Notes to Herodotus First Book of the Histories called Clio and translated by G.C. Macaulay

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Translated into English by G. C. MACAULAY, M.A.

[Macaulay's CrÂœsus has been changed to Croesus and Phenicians to Phoenicians to fit with the rest of this site.]

The First Book of the Histories, Called Clio

Notes to Book I

Hdt Bk I Note [1] {'Erodotou 'Alikarnesseos istories apodexis ede, os k.t.l.} The meaning of the word {istorie} passes gradually from "research" or "inquiry" to "narrative," "history"; cp. vii. 96. Aristotle in quoting these words writes {Thouriou} for {'Alikarnesseos} ("Herodotus of Thurii"), and we know from Plutarch that this reading existed in his time as a variation.

Hdt Bk I Note [2] Probably {erga} may here mean enduring monuments like the pyramids and the works at Samos, cp. i. 93, ii. 35, etc.; in that case {ta te alla} refers back to {ta genomena}, though the verb {epolemesan} derives its subject from the mention of Hellenes and Barbarians in the preceding clause.

Hdt Bk I Note [3] Many Editors have "with the Phoenicians," on the authority of some inferior MSS. and of the Aldine edition.

Hdt Bk I Note [4] {arpages}.

Hdt Bk I Note [4a] "thus or in some other particular way."

Hdt Bk I Note [5] {Surion}, see ch. 72. Herodotus perhaps meant to distinguish {Surioi} from {Suroi}, and to use the first name for the Cappadokians and the second for the people of Palestine, cp. ii. 104; but they are naturally confused in the MSS.

Hdt Bk I Note [6] {ex epidromes arpage}.

Hdt Bk I Note [7] {tes anoigomenes thures}, "the door that is opened."

Hdt Bk I Note [8] Or "because she was ashamed."

Hdt Bk I Note [9] {phoitan}.

Hdt Bk I Note [10] {upeisdus}: Stein adopts the conjecture {upekdus}, "slipping out of his hiding-place.

Hdt Bk I Note [11] This last sentence is by many regarded as an interpolation. The line referred to is {Ou moi ta Gugeo tou polukhrosou melei}.

Hdt Bk I Note [12] See v. 92.

Hdt Bk I Note [13] i.e. like other kings of Lydia who came after him.

Hdt Bk I Note [14] {Kolophonos to astu}, as opposed apparently to the acropolis, cp. viii. 51.

Hdt Bk I Note [15] See ch. 73.

Hdt Bk I Note [16] {o kai esballon tenikauta es ten Milesien ten stratien}: an allusion apparently to the invasions of the Milesian land at harvest time, which are described above. All the operations mentioned in the last chapter have been loosely described to Alyattes, and a correction is here added to inform the reader that they belong equally to his father. It will hardly mend matters much if we take {o Audos} in ch. 17 to include both father and son.

Hdt Bk I Note [17] {didaxanta}.

Hdt Bk I Note [18] This name is applied by Herodotus to the southern part of the peninsula only.

Hdt Bk I Note [19] Tarentum.

Hdt Bk I Note [20] {en toisi edolioisi}: properly "benches," but probably here the raised deck at the stern.

Hdt Bk I Note [21] {ou mega}: many of the MSS. have {mega}.

Hdt Bk I Note [22] {stadioi}: furlongs of about 606 English feet.

Hdt Bk I Note [23] {to epilogo}.

Hdt Bk I Note [24] This list of nations is by some suspected as an interpolation; see Stein's note on the passage.

Hdt Bk I Note [25] {sophistai}: cp. ii. 49, and iv. 95.

Hdt Bk I Note [26] {etheto}.

Hdt Bk I Note [27] {olbiotaton}.

Hdt Bk I Note [28] {stadious}.

Hdt Bk I Note [29] {romen}: many of the MSS. have {gnomen}, "good disposition."

Hdt Bk I Note [30] i.e. their mother: but some understand it to mean the goddess.

Hdt Bk I Note [31] {en telei touto eskhonto}.

