Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §5.48.1

Death of Dorieus and Potential Kingship in Sparta

Passage 817 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The death of Dorieus is concluded, with the observation that had he stayed in Sparta, he would have eventually inherited the kingship of Lacedaemon since Cleomenes died without a male heir.

§5.48.1Δωριεὺς μέν νυν τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ ἐτελεύτησε·
In this manner, then, Dorieus met his end.
εἰ δὲ ἠνέσχετο βασιλευόμενος ὑπὸ Κλεομένεος καὶ κατέμενε ἐν Σπάρτῃ, ἐβασίλευσε ἂν Λακεδαίμονος· οὐ γάρ τινα πολλὸν χρόνον ἦρξε ὁ Κλεομένης, ἀλλʼ ἀπέθανε ἄπαις, θυγατέρα μούνην λιπών, τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Γοργώ.
But if he had endured being ruled by Cleomenes and had remained in Sparta, he would have become king of Lacedaemon; for Cleomenes did not rule for any long time, but died childless, leaving only a daughter, whose name was Gorgo.

Notes

  1. 5.48.1ἠνέσχετο βασιλευόμενος — The verb ἀνέχομαι (to endure) takes a supplementary participle (here the present passive participle βασιλευόμενος) to mean 'endure being ruled.'
  2. 5.48.1εἰ δὲ ἠνέσχετο ... ἐβασίλευσε ἂν — A contrary-to-fact conditional sentence referring to the past. The protasis uses past indicative tenses (the aorist ἠνέσχετο and the imperfect κατέμενε), while the apodosis uses the aorist indicative with the particle ἄν (ἐβασίλευσε ἂν), meaning 'if he had... he would have...'

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.48.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.48.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.