Histories

lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">κίταρις (which is explained to mean the same as τιάρα), is quoted by Pollux as occurring in Herodotus. ↩

κιθῶνας. ↩

δρέπανα, “reaping-hooks,” cp. V. 112. ↩

See I. 171. ↩

Πελασγοί Αἰγιαλέες. ↩

ἐς ἱστορίης λόγον, “with regard to the inquiry,” i.e. “by the plan of the history.” ↩

κέρκουροι. ↩

μακρά: some MSS. and editions have σμικρά, “small.” ↩

Or “Mapen.” ↩

Or “Seldomos.” ↩

μετωπηδόν. ↩

μὴ ἐόντες ἄρθμιοι. This is generally taken to mean, “unless they were of one mind together”; but that would very much weaken the force of the remark, and ἄρθμιος elsewhere is the opposite of πολέμιος, cp. VI. 83 and IX. 9, 37: Xerxes professes enmity only against those who had refused to give the tokens of submission. ↩

μὲν μπύνοισι: these words are omitted in some good MSS., and μούνοισι has perhaps been introduced from the preceding sentence. The thing referred to in τοῦτο is the power of fighting in single combat with many at once, which Demaratos is supposed to have claimed for the whole community of the Spartans. ↩

στέργειν μάλιστα. ↩

οὐδαμοί κω. ↩

Or, “Strauos.” ↩

Or, “Compsatos.” ↩

τὰς ἠπειρώτιδας πόλις: it is not clear why these are thus distinguished. Stein suggests Θασίων τὰς ἠπειτώτιδας πόλις, cp. ch. [Footnote 118; and if that be the true reading ἰὼν is probably a remnant of Θασίων after χώρας. ↩

Or, “Pistiros.” ↩

οἱ προφητεύοντες, i.e. those who interpret the utterances of the Oracle, cp. VIII. 36. ↩

πρόμαντις. ↩

καὶ οὐδὲν ποικιλώτερον, an expression of which the meaning is not quite clear; perhaps “and the oracles are not at all more obscure,” cp. Eur. Phoen. 470 and Hel. 711 (quoted by Bähr). ↩

“Ennea Hodoi.” ↩

Cp. III. 84. ↩

The “royal cubit” is about 20 inches; the δάκτυλος, “finger’s breadth,” is rather less than ¾ inch. ↩

Or, “Cape Canastraion.” ↩

τὴν μεσόγαιαν τάμνων τῆς ὁδοῦ: cp. IV. 12 and IX. 89. ↩

Or “Echeidoros”: so it is usually called, but not by any MS. here, and by a few only in ch. 127. ↩

πρὸ πολλοῦ ἐφυλάξαντο: cp. IV. 12 and IX. 89. ↩

Cp. ch. 6 and 174: but it does not appear that the Aleuadai, of whom Xerxes is here speaking, ever thought of resistance, and perhaps γνωσιμαχέοντες means, “when they submitted without resistance.” ↩

Some MSS. have Αἰνιῆνες for Ἐνιῆνες. ↩

δεκατῦσαι: there is sufficient authority for this rendering of δεκατεύειν, and it seems better here than to understand the word to refer only to a “tithing” of goods. ↩

ἐς τὸ βάραθρον, the place of execution at Athens. ↩

“Undesirable thing.” ↩

οὐκ ἐξ ἴσου: i.e. it is one-sided, because the speaker has had experience of only one of the alternatives. ↩

Cp. ch. 143 (end), and VIII. 62. ↩

τειχέων κιθῶνες, a poetical expression, quoted perhaps from some oracle; and if so, κιθῶν may here have the Epic sense of a “coat of mail,” equivalent to θώρηξ in I. 181: see ch. 61, note 56. ↩

τὸ μέγαρον. ↩

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

ἄζηλα, probably for ἀΐδηλα, which has been proposed as a correction: or possibly “wretched.” ↩

ὀξὺς Ἄρης. ↩

I.e. Assyrian, cp. ch. 63. ↩

μιν, i.e. the city, to which belong the head, feet, and body which have been mentioned. ↩

κακοῖς δ’ ἐπικίδνατε θυμόν: 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. ↩

ὧναξ, cp. IV. 15. ↩

οὗρος: the word might of course be for ὄρος, “mountain,” and Κροπος οὖρος 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. ↩

Δημήτερος. ↩

συστάς, “having been joined” cp. VIII. 142. ↩

τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἀμείνω φρονεόντων: the MSS. have τῶν also after Ἑλλήνων, which would mean “those of the Hellenes in Hellas itself, who were of the better mind;” but the expression