The history of Herodotus - Volume 2, Herodotus [book recommendations txt] 📗

form of address changes abruptly to the singular number,
referring to the Athenian people.

122. {azela}, probably for {aionla}, which has been proposed as a
correction: or possibly "wretched."

123. {oxus Ares}.

124. i.e. Assyrian, cp. ch. 63.

125. {min}, i.e. the city, to which belong the head, feet, and body
which have been mentioned.

126. {kakois d' epikidnate thumon}: this might perhaps mean (as it is
taken by several Editors), "show a courageous soul in your
troubles," but that would hardly suit with the discouraging tone
of the context.

127. {onax}, cp. iv. 15.

128. {ouros}: the word might of course be for {oros}, "mountain," and {Kekropos ouros} would then mean the Acropolis (so it is understood by Stein and others), but the combination with Kithairon makes it probable that the reference is to the boundaries of Attica, and this seems more in accordance with the reference to it in viii. 53.

129. {Demeteros}.

130. {sustas}, "having been joined" cp. viii. 142.

131. {ton peri ten Ellada Ellenon ta ameino phroneonton}: the MSS.
have {ton} also after {Ellenon}, which would mean "those of the
Hellenes in Hellas itself, who were of the better mind;" but the
expression {ton ta ameino phroneouseon peri ten Ellada} occurs in
ch. 172. Some Editors omit {Ellenon} as well as {ton}.

132. {egkekremenoi} (from {egkerannumi}, cp. v. 124), a conjectural
emendation (by Reiske) of {egkekhremenoi}. Others have conjectured
{egkekheiremenoi} or {egegermenoi}.

133. {te ge alle}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {tede alle} "is
like the following, which he expressed on another occasion."

134. See vi. 77. This calamity had occurred about fourteen years
before, and it was not in order to recover from this that the
Argives wished now for a thirty years' truce; but warned by this
they desired (they said) to guard against the consequence of a
similar disaster in fighting with the Persians, against whom,
according to their own account, they were going to defend
themselves independently. So great was their fear of this that,
"though fearing the oracle," they were willing to disobey it on
certain conditions.

135. {probalaion}, cp. {probolous}, ch. 76.

136. {es tous pleunas}.

137. Cp. v. 53.

138. {ethelousi}: this is omitted in most of the MSS., but contained
in several of the best. Many Editors have omitted it.

139. {ta oikeia kaka} seems to mean the grievances which each has
against his neighbours, "if all the nations of men should bring
together into one place their own grievances against their
neighbours, desiring to make a settlement with them, each people,
when they had examined closely the grievances of others against
themselves, would gladly carry away back with them those which
they had brought," judging that they had offended others more than
they had suffered themselves.

140. {oiketor o en Gele}: some Editors read by conjecture {oiketor eon
Geles}, others {oiketor en Gele}.

141. {iropsantai ton khthonion theon}: cp. vi. 134.

142. i.e. by direct inspiration.

143. {en dorupsoros}: the MSS. have {os en dorupsoros}. Some Editors
mark a lacuna.

144. {gamorous}, the name given to the highest class of citizens.

145. Or, "Killyrians." They were conquered Sicanians, in the position
of the Spartan Helots.

146. {pakheas}: cp. v. 30.

147. {gar}: inserted conjecturally by many Editors.

148. See v. 46.

149. {e ke meg oimexeie}, the beginning of a Homeric hexameter, cp.
Il. vii. 125.

150. Or, "since your speech is so adverse."

151. See Il. ii. 552.

152. Some Editors mark this explanation "Now this is the meaning-
year," as interpolated.

153. {purannida}.

154. {es meson Kooisi katatheis ten arkhen}.

155. {para Samion}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have
{meta Samion}, "together with the Samians," which is adopted by
many Editors. There can be little doubt however that the Skythes
mentioned in vi. 23 was the father of this Cadmos, and we know
from Thuc. vi. 4 that the Samians were deprived of the town soon
after they had taken it, by Anaxilaos, who gave it the name of
Messene, and no doubt put Cadmos in possession of it, as the son
of the former king.

156. Cp. ch. 154.

157. i.e. 300,000.

159. The MSS. add either {os Karkhedonioi}, or {os Karkhedonioi kai
Surekosioi}, but the testimony of the Carthaginians has just been
given, {os Phoinikes legousi}, and the Syracusans professed to be
unable to discover anything of him at all. Most of the Editors
omit or alter the words.

160. {epimemphesthe}: some Editors have tried corrections, e.g. {ou ti
memnesthe}, "do ye not remember," or {epimemnesthe}, "remember";
but cp. viii. 106, {oste se me mempsasthai ten . . . diken}.

