Herodotus, Histories 1.46.3 · 1.46.3
The plan of the test
Read the full text in our reader
ταῦτα μέν νυν τὰ Ἑλληνικὰ μαντήια ἐς τὰ ἀπέπεμψε μαντευσόμενος Κροῖσος· Λιβύης δὲ παρὰ Ἄμμωνα ἀπέστελλε ἄλλους χρησομένους. διέπεμπε δὲ πειρώμενος τῶν μαντηίων ὅ τι φρονέοιεν, ὡς εἰ φρονέοντα τὴν ἀληθείην εὑρεθείη, ἐπείρηται σφέα δεύτερα πέμπων εἰ ἐπιχειρέοι ἐπὶ Πέρσας στρατεύεσθαι.
These were the Greek oracles to which Croesus sent to consult them; to Ammon in Libya he dispatched others to consult him. He sent them out to test the oracles, what they knew, so that if they were found to know the truth, he might send a second time and ask them whether he should undertake to march against the Persians.
Word by word
The setting
Herodotus explains what the messengers were for.
A note on this passage
Herodotus spells out the logic, and it is the logic of an experiment. First find out ho ti phroneoien, "what they know." If any oracle turns out to be phroneonta tēn alēthein, "knowing the truth," then, and only then, ask it the real question: should Croesus march on Persia? The test comes before the trust.
It is also a form of arrogance. The oracles are being used like tools, calibrated before use, and the question Croesus means to put is the one Solon warned him about: a question about the future from a man who thinks he can manage it. The reader knows that the answer he gets, when it comes, will be true and will destroy him.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Herodotus, Histories 1.46.3 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Herodotus, Histories — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Herodotus, Histories 1.46.3 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/herodotus/1.46.3/