Herodotus, Histories 1.89.2 · 1.89.2
Violent and poor by nature
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Croesus — Πέρσαι φύσιν ἐόντες ὑβρισταὶ εἰσὶ ἀχρήματοι. ἢν ὦν σὺ τούτους περιίδῃς διαρπάσαντας καὶ κατασχόντας χρήματα μεγάλα, τάδε τοι ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπίδοξα γενέσθαι. ὃς ἂν αὐτῶν πλεῖστα κατάσχῃ, τοῦτον προσδέκεσθαί τοι ἐπαναστησόμενον. νῦν ὦν ποίησον ὧδε, εἴ τοι ἀρέσκει τὰ ἐγὼ λέγω·
"The Persians are by nature violent men, and poor. So if you let them plunder and seize great wealth, you may expect this from them: whoever of them gets hold of the most, expect that he will rise up against you. Now then, do this, if what I say pleases you."
Word by word
The setting
Croesus warns Cyrus about the character of his own soldiers and what unchecked plunder will do to them.
A note on this passage
Croesus's diagnosis of the Persians is two words long, hybristai... achrēmatoi, "violent men" and "men without means," and he gives the second as the reason for the first: insolence bred by having nothing to lose. The remedy he proposes is phrased as a warning about what happens if Cyrus does nothing, periidēis diarpasantas kai kataschontas, "if you let them plunder and keep," two aorist participles stacked as one completed act of taking.
The political logic closes on a single verb, epanastēsomenon, "about to rise up against you," attached to whoever pleista kataschēi, "gets hold of the most." For Croesus wealth in a soldier's hands is not security but fuel: the richest man will be the first rebel. He ends with nyn ōn poiēson hōde, "now then, do this," a phrase that promises a plan without yet stating it, exactly the kind of practical device the man who once cooked a tortoise in secret would appreciate from someone else for a change.
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