161. {osa umin . . . Minos epempse menion dakrumata}. The oracle would
seem to have been in iambic verse.

162. {parentheke}.

163. {ou boulomenoi}, apparently equivalent to {me boulemenoi}.

164. Cp. viii. 111.

165. i.e. the six commanders of divisions {morai} in the Spartan army.

166. {mia}: for this most MSS. have {ama}. Perhaps the true reading is
{ama mia}.

167. {amaxitos moune}, cp. ch. 200.

168. {Khutrous}.

169. {ton epibateon autes}.

170. {emeroskopous}: perhaps simply "scouts," cp. ch. 219, by which it
would seem that they were at their posts by night also, though
naturally they would not see much except by day.

171. i.e. "Ant."

172. {autoi}.

173. i.e. 241,400.

174. {epebateuon}.

175. 36,210.

176. {o ti pleon en auton e elasson}. In ch. 97, which is referred to
just above, these ships are stated to have been of many different
kinds, and not only fifty-oared galleys.

177. 240,000.

178. 517,610.

179. 1,700,000: see ch. 60.

180. 80,000.

181. 2,317,610.

182. {dokesin de dei legein}.

183. Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.

184. 300,000.

185. 2,641,610.

186. {tou makhimou toutou}.

187. {akatoisi}.

188. 5,283,220.

189. {khoinika}, the usual daily allowance.

190. The {medimnos} is about a bushel and a half, and is equal to 48
{khoinikes}. The reckoning here of 110,340 {medimnoi} is wrong,
owing apparently to the setting down of some numbers in the
quotient which were in fact part of the dividend.

191. {prokrossai ormeonto es ponton}: the meaning of {prokrossai} is
doubtful, but the introduction of the word is probably due to a
reminiscence of Homer, Il. xiv. 35, where the ships are described
as drawn up in rows one behind the other on shore, and where
{prokrossas} is often explained to mean {klimakedon}, i.e. either
in steps one behind the other owing to the rise of the beach, or
in the arrangement of the /quincunx/. Probably in this passage the
idea is rather of the prows projecting in rows like battlements
{krossai}, and this is the sense in which the word is used by
Herodotus elsewhere (iv. 152). The word {krossai} however is used
for the successively rising stages of the pyramids (ii. 125), and
{prokrossos} may mean simply "in a row," or "one behind the
other," which would suit all passages in which it occurs, and
would explain the expression {prokrossoi pheromenoi epi ton
kindunon}, quoted by Athenæus.

192. {apeliotes}. Evidently, from its name {Ellespontias} and from its
being afterwards called {Boreas}, it was actually a North-East
Wind.

193. i.e. "Ovens."

194. {exebrassonto}.

195. {thesaurous}.

196. The word {khrusea}, "of gold," is omitted by some Editors.

197. "in his case also {kai touton} there was an unpleasing misfortune
of the slaying of a child {paidophonos} which troubled him," i.e.
he like others had misfortunes to temper his prosperity.

198. {goesi}, (from a supposed word {goe}): a correction of {geosi},
"by enchanters," which is retained by Stein. Some read {khoesi},
"with libations," others {boesi}, "with cries."

199. {aphesein}, whence the name {Aphetai} was supposed to be derived.

199a. Or, "had crucified . . . having convicted him of the following
charge, namely," etc. Cp. iii. 35 (end).

200. {tritaios}. According to the usual meaning of the word the sense
should be "on the third day after" entering Thessaly, but the
distance was much greater than a two-days' march.

201. i.e. "the Devourer."

202. {Prutaneiou}, "Hall of the Magistrates."

203. {leiton}.

204. {estellonto}: many Editors, following inferior MSS., read
{eselthontes} and make changes in the rest of the sentence.

205. Some MSS. have {Ainienon} for {Enienon}.

206. {stadion}.

207. {diskhilia te gar kai dismuria plethra tou pediou esti}. If the
text is right, the {plethron} must here be a measure of area. The
amount will then be about 5000 acres.

208. {mekhri Trekhinos}, "up to Trachis," which was the Southern
limit.

209. {to epi tautes tes epeirou}. I take {to epi tautes} to be an
adverbial expression like {tes eteres} in ch. 36, for I cannot
think that the rendering "towards this continent" is satisfactory.

210. See v. 45.

211. {tous katesteotas}. There is a reference to the body of 300 so
called {ippeis} (cp. i. 67), who were appointed to accompany the
king in war; but we must suppose that on special occasions the
king made up this appointed number by selection, and that in this
case those were preferred who had sons to keep up the family.
Others (including Grote) understand {tous katesteotas} to mean
"men of mature age."

212. {ton Pulagoron}.

213. {es ten Pulaien}.

214. An indication that the historian intended to carry his work
further than