Hdt Bk I Note [32] {anolbioi}.

Hdt Bk I Note [33] {eutukhees}.

Hdt Bk I Note [34] {aperos}: the MSS. have {apeiros}.

Hdt Bk I Note [35] {aikhme sideree blethenta}.

Hdt Bk I Note [36] "in the house of Croesus."

Hdt Bk I Note [37] {'Epistion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [38] {'Etaireion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [39] {suggrapsamenous}, i.e. have it written down by the {propsetes} (see vii. 111 and viii. 37), who interpreted and put into regular verse the inspired utterances of the prophetess {promantis}.

Hdt Bk I Note [40] {es to megaron}.

Hdt Bk I Note [41] {oida d' ego}: oracles often have a word of connection such as {de} or {alla} at the beginning (cp. ch. 55, 174, etc.), which may indicate that they are part of a larger connected utterance.

Hdt Bk I Note [42] Cp. vii. 178 and ix. 91 ("I accept the omen.")

Hdt Bk I Note [43] See viii. 134.

Hdt Bk I Note [44] {kai touton}, i.e. Amphiaraos: many Editors retain the readings of the Aldine edition, {kai touto}, "that in this too he had found a true Oracle."

Hdt Bk I Note [45] {emiplinthia}, the plinth being supposed to be square.

Hdt Bk I Note [46] {exapalaiota}, the palm being about three inches, cp. ii. 149.

Hdt Bk I Note [47] {apephthou khrusou}, "refined gold."

Hdt Bk I Note [48] {triton emitalanton}: the MSS. have {tria emitalanta}, which has been corrected partly on the authority of Valla's translation.

Hdt Bk I Note [49] "white gold."

Hdt Bk I Note [50] Arranged evidently in stages, of which the highest consisted of the 4 half-plinths of pure gold, the second of 15 half-plinths, the third of 35, the fourth of 63, making 117 in all: see Stein's note.

Hdt Bk I Note [51] {elkon stathmon einaton emitalanton kai eti duodeka mneas}. The {mnea} (mina) is 15.2 oz., and 60 of them go to a talent.

Hdt Bk I Note [52] {epi tou proneiou tes gonies}, cp. viii. 122: the use of {epi} seems to suggest some kind of raised corner-stone upon which the offerings stood.

Hdt Bk I Note [53] The {amphoreus} is about 9 gallons.

Hdt Bk I Note [54] Cp. iii. 41.

Hdt Bk I Note [55] {perirranteria}.

Hdt Bk I Note [56] {kheumata}, which some translate "jugs" or "bowls."

Hdt Bk I Note [57] {umin}, as if both Oracles were being addressed together.

Hdt Bk I Note [58] i.e. Delphi.

Hdt Bk I Note [59] {enephoreeto}, "he filled himself with it."

Hdt Bk I Note [60] {Krestona}: Niebuhr would read {Krotona} (Croton or Cortona in Etruria), partly on the authority of Dionysius: see Stein's note. Two of the best MSS. are defective in this part of the book.

Hdt Bk I Note [61] See ii. 51 and vi. 137.

Hdt Bk I Note [62] {auxetai es plethos ton ethneon pollon}: "has increased to a multitude of its races, which are many." Stein and Abicht both venture to adopt the conjecture {Pelasgon} for {pollon}, "Pelasgians especially being added to them, and also many other Barbarian nations."

Hdt Bk I Note [62a] {pros de on emoige dokeei}: the MSS. have {emoi te}. Some Editors read {os de on} (Stein {prosthe de on}) for {pros de on}. This whole passage is probably in some way corrupt, but it can hardly be successfully emended.

Hdt Bk I Note [63] i.e. as it is of the Hellenic race before it parted from the Pelasgian and ceased to be Barbarian.

Hdt Bk I Note [64] {katekhomenon te kai diespasmenon . . . upo Peisistratou}. Peisistratos was in part at least the cause of the divisions.

Hdt Bk I Note [65] {paralon}.

