαλεγομένῳ τε οὔτε προσδιελέγετο ἱστορέοντί τε λόγον οὐδένα ἐδίδου.
And when he was sending them away, he said to them as he escorted them: "Do you know, children, who it was that killed your mother?" Of this saying, the elder of them took no account; but the younger, whose name was Lycophron, was so deeply grieved upon hearing it that, when he arrived in Corinth, regarding his father as the murderer of his mother, he neither addressed him, nor, when his father spoke to him, did he speak in response, nor did he give any answer to his questions.
τέλος δέ μιν περιθύμως ἔχων ὁ Περίανδρος ἐξελαύνει ἐκ τῶν οἰκίων.
And finally, Periander, in great anger, drove him out of the house.

Notes

  1. 3.50.1ἡλικίην ὃ μὲν ἑπτακαίδεκα ὁ δὲ ὀκτωκαίδεκα ἔτεα γεγονώς — The noun ἡλικίην is an accusative of respect ("with respect to age"). The distributive phrase ὃ μὲν ... ὁ δὲ ... ("one... the other...") stands in partitive apposition to the plural subject δύο παῖδες; because each member of this apposition is singular, the perfect participle γεγονώς is also grammatically singular.
  2. 3.50.2θυγατρὸς ἐόντας τῆς ἑωυτοῦ παῖδας — The word ἐόντας (Ionic for ὄντας) is a present participle in the accusative plural, agreeing with the main clause's object τούτους (or the appositive παῖδας). Combined with the conjunction ὡς, it expresses a subjective reason ("as being..." or "since they were...").
  3. 3.50.3ἅτε φονέα τῆς μητρὸς τὸν πατέρα — After the causal particle ἅτε ("seeing that"), the expected participle (such as ὄντα) is omitted. The noun τὸν πατέρα functions as the grammatical object and φονέα as the predicate accusative ("seeing that his father was the murderer").
  4. 3.50.3διαλεγομένῳ τε οὔτε προσδιελέγετο — The dative present participle διαλεγομένῳ ("when he was speaking") modifies the omitted pronoun αὐτῷ (referring to the father). This pronoun-participle complex functions as the indirect object governed by the compound verb προσδιελέγετο ("to speak in response to someone").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.50.1-3.50.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.50.1-3.50.3

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