fornia 
 mal 
 
 ty 

 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN

 
 THE 
 
 OF 
 
 HERODOTUS, 
 
 LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH; 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 WITH NOTES, 
 
 EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL, 
 
 FROM 
 
 LARCHER, RENNELL, MITFORD, SCHWEIGH^USER, 
 
 MODERN BOOKS OF TRAVELS, &c. &c. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 LARCHER'S TABLE 
 
 OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF HERODOTUS. 
 > 
 
 BY 
 
 A GRADUATE OF THE 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 OXFORD : 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY TALBOYS AND WHEELER. 
 (OLD BY MESSRS. LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEK; O. AMD W. 
 WHXTTAKER ; AND J. DUNCAN, LONDON. 
 
 1824.
 
 SRLF 
 JJRL 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 TERPSICHORE. 
 
 THE Persians, left 3 in Europe under the orders of Megaby- 
 zus, subdued the Perinthians b first of all the Hellespontines, 
 who were unwilling to submit to Darius, and had been before 
 roughly handled by the Paeonians. For the Paeonians c , who 
 inhabit upon the river Strymon, had been admonished by an 
 oracle to invade the Perinthians ; and if the Perinthians, when 
 encamped over against them, should call on them by name to 
 fight, then to engage ; jtherwise not. The Paeonians did as 
 they were instructed. The Perinthians having marched out, 
 encamped in the suburbs, and there a threefold single combat 
 took place according to a challenge ; for they matched a man 
 with a man, a horse with a horse, and a dog with a dog. The 
 Perinthians, being victorious in two of these duels, were so 
 full of joy, that they began to sing the Paean* 1 : the Paeonians 
 conjectured that this was the meaningof the oracle, and said 
 among themselves, " The prediction is now accomplished ; 
 
 " Herodotus here continues the history tended beyond mount Cercinus, because 
 
 of Darius, which he had interrupted at Doberus, which was called Paeonica, is 
 
 ch. 144. of the last book, in order to speak on the western bank of a river which falls 
 
 of Lybia. into the Echidorus. Larcher. 
 
 b Perinthus, otherwise called Hera- d The Paeon or Paean was a song of 
 
 clea, is on the shores of Propontis. which there were two kinds. The first 
 
 c Paeonia began on the north at mount was chaunted before the battle in honor 
 
 Scomius and extended towards the south, of Mars. The other after the victory in 
 
 between the mountains Cercinus and honor of Apollo. This hymn commenced 
 
 Pangeus. It also comprehended, at the with the words lo Paean. The allusion 
 
 south of Bisaltia, the Paeonic plain and of the word Paeon to the name of Paeo- 
 
 the lake Prasias. The greater part of the nians is obvious. Larcher. 
 country is east ot Strymon. It also ex- 
 
 VOL. II. B
 
 2 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " our work is next :" and immediately they fell upon the Pe- 
 rinthians as they were sinking the Paean, and were so com- 
 pletely superior, that they left but few of them. 
 
 II. In this manner the Perinthians were defeated by the 
 Paeonians : but against Megabyzus they behaved themselves 
 with valour in defence of their liberty ; and were oppressed 
 only by the numbers of the Persians. After the taking of 
 Perinthus, Megabyzus advanced with his army, and reduced 
 all the cities and nations of Thrace to the obedience of the 
 king. For Darius had commanded him to subdue the Thra- 
 cians- 
 
 III. This nation is the greatest 6 of any among men, except 
 the Indians : and in my opinion, if the Thracians were either 
 under the government of one person, or unanimous in their 
 counsels, they would be invincible, and by far the strongest 
 people of the world. But this is impracticable, and it is im- 
 possible for it ever to take place, and therefore they are 
 feeble. They go under several names, according to the places 
 they inhabit; but all observe the same customs, except the 
 Getas, the Trausi, and those who dwell above the Cres- 
 tonasans. 
 
 IV. I have already spoken of the customs of the Getae, who 
 pretend to be immortal. The Trausi differ in nothing from the 
 rest of the Thracians, except in the customs they observe with 
 regard to the birth of a child or the death of a person. When 
 a child is born f , his relations, sitting in a circle about him, 
 deplore his condition, on account of the evils he must fulfil, 
 since he has been born ; enumerating the various calamities 
 incident to mankind. But when a^man is dead, they inter 
 him with exultation and rejoicings, repeating the miseries he 
 has exchanged for a complete felicity. 
 
 V. Those who live above the Crestonaeans have each many 
 
 e Thucydides places them after the rue might have occupied the N.W. quar- 
 
 Scythians. See book ii. ch. 97. Pausa- ter of the modern Servia, Bosnia and 
 
 nius after the Celtae. Attic, i. 9. Croatia. Rennell, 44. 
 
 As this country is confined on the east f We find the same sentiment in a frag- 
 
 and south by the sea, and on the north ment of the Cresphontes of Euripides, 
 
 by the Danube, and as Macedonia and which is preserved by several authors, 
 
 Paeonia are mentioned by Herodotus as and translated in the following manner 
 
 distinct countries, the extent of Thrace, by Cicero Tuscul. i. 48. 
 
 even allowing it to extend intoDardania ,, AT 
 
 and Massia, must be much more circum- * J celebrantes, 
 
 scribed than the idea our author allows. . . ,. . . , 
 
 It has, however, more extended limits in }?B> ubl esset allc l uis m lucem 
 
 his geography, than in succeeding au- US ' .. 
 
 thorf, and perhaps it might have includ- Human* vit* vanarepuntantes mala : 
 
 ed most of the space along the south of * ! UI S"**-" ^ ^^ *1**' 
 
 the Danube, between the Euxine and ? unc om , m amicos laude et lastmft ex ' 
 Istria, meeting the borders of Macedonia, 
 
 Paeonia, &c. on the south ; and the Sigyn- See also Gray's Ode on Eton College.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 3 
 
 wives ; when any of them dies, a great contest arises among 
 the wives, and violent interests among their friends, on this 
 point, which of them was most loved by the husband. In the 
 end, she who is adjudged to have merited that honour, having 
 received great commendations both from the men and women, 
 is killed upon the tomb s by the nearest of her relations, and 
 buried together with her husband ; the other wives consider 
 it as a great misfortune, for this is accounted to them as the 
 utmost disgrace. 
 
 VI. The rest of the Thracians sell their children to be car- 
 ried out of the country. They keep no watch over their 
 daughters ; but suffer them to entertain any men they like. 
 Nevertheless they keep their wives under a strict guard, and 
 purchase them of their relations at a great rate. To be 
 marked with punctures' 1 is accounted a sign of noble birth ; to 
 be without such marks, ignoble. Idleness' is esteemed most 
 honourable ; husbandry most dishonourable ; and to subsist 
 by war and rapine is thought glorious. These are the most 
 remarkable customs of this nation. 
 
 VII. They worship the following Gods only, Mars, Bac- 
 chus, and Diana. But their kings alone particularly venerate 
 Mercury ; they swear by his name alone, and pretend to be 
 descended from him. 
 
 VIII. The funerals of wealthy men are celebrated in this 
 manner. They expose the corpse to public view during three 
 days ; and after they have performed their lamentations, they 
 sacrifice all kinds of animals, and apply themselves to feast- 
 ing. Then they complete the rites of sepulture k , after having 
 
 4T- 
 
 8 This custom was also observed by kind in India,) how many points of re- 
 
 the Getae, (Steph. Byz.) At this day in semblance there are between what we 
 
 India, women burn themselves with the saw and the mode described by Herodo- 
 
 bodies of their husbands, which custom tus. Rennell, p. 46. See also p. 911, and 
 
 is very ancient. Diodorus Siculus men- seq. 
 
 tions it, (xix. 33, 34.) and aho Proper- h If Plutarch (de Sera num. vindict. p. 
 
 tius, Jib. iii. Eleg. xiii. Al. ix. ver. 19. 557.) may be credited, the Thracians in 
 
 . . , . . . . his time made these punctures on their 
 
 Et certamen habent leti, quae viva se- wiyes> tQ reyenge the eath of Qrpheus. 
 
 quatur jf ^^ ^ ^^ true reason jj j s remark- 
 
 Conjugium; pudor est non hcuisse ^ ^ what wag in its origin a pu _ 
 
 mon. nishment, became afterwards a mark of 
 
 Ardent victnces, et flamm* pectora Qobility and an ornament . IjCt , cher , 
 
 prffi en > 'An-yoc opposed to YT/C spvarjjf, sig- 
 
 Imponuntque suis ora perusta vins. nifies g l_. h ^ does not tgjL the fields. 
 
 Cicero also mentions the same fact. He went, as is presently explained, to 
 
 Tuscl. v. 27. war and plunder, &c. Valckenaer. 
 
 We may suppose that these Thracians, k 0airrw in Greek, sepelio in Latin ; 
 
 as well as the Getae, believed in the im- and hence sepultura are generic terms, 
 
 mortality of the soul, for what other mo- and express every way in which the last 
 
 tive could urge them to this sacrifice? duties are paid to the dead. Larcher 
 
 Larcher. brings a great number of examples to 
 
 We cannot help remarking, (having shew this, 
 oursejvea witnessed a sacrifice of this 
 
 B 2
 
 4 HERODOTUS. 
 
 burnt Mm or buried him in the earth ; and having thrown up 
 a mound of earth 1 over the grave, celebrate all manner of 
 games, in which the greatest rewards are adjudged to single 
 combat, on account of the estimation in which it is held. And 
 such are their funeral rites. 
 
 IX. Concerning the northern parts of this region, no man 
 can certainly affirm by what people they are possessed. But 
 those beyond the Danube appear to be desert and unbounded, 
 inhabited by no other men, that I have heard of, but the 
 Sigynnae m , who wear the Median habit, and have horses co- 
 vered over with shaggy hair, which is five digits long, they are 
 low of stature, and have short flat noses and are unable to 
 carry men ; yet they draw a chariot with exceeding swiftness, 
 and therefore the natives use chariots. Their confines extend 
 as far as the Veneti on the Adriatic. They affirm that they are 
 a colony of the Medes". But by what means that colony 
 came thither I cannot say ; though nothing be impossible 
 to happen in length of time . The Ligurians, who inhabit be- 
 yond Marseilles, call merchants, Siyynnce, and the Cyprians 
 call javelins p also by that name. 
 
 X. The Thracians say, that the parts which lie beyond the 
 Danube are full of bees, and on that account impassable. 
 But I think their assertion carries no appearance of truth, 
 because that animal cannot endure the cold; and I am inclined 
 to believe that the excessive frosts of the northern climates, 
 are the only cause why those countries are uninhabited. This 
 is what is related of these parts, of which Megabyzus reduced 
 all the maritime places to the obedience of Darius. 
 
 XI. No sooner was Darius arrived .t Sardis, after he had 
 repassed the Hellespont, than remembering the good offices 
 
 1 Over the place of burial of illustrious " them part of Thrace," which lay, how- 
 persons, they raised a kind of tumulus of ever, on the south, or Grecian side of the 
 earth. This is expressed by Virgil, " In- Danube ? Sigriia is a position in ancient 
 " gens adgeritur tumulo tellus." ^Eneid. geography, on the Adriatic, towards the 
 iii. ver. 63. Lurcher. ancient seats of the Veneti. Query, has 
 
 m The context, as it stands, appears it any connection with the Sigynna: of our 
 contradictory; for the Sigynnae are said author? Itetinell, p. 43, 44. 
 to lie beyond the Danube, and yet to ex- " When the Scythians subjugated part 
 tend almost to the Eneti on the Adriatic, of Asia, they were the cause of several 
 Now, he had been speaking of Thrace, colonies going from it, and among others 
 and of its northern part, concerning which one from the Assyrians, which trans- 
 nothing decisive had been ascertained ; planted itself into Asia Minor, and an- 
 and after this, he introduces the country, other from the Medes, which went to- 
 north of the Danube, as a vast and almost wards the Tanais and formed the nation 
 endless space; and says, that it is inha- of the Sauromatae. Diodorus Siculus ii. 
 bited by theSigymuf, who extend almost 43. Were the Sigynnae descended from 
 to the Adriatic. May it not be suspect- a branch of these Sauromataa I Lurcher. 
 ed.that the sentence respecting the coun- See also Sophocles. Ajax, v. 655. 
 try beyond the Danube is misplaced al- P This is also mentioned by Aristot. 
 together, and that the author intended to Poetic. 35. 
 say that " the Sigynnae inhabited the nor-
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 5 
 
 of Histiseus the Milesian, and the counsel of Goes of Mity- 
 lene, he sent for both those persons, and gave them the choice 
 of their recompence. Histiaeus, as being already tyrant of 
 Miletus, demanded no other dominion ; but asked for the 
 Edonian q Myrcinus, in order to build a city there. But Goes, 
 who was a private man, and possessed of no government, re- 
 quested the dominion of Mitylene. They easily obtained all 
 they desired, and then departed to take possession. 
 
 XII. About the same time it happened that Darius, having 
 witnessed a circumstance of the following kind, became de- 
 sirous of commanding Megabyzus to transplant the Paeonians 
 out of Europe into Asia. For Pigres and Mantyes, two Paeo- 
 nians, being desirous to become masters of Paeonia, came to 
 Sardis, after the return of Darius, accompanied by their sister, 
 who was a tall and beautiful person ; and having watched the 
 opportunity when Darius was sitting in public in the suburbs 
 of the Lydians, they dressed their sister in the best manner 
 they could, and sent her for water, carrying a pitcher on her 
 head r , leading a horse by a bridle hanging upon her arm, and 
 at the same time spinning thread. As she passed by Darius, 
 it excited his attention ; and because what she was doing was 
 altogether different from the customs of the Persians and 
 Lydiaus, and also of any other people in Asia, he ordered 
 some of his guards to observe what she would do with the 
 horse. The guards followed her, and when she came down 
 to the river, she watered the horse, and having filled her 
 pitcher, returned again by the same way, carrying the water 
 on her head, leading her horse, and turning her distaff. 
 
 XIII. Darius, surprised with the account they gave, and 
 with what he himself had seen, commanded her to be brought 
 into his presence ; where she was no sooner introduced, than 
 her brothers, who at no great distance had kept a look-out, 
 appeared likewise ; and when Darius asked of what country 
 she was, the young men made answer, that they were Paeoni- 
 ans, and that the maid was their sister. The king proceeding 
 to inquire, what sort of men the Paeonians were, in what part 
 of the world they lived, and upon what motive they them- 
 selves came to Sardis, received for answer, That they came 
 to put themselves under his protection ; that Paeonia and its 
 towns are 5 situate upon the river Strymon, not far from the 
 
 i Edonis is a small country of Thrace, r Nicholas Damascenus tells a similar 
 
 between mount Orbelus and the Stry- story of Alyattes king of Sardis, with re- 
 
 mon. A country called Phyllis lay to gard to a woman of Mysia in Thrace, 
 
 the north and on the south side, it ex- Excerpt, pag. 494, &c. 
 
 tended to the JEgean, and was nearly op- s The Paeonians of Appian (de Illyri- 
 
 posite to Thasus. Myrcinus was on the cis22.) are the Pannonians of the Latins. 
 
 Strymon, a little to the north of Novem- Wesseting. 
 viae or Amphipolis.
 
 6 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Hellespont ; and that the people are a colony of Teucrians, 
 from the city of Troy. When they had given account of these 
 particulars, Darius farther demanded, if all the women of that 
 country were as industrious as their sister ; and the Paeoni- 
 ans, who had contrived the whole design to no other end, 
 readily answered they were. 
 
 XIV. Upon which Darius writes letters to Megabyzus, 
 general of his forces in Thrace, requiring him to compel the 
 Paeonians to leave their country, and to bring them to him 
 with their wives and children. Immediately a messenger on 
 horseback proceeded with expedition to the Hellespont ; and 
 having passed it, delivered the letters to Megabyzus, who, 
 after he had read the contents, taking guides in Thrace, led 
 his army towards Paeonia. 
 
 XV. When the Paeonians heard that the Persians were 
 coming to invade them, they drew all their forces towards the 
 sea, thinking the Persians would attempt to enter that way, 
 and prepared to dispute their passage. But Megabyzus, un- 
 derstanding that the whole strength of Paeonia was in rea- 
 diness to receive him on that side, took his way, by the direc- 
 tion of his guides, towards the upper part of the country ; and 
 having escaped the notice of the Paeonians, came suddenly 
 on their towns and easily got possession of them, since they 
 were empty. The Paeonians no sooner heard that their cities 
 were taken, than they dispersed themselves ; and every man 
 returning home, the whole country submitted to the Persians. 
 And in this manner all those Paeonians, who were known by 
 the names of Siropaeonians and Paeoplse, together with the 
 people of those parts as far as the lake Prasias, were forcibly 
 removed from their ancient seats, and transported into Asia. 
 
 XVI. But those Paeonians who dwell near mount Pangaeus 
 and near the Doberes, Agrianae, arid Odomanti ; and those 
 next adjoining to the lake, were not at all conquered by Me- 
 gabyzus. Yet he attempted to subdue those, who live upon 
 the lake in dwellings contrived after this manner : long piles 
 are fixed 1 in the middle of the lake, upon which planks are 
 placed, which being joined by a narrow bridge to the land, is 
 the only way that leads to their habitations. These piles 
 were formerly erected at the common charge ; but afterwards 
 they made a law, to oblige all men, for every wife they should 
 marry, to fix three of them in the lake, and to cut the timber 
 upon mount Orbelus. On these planks every man has a hut, 
 with a trap-door opening through the planks, down to the wa- 
 
 4 Thcerkask, the capital of the Cossacks tranquil, and the Tanais is a very ra- 
 of the Don, is built in the same manner ; pid river, this construction is more won- 
 but as the waters of the lake Prasias are derful. Lurcher,
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 7 
 
 ter. They tie a string about the foot of their young children, 
 lest they should fall into the lake ; and feed their horses and 
 other labouring cattle with fish", which abound so much 
 there, that when a man has turned back his trap-door, he lets 
 down an empty basket by a cord into the lake, and, after wait- 
 ing a short time, draws it up full of fish. Of these they have 
 two kinds, called the Papraces and Tilones. 
 
 XVII. After Megabyzus had taken the cities of the Paeo- 
 nians, he dispatched seven Persians, who next to himself were 
 most illustrious in the army to Macedonia, with orders to re- 
 quire Amyntas to acknowledge king Darius by a present of 
 earth and water. From the lake Prasias* to Macedonia is a 
 very short distance. For, passing by a mine, which is near 
 that lake, and afterwards yielded a talent of silver every day 
 to Alexander, men ascend the mountain Dysorum ; and on the 
 other side, at the foot of the hill, enter into the territories of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 XVIII. When the Persians arrived, they went to Amyn- 
 tas, and demanded earth and water in the name of Darius. 
 Amyntas not only promised y them what they required, but 
 received them for his guests ; and having prepared a magni- 
 ficent feast, entertained them with great kindness. After the 
 repast, the Persians, while pledging one another, said, " O 
 " Macedonian host, when we make a great feast in Persia, our 
 " manner is to bring in our concubines and young women to 
 " sit beside us ; and therefore, since you have received us 
 " kindly and have treated us with such magnificence, and of- 
 " fer to give to king Darius earth and water, we invite you 
 " to imitate our custom." Amyntas answered, " The manner 
 " of our country is quite different, for we keep our women 
 " separated from men ; nevertheless, because you are our 
 " masters, and require their attendance, we will do as you de- 
 " sire." Having finished these words, he sent for the women, 
 who, coming in as they were ordered, sat down in order oppo- 
 site to the Persians. But when they saw the women were 
 
 11 Torffaeus, in his history of Norway, town there was a lake or morass, which 
 
 {part i. lib. ii. 24.) informs us, that in is undoubtedly the lake Prasias. Mount 
 
 the cold and maritime parts of Europe, Dysorum is perhaps a branch of Pangeus, 
 
 cattle are fed with fish. Wesseling. or some insolated hill, probably near the 
 
 x It is the more difficult to determine plain of Sylea. M. D'Anville, without 
 
 the position of mount Dysorura and the any kind of authority, pretends that the 
 
 lake Prasias, since Herodotus is the only lake Bolbe is the lake Prasias. Lurcher. 
 
 ancient author who has spoken of them. ? 'ESifiov here signifies, se tradittirum 
 
 Opposite Thasus was the town of Datus, vel traders dirit. So in book ix. c. 109. 
 
 which was afterwards called Crenides In Appian also, Hist. Syriac. 29, SiSovg 
 
 and then Philippi, when Philip had gain- and oovvai have the same force as viri- 
 
 ed possession of it. Near this town there a-)(vilaQai, to offer, to promise, to engage, 
 
 were some very abundant gold-mines in fo gii e. Schweigh. 
 the hill of Bacchus. To the S.W. of this
 
 8 HERODOTUS. 
 
 very beautiful, the Persians told Amyntas that what had been 
 done was not very prudent, for it were better that the wo- 
 men should not have come at all, than that, when they had 
 come, they should not be placed beside them, but sit opposite 
 to them as a torment to their eyes 2 . Upon this Amyntas, 
 compelled by necessity, ordered the women to sit down by 
 the men ; which when they had done, the Persians, as having 
 drank rather too much, began to handle their breasts ; and 
 some one even attempted to kiss them. 
 
 XIX. These actions Amyntas saw with indignation ; yet 
 sat quiet, because he was very much afraid of the Persian 
 power. But his son Alexander, who was present, and ob- 
 served the same things, being a young man and inexperienced 
 in misfortune, was no longer able to endure their insolence ; 
 and therefore said to Amyntas, " Father, yield to your age ; 
 " and, leaving the company, retire to your rest. I will stay 
 " here, and furnish these guests with all things necessary." 
 Amyntas perceiving that Alexander had some rash design to 
 put in execution ; " Son," said he, " I pretty well discern by 
 
 ' your words that you are inflamed with anger, and that you 
 ' wish to dismiss me that you may attempt some new design. 
 ' I charge you therefore to undertake nothing against these 
 ' men, lest you cause our ruin ; but be contented to observe 
 their actions with patience ; and for my own part, I will 
 1 comply and retire." 
 
 XX. When Amyntas had made this request and had 
 retired, Alexander spoke to the Persians in these terms : 
 " Friends," said he, " these women are completely at your 
 " command ; you may lie with all, or as many of them as you 
 " please ; and therefore I desire you to declare your inten- 
 " tions with freedom ; for the time for retiring is fast ap- 
 " proaching, and I perceive that you are abundantly re- 
 " plenished with wine. Only permit them, if it is agreeable 
 " to you, to go out to bathe, and after that, expect their re- 
 " turn." The Persians assented to his proposal, and Alex- 
 ander sent away the women, as they came out, to their own 
 apartment ; and having dressed a like number of smoothfaced 
 young men in the habit of women, he furnished every one 
 with a poignard, and led them in to the Persians. " Persians," 
 said he, as he led them in, " we believe that we have feasted 
 " you with every magnificence ; for we have given you not 
 " only all we had, but whatever we could procure : and, 
 " which is more than all the rest, we now freely give up to 
 " you our matrons and sisters, that you may be abundantly 
 
 1 Longinus (de Sublim. iv.) and the pression as frigid. Many learned men 
 greater part of critics censure this ex- have vindicated it.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 9 
 
 " persuaded, we have paid you all the honours you deserve ; 
 " and also that at your return you may report to the king 
 " who sent you, that a Greek, the prince of Macedonia, gave 
 " you a good reception both at table and bed." Having thus 
 spoken, Alexander placed next every Persian a young Mace- 
 donian man, as if a woman, who immediately dispatched the 
 Persians, when they attempted to caress them. 
 
 XXI. This was the fate of these Persians, and of their 
 attendants, who, together with the chariots and all the bag- 
 gage, which was very considerable, presently disappeared. 
 After some time, great search was made by the Persians for 
 these men ; but Alexander by his prudence checked their 
 inquiry, by giving a considerable sum of money, and his 
 sister Gygea, to Bubares" a Persian, the chief of those who 
 were sent to search for those who were lost ; and by this 
 management the death of these Persians was suppressed and 
 buried in silence. 
 
