Herodotus, Histories 1.90.3 · 1.90.3
Cyrus laughs and agrees
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Herodotus — Κροῖσος δέ οἱ ἐπαλιλλόγησε πᾶσαν τὴν ἑωυτοῦ διάνοιαν καὶ τῶν χρηστηρίων τὰς ὑποκρίσιας καὶ μάλιστα τὰ ἀναθήματα, καὶ ὡς ἐπαερθεὶς τῷ μαντηίῳ ἐστρατεύσατο ἐπὶ Πέρσας· λέγων δὲ ταῦτα κατέβαινε αὖτις παραιτεόμενος ἐπεῖναί οἱ τῷ θεῷ τοῦτο ὀνειδίσαι. Κῦρος δὲ γελάσας εἶπε
Cyrus — Καὶ τούτου τεύξεαι παρʼ ἐμεῦ, Κροῖσε, καὶ ἄλλου παντὸς τοῦ ἂν ἑκάστοτε δέῃ.
And Croesus recounted to him his whole plan, and the oracles' answers, and especially the offerings, and how, elated by the oracle, he had campaigned against the Persians; and saying these things he came round again to asking that it be permitted for him to reproach the god with this. And Cyrus, having laughed, said, "You shall obtain this too from me, Croesus, and everything else that you may need each time."
Word by word
The setting
Cyrus has just asked what Croesus was alleging against the god.
A note on this passage
The whole story comes out a second time, compressed into a list: dianoian, the plan, the oracles' hypokrisias, "answers," and then, singled out with malista, "especially," the anathēmata, the offerings Croesus poured into Delphi before he ever asked a real question. Herodotus makes Croesus retell his own book-length mistake in one sentence, as if the man himself now sees the shape of it: gifts first, trust built, and only then a war launched on the strength of a riddle.
Katebaine, "he came down," is an odd verb for finishing a speech, almost as if Croesus descends from the height of his story back to the one small thing he actually wants. Cyrus's answer is pure warmth, gelasas, "having laughed," at a request that costs him nothing: a captured king asking permission to insult a god is no threat to a conqueror, and granting it costs Cyrus nothing but amusement.
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