Hdt Bk I Note [66] {uperakrion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [67] {toutous}: some read by conjecture {triekosious}, "three hundred," the number which he actually had according to Polyænus, i. 21.

Hdt Bk I Note [68] {doruphoroi}, the usual word for a body-guard.

Hdt Bk I Note [69] {perielaunomenos de te stasi}: Stein says "harassed by attacks of his own party," but the passage to which he refers in ch. 61, {katallasseto ten ekhthren toisi stasiotesi}, may be referred to in the quarrel made with his party by Megacles when he joined Peisistratos.

Hdt Bk I Note [70] More literally, "since from ancient time the Hellenic race had been marked off from the Barbarians as being more skilful and more freed from foolish simplicity, (and) since at that time among the Athenians, who are accounted the first of the Hellenes in ability, these men devised a trick as follows."

Hdt Bk I Note [71] The cubit is reckoned as 24 finger-breadths, i.e. about 18 inches.

Hdt Bk I Note [72] So Rawlinson.

Hdt Bk I Note [73] See v. 70.

Hdt Bk I Note [74] {dia endekatou eteos}. Not quite the same as {dia evdeka eteon} ("after an interval of eleven years"); rather "in the eleventh year" (i.e. "after an interval of ten years").

Hdt Bk I Note [75] {thein pompe khreomenos}.

Hdt Bk I Note [76] For {'Akarnan} it has been suggested to read {'Akharneus}, because this man is referred to as an Athenian by various writers. However Acarnanians were celebrated for prophetic power, and he might be called an Athenian as resident with Peisistratos at Athens.

Hdt Bk I Note [77] Or "for that part of the land from which the temple could be seen," but cp. Thuc. iii. 104. In either case the meaning is the same.

Hdt Bk I Note [77a] {enomotias kai triekadas kai sussitia}. The {enomotia} was the primary division of the Spartan army: of the {triekas} nothing is known for certain.

Hdt Bk I Note [78] {kibdelo}, properly "counterfeit": cp. ch. 75.

Hdt Bk I Note [79] {skhoino diametresamenoi}: whether actually, for the purpose of distributing the work among them, or because the rope which fastened them together lay on the ground like a measuring-tape, is left uncertain.

Hdt Bk I Note [80] Cp. ix. 70.

Hdt Bk I Note [81] {epitarrothos}. Elsewhere (that is in Homer) the word always means "helper," and Stein translates it so here, "thou shalt be protector and patron of Tegea" (in the place of Orestes). Mr. Woods explains it by the parallel of such phrases as {Danaoisi makhes epitarrothoi}, to mean "thou shalt be a helper (of the Lacedemonians) in the matter of Tegea," but this perhaps would be a form of address too personal to the envoy, who is usually addressed in the second person, but only as representative of those who sent him. The conjectural reading {epitarrothon exeis}, "thou shalt have him as a helper against Tegea," is tempting.

Hdt Bk I Note [82] {agathoergon}.

Hdt Bk I Note [83] This was to enable him the better to gain his ends at Tegea.

Hdt Bk I Note [84] Cp. ch. 51, note.

Hdt Bk I Note [85] See ch. 6.

Hdt Bk I Note [86] {euzono andri}: cp. ch. 104 and ii. 34. The word {euzonos} is used of light-armed troops; Hesychius says, {euzonos, me ekhon phortion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [87] {orgen ouk akros}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and it is sufficiently supported by the parallel of v. 124, {psukhen ouk akros}. Most Editors however have adopted the reading {orgen akros}, as equivalent to {akrakholos}, "quick-tempered."

Hdt Bk I Note [88] It has been suggested by some that this clause is not genuine. It should not, however, be taken to refer to the battle which was interrupted by the eclipse, for (1) that did not occur in the period here spoken of; (2) the next clause is introduced by {de} (which can hardly here stand for {gar}); (3) when the eclipse occurred the fighting ceased, therefore it was no more a {nuktomakhin} than any other battle which is interrupted by darkness coming on.

Hdt Bk I Note [89] See ch. 188. /Nabunita/ was his true name.