 XXII. That these princes, who are descended from Per- 
 diccas are Greeks, as they themselves affirm ; I have also 
 learnt for certain, and I will more particularly shew that they 
 are so, in a future part of my history b . Nay, the judges 
 presiding in the Olympian exercises have determined the 
 question ; for when Alexander came thither with a design to 
 enter the lists, the antagonists wished to exclude him, alleg- 
 ing, that those games were instituted for Grecian, and not 
 for Barbarian combatants. But Alexander, after he had 
 proved himself to be an Argive, was pronounced to be a 
 Greek, and when he offered himself to contend in the sta- 
 dium, his lot fell out of the urn d with that of the first com- 
 batant. In this manner were these things transacted. 
 
 a He was the son of Megabyzus ; see order to instruct themselves previously 
 
 book vii. ch. 21. to entering on their office. See Pausan. 
 
 b See book viii. ch. 137, 138. Eliac. ii. lib. vi. c. 3, 24. Larcher. 
 
 c The judges who presided at the d The combatants at the Olympic 
 Olympic games were called Hellano- games were matched in the following 
 dicae; their number varied at different manner, (Lucian, Hermotim, 40.) A 
 times; they were a long time ten, some- silver urn sacred to the God was pro- 
 times more, sometimes less, according duced, into which some small lots, about 
 to the number of the Elean tribes; but the size of beans, were thrown: two of 
 finally, in the 108th Olympiad, it re- which were marked A. two B. two C. 
 verted to ten. They did not all judge and so on according to the number of 
 promiscuously at every contest, but only competitors. The combatants then ad- 
 such as were deputed to do so. Appeals vanced one by one, and each addressing 
 might be made from their decisions, and a prayer to Jupiter, put his hand into 
 they might even be accused before the the urn and drew out a lot. A herald 
 senate of Olympia, who sometimes set stood near with a cudgel uplifted, ready 
 aside their determinations. Those who to strike any one who attempted to see 
 were chosen Hellanodicae were com- what letter was on his lot. When they 
 pelled to reside ten months successively had all drawn, the Alytarch, or one of 
 in a building appropriated to their use at the Hellanodicae, took the lot from each 
 Olympia, and named Hellanodicason, in of the combatants, who were arranged 
 VOL. II. C
 
 10 HERODOTUS. 
 
 XXIII. Megabyzus with the Paeonian captives arrived 
 at the Hellespont, and having crossed over, came to Sardis. 
 In the mean time Histiaeus the Milesian was employed in 
 building a city on the river Strymon in the territory of Myr- 
 cinus, which Darius had given him upon his request, for the 
 reward of his care in preserving the bridge. But Megaby- 
 zus, having heard of his enterprize, no sooner arrived in Sar- 
 dis, than he spoke to Darius in these terms : " O king," 
 said he, " what have you done, in permitting a crafty and 
 " subtle Greek to found a city in Thrace, where there is 
 " abundance of timber fit for building ships, and abundance 
 " of wood fit for making oars, and mines of silver? A great 
 " multitude of Greeks and Barbarians dwell around, who 
 " when they have obtained him as a leader, will do whatever 
 " he may command both by day and by night. Put a stop 
 " therefore to the proceedings of this man, that you may not 
 " be embarrassed with an intestine war. To that end, send 
 " for him by a gentle message ; and when he is in your power, 
 " take care he may never return to Greece." 
 
 XXIV. By these words Megabyzus easily persuaded Da- 
 rius, since he wisely foresaw what was likely to happen. He 
 immediately therefore sent a man to Myrcinus with the fol- 
 lowing message. " Histiaeus, king Darius says thus : After 
 '' mature deliberation I cannot find any man who bears more 
 " good will to my person and my affairs than thyself; which 
 " truth I have learnt, not by words, but actions; and on that 
 " account, having great designs to put in execution, I re- 
 " quire thee to come to me with all speed, that I may com- 
 " municate them to thee." Histiaeus giving credit to these 
 words, and highly valuing the honour of being a counsellor to 
 the king, went to Sardis ; where, upon his arrival, Darius 
 said to him : " Histiaeus, I have sent for thee on this occa- 
 " sion. Ever since my return from Scythia, and thy de- 
 " parture from my sight, 1 have had no greater desire than 
 " to see and converse with thee again ; persuaded that a 
 " wise and affectionate friend is the most valuable of all pos- 
 " sessions ; and that both these qualifications concur in thy 
 " person, my own affairs have given me sufficient proof: now 
 " because thy arrival is so acceptable to me, I will make thee 
 " an offer. Think no more of Miletus, nor of the city thou 
 
 in a circle, and matched those who had 'E&irurrf is the same as the tie S' 
 
 drawn the same letter. If the number tOopi of Homer, Iliad vii. ver. 182, 183. 
 
 of competitors was unequal, he who The following passage of Livy agrees 
 
 drew the odd letter was matched against with this of Herodotus; " Ut primam 
 
 the victor, which was no small advan- " ipsius et antagonists sortem exiisse 
 
 tage, as he had to engage quite fresh " optimus auctor significat," xxiii. 3. 
 
 with a man already fatigued. Bellan- Larcher. 
 ger.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 11 
 
 " art building in Thrace ; but follow me to Susa, take part 
 " of all I possess, and be the partner of my food and coun- 
 " sels." 
 
 XXV. After this, Darius departed for Susa, accompanied 
 by Histiaeus ; having first appointed Artaphernes, his brother 
 by the father, to be governor of Sardis. The command of 
 the maritime parts he left to Otanes, whose father Sisamnes 
 had been one of the royal judges, and was put to death by 
 Cambyses for receiving a sum of money to pronounce an un- 
 just sentence. By the king's order his body was flayed, and 
 his whole skin being cut into thongs, was extended on the 
 bench 6 where he used to sit. And when this was done, Cam- 
 byses placed the son of Sisamnes in the office of his father, 
 admonishing him to remember on what tribunal he sat to ad- 
 minister justice. 
 
 XXVI. This Otanes, who had performed the office of a judge 
 on that seat, being now appointed successor to Megabyzus in 
 the command of the army, subdued the Byzantians and Chal- 
 cedonians, with the cities of Lamponium f and Antandros, 
 which is in Troas. He also possessed himself of Lemnos 
 and Imbrus by the assistance of the Lesbian fleet; both 
 which places were even then inhabited by the Pelasgians 8 . 
 
 XXVII. The Lemnians having fought valiantly, and de- 
 fended themselves, were at length reduced ; and over those 
 who survived, the Persians set up as governor Lycaretus, 
 the brother of Maeandrius who had once reigned in Samos. 
 This Lycaretus died while governor of Lemnos. Otanes re- 
 duced to slavery 11 and subdued all these people; charging 
 some, that they had deserted the army of Darius in the Scy- 
 thian expedition ; and others, that they had harassed his 
 forces in their return. Such was his conduct while general. 
 
 e It appears that it was the custom at the preceding chapter, that Otanes was 
 
 Persia to cover with the skins of unjust not appointed to that place till after the 
 
 judges the seats from which they used Scythian expedition, which must be 
 
 to administer justice. They sometimes about 507 or 508 jeais B.C. But at 
 
 flayed them alive, sometimes they put that time there were no Pelasgians in 
 
 them to death first. Artaxerxes (Diod. those islands, for Miltiades (vi. 139.) 
 
 Sic. x. 10.) treated in that manner some had expelled them three years before, 
 
 unjust judges. They were flayed alive. This confirms my suppositioa in the last 
 
 Lurcher. note. Every thing is perfectly con- 
 
 f This town was in Troas, north of the sistent. Otanes invaded Lemnos and 
 
 gulf of Adramyttium, and between An- Imbros, B. C. 511, or 512, and con- 
 
 tandros and Gargara. Chalcedon, Lam- tented with their submission, left them 
 
 ponium, and Antandros were in Asia, in possession of the island. Miltiades 
 
 and consequently not within the govern- expelled them, B. C. 510. Larcher. See 
 
 ment of Otanes, who succeeded to Me- book vi. ch. 136. 
 
 gabyzus inEurope. But perhaps Otanes h This passage has given great trouble, 
 
 had governed the coast of Asia, before I have followed Schweighteuser and 
 
 he succeeded Megabyzus. Larcher. Larchtr. 
 
 * It appears by the commencement of 
 
 c2
 
 12 HERODOTUS, 
 
 XXVIII. Not long after there was an intermission from 
 misfortune, but evils soon began again to arise to the lonians 
 from Naxus 1 and Miletus. Naxus surpassed all the islands 
 in opulence, and at the same time Miletus was in a state of 
 greater prosperity than ever, and accounted the ornament of 
 Ionia; though that city had before been afflicted with do- 
 mestic disorders during two generations, till their differ- 
 ences were composed by the Parians k ; for the Milesians had 
 chosen these to settle their affairs out of all the Greeks. 
 
 XXIX. The Parians reconciled them in the following 
 manner. Some of their most eminent men arriving in Mi- 
 letus, and seeing that their private affairs were in a dreadful 
 state, told the Milesians, they wished to survey their whole 
 country ; which as they were doing, wheresoever they saw in 
 the higher region 1 any portion of land well cultivated, they 
 wrote down the name of the possessor. After they had 
 passed through all the Milesian territories, and found very 
 few such possessions, they descended into the city, and having 
 called an assembly, declared that the government should be 
 put into the hands of those persons whose lands they had 
 found well cultivated ; not doubting that they would admi- 
 nister the public affairs with the same care they had taken of 
 their own. They strictly enjoined all the rest of the Mile- 
 sians, who before had been split into factions, to obey these 
 magistrates ; and in this manner settled the affairs of Mi- 
 letus. 
 
 XXX. From these two places misfortunes began to befal 
 the lonians in the following manner. Some of the rich men 
 of Naxus being banished by the people, fled to Miletus ; the 
 administration of which place was then in the hands of Aris- 
 tagoras the son of Molpagoras, nephew and son-in-law to His- 
 tiaeus the son Lysagoras, who was detained by Darius at 
 Susa. For Histiaeus was tyrant of Miletus, and during his 
 detention in Asia, the Naxians arrived ; and, in confidence 
 of the engagements they and Histiaeus were under to a reci- 
 
 1 This is the largest and most fertile ' 'Ev avtarqicviy ry X^py- This, 
 of the Cyclades. It was originally Larcher and others translate in the de- 
 called Strongyle, and was at that time so/are and uncultivated land. 
 inhabited by Thracians. The Thessa- The author appears to me to mean, 
 lians afterwards became masters of it, that in the plains in the neighbourhood 
 and called it Dia. The Carians after- of the city, the cultivation of the land 
 wards established themselves in it, and was neglected, but in the higher lands 
 gave it the name of Naxus, after their some were found diligent. 'AvaffTij- 
 king. It is now called Naxia. fiara y?/, are high lands. Diodorus 
 
 k The Parians at the present day have Sic. v. 40. They then descended (/ca- 
 
 the same reputation for justice, and the rs/S^ffaj/) into the city. Schu-eighauser. 
 
 Greeks of the neighbouring islands fre- That the country around Miletus was 
 
 quently make them arbitrators of their such, is stated by Herodotus himself, 
 
 disputes. Tournefort, Letter V. p. 204. book vi. ch. 20.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 13 
 
 procal hospitality, desired some assistance of Aristagoras, in 
 order to restore them to their country. Aristagoras thinking 
 to get the dominion of Naxus, if these men were once re- 
 stored by his power, took occasion from their former hospi- 
 tality to make them an oifer in these terms : " For my own 
 " part I am not able to furnish you with a force sufficient to 
 " re-establish you in Naxus, against the inclinations of those 
 "who are in possession, because I hear they have eight 
 " thousand heavy-armed men, and a considerable number of 
 ships of war. Yet I will contrive some way, and use my 
 best endeavours to assist you on this occasion. Artapher- 
 nes, the son of Hystaspes and brother of Darius, is my 
 friend. He commands all the maritime parts of Asia m , 
 and has a numerous army, with many great ships. This 
 man, I am persuaded, will do whatever we may desire." 
 The Naxians hearing his proposal, desired Aristagoras to 
 bring about this affair in the best manner he could, authoriz- 
 ing him to promise presents, and to engage for the expence 
 of the army ; all which, they said, they would repay, having 
 great expectation that their countrymen upon their appear- 
 ance would do whatever they should order, and that the rest 
 of the islanders would follow their example ; for at that 'time 
 none of the Cyclades were under the dominion of Darius. 
 
 XXXI. Accordingly Aristagoras went to Sardis, and ac- 
 quainted Artaphernes, that Naxus was a beautiful and fertile 
 island, though not large, in the neighbourhood of Ionia, and 
 abounding in wealth and slaves. " For these reasons," said 
 he, " I counsel you to make war upon that country, and re- 
 " establish those persons who have been banished from 
 " thence. Which if you do, you shall not only receive a 
 " great sum of money, already lodged in my hands, together 
 " with provisions for the army, (for it is just that we who 
 " lead you on to the enterprize should supply that,) but besides 
 " the acquisition of Naxus, you will put the king into pos- 
 " session of Paros, Andros, and the rest of the dependent 
 " islands" that go under the name of the Cyclades. Setting 
 " out from hence, you will easily attack Eubosa, a great and 
 " wealthy island, equal in extent to Cyprus, and very easily 
 " to be taken. A hundred ships are sufficient to subdue all 
 " these islands." Artaphernes replied, " You propose an 
 " enterprize of great advantage to the king, and prudently 
 " advise in every thing, except the number of ships ; for 
 " instead of one hundred, which you demand, two hundred 
 
 m Herodotus added the latter part to n The other Cyclades were not sub- 
 distinguish it from the government of ject to Naxus, but as it was the most 
 Otanes, which was over the shores of considerable, its capture would involve 
 Thrace and Europe. that of the others. Lurcher.
 
 14 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " shall be ready in the ensuing spring. But the king's con- 
 " sent must first be obtained." 
 
 XXXII. With this answer Aristagoras returned very 
 well satisfied to Miletus. In the mean time Artaphernes sent 
 to Susa, to acquaint Darius with the enterprize proposed by 
 Aristagoras ; and after he had obtained his approbation, made 
 ready two hundred ships, and assembled a great army of Per- 
 sians and their confederates ; appointing for general of these 
 forces, Megabates a Persian, who was of the Achemenian 
 blood, nephew to himself and Darius, whose daughter, if the 
 report be true , was afterwards betrothed to Pausanias the 
 son of Cleombrotus the Lacedaemonian, who aspired to the 
 dominion of Greece. When Artaphernes had declared Me- 
 gabates general, he sent him with the army to Aristagoras. 
 
 XXXIII. Megabates, accompanied by Aristagoras, with 
 the Ionian forces and the Naxians, departed from Miletus, 
 and made a feint of sailing to the Hellespont. But when he 
 arrived at Chios, he stopped near Caucasa p , in order to cross 
 over to Naxus by the favour of a north wind. But since it 
 was fated that the Naxians were not to perish by this army, 
 the following circumstance happened. Megabates, in going 
 his rounds to the watches of the fleet, found a Myndian ship 
 without any guard ; being indignant at this, he commanded 
 his officers to find the captain, whose name was Scylax, and 
 to bind him with his head through one of the holes that were 
 pierced for the oars q ; so that his head appeared on the out- 
 side of the vessel, while the rest of his body remained within. 
 Aristagoras being informed in what manner his friend Scylax 
 of Myndus was bound and disgraced by Megabates, went to 
 the Persian and interceded for him, but when he found he 
 could obtain nothing, he went and set him at liberty with his 
 own hands. Megabates hearing of this action, and thinking 
 himself highly affronted, expressed his anger to him ; but 
 Aristagoras in answer said, " What have you to do with 
 " these things? Has not Artaphernes sent you to obey me, 
 " and sail to what part soever I shall command ? Why are 
 " you officious?" Megabates, exasperated at this, as soon as 
 night arrived dispatched certain persons to Naxus, with 
 order to inform the Naxians of the impending danger. 
 
 XXXIV. The Naxians did not at all expect that the 
 
 It appears by this, that when Hero- Critique sur les Traductions d'Herodote, 
 
 dotus wrote this he had no knowledge by the Abbe Bellanger, p. 159. 
 
 of the letter in which Pausanias de- <> Vincire trajectum per thalamium 
 
 manded of Xerxes his daughter in mar- navis, id est foramen per quod infimiremi 
 
 riage. It may be seen in Thucydides, extant. Wesseling. Mitford (ch.vii. 1.) 
 
 book i. ch. 128. Larcher. translates the passage thus; "ordered 
 
 v This place is unknown, since no au- " him to be tied in his own cabin, with 
 
 thor has spoken of it. See the Essais de " his head out of the window."
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 15 
 
 armament was coming against them ; accordingly, when they 
 heard of it, they immediately carried every thing from the 
 fields into the town, and laid up provisions of meat and drink, 
 and prepared to undergo a siege. These therefore got ready 
 as if war was close at hand ; and when the Persians crossed 
 over from Chios and to Naxus, they found them perfectly 
 well defended, and besieged them during four months. So 
 that having consumed what they brought, together with great 
 sums furnished by Aristagoras, and wanting still more to 
 carry on the siege, they built a fortress for the Naxian exiles, 
 and retired to the continent, having miscarried in their en- 
 terprize. 
 
 XXXV. Aristagoras was unable to fulfil the engagements 
 he had made to Artaphernes ; and as the expence of the ex- 
 pedition, which was demanded, pressed heavy on him, he 
 became alarmed on account of this ill success, and the accu- 
 sations of Megabates ; he also thought that he should be de- 
 prived of the dominion of Miletus ; and dreading each of 
 these things, he began to think of revolting from the king : 
 it happened also that at the same time a messenger with his 
 head marked 1 came from Susa from Histiaeus, urging Arista- 
 goras to revolt. For Histiaeus being desirous to signify his 
 intentions to Aristagoras, and finding no other way, because 
 all the passages were guarded, shaved the head of one of his 
 servants, in whose fidelity he most confided, and having im- 
 printed the message on his crown, kept him at Susa till his 
 hair was grown again. When that time was come, he dis- 
 patched him to Miletus without any other instructions, than 
 that, upon his arrival, he should desire Aristagoras to take 
 off his hair and look upon his head ; on which, as I said be- 
 fore, characters were impressed, soliciting him to a defection. 
 Histiaeus took this resolution, because he looked upon his 
 residence at Susa as a great misfortune, and entertained no 
 small hope that he should be sent down to the coast, if Mi- 
 letus should revolt ; but if nothing new could be attempted 
 there, he thought that he should never go to Miletus again. 
 
 XXXVI. And such were the considerations that pre- 
 vailed with Histiaeus to dispatch this messenger to Miletus. 
 All these things concurring at the same time, induced Ari- 
 stagoras to consult with those of his faction, and communicate 
 to them his own opinion and that of Histiaeus. They all ap- 
 
 r Aulus Gellius (Post. Attic, xvii. 9.) would effect his cure by shaving his 
 
 says, that Histiaeus chose a servant who head a second time. Beloe. 
 
 had bad eyes, and told him that he Polyaenus (i. 24.) says, that his head 
 
 would cure him, by shaving his head, was marked with these letters, 'Itmalof 
 
 &c. He then wrote the message on his ' Apiffrdyopg,' Iwviav airbuTriaov, Lar- 
 
 head and sent him to Aristagoras, who cher.
 
 16 HERODOTUS. 
 
 plauded his sentiment, and encouraged him to revolt, except 
 Hecataeus the historian, who at first dissuaded him from un- 
 dertaking a war against the Persian king, enumerating the 
 forces of Darius, and all the nations he commanded : but 
 finding he could not prevail, he in the next place advised 
 that care should be taken to render the Milesians masters of 
 the sea ; and said, that being fully convinced of the insuffi- 
 ciency of their forces, he could see no other way to effect 
 this. Yet if they would seize the treasures which had been 
 dedicated by Croesus the Lydian in the temple of the Bran- 
 chidae 5 , he had great hope they might acquire the dominion 
 of the sea ; and thus they would not only convert those riches 
 to their own use, but hinder the enemy from plundering that 
 treasure ; which indeed was very considerable, as I have al- 
 ready related 1 in my first book. This opinion however did 
 not prevail ; but they notwithstanding took a resolution to 
 revolt, and agreed to send one of the assembly in a ship to 
 Myus, (where the forces that came from Naxus then were,) 
 with instructions to endeavour to seize the leaders of the 
 ships. 
 
 XXXVII. latragoras being charged with this commis- 
 sion, circumvented and seized Oliatus of Mylasa, the son of 
 Ibanolis ; Histiseus the son of Tymues, of Termera"; Goes 
 the son of Erxandrus, to whom Darius had given Mitylene ; 
 Aristagoras of Cyme, the son of Heraclides; and many others. 
 Thus Aristagoras openly revolted against Darius, and studied 
 to annoy him by all the means he could invent. In the first 
 place he abolished the tyranny, and established an equality in 
 Miletus, to the end that the Milesians might more readily join 
 with him in his defection. He effected the same afterwards 
 throughout all Ionia ; expelling some of their tyrants by force, 
 and delivering up all those who were taken from on board the 
 ships that had sailed with him to Naxus, to the cities to which 
 they severally belonged, in order to gratify the people. 
 
 Of this temple Pliny says, Posideum enamoured pf him, and gave him the 
 
 promontorium et oppidum, oraculum gift of prophecy. 
 
 Branchidarum appellatum, nunc Didy- The temple appears to have been 
 maei Apollonis, a littore stadiis viginti, built some time before the Ionian co- 
 et inde centum octoginta Miletus loniae lony ; and it seems that Branchus in 
 caput. (Hist. Nat. v. 29.) The name reality belonged to a family connected 
 of Branchidae was derived from a family with the priesthood at Delphi, and that 
 which pretended to be descended from he went to Miletus and established an 
 Branchus. The mother of Branchus, oracle there in imitation of that at Del- 
 according to Varro, (Divin. reb. lib. phi. The temple was burnt by Xerxes, 
 apud Schol. Stat. Ther. viii. ver. 198.) but afterwards rebuilt. See Vitruv. 
 when pregnant dreamt that the sun en- Praef. vii. p. 125. Larcher. 
 tered her throat and passed out by her ' See book i. ch. 50, 51, 92. 
 womb. On account of this dream her u Termera was on the confines of Ca- 
 son was called Branchus ; (/3payxC " a a d Lycia. Steph. Byzant. 
 signifying the throat.) Apollo became
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 17 
 
 XXXVIIT. The Mityleneans had no sooner received 
 Goes, than they brought him out, and stoned him to death ; 
 the Cymeans let their tyrant go, and so also did most of the 
 others. Thus the tyrannies were everywhere suppressed. 
 In conclusion, Aristagoras the Milesian having removed the 
 tyrants, and admonished each of the cities to appoint magis- 
 trates x , went on an embassy to Sparta, because some power- 
 ful assistance was now become necessary to be procured y . 
 
 XXXIX. Anaxandrides, king of Sparta, was already 
 dead, and his son Cleomenes had at that time possession of 
 the kingdom ; not on account of his virtues, but his birth. 
 Anaxandrides had married his sister's daughter, and though 
 she brought him no children, yet he loved her with great af- 
 fection: in consequence of which the Ephori sent for him, and 
 said, " If you neglect your nearest concernments we are not 
 " to imitate your example, and suffer the family of Eurys- 
 " thenes to be extinguished. Dismiss therefore the wife you 
 " now have, since she bears no children, and marry another; 
 " and by doing so you will please the Spartans." He an- 
 swered, that he would not do either the one or the other: that 
 they did not rightly advise him to abandon the wife he had, 
 and to take another in her place, when she had committed no 
 error ; and therefore he would not obey. 
 
 XL. Upon this the Ephori and the senators, after they had 
 consulted, proposed the following terms to Alexandrides : 
 " Because we see you so attached to your present wife, be 
 " persuaded to do as we now advise, and do not oppose it, lest 
 " the Spartans should proceed to a more severe resolution 
 " against you. We do not require of you the dismissal of 
 " your present wife ; pay her the same attention as you have 
 " always done, and marry another besides, who may bear you 
 " children." To this proposal Anaxandrides consenting, had 
 two wives and two houses 2 , contrary to the custom of Sparta. 
 
 XLI. After a short time had intervened, the woman last 
 married was brought to bed of this Cleomenes, and presented 
 to the Spartans a presumptive heir of the kingdom. And it 
 so happened*, that his first wife, who to that time had been 
 barren, found herself with child ; and though she was really 
 so, yet the relations of his second began to raise a disturb- 
 
 * Srparijyoe does not here signify the v. 1396. See Person's note. Schweigk. 
 
 leader of an army, but a magistrate, z He was the only Lacedaemonian who 
 
 whose office was probably nearly the had two wives at the same time and two 
 
 same as that of the Archons at Athens, separate habitations. Pausan. Lacon. 
 
 Lurcher. iii. 3. 
 
 y The construction of the Greek is, * Swru^'V ravTy ^prjaauivt) ; this 
 
 tSte yap Sri ' t WX' 7 JC Tivbg p.tya\r)G phrase is equivalent to Kara, caipova in 
 
 (oi<rr) i&vptOrjvai ot. There is a similar i. 111. and iii. 153. Schweigh. 
 construction in the Medea of Euripides, 
 
 VOL. II. D
 
 18 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ance, and said, she vainly boasted, in order to impose a sup- 
 positions child upon them. While these continued their cla- 
 mour, and the time of her delivery drew near, the Ephori from 
 incredulity, sat around and watched the woman in her labour. 
 She, however, brought forth Dorieus, and after him Leonidas, 
 and at a third time Cleombrotus ; though some say that Cle- 
 ombrotus and Leonidas were twins. But the mother of Cleo- 
 menes, who was the second wife of Anaxandrides, and daugh- 
 ter to Prinetades,the son of Demarmenus, never bore any more 
 children. 
 
 XLII. Cleomenes is reported to have not had the proper 
 use of his faculties, and to have been somewhat insane 5 : but 
 Dorieus far surpassed all the young men of his age, and was 
 fully convinced that by his merit he should obtain the king- 
 dom. But after the death of Anaxandrides, when he found 
 that the Lacedaemonians had according to custom created his 
 eldest brother king ; full of discontent, and indignation to be 
 commanded by Cleomenes, he demanded a draught of men, 
 in order to establish a colony, and went away without asking 
 the oracle of Delphi to what place he should go, or doing any 
 of those things that are usual on such occasions. But as he 
 was very much grieved, he directed his ships to Lybia under 
 the conduct of Theban pilots, and arriving at Cinyps d , settled 
 on the bank of the river, in the most beautiful part of that 
 country. But in the third year of his establishment, being 
 ejected by the united force of the Macse, Lybians 6 , and Car- 
 thaginians, he returned to Peloponnesus. 
 
