Histories

line running straight up against another, which it has in other passages. In that case it would here mean “heading towards the Pontus.” ↩

τὰς μὲν πρὸς τοῦ Πόντου τῆς ἑτέρης. Most commentators would supply γεφύρης with τῆς ἑτέρης, but evidently both bridges must have been anchored on both sides. ↩

εὔρου: Stein adopts the conjecture ζεφύρου. ↩

τῶν πεντηκοντέρων καὶ τριηρέων τριχοῦ: the MSS. give τῶν πεντηκοντέρων καὶ τριχοῦ, “between the fifty-oared galleys in as many as three places,” but it is strange that the fifty-oared galleys should be mentioned alone, and there seems no need of καὶ with τριχοῦ. Stein reads τῶν πεντηκοντέρων καὶ τριηρέων (omitting τριχοῦ altogether), and this may be right. ↩

I.e. in proportion to the quantity: there was of course a greater weight altogether of the papyrus rope. ↩

αὖτις ἐπεζεύγνυον. ↩

ἔκλειψιν: cp. ἐκλιπών above. ↩

Or, according to some MSS., “Nisaian.” ↩

I.e. not downwards. ↩

τινὰ αὐτοῦ συχνόν ὅμιλον. ↩

τὸ Πριάμου Πέργαμον. ↩

ἐν Ἀβύδῳ μέσῃ: some inferior authorities (followed by most Editors) omit μέσῃ: but the district seems to be spoken of, as just above. ↩

προεξέδρη λίθου λευκοῦ: some kind of portico or loggia seems to be meant. ↩

δαιμόνιε ἀνδοῶν. ↩

ἕνα αὐτον. ↩

τὸ πρόσω αἰεὶ κλεπτόμενος: “stealing thy advance continually,” i.e. “advancing insensibly further.” Some take κεπτόμενος as passive, “insensibly lured on further.” ↩

νεώτερόν τι ποιήσειν. ↩

Or, according to some MSS., “the Persian land.” ↩

Lit. “the name of which happens to be Agora.” ↩

I.e. 1,700,000. ↩

συννάξαντες: a conjectural emendation very generally adopted of συνάξαντες or συνάψαντες. ↩

ἀπαγέας, i.e. not stiffly standing up; the opposite to πεπηγυλίας (ch. 64). ↩

λεπίδος σιδηρέης ὄψιν ἰχθυοειδέος: many Editors suppose that some words have dropped out. The κιθών spoken of may have been a coat of armour, but elsewhere the body armour θώρηξ is clearly distinguished from the κιθών, see IX. 22. ↩

γέρρα: cp. IX. 61 and 102. ↩

Cp. I. 7. ↩

μιτρηφόροι ἦσαν: the μίτρη was perhaps a kind of turban. ↩

τῆσι Αἰγυπτίῃσι, apparently μαχαίρῃσι is meant to be supplied: cp. ch. 91. ↩

ἐκλήθησαν, “were called” from the first. ↩

These words are by some Editors thought to be an interpolation. The Chaldeans in fact had become a caste of priests, cp. I. 181. ↩

κθρβασίας: supposed to be the same as the tiara (cp. V. 49), but in this case stiff and upright. ↩

I.e. Areians, cp. III. 93. ↩

σισύρνας: cp. IV. 109. ↩

ἀκινάκας. ↩

σισυρνοφόροι. ↩

ζειράς. ↩

τόξα παλίντονα. ↩

σπἀθης, which perhaps means the stem of the leaf. ↩

γύψῳ, “white chalk.” ↩

μίλτῳ, “red ochre.” ↩

Some words have apparently been lost containing the name of the nation to which the following description applies. It is suggested that this might be either the Chalybians or the Pisidians. ↩

λυκιοςργέας, an emendation from Athenaus of λυκοεργέας (or λυκεργέας), which might perhaps mean “for wolf-hunting.” ↩

ἀνασπάστους: cp. III. 93. ↩

Some Editors place this clause before the words: “and Smerdomenes the son of Otanes,” for we do not hear of Otanes or Smerdomenes elsewhere as brother and nephew of Darius. On the other hand Mardonios was son of the sister of Darius. ↩

τυχῇ, “hits.” ↩

κέλητας, “single horses.” ↩

This name is apparently placed here wrongly. It has been proposed to read Κάσπειροι or Πάκτυες. ↩

ἵππευε: the greater number of MSS. have ἱππέυει here as at the beginning of ch. 84, to which this is a reference back, but with a difference of meaning. There the author seemed to begin with the intention of giving a full list of the cavalry force of the Persian Empire, and then confined his account to those actually present on this occasion, whereas here the word in combination with μοῦνα refers only to those just enumerated. ↩

I.e. 80,000. ↩

Σύροισι, see note on II. 104. ↩

τύκους, which appears to mean ordinarily a tool for stone-cutting. ↩

μίτρῃσι, perhaps “turbans.” ↩

κιθῶνας: there is some probability in the suggestion of κιτάριας here, for we should expect mention of a head-covering, and the word