Chapter XII: Book VII: The Seventh Book of the Histories, Called Polymnia (6)

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.]

19901 [ 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 the year 479.]

215 [ See ch. 83.]

216 [ {ek te tosou de katededekto eousa ouden khreste Melieusi}, i.e. {e esbole}.]

217 [ {Melampugon}.]

218 [ Lit. "had set out to go at first."]

219 [ Lit. "and afterwards deserters were they who reported."]

220 [ {diakrithentes}.]

221 [ {taute kai mallon te gnome pleistos eimi}.]

222 [ i.e. the Persian.]

223 [ {prin tond eteron dia panta dasetai}: i.e. either the city or the king.]

224 [ {mounon Spartieteon}: some Editors (following Plutarch) read {mounon Spartieteon}, "lay up for the Spartans glory above all other nations."]

225 [ {to men gar eruma tou teikheos ephulasseto, oi de k.t.l.}]

226 [ i.e. the Lacedemonians.]

227 [ {izonto epi ton kolonon}.]

228 [ Some Editors insert {tous} after {e}, "before those who were sent away by Leonidas had departed."]

229 [ {remasi}.]

230 [ {leipopsukheonta}, a word which refers properly to bodily weakness. It has been proposed to read {philopsukheonta}, "loving his life," cp. vi. 29.]

231 [ {algesanta}: some good MSS. have {alogesanta}, which is adopted by Stein, "had in his ill-reckoning returned alone."]

232 [ {tes autes ekhomenou prophasios}.]

233 [ {atimien}.]

234 [ {o tresas}.]

235 [ Thuc. ii. 2 ff.]

236 [ {tas diexodous ton bouleumaton}, cp. iii. 156.]

237 [ {ton vees k.t.l.}: some Editors insert {ek} before {ton}, "by which four hundred ships have suffered shipwreck."]

238 [ {ta seoutou de tithemenos eu gnomen ekho}: for {ekho} some inferior MSS. have {ekhe}, which is adopted by several Editors, "Rather set thy affairs in good order and determine not to consider," etc.]

239 [ {to pareon troma}, i.e. their defeat.]

240 [ {kai esti dusmenes te sige}. Some commentators understand {te sige} to mean "secretly," like {sige}, viii. 74.]

241 [ See ch. 220.]

242 [ Many Editors pronounce the last chapter to be an interpolation, but perhaps with hardly sufficient reason.]