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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §2.42.1-2.42.4

Nature of Indian Elephants and the Care for Foreigners

Passage 142 of 406 · Greek

Summary

This chunk describes the nature of Indian elephants, including their mating habits, gestation period, and lifespan, and then discusses Indian social institutions such as the protection of foreigners and the strict judicial system, concluding the account of ancient India.

§2.42.1ἔχει δʼ ἡ τῶν Ἰνδῶν χώρα πλείστους καὶ μεγίστους ἐλέφαντας, ἀλκῇ τε καὶ μεγέθει πολὺ διαφέροντας.
\nThe land of the Indians possesses the greatest number of the largest elephants, which far surpass others in strength and size.
ὀχεύεται δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον οὐχ ὥσπερ τινές φασιν, ἐξηλλαγμένως, ἀλλʼ ὁμοίως ἵπποις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τετράποσι ζῴοις· κυοῦσι δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἐλαχίστους μῆνας ἑκκαίδεκα, τοὺς δὲ πλείστους ὀκτωκαίδεκα. §2.42.2τίκτουσι δὲ καθάπερ ἵπποι κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἕν, καὶ τρέφουσι τὸ γεννηθὲν αἱ μητέρες ἐπʼ ἔτη ἕξ.
This animal does not mate in a peculiar way, as some say, but in the same manner as horses and other four-footed beasts; and they carry their young for sixteen months at the shortest, and eighteen months at the longest.\n\nThey give birth for the most part to a single young, just as horses do, and the mothers rear the newborn for six years.
ζῶσι δʼ οἱ πλεῖστοι καθάπερ ὁ μακροβιώτατος ἄνθρωπος, οἱ δὲ μάλιστα γηράσαντες ἔτη διακόσια. §2.42.3εἰσὶ δὲ παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ξένους ἄρχοντες τεταγμένοι καὶ φροντίζοντες ὅπως μηδεὶς ξένος ἀδικῆται· τοῖς δʼ ἀρρωστοῦσι τῶν ξένων ἰατροὺς εἰσάγουσι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν ποιοῦνται, καὶ τελευτήσαντας θάπτουσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ καταλειφθέντα χρήματα τοῖς προσήκουσιν ἀποδιδόασιν. §2.42.4οἵ τε δικασταὶ τὰς κρίσεις παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀκριβῶς διαγινώσκουσι, καὶ πικρῶς τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι προσφέρονται.
Most of them live as long as the longest-lived man, but those that reach the greatest age live for two hundred years.\n\nAmong the Indians there are also magistrates appointed over foreigners, who take care that no foreigner is wronged; and for those of the foreigners who fall ill, they bring in physicians and provide other care, and when they die, they bury them, and furthermore they restore the property left behind to their relatives.\n\nTheir judges also decide cases among them with accuracy, and deal severely with those who do wrong.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν ἀρχαιολογουμένων ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν.
Now, concerning India and the ancient history associated with it, we shall be satisfied with what has been said.

Notes

  1. §2.42.1τοὺς μὲν ἐλαχίστους — An accusative of duration of time used adverbially, meaning 'at the shortest (number of months),' which modifies the following accusative of duration μῆνας ἑκκαίδεκα ('for sixteen months'). In contrast, τοὺς δὲ πλείστους functions in the same manner.
  2. §2.42.3εἰσὶ ... ἄρχοντες τεταγμένοι καὶ φροντίζοντες — Against the main verb εἰσὶ, the noun ἄρχοντες ('magistrates') serves as the subject, modified in parallel by the perfect passive participle τεταγμένοι ('appointed') and the present active participle φροντίζοντες ('taking care'). Alternatively, they can be interpreted as forming a periphrastic predicate with the copula εἰσὶ.
  3. §2.42.4ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν — The first-person plural future passive (with a middle/deponent force) of the verb ἀρκέω ('to suffice'), namely ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, takes the dative τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ('with what has been said'), forming an idiomatic expression meaning 'we shall be satisfied with' or 'we shall content ourselves with.'

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §2.42.1-2.42.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:2.42.1-2.42.4

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