 XLI1I. There Antichares a citizen of Eleon f , pursuant to 
 some oracles delivered to Laius g , admonished him to build 
 the city of Heraclea in Sicily ; assuring him that all the coun- 
 try of Eryx, having been conquered 11 by Hercules, belonged 
 
 b The word dicpocwhen put before se- h When Hercules reached the country 
 
 veral adjectives, somewhat diminishes of Eryx, in his tour of Sicily, Eryx, the son 
 
 the signification of the word, nearly as in of Venus and Butes, the king of the coun- 
 
 Latin the particles sub and semi, when try, challenged him to wrestle. Eryx laid 
 
 prefixed to nouns. Schu-eigh. his country as a wager, Hercules his oxen. 
 
 c See note on ch. 146. book i. Eryx at first disdained so unequal a stake, 
 
 d The river Cinyps was mentioned in but when Hercules assured him that he 
 
 tke 175th ch. of book iv, as rising in the should lose his immortality, if he lost 
 
 country of the Macse. D. Anville calls them, Eryx was content, and engaged; 
 
 it Wadi-Quaham. Larcher. he was overthrown and deprived of his 
 
 e It would appear, as the text now country, which Hercules gave to the in- 
 
 stands, that the Macae were not Lybians. habitants, allowing them to take the 
 
 Larcher leaves out the conjunction icai. fruits to their own use, till some one of 
 
 f J-.leon is mentioned by Homer, Iliad his posterity came to demand it, which 
 
 ii. 500. and Strabo (ix. p. 622.) mentions afterwards happened; for many ages 
 
 a place of that name near Tanagra in after, Dorieus the Lacedaemonian, sail- 
 
 Bceotia Westeling. ing into Sicily, recovered the country, 
 
 8 This passage is thus translated by and there built Heraclea. Diodorus Sic. 
 
 Larcher and Schweighaeuser. For the iv. 23. Larcher. 
 construction see note on ch. 136. book iii.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 19 
 
 to his posterity. When he heard this, he went to enquire of 
 the oracle at Delphi, whether he should possess himself of the 
 region to which he was preparing- to go. The Pythian an- 
 swered, he should; and Dorieus, taking with him the same 
 fleet which he had led to Lybia, sailed past the coast of Italy. 
 
 XLIV. At that time, as the Sybarites say, they and their 
 king- Telys were preparing to make war against Crotona : 
 which the Crotonians very much apprehending, implored the 
 assistance of Dorieus ; and having obtained their request, 
 marched in conjunction with his forces directly to Sybaris, 
 and took the city'. This the Sybarites affirm, concerning 
 Dorieus and those who were with him. But the Crotonians 
 deny that any foreigner took part with them in the war against 
 Sybaris, except only Callias of Elis, an augur of the family of 
 the Jamidae k , who abandoned Telys king of the Sybarites, and 
 deserted to their side, because he found the sacrifices inauspi- 
 cious which he offered for the success of the expedition against 
 Crotona. This the Crotonians say. 
 
 XLV. Each side, to confirm their assertion, bring the fol- 
 lowing testimonies. The Sybarites on their part shew a sacred 
 enclosure, and a temple near the Crastis 1 which is occasionally 
 dry, which Dorieus dedicated to Minerva, surnamed Crastian, 
 after having assisted in taking Sybaris ; alledging, for a farther 
 and greater proof, that he was killed there, because he had 
 acted contrary to the admonition of the oracle. For if he had 
 not at all transgressed, but had done that for which he was 
 sent, he might have taken and possessed the country of Eryx, 
 and escaped that destruction which fell upon himself and his 
 army. On the other hand, the Crotonians shew selected por- 
 tions of land, conferred upon Callias the Elean, in the terri- 
 tories of Crotona, and now possessed by his descendants ; but 
 nothing at all given to Dorieus and his posterity. Whereas 
 doubtless, had he assisted them in the war of Sybaris, he should 
 have been more amply rewarded than Callias. These are the 
 
 1 Diodorus (xii. 9.) gives the following k Jamus was the son of Apollo and 
 
 as the cause of the war. " Telys, a de- Evadne, the daughter of Neptune and 
 
 ' magogue, had persuaded the Sybarites Pitane, who was the daughter of the 
 
 ' by his accusations to banish five hun- Eurotas. Apollo gave the art of divina- 
 
 ' dred of the most powerful men, and tion to Jamus and all his descendants, 
 
 ' to sell their effects by auction. The who were after him called Jamidae. See 
 
 ' exiles retired to Crotona, whither the sixth Olympic of Pindar. Larcher. 
 
 ' Telys sent ambassadors to demand ' Ilapd TOV ir\pbv tcpaaTtv. Near the 
 
 ' them, or to declare war in case of a dry Crastis. It was so named, because 
 
 ' refusal. The people were disposed to it was dry during part of the year. 
 
 ' give them up, but Pythagoras per- So in Virgil, Georg. iii. ver. 151. " Et 
 
 ' suaded them to protect them. Milo " sicct ripa Tanagri." On which Ser- 
 
 ' the wrestler led the troops of Crotona, vius has this note : " Sicci ad tempus s- 
 
 ' routed the Sybarites, took their city, " statis relatum est; est enim hieme tor- 
 
 ' and reduced it to perfect solitude." " rens." Weveling. 
 Larcher. 
 
 D2
 
 20 HERODOTUS. 
 
 testimonies produced on both sides; and every man has the 
 liberty of adhering to that which he judges most probable. 
 
 XL VI. Dorieus had for associates in the conduct of his 
 colony, Thessalus, Paraebates, Celes, and Euryleon, all Spar- 
 tans ; who, after their arrival with the whole armament in 
 Sicily, were killed with him in an unsuccessful battle against 
 the Phoenicians and Egestaeans ; Euryleon alone of the asso- 
 ciates in conducting the colony survived this disaster, and 
 having collected the shattered remains of their forces, pos- 
 sessed himself of Minoa, a colony of the Selinuntians, and as- 
 sisted in liberating the Selinuntians from their monarch Py- 
 thagoras. But after he had removed him, he seized the ty- 
 ranny of Selinus for himself; and possessed the monarchy for 
 a short time ; for the Selinuntians having risen up against 
 him, killed him at the altar of the Forensian Jupiter, where 
 he had taken sanctuary. 
 
 XLVII. Philippus of Crotona, the son of Butacides, accom- 
 panied Dorieus and perished with him. He was entered into 
 a contract of marriage with the daughter of Telys the Sy- 
 barite, banished from Crotona, and disappointed of his wife, 
 being sailed to Cyrene ; from whence he parted to accompany 
 Dorieus, with his ship and men, maintained at his own ex- 
 pence. He had been victorious in the Olympian exercises ; 
 and was the handsomest of the Greeks of his day ; and on 
 account of his beauty m he obtained from the Egestaeans 
 greater honors than any other person : for they erected a 
 chapel to him as to a hero, over the place where he was buried, 
 and appease him with sacrifices to this day. 
 
 XLVIII. Such was the end of Dorieus ; who, if he could 
 have endured the government of Cleomenes, and continued in 
 Sparta, had doubtless been king of the Lacedaemonians. For 
 after a short reign Cleomenes died, and left no male children, 
 but one daughter, whose name was Gorgo n . 
 
 XLIX. During the reign of this Cleomenes, Aristagoras, 
 tyrant of Miletus, arrived in Sparta, and going to confer with 
 the king, carried with him, as the Lacedaemonians say, a tablet 
 of brass , on which a description of the whole earth, with all 
 
 m Eustathius (lib. iii. Iliad xx. ver. " the mother of a valiant race." He, in 
 41.) remarks, that beauty is a gift not to fact, expected to perish. This princess 
 be despised, and quotes this account of was remarkable for her virtue, and was 
 the honors paid to Philip, in the very one of the women whom Plutarch pro- 
 terms of Herodotus. Larcher. posed as a model to Eurydice. Larcher. 
 
 tt She married Leonidas, (vii. 239.) This voyage of Aristagoras to Lace- 
 When this prince was departing for dzemon must have been B.C. 504. Geo- 
 Thennopylae, (Plutarch. Lac. Apoph- graphical charts must have been rather 
 thegm. p. 225.) Gorgo asked him, what common at that time, since Anaximander 
 commands he had for her: " Marry," made one 71 years before. They were 
 says he, "some worthy man, and become much more ancient in Egypt, and we
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 21 
 
 the seas and rivers, was engraved : and being come into the 
 king's presence, spoke in these terms : " Wonder not, Cleo- 
 " menes, at the pains I have taken to come hither; my pre- 
 " sent affairs are urgent. For that the posterity of the loni- 
 " ans should be slaves instead of free, is a great disgrace and 
 " sorrow to us, and above all others to you, inasmuch as you 
 " are the leaders of Greece. I adjure you therefore, by the 
 " Grecian Gods, rescue the lonians, and deliver your own 
 " blood from servitude. It is easy for you to effect these 
 " things. For the Barbarians are not valiant ; whereas you 
 " have attained to the utmost height of military glory ; their 
 " manner in war is this : they use a bow and a short lance, 
 " and engage in battle, dressed in a long vest?, and wearing 
 " a turban on the head, by which means they become an easy 
 " conquest. Besides, those who inhabit that part of the con- 
 " tinent, possess greater riches in gold, silver, brass, magnifi- 
 " cent apparel, horses, and slaves, than all the rest in con- 
 " junction. All these things you may enjoy if you will. Their 
 " countries are contiguous, as I shall shew you." Then point- 
 ing to the description of the earth, which he brought with 
 him engraved on a plate ; " Next to these lonians," said he, 
 " the Lydians inhabit a fertile country, abounding in silver : 
 " and on the confines of Lydia, these Phrygians are placed to 
 " the eastward, the richest in cattle, and in corn, of all I am 
 " acquainted with. Adjoining to these are the Cappadocians, 
 " by us called Syrians; and beyond them, the Cilicians, whose 
 " country extends to this sea in which the island of Cyprus is 
 " situate, and pays an annual tribute of five hundred talents 
 " to the king. Next to the Cilicians, are these Armenians, 
 " who possess great numbers of cattle ; and after them the 
 " Matienians ; beyond whose territories lies this province of 
 " Cissia, in which Susa is built upon the river Choaspes. In 
 " this place the great king resides, and his vast treasures are 
 " here deposited. If you take this city, you may boldly con- 
 " tend with Jupiter in wealth. But now it seems you must 
 " carry on war, for a country of small extent, narrow limits, 
 " and not so very fertile, with the Messenians, who are your 
 " equals in war ; and the Arcadians and Argives : none of 
 " which nations have either gold- or silver; the desire of which 
 " induces so many men to hazard their lives. But when an 
 
 may presume, that this is one of the tribe, to examine the land of promise, 
 
 things which the Greeks derived from with order to describe what they saw in 
 
 that country. They were known there a book. The Hebrews must have learnt 
 
 under the reign of Sesostris, (Appollon. this science in Egypt. Larcher. 
 
 Rhod. iv. ver. 279. and Schol.) And also P ' Avavpiis are very loose trowsers 
 
 long before, since Joshua, (ch. xviii. ver. which reach quite down to the ancles. 
 
 4. and seq.) sent three men from every Larcher.
 
 22 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " opportunity is offered to conquer all Asia with facility, will 
 " you prefer any thing else?" To this discourse of Aristagoras, 
 Cleomenes answered, " Milesian friend, I defer to let you 
 " know my resolution till three days are passed." 
 
 L. On that day they got so far. When the day appointed 
 for the answer was come, and they were both met at the ap- 
 pointed place, Cleomenes asked Aristagoras, in how many 
 days one might travel from the coast of Ionia to the city 
 where the king was ? But though Aristagoras was in other 
 things cunning, and had deceived him with much address, 
 yet he made a slip in this. For designing to draw the Spar- 
 tans into Asia, he ought to have abated something of the ac- 
 count: whereas he told him plainly, that the journey up- 
 wards would occupy three months. Which Cleomenes no 
 sooner heard, than interrupting him from proceeding in his 
 discourse concerning the way, he said, " Milesian guest, de- 
 " part out of Sparta before the setting of the sun ; for you 
 " propose nothing to be listened to by the Spartans, since 
 " you wish to lead them a march of three months from 
 " the sea." When he had spoken these words he went 
 home. 
 
 LI. Aristagoras taking an olive-branch in his hand, went to 
 the house of Cleomenes, and having entered in, as a sup- 
 pliant p , besought Cleomenes to listen to him and to send 
 away his little daughter Gorgo, who was then with him, 
 being the only child he had, and about eight or nine years of 
 age. But Cleomenes bid him say what he would, and not 
 refrain for the sake of a child. So Aristagoras began with 
 the promise of ten talents, in case Cleomenes would do as he 
 desired ; and receiving a denial, proceeded gradually in his 
 offers, till he came to the sum of fifty talents ; and then the 
 girl cried out, " Father, this stranger will corrupt you, unless 
 " you quickly depart." Cleomenes, pleased with the admo- 
 nition of the child, retired to another apartment ; and Ari- 
 stagoras was constrained to depart immediately from Sparta, 
 and could not get an opportunity to inform him farther, con- 
 cerning the way to the place of the king's residence. 
 
 LII. This road is as follows. There are in every part very 
 excellent inns q , and it passes through an inhabited and safe 
 
 P That is, went straight to the hearth, Travels : see Chardin, Olearius, Le 
 
 as suppliants constantly did. See note Brun, &c.) are grand, commodious, and 
 
 on book i. ch. 35. extensive. Very possibly they might 
 
 i These inns we must consider as have been calculated to receive the mo- 
 being much the same kind of establish- narch and his retinue, when the army 
 ment as the caravanserais of modern was put in motion: and that they had 
 Persia ; many of which, on the public their reference to war, as well as to civil 
 roads, (as may be seen by the books of purposes, may be collected from the
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 23 
 
 country. Twenty of these places of reception are found in 
 Lydia and Phrygia, the distance is ninety-four parasangs and 
 a half. After Phrygia, the river Halys is met with, at which 
 there are gates, which it is absolutely necessary to pass 
 through, and thus to cross the river : there is also a consider- 
 able fort there. Then entering into Cappadocia, and travers- 
 ing that country, they find twenty-eight of those public sta- 
 tions, within the space of one hundred and four parasangs, 
 before they arrive on the borders of Cilicia, where you will 
 pass two gates and two guards, and cross the territories of 
 Cilicia by a way of fifteen parasangs and a half, and meet 
 with three several stations. A river called Euphrates sepa- 
 rates Cilicia from Armenia r , and is not passable, except in 
 boats. Armenia contains fifteen of these inns, with one fort, 
 and fifty-six parasangs and a half in the way over. Four 
 rivers run through this country, and men are necessitated to 
 pass all these in boats. The first is the Tigris ; the second 
 and third 5 have the same name, though they are different ri- 
 vers, flowing from different sources. For the first of these 
 rises in Armenia, and the latter in the country of the Ma- 
 tiene. The fourth is called the Gyndes 1 , which was formerly 
 cut by Cyrus into three hundred and sixty channels. After 
 Armenia" you enter the land of Matiene*, in which there are 
 four stations ; and from thence to Cissia and the river Cho- 
 aspes, eleven stations are found within the space of forty- 
 two parasangs and a half. This river also is no otherwise 
 passable than in boasts, and the city of Susa is situate on 
 it. All these stations are in number one hundred and ele- 
 
 space between them ; which is calculated questionably intended for the Diala of 
 for the day's march of aa army, but is modern geography. Rennell, ibid, 
 too short for the journeys of travellers u The extension of Armenia to the 
 of any description ; tne slowest of whom. Diala, is quite incorrect, and even con- 
 namely, those who travel in caravans, tradictory ; as he knew the position of 
 far outstrip an army. Rennell, p. 333. Assyria, and reckons Babylon a part of 
 
 r Cilicia by being extended to the it. Rennell, p. 328. 
 
 Euphrates, is made to include the north- x By Matiene, is intended in this 
 ern part of Syria ; that is, the province place, the country between Assyria and 
 of Cyrhestica. The Chelllans mentioned Susiana; and as that was known in the 
 in Judith (ch. ii. ver. 21.) appear to be times of Xenophon and Alexander, by 
 the people of the district which includes the name of Sittacene, (a province of 
 the town of Killis, not far from Aleppo: Babylonia,) this should be the true read- 
 whence it may be suspected that the ing, and not Matiene, which Herodotus 
 Cilicia of Herodotus included this pro- places between Media Major, and Ar- 
 vince. Rennell, p. 327. menia; or more properly speaking, it 
 
 8 The second is the greater Zab; the was a province of Media itself. Ma- 
 
 Zabatus of Xenophon ; and the third is tiene could only lie above the mountains 
 
 the lesser Zab, which joins the Tigris of Zagros ; but the royal road to Susa, 
 
 near the city of Sewn, the Cents of Xeno- lay below them, through Assyria and 
 
 phon. Rennell, p. 327. Babylonia. Ibid. 
 
 * See Clio, c. 189. This river is un-
 
 24 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ven y . The inns therefore from Sardis to Susa are so 
 many. 
 
 LIU. Now if the royal road has been correctly measured 
 by parasangs, and if every parasang equals thirty stades, as 
 the truth is, we shall find that the four hundred and fifty pa- 
 rasangs from Sardis to the Memnonian palace, amount to 
 thirteen thousand five hundred stades : and he who travels 
 one hundred and fifty stades every day, must spend ninety 
 days exactly, in performing the whole journey. 
 
 LIV. So that Aristagoras the Milesian said right, when 
 he told Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, that three months 
 would be requisite to arrive at the place where the king was. 
 But if any man should desire a more complete account, I 
 will satisfy him : for adding the measure of the way from 
 Ephesus to Sardis to the preceding computation, the whole 
 number of stades from the Grecian sea to the Memnonian 2 
 city of Susa, will be fourteen thousand and forty; because 
 five hundred and forty stades are accounted from Ephesus to 
 Sardis. And thus three days' journey are to be added to 
 that of three months. 
 
 LV. Aristagoras being driven from Sparta, went to Athens ; 
 which city had been delivered from tyrants in this manner. 
 After Aristogiton and Harmodius a , originally descended from 
 the Gephyraians, had killed Hipparchus 6 the son of Pisis- 
 
 y According to the account of Herodotus, 
 
 Stathmi. Parasangs. 
 In Lydia and Phrygia are ...................... 20 ......... 94 L 
 
 In Cappadocia ............................... 28 ........ 104 
 
 In Cilicia ................................... 3 ......... 15^ 
 
 In Armenia .................................. 15 ......... 56^ 
 
 In Matiene .................................. 4 
 
 In Cissia .................................... 11 ......... 42 
 
 81 313 
 
 Here is evidently some mistake, which cannot be in the sum given by Herodotus, 
 but is in the detail, (owing, we must suppose, to an accident having happened to 
 the original MS.) For a full account see Rennell's 13th section. 
 
 1 It is said that Susa was built by talking to one of the conspirators. As 
 
 Tithonus, the father of Memnon. Strabo, they were afraid that their plot was dis- 
 
 xv. p. 1058. covered, they immediately killed Hip- 
 
 a According to Thucydides, (vi. 54.) parchus, and Hippias escaped. Lar- 
 
 Aristogiton, a man of middle rank, loved cher has a long note on Aristogiton and 
 
 Harmodius, who was in the bloom of Harmodius, in which he has collected 
 
 life. Hipparchus having conceived a almost every particular that is known of 
 
 passion for Harmodius, endeavoured to them. 
 
 obtain his good graces. Harmodius dis- b According to the common opinion, 
 
 covered it to his friend, and they de- Hipparchus possessed the tyranny, when 
 
 termined to kill the tyrants. On the be was killed. This opinion is contra- 
 
 morning on which they intended to exe- dieted by Thucydides, book vi. 54, and 
 
 cute their project, Hippias was seen seq. who proves that Hippias was the
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 25 
 
 tratus and brother to Hippias, the Athenians during the 
 space of four years were no less oppressed by tyranny than 
 before. 
 
 LVI. Hipparchus had seen his own destruction manifestly 
 foretold in the following dream, in the night preceding the 
 Panathenasan d festival ; a tall and handsome man seemed to 
 stand by him, and pronounce, these enigmatical words 6 : 
 
 Lion, with courage bear the greatest ill, 
 For vengeance always reaches the unjust. 
 
 At break of day he publicly acquainted the diviners^ith his 
 dream ; and after having made the proper sacrifices to avert 
 the effect f , he conducted that procession in which he pe- 
 rished. 
 
 LVII. The Gephyraeans, from whom those who killed 
 Hipparchus were descended, are originally sprung from Ere- 
 tria, as they themselves say ; but, as I find by frequent en- 
 quiry, they are the posterity of those Phoenicians, who ar- 
 riving in Boeotia with Cadmus, were appointed by lot to in- 
 habit the district of Tanagra. The Cadmeans were first ex- 
 pelled from thence by the Argives ; and these Gephyraeans 
 being afterwards ejected by the Boeotians, betook themselves 
 to Athens ; and the Athenians admitted them into the num- 
 ber of their citizens, on certain trifling conditions which are 
 not worth mentioning. 
 
 LVIII. These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, from 
 whom the Gephyraeans are descended, when they settled in 
 this country, introduced among the Greeks many other 
 things relating to knowledge, and more particularly letters s , 
 
 eldest. Plato (in Hipparch. torn. ii. p. year. For a description of the games, 
 
 228.) says that Hipparchus was the processions, &c. see Potter's Greece, 
 
 eldest. Lurcher. book ii. ch. 21. 
 
 c Plato (in Hipparch. torn. ii. p. 229.) e Remark in the first verse the words 
 
 says only three ; but Thucydides (vi. TXi}0t, ar\7/ra, rrXj6rt. These Gro- 
 
 59.) says that he was obliged to retire tius has preserved in his translation : 
 
 U /- i " Fortiter hxc leo fer, quamvis fera, 
 
 m festival was in honour of Mi- ., do/eren ^ m ' es 4 t 
 
 nerva the protectress of Athens. ^S^ ^ s rf 
 
 was first instituted by Enchthomus or g e etur 
 Orpheus, and called'AQjjwua, but after- 
 
 wards renewed and amplified by The- f ' AvtiTrdfiivog rffv o\l/tv. The an- 
 
 seus, when he collected the nation into cients supposed that the effects of a 
 
 one city, and called Havaftijvaia. dream might be averted by sacrifices to 
 
 There were the greater, which were Gods, named 'ATrorpoTroi, Averrunca- 
 
 celebrated once in rive years, beginning tores, or simply by relating them to the 
 
 upon the twenty-second of Hecatom- sun. See the Electra of Sophocles, ver. 
 
 baeon, and the lesser Panathensea, which 424, and the Scholiast. Lurcher. 
 
 were celebrated on the fourteenth of the s For information on this subject see 
 
 same month, every year. Some say Bochart and Walton's Prolegomena to 
 
 they were celebrated on the twentieth the Polyglott ; and Bouhier's Disser- 
 
 or twenty-first of Thargelion, others that taticn de priscis Graecorum et Latinorum 
 
 they were only celebrated every third literis : and also Larcher's note. 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
 v> .s 9 / K
 
 26 HERODOTUS. 
 
 which, as I conceive, were not known among the Grecians 
 before that time. The first letters they used were entirely 
 Phoenician ; but in succeeding ages, together with the sound, 
 they also altered 11 the form of the letters: and the Tonians 
 who inhabited the greatest part of the country round about, 
 having learnt these letters from the Phoenicians, made use of 
 them with some small alteration, and gave out that they 
 ought to go under the name of Phoenician letters, as reason 
 required, because they had been introduced by the Phoeni- 
 cians. Besides, the lonians, from ancient time, call their 
 books diphtheras 1 , because at some former time when the 
 byblus was rare, they used the skins of goats and sheep ; and 
 even at the present day many of the Barbarians write on 
 such skins. 
 
 LIX. And I myself have seen in the temple of Ismeniaii 
 Apollo at Thebes in Boeotia some Cadmean letters engraved 
 on certain tripods, for the most part like the Ionian character. 
 One of these inscriptions runs thus : 
 
 Amphytrion dedicated me after his return k from the Teleboae. 
 
 This must have been about the time of Laius 1 the son of 
 Labdacus, whose father Polydorus was son to Cadmus. 
 
 LX. Another tripod has these words in hexameter verses: 
 
 To thee Apollo, by the conquering hand 
 Of Scaeus offer'd, a rich gift I stand. 
 
 Sca3us the son of Hippocoon, (if indeed it was he who dedi- 
 cated this tripod, and not another person of the same name,) 
 must have lived about the time of OEdipus" the son of 
 Laius. 
 
 LXI. A third tripod is inscribed thus, in hexameters like- 
 wise : 
 
 To thee bright Phoebus, truly-aiming God ! 
 To thee, Laodamus this ofFring made. 
 
 During the reign of this monarch Laodamus the son of Ete- 
 ocles, the Cadmeans were expelled by the Argives, and re- 
 
 h The Greeks first wrote in the same the Persians were obliged by law to 
 
 manner as the Hebrews and Chaldees, write their history on skins. 
 
 from right to left ; they afterwards wrote k After the victory which he had ob- 
 
 alternately from left to right, and then tained over that people. Larcher. 
 
 from right to left, which was called ' Amphitryon was the cotemporary of 
 
 ftovffTpo(j>rj6v. Larcher. Laius, since he was expiated of a murder 
 
 * The Persians name a record or writ- by Creon, the brother-in-law of that 
 
 ing, Dufter. Is it not probable that prince. 
 
 the lonians borrowed the term from the m The Dorians used ri'iv for <roi, tibi. 
 
