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Herodotus · Histories §5.40.1-5.40.2

Anaxandrides's Agreement to Bigamy and Two Households

Passage 809 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The ephors and elders propose that Anaxandrides keep his current wife but take a second one to bear children; he agrees and maintains two households, contrary to Spartan custom.

§5.40.1πρὸς ταῦτα οἱ ἔφοροι καὶ οἱ γέροντες βουλευσάμενοι προσέφερον Ἀναξανδρίδῃ τάδε. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τοι περιεχόμενόν σε ὁρῶμεν τῆς ἔχεις γυναικός, σὺ δὲ ταῦτα ποίεε, καὶ μὴ ἀντίβαινε τούτοισι, ἵνα μή τι ἀλλοῖον περὶ σεῦ Σπαρτιῆται βουλεύσωνται· §5.40.2γυναικὸς μὲν τῆς ἔχεις οὐ προσδεόμεθά σευ τῆς ἐξέσιος, σὺ δὲ ταύτῃ τε πάντα ὅσα νῦν παρέχεις πάρεχε καὶ ἄλλην πρὸς ταύτῃ ἐσάγαγε γυναῖκα τεκνοποιόν. ταῦτά κῃ λεγόντων συνεχώρησε ὁ Ἀναξανδρίδης, μετὰ δὲ γυναῖκας ἔχων δύο διξὰς ἱστίας οἴκεε, ποιέων οὐδαμῶς Σπαρτιητικά.
To this, the ephors and the elders, having deliberated, proposed the following to Anaxandrides: "Since, then, we see that you are clingingly attached to the wife you have, do this, and do not oppose these things, so that the Spartans may not decide something unfavorable about you: we do not demand of you the dismissal of the wife you have, but do you continue to provide her with everything that you now provide, and bring in another wife besides her to bear you children." When they spoke in this way, Anaxandrides agreed, and thereafter he lived with two wives, keeping two separate hearths, doing what was by no means in the Spartan fashion.

Notes

  1. §5.40.1περιεχόμενόν σε ὁρῶμεν τῆς ἔχεις γυναικός — The participle περιεχόμενον serves as the supplementary participle for the verb of perception ὁρῶμεν, with σε as its subject. The middle voice περιέχομαι ('to cling to') takes the genitive, hence γυναικός. In τῆς ἔχεις, attraction of the relative pronoun occurs: the relative pronoun, which would logically be in the accusative (ἣν ἔχεις), is attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent γυναικός, becoming the genitive τῆς.
  2. §5.40.1σὺ δὲ — The conjunction δὲ here functions as the 'apodotic de,' introducing the main clause after the subordinate clause ἐπεὶ...
  3. §5.40.2γυναικὸς μὲν τῆς ἔχεις οὐ προσδεόμεθά σευ τῆς ἐξέσιος — The verb προσδέομαι ('to demand') governs two genitives: the person from whom something is demanded (σευ) and the thing demanded (τῆς ἐξέσιος). The phrase γυναικὸς μὲν τῆς ἔχεις ('of the wife you have') is a genitive (objective genitive) depending on the noun τῆς ἐξέσιος ('dismissal') and is placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
  4. §5.40.2ταῦτά κῃ λεγόντων — This is a genitive absolute construction. The subject of the present participle λεγόντων (plural genitive), referring to the ephors and the elders, is omitted. ταῦτα is the direct object of the participle.
  5. §5.40.2διξὰς ἱστίας οἴκεε — The verb οἰκέω is used here in the sense of 'to manage, maintain a household,' taking ἱστίας ('hearths, households') as an accusative of inner object (cognate accusative) or product, meaning 'maintained two distinct households' (i.e., lived bigamously).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.40.1-5.40.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.40.1-5.40.2

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