Hdt Bk I Note [90] See ch. 107 ff.

Hdt Bk I Note [91] 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.

Hdt Bk I Note [92] {anastatous epoiese}.

Hdt Bk I Note [93] This is the son of the man mentioned in ch. 74.

Hdt Bk I Note [94] {us en autou xeinikos}. 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."

Hdt Bk I Note [95] {Metros Dindumenes}, i.e. Kybele: the mountain is Dindymos in Phrygia.

Hdt Bk I Note [96] 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.

Hdt Bk I Note [97] {outos}: a conjectural emendation of {autos}.

Hdt Bk I Note [98] {autos}: some MSS. read {o autos}, "this same man."

Hdt Bk I Note [99] {aneneikamenon}, nearly equivalent to {anastemaxanta} (cp. Hom. Il. xix. 314), {mnesamenos d' adinos aneneikato phonesen te}. Some translate it here, "he recovered himself," cp. ch. 116, {aneneikhtheis}.

Hdt Bk I Note [100] {ubristai}.

Hdt Bk I Note [101] {proesousi}: a conjectural emendation of {poiesousi}, adopted in most of the modern editions.

Hdt Bk I Note [102] {touto oneidisai}: or {touton oneidisai}, "to reproach the god with these things." The best MSS. have {touto}.

Hdt Bk I Note [103] {to kai . . . eipe ta eipe Loxias k.t.l.}: various emendations have been proposed. If any one is to be adopted, the boldest would perhaps be the best, {to de kai . . . eipe Loxias}.

Hdt Bk I Note [104] {oia te kai alle khore}, "such as other lands have."

Hdt Bk I Note [105] {stadioi ex kai duo plethra}.

Hdt Bk I Note [106] {plethra tria kai deka}.

Hdt Bk I Note [107] {Gugaie}.

Hdt Bk I Note [108] Or "Tyrrhenia."

Hdt Bk I Note [109] Or "Umbrians."

Hdt Bk I Note [110] {tes ano 'Asies}, i.e. the parts which are removed from the Mediterranean.

Hdt Bk I Note [111] 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.

Hdt Bk I Note [112] 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. Xen. Cyrop. i. 2. 16, {aiskhron men gar eti kai nun esti Persais kai to apoptuein kai to apomuttesthai}, (quoted by Stein, who however gives a different interpretation).

Hdt Bk I Note [113] {tauta de peri eouton esemnune}: the translation given is that of Mr. Woods.

Hdt Bk I Note [114] {allos mentoi eouton eu ekontes}: the translation is partly due to Mr. Woods.

Hdt Bk I Note [115] i.e. East of the Halys: see note on ch. 95.

Hdt Bk I Note [116] See iv. 12.

Hdt Bk I Note [117] Cp. ch. 72.

Hdt Bk I Note [118] {ten katuperthe odon}, i.e. further away from the Euxine eastwards.

Hdt Bk I Note [119] {o theos}.

Hdt Bk I Note [120] {khoris men gar phoron}: many Editors substitute {phoron} for {phoron}, but {phoron} may stand if taken not with {khoris} but with {to ekastoisi epeballon}.

Hdt Bk I Note [121] Cp. ch. 184, "the Assyrian history."

Hdt Bk I Note [122] {uperthemenos}, a conjectural emendation of {upothemenos}, cp. ch. 108 where the MSS. give {uperthemenos}, (the Medicean with {upo} written above as a correction).

Hdt Bk I Note [123] Or "expose me to risk," "stake my safety."

Hdt Bk I Note [124] Or "thou wilt suffer the most evil kind of death": cp. ch. 167.

Hdt Bk I Note [124a] {tas aggelias pherein}, i.e. to have the office of {aggeliephoros} (ch. 120) or {esaggeleus} (iii. 84), the chamberlain through whom communications passed.

Hdt Bk I Note [125] {dialabein}. So translated by Mr. Woods.

Hdt Bk I Note [126] {es tas anagkas}, "to the necessity," mentioned above.

