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31.
This, they say, was the first of Cambyses' evil acts; next, he destroyed his full sister, who had come with him to Egypt, and whom he had taken to wife.
[2]
He married her in this way (for before this, it had by no means been customary for Persians to marry their sisters): Cambyses was infatuated with one of his sisters and when he wanted to marry her, because his intention was contrary to usage, he summoned the royal judges1 and inquired whether there were any law enjoining one, that so desired, to marry his sister.
[3]
These royal judges are men chosen out from the Persians to function until they die or are detected in some injustice; it is they who decide suits in Persia and interpret the laws of the land; all matters are referred to them.
[4]
These then replied to Cambyses with an answer which was both just and prudent, namely, that they could find no law enjoining a brother to marry his sister; but that they had found a law permitting the King of Persia to do whatever he liked.
[5]
Thus, although they feared Cambyses they did not break the law, and, to save themselves from death for keeping it, they found another law abetting one who wished to marry sisters.
[6]
So Cambyses married the object of his desire; yet not long afterwards he took another sister as well. It was the younger of these who had come with him to Egypt, and whom he now killed.
1 A standing body of seven; cp. Book of Esther, i. 14.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (16 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(2):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.3
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Herodotus, The Histories, Hdt. 5.25
- Cross-references in notes from this page
(1):
- Old Testament, Esther, 1.14
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(12):
- LSJ, ἀνάκειμαι
- LSJ, δι^κάζω
- LSJ, ἔθω
- LSJ, ἔχω
- LSJ, ἐράω
- LSJ, εἰς
- LSJ, κρίνω
- LSJ, παρεξ-ευρίσκω
- LSJ, παρευρ-ίσκω
- LSJ, περιστέλλω
- LSJ, θεσμός
- LSJ, σύμμα^χ-ος
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