The history of Herodotus — Volume 1, Herodotus [top 10 novels of all time TXT] 📗

means the island of Elephantine;
for at this point only would such a mixture of races be found. To
this the writer here goes back parenthetically, and then resumes
the account of the journey upwards from Tachompso. This view is
confirmed by the fact that Strabo relates the same thing with
regard to the island of Philai just above Elephantine.

[37a] Cp. i. 72, note 86.

[38] {oleureon}.

[39] {zeias}.

[40] i.e. the hieratic and the demotic characters.

[41] {murias, os eipein logo}.

[42] Referring apparently to iii. 28, where the marks of Apis are
given. Perhaps no animal could be sacrificed which had any of
these marks.

[43] {kephale keine}, "that head," cp. {koilien keinen} in the next
chapter.

[44] {katharon}.

[45] {baris}, cp. ch. 96.

[46] Or, "descended from Aigyptos."

[46a] Or, "assuming that in those days as now, they were wont to make
voyages, and that some of the Hellenes were seafaring folk."

[47] {stelai}, "upright blocks."

[48] {lampontos tas nuktas megathos}: some Editors alter {megathos} to
{megalos} or {mega phos}.

[49] {enagizousi}.

[50] {uon}: some Editors read {oion} "sheep," on the authority of one
MS.

[51] {ta ounamata}, which means here rather the forms of
personification than the actual names.

[52] {ai pramanteis}.

[53] {phegon}.

[54] {upo phego pephukuie}, i.e. the oak-tree of the legend was a real
growing tree, though the dove was symbolical.

[55] {panegurias}.

[56] {prosagogas}, with the idea of bringing offerings or introducing
persons.

[57] {epoiethesan}, "were first celebrated."

[58] So B.R.

[59] {sumphoiteousi}.

[59a] i.e. 700,000.

[60] See ch. 40.

[61] {tesi thusiesi, en tini nukti}: some MSS. give {en te nukti}:
hence several Editors read {tes thusies en te nukti}, "on the
night of the sacrifice."

[62] Or, "for what end this night is held solemn by lighting of lamps"
(B.R.), making {phos kai timen} one idea.

[63] {alexomenous}: this, which is adopted by most Editors, is the
reading of some less good MSS.; the rest have {alexomenoi},
"strike them and defend themselves."

[63a] {eousa e Aiguptos k.t.l.}: the MSS. have {eousa de Aiguptos}:
Stein reads {eousa gar Aiguptos}.

[64] {theia pregmata katalambanei tous aielourous}, which may mean
only, "a marvellous thing happens to the cats."

[65] {es 'Ermeo polin}.

[66] {dikhelon, oplai boos}, "he is cloven-footed, and his foot is
that of an ox." The words {oplai boos} are marked as spurious by
Stein.

[67] i.e. above the marshes, cp. ch. 92.

[68] {pante}, which by some is translated "taken all together," "at
most." Perhaps there is some corruption of text, and the writer
meant to say that it measured two cubits by one cubit.

[68a] The reading of the Medicean MS. is {en esti}, not {enesti} as
hitherto reported.

[69] Or, "calling the song Linos."

[70] {ton Linon okothen elabon}: the MSS. have {to ounoma} after
{elabon}, but this is omitted by almost all Editors except Stein,
who justifies it by a reference to ch. 50, and understands it to
mean "the person of Linos." No doubt the song and the person are
here spoken off indiscriminately, but this explanation would
require the reading {tou Linou}, as indeed Stein partly admits by
suggesting the alteration.

[71] The words "and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian)," are omitted
by several of the best MSS.

[72] {epezosmenai}.

[73] In connexion with death apparently, cp. ch. 132, 170. Osiris is
meant.

[74] {sindonos bussines}.

[75] {to kommi}.

[76] {nros}.

[77] Or, "a pleasant sweet taste."

[78] {apala}, "soft."

[79] {kat oligous ton kegkhron}.

[80] {apo ton sillikuprion tou karpou}.

[81] {zuga}, to tie the sides and serve as a partial deck.

[82] {esti de oud' outos}: a few MSS. have {ouk} instead of {oud'},
and most Editors follow them. The meaning however seems to be that
even here the course in time of flood is different, and much more
in the lower parts.

[83] {os apergmenos ree}: the MSS. mostly have {os apergmenos reei},
in place of which I have adopted the correction of Stein. Most
other Editors read {os apergmenos peei} (following a few inferior
MSS.), "the bend of the Nile which flows thus confined."

[84] Not therefore in the Delta, to which in ch. 15 was assigned a
later origin than this.

[85] {kat' ouden einai lamprotetos}: Stein reads {kai} for {kat'},
thus making the whole chapter parenthetical, with {ou gar elegon}
answered by {parameipsamenos on}, a conjecture which is ingenious
but not quite convincing.