Hdt Bk I Note [127] Or "to celebrate good fortune."

Hdt Bk I Note [128] {akreon kheiron te kai podon}: cp. ii. 121 (e), {apotamonta en to omo ten kheira}.

Hdt Bk I Note [129] {esti te o pais kai periesti}. So translated by Mr. Woods.

Hdt Bk I Note [130] {erkhe}: a few inferior MSS. have {eikhe}, which is adopted by several Editors.

Hdt Bk I Note [131] {para smikra . . . kekhoreke}, "have come out equal to trifles."

Hdt Bk I Note [132] {kuon}: cp. ch. 110.

Hdt Bk I Note [133] {su nun}, answering to {se gar theoi eporeousi}: the MSS. and some Editors read {su nun}.

Hdt Bk I Note [134] i.e. of the race of Perses: see vii. 61.

Hdt Bk I Note [135] "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.

Hdt Bk I Note [136] See ch. 106. The actual duration of the Median supremacy would be therefore a hundred years.

Hdt Bk I Note [136a] This is by some altered to "Alilat," by comparison of iii. 8.

Hdt Bk I Note [137] {stemmasi}, i.e. the chaplets wound round with wool which were worn at Hellenic sacrifices.

Hdt Bk I Note [138] {oulesi}.

[138a] Cp. vii. 61.

Hdt Bk I Note [139] {sitoisi}: perhaps "plain dishes."

Hdt Bk I Note [140] {proskuneei}, i.e. kisses his feet or the ground.

Hdt Bk I Note [141] {ton legomenon}, a correction of {to legomeno}. (The Medicean MS. has {toi legomenoi} like the rest, not {toi legomeno}, as stated by Stein.)

Hdt Bk I Note [142] {ekhomenon, kata ton auton de logon}: the MSS. and most Editors have {ekhomenon}. {kata ton auton de logon}; "and this same rule the Persians observe in giving honour." This, however, makes it difficult (though not impossible) to refer {to ethnos} in the next clause to the Medes, and it can hardly be referred to the Persians, who certainly had not the same system of government. Perhaps however we may translate thus, "for each race extended forward thus their rule or their deputed authority."

Hdt Bk I Note [143] Cp. vii. 194.

Hdt Bk I Note [144] {polloi}: omitted, or corrected variously, by Editors. There is, perhaps, something wrong about the text in the next clause also, for it seems clear that white doves were not objected to by the Persians. See Stein's note.

Hdt Bk I Note [145] See ch. 95.

Hdt Bk I Note [146] These words, "neither those towards the East nor those towards the West" have perhaps been interpolated as an explanation of {ta ano} and {ta kato}. As an explanation they can hardly be correct, but the whole passage is vaguely expressed.

Hdt Bk I Note [147] {tropous tesseras paragogeon}.

Hdt Bk I Note [148] i.e. the Asiatic Ionians who had formed a separate confederacy. Some understand it to mean the Milesians, but this would give no satisfactory connection with what follows.

Hdt Bk I Note [149] {pentapolios}.

Hdt Bk I Note [150] {exapolios}.

Hdt Bk I Note [151] {mesogaioi}. Several of the other cities are at some distance from the coast, but the region is meant in each case rather than the city (hence such forms as {Tritaiees}.

Hdt Bk I Note [152] {'Elikonio}.

Hdt Bk I Note [153] This is condemned as an interpolation by some Editors.

Hdt Bk I Note [154] {oreon de ekousan ouk omoios}.

Hdt Bk I Note [155] {katastas}: cp. iii. 46.

Hdt Bk I Note [156] {ktesamenoi}: Stein reads {stesamenoi} by conjecture: cp. vi. 58.

Hdt Bk I Note [157] {phrontizo me ariston e}. The translation is Rawlinson's.

Hdt Bk I Note [158] {kephale anamaxas}: cp. Hom. Od. xix. 92.

Hdt Bk I Note [159] {es tous Bragkhidas}, i.e. the priests of the temple. The name of the place {Bragkhidai} is feminine, cp. ch. 92.

