Volume 1

Herodotus : the fourth, fifth, and sixth books / With introduction, notes, appendices, indices, maps by Reginald Walter Macan.

Herodotus

Date:: 1895

Credit: Herodotus : the fourth, fifth, and sixth books / With introduction, notes, appendices, indices, maps by Reginald Walter Macan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

450/528 (page 322)

$VI f^vvaiKMV. a'iro /xev ravTrjf; '^fiepr]<; /xeraTrecrelv to el8o<f. jafieeL Be By /xtv e? jdfiov Mpyv dTTLKopLevyv ''Ay7)To<; 6 ’AX/cetSeo>, 62 OVT09 By o rod ApL(rTcovo<; rbv Be ’Apicrrcova CKVi^e dpa ry<; yvvatKO^ ravTy<; o epco<i‘ p^y^avdrai By roudBe' avro^ re ro3 eralpcp, rod yv y yvvy avry, viroBeKeraL BoirLvyv Bdaeuv roiv ecovrod rrdvrav ev, to dv avTO<; eKeLVO<i eXyrai, Kal tov eralpov 5 ecovT(p eKe\eve o)cravTco<i ryv 6p,oiyv BuBovau' 6 Be ovBev ^ojSyOeX^ dp,(f)l ry >yvvaLKi, opecov iodcrav Kal 'ApLcrrcovL ywatKa, Karaiveei radra’ irrl tovtolctl Be opKov^ eTryXao-av. pberd Be avTO<; re 6 Apiarwv eBcoKe rodro, 6 tl By yv, to etXero to)v KeipbyXicov to)V 'Apiarcovo^ o ’’Ayyro^, Kal auro? ryv bp,oiyv ^yrecov (pepecrOaL lo Trap’ eKeivov, evOadra By rod eraLpov ryv yvvacKa eiretpaTO dirdyeadai. 6 Be TrXyv tovtov pLovvov rd dWa e<py KaraLveaai' dvayKal^opbevo'^ puevTOL rw re opKw Kal Ty<; dirdryi rrj jrapaycoyy 63 diTLel dirdyeaQai. ovtco p,ev By ryv rpiryv eayydyero yvvalKa 6 ^ApL(XTWv, ryv Bevrepyv d’rro'irepb'\^dp.evo<;. ev Be ol '^p6vq> eXdaaovL Kal ov TfKypdxraaa tov<; BeKa pLyva<; y yvvy avry rLKTei Todrov By tov Aypudpyrov. Kal tA ol to3V OLKerecov ev dcoKO) 5 Karypi,ev(p pbera tcov i(f>6p(ov e^ayyeWeu w? ol Trat? yeyove. 6 Be 28. [ieTaireo-tuv, ‘ a change befell. ’ 62. 12. dva^Katop-evos. The absolute inviolability of the oath in its literal meaning was a first principle of morality in its semi-conscious or prae-philo- sophic days. But this respect for the letter generated violations of the spirit in two directions : (1) evasions of obligation by a technical conformity and a virtual breach of contract in a good or a bad cause. Cp. the stories of Etearchos and Themison, 4. 154, and of the Persians and Barkaeans, 4. 201 ; (2) observance of the oath, spite of all consequences foreseen and unforeseen, as in the story of Ariston and Agetos in this passage. It was such situations as these, in which Themison and Agetos found themselves in presence of a conflict of duties or obligations, which stimulated casuistry ; such casuistry the Hippolytos of Euripides, perplexed between his filial duty and the obliga- tion of his oath of secrecy, formulates in the much misunderstood line {Hippol. 612) i] y\Q)a<r' dfidfiox V <pp^u dvd>- /MOTos, which earned for Euripides satire and censure, albeit Hippolytos in the play put away the temptation and con- cluded to abide by his oath : 657 f. el VP yap 8pK0is 9euv &<papKT0^ -jppiOriv oiiK dv TTOT ^^^tireiv iraTpl, In later times the philosophers showed themselves of the same mind as Hip- polytos : Quod enim ita iuratum est ut mens co;iciperet fieri oportere id ser- vandum est: quod aliter, id si non feceris, nullum periurium (Cicero, de Off. 3. 29, § 107). The difficulty arose, as L. Schmidt points out {Ethik der Alt. Cr-riechen, 2. 8), partly from the failure of the pre-philosophic Greeks to distinguish between the obligation to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing hut the truth on oath (dXrjdop- Kelv ypevdopK€?v), and the obligation to act in a certain way after a promise rati- fied by an oath {eiopKeiv ■ imopKeiv). See further the story of Glaukos, c. 86 infra. 63. 3. T^KT€l. The date of the birth of Demaratos might be about the year 541/2 B.c. See note c. 65 infra. 4. oIk€t4wv, cp. c. 137 infra. The king had domestic slaves, cp. c. 68 infra. 4v OwKW KaTT]p4vU |J.CTd TWV 4<^($- pwv. Pausan. 3. 7, 7 telling this same anecdote says that Ariston was sitting with the Ephors iv /SoaXj. (It$