Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

A Bout of Competitive Princess-Rustling

"There followed next a massive escalation of what until then had essentially been nothing more serious than a bout of competitive princess-rustling -- and the fault was all the Greeks'. Or so the Persians claim, at any rate -- for they point out out that long before they every thought of invading Europe, it was the Greeks who invaded Asia. Granted, the Persians acknowledge, stealing women is never acceptable behaviour; but really, they ask, what is the point, once a woman has been stolen, in kicking up a great fuss about it, and pursuing some ridiculous vendetta, when every sensible man knows that the best policy is to affect an utter lack of concern? It is clear enough, after all, that women are never abducted unless they are open to the idea of it in the first place. So it was, the Persians, claim, that people in Asia remained pretty much unperturbed by the theft of their women -- but the Greeks, simply to get back the wife of a single Spartan, assembled a huge task-force, invaded Asia, and annihilated the empire of Priam. Ever since then, the Persians have viewed the Greeks as a people inveterately hostile to them."

--Herodotus, Histories, trans. Tom Holland

I remember reading Herodotus in college, but I don't remember him being this amusing.

4 comments:

Joseph Moore said...

Herodotus is freakin' hilarious. He was the most fun great book of them all. His recounting of local explanations of things and events all seem a little tongue-in-cheek

MrsDarwin said...

This translation by Tom Holland is really a blast. Not everyone in the house thinks the princess-rustling sentence is as funny as I do; I read it to just about everyone and got a lot of polite smiles at Mom's snickering.

Melanie Bettinelli said...

I'm pretty sure that's a much better translation than we had in college. Then again, I was a little distracted when I was supposed to be reading Herodotus since it was during my Rome semester. I sort of recall lugging it about on trains in my backpack. Not sure how much of an attempt I made to really read it. Another gap in my education.

Gail Finke said...

That is hilarious! I've never read Herodotus, I'd better remedy that...