[86] {stratien pollen labon}: most of the MSS. have {ton} after
{pollen}, which perhaps indicates that some words are lost.

[87] {kai prosotata}: many MSS. have {kai ou prosotata}, which is
defended by some Editors in the sense of a comparative, "and not
further."

[88] {Suroi} in the better MSS.; see note in i.6.

[89] {Surioi}.

[90] {kata tauta}: the better MSS. have {kai kata tauta}, which might
be taken with what follows, punctuating after {ergazontai} (as in
the Medicean MS.): "they and the Egyptians alone of all nations
work flax; and so likewise they resemble one another in their
whole manner of living."

[91] {polon}, i.e. the concave sun-dial, in shape like the vault of
heaven.

[92] The gnomon would be an upright staff or an obelisk for
observation of the length of the shadow.

[93] i.e. Red Clod.

[94] {Turion stratopedon}, i.e. "the Tyrian quarter" of the town: cp.
ch. 154.

[95] {ten sen}, or {tauten}, "this land."

[96] {es o meteke auton}, "until at last he dismissed it"; but the
construction is very irregular, and there is probably some
corruption of text. Stein reads {ekon} by conjecture for {es o}.

[97] {delon de kata per epoiese}: a conjectural emendation of {delon
de' kata gar epoiese}, which some editors retain, translating
thus, "and this is clear; for according to the manner in which
Homer described the wanderings of Alexander, etc., it is clear
how, etc."

[98] Il. vi. 289. The sixth book is not ordinarily included in the
{Diomedeos aristeia}.

[99] Od. iv. 227. These references to the Odyssey are by some thought
to be interpolations, because they refer only to the visit of
Menelaos to Egypt after the fall of Troy; but Herodotus is arguing
that Homer, while rejecting the legend of Helen's stay in Egypt
during the war, yet has traces of it left in this later visit to
Egypt of Menelaos and Helen, as well as in the visit of Paris and
Helen to Sidon.

[100] Od. iv. 351.

[101] {kai tode to khorion}: probably {to khorion} ought to be struck
out: "this also is evident."

[102] {podeonas}, being the feet of the animals whose skins they were.

[103] Cp. vii. 152.

[104] {elasai}, which may be intransitive, "rushed into every kind of
evil."

[105] {stadioi}.

[106] {krossas}.

[107] {bomidas}.

[108] i.e. the three small pyramids just to the East of the great
pyramid.

[109] {oute gar k.t.l.}, "for there are no underground chambers," etc.
Something which was in the mind of the writer has been omitted
either by himself or his copyists, "and inferior to it also in
other respects, for," etc. unless, as Stein supposes, we have here
a later addition thrown in without regard to the connexion.

[110] {touto megathos}, "as regards attaining the same size," but
probably the text is corrupt. Stein reads {to megathos} in his
later editions.


[111] Or, "Philition."

[112] {to theo}, the goddess Leto, cp. i. 105.

[113] {suntakhunein auton ton bion}: some MSS. and Editors read {auto}
for {auton}, "that heaven was shortening his life."

[114] More literally, "bidding him take up the blood-money, who
would." The people of Delphi are said to have put Esop to death
and to have been ordered by the Oracle to make compensation.

[115] {os an einai 'Podopin}: so the MSS. Some Editors read
{'Podopios}, others {'Podopi}.

[116] {antion de autout tou neou}.

[117] {epaphroditoi ginesthai}.

[118] {katekertomese min}: Athenæus says that Sappho attacked the
mistress of Charaxos; but here {min} can hardly refer to any one
but Charaxos himself, who doubtless would be included in the same
condemnation.

[119] {propulaia}.

[120] "innumerable sights of buildings."

[121] {tassomenon}, "posted," like an army; but the text is probably
unsound: so also in the next line, where the better MSS. have {men
Boubasti poli}, others {e en Boubasti polis}. Stein reads {e en
Boubasti poli}, "the earth at the city of Bubastis." Perhaps {e en
Boubasti polis} might mean the town as opposed to the temple, as
Mr. Woods suggests.

[122] Cp. ch. 161, {egeneto apo prophasios, ton k.t.l.} Perhaps
however {prophasin} is here from {prophaino} (cp. Soph. Trach.
662), and it means merely "that the gods were foreshowing him this
in order that," etc. So Stein.

[123] i.e. for their customary gift or tribute to him as king.

[124] The chronology is inconsistent, and some propose, without
authority, to read "three hundred years."

[125] {tas arouras}, cp. ch. 168, where the {aroura} is defined as a
hundred Egyptian units square, about three-quarters of an acre.

[126] {es to megaron}.

[127] Not on two single occasions, but for two separate periods of
time it was stated that the sun had risen in the West and set in
the East; i.e. from