 Persians, together with the use of the Hesycltius. 
 
 skin itself, the name of which may per- n Hercules, who was cotemporary with 
 
 haps be rendered parchment? Rennell, (Edipus, killed Scaeus and his father. 
 
 p. 247. (Apollod. Biblioth. iii. 10.) 
 
 Diodorus Siculus (ii. 32.) says, that
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 
 
 27 
 
 tired to the Encheleae . The Gephyraeans, who were then 
 left, were afterwards compelled by the Boeotians P to fly to 
 Athens' 1 ; and here they built temples, which the rest of the 
 Athenians do not participate in ; and also established other 
 things distinct from the other temples ; more particularly the 
 temple and mysteries of the Achaean Ceres. 
 
 LXII. And thus having related the dream of Hipparchus, 
 with the original of the Gephyraeans, from whom those who 
 killed him were descended, it is proper now to resume the 
 account I originally set out to relate, and shew in what man- 
 ner the Athenians were delivered from tyrants. 
 
 While Hippias was tyrant and bitterly harassing the Athe- 
 nians for the death of Hipparchus, the Alcmaeonidae being of 
 Athenian extraction, and at that time banished by the Pisis- 
 tratidae, made great efforts, in conjunction with other exiles, 
 to obtain their return : and though their endeavours had 
 been unsuccessful, yet still continuing to apply themselves 
 with diligence to procure their own re-establishment, with 
 the liberty of Athens, they fortified Lipsydrium r , which is 
 above Paeonia ; and there practising every scheme against the 
 Pisistratidae undertook by a contract, made with the Amphic- 
 tyons 5 , to build the temple which now is seen at Delphi 1 . 
 
 The Cadmeans and Encheleans of 
 Herodotus are the Thebans and Illy- 
 rians of Pausanias. Larcher. 
 
 PThe preposition VTTO joined to a ge- 
 nitive case, signifies the cause ; as in the 
 common expression viro Skovf : see v. 
 10, 2. iv. 7, 16. We must therefore 
 conclude that these were compelled to 
 retire by the Boeotians, that they re- 
 tired <m account oj, through fear of the 
 Boeotians : (pr<e Bceotis, propter Boeotos, 
 i. e. metu. Bccotorum :) in which manner 
 Larcher has translated it, "les Bosotiens 
 " les obligerent par la suite a se retirer 
 " a Athenes." So fyivyuv virb nvoq. 
 Herodotus has more clearly explained 
 his meaning in ch. 57, 8. '\Tro\ii$6tv- 
 rec ought not to be translated derelicti 
 with Gronovius, nor with Larcher, ' ' on 
 " les laissa alors tranquilles :" but sim- 
 ply left, who remained in their settle- 
 ment and were not expelled by the Ar 
 gives. Schweigh. 
 
 1 They were permitted to establish 
 themselves on the borders of the Ce- 
 phissus, which separates Attica, pro- 
 perly so called, from Eleusis. There 
 they built a bridge, in order to have a 
 free communication. I am of opinion 
 that bridges, yit/tvpat, took their name 
 from this people. The author of the 
 Etymologicum Magnum supposes that 
 the people were called Gephyrseans, 
 
 from this bridge ; but it is very certain 
 that they bore this name before they 
 settled in Attica. Larcher. 
 
 r Lipsydrium was a place in Attica, 
 above Paeonia and mount Parnes. The 
 Pajonidae, (Harpocrat. voc. Ilauwtic,) 
 belonged to the tribe Leontis, and 
 doubtless occupied this borough Paeonia. 
 Larcher. 
 
 8 This council was composed of de- 
 puties from the most powerful people of 
 Greece. They assembled most com- 
 monly at Thermopyla:, sometimes called 
 Pyla;, whence they obtained the name 
 of JlvXr/yopai ; and sometimes at Del- 
 phi. They met twice in the vear. It 
 appears to have been originally formed 
 to protect the temple of Delphi, and to 
 administer justice to the multitudes that 
 flocked to his shrine. For a complete 
 account of this council, see the disser- 
 tation prefixed to Leland's Life of Phi- 
 lip. 
 
 ' The temple of Delphi was originally 
 no more than a chapel made of the 
 branches of laurel growing near the 
 temple. A man named Pteras of Del- 
 phi afterwards built it of more solid ma- 
 terials : it was then constructed of brass ; 
 and the fourth time it was built of stone. 
 Pausan, Phocic. x. 5. See also book ii. 
 ch. 180. 
 
 E2
 
 28 HERODOTUS. 
 
 These persons being descended of illustrious ancestors, and 
 very rich, erected a fabric, much more magnificent than the 
 model ; and among other things, when they had agreed to 
 build the temple of the stone of Porus", they constructed the 
 front of Parian marble. 
 
 LXIII. These men, as the Athenians relate, when at 
 Delphi, prevailed with the Pythian by a sum of money to 
 propose to all the Spartans who should come thither to con- 
 sult the oracle, either on their own account, or that of the 
 public, to deliver Athens from servitude ; and that the Lace- 
 daemonians, when the same thing was always proposed, sent 
 Anchimolius the son of Aster, an eminent citizen, with an 
 army to Athens, in order to expel the Pisistratidae, though 
 they were particularly united to them by the ties of hospi- 
 tality, for they considered the commands of the God more im- 
 portant than all human obligations. These forces they sent 
 by sea, and Anchimolius having touched at Phalerum, landed 
 his army. But the Pisistratidae, who had timely notice of this 
 expedition, demanded succour of the Thessalians, their con- 
 federates ; which they granted, and unanimously resolved to 
 send a thousand horse x to their assistance, under the conduct 
 of their king Cineas, a native of Conium y . Having received 
 this reinforcement, the Pisistratidae cleared the plains of the 
 Phalerum, and rendered the country practicable for horse ; 
 which when they had done, they sent the cavalry against the 
 camp of the enemy. They suddenly fell upon them, and 
 killed great numbers, with their general Anchimolius, and 
 forced the rest to betake themselves to their ships. Thus the 
 first Lacedaemonian expedition got off, and the tomb of An- 
 chimolius is at Alopecae 2 of Attica, near the temple of Her- 
 cules in Cynosarges a . 
 
 LXIV. But the Lacedaemonians sent afterwards a greater 
 armament to Athens, by land, and not by sea, under the con- 
 duct of their king Cleomenes, the son of Anaxandrides. At 
 their entrance into Attica, the Thessalian cavalry first en- 
 
 u This stone resembled the Parian out of Thessaly, and therefore there is 
 
 marble in colour and hardness, but was no reason why we should not suppose 
 
 less ponderous, according to Theophras- with Larcher, that he was born in Co- 
 
 tus (de Lapid. p. 254.) and Pliny, nium of Phrygia, especially as it is not 
 
 (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 17.) This marble, incredible that some connexion existed 
 
 which we are unacquianted with at pre- between the Phrygians and Thessalians. 
 
 sent, was obtained from Elis. The ex- Schweigh. 
 
 cellence of the Parian marble is well z This place belonged to the tribe 
 
 known. Larcher. Antiochis. 
 
 1 The cavalry of Thessaly was very a This was a place in the suburbs near 
 
 celebrated. See book vii. 196; and theLycaeum; so called from a white or 
 
 Theocrit. Idyll, xviii. ver. 30. Larcher. swift dog, in Greek, KVWV a/o-yoc., which, 
 
 y The way in which this is expressed when Diomus was sacrificing to Her- 
 
 would seem to imply that he was born cules, snatched away part of the victim.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 29 
 
 gaged with them, and was soon defeated 5 , with the loss of 
 more than forty of their men. The survivors immediately de- 
 parted straight towards Thessaly. Cleomenes, accompanied 
 by those Athenians who were desirous to recover their liberty, 
 marched directly to the city, and besieged the tyrants in 
 the Pelasgian c citadel, to which they had been obliged to 
 retire. 
 
 LXV. Yet the Lacedaemonians could not by any means 
 have reduced the enemy, both because they themselves were 
 not prepared to carry on a long siege, and the Pisistratidae 
 were abundantly provided with all kind of provisions ; but 
 must have been necessitated in a few days to march away to 
 Sparta, if an accident had not happened, which was no less 
 unfortunate to the one party, than advantageous to the other. 
 For the children of the Pisistratidae fell into the hands of the 
 Lacedaemonians, as some persons were endeavouring to con- 
 vey them privately out of the country. This event threw 
 their affairs into utter confusion, and to redeem their children 
 they yielded to whatever the Athenians would prescribe, 
 arid obliged themselves to depart out of Attica in five days. 
 They afterwards retired to Sigeum d , upon the river Scaman- 
 der, having possessed the dominion of Athens thirty-six 
 years. They were Pylians by origin, and of the family of 
 Neleus, and were of the same extraction with Codrus and 
 Melanthus, who, though foreigners, had formerly obtained 
 the kingdom of Athens 6 . And for this reason Hippocrates, 
 the father of Pisistratus, gave that name to his son, in me- 
 mory of Pisistratus the sou of Nestor. Thus the Athenians 
 were delivered from their tyrants ; and what memorable 
 things they either did or suffered, before the lonians revolted 
 from Darius, and Aristagoras of Miletus came to desire their 
 assistance, I shall now relate. 
 
 b Cleomenes threw trees over the Boeotians, and the two armies meeting, 
 
 plain, and made it impracticable for ca- the Boeotian king proposed to decide the 
 
 valry. Frontinus Stratag. ii. 2. sect. 9. matter by single combat between him- 
 
 Aristophanes (Lysistrat. v. 1149.) al- self and Thymcetes, then king of Athens. 
 
 ludes to this defeat. Larcher. Thymcetes, probably knowing himself 
 
 c See book vi. c. 137. inferior in bodily strength and agility, 
 
 d See ch. 94. and also Thucyd. vi. declined the challenge. But the temper 
 
 59. of the times was favourable to that mode 
 
 e Athens appears always to have been of deciding political controversies. Me- 
 
 hospitable to the unfortunate, and to lanthus, therefore, the Messenian prince, 
 
 have afforded refuge to those ancient who had his fortune to seek, offered 
 
 possessors of the Peloponnese, who were himself for the champion of the Athe- 
 
 compelled to emigrate at the return of nians, and was accepted : he was victo- 
 
 the Heracleids. Among many others, rious, and the sceptre of Athens was his 
 
 Melanthus king of Pylus resorted thi- reward. Thymostes was deposed, and 
 
 ther. The charity was not unproductive with him ended the succession of the fa- 
 
 of reciprocal benefit. For the Athenians mily of Theseus. Mitford, ch. v. 1. 
 were then engaged in a war with the
 
 30 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 LXVI. Athens, although before powerful, became still 
 more so, after it had been delivered from its tyrants. Two 
 of the citizens obtained great power. One of these was Clis- 
 thenes, of the family of the Alcmseonidse, and the person, if 
 we may believe common fame, who prevailed with the Py- 
 thian to do as I have mentioned. The other was Isagoras 
 the son of Tisander, of an illustrious family, but from what 
 original descended I am not able to discover ; only this I 
 know, that the whole race offers sacrifices to Jupiter of Ca- 
 in their contests for superiority, Clisthenes, being sur- 
 
 na 
 
 passed by his rival, gained over the people to his side, and 
 afterwards formed the Athenians into ten tribes, which to 
 that time had been no more than four g , changing the names 
 they had from Geleon, ^Egicores, Argadeus, and Hoples, 
 sons of Ion, into other appellations derived from heroes who 
 were all natives of the country, except Ajax h only, whose 
 name he admitted as a near neighbour and ally. 
 
 LXVII. This he did, as I conjecture, in imitation of Clis- 
 thenes, tyrant of Sicyon, his grandfather by the mother; who, 
 when he made war against the Argives, in the first place put 
 an end to the games, in which the Rhapsodists 1 disputed the 
 
 1 The Carians were extremely de- 
 spised, and were regarded as slaves, be- 
 cause they were the first who let out 
 troops for hire ; for which reason they 
 were exposed to the greatest dangers. 
 They had a temple common to them- 
 selves, with the Lydians and Mysians, 
 (i. 171.) This was called the temple of 
 the Carian Jupiter. Those who sacri- 
 ficed to him acknowledged themselves 
 to have been originally Carian. Larcher. 
 
 s The names of the four ancient tribes 
 varied at different times ; and it is cer- 
 tain that they existed before the sons of 
 Ion were born. Clisthenes divided them 
 into ten, lest one tribe should unite with 
 another, and thus render any contest 
 equal. Larcher. 
 
 h From him the tribe Mantis took its 
 name. He had been king of Salamis. 
 Larcher. 
 
 1 This word is compounded of pciTrrw, 
 I sew, or pa/35oc, a rod or branch, and 
 i^dr), a song, Sue. According to the first 
 derivation, it signifies a poet, the author 
 of various songs or poems which are con- 
 nected together and make one poem, the 
 different parts of which may be detached 
 and separately recited. According to 
 the second, it signifies a singer, who, 
 holding in his hand a branch of laurel, 
 sings his own poetry or that of some 
 celebrated poet. 
 
 Hesiod inclines to the first etymology, 
 (Scholiast, ad Find. Nem. ii. v. 1.) 
 Homer, Hesiod, &c. were Rhapsodists 
 in this sense ; they composed their poems 
 in different books and songs, which 
 united together made one whole. The 
 ancient poets went from country to coun- 
 try, and from town to town, to instruct 
 and amuse the people, by reciting their 
 verses. The people in return paid them 
 great honours, and their liberality sup- 
 plied them with abundant means of sub- 
 sistence. The oldest Rhapsodist we 
 know is Phemius, whom his disciple 
 Homer immortalizes in his Odyssey. 
 They most probably, when they sang 
 their own verses, carried in their hands 
 a branch of laurel, especially if unac- 
 companied by any instrument. The 
 Rhapsodists of the second kind were in- 
 vited to feasts and public sacrifices, to 
 sing the poems of Orpheus, Musaeus, 
 Hesiod, <xc. and particularly of Homer. 
 These were contented with reciting the 
 compositions of others, and certainly 
 earned a laurel branch in their hands. 
 They were also called Homerida;, or 
 Homeristae, because they generally re- 
 cited verses from Homer. They used to 
 sit on a stage and accompany themselves 
 with the cithara or some other instru- 
 ment, and a crown of gold was given 
 them as a recompence. In process of
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 31 
 
 prize in singing the verses of Homer, because the Argives 
 and Argos are celebrated in almost every part ; and also be- 
 came very desirous to expel from his country Adrastus the 
 son of Talaus, because he was an Argive. For a chapel of 
 Adrastus stood in the forum of Sicyon, which now remains. 
 He therefore went to Delphi, and having consulted the 
 oracle, received this answer from the Pythian, " That Adras- 
 " tus indeed had been king of the Sicyonians, whereas he 
 " was a murderer k ." Clisthenes, finding the god would not 
 permit him, returned home and bent his thoughts to contrive 
 how Adrastus might of himself depart. When he thought he 
 had found the right way, he sent to the Thebans of Bceotia, 
 to acquaint them that he wished to introduce into Sicyon 
 Melanippus 1 the son of Astacus; this the Thebans granted, 
 and Clisthenes marked out an inclosure in the prytaneum, 
 and placed it there in the strongest part. This he did, for I 
 must not omit the true motive, because Melanippus had been 
 the greatest of all the enemies of Adrastus ; having killed his 
 brother Mecisteus, and his son-in-law Tydeus. After Clis- 
 thenes had erected this temple, he abolished the sacrifices 
 and festivals of Adrastus, and instituted the same rites to 
 Melanippus as the Sicyonians had been accustomed to per- 
 form in a magnificent manner to the other. For Polybus, 
 who was master of Sicyon, leaving no male line, gave that 
 country to Adrastus the son of his daughter. The Sicyo- 
 nians, among other honours paid to him, used to celebrate 
 his misfortunes with tragic dances" 1 , honouring Adrastus, and 
 not Bacchus, to that time. But Clisthenes transferred these 
 dances to the worship of Bacchus, and all the other ceremo- 
 nies to Melanippus. 
 
 LXVIII. He also changed the names of the Dorian 
 tribes, that the Sicyonian might not be the same as the Ar- 
 give. And in this he very much derided the Sicyonians. 
 For he denominated the other tribes from words signifying 
 swine and asses, with the addition of the terminations only ; 
 but distinguished his own by a name derived from his domi- 
 nion. So that these were called Archelai, while the rest 
 went under the names of Hyatae, Oneatae, and Chcereata?". 
 
 time the word became a term of con- gedy. Themistius (Orat. xxvii. p. 337.) 
 
 tempt. Lurcher. ascribes that honour to the Sicyonians. 
 
 k Aivarijp. This Hesychius takes in As Herodotus lived in a time in which 
 
 an active sense ; Qovivg \i9oi dvaipwv. tragedy had attained the greatest per- 
 
 1 When the Argives attacked Thebes, fection, he gives the name of tragic cho- 
 
 Melanippus killed Tydeus, and Mecis- russes to these chorusses, in honour of 
 
 teus the brother of Adrastus, and was Adrastus, although they did not at that 
 
 himself killed by the hands of Amphia- time exist. Lurcher. 
 
 raus. Pausan. ix. 18. n Hyatae is from ZG, a sow; Oneatas 
 
 m It might be inferred from hence, from ovoq, an ass; Choereat from Xoi- 
 
 that Thespis was not the inventor of tra- poc, a pig.
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 The Sicyonian tribes were called by these names in the time 
 of Clisthenes, and after his death, during the space of sixty 
 years ; when by common consent they were changed into 
 those of Hylleans, Pamphylians, and Dymanatae; and a fourth 
 tribe was added, to which they gave the name of JEgialean, 
 from -^Egialeus the son of Adrastus. 
 
 LXIX. These things were done by Clisthenes of Sicyon ; 
 and the Athenian Clisthenes, who was son to the daughter of 
 the Sicyonian, and had his name from him, seems to me to 
 have imitated him, from a contempt of the lonians, that they 
 might not go under the same denomination with the tribes of 
 Athens. For when he had prevailed with the people, who 
 had been before repulsed from every privilege, to side with 
 him, he changed the names of the tribes, and augmented 
 their number ; he established ten phylarchi instead of four, 
 and divided the boroughs into ten tribes p ; arid thus having 
 gained the people, he became much superior to his adver- 
 saries' 1 . 
 
 LXX. Isagoras being overcome in his turn, applied him- 
 self for succour to Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, who from 
 the time he had besieged the Pisistratidae, was engaged with 
 him in a friendship of mutual hospitality, and besides was 
 suspected to have paid his wife too frequent visits. In the 
 first place, therefore, Cleomenes sent a herald to Athens, to 
 endeavour to expel Clisthenes, with many other Athenians, 
 pretending that they were polluted 1 . This crime was laid to 
 their charge by the advice of Isagoras. For the Alcmaeo- 
 nidae, and those of their party, were accused of the following 
 murder, in which Isagoras and his friends were no way con- 
 cerned. 
 
 LXXI. The name Enagees was given to those Athenians 
 on the following occasion 5 . Cylon, an Athenian, having been 
 
 The ancient name of Sicyon was first desired to establish a democracy, 
 ^gialus, (Strabo viii. p. 587.) which and for that purpose gave the people 
 may probably have been the origin of more authority, by distributing them 
 the name. Sicyon appears to have been into a greater number of tribes, making 
 so called, because it was built on the them by that means less easy to be 
 sea-coast. Lurcher. gained. Isagoras, on the contrary, 
 
 P These were called Cecropis, Erec- wished to establish an aristocracy ; and 
 
 theis, Pandionis, ^Egeis, Acamantis, as he could not possibly succeed in his 
 
 Leontis, Hippothoontis, Anthiochus, views, unless by force, he therefore in- 
 
 ^Kantis, and CEneis. To these were af- vited the Lacedaemonians to assist him. 
 
 terwards added Ptolemais, or Antigoneis, Larcher. 
 
 and Attalis, or Demetrius. For a full r This same pollution was used as a 
 
 account see Potter's Arch. Graec. book pretext for the expulsion of Pericles at 
 
 i. 9. the commencement of the Peloponne- 
 
 1 Clisthenes and Isagoras had no in- sian war. See Thucyd. i. 126 and 127. 
 tention of becoming tyrants, and were Where the same account of the origin of 
 united to expel the Pisistratidae from the pollution is given. 
 
 Athens ; but they were not at all the 8 Cylon belonged to one of the most 
 more harmonious on that account. The illustrious families of Athens. He mar-
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 33 
 
 victorious in the Olympian exercises, turned his ambition* to 
 the tyranny ; and to that end, having attached to himself a 
 society of young men about his own age, endeavoured to 
 seize the Acropolis, and not being able to make himself mas- 
 ter of it, he took his seat as a suppliant at the image of the 
 goddess. From that place they were taken by the prytanes 
 of the Naucrari", who had then the power in Athens, under 
 a promise that their lives should be spared. But the Alc- 
 magonida3 were accused of having put them all to death. 
 These things were done before the time of Pisistratus. 
 
 LXXII. When Cleomenes had sent a herald to expel 
 Clisthenes and those who were polluted, Clisthenes himself 
 retired. Nevertheless Cleomenes came to Athens with a 
 small force, and upon his arrival expelled, as polluted, seven 
 hundred Athenian families, at the instigation of Isagoras. 
 When he had done this, he attempted to dissolve the coun- 
 cil, and to put the power into the hands of three hundred 
 partizans of Isagoras. But finding the council resolved to 
 oppose his design, and not to obey, he and Isagoras, with 
 those of his faction, seized the citadel, where they were be- 
 sieged during two days by the rest of the Athenians, who ad- 
 hered to the council. On the third day they surrendered, 
 on condition that all the Lacedaemonians in the place might 
 depart out of the country. And thus an omen v which Cleo- 
 
 ried a daughter of Theagenes, tyrant of Athenian year, which was a lunar year, 
 
 Megara, Thucyd. i. 126.) Relying on contained 354 days ; each of the ten 
 
 an ambiguous oracle, he attempted to tribes governed thirty-five days, and the 
 
 seize the citadel of Athens, with the as- remaining four days belonged to those 
 
 sistance of some troops which his father- four tribes which were appointed by lot 
 
 in-law sent him. It appears strange to govern first. The governing tribe 
 
 that he had a statue of brass erected to were the Prytanes. These fifty Pry- 
 
 him within the citadel. Pausanias (At- tanes were divided into five classes of 
 
 tic. siv. i. 28.) supposes that was in ho- ten, each of which classes governed for 
 
 nour of his beauty, and his victory at the seven days, and during that time the ten 
 
 Olympic games, which he obtained in were called Proedri. A new president 
 
 the 35th Olympiad. Lurcher. to these Proedri was chosen every day. 
 
 * 'EKoprifft. The ancient Greeks let The AJj/ioi, (Jul. Polluc. Onomast. 
 
 their hair grow, and prided themselves viii. 9.) into which the tribes were di- 
 
 in having long hair. .Hence, according vided, were anciently called Naucrariae, 
 
 to Eustathius, (ad Iliad, ii. v. 15.) the and their magistrates were then called 
 
 word Kop.av was applied to those who Naucleri, or according to others, Nau- 
 
 were vain of any success, or raised their crari. Some are of opinion, that by 
 
 ambition to any thing, &c. Larcher. Naucrari we must understand the Athe- 
 
 u The magistrates of Athens were the nians in general, and by Prytanes, their 
 
 Archons, the senate of the Areopagus, magistrates or Archons. The above is 
 
 and the senate of five hundred. When extracted from Larcher's elaborate note : 
 
 Athens, in the time of the republic, was which see, for a more complete account, 
 
 divided into four tribes, one hundred See also Potter's Arch. Graec. book i. 
 
 were chosen by lot from each tribe, so ch. 13. 
 
 that the senate consisted of four hun- v QfifiTj is the same as the Latin word 
 dred. When they were divided into omen. Omen (says Festus) quasi oremen, 
 ten, fifty were taken from each, and the quiajit ab ore. The ancients used care- 
 senate consisted of five hundred. The fully to observe the words of people who 
 VOL. II. F
 
 34 HERODOTUS. 
 
 menes had received, was ratified ; for when he had gone up 
 to the Acropolis to take possession of it, he wished to enter 
 the sanctuary of the goddess to consult her; but the priestess 
 rising from her seat before he had passed the door, " Lace- 
 " daemonian stranger!" said she, "return; and come not 
 " into this sacred place, for it is not lawful for any Dorian 
 " to enter here." " Woman," replied Cleomenes, " I am not 
 " a Dorian, but an Achaian." He, however, without re- 
 garding the omen, made the attempt, and was a second time" 
 forced to retire with the Lacedaemonians. The Athenians 
 put the rest in chains, in order to punish them with death. 
 Among these was Timesitheus of Delphi, of whose strength 
 and courageous spirit y I could give some surprising instances. 
 These th* Athenians put to death in prison. 
 
 LXXIII. After which the Athenians, not doubting that 
 they should be necessitated to make war against the Lace- 
 daemonians, recalled Clisthenes, with the seven hundred fa- 
 milies that had been banished by Cleomenes, and sent an 
 embassy to Sardis, in order to contract a confederacy with 
 the Persians. When these ambassadors arrived, and had 
 spoken according to their instructions, Artapherues the son 
 of Hystaspes, governor of Sardis, asked who the Athenians 
 were, and what part of the world they inhabited, that they 
 should desire to make an alliance with the Persians f . And 
 after he had informed himself of these particulars, he briefly 
 answered, that if they would acknowledge the king by pre- 
 senting him with earth and water, he would make an alliance 
 with them ; if not, he commanded them to depart. Upon 
 this proposal the ambassadors consulted together, and being 
 very desirous to conclude the alliance, made answer that 
 they would comply; for which they were highly blamed at 
 their return. 
 
