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.

    500/528 (page 372)
    VI evOavTa e7rL\afi/3avo/j,evo<i tuv d(f)XdaTQ)v ve6<;, r^v '^elpa diro- 5 Koirel<i TreXeKei rriirreL, rovro Be dXXoL 'A6r]vai(ov ttoXXol re /cal 115 ovofiacrroi. eirra /aev B^ twv veoiv i'lreKpdr'qaav rpoirco rotwSe 'A07]vaLot‘ T-fjo-L Be XoLTrfjcn ol ^dp^apot e^avaKpovadp,evoL, koX dvaXa^ovTe<i e/c v'qaov ev rr} eXiirov ra ’Eper/iiT/? dvBpd- TToBa, 7repL€7rXeov ^ovvlov, /SovXopuevot (jid^vai Tov<f 'A6rjvalov<i 5 airLKop^evoi e? to dcTTV. atTLTjv Be ecr^e iv ’AOrjvaiOLcrL AXKp^ecovLBecov pL'p'^avrj^ avrov<i ravra eTrLvorjdrjvat' rovTov<i ydp (Tvvdep^evovf; tolctl YiepcrrjaL dvaBe^ai dairLBa eovcn tjBt} iv rfjcrL 116 vrjvaL. ovtol p,ev B^ TrepieTrXeov ^ovvlov 'AdTjvatoL Be w? iroBoiV Hdt. and the other authorities we may conclude that he was not one of the Strategi. His name might have sug- gested the dog in sthe Stoa : but cp. c. 116 infra. 4. d<|>Xd(rT<ov. The plural is observ- able : cp. II. 15. 717 &(pi\aaTOP gerh Xepcrli' X derivation is given by Eustathius, irapa. rb p,^ pg.dloos (pXdcrdaL (Stephanus, ed. Didot, 2679). 5. ireX€K€’C, presumably a battle-axe, or bill; if so, probably wielded by a Scyth (Saka) : cp. 7. 65, 4. 5, though properly speaking the TrAe/cus seems not to have been a weapon of war, cp. 7.135. 116. 1. Iirrd. The ships had not been beached, c. 107. The number is probably historical; that only seven ships were taken is an argument for the hypothesis that a good part of the Persian forces were already on board. It would take some time to re-embark many thousands, nay tens of thousands, of men, to say nothing of horses, etc., supposing the whole undiminished forces of the bar- barians had been on land, when the battle began. See Appendix X. §§ 34, 38. Cp. H. Droysen, Die Perserkriege, p. 65. 3. VTjcrov, Aigleia, c. 107 supra. They would have to round Kynosura and go a little northwards to reach it. 4. 'irepU'TrXeov, imperfect. Even if they went all night it would have taken them at least till the following day to reach Phaleron. PouXopevoi. The statement is pre- sumably an inference from the move- ment itself. 5. ’AlXk[1€0)Vi8^WV |JiT])(^avrJs. Cp. c. 121 infra. 7. lov(Tt l^Sr] ev Tfjert vt]u(rt. If these words are true, and the course of opera- tions hitherto has been correctly ren- dered by Hdt., it follows that the Persians did not begin to re-embark until after their defeat at Marathon, and that the shield-signal was not displayed until after their re - embarkation was accomplished. What object it could then have served it is diflBcult to imagine. But, if the re - embarkation of the host had already been begun, if, say, the cavalry had been re-shipped, and perhaps more ; if the signal had been shown when a number of the Persians was aboard ; we can more easily understand the circumstances which determined the Athenian attack, the need for the hasty return to Athens, the comparatively slight losses, and other points which are otherwise ob- scure. See further. Appendix X. § 8. 116. 1. ‘7r€pi£uX€ov, as just above. ’A0T|vaioi 8£. Some would, how- ever, have been left on the battle-field to guard the bodies and the spoil. Plutarch, Arist. 5, tells us that Aris- teides [who could be trusted], with his Phyle, Akamantis, was detached for this service. (Perhaps some of the Plataians too remained.) The other nine tribes marched back to Athens, but not surely the same day. From Marathon to Athens would be a quick march of six to eight hours (26 miles). Plutarch, Mor. 350, has this : MiXticISt/s pbv yap dpas is Mapaduva ip varepalq. T7]v pd-xw (Tvudxl/as ijKev els darv perd rrjS ffTparids vepLKTjKibs, i.e. the battle was fought the day after Miltiades left Athens ; and he returned, it might seem, on the same day as the battle. Rawlinson misunderstands tliis passage, taking it to mean that Miltiades re- turned to Athens the day after the battle. Even so, they would have arrived, we may be sure, long before the Persian fleet rounded Sunion. The Athenian forces could not have quitted Marathon until the Strategi were sure