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Herodotus, Histories 1.48.2 · 1.48.2

The tortoise and the lamb

ἐπείτε γὰρ δὴ διέπεμψε παρὰ τὰ χρηστήρια τοὺς θεοπρόπους, φυλάξας τὴν κυρίην τῶν ἡμερέων ἐμηχανᾶτο τοιάδε· ἐπινοήσας τὰ ἦν ἀμήχανον ἐξευρεῖν τε καὶ ἐπιφράσασθαι, χελώνην καὶ ἄρνα κατακόψας ὁμοῦ ἧψε αὐτὸς ἐν λέβητι χαλκέῳ, χάλκεον ἐπίθημα ἐπιθείς.

For when he had sent the envoys to the oracles, he watched for the appointed day and contrived this: thinking of something it would be impossible to find out or guess, he chopped up a tortoise and a lamb and boiled them together himself in a bronze cauldron, putting a bronze lid on it.

Word by word

ἐπείτεepeítewhenγὰρgàrforδὴdḕ—διέπεμψεdiépempsehe had sentπαρὰparàtoτὰtàtheχρηστήριαchrēstḗriaoraclesτοὺςtoùstheθεοπρόπουςtheoprópousenvoys,φυλάξαςphyláxaswatched forτὴνtḕn—κυρίηνkyríēnthe appointed dayτῶνtôn—ἡμερέωνhēmeréōn—ἐμηχανᾶτοemēchanâtohe contrivedτοιάδεtoiádethis·ἐπινοήσαςepinoḗsasthinking ofτὰtàsomethingἦνênwould beἀμήχανονamḗchanonimpossibleἐξευρεῖνexeureînto find outτεte—καὶkaìorἐπιφράσασθαιepiphrásasthaiguess,χελώνηνchelṓnēna tortoiseκαὶkaìandἄρναárnaa lambκατακόψαςkatakópsashe chopped upὁμοῦhomoûtogetherἧψεhêpseboiledαὐτὸςautòshimselfἐνeninλέβητιlébēticauldronχαλκέῳchalkéōia bronze,χάλκεονchálkeona bronzeἐπίθημαepíthēmalidἐπιθείςepitheísputting.

The setting

Herodotus reveals what Croesus was doing on the hundredth day.

A note on this passage

Only now does Herodotus reveal what Croesus was doing, and the order matters. The reader heard the god's answer first, as a riddle, and now gets the solution, as fact: on the hundredth day the king of Lydia went into a kitchen and, autos, "himself," chopped up a tortoise and a lamb and stewed them in a lebēs chalkeos, a bronze cauldron, with a chalkeon epithēma, a bronze lid. Bronze below, bronze above, exactly as the Pythia said.

The verb for his planning is emēchanato, "he contrived," the craft-verb of Candaules (1.9.1). Croesus looked for something amēchanon, literally "beyond contriving," to guess. He built a device to trap the gods, and the gods walked straight through it. It is a comic scene, a king cooking a tortoise in secret, and it is also the moment Croesus decides to trust the voice that will ruin him.

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Herodotus, Histories 1.48.2 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/herodotus/1.48.2/