 LXXIV. In the mean time Cleomenes thinking that the 
 Athenians had highly insulted him both in their words and 
 actions, assembled an army from all parts of the Peloponnesus, 
 without discovering the design he had to revenge himself 
 upon the people of Athens, and to put the power into the 
 hands of Isagoras, who went with him out of the citadel. 
 Thus having collected great forces, he marched into the terri- 
 tories of Eleusis ; while the Boeotians, as had been concerted, 
 possessed themselves of ^Enoe and Hysiae 2 , boroughs at the 
 
 met them, in order to draw from them a Xnfia and Xijpifjia. Afjfia comes from 
 
 food or bad presage. TLXitfuv or K\y- \a>, Gt\uj, OiXi'jffw ; XiJ/i^a from \fjfiw, 
 
 uv is the same as <j>i}\n\. Lurcher. for Xafia^dvtu. The iirst word signifies 
 
 * See ch. 64 and 65. This is alluded strength of mind, boldness of spirit ; Xij/t- 
 
 to by Aristophanes, Lys. v. 273 et seq. fia, gain, ttc, Larcher. 
 
 i There is a great difference between z Larcher and Wesseling wish to read
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 35 
 
 extremity of Attica, and the Chalcideans ravaged other parts 
 of the country. The Athenians, though oppressed by these 
 attacks on all sides, intended afterwards to remember the 
 Boeotians and Chalcideans ; and prepared themselves for 
 battle, opposite the Peloponnesians, who had invaded 
 Eleusis. 
 
 LXXV. When the two armies were ready to engage, the 
 Corinthians, who had consulted together, being convinced 
 their cause was unjust, drew off their forces and marched 
 away ; Demaratus the other Spartan king, and son of Ariston, 
 afterwards did the same. He led out the Lacedaemonians in 
 conjunction with Cleomenes, and never before had any differ- 
 ence with him. But on occasion of this division, a law was 
 made in Sparta, that the two kings should not for the future 
 march out together at the head of their armies, as they had 
 done to that time; and that one of the Tyndaridae" should re- 
 main with the king, who stayed at home ; for both these also 
 had been formerly accustomed to accompany the army, as 
 auxiliaries. When the rest of the confederates perceived 
 that the Lacedaemonian kings could not agree, and that the 
 Corinthians had quitted their post, they drew off their forces 
 likewise. 
 
 LXXVI. And this was the fourth b expedition the Dorians 
 made into Attica. Twice they entered, in order to make 
 war ; and twice for the good of the Athenian people. That 
 may be rightly called the first, when they settled a colony in 
 Megara, during the reign of Codorus d king of Athens : they 
 arrived a second, and third time from Sparta, with a design to 
 expel the Pisistratidae ; and a fourth time, when Cleomenes, 
 
 Phyle, because Hysiae was not a part of of Cleomenes, ch. 64. The fourth was 
 
 Attica. See their notes. Herodotus, (vi. that in which Cleomenes seized on the 
 
 108.) says, that the Athenians made citadel, (ch. 72.) but since he came only 
 
 Hysiae the limit of the Boeotian territory, with a small band, and was forced to retire 
 
 a As Castor and Pollux were the pro- in a few days, Herodotus does not consider 
 
 tectors of Sparta, it is natural to suppose it as an expedition. Pausanias also (iii. 
 
 that when one of the two kings went out 4.) does not reckon it, but considers the 
 
 in any expedition, a representation of one one related in ch. 74. and seq. as the 
 
 of the Tyndarida? was carried with him, fourth. Schu~eigh. 
 whilst that of the other was left at home c The Dorians established in the Pelo- 
 
 with the other king. But as these heroes ponnese. He did not say Peloponnesians, 
 
 were represented by two pieces of wood, because that term would comprehend the 
 
 which were joined together, it was ne- Arcadians, who were Autochthones, and 
 
 cessary to separate them. These images did not join in this expedition. Larcher. 
 were called Docana. The way of repre- d An oracle had declared that the Do- 
 
 senting them was doubtless an emblem rians should be successful if they did not 
 
 of their union and concord. Larcher. kill Codrus. He, however, having heard 
 
 b It was in fact the fifth. The first was of the oracle, disguised himself as a pea- 
 
 during the reign of Codrus; for an account sant, and mingled with the enemy's sol- 
 
 of which see in particular Pausanias i. c. diers. He there raised a quarrel and was 
 
 39. The second is related by Herodotus killed. The enemy, when they heard of 
 
 ch. 63. and was unsuccessful under An- it, retreated, 
 chimolius. The third, which was the first 
 
 F2
 
 36 HERODOTUS. 
 
 at the head of the Peloponnesians, invaded the country of 
 Eleusis. And thus the Dorian armies then entered the Athe- 
 nian territories for the fourth time. 
 
 LXXVIL After the inglorious dissipation of this army, 
 the Athenians, desirous to avenge themselves for the injuries 
 they had received, marched in the first place against the Chal- 
 cideans The Boeotians came out to their assistance to the 
 Euripus. The Athenians, as soon as they perceived them, 
 resolved to attack them first. Accordingly falling upon the 
 enemy, the Athenians obtained a complete victory ; and hav- 
 ing killed a very great number, took seven hundred prisoners. 
 They crossed over on the same day to Euboea, and came to 
 an engagement with the Chalcideans ; and having obtained a 
 victory, left four thousand men in possession of the lands be- 
 longing to the most wealthy of the inhabitants, who are called 
 by the name of Hippobotae 6 . All the prisoners taken in this 
 battle were, together with the Boeotians, put into irons, and 
 kept under a guard ; but afterwards were set at liberty in 
 consideration of a ransom of two minae f paid for each man. 
 The Athenians preserved the fetters in the Acropolis, where 
 they remained to my time hanging on a wall, which was da- 
 maged by fire by the Mede, and is opposite the temple 8 that 
 faces the west. The tenth part of this ransom they conse- 
 crated ; and having made a chariot with four horses of brass, 
 they placed it in the portico of the Acropolis, on the left side 
 of the entrance, bearing this inscription : 
 
 When the victorious youth of Athens made 
 The proud Boeotian and Chalcidean bow 
 Beneath the chain, they to Minerva plac'd 
 This monument, the tenth of all the spoil. 
 
 LXXVTII. Thus the Athenians increased in power. It is 
 evident not from one instance only, but from every quarter, 
 how excellent a thing equality of right is. For the Athenians, 
 when governed by tyrants, were superior in war to none of 
 their neighbours ; but they had no sooner freed themselves 
 from that servitude, than they became by far the first ; which 
 manifestly shews, that as long as they were oppressed, they 
 willingly acted remissly, and would not exert their courage 
 to the utmost, inasmuch as they were labouring for a master : 
 whereas, after they had recovered their liberty, every man 
 
 e This word is derived from 'iTnroe, a Peloponnesians. See vi. 79. 
 horse, and /3oericw, I feed. As pastures % Msyapov is sometimes used for a 
 
 were not abundant in Eubaea, only the temple, sometimes for a palace, and fre- 
 
 rich were able to have horses. Good quently for the house of an individual. 
 
 pasturage was still more scarce in Attica. It appears to me that this word signified 
 
 See Aristoph. Nub. ver. 24. Larcher. a temple, which was known by that name 
 
 f This was the usual ransom among the in particular. Lurcher.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 37 
 
 was zealous to perform his labour for himself. And such was 
 the state of the Athenian affairs. 
 
 LXXIX. After this the Thebans, meditating revenge 
 against the Athenians, sent to consult the oracle ; and the an- 
 swer of the Pythian was, that they must not expect the satis- 
 faction they desired from their own power, but should refer 
 the matter to the many-voiced assembly, and ask the assist- 
 ance of their nearest 11 . With this answer the messengers 
 returned ; and when they had reported the words of the oracle 
 in a general assembly, the Thebans said, " Have we not the 
 " Tanagraeans, Coronseans, and Thespians for our nearest 
 " neighbours ? Are not these our companions in fight, and 
 " always ready to take part with us in every war ? What need 
 " have we then to ask their assistance? It is more probable 
 " that this is not the meaning of the oracle." 
 
 LXXX. As they were discoursing in this manner, some 
 one, having at length comprehended it, said, " I think I under- 
 " stand what the oracle means. According to common fame, 
 " Asopus 1 had two daughters, Thebe and ./Egina. Now be- 
 " cause these were sisters, I presume the God admonishes us 
 " to desire the jiEginetae to be our avengers." The Thebans, 
 as no opinion appeared better than this, sent to the people of 
 ./Egina, as their nearest friends, to desire succour according 
 to the admonition of the oracle ; and upon their request the 
 ^Eginetae promised to send the -/acidae k to their assistance. 
 
 LXXXI. In conjunction with these the Thebans made an 
 attempt, but being roughly handled by the Athenians, they 
 sent back the ^Eacidae, and desired a supply of men. Upon 
 which the people of JEgina, elated with their present felicity, 
 and remembering the ancient differences they had with the 
 Athenians, invaded the territories of Athens at the desire of 
 the Boeotians, without any preceding denunciation of war. 
 For while the Athenian forces were employed against the 
 Boeotians, they passed in their ships of war to Attica, and ra- 
 vaged Phalerum and many villages on the coast, to the great 
 damage of the Athenians. 
 
 h Oi ayx l(TTa ma y signify the nearest ./Egina, Pirene, Cleone, Thebe, Tana- 
 
 neighbours, or nearest relations. Hesy- gra, Thespia, Asopis, Sinope, ^Enia, and 
 
 chius explains afyiartia by ffvyyivtut. Chalcis. ./Egina was carried by Jupiter 
 
 Bellanger. from Phlius to the island which was 
 
 * Oceanus and Tethys, as the fable called after her. Asopus, having learnt 
 
 says, had several children, after whom "this from Sisyphus, pursued her, but Ju- 
 
 rivers were named, and also Peneus and piter struck him with his thunder. Diod. 
 
 Asopus. Peneus remained in Thessaly Sic. IT. 72. 
 
 and gave his name to the chief river. k These were probably images repre- 
 
 Asopus stayed at Phlius and married senting the ^Eacidee, and were used as 
 
 Metope, the daughter of Ladon, by whom allies in the same way as the TyndaridaB 
 
 he had two sons, Pelasgus and Ismenus ; in ch. 75. see note, 
 and twelve daughters, Corey ra, Salamis,
 
 38 HERODOTUS. 
 
 LXXXII. The ancient enmity of the ^Eginetas ' against 
 the Athenians began thus. The Epidaurians, seeing their 
 country become unfruitful, sent to consult the oracle of Delphi 
 concerning the cause of that calamity. The Pythian answered, 
 that if they would erect the statues of Damia and Auxesia" 1 , 
 their affairs should go on better. Then the Epidaurians far- 
 ther demanded, whether those images should be made of 
 stone or of brass; and the Pythian replied, of neither; but of 
 the wood of a cultivated olive. Having received this answer, 
 the Epidaurians desired leave of the Athenians to cut down 
 an olive-tree, persuaded that those of that soil were the most 
 sacred : and it is said no olive trees grew at that time in any 
 other country than that of Athens". The Athenians told them 
 they were ready to grant their request, provided they would 
 annually bring victims to Minerva Polias, and Erectheus . 
 This condition the Epidaurians accepting, obtained their de- 
 sires ; and after they had erected the statues they formed out 
 of that wood, their country became fruitful again, and they 
 performed the promise they had made to the Athenians. 
 
 LXXXIII. In those and preceding times, the ^Eginetae 
 were dependent upon the Epidaurians in other things, and 
 they also used to cross over to Epidaurus to settle all matters 
 of litigation between one another. But afterwards they built 
 ships, and trusting in their strength, they revolted from the 
 Epidaurians, and, having become their enemies, and as they 
 were masters of the sea, they ravaged their territories, and in 
 particular took away the statues of Damia and Auxesia, 
 which they carried off, and erected at CEa in the midland 
 part of their own country, about twenty stades from their city. 
 When they had done this, to render them propitious, they 
 appointed sacrifices, accompanied with dances performed by 
 women in a ludicrous manner, assigning to each image ten 
 men as choragi. On this occasion these dancers were per- 
 mitted to abuse all the women of that country with oppro- 
 brious language, but not the men ; which they did, in confor- 
 
 1 Setting aside the unfavourable part of Bona Dea of the Romans. She also ap- 
 
 the yEginetan character, ^Egina was the pears to be the same as the goddess Maia. 
 
 Jersey and Guernsey of the Grecian seas. Lurcher. 
 
 Mitford, vii. 2. note. n Herodotus knew very well that this 
 
 Pericles emphatically called JEgina was not true, but not choosing to hurt 
 
 the eyesore of the Piraeus. Arist. Rhet. the pride of the Athenians, he admits it, 
 
 iii. 10. with this restriction, " it is said." The 
 
 m These were the same as Ceres and olive likes a warm climate, and appears 
 
 Proserpine. These two goddesses pro- to be a native of the east, and to have 
 
 cured fertility, and had a temple in Te- come from thence to Greece. See Pindar, 
 
 gea, where they were called Carpophore. Olymp. iii. v. 24. Lurcher. 
 
 Pausanias (Corinth, ii. c. 30.) relates Erectheus was the sixth king of A- 
 
 the same fact, but calls the goddesses tliens, in whose reign Ceres came to A- 
 
 Auxesia and Lamia. They were also thens and planted corn, 
 honoured at Troezen. Damia was the
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 39 
 
 mity to the foiTner practice of the Epidaurians, who, besides 
 these, had other religious ceremonies not to be mentioned. 
 
 LXXXIV. When these statues were taken away, the 
 Epidaurians ceased to perform their contract with the Athe- 
 nians. The Athenians sent to remonstrate with them, but 
 they argued that they did not act wrong. For, said they, so 
 long as we had those images in our country, so long we com- 
 plied with our agreement ; but it was not just that they 
 should still pay the same tribute, when they had been de- 
 prived of them ; and they bid them demand it of the JEginetae 
 who possessed them. Upon this the Athenians dispatched a 
 messenger to ^Egina, with order to demand back the statues; 
 but the JEginetae made answer, that they had no business 
 with them. 
 
 LXXXV. The Athenians say, that after this refusal, 
 they sent a trireme with some of their citizens to ^Egina in 
 the name of the commonwealth, who, upon their arrival, at- 
 tempted to take off the statues from the bases, in order to 
 carry them away, because they had been made of Athenian 
 timber ; but finding themselves unable to succeed that way, 
 they threw cords about the images ; and as they endea- 
 voured to pull them down, they were so terrified with thun- 
 der and an earthquake, that they became mad, and killed one 
 another like enemies, till no more than one remained alive, 
 who escaped to Phalerum. 
 
 LXXXVI. In this manner the Athenians relate the story. 
 But the ^Eginetae say the Athenians did not come with a sin- 
 gle ship ; for they could easily have resisted one or a few 
 more than one, even though they themselves had not been 
 furnished with any. But they say that they came with a 
 great number, and that they themselves did not engage, but 
 yielded. They are however unable to give a clear account 
 whether they yielded, because they were conscious of their 
 own inferiority, or whether they designedly performed the 
 part they acted ; but only say, that the Athenians meeting 
 with no opposition landed their men, and marched directly to 
 the statues. That after they had in vain endeavoured to 
 move them from their pedestals, they made use of cords to 
 draw them down, and that the images upon their descent per- 
 formed an action, which I cannot believe, though perhaps 
 some others may. For, say they, both these statues fell 
 down on their knees, and have ever since continued in that 
 posture. These things are related of the Athenians by the 
 people of JEgina ; and concerning themselves they say, that 
 being informed that the Athenians were about to proceed 
 against them, they prevailed with the Argives to put them-
 
 40 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 selves in readiness. And accordingly, when the Athenians 
 were landed in ^gina p , the Argives entered the island pri- 
 vately from Epidaurus, and unexpectedly falling upon the 
 Athenians, cut off their retreat to the ships, in which instant 
 the thunder and earthquake happened. 
 
 LXXXVII. Thus the Argives and ^Egineta? relate the 
 story ; and the Athenians themselves confess, that no more 
 than one man escaped to Attica. But the Argives affirm, 
 that this one man escaped, when they destroyed the Attic 
 army ; the Athenians on the contrary say, when the deity de- 
 stroyed it, that this one did not survive, but perished in 
 this manner : when he returned to Athens, and had given 
 an account of this disaster, the wives of those who had made 
 the descent upon ^Egina, highly incensed that one man alone 
 should be left alive of the whole number, assembled together 
 about him, and asking for their husbands, pierced him with 
 the clasps of their garments, till he died. They add, that 
 the Athenians were more disturbed at this action than- at 
 their defeat ; and having no other way to punish the women, 
 compelled them to alter their dress, and wear the Ionian 
 habit. For before that time, the wives of the Athenians 
 were clothed in the Dorian fashion, very little differing from 
 that of Corinth ; but afterwards they changed the dress to 
 a linen tunic q , in order that they might not use clasps. Yet 
 if we follow the truth, this garment was originally of Caria, 
 and not of Ionia; and indeed the ancient habit of all the 
 women of Greece was the same with that which we now call 
 Dorian. 
 
 LXXXVIII. From this event an ordinance was intro- 
 duced among the Argives and JEgineta? that they should 
 wear clasps greater by three-fourth parts than before ; and 
 that the women should dedicate clasps in particular in the 
 temple of these deities ; and that it should not be lawful to 
 carry to those places any other thing made in the territories 
 of Attica, nor yet a pitcher ; but that they should drink there 
 
 P 'Eg Tifjv Aiyivairiv, scil. vijffov. 
 1 These tunics had sleeves, the robes 
 of the Dorians had none, they put them 
 over the shoulders, and fastened them in 
 front with clasps. I cannot forbear giv- 
 ing the words of the Scholiast quoted by 
 Sylburgius, on St. Clement of Alexan- 
 dria, (Paedagog. ii. 10.) " The Lace- 
 daemonians wore tunics without sleeves, 
 in order to shew their arms from the 
 shoulder. This may be seen from the 
 statues which represent the women. 
 We say of those, who have this dress 
 
 without sleeves, that they are habited 
 in the Dorian manner, since the Lace- 
 daemonians were Dorians; so also, on 
 the contrary, we say of those whose 
 tunics have sleeves that they are 
 clothed in the Ionian fashion. These 
 women were Athenian. The Atheni- 
 ans were calkd Ionian before they 
 sent colonies to Ionia. The Lacedae- 
 monians did this to make their women 
 masculine ; and the Athenians, to make 
 their women feminine." Larcher.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 41 
 
 in pots of their own country. In a word, the women of Argos 
 and JEgina, in contradiction to those of Athens, wear at this 
 day clasps of a greater size than any used in ancient time. 
 
 LXXXIX. Thus I have related the original of that en- 
 mity which the ^Eginetae conceived against the Athenians ; 
 and which moved them so readily to assist the Boeotians at 
 the desire of the Thebans ; because they had not forgotten 
 the things that had passed about the two images. 
 
 The forces of ^Egina ravaged the maritime places of At- 
 tica, and while the Athenians were preparing to march out 
 against them, an oracle was brought to Athens from Delphi, 
 exhorting them to defer the punishment of the JEginetse dur- 
 ing thirty years ; and in the one and thirtieth year, to build a 
 temple to jEacus, and then to begin the war, with full as- 
 surance of success : adding farther, that if they would not be 
 dissuaded from undertaking that enterprize immediately, they 
 should endure and inflict many calamities, but would in the 
 end subdue them. When the Athenians heard the predic- 
 tion, they built a temple to ^Eacus, which is now seen stand- 
 ing in the public place ; yet would not defer the war for 
 thirty years, though they were told that they ought to wait, 
 since they had suffered such indignities from the ^Eginetae. 
 
 XC. But as they were preparing to take their revenge, 
 an affair set on foot by the Lacedaemonians became an im- 
 pediment. For the Lacedaamonians being informed of the 
 fraud, contrived between the Alcmaeonidas and the Pythian, 
 together with all that she had done against themselves and 
 the Pisistratidae, considered it a double misfortune, be- 
 cause they had expelled their own friends and allies out of 
 Athens, and because they received no thanks from the Athe- 
 nians for that kindness. Besides, certain oracles induced 
 them to it, which related that they would suffer many indig- 
 nities from the Athenians, of which they knew nothing until 
 the return of Cleomenes, who finding them in the Acropolis, 
 after they had been in the possession of the Pisistratidae r , 
 and left in that place at their expulsion, brought them away 
 with him to Sparta. 
 
 XCI. The Lacedaemonians therefore having received these 
 oracles, and considering the prosperous condition of the Athe- 
 nians, with their manifest unwillingness to acknowledge the 
 superiority of Sparta, conceived that if the people of Attica 
 should continue in freedom they would become of equal 
 
 r These oracles deposited in the Aero- been corrupted by Onomacritus. See 
 
 polls are rightly compared with the Si- book vii. 6. Wesseling. 
 
 byline books in the capitol of Rome. I I am inclined to believe that there 
 
 do not doubt but that there were amongst were also some oracles of Bacis and Am- 
 
 them some verses cf Musams, which had philytus. Larchtr. 
 
 VOL. II. G
 
 42 HERODOTUS. 
 
 weight with themselves ; and on the contrary would be weak 
 and humble if held down by any one in a tyranny : consider- 
 ing- each of these things, I say, they sent for Hippias the son 
 of Pisistratus from Sigeum on the Hellespont, (to which 
 place the Pisistratidae retire,) and, after his arrival, having 
 assembled the deputies of the rest of their confederates, some 
 of the Spartans spoke to this effect : " Friends and allies, 
 " we are now convinced of the error we committed, when re- 
 *' lying upon forged 5 oracles, we not only expelled from their 
 " country men who were close friends, and had undertaken 
 " to put Athens into our hands, but delivered the city to an 
 " ungrateful people, who, after they had been set at liberty, 
 " and had lifted up their heads through our assistance, had 
 " the insolence to eject our king with loss and dishonour ; 
 " and who daily acquire greater boldness 1 , as their neighbours 
 " the Boeotians and Chalcideans have already experienced ; 
 " and others may soon feel, if they should happen to commit 
 " any error. Since then we have been guilty of so great a 
 " fault, let us agree to march against them, and endeavour 
 " to take revenge. For to that end we have sent for Hip- 
 " pias, and summoned every one of you, that by common 
 " consent, and united forces, we may reinstate him in the 
 " possession of Athens, and restore what we took away from 
 " him." 
 
 XCII. To this effect the. Lacedemonians expressed them- 
 selves ; the greater part of the confederates did not approve 
 of their proposition ; the rest kept silence, but Sosicles the 
 Corinthian made the following speech. 
 
 " Of a truth," said he, " the heavens will sink beneath the 
 " earth, and the earth ascend above the air; men will live 
 " in the sea, and the fishes possess the habitations of men, 
 " since you, O Lacedemonians, dissolve a commonwealth, 
 " and prepare to restore tyrannies, than which there is 
 " nothing more unjust, and more pernicious among men. If, 
 " forsooth, a tyranny appear to you so excellent a thing, esta- 
 " blish one first in your own country ; and then attempt to 
 " set up tyrants in other places. But in the present case, 
 
 rriia. The Athenians t increases. Or if, with the generality 
 
 used to mark all counterfeit or alloyed of interpreters you prefer translating (6- 
 
 money with a %. They used to call %av, vain glory, boasting, the meaning 
 
 them xifiSifXa vofiiff/iara ; but the % of the phrase $6av tyvtiv will be nearly 
 
 was changed into ic for the sake of eu- the same as they wish, viz. to acquire 
 
 phony. See the Scholiast on Aristoph. great boldness or a high spirit. The 
 
 Aves. v. 158. Lurcher. word aiigavcrai may be either taken as 
 
 ' A6a <j>vaag augdi/crai. As in I have expressed it in the Latin transla- 
 
 Soph. Electra, v. 1463. and (Edip. Col. tion, " majores quotidie sibi spiritus su- 
 
 804. 0pevac Qvtiv signifies to acquire " rait," or " magnos sibi spiritua su- 
 
 krwtvledge; so in Herodotus $6av <j>vffaf " mens augescit, incrementum capit, 
 
 t, signifies having obtained fame " potentiam suam auget." Schweigh.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 43 
 
 " yon, who are altogether unacquainted with tyrannical 
 " power, and carefully provide to prevent any such thing in 
 " Sparta, hold it a slight matter that this should happen to 
 " your allies. I persuade myself, if you had been taught by 
 " experience, as we have, you would propose better things 
 " to us. 
 
 " The constitution of Corinth was formerly" of this kind: 
 " the government was oligarchial, and was administered by 
 " those, who were known by the name of the Bacchiadae x , 
 " and had been accustomed to marry only among their own 
 " blood. Amphion, one of these, had a daughter named 
 " Labda y , who was born iame : and because none of the 
 " Bacchiadae would marry her, she was given to Eetion the 
 " son of Echecrates, of the borough of Petra, though ori- 
 " ginally one of the Lapithae 2 , and a descendant of Caeneus 3 . 
 " Eetion having no children by this woman, nor by any other b , 
 " went to Delphi on that account, and as he entered the 
 " temple, the Pythian saluted him with the following lines : 
 
 Eetion, less honour'd than thy merits claim, 
 Labda is pregnant, and a stone shall bear, 
 To crush the monarchs, and reform the state. 
 
