Herodotus, Histories 1.31.2 · 1.31.2
The brothers under the yoke
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Solon — τούτοισι γὰρ ἐοῦσι γένος Ἀργείοισι βίος τε ἀρκέων ὑπῆν, καὶ πρὸς τούτῳ ῥώμη σώματος τοιήδε· ἀεθλοφόροι τε ἀμφότεροι ὁμοίως ἦσαν, καὶ δὴ καὶ λέγεται ὅδε ὁ λόγος. ἐούσης ὁρτῆς τῇ Ἥρῃ τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι ἔδεε πάντως τὴν μητέρα αὐτῶν ζεύγεϊ κομισθῆναι ἐς τὸ ἱρόν, οἱ δέ σφι βόες ἐκ τοῦ ἀγροῦ οὐ παρεγίνοντο ἐν ὥρῃ· ἐκκληιόμενοι δὲ τῇ ὥρῃ οἱ νεηνίαι ὑποδύντες αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ζεύγλην εἷλκον τὴν ἅμαξαν, ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμάξης δέ σφι ὠχέετο ἡ μήτηρ· σταδίους δὲ πέντε καὶ τεσσεράκοντα διακομίσαντες ἀπίκοντο ἐς τὸ ἱρόν.
"For these were Argives by birth; they had enough to live on, and besides this such strength of body that both alike had won prizes; and this story is told of them. There was a festival of Hera among the Argives, and their mother had at all costs to be taken to the temple by ox-cart; but their oxen did not come back from the field in time. So, pressed for time, the young men got under the yoke themselves and pulled the cart, with their mother riding on it; and they drew her forty-five stades and came to the temple."
Word by word
The setting
Solon tells the story of the two young men of Argos.
A note on this passage
Solon introduces them the way he introduced Tellus, with a short list of ordinary goods: enough to live on, strong bodies, prizes won at the games. Then he tells "the story that is told" (legetai hode ho logos), and it turns on a practical problem. Their mother is Hera's priestess and must arrive at the goddess's festival by ox-cart; the oxen are late from the fields. So the sons put themselves under the zeuglē, the yoke-strap, and become the oxen.
The details are physical and exact: the yoke, the cart, the mother riding on it, and the distance, forty-five stades, some five miles from Argos to Hera's sanctuary. Two athletes haul a cart the length of a long run in the heat of a festival day. Solon does not say it was hard. The number says it for him.
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