Hdt Bk I Note [160] {onax}, addressing Apollo.

Hdt Bk I Note [161] {exaipee tous strouthous k.t.l.} The verb is one which is commonly used of the destruction and depopulation of cities, cp. ch. 176. (Stein.)

Hdt Bk I Note [162] {tou de 'Atarneos toutou esti khoros tes Musies}.

Hdt Bk I Note [163] {ouk oligoi stadioi}.

Hdt Bk I Note [164] {katirosai}, i.e. dedicate it to the king as a token of submission.

Hdt Bk I Note [165] i.e. Corsica.

Hdt Bk I Note [166] {anaphanenai}: the MSS. have {anaphenai}, which can only be translated by supplying {ton ponton} from {katepontosan}, "till the sea produced it again," but this is hardly satisfactory.

Hdt Bk I Note [167] {Karkhedonioi}.

Hdt Bk I Note [168] {elakhon te auton pollo pleious}. Several Editors suppose that words have been lost or that the text is corrupt. I understand it to mean that many more of them fell into the hands of the enemy than were rescued by their own side. Some translate "divided most of them by lot"; but this would be {dielakhon}, and the proceeding would have no object if the prisoners were to be put to death at once. For {pleious} Stein reads {pleistous}.

Hdt Bk I Note [169] {ton Kurnon . . . ktisai eron eonta, all' ou ten neson}.

Hdt Bk I Note [170] {bouleuterion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [171] {outoi}: the MSS. have {outo}.

Hdt Bk I Note [172] {autokhthonas epeirotas}.

Hdt Bk I Note [173] Many Editors insert {oi} before {tes khores tes spheteres} and alter the punctuation accordingly.

Hdt Bk I Note [174] Or "all their land came within the isthmus."

Hdt Bk I Note [175] {epexiontes}: the MSS. have {upexiontes}, which Mr. Woods explains to mean "coming forth suddenly."

Hdt Bk I Note [176] {epexelthontes}: the MSS. have {upexelthontes}.

Hdt Bk I Note [177] {stadion}, and so throughout.

Hdt Bk I Note [178] The "royal cubit" appears to have measured about twenty-one inches.

Hdt Bk I Note [179] {tous agkhonas}, the walls on the North and South of the city, called so because built at an angle with the side walls.

Hdt Bk I Note [180] {laurai}, "lanes."

Hdt Bk I Note [181] {kai autai}, but perhaps the text is not sound.

Hdt Bk I Note [182] {thorex}, as opposed to the inner wall, which would be the {kithon} (cp. vii. 139).

Hdt Bk I Note [183] {steinoteron}: Mr. Woods says "of less thickness," the top of the wall being regarded as a road.

Hdt Bk I Note [184] {duo stadion pante}, i.e. 404 yards square.

Hdt Bk I Note [185] {tou irou}, i.e. the sacred precincts; cp. {en to temenei touto}.

Hdt Bk I Note [186] {neos}, the inner house of the temple.

Hdt Bk I Note [187] {promantis}.

Hdt Bk I Note [188] {ta telea ton probaton}.

Hdt Bk I Note [189] "at that time."

Hdt Bk I Note [189a] {katapleontes ton Euphreten}: the MSS. have {katapleontes es ton E}. (It is not true, as stated by Abicht, that the Medicean MS. omits {es}.)

Hdt Bk I Note [190] {oligon ti parateinousa apo tou potamou}.

Hdt Bk I Note [191] {ou gar ameinon}, an Epic phrase, cp. iii. 71 and 82.

Hdt Bk I Note [192] {eskeuasmenos}, a conjectural emendation of {eskeuasmenoisi}, "with provisions well prepared."

Hdt Bk I Note [193] {kateteine skhoinoteneas upodexas diorukhas}. Stein understands {kateteine ten stratien} (resumed afterwards by {diataxas}, "he extended his army, having first marked out channels straight by lines."

Hdt Bk I Note [194] {proesaxanto}, from {proesago}: it may be however from {prosatto}, "they had heaped together provisions for themselves beforehand."

