Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §5.41.1-5.41.3

Birth of Princes to the Two Wives of Anaxandrides

Passage 810 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After Anaxandrides' second wife gives birth to Cleomenes, the previously childless first wife also becomes pregnant and successively gives birth to Dorieus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus.

§5.41.1χρόνου δὲ οὐ πολλοῦ διελθόντος ἡ ἐσύστερον ἐπελθοῦσα γυνὴ τίκτει τὸν δὴ Κλεομένεα τοῦτον.
Not long afterward, the wife who had come in later gave birth to this Cleomenes.
καὶ αὕτη τε ἔφεδρον βασιλέα Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἀπέφαινε, καὶ ἡ προτέρη γυνὴ τὸν πρότερον χρόνον ἄτοκος ἐοῦσα τότε κως ἐκύησε, συντυχίῃ ταύτῃ χρησαμένη.
And while she thus presented the Spartans with a successor to the throne, the former wife, who had been childless before, then somehow became pregnant, meeting with this piece of fortune.
§5.41.2ἔχουσαν δὲ αὐτὴν ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ οἱ τῆς ἐπελθούσης γυναικὸς οἰκήιοι πυθόμενοι ὤχλεον, φάμενοι αὐτὴν κομπέειν ἄλλως βουλομένην ὑποβαλέσθαι.
When the relatives of the wife who had come in later learned that she was truly pregnant, they made a disturbance, claiming that she was merely making a false boast and wished to introduce a supposititious child.
δεινὰ δὲ ποιεύντων αὐτῶν, τοῦ χρόνου συντάμνοντος, ὑπʼ ἀπιστίης οἱ ἔφοροι τίκτουσαν τὴν γυναῖκα περιιζόμενοι ἐφύλαξαν.
As they were making a great fuss and the time was drawing near, the ephors, out of disbelief, sat around the woman as she gave birth and watched her.
§5.41.3ἣ δὲ ὡς ἔτεκε Δωριέα ἰθέως ἴσχει Λεωνίδην, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον ἰθέως ἴσχει Κλεόμβροτον· οἳ δὲ καὶ διδύμους λέγουσι Κλεόμβροτον καὶ Λεωνίδην γενέσθαι.
And when she had given birth to Dorieus, she immediately conceived Leonidas, and immediately after him Cleombrotus; though some say that Cleombrotus and Leonidas were twins.
ἣ δὲ Κλεομένεα τεκοῦσα καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἐπελθοῦσα γυνή, ἐοῦσα θυγάτηρ Πρινητάδεω τοῦ Δημαρμένου, οὐκέτι ἔτικτε τὸ δεύτερον.
But the second wife who had come in, the mother of Cleomenes, who was the daughter of Prinetades the son of Demarmenus, never bore a child a second time.

Notes

  1. 5.41.2ἔχουσαν — ἔχουσαν is an elliptical expression for ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσαν ("being pregnant"), functioning as a supplementary participle in indirect discourse depending on πυθόμενοι ("having learned that she was [pregnant]").
  2. 5.41.2ὑποβαλέσθαι — The middle infinitive ὑποβαλέσθαι carries the specific middle-voice meaning of introducing a supposititious child (secretly adopting another's child as one's own). Here it functions as a complementary infinitive dependent on βουλομένην.
  3. 5.41.3ἴσχει — The verb ἴσχω ("to hold", "to get") is used here in the specific sense of "to conceive" (a child). The tense is historical present, interspersed with past tenses (ἔτεκε, ἔτικτε) to bring vividness to the narrative.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.41.1-5.41.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.41.1-5.41.3

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