Histories

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See ch. 107 ff. ↩

Not “somewhere near the city of Sinope,” for it must have been at a considerable distance and probably far inland. Sinope itself is at least fifty miles to the west of the Halys. I take it to mean that Pteria was nearly due south of Sinope, i.e. that the nearest road from Pteria to the sea led to Sinope. Pteria no doubt was the name of a region as well as of a city. ↩

ἀναστάτους ἐποίησε. ↩

This is the son of the man mentioned in ch. 74. ↩

ὃς ἦν αὐτοῦ ξεινικòς. Stein translates “so much of it as was mercenary,” but it may be doubted if this is possible. Mr. Woods, “which army of his was a foreign one.” ↩

Μητρὸς Δινδυμήνης, i.e. Kybele: the mountain is Dindymos in Phrygia. ↩

I.e. the whole strip of territory to the West of the peninsula of Argolis, which includes Thyrea and extends southwards to Malea: “westwards as far as Malea” would be absurd. ↩

οὖτος: a conjectural emendation of αὐτός. ↩

αὐτός: some MSS. read ὁ αὐτός, “this same man.” ↩

ἀνενεικάμενον, nearly equivalent to ἀναστενάξαντα (cp. Homer’s Iliad xix. 314), μνησάμενος δ’ ἀδινῶς ἀνενείκατο φωνῆσέν τε. Some translate it here, “he recovered himself,” cp. ch. 116, ἀνενειχθείς. ↩

ὑβρισταί. ↩

προήσουσι: a conjectural emendation of ποεήσουσι, adopted in most of the modern editions. ↩

τοῦτο ὀνειδίσαι: or τούτων ὀνειδίσαι, “to reproach the god with these things.” The best MSS. have τούτῳ. ↩

τῷ καὶ⁠ ⁠… εἶπε τὰ εἶπε Λοξίας κ.τ.λ.: various emendations have been proposed. If any one is to be adopted, the boldest would perhaps be the best, τὸ σὲ καὶ⁠ ⁠… εἶπε Λοξίας. ↩

οἶά τε καὶ ἄλλη χώρη, “such as other lands have.” ↩

σταδιοι ἒξ καὶ ἄλλη ξώρη. ↩

πλέθρα τρία καὶ δέκα. ↩

Γυγαίη. ↩

Or “Tyrrhenia.” ↩

Or “Umbrians.” ↩

τῆς ἄνω Ἀσίης, i.e. the parts which are removed from the Mediterranean. ↩

I.e. nature would not be likely to supply so many regularly ascending circles. Stein alters the text so that the sentence runs thus, “and whereas there are seven circles of all, within the last is the royal palace,” etc. ↩

I.e. “to laugh or to spit is unseemly for those in presence of the king, and this last for all, whether in the presence of the king or not.” Cp. Xenophon’s Cyropaedia I. 2. 16, αἰσχρὸν μὲν γὰρ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐστι Πέρσαις καὶ τὸ ἀποπτύειν καί τὸ ἀπομύττεσθσι, (quoted by Stein, who however gives a different interpretation). ↩

ταῦτα δὲ περὶ ἑωιτὸν ἑσέμνυνε: the translation given is that of Mr. Woods. ↩

ἄλλως μέντοι ἑωυτῶν εὖ ἥκοντες: the translation is partly due to Mr. Woods. ↩

I.e. East of the Halys: see note on ch. 95. ↩

See IV. 12. ↩

Cp. ch. 72. ↩

τὴν κατύτερθε ὁδόν, i.e. further away from the Euxine eastwards. ↩

ὁ θεός. ↩

ξωρὶς μὲν γὰρ φόρων: many Editors substitute φόρον for φόρων, but φόρων may stand if taken not with ξωρίς but with τὸ ἑκάστοισι ἐπέβαλλον. ↩

Cp. ch. 184, “the Assyrian history.” ↩

ὑπερθέμενος, a conjectural emendation of ὑποθέμενοσ, cp. ch. 108 where the MSS. give ὑπερθέμενος, (the Medicean with ὑπο written above as a correction). ↩

Or “expose me to risk,” “stake my safety.” ↩

Or “thou wilt suffer the most evil kind of death”: cp. ch. 167. ↩

τὰς ἀγγελίας φέρειν, i.e. to have the office of ἀγγελιηφόρος (ch. 120) or ἐσαγγελεύς (III. 84), the chamberlain through whom communications passed. ↩

διαλαβεῖν. So translated by Mr. Woods. ↩

ἐς τὰς ὰνάγκας, “to the necessity,” mentioned above. ↩

Or “to celebrate good fortune.” ↩

ἀκρέων χειρῶν τε καὶ ποδῶν: cp. II. 121 (e), ἀποταμόντα ἐν τῷ ὤμῳ τὴν χεῖρα. ↩

ἦστι τε ὁ παῖς καὶ περίεστι. So translated by Mr. Woods. ↩

ἤρχε: a few inferior MSS. have εἶχε, which is adopted by several Editors. ↩

παρὰ σμικρὰ⁠ ⁠… κεχώρηκε, “have come out equal to trifles.” ↩

κύων: cp. ch. 110. ↩

σύ νυν, answering to σὲ γὰρ θεοὶ ἐπορέουσι: the MSS. and some Editors read σὺ νῦν. ↩

I.e. of the race of Perses: see VII. 61. ↩

“How his change from a throne to slavery was as compared with that feast, etc.,” i.e. what did he think of it as a retribution. ↩