Herodotus. Book 1, Chapter 9.

9. Gyges thus endeavoured to decline the king's proposal, trembling lest some dreadful evil should befall him through it. But the king replied to him, "Courage, friend; suspect me not of the design to prove you by this discourse; nor dread your mistress, lest mischief befall you at her hands. Be sure I will so manage that she shall not even know that you have looked upon her. I will place you behind the open door of the chamber in which we sleep. When I enter to go to rest she will follow me. There stands a chair close to the entrance, on which she will lay her clothes one by one as she takes them off. you will be able thus at your leisure to peruse her person. Then, when she is moving from the chair toward the bed, and her back is turned on you, be it your care that she see you not as you pass through the doorway."

Text source: Herodotus. Translated by George Rawlinson, first issued in 1858. Grammar and spelling updated by Michael Presky, 1993.

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Greece - Ancient - History - Greeks - Greek translation