Herodotus, Histories 1.24.4 · 1.24.4
One last song
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ἀπειληθέντα δὴ τὸν Ἀρίονα ἐς ἀπορίην παραιτήσασθαι, ἐπειδή σφι οὕτω δοκέοι, περιιδεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ σκευῇ πάσῃ στάντα ἐν τοῖσι ἑδωλίοισι ἀεῖσαι· ἀείσας δὲ ὑπεδέκετο ἑωυτὸν κατεργάσασθαι.
Driven to this dead end, Arion begged, since that was their decision, that they let him stand on the quarter-deck in his full costume and sing; and once he had sung, he promised to make away with himself.
Word by word
The setting
Arion asks for something the sailors did not expect.
A note on this passage
Arion is at an <em>aporiē</em>, a place with no <em>poros</em>, no ford or channel or way through. At sea the word is almost literal: there is no passage out. His answer is to ask for a stage. He wants to stand on the raised deck at the stern, in his <em>skeuē</em>, the full dress of a concert performer, and sing one more time.
Of the two main verbs here, one is reported speech as usual (<em>paraitēsasthai</em>, "that he begged"), and the other is not. <em>Hypedeketo</em>, "he undertook, he promised," is an ordinary indicative, and it lands on the one thing Arion does freely in the whole episode: he makes a promise. He will sing, and then he will do away with himself. Herodotus lets the promise stand without telling us whether Arion means to keep it.
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