 " This prediction was by chance reported to the Bacchiadae, 
 " who had not understood a former oracle concerning Co- 
 " rinth, tending to the same end with that of Eetion, and 
 " conceived in these terms : 
 
 u Little or nothing seems fairly to be of Crete, was called delta, for deltas in 
 
 gathered from the loose invective, fol- the Cretan idiom signified the same as 
 
 lowing a strange romantic story, which agathns. Apollonius, who lived in the 
 
 Herodotus puts into the mouth of a man time of Philopator, and was a famous 
 
 pleading with vehemence the cause of a astronomer, was called epsilon, &c. Lar- 
 
 party. Mitford, ch. iv. sect. 1. note. cher. 
 
 * Pausanias (Corinth, sive lib. ii. 4.) z Lapithus was the son of Apollo and 
 
 and Diodorus Siculus (Fragm. vi. lib. Stilbe, and established himself near the 
 
 vi.) differ in their accounts of the Bac- Peneus. The people of those countries 
 
 chiadae. See Larcher's Essay on Chro- were called from him Lapithae. 
 nology, ch. xviii. p. 519, and seq. * Caeneus was a king of the Lapithas, 
 
 J This was not her true name ; (Ptolem. and lived in the time of Hercules. He 
 
 Hephaest. ad calcem Apollodor.) but was was brave and invulnerable. In a com- 
 
 a kind of nickname given her by Apollo bat with the Centaurs, the earth opened 
 
 in his response, on account of the re- under his feet and swallowed him up. 
 
 semblance which her lameness made her The poets relate a variety of marvellous 
 
 bear to the Greek letter lambda. An- stories about him. 
 ciently the letter lambda was called b It is usual in the Greek language to 
 
 labda. It was a common custom among add a great number of negative particles, 
 
 the ancients to give as nicknames the where they do not appear necessary ; 
 
 letters of the alphabet. It is related the contrary however obtains in this pas- 
 
 that ^Esop was called theta by ladmon sage. Instead of tic Se oi ovSt ravrric 
 
 his master, on account of his acute wit. rje yuvaucoc. , ovS 1 i% aAXjje, iralSts 
 
 Theta being also the name for slaves, tyivovro, the negative particle is omitted 
 
 Galerius Crassus, a military tribune un- in the first place. So in the Troades of 
 
 der the Emperor Tiberius, was called Euripides, v. 481. See Matthias' Greek 
 
 beta, because he loved beet. Orpyllis, Grammer, sect. 602. and in like manner 
 
 a courtesan of Cyzicum was called in Aristoph. Aves. v. 695. Schiveigh. 
 gamma ; Antenor, who wrote the history
 
 44 HERODOTUS. 
 
 A brooding eagle 6 on the rocks d shall hatch 
 A lion-welp, destructive, fierce, and strong. 
 Consider Corinth 6 , and Pirene fair, 
 What must ensue from this prodigious birth. 
 
 " The Bacchiadae, who had never been able to compre- 
 " hend the meaning of this oracle, no sooner heard that which 
 " was delivered to Eetion, than they presently understood the 
 " other, since it perfectly agreed with it. Being thus as- 
 " sured of its meaning, they kept it secret, as they were de- 
 " sirous of destroying the child which should be born to 
 " Eetion. In this resolution, after the woman was brought 
 " to bed, they sent ten of their own number into the district 
 " where Eetion lived, to dispatch the child ; and when those 
 " men arrived in Petra, they entered into the court of Ee- 
 " tion's house and asked for the infant. Labda, not at all 
 " suspecting the cause of their coming, and imagining they 
 " asked for it out of friendship to the father, brought the 
 " child, and put it into the hands of one of the ten, who had 
 " made an agreement by the way, that whoever should first 
 " receive the infant should dash it on the ground. The child 
 " happened, by extraordinary good fortune, to smile upon the 
 " person into whose hands the mother had delivered it, and 
 " when he perceived this, he was moved by compassion to 
 " such a degree, that he could not prevail with himself to 
 " perform his promise. So the first relenting, gave him to 
 " another, and he to a third, till the infant had passed through 
 " the hands of all the ten ; and when none of the company 
 " would kill him, they delivered him again to his mother, and 
 " went out of the house. But, as they stood still before the 
 " door, they fell into a warm debate, mutually blaming each 
 " other, and especially the first who took the child, for not 
 " doing as had been determined. At last they all agreed to 
 " go in again, and that every one should be equally con- 
 " cerned in the death of the infant. 
 
 " But it was fated that the desolation of Corinth should 
 " spring from the race of Eetiou. For Labda, standing 
 " close by the gate, overheard all their discourse ; accordingly, 
 *' fearing that they might change their resolution, and having 
 " obtained the child a second time might kill it, she took 
 '* and hid it, in a place which appeared least likely to be dis- 
 " covered, in a corn basket f ; not doubting, if they should 
 
 c This oracle ceased to be obscure to e In the Greek Qfypvotvra KopivBov. 
 
 the Bacchiadffi because Eetion is derived Strabo says that appellation was given it 
 
 from airos, an eagle. Lurcher. from the rough and hilly situation of the 
 
 d The translation cannot be made to city, (book viii. p. 586.) Acrocorin- 
 
 express the equivocal oracle. 'Ev ire- thus, in which the fountain Pirene was 
 
 rpyot has an allusion to the borough situated, is alluded to. Wesseling. 
 
 Petra, in which Eetion lived. Lurcher. { This chest was said to have been de-
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 45 
 
 " come in again, they would make a most diligent search, 
 " which indeed they did ; for they returned, and strictly ex- 
 " amined every part of the house ; but not finding the child, 
 " they resolved to depart, and tell those who sent them they 
 " had put their orders in execution. 
 
 " After this, the son of Eetion grew up, and having es- 
 " caped from this danger, he was named Cypselus, from the 
 " corn basket. He had no sooner attained the age of a man, 
 " than he went to consult the oracle at Delphi ; and in con- 
 " fidence of an ambiguous answer, attacked, and got posses- 
 " sion of Corinth. The words were these : 
 
 A happy man is come within my house : 
 Cypselus, Eetion's son, and Corinth's king : 
 He and his sons: but then no more from him?. 
 
 " When Cypselus had usurped the dominion of Corinth, he 
 " behaved himself thus. He banished many of the Corin- 
 " thians, deprived many of their estates, and put a far greater 
 " number to death. 
 
 " He ended his life happily 11 after a reign of thirty years; 
 " and his son Periander succeeded him in the tyranny. He 
 " was at first more mild than his father ; but afterwards_, hav- 
 " ing by his ambassadors contracted a friendship with Thrasy- 
 " bulus, tyrant of Miletus, he became far more cruel than 
 " Cypselus. He sent one to ask Thrasy bulus, in his name, 
 " how he might manage his affairs, and govern the Corin- 
 " thians in the safest manner. The Milesian, conducting 
 " this person out of the city, entered with him into a field of 
 " corn, and as he went through the corn, he questioned 1 him, 
 " again and again, concerning his coming from Corinth, and 
 " at the same time, when he saw any ear taller than the 
 " rest k , he cut it down and threw it away, till he had de- 
 " stroyed the best and fairest of the wheat in that manner. 
 " When he had gone through the piece of ground, he dis- 
 " missed the ambassador, without charging him with any 
 " message. At his return, Periander was earnest to know 
 
 dicated at Olympia; but I should be after Periander ; and therefore that two 
 
 more inclined to believe, that the hand- of the sons of Cypselus reigned, but only 
 
 some chest described by Pausanias (v. one grandson, whereas the oracle is in 
 
 17 19.) was dedicated in memory of the plural. 
 
 the event, and not made after the pat- h Herodotus used Siair\iictiii rbv (3iov, 
 
 tern of the original. Valckenaer. as the Latins perteiere vitam, as if it had 
 
 8 According to Aristot. Politic, (v. been vitte telam. Schweigh. 
 
 12.) Psammetichus, son of Gorgias and ' 'AvairoSiZw, peicunctans identidem 
 
 grandson of Cypselus, succeeded Peri- et revocana caduceatorem. Budaem. 
 
 ander. This contradicts the oracle ; to k The story of Tarquin the Proud, and 
 
 reconcile which, Bouhier reads tiffin, his son Sextus, will occur to every one. 
 
 for OVKSTI; Coray ovv in vatSEs- Wes- Livy, book i. ch. 54. Larcher thinks 
 
 seling supposes, from Plutarch, (Sap. that Euripides borrowed his idea in the 
 
 Conviv. p. 160.) that Gorgias reigned Supplices, v. 447, from this passage.
 
 46 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " the answer of Thrasybulus ; but he assured him he had re- 
 " ceived none ; and, wondering he should be sent to such a 
 " mad man, who destroyed his own goods, related what he 
 " had seen him do. 
 
 " Periander presently comprehended the meaning of Thra- 
 " sybulus, and understanding that by this action he had coun- 
 " selled him to take away the lives of the most eminent citi- 
 " zens, exercised all manner of cruelties in Corinth ; and 
 " completed whatever Cypselus, by killing some and driving 
 " others into banishment, had left. Besides, he stripped all 
 " the Corinthian women of their clothes in one day, on the 
 " account of his wife Melissa 1 . For when he sent messengers 
 " into Thesprotia upon the river Acheron to consult the oracle 
 " of the dead 1 ", concerning a treasure deposited by a friend, 
 " Melissa appearing, said she would make no discovery, nor 
 " tell in what place it lay, because she was cold and naked ; 
 " the clothes which were buried with her proving useless, by 
 " reason they had not been burned. And to confirm the truth 
 " of this, she added, that Periander had put his bread into a 
 " cold oven. When these words were reported to Periander, 
 " the credibility of the token was allowed by him, since he 
 " had lain with her after death ; and he immediately com- 
 " manded proclamation to be made, that all the women of 
 " Corinth should appear forthwith in the temple of Juno. The 
 " women went thither accordingly, richly dressed, as their 
 " manner was on festival days ; and were all alike, both the 
 " free women and the attendants, stripped by the guards of 
 " Periander, which he had privately introduced to that end. 
 " The garments were then carried to a trench, and, having in- 
 " voked Melissa, he burnt them. This done, he sent again to 
 " inquire concerning the treasure of his friend, and the phan- 
 " torn of Melissa named the place where she had deposited 
 " it. Such, O Lacedaemonians, is a tyranny, and such are its 
 " effects. We Corinthians were seized with great astonish- 
 " ment, when we understood you had sent for Hippias ; but 
 " our amazement is highly augmented, since we heard your 
 " proposal. We adjure you, therefore, by the Grecian Gods, 
 " that you would not establish tyrannies in the cities of 
 " Greece. Nevertheless, if you resolve to persist in your 
 " design, and against all right endeavour to restore Hippias, 
 
 1 Concerning Melissa, see book iii. ch. in Thesprotia, where Orpheus is said to 
 
 50, and note. have restored to life Eurydice ; the other 4 
 
 m The various ceremonies used on in Campania, at the lake Avernus. 
 these occasions are described by Potter, This superstition was borrowed by the 
 
 Arch. Graec. book ii. ch. 18. They might, Hebrews from the Egyptians, although 
 
 he supposes, be performed in any place ; prohibited by the severest penalties. See 
 
 but some places were appropriated, two Deuteronomy, ch. xviii. v. 11. and 1 Sa- 
 
 of which were most remarkable ; the first muel, ch. xxviii. Wesseling.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 47 
 
 " know, that the Corinthians, at least, will not consent with 
 " you"." 
 
 XCIII. Thus spoke Sosicles, ambassador of Corinth. But 
 Hippias, after he had attested the same Gods, told him, that 
 the Corinthians would be the first of all people to regret the 
 Pisistratidae, when the fatal time should come, that they 
 should be harassed by the Athenians : and this he said, in con- 
 fidence of certain oracles, which he was more acquainted with 
 than any other man. The rest of the confederates, who had 
 been silent before, having heard the speech of Sosicles, openly 
 declared themselves ; and, unanimously embracing the senti- 
 ments of the Corinthian ambassador, adjured the Lacedaemo- 
 nians not to introduce any innovation into a Grecian city. 
 And thus that design was defeated. 
 
 XCIV. After Hippias was thus rejected, Amyntas king of 
 Macedonia made him an offer of Anthemus, and the Thessa- 
 lians another of lolcus ; but accepting neither, he returned to 
 Sigeum, which Pisistratus formerly had taken from the 
 Mityleneans, and put into the hands of his natural son Hege- 
 sistratus, born of an Argive woman. He did not hold what 
 he had received from Pisistratus without a struggle. The 
 Mityleneans from Achilleum, and the Athenians from Si- 
 geum, had carried on a long war about the city ; the first de- 
 manding restitution, and the Athenians rejecting their claim, 
 and asserting, that the ^Eolians had no more right to the ter- 
 ritories of Ilium than they, or any of the Grecians, who as- 
 sisted Menelaus in exacting vengeance for the rape of Helen. 
 
 XC V. Many remarkable actions of various kinds happened 
 during this war ; among others, one relating to the poet Al- 
 caeus p , who being present in a battle, and seeing the Athe- 
 nians victorious, fled out of the field and made his escape ; but 
 the Athenians having found his arms, hung them up q in the 
 
 n The Corinthians did not always pre- lignit. Herodoti, torn. ii. p. 858. Valc- 
 
 serve the same generous sentiments. kenaer. 
 
 When Athens was taken by Lacedsemon, i* Alcaeus was a very celebrated lyric 
 
 at the end of the Peloponnesian war, the poet, and generally considered as the in- 
 
 Corinthians (Xenoph. Hellen. ii. 2. ventor of that poetry. He was a native 
 
 12.) advised that it should be utterly of Mitylene. 
 
 destroyed. Lurcher. 1 It was, among the ancients, a great 
 
 What Herodotus proceeds to relate honour to the conquerors to hang up the 
 
 happened before Hegesistratus was go- arms of the enemy, and a great disgrace 
 
 vernor of Sigeum. Herodotus, as he often to the vanquished to lose them. He who 
 
 does, having made mention of Sigeum, lost his shield was punished by law in 
 
 records the war which before took place most of the states of Greece. This mis- 
 
 between the Athenians and Mityleneans. fortune happened also to the poet Ar- 
 
 Several authors have given a more full chilochus, in the war of the Thasians 
 
 account of the war. See Diogen. Laert. against the Saiens, a people of Thrace, 
 
 in Pittaco. i. 74. and Plutarch, de Ma- He boasted of it in his verses, and was
 
 48 HERODOTUS. 
 
 temple of Minerva at Sigeura. Alcaeus having described this 
 in an ode, sent it r to Mitylene to inform of the misfortune his 
 companion Melanippus. In the end, Periander the son of 
 Cypselus, being chosen arbitrator on both sides, reconciled 
 the Athenians and Mityleneans, on condition that each party 
 should retain what they had. And by this title the Athenians 
 possessed Sigeum. 
 
 XCVI. After the return of Hippias from Lacedtemon to 
 Asia, he set all his invention to work against the Athenians ; 
 endeavouring by aspersions to render them odious to Arta- 
 phernes, and omitting nothing that might tend to reduce 
 Athens under the power of Darius and himself. Which when 
 the Athenians understood, they sent ambassadors to Sardis, 
 with instructions to solicit the Persians not to give ear to the 
 Athenian exiles. But Artaphernes haughtily told them, that 
 if they desired to be safe, they must receive Hippias again. 
 The Athenians rejected the condition, and chose rather to de- 
 clare open enmity against the Persians. 
 
 XCV1I. When they had taken this resolution, and were in 
 these terms with the Persians, in that conjuncture Arista- 
 goras the Milesian, who had been commanded to depart from 
 Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, arrived in Athens, 
 which of all the other Grecian cities was the principal in 
 power. There, addressing himself to the popular assembly, 
 he repeated all that he had said before in Sparta touching 
 the wealth of Asia and the Persian war, that they were easy 
 to conquer, since they used neither shield nor spear. He 
 withal reminded them, that the Milesians were a colony of the 
 Athenians, and might justly expect their assistance in this 
 exigency, since they were arrived to so great power. In a 
 word, since he was in great need of tJieir assistance, there 
 was nothing which he did not promise, until at length he ob- 
 tained their consent. In fact, it appeared more easy to im- 
 pose upon a multitude than one man ; since he, who had not 
 been able to deceive Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian singly, 
 did so to thirty thousand s Athenians. In this disposition the 
 Athenians by a public decree determined to send twenty ships 
 to the succour of the lonians, under the conduct of Melan- 
 thius, a man universally esteemed in Athens. These ships 
 
 imitated in that by Horace ; II. Od. vii. from curiosity. Lurcher. 
 
 ver. 9. T 'EiriTiOtl ig ~WliTv\i]VT]v , lie entrusts 
 
 " Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam f * "T 'T^" '"Jt""' 
 
 i- Jf* , i? s All other authors say, that there were 
 
 " Sensi, rehcta non bene parmula. , , i '. 
 
 only twenty thousand citizens of Athens 
 
 The Romans only laughed at the mirth of who had a right of voting. See Valcke- 
 
 Horace ; but the Spartans expelled Ar- naer's note. 
 chilochus from Sparta, where he had gone
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 49 
 
 were the source 1 of evils both to the Greeks and Bar- 
 barians". 
 
 XCV1II. Aristagoras sailed before the departure of this 
 fleet, and arriving in Miletus, formed a design, which could 
 be of no advantage to the lonians ; nor was contrived by him 
 to that, end ; but only to annoy Darius. He sent a man into 
 Phrygia, to the Pffionians, who had been carried away pri- 
 soners by Megabyzus from the river Strymon, and occupied a 
 spot of land in Phrygia, and a village by themselves. When 
 this person arrived, he made the following speech : " Men of 
 " Paeonia, Aristagoras the Milesian has sent me hither, to 
 " suggest to you a way for your deliverance, if you will take 
 " his advice. For all Ionia has revolted from the king, and 
 " offers you an opportunity of getting safe to your own coun- 
 " try ; do you then yourselves take care to get as far as the 
 " coast, we will provide for the rest." The Pseonians, when 
 they heard these words, immediately embraced the proposal, 
 and having assembled their wives and children, fled away to- 
 wards the coast, a few only excepted, who fearing the con- 
 sequences stayed behind. When they were come to the sea, 
 they embarked, and passed over to Chios, where they were 
 no sooner landed, than the Persian cavalry arrived in great 
 numbers on the shore, pursuing the Paeonians ; and, finding 
 they had made their escape, sent orders to Chios to command 
 them to return. But the Preonians slighting the message, 
 were transported by the Chians to Lesbos, and by the Les- 
 bians to Doriscus ; from whence they marched by land into 
 Pasonia. 
 
 XCIX. In the mean time the Athenians arrived with 
 twenty ships at Miletus, accompanied by five more of the 
 Eretrians, who engaged not in this expedition on the account 
 of the Athenians, but to requite a preceding kindness they 
 had received from the Milesians. For in the former war x the 
 
 ' " Herodotus has the audacity," says clearly in opposition to the account of 
 
 Plutarch, (de Malign. Herod, p. 861.) Herodotus; which authority is preferred 
 
 " to regard as the cause of the evils, the by me, as it has been also by Dodwell, 
 
 " vessels which the Athenians sent to for his Annales Thucydidei. Herodotus 
 
 " the assistance of the lonians, who had expressly says, that the war lasted but 
 
 " revolted from the king, because they six years, (vi. 18.) From the end of it 
 
 " endeavoured to deliver so many cele- he very clearly marks' three to the sa- 
 
 " brated Greek cities from servitude." trapy of Mardonius, (c. 31, 43, 46.) and 
 
 It is almost useless to observe that He- it does not appear that more than one 
 
 rodotns has again imitated Homer. That passed afterward before Mardonius was 
 
 poet had said before him, (11. v.ver. 62.) superseded by Artaphernes and Datis, 
 
 ,,_ , , (c. 94.) who immediately proceeded on 
 
 Og r<u A\tta V p V rtKryvaro V i,a S ^ expedition ^^ feWece, which 
 
 ^ ti<rC Blair, with all other chronologers, places 
 
 ApxacoKove ai 7ra fft nov Tp W <T(T t 490 yea n before the Christian sra.Mit- 
 
 ytvovro. Larehtr. /ord, ch. 7. sect. 2. note. 
 
 a Blair has placed the beginning of x This war is alluded toby Thucydides, 
 
 the Ionian revolt four years earlier, i. 15. Of the war we know little or no- 
 VOL. II. H
 
 50 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Milesians had taken part with the Eretrians against the Chal- 
 cideans, supported by the Sainians their confederates. Ari- 
 stagoras, after the arrival of this succour, and the rest of his 
 allies, resolved to make an expedition to Sardis. He did not 
 march in person but remained at Miletus, and named as com- 
 manders of the Milesians, his brother Charopinus, and Her- 
 mophantus, who was chosen from the rest of the citizens. 
 
 C. The Tonians arriving at Ephesus, left their ships in the 
 harbour of Coressus y , belonging to that city; and, choosing 
 Ephesians for their guides, advanced with a numerous army 
 by the side of the river Cayster 2 ; from thence they passed 
 mount Tmolus a , and coming before Sardis, took the city with- 
 out opposition. But Artaphernes with a strong garrison de- 
 fended the citadel. 
 
 CI. The following accident prevented them, after they had 
 taken the city, from plundering it. Most of the houses in 
 Sardis were built with reeds ; and even those which were 
 built with brick, were roofed with reeds. One of these was 
 set on fire by a soldier, and immediately the flame spread 
 from house to house, and consumed the whole city. During 
 this fire, all the Lydians and Persians who were in the city, 
 since the fire was consuming the extreme parts, and did not 
 afford any way for escape, ran together in great numbers to 
 the public place, through the midst of which the river Pac- 
 tolus runs, sweeping down grains of gold b from mount Tmolus, 
 and being afterwards received by the Hermus, passes through 
 the same channel to the sea. Thus the Lydians and Persians 
 being assembled in great multitudes in this place, and on 
 the banks of the river, were constrained to defend them- 
 selves : and the lonians seeing one part of the enemy stand- 
 ing on their defence, and others coming up in great numbers, 
 retired through fear to mount Tmolus, and marched away un- 
 der favour of the night to their ships. 
 
 OIL In this conflagration, the temple of Cybele the god- 
 dess of that country, was burnt ; which afterwards served the 
 Persians for a pretence to set on fire c the temples of Greece. 
 
 thing ; it appears to have arisen about mention of them. The Turks call it 
 
 the plain of Lelantus, above Chalcis. Kitchik-Meinder, or the little Maeander. 
 
 1 Coressus was a mountain 40 stades Lurcher. 
 
 from Ephesus, (Diodor. Sic. xiv. 19.) at a The Turks now call this mountain 
 
 the foot of which on the sea shore was a Bouz-Dag, or cold mountain, or Tomo- 
 
 small town of the same name. Larcher. litzi. D'Anville. 
 
 1 The Cayster rises in Lydia, in the b It had ceased to do this in the time 
 Cilbian mountains; it winds through the of Strabo, (xiii. p. 928.) that is to say, 
 plains called the Caystrian, and dis- in the time of Augustus. Lurcher. 
 charges itself into the sea a little to the c Wesseling supposes that the Per- 
 west of Ephesus, between that city and sians burnt the temples, because they 
 Notium. The ancient poets celebrate its did not believe that gods could be en- 
 swans, but modern travellers make no closed within walls. But, says Larcher,
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 51 
 
 When the Persians who had their habitations on this side the 
 river Halys were informed of these things, they drew toge- 
 ther, and marched to the succour of the Lydians ; but not 
 finding the lonians at Sardis, they followed their track and 
 overtook them at Ephesus, where they fought and defeated 
 the Ionian army with great slaughter. In this battle many 
 illustrious persons were killed ; and among others, Eualcis , 
 general of the Eretrians, who had been victorious in several 
 contests, the prize of which was a crown, and had been highly 
 celebrated by Simonides 6 the Cean. Those who escaped out 
 of the field, dispersed themselves throughout the different 
 cities. 
 
 CHI. And such was the success of this expedition. After 
 which, the Athenians totally abandoned the lonians ; and 
 when they were solicited on their part by the ambassadors of 
 Aristagoras in the most pressing terms, declared they would 
 send them no assistance. But the lonians, though they were 
 deprived of that succour, yet because they had done so much 
 against Darius, prepared themselves to carry on the war with no 
 less vigour than before ; and, sailing into the Hellespont they 
 reduced Byzantium, with all the adjacent cities under their 
 obedience. Then having sailed out of the Hellespont, they 
 prevailed with many of the Carians to become their confede- 
 rates ; for the city of Caunus, which before had rejected their 
 alliance, went over to the louians after the burning of Sardis. 
 
 CIV. And all the Cyprians, except the Amathusians, rea- 
 dily entered into the same confederacy, having already re- 
 volted from Darius in this manner. Onesilus the younger 
 brother of Gorgus king of the Salammians, son to Chersis, 
 and grandson of Siromus the son of Euelthon f , having formerly 
 solicited his brother at divers times to revolt against the king; 
 when he heard of the Ionian defection, renewed his instances 
 with very great earnestness. But finding he could not prevail 
 upon Gorgus, he waited an opportunity ; and one day, when 
 his brother was gone out of the city with his partizans, shut 
 the gates against him. Gorgus being thus excluded, fled to 
 the Medes ; and Onesilus having possessed himself of Salamis, 
 
 why did they not burn the temples of the who was also a poet. He is said to have 
 
 lonians before their revolt, and also those enjoyed, even at the age of 80 years, a 
 
 of the Phoenicians, &c. most excellent memory ; and at the same 
 
 d This Eualcis is not mentioned else- age he obtained a prize for his poetry, 
 
 where. No trace remains of his praises He was fond of money, and celebrated 
 
 in the fragments of Simonides. those most who paid him best. See Ari- 
 
 The Olympic victor of the name was stoph. Pax. v. 695. Larcher. See also 
 
 an Elean. See Pausan. Eliac. post. s. lib. Aristot. Rhet. iii. 2. 
 
 vi. 16. Larcher. f It was this Euelthon, who gave an 
 
 "There were several poets of this name, asylum to Pheretima, the mother of Ar- 
 
 The present one was the son of Leopre- cesilaus, the .third king of Cyrene. See 
 
 pes, and grandson of another Simonides, book iv. ch. 162; 
 
 H 2
 
 52 HERODOTUS. 
 
 endeavoured to persuade all the Cyprians to join with him. 
 The rest he persuaded; and having sat down before Amathus, 
 which would not listen to him, he besieged it. 
 
