Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §7.46.1-7.46.4

Dialogue on the Brevity and Misery of Human Life

Passage 1109 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Xerxes explains to Artabanus that his tears flow from pity for the brevity of human life, to which Artabanus responds by emphasizing that life is so filled with misery that death is often preferred, and that God is envious.

§7.46.1μαθὼν δέ μιν Ἀρτάβανος ὁ πάτρως, ὃς τὸ πρῶτον γνώμην ἀπεδέξατο ἐλευθέρως οὐ συμβουλεύων Ξέρξῃ στρατεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, οὗτος ὡνὴρ φρασθεὶς Ξέρξην δακρύσαντα εἴρετο τάδε. ὦ βασιλεῦ, ὡς πολλὸν ἀλλήλων κεχωρισμένα ἐργάσαο νῦν τε καὶ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον·
\nHis uncle Artabanus—who at first had freely expressed his opinion, advising Xerxes not to march against Greece—this man, when he perceived him and noticed Xerxes weeping, asked him this:\n"O King, how very different are the things you have done now and a little while ago!
μακαρίσας γὰρ σεωυτὸν δακρύεις. §7.46.2ὁ δὲ εἶπε ἐσῆλθε γάρ με λογισάμενον κατοικτεῖραι ὡς βραχὺς εἴη ὁ πᾶς ἀνθρώπινος βίος, εἰ τούτων γε ἐόντων τοσούτων οὐδεὶς ἐς ἑκατοστὸν ἔτος περιέσται. ὁ δὲ ἀμείβετο λέγων ἕτερα τούτου παρὰ τὴν ζόην πεπόνθαμεν οἰκτρότερα. §7.46.3ἐν γὰρ οὕτω βραχέι βίῳ οὐδεὶς οὕτω ἄνθρωπος ἐὼν εὐδαίμων πέφυκε οὔτε τούτων οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων, τῷ οὐ παραστήσεται πολλάκις καὶ οὐκὶ ἅπαξ τεθνάναι βούλεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ ζώειν.
For after declaring yourself blessed, you weep."\n\nAnd he said:\n"For pity came over me as I reflected how short is the whole of human life, seeing that of all these, many as they are, not one shall survive to the hundredth year."\nBut Artabanus answered, saying:\n"We have suffered other things during our life more pitiable than this.\n\nFor in so short a life, no man is born so happy, either of these or of others, to whom it will not occur many times, and not just once, to wish to die rather than to live.
αἵ τε γὰρ συμφοραὶ προσπίπτουσαι καὶ αἱ νοῦσοι συνταράσσουσαι καὶ βραχὺν ἐόντα μακρὸν δοκέειν εἶναι ποιεῦσι τὸν βίον. §7.46.4οὕτω ὁ μὲν θάνατος μοχθηρῆς ἐούσης τῆς ζόης καταφυγὴ αἱρετωτάτη τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γέγονε, ὁ δὲ θεὸς γλυκὺν γεύσας τὸν αἰῶνα φθονερὸς ἐν αὐτῷ εὑρίσκεται ἐών.
For disasters falling upon us and sicknesses troubling us make life, short though it is, seem to be long.\n\nThus, since life is miserable, death has become the most desirable refuge for man; but God, having given us a taste of the sweetness of life, is found to be envious in it."

Notes

  1. 7.46.2ἐσῆλθε γάρ με λογισάμενον κατοικτεῖραι — The impersonal construction ἐσῆλθέ με (it entered me, i.e., the feeling came over me) is followed by the infinitive κατοικτεῖραι (to pity). The participle λογισάμενον is in the accusative to agree with με, which functions as the subject of the infinitive.
  2. 7.46.3τῷ οὐ παραστήσεται — The relative pronoun τῷ is the Ionic form corresponding to the Attic dative ᾧ, referring back to οὐδείς. The verb παραστήσεται here means "to occur to one's mind." The double negation οὐδεὶς ... τῷ οὐ ... creates the meaning "there is no one to whom it will not occur..."
  3. 7.46.4φθονερὸς ἐν αὐτῷ εὑρίσκεται ἐών — The verb εὑρίσκεται (is found) is used with the participle ἐών (Ionic for ὤν, "being") to mean "is found to be...". The active aorist participle γεύσας (from γεύω) is used causatively, meaning "having given a taste of."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.46.1-7.46.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.46.1-7.46.4

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