Hdt Bk I Note [195] {ten stratien apasan}. Stein thinks that some correction is needed.

Hdt Bk I Note [196] {oi d' an perudontes k.t.l.}: the MSS. have {oud' an perudontes}, "they would not even have allowed them to enter the city (from the river)," but the negative is awkward referring to the participle alone, and the admission of the enemy to the river- bed within the city would have been an essential part of the scheme, not to be omitted in the description.

Hdt Bk I Note [197] The Attic /medimnos/ (= 48 /choinikes/) was rather less than 12 gallons.

Hdt Bk I Note [198] {ton tes Demetros karpon}.

Hdt Bk I Note [199] Stein supposes that words have fallen out before {ta gar de alla dendrea}, chiefly because some mention of the palm-trees might have been expected here.

Hdt Bk I Note [200] {phoinikeious}: some Editors (following Valla) have altered this to {phoinikeiou} ("casks of palm-wine"), but it is not likely that palm-wine would have been thus imported, see ch. 193.

Hdt Bk I Note [201] {kai o men eso elkei to plektron o de exo otheei}. I take it to mean that there is one steering-oar on each side, and the "inside" is the side nearer to the bank of the river. The current would naturally run faster on the "outside" and consequently would tend to turn the boat round, and therefore the inside oarsman pulls his oar constantly towards himself and the outside man pushes his oar from himself (i.e. backs water), to keep the boat straight. Various explanations are given. Stein takes {eso, exo} with the verbs, "one draws the boat towards himself, the other pushes it from himself." Mr. Woods understands that only one oar is used at a time and by two men looking different ways, of whom {o men eso} is he who stands nearest to the side of the boat.

Hdt Bk I Note [202] If the talents meant are Euboic, this would be about 170 tons.

Hdt Bk I Note [203] {mitresi}: cp. vii. 62.

Hdt Bk I Note [204] {os an ai parthenoi ginoiato}, equivalent to {osai aei parthenoi ginoiato}, which Stein suggests as a correction.

Hdt Bk I Note [205] This sentence, "in order that -- city," is thought by Stein to be either interpolated or misplaced.

Hdt Bk I Note [206] {katestekee}: some Editors adopt the correction {katesteke}, "is established."

Hdt Bk I Note [207] {iron}, afterwards called {temenos}.

Hdt Bk I Note [208] {panta tropon odon}: some MSS. have {odon} for {odon}, and {odon ekhousi} might perhaps mean "afford a passage." (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {odon}.)

Hdt Bk I Note [209] "I call upon Mylitta against thee"; or perhaps, "I call upon Mylitta to be favourable to thee."

Hdt Bk I Note [210] {aposiosamene te theo}.

Hdt Bk I Note [211] {eideos te epammenai eisi kai megatheos}.

Hdt Bk I Note [212] {patriai}.

Hdt Bk I Note [213] {antion}.

Hdt Bk I Note [214] That is perhaps, "if one rows as well as sails," using oars when the wind is not favourable, cp. ii. 11.

Hdt Bk I Note [215] {genomene}, or {ginomene}, "which he met with."

Hdt Bk I Note [216] {eonta akharita}: most of the MSS. have {ta eonta akharita}, with which reading the sentence would be, "the sufferings which I have, have proved bitter lessons of wisdom to me."

Hdt Bk I Note [217] {me eie}.

Hdt Bk I Note [218] {tou katharou stratou}, perhaps "the effective part," without the encumbrances, cp. iv. 135.

Hdt Bk I Note [219] {alexomenous}.

Hdt Bk I Note [220] {sagaris nomizontes ekhein}: cp. iv. 5.

Hdt Bk I Note [221] {maskhalisteras}.

Hdt Bk I Note [222] {thuousi}.

Hdt Bk I Note [223] {nomos}: the conjecture {noos}, "meaning," which is adopted by many Editors, may be right; but {nomos} seems to mean the "customary rule" which determines this form of sacrifice, the rule namely of "swift to the swift."