 CV. Whilst Onesilus was employed in the siege of Ama- 
 thus, Darius, being informed that Sardis had been taken and 
 burnt by the Athenians and lonians, and that Aristagoras the 
 Milesian had been the chief of this confederacy, and the con- 
 triver of that enterprize, was not much concerned about the 
 lonians, who, he doubted not, might be easily punished for 
 their rebellion ; but demanded what people those Athenians 
 were : when he had received an answer he called for a bow, 
 and having received one, he put an arrow into it and shot it 
 into the air g , with these words ; " Grant, O Jupiter, that I 
 " may 11 be able to revenge myself on the Athenians!" After 
 he had thus spoken, he commanded one of his attendants 
 thrice to repeat the ensuing words, every time dinner was set 
 before him, " Master ! remember the Athenians." 
 
 CV1. Then calling Histiaeus the Milesian, whom he had 
 long detained with him, Darius said : " I am informed His- 
 " tiseus, that the person, to whom you entrusted Miletus, has 
 " contrived innovations against me ; for he has brought men 
 " into Asia from the other continent, and having persuaded 
 " the lonians, who shall not go long unpunished, to join them, 
 " has with those forces deprived me of Sardis. Is it at all 
 " possible that these things can appear to you right f . Or that 
 " any such thing can have been done without your advice ? 
 " Be careful therefore that you do not hereafter bring your- 
 " self into blame." To this Histiaeus answered: " O king, 
 " what have you said ? That I should advise a thing, which 
 " might give you the least occasion of vexation ! What ad- 
 " vantage could I propose to myself by such an action? What 
 " am I in want of? I, who live in the same splendour with 
 " you, and am honoured with the confidence of all your coun- 
 " sels ? If my lieutenant is guilty of the actions you mention, 
 " be assured, he himself has been the contriver. But I in- 
 " deed cannot at all persuade myself, that he and the Mile- 
 " sians have attempted any thing against your authority. Yet 
 " if the charge should be true, and he has indeed done as 
 " you have been informed, consider, O king, whether your 
 " affairs are not prejudiced by my absence from the maritime 
 
 e Was this a declaration of war? The " tries, and there solemnly shoot an ar- 
 
 actual practice of the Kalmuck Tartars, " row in the Persian land, which is the 
 
 neighbours of the Persians, gave me the " signal by which they declare war." 
 
 idea. " The Kalmucks," says Chardin, Lurcher. 
 
 (Voyages, vol. iv. p. 302.) " go towards h A6f or tv^o^iai, or something similar 
 
 "the limits of their territory, on the must be understood before iicytvtffOai (JLOI I 
 
 " frontier which separates the two coun- See Yalckenaer's note.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 53 
 
 " parts. For the lonians seem only to have waited until I 
 " should be withdrawn, to put in execution what they had 
 " long ago desired ; and if I had continued in Ionia, not one 
 " of those cities would have revolted. Dismiss me therefore 
 " with speed, and send me back to Ionia, that I may restore 
 " the affairs of those countries to their former condition, and 
 " deliver the Milesian deputy into your hands, who has been 
 " the author of these enterprizes. When I have performed 
 " this according to your desire, I swear by the gods of the 
 " king, not to change the garments I shall wear when I go 
 " down to Ionia, before I render the great island of Sardinia' 
 " tributary to you." 
 
 CVII. Histiaeus said these words in order to deceive the 
 king ; and succeeded in his design. For Darius was per- 
 suaded to let him go; only commanding him to return to 
 Susa, so soon as the things he had promised should be per- 
 formed. 
 
 C VIII. While tidings concerning Sardis had been brought to 
 the king, and he, having shot the arrow as described, had held 
 a conference with Histiaeus, and while Histiaeus having been 
 dismissed by Darius, was on his journey to the sea ; in all this 
 time the following actions passed. Onesilus the Salaminian, 
 who was employed in the siege of Amathus, having received 
 information, that a great army under the conduct of Artybius 
 a Persian, was to be expected in Cyprus, sent heralds to the 
 different parts of Ionia, to invite them to bring assistance, 
 who, without any protracted deliberation, assembled a consi- 
 derable armament, and sailed to Cyprus. The Persians on 
 their part crossed over from Cilicia and marched up to Sala- 
 mis, while the Phoenicians in their ships doubled the pro- 
 montory, which is called the key of Cyprus' 1 . 
 
 CIX. In the mean time the Cyprian princes summoned 
 the Ionian captains together, and spoke to them in these 
 terms : " Men of Ionia, we give you the choice, either to 
 " fight against the Persians or Phoenicians. If you choose 
 " to engage the Persians in a land battle, it is time to bring 
 " your forces ashore, that we may go on board your ships, 
 
 1 Rollin (Hist. Ace. torn. ii. p. 151. four, according to Pliny, (Hist. Nat. v. 
 not.) thinks this island too far distant 31.) near the eastern part of the island 
 from Ionia, and in consequence suspects of Cyprus, and seven hundred stades 
 that the text has been altered. The from the river Pyramus, which were 
 same thing is repeated without any va- called icXci&, the keys. It appears by 
 riety at the commencement of the next this passage of Herodotus, that the pro- 
 book. And, as Larcher shews in his montory bore the same name. Strabo 
 note, the lonians -had penetrated to the calls it Boo<rovpa, and Ptolemy (Geogr. 
 remotest parts of the Mediterranean. v. p. 157.) Ovpd /3ooc, the tail of a cow. 
 
 k There are two small islands, ac- Pliny calls it dinaret um. Larcher. 
 cording to Strabo, (xiv. p. 1000.) and
 
 54 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " and fight the Phoenicians. But if you are more willing to 
 " make an experiment of your strength against the Phoeni- 
 " cians, do as you think convenient, that, whether you de- 
 " termine one way or the other, as far as depends on you, 
 " Ionia and Cyprus may be free." To this the lonians an- 
 swered : " We are sent by the general council of Ionia to 
 " defend the sea, and not to deliver our ships to the Cy- 
 " prians, in order to fight the Persians by land. We there- 
 " fore shall endeavour to do our duty in that post in which 
 " we are placed ; and it is right that you, bearing in mind 
 " the evils you suffered under the tyranny of the Medes, 
 " should prove yourselves to be brave men." This was the 
 answer of the lonians. 
 
 CX. After this, when the Persians had advanced into the 
 plains of Salamis, the kings of Cyprus drawing up their forces 
 in order of battle, placed the best of the Salaminians and 
 Solians against the front of the Persians, and all the rest of 
 the Cyprians against the enemy's auxiliaries. Onesilus volun- 
 tarily placed himself directly against Artybius the Persian 
 general. 
 
 CXI. Artybius used to ride on a horse, which had been 
 taught to rear up against an armed enemy. Of this, One- 
 silus had been already informed ; and having as a shield- 
 bearer, a Carian well skilled in military affairs, and of great 
 boldness, he said to him, " I am informed that the horse of 
 " Artybius rears up, and with his feet and teeth overthrows 
 " the man he is rode up to ; consider therefore and tell me, 
 " which you will w T atch and strike, Artybius or his horse ?" 
 " I am ready," answered the attendant, " to do both, or 
 " either, or any other thing you may command. But I shall 
 " take liberty to propose that which I think most conducive 
 " to your honour. He who is a king and a general, ought to 
 " engage one who is of the same condition. For if you kill 
 " him, your glory is great ; and if he kills you, which may 
 " the gods avert, it is half the misfortune to fall by a noble 
 " hand 1 . It is right that we slaves should fight against other 
 " slaves, and also against a horse, whose tricks do not you 
 " fear ; for I take upon me to prevent him from rearing 
 " up against any man for the time to come." 
 
 CXII. Soon after these words, the armies engaged both 
 by sea and land. All the lonians fought vigorously, and de- 
 feated the Phoenicians at sea ; but the Samians surpassed the 
 
 1 Compare Virgil, ^Eneid. x. ver. 830. t.; s habeto 
 
 " YEneae magni dextra cadis." " Dixit, ab Haemonio quod sis jugula- 
 
 And Ovid, Metamorph. xii. ver. 80. " tus Achille." 
 
 " Quisquis es, o juvenis, solatia mor- See also, Id. v. ver. 191.
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 55 
 
 rest in valour that day. When the armies met by land, they 
 engaged, and the following happened to the two generals ; 
 Artybius pushed his horse towards Onesilus, and Onesilus 
 struck Artybius, as he had concerted before with his shield- 
 bearer. The attendant on his part, seeing the horse raising 
 his feet to the shield of Onesilus, struck him with a scythe, 
 and cut them both off. So that Artybius the Persian gene- 
 ral fell with his horse to the ground. 
 
 CXIII. While the rest were fighting, Stesenor tyrant of 
 Curium, which is said to be a colony of Argos, revolted to 
 the enemy with a considerable number of forces under his 
 command ; and presently after this treachery of the Curians, 
 the chariots of war m belonging to Salamis followed their ex- 
 ample, by which means the Persians obtained the victory, 
 and the Cyprians were put to flight with great slaughter. 
 Among others, Onesilus the son of Chersis, who had per- 
 suaded the Cyprians to revolt, was killed in this battle, toge- 
 ther with Aristocyprus king of the Soliaus, the son of that 
 Philocyprus", whom Solon the Athenian, when at Cyprus, 
 celebrated in his verses above all tyrants. 
 
 CXIV. The Amathusians cut off the head of Onesilus, 
 because he had besieged their city, and placed it over the 
 gates of Amathus, where, after some time, when the head 
 had become hollow, a swarm of bees entered, and filled the 
 skull with a honey-comb. Upon which the Amathusians con- 
 sulting the oracle, were admonished, that if they would take 
 down the head and inter it, and sacrifice annually to One- 
 silus, as to a hero, their affairs should prosper. The Ama- 
 thusians did accordingly, and continued those sacrifices to 
 my time. 
 
 CXV. The lonians, who had fought by sea on the coast 
 of Cyprus, hearing the ruin of the affairs of Onesilus, and 
 that the rest of the Cyprian cities were besieged, except Sa- 
 lamis, which the Salaminians had restored to their former 
 king Gorgus, sailed away to Ionia. Of all the cities of 
 Cyprus, Soli sustained the longest siege ; but in the fifth 
 
 m These chariots (Schol. on Aristoph. but unfruitful. Solon advised Philocy- 
 
 Nubes, v. 28.) were mounted by two prus to rebuild it on the plain below, 
 
 men, one guided the reins, the other and undertook the care of peopling it, 
 
 fought. This was the ancient method and of regulating, in concert with the 
 
 of fighting in chariots, and was preserved king, every thing which might contri- 
 
 to a later period by the Thebans in Boe- bute to its safety and abundance. In- 
 
 otia. Wesseling. habitants flocked to it from all sides. 
 
 n Philocyprus was king of Soli when Philocyprus, from gratitude, gave to 
 
 Solon arrived in Cyprus. That town the new town the name of Soli. Solon 
 
 was then called ^Epeia, on account of mentions this in some verses addressed 
 
 its lofty situation ; Ai-Trvg signifying ele- to that prince. See Plutarch's Life of 
 
 luted. The environs were not only steep, Solon. Lurcher.
 
 56 HERODOTUS. 
 
 month the place was taken by the Persians, after they had 
 undermined the walls. 
 
 CXVI. And thus the Cyprians having been free during 
 one year, were again reduced to servitude. Daurises, Hy- 
 mees, and Otanes, whose wives were daughters to Darius, 
 having, together with other Persian generals, pursued those 
 lonians who marched against Sardis, and after they had de- 
 feated them, having driven them into their ships, next di- 
 vided the cities among themselves and proceeded to plunder 
 them. 
 
 CXVIT. Daurises directing his march towards those of the 
 Hellespont, took Dardanus, Abydos, Percote, Lampsacus, 
 and Paesus; these he took each on one separate day. But 
 advancing from Paesus towards Parium, he received a mes- 
 sage, importing, that the Carians having conspired with the 
 lonians, had likewise revolted from the Persians. Upon this 
 advice he turned from the Hellespont, and led his army 
 towards Caria. 
 
 CXVIII. The Carians having by chance obtained informa- 
 tion of this, before his arrival in their territories, assembled 
 their forces at a place called the White Columns, upon the 
 river Marsyas, which passes through the country of Hydrias, 
 and falls into the Maeander. Divers propositions were made 
 in this camp ; but none, in my opinion, so good as that of 
 Pixodarus the son of Mausolus, a Cyndian, who had married 
 the daughter of Syennesis king of Cilicia. He advised that 
 the Carians would pass the Maeander, and fight the Persians 
 on the other side; that having the river in their rear, and 
 no way left to retreat, they might be necessitated to keep 
 their ground, and surpass the common valour of men. This 
 opinion did not prevail, but it prevailed that the Mreander 
 should rather be in the rear of the Persians ; to the end that 
 if they should be beaten, they might fall into the river and 
 not get off in safety. 
 
 CXIX. So the Persians advancing passed the Maeander; 
 and the Carians expecting the enemy on the banks of the 
 river Marsyas, fought a long and bloody battle, till at last, 
 oppressed with numbers, they were totally defeated. In this 
 action two thousand Persians and ten thousand Carians were 
 killed. The rest of the Carians who escaped out of the fight, 
 fled to Labranda, and betook themselves to a vast grove of 
 plane trees, sacred to Jupiter StratiusP. They are the only 
 
 See note on book i. ch. 74. fore Strabo (xiv. p. 973.) calls him the 
 
 v Zii> orprmoe : Jupiter the War- Labrandinian Jupiter. He held a hatchet 
 
 rior. Jupiter was particularly honoured in his hand, and Plutarch (Quajst. Graec. 
 
 under this title at Labranda, and there- p. 301.) gives us the reason. He was
 
 TERPSICHORE. V. 57 
 
 people we know, who sacrifice to that deity, under the name 
 of Stratius. When they had taken sanctuary in that place, 
 they deliberated whether it would be better for them to sur- 
 render themselves to the Persians, or entirely to abandon Asia. 
 
 CXX. While they were deliberating about this affair, the 
 Milesians with their confederates came to their assistance ; 
 upon this, they gave up what they were before deliberating 
 about, and prepared to recommence the war. Accordingly 
 they met the Persians, and fought another battle with more 
 obstinacy than the former ; but in the end were put to flight, 
 with great slaughter, in which the Milesians suffered most. 
 
 CXXI. The Carians however afterwards lecovered this 
 wound, and rallied. For hearing that the Persians designed 
 to invade their cities, they placed an ambuscade on the way 
 to Pedasa, into which the Persians falling by night, were cut 
 in pieces, with their generals Daurises, Amorges and Sisa- 
 maces. Myrses the son of Gyges was likewise involved in 
 this slaughter : and such was the end of these Persians. He- 
 raclides the son of Ibanolis, a Mylasian, conducted this am- 
 buscade. 
 
 CXXII. Hymees, another of those who pursued the lo- 
 nians after the expedition to Sardis, bending his march to- 
 wards the Propontis, took the city of Cius in Mysia. But 
 hearing that Daurises had quitted the Hellespont, and was 
 advancing against the Carians, he abandoned the Propontis ; 
 and being arrived with his army on the Hellespont, subdued 
 all the ^olians who inhabited the territory of Ilium, together 
 with the Gergithae, who were the only remaining people of 
 the ancient Teucrians ; and after the conquest of these na- 
 tions he died at Troas. 
 
 CXXIII. In the mean time Artaphernes, governor of 
 Sardis, and Otanes, who was one of the three q generals, being 
 appointed to invade Ionia, and the neighbouring territories 
 of ./Eolia, possessed themselves of Clazomenae belonging to 
 the lonians, and Cyme belonging to the JEolians. 
 
 CXXIV. After the capture of which cities, Aristagoras 
 the Mylasian perceiving these misfortunes, resolved to fly, for 
 he was, as he clearly shewed, of a timid disposition r , though 
 
 afterwards worshipped at other places the Labraindian Jupiter, and most mighty 
 
 under the same appellation : " in Ponto Jupiter. It was found in a Turkish ce- 
 
 " circa Hera'cleam, acae sunt Jovis Stra- metry, between Aphrodisias and Hiera- 
 
 " tii cognomine;" Pliny Hist. Nat. xvi. polis, and consequently in Caria, though 
 
 44. Mars was also honoured under at a great distance from Labranda. 
 
 that title. Among the marbles at Ox- Lurcher. 
 
 ford, there is a stone which seems to 1 There were in fact but three named 
 
 have served for an altar, having an axe, in chapter 116. 
 
 and this inscription; AIO2. AABPA- T Herodotus accuses Aristagoras of 
 
 YNAOY KAI AIDS MET1CTOY : Of pusillanimity, apparently without rea- 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 58 HERODOTUS. 
 
 he had thrown Ionia into confusion, and raised great dis- 
 turbances ; and, besides, it appeared to him impossible to 
 overcome Darius. To that end he summoned those of his 
 faction together ; and having told them their common safety 
 required that care should be taken to secure a place of re- 
 fuge, in case they should be expelled from Miletus, he 
 asked, whether he ought to conduct a colony to Sardinia, or 
 to the city of Myrcinus, in the country of Edonis, which His- 
 tiaeus having received as a gift from Darius, had begun to 
 fortify. 
 
 CXXV. But Hecatseus the historian, son to Hegesander, 
 declared his opinion against both those propositions, and said, 
 that if they should be compelled to relinquish Miletus, they 
 ought to build a fortress in the island Lerus, and there con- 
 tinue quiet, till they could safely return back again. This 
 was the counsel of Hecataeus. 
 
 CXXVI. Nevertheless Aristagoras being most inclined 
 to go to Myrcinus, left the government of Miletus in the 
 hands of Pythagoras, an eminent citizen ; and together with 
 all those who were willing to accompany him, sailed into 
 Thrace, and took possession of the region to which he was 
 bound. Setting out from that place, he laid siege to a city 5 ; 
 aud ; while encamped around it, he perished with his army by 
 the hands of the Thracians, who before had offered to sur- 
 render upon terms. 
 
 son. Aristagoras knew that, however lates, that thirty-two years after the de- 
 others might make their peace, there feat of this Aristagoras, the Athenians 
 could be no pardon for him ; and when sent a colony to that place, which was 
 he could no longer assist his country in cut in pieces, hut that when twenty-nine 
 the unequal contest into which he had years had elapsed, Agnon son of JS'icias, 
 led it, his presence might only inflame conducted another colony to that place, 
 the enemy's revenge. Mitford, ch. vii. which expelled the Edonians, and built 
 sect. 2. the city of Amphipolis nearly on the 
 
 * This city was called 'Evvka bSoi, site of Novem-viae. 
 nine ways. Thucydides (iv. 102.) re-
 
 THE 
 
 HISTOR V 
 
 OF 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 ERATO. 
 
 IHUS died Aristagoras, who induced the lonians to revolt ; 
 and Histiaeus tyrant of Miletus, having been dismissed a by 
 Darius, went down to Sardis, where, when he arrived from Susa, 
 Artaphernes, governor of Sardis, asked his opinion concerning 
 the cause of the Ionian defection. Histiaeus said, he could not 
 imagine ; and, as if he was ignorant of all that was going on, 
 seemed extremely surprised at what had happened. But 
 Artaphernes perceiving his dissimulation, and being fully in- 
 formed of the true reason of the revolt, replied, " Histiaeus, 
 " this affair stands thus ; you made the shoe and Aristagoras 
 " has put it on b ." 
 
 II. Artaphernes spoke thus concerning the revolt. His- 
 tiaeus fearing Artaphernes, since he knew the truth of the 
 matter, fled away the following night towards the sea, and de- 
 ceived Darius ; for, instead of reducing the great island of 
 Sardinia, according to his promise, he took upon himself the 
 conduct of the Ionian war against the king. He crossed over 
 to Chios and was put in chains by the Chians, upon suspicion 
 that he had some design to execute there in favour of Darius. 
 But when they understood the whole truth, and found he was 
 an enemy to the king, they set him at liberty again. 
 
 III. During his stay in that place, being questioned by the 
 lonians to what end he had so earnestly pressed Aristagoras 
 
 a M/ri/uvoe is used by the lonians same meaning as ptOijifii, dimitto. 
 for the common ptGupivoG, as if the b This became a proverb. 
 simple word was fiirid), and had the 
 
 i2
 
 60 HERODOTUS. 
 
 by messages to revolt from Darius, and brought such disasters 
 upon Ionia, he by no means laid before them the true reason ; 
 but told them, that the king had resolved to bring the Phoeni- 
 cians into Ionia, and to transport the lonians c into Phoenicia. 
 This, he said, was the cause of his message to Aristagoras : 
 and thus he alarmed the lonians ; though indeed Darius had 
 never formed any such design. 
 
 IV. After these things, by means of one Hermippus an 
 Atarnian as a messenger, he sent to Sardis letters to certain 
 Persians, as if they had held a previous conference with him con- 
 cerning a revolt. But Hermippus did not deliver the letters 
 to the persons to whom they were addressed, but put them 
 into the hands of Artaphernes, who, by this means, perceiving 
 what was doing, commanded the messenger to deliver the 
 letters of Histiaus to the persons he was ordered to carry 
 them, and bring to him the answers he should receive from 
 the Persians. Thus Artaphernes having made a full disco- 
 very, put many of the Persians to death, and caused a great 
 disorder in Sardis. 
 
 V. Histiaeus, disappointed of these hopes, was conducted 
 back to Miletus by the Chians at his own request ; but the 
 Milesians, having gladly got rid of Aristagoras, were by no 
 means eager, inasmuch as they had tasted liberty, to receive 
 another tyrant into their country. Upon which, endeavouring 
 to enter the city by night with an armed force, he was wound- 
 ed in the thigh by a Milesian ; alter he was thus repulsed from 
 his own country, he went back to Chios, and from thence, since 
 he could not persuade the Chians to entrust him with their 
 fleet, he passed over to Mitylene; and prevailed with the 
 Lesbians to furnish him with eight ships, which they fitted 
 out, and accompanied him to Byzantium. In this station they 
 took all the ships that came out of the Euxine, except such as 
 were willing to take part with Histiaeus. 
 
 VI. During the course of these actions done by Histiajus 
 and the Mityleneans, a numerous naval and land force was 
 expected against Miletus itself. For the Persian generals 
 deeming the other cities of less importance, had collected and 
 formed one camp and marched against Miletus. Their mari- 
 time forces consisted of the Phoenicians, Cilicians, and Egyp- 
 tians, with the Cyprians, who had been lately subdued; but 
 of all these, the Phoenicians shewed the greatest zeal to for- 
 ward the enterprize. 
 
 c It was easier to make the lonians to be found in Asia Minor : it would in- 
 
 credit this assertion, because such kind deed be endless to enumerate all the 
 
 of transmigrations were frequent among transmigrations made by the command of 
 
 the Assyrians and Persians. It is well these people. Larcher. 
 known that the Jews were removed to See also Wesseling's ncte. 
 Babylon and Media, and Hy rcanians were
 
 ERATO. VI. 61 
 
 VII. When the lonians heard of the enemy's preparations 
 against Miletus and the rest of Ionia, they sent deputies to 
 the Panionium d ; where being arrived, and consulting toge- 
 ther, they unanimously resolved not to bring together any land 
 forces to oppose the Persians ; but that the Milesians them- 
 selves should defend the city to the utmost of their power, 
 and that they should man their ships, without leaving one be- 
 hind, and after they had completely equipped them they 
 should assemble as soon as possible at Lade, to fight in 
 defence of Miletus. Lade 6 is a small island opposite 
 Miletus. 
 
 VIII. In this resolution the lonians manned their ships, 
 and appearing at the rendezvous in conjunction with those 
 ^Eolians who inhabit Lesbos, drew up their fleet in the follow- 
 ing order. The Milesians with eighty ships occupied the east 
 wing; and next to these the Prieuians with twelve ships, and 
 the Myusians with three, followed by seventeen of the Teians, 
 and a hundred sail of Chians. Next to these, were the Ery- 
 thraeans in eight, the Phocaeans in three, and the Lesbians 
 in seventy ships. The Samians with sixty sail, were posted 
 at the extremity of the line and occupied the western wing. 
 So that the whole Ionian fleet consisted of three hundred and 
 fifty-three ships. 
 
