Volume 1

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

  • Herodotus.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    498/528 (page 370)
    VI 1 ra a^ayia eyivero KoXd, ivOavra o)9 d’jreidrjaav ol 'A6r]valoi | Bpoficp L6VTO 69 TOU9 fSap^dpov^i. ^aav Be ardBuoi ovk e\daaove<i j TO p-erai'^p^iov avroiv rj oktu). ol Be llepcrac opeovre^ Bpopto 5 eTTLOvra^ TrapecrKevd^ovro <09 Be^opevoi, pavcrjv re rolat 'A6rj- ; vaioLCTL eirecfiepov Kal ivdyyy 6\e6pL7jv, 6peovre<; avrov^ oXlyovi Kal | TOOTOU9 Bpopw e7T€Lyopevov<;, ovre lttttov virap'^ovarj^; acpL ovre i To^evpdroiv. ravra pev vvv ol fSdpjBapoi KarelKa^ov' 'AdrjvaloL 10 \oyov. TrpcoToc pev yap ^I^Wtjvcov irdvrcov rcov rjpel^ cBpev Bpopo) the movement is marked by the preposi- tion as well as by the tense. The neuter construction is noticeable. Cp. irdvres ireTd.xo.To 9. 33. 2. TO, <r4>ayia k^/lvero KaXd, not as at Plataia, 9. 36. There is no delay im- plied in eyLvero. direCOTicrav. Who gave the word of command ? Probably Kallimachos. Cp. 7. 122 CLTreldt] hirb ^ip^eu). 4. TO |A€Taixp,iov, c. 77 supra. Eight stades would be milUa passuum. 6. TrdyX'u Stein joins with iiri<pepov on the strength of 8. 10 Trd.yxv (f(f>L p.avLt]v iirevelKavres, and understands it in the sense hand duhie. Cp. Trdyxv . . ifkiTL^ov 4. 135 supra. (L. & S. take it with dXeOpitjr, and the position of the words favours this.) oXlyovs is a relative term ; the army numbered 10,000 at least, as we must suppose. Cp. Appendix X. §§ 25, 26. 7. 8pd[i.C{). What the pace was it is of course impossible to determine. That thousands of hoplites in full armour advanced the best part of a mile at a rapid run without breaking rank (ddpdoi irpoaipu^ar) seems incredible (cp. H. Delbriick, Die Perserhriege, pp. 55 ff.), whatever single athletes after special training and practice might have ac- comjjlished. Yet this statement is apparently made thrice (11. 3, 7, 10) in this chapter. A. Mommsen, Heortologie 211, suggests an explanation. Hdt. witnessed the festival on Boedromion 6, and was persuaded, or inferred, that 'Bo7]dp6pua irip,ireiv was a commemora- tion of this charge. The history is an inference from the rite. On the other hand, that a rapid advance was one of the characteristic memories of Marathon need not be doubted (cp. Appendix X. § 27), and dp6p,cp might, perhaps, as a military term, be simply opposed to pdSrjv, cp. 9. 57, and Arrian, Anab. 5. 16. 1 (Arrian’s usual antitheton to pdbrjv is o-ttouSt), 3. 8, 1, 4. 23, 2, 5. 14, 1). oijT€ ICinrou. If this means that the Athenians had absolutely no cavalry, it can hardly be reconciled with the existence of the Solonian imreh, or ivTrdda TeXovvres, with the alleged supply of two horsemen from each Naukraria (cp. 5. 71 supra), and with general probabilities. In the time of Herodotus the imreh were the joy and boast of Athens, immortalised on the Parthenon frieze, glorified on the stage, Cp. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Aus Kydathen, p. 24, and on the number of the cavalry, ^wlinson n. ad 1., ’A6. TToX. c. 24, Sandys’ note. But even at the best of times the Athenian cavalry was not a very important arm of the service. In 511 B.c., 5. 63 supra, and again later (Thuc. 2. 22, 431 B. c.) Athens relied on Thessahan horse- men. But under the tyrannis the native cavalry had probably been dis- couraged, for political reasons. The conjectures ascribed to the barbarian might fairly be taken to imply that they on their part had cavalry present, but no mention is made of it in the action by Hdt. See Appendix X. § 7. otixe TO^€V[j.dTcov. This want Athens supplied apparently before the battle of Plataia, see 9. 60. 10. irpoiToi ydp ktX. On the formula, cp. Introduction, p. civ. The ecrdys would comprise a tall cap (which the king alone wore upright, cp. L. & S. sub v. ndpa and add Arrian, Anab. 3. 25, 3), and loose trousers (cp. 5. 94 supra, 7. 61), out- landish articles of apparel, which might legitimately shock the taste, but could not damp the courage, of the Hellenes. Van Herwerden brackets Kal robs dvdpas rabryv ■fjffOrip.ivovs. The sentence irpCoToi 8i . . d/coOcrai is