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Herodotus · Histories §3.84.1-3.84.3

Agreement on Privileges and the Method of Choosing the King

Passage 488 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The remaining six conspirators agree on granting special hereditary privileges to Otanes, defining rules of royal access and marriage for themselves, and deciding that the kingship will go to the one whose horse is the first to neigh at sunrise in the suburb.

§3.84.1οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐβουλεύοντο ὡς βασιλέα δικαιότατα στήσονται· καί σφι ἔδοξε Ὀτάνῃ μὲν καὶ τοῖσι ἀπὸ Ὀτάνεω αἰεὶ γινομένοισι, ἢν ἐς ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἔλθῃ ἡ βασιληίη, ἐξαίρετα δίδοσθαι ἐσθῆτά τε Μηδικὴν ἔτεος ἑκάστου καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν δωρεὴν ἣ γίνεται ἐν Πέρσῃσι τιμιωτάτη.
The rest of the seven consulted how they might set up a king most justly; and it seemed good to them that to Otanes and his descendants forever, if the kingship should go to any other of the seven, there should be given as special privileges a Median robe every year, and all the gifts that are held most honorable among the Persians.
τοῦδε δὲ εἵνεκεν ἐβούλευσάν οἱ δίδοσθαι ταῦτα, ὅτι ἐβούλευσέ τε πρῶτος τὸ πρῆγμα καὶ συνέστησε αὐτούς.
And they resolved that these should be given to him for this reason, because he was the first to plan the matter and assembled them.
§3.84.2ταῦτα μὲν δὴ Ὀτάνῃ ἐξαίρετα, τάδε δὲ ἐς τὸ κοινὸν ἐβούλευσαν, παριέναι ἐς τὰ βασιλήια πάντα τὸν βουλόμενον τῶν ἑπτὰ ἄνευ ἐσαγγελέος, ἢν μὴ τυγχάνῃ εὕδων μετὰ γυναικὸς βασιλεύς, γαμέειν δὲ μὴ ἐξεῖναι ἄλλοθεν τῷ βασιλέι ἢ ἐκ τῶν συνεπαναστάντων.
These then were the special privileges for Otanes, but for their common agreement they resolved on the following: that any one of the seven who wished should have free access to all the royal palace without an announcer, unless the king should happen to be sleeping with a woman; and that it should not be lawful for the king to marry from any other family than those of the co-conspirators.
§3.84.3περὶ δὲ τῆς βασιληίης ἐβούλευσαν τοιόνδε· ὅτευ ἂν ὁ ἵππος ἡλίου ἐπανατέλλοντος πρῶτος φθέγξηται, ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ αὐτῶν ἐπιβεβηκότων, τοῦτον ἔχειν τὴν βασιληίην.
But concerning the kingship they resolved as follows: that when they had mounted their horses in the suburb, whose horse soever should first neigh at the rising of the sun, he should have the kingship.

Notes

  1. §3.84.1στήσονται — The third-person plural future middle of ἵστημι. Here it forms an indirect question introduced by ὡς (how), carrying a deliberative force ('how they should set up a king').
  2. §3.84.3ἐπιβεβηκότων — The genitive plural masculine of the perfect active participle of ἐπιβαίνω (to mount, here to ride a horse). Together with the preceding pronoun αὐτῶν, it forms a genitive absolute construction, with the perfect tense denoting the completed action of having mounted, i.e., 'being already on horseback'.
  3. §3.84.3ὅτευ — The genitive singular of the general relative pronoun ὅστις in the Ionic dialect (corresponding to Attic ὅτου). It functions as a possessive genitive modifying the following noun ὁ ἵππος ('whose horse').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.84.1-3.84.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.84.1-3.84.3

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