 IX. And though the Barbarians arrived on the Milesian 
 coast with six hundred ships, and all their land forces ; yet 
 the Persian generals hearing the number of the Ionian fleet, 
 began to fear they should be unable to overcome them, and 
 thus be also unable to take Miletus, since they would not be 
 masters at sea ; and also that they might be in danger of re- 
 ceiving some punishment from Darius, summoned together 
 the tyrants of Ionia, who having been expelled by Aristagoras 
 from their dominions, had fled to the Medes, and at that 
 time accompanied the enemy in the expedition against the 
 Milesians. To these men, when they were met together, the 
 Persians spoke in the following terms : " Let each of you, O 
 " lonians, now shew himself ready to benefit the king. For 
 " let every one of you endeavour to divide his own subjects 
 
 d See book i. ch. 142. land. The bay on which that city stooJ 
 
 e Lade was a small island a little dis- has been gradually filled with the sand 
 
 tance from Miletus, and opposite to it, brought down by the river Latmus, and 
 
 according to Thucydides, (viii. 17.) Some Lade is an eminence in a plain. See 
 
 parts of it were detached and formed Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor, or ra- 
 
 other small islands, (Arrian de Exped. ther the Voyage Pittoresque de laGrece, 
 
 Alex. i. 18.) It is at present joined to par M. de Choiseuil Gouffier. Myus, 
 
 the continent. See the description of the near the mouth of the Maeander, under- 
 
 Troad by M. Wood, p. 332. Larcher. went earlier the same fate. Pausan, vii. 
 
 The site of Miletus has now long ceased 3. Mitford, ch. vii. sect. 2. note, 
 to be maritime, and Lade to be an is-
 
 62 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " from the rest of the confederacy, promising, in order to 
 " that end, that none shall suffer f on account of their rebel- 
 " lion, that we will neither burn their buildings whether sa- 
 " cred or profane 8 , and that they shall be in no respect treated 
 " with more severity than before. But if they refuse this 
 " offer, and are fully resolved to come to the hazard of a bat- 
 " tie, threaten them h with the evils which will befal them ; 
 " that, after we have conquered, they shall be reduced to the 
 " condition of slaves ; that we will make eunuchs of their 
 " youth, transport all their virgins to Bactra, and give their 
 " country to another people." 
 
 X. When the Persians had expressed themselves in this 
 manner, and night was come, every one of the Ionian tyrants 
 dispatched a messenger to those he had formerly commanded, 
 with instructions to let them know what they were to expect. 
 But the lonians upon the reception of these messages per- 
 sisted in their determinations and would not listen to the pro- 
 posal of betraying the cause ; for each nation was of opinion, 
 that they alone were solicited by the enemy. Such were the 
 actions of the Persians, immediately after their arrival before 
 Miletus. 
 
 XI. The lonians having assembled their fleet near Lade, 
 held assemblies, in which, after divers propositions had been 
 made, Dionysius, general of the Phocaeans, spoke to this effect: 
 " Our affairs, O lonians, are upon the edge of a razor, whe- 
 " ther we shall be free men or slaves, and that too as run-away 
 " slaves. Now therefore, if you will submit to some hardships 
 " at this time, you may indeed be uneasy for the present ; but 
 " you will be able to preserve your freedom, and overcome 
 " your enemies. Whereas, if you abandon yourselves to effe- 
 " minacy and disorder, I have no hope that you will escape 
 " undergoing punishment for your revolt. Follow my advice, 
 " and entrust yourselves to me, and I engage, if the gods are 
 " impartial, either that our enemies will not fight us at all, or 
 " if they do, that they shall be completely beaten." 
 
 XII. When the lonians heard this, they consented to put 
 themselves under the discipline of Dionysius, who every day 
 led out the ships in a line ', and when by the movement of the 
 
 f Literally ; that they shall not suffer Thucyd. (i. 26.) explains KOT tT 
 
 any thing disagreeable. On this form of by KCIT airn\ijv. See also Raphelius on 
 
 expression, see note on book i. ch. 41. St. Matthew, vol. i. p. 227. and Arist. 
 
 K Td ipd are the temples of the Gods ; Rhet. ii. 2. Lurcher. 
 
 TO. iSia not only the houses of private in- ' 'Eiri Ktpag. Those ships which sail- 
 
 dividuals, but any public edifices, which ed out one after another, by turning 
 
 are not dedicated to the worship of the round, would easily form into a line. 
 
 Gods ; such as are called by the ancients This expression occurs frequently in Thu- 
 
 baia when opposed to it pa. Valckenaer. cydides and the Hellenics of Xenophon. 
 
 h 'ETrr)ptaovri. The Scholiast on
 
 ERATO. VI. G3 
 
 diecplus* *he had exercised the rowers and kept the marines l 
 in arms, he made the ships lay at anchor m the rest of , the day : 
 and thus during the whole day " he gave the lonians no relax- 
 ation from their toil. Seven days they continued to obey the 
 commands of Dionysius; but since they were unaccustomed 
 to such hardships, and exhausted by labour and the scorching 
 heat of the sun, they began to complain one to another in 
 such terms as these: " What deity have we offended, that we 
 " now undergo these hardships? Senseless and deprived of 
 " understanding , we have surrendered ourselves into the 
 " hands of a presumptuous PhocaBan, who, though he brought 
 " in no more than three ships to the common defence, harasses 
 " us by intolerable hardships. Great numbers of us are already 
 " fallen into distempers, and we may reasonably expect many 
 " more will soon be in the same condition. It were better 
 " for us to suffer any other thing, than the pressures we now 
 " lie under ; better to endure the impending servitude, of 
 " what sort soever it may be, than to be oppressed with the 
 " present. Let us take courage then, and no longer submit 
 " to his commands." Immediately after this, they unani- 
 mously refused to obey the orders of Dionysius, but like a 
 land army forming a camp in the island, sat under the shade 
 of their tents, and would not go on board and perform their 
 exercise. 
 
 XIII. The generals of the Samians observing these things, 
 and seeing great disorder among the lonians, accepted the 
 proposal they had received on the part of the Persians, by a 
 message from JEaces the son of Syloson?, exhorting them to 
 abandon the confederacy ; and at the same time being per- 
 
 k This was a movement in ancient na- selves were on land. When the centi- 
 
 val tactics. The principal weapon in nels perceived the fleet of the enemy, 
 
 their engagements was a strong beak of they made -signals, and the men immedi- 
 
 brass or iron projecting from the stem of ately went on board. This custom was 
 
 the galley. Their object was to break the cause of the destruction of the Athe- 
 
 the line of the enemy, and bring their nian fleet at JEgos Potamos. See Xeno- 
 
 beaks to bear directly upon the enemy's phon's Hellenics. The lonians, whom 
 
 broadside; or to gain the means of an their leader would not suffer to go on 
 
 oblique impulse, which might sweep a- shore, found the service very laborious ; 
 
 way some of his oars. They appear to and as they were not accustomed to mili- 
 
 have effected this by the movement call- tary discipline, it is not surprising that 
 
 ed SUKTT\OO, sailing out through the ene- they considered this as a species of servi- 
 
 rny's line. tude which they were impatient to free 
 
 1 As the ancient sea-fights very fre- themselves from. Larcher. 
 
 quently resembled land engagements, it n At' ?j/i6f)ijc. This ought not to be ren- 
 
 was found necessary to have on the decks dered quotidie, every day, but during the 
 
 a great number of armed men, who might whole day. See i.97.ii. 173. and vii. 210. 
 
 with missile weapons annoy the enemy. Valckenaer. 
 
 These were called Epibata-, and seem to ',Kir\<*>aavTtlKTOvv6ov. See book 
 
 have borne a very great resemblance to Hi- ch. 155. 
 
 our marines. P Concerning this person see book iii. 
 
 m The Greeks used to draw up their 139. 
 vessels along the shore, while they them-
 
 G4 HERODOTUS. 
 
 suaded that it was impossible to prevail against the king, 
 because they knew, if that fleet of Darius should be destroyed, 
 he would send another five times as powerful, they em- 
 braced the pretext, as soon as they saw the lonians would 
 not acquit themselves like men, and thought they should be 
 gainers, if they could preserve their temples and private 
 houses from destruction. This ^Eaces, from whom the Sa- 
 miaus received the proposal, was the son of Syloson, the son 
 of another ^Eaces ; and being tyrant of Samos, had been de- 
 prived of his dominions by Aristagoras the Milesian, as the 
 rest of the Ionian tyrants were'. 
 
 XIV. In this disposition of things, the Phoenicians ad- 
 vanced with their ships, and the lonians came on likewise in 
 order of battle ; but I cannot affirm with certainty who among 
 the lonians behaved themselves well or ill, after the two 
 fleets were engaged, because they mutually accuse one an- 
 other. Yet they say, that the Samians, in pursuance of their 
 agreement with .^Eaces, immediately hoisting sail went out of 
 the line, and returned to Samos, eleven ships only excepted, 
 the captains of w T hich stayed and fought, in disobedience to 
 their leaders ; and for this action were rewarded at their re- 
 turn by the community of Samos, with an inscription on a 
 pillar, declaring their names and families, in order to trans- 
 mit their memory to posterity with honour ; which monument 
 is still seen in the public place. When the Lesbians, who 
 were in the next station, saw that the Samians had betaken 
 themselves to flight, they followed their example ; and most 
 of the lonians did the same. 
 
 XV. But among those who persisted in the battle, the 
 Chians were most roughly handled, as they displayed the 
 most signal proofs of their valour, and would not act cow- 
 ardly. They brought, as I said before, one hundred ships, 
 each of which had forty chosen citizens on board, who served 
 as Epibatae ; and though they saw that the greatest part of 
 the confederates had abandoned the common cause, they 
 would not be persuaded to imitate their treachery; but choos- 
 ing rather to remain with the few, they made the diecplus 
 and engaged the enemy ; till at last, after they had taken 
 many ships, and lost more of their own, they fled away home- 
 wards with the rest. 
 
 XVI. Those Chians, who had their ships disabled in the 
 fight, being pursued by the enemy, made the best of their 
 way to Mycale ; and having run their ships aground left them 
 there, and marched by land into the country of Ephesus, and 
 arrived near the city by night, at a time when the women 
 were celebrating the Thesmophoria q . The Ephesians alto- 
 
 f i See note on book i. ch. 171
 
 ERATO. VI. 65 
 
 gether ignorant of what had befallen the Chians, and seeing 
 an armed multitude within their territories, thought they could 
 be no other than robbers, who had a design upon the women ; 
 and in that opinion, sallying out with the whole force of the 
 city, killed them : and this was the fate of those Chians. 
 
 XVII. In the mean time Dionysius the Phocaean, when 
 he saw the lonians totally defeated, abandoned the fight, and 
 sailed away with three ships he had taken from the enemy. 
 But not at all doubting that Phocaea would be subdued with 
 the rest of Ionia, instead of returning home, he went directly 
 to Phoenicia; and after he had disabled r many trading ships 
 on that coast, sailed away with immense riches to Sicily ; 
 from whence he committed great depredations upon the Car- 
 thaginians and Tuscans, yet always spared the Greeks. 
 
 XVIII. The Persians on their part, having obtained this 
 victory over the lonians, besieged Miletus both by sea and 
 land ; and after they had undermined the walls, and brought 
 up all manner of military engines, took the city, together with 
 the citadel 5 , in the sixth year after the revolt of Aristagoras, 
 and reduced the inhabitants to servitude, as agreed with the 
 oracle which had been delivered concerning Miletus. 
 
 XIX. For when the Argives consulted the Pythian touch- 
 ing the fortune of their city, they received a double answer ; 
 part concerning themselves, and part, as an addition, relating 
 to the Milesians. That which was addressed to the Argives 
 I will mention when I arrive at that part of the history * ; the 
 other part relating to the Milesians, who were not present 
 ran thus ; 
 
 Miletus, source of ill, thy stores shall serve 
 To feast and to enrich a multitude. 
 Men with long hair shall sit, and see their feet 
 Wash'd by thy women ; Didyme shall see v 
 Her altars to another's care transferred. 
 
 These things fell upon the Milesians at that time ; for the 
 greater part of the men were killed by the Persians, who 
 wear long hair ; their women and children were made slaves, 
 and the sacred inclosure at Didyme, with the temple and in- 
 most shrine from which the oracle was delivered were pillaged 
 and burnt. The great riches deposited in this place we have 
 already mentioned. 
 
 r Karacuo-ac. This word cannot im- It properly signifies a vertice, a capite, 
 
 ply actually sunk, as it is evident from ab arce ; and is used of a city which is 
 
 several passages, and especially Thucyd. completely taken. Schweigh. 
 i. 50. where it is translated lacerare by * See ch. 77. of this book, 
 some commentators. The ancient me- v For an account of the temple of 
 
 thod of attack might easily account for Branchidae at Didyme, see note to book 
 
 the use of the term. v. ch. 36. A similar construction occurs 
 
 * Kar' aicpjjc. This expression is fre- in Soph. (Ed. Tyr. ver. 119. r6v*A/3a*<n 
 
 quently used by Homer and Thucydides. vaov. Wesseling. 
 VOL. II. K
 
 66 HERODOTUS. 
 
 XX. All the Milesian prisoners were conducted to Susa ; 
 from whence Darius, without any other ill usage, sent them to 
 inhabit the city of Ampe u , situate near the mouth of the Tigris, 
 not far from the place where that river falls into the Red sea. 
 The Persians reserved to themselves the lands that lie about 
 Miletus, with all the level country, and gave the Carians of 
 Pedasa possession of the hills. 
 
 XXI. In this desolation, the Sybarites, who after their e^ 
 pulsion went to inhabit the cities of Laos and Scydrus, requited 
 not the former kindness of the Milesians. For after the Cro- 
 tonians had taken Sybaris*, the Milesians of every age shaved 
 their heads, and gave public demonstrations of their sorrow ; 
 because these two cities had been more strictly united y in 
 friendship than any other. But the Athenians behaved them- 
 selves in another manner, and many ways manifested that they 
 were very much grieved at the taking of Miletus ; particularly 
 when Phrynichus z had composed a drama, the subject of which 
 was the capture of Miletus, the whole theatre burst into tears 
 at the representation, fined him a thousand drachmas for re- 
 newing the memory of a misfortune they took to be their own, 
 and gave order that the piece should never more appear in 
 public. 
 
 XXII. In this manner Miletus was rendered destitute of 
 inhabitants. But the Samians who were of any consideration, 
 not approving what their generals had done in favoiir of the 
 Medes, assembled a council after the event of the battle at 
 sea, and took a resolution to sail away and establish them- 
 selves as a colony elsewhere before the arrival of their tyrant 
 JEaces, and not by continuing in Samos to become slaves to 
 him and the Medes. In that conjuncture the Zanclaeans, a 
 people of Sicily, being desirous to have a city inhabited by 
 lonians, sent messengers to Ionia, with orders to solicit them 
 to settle a colony in that part which faces Tuscany 3 , and is 
 
 u The situations of Ampe and of Opis, was the son of Polyphradmon ; or ac- 
 
 described in book i. ch. 189. have given cording to some, of Minyras or Chorocles ; 
 
 occasion to some learned men to consider or as some say, the father of Polyphrad- 
 
 these two cities as one which had those mon. He was the disciple of Thespis, 
 
 two names : but Ampe was on the gulf and anterior to ./Eschylus, as may be in- 
 
 itself, whereas Opis was a short distance ferred from Aristophanes, (Ran. 910.) 
 
 from it. Lurcher. The second was the son of Melanthus, 
 
 x See book v. ch. 44. and according to Suidas was the author 
 
 T The Sybarites, says Timaeus, had of the drama called The taking of Mile- 
 
 their clothes made of the wool of Mile- tus. But there is great reason to suppose 
 
 tus. This was the cause of the friend- that this Phrynichus is the same as the 
 
 ship which existed between them. Athen. other, although Suidas distinguishes 
 
 Despnosoph. xii. p. 519. them. The third was contemporary with 
 
 1 The ancients speak of three of this Alcibiades. Bellanger. 
 name, all three Athenians and all three a In the Greek there is some little am- 
 
 dramatic poets, the two first tragic, the biguity. *E(m fjitv 2ii\u>v is doubtful, 
 
 third a comic writer. The most ancient for it might belong to the Sicilians and
 
 ERATO. VI. 07 
 
 called Calacte b . Upon this invitation the Samians, and such 
 Milesians as had escaped by flight, were the only lonians who 
 went thither. 
 
 XXIII. During their voyage, and at the time of their 
 landing in the country of the Epizephyrian c Locrians, the 
 Zanclaeans d , with Scythes their king, were employed in the 
 siege of a Sicilian city ; which Anaxilaus e tyrant of Rhegium f 
 and an enemy of the Zanclaeans, understanding, persuaded 
 the Samians to leave alone Calacte, to which they were sail- 
 ing, and to seize the city of Zancle, which had no one in it to 
 defend it. The Samians were persuaded to do as he advised, 
 and possessed themselves 8 of Zancle accordingly; which the 
 Zanclaeans hearing, hastened to recover their city, and called 
 to their assistance Hippocrates tyrant of Gela h , their ally. But 
 Hippocrates arriving with his army, as if to assist them, threw 
 in chains Scythes king of Zancle, who had lost his city, and 
 his brother Pythogenes, and sent them to the city of Inycus': 
 after which, by an agreement made with the Samians, and 
 confirmed on both sides by an oath, he betrayed the rest of 
 the Zanclaeans, on condition to have one half of the slaves 
 and plunder of the city, besides all that should be found in 
 'the country. Accordingly, Hippocrates put in chains the 
 greater part of the Zanclaeans, and treated them as slaves ; 
 
 vet not be in Sicily : therefore, since he 
 had said irpoc Si Tvparivirjv rerpa/i/isf r\, 
 he adds, rfjc 2i<Xijje, in order to shew 
 that it was in Sicily itself. Schweigh. 
 
 b This word signifies beautiful coast. 
 The Latins called it Calacte. See Cicero 
 Orat. iii. cont. verr. . 43. and Silius 
 Italicus xiv. ver. 251. Lurcher. 
 
 c This name implies that they dwelt 
 above the promontory of Zephyrium, in 
 Bruttium, at the eastern side of the foot 
 of Italy. The promontory is now called 
 Capo Burzano. The town was built by 
 the Opuntian Locrians, according to E- 
 phorus, (Strabo vi. p. 397.) They were 
 called Epizephyrian to distinguish them 
 from the other Locrians. Lurcher. 
 
 d Zancle was one of the most ancient 
 cities of Sicily ; it was situated on the 
 strait which divides Italy from Sicily, 
 nearly opposite Rhegium. This name 
 was given it, because it was in the form 
 of a sickle, which the Sicilians used to 
 call ZayicXov, (Thucydid. vi. 4.) It was 
 afterwards called Messana or Messena, 
 by Anaxilaus, king of Rhegium, who 
 took it 494. B.C. in remembrance of his 
 native country, Messenia. See Thucyd. 
 vi. 4, 5. 
 
 e Anaxilaus was the son of Cretines 
 
 and married Cydippe daughter of Teril- 
 lus, king of Himera. See book vii. 165. 
 He abolished the Democracy of Rhe- 
 gium, (Arist. Polit. v. 12.) and possess- 
 ed himself of the sovereign power. 
 Lurcher. 
 
 { Now called Reggio. It derived its 
 name from pijyvvfu, I break, because it 
 was supposed that Italy was at this place 
 separated from Sicily by some convulsion 
 of nature. It is well described by Virgil. 
 ./Eneid iii. ver. 414. 
 
 8 They were soon after expelled by 
 Anaxilaus Tyrant of Rhegium. See 
 Thucyd. vi. 5. 
 
 h Gela was on the southern coast of 
 Sicily, on the western bank of the river 
 Gelas. It was built by Antiphemus of 
 Rhodes and Entimus of Crete. There is 
 a small town called Terra Nuova, near 
 the site of the ancient Gela, and the 
 river Gelas is now called Fiume di Terra 
 Nuova, from that town. See D'Orville's 
 Sicula, pag. 127, &c. Larcher. 
 
 ' It is impossible to determine the posi- 
 tion of this city. I think, however, that 
 I shall not be far from the truth if I place 
 it on the western coast of the island, at 
 the mouth of the Hypsa and eastward of 
 Selinus. Larcher. 
 K 2
 
 68 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and delivered three hundred of the principal citizens to be put 
 to death by the Samians ; but they would not commit so cruel 
 an action. 
 
 XXIV. Scythes king of the Zanclaeans made his escape 
 from Inycus to Himera k , and there embarking passed over 
 into Asia to Darius, who thought him the most just of all the 
 Grecians who had come up to his court. For Scythes, after 
 he had made a voyage to Sicily with the king's leave, return- 
 ed back to him again, and died among the Persians, very old 
 and very rich. Thus the Samians at once escaped the yoke of 
 the Medes, and without trouble made themselves masters of 
 the very beautiful city of Zancle. 
 
 XXV. After the battle which was fought by sea for the 
 possession of Miletus, the Phoenicians, by order of the Per- 
 sians, conducted ^Eaces the son of Syloson to Samos, in re- 
 compence of his merits and service. This was the only city of 
 all those that revolted from Darius which escaped with its 
 houses and temples undestroyed ; because the Samians had 
 abandoned their allies in the engagement at sea. The Per- 
 sians, after the reduction of Miletus, soon possessed them- 
 selves of Caria ; partly by a voluntary submission of the inha- 
 bitants, and partly by force. 
 
 XXVI. While Histiaeus the Milesian continued about 
 Byzantium, intercepting the trading ships of the lonians in 
 their passage from the Euxine, he received an account of all 
 that had passed at Miletus ; and leaving the care of his affairs 
 on the Hellespont to Bisaltes of Abydos, the son of Apollo- 
 phanes, he took the Lesbians with him and sailed to Chios, 
 where he engaged with a detachment of Chians in a place in 
 Chios called Coeli 1 , and killed great numbers; and afterwards 
 marching with the Lesbians from Polichna" 1 in Chios, subdued 
 the rest of the Chians, considerably weakened by the preced- 
 ing fight at sea. 
 
 XXVII. The deity is wont" to give some previous signifi- 
 cation or other, when any great calamities are about to fall 
 upon any city or nation, and before these misfortunes great 
 signs occured to the Chians. For of a chorus of one hundred 
 
 k Himera was situated on the northern " and looks towards the west. In it we 
 
 coast of Sicily, on the western bank of " see mountains covered with wood, and 
 
 the river Himera. It was founded 649 " deep and dark hollows, from w liich a 
 
 B. C. by Euclides, Simus and Sacon, " great number of small rivers spring." 
 
 (Thucyd. vi. 5.) The warm springs in Thus Coeli would be in the western part 
 
 the neighbourhood have given it the of the island. Lurcher. 
 
 name of Termini. Larcher. m I am of opinion that this is the pro- 
 
 1 This word signifies cavities, hollow per title of the town. Wesseling. 
 
 places. Meletius, Archbishop of Athens, n The verb itpoa-imaiviiv may be used 
 
 in his Geography, pag. 407. thus de- impersonally ; or 6 6io may be under- 
 
 scribes the island. " This island is di- stood. So in war, fftjfiaivii, the trumpet 
 
 " vided into two parts. The first is lofty sounds. Schu-eigh.
 
 ERATO. VI. 69 
 
 young men they sent to Delphi, two only returned home, after 
 they had lost ninety-eight of their companions by an infectious 
 disorder. And a little before the battle at sea, a house in the 
 city falling upon the .heads of one hundred and twenty boys, 
 as they were learning to read, killed all that number, except 
 one. After these divine admonitions, the disaster of their 
 fleet ensued, which brought the city to a humbled condition ; 
 and after the sea-fight Histiaeus with his Lesbians arrived, 
 and as they were already exhausted, he easily subdued them. 
 
 XXVIII. From thence Histiaeus with a numerous army 
 of lonians and ^Eolians went to Thasus, and while he was be- 
 sieging that place, received information, that the Phoenicians 
 had left Miletus, with a design to invade the rest of Ionia. 
 Upon which he left Thasus and passed over to Lesbos with 
 all his forces; and from thence, because his army was in want 
 of provisions, he crossed to the opposite shore to reap the 
 corn which grew in Atarneis , and the plain of Caicus which 
 belongs to the Mysians. But Harpagus, a Persian general, 
 being in those parts with a considerable army, fell upon him 
 soon after his landing, killed most of his men upon the place, 
 and took Histiaeus prisoner. 
 
 XXIX. Histiasus was thus taken ; whilst the Greeks made 
 a long and vigorous resistance against the Persians at Malene 
 in the district of Atarneis, the enemy's cavalry came pouring 
 in upon them with such fury, that they put an end to the bat- 
 tle ; when the Greeks had betaken themselves to flight, His- 
 tiaeus hoping the king would not put him to death for his of- 
 fence, conceived a desire of preserving his life. For as he 
 fled, and was overtaken by a Persian, who was on the point of 
 stabbing him, he in the Persian language discovered himself 
 to be Histiaeus the Milesian. 
 
 XXX. And I am of opinion P, that if he had been con- 
 ducted alive to Darius, he would have suffered no punish- 
 ment, but the king would have forgiven him his fault. But 
 lest that should happen, and Histiaeus escaping, should again 
 insinuate himself into the king's favour, Artapherues, gover- 
 nor of Sardis, and Harpagus, whose prisoner he was, ordered 
 
 Atarneis was a district of Mysia, op- vice he rendered the king and the Per- 
 ppsite Lesbos, and had been given by the sians by preserving the bridge over the 
 Persians to the Chians, because they had Danube was more than sufficient to re- 
 delivered up Pactyas ; see book i. 160. deem it. We might bring forward many 
 It appears probable that after the Ionian other instances of the bounty and cle- 
 revolt the Persians gave it to the Mysians. mency of Darius, such as Democedes, 
 Lurcher. Syloson, Goes, &c. He was very much 
 
 P This conjecture is founded on the incensed against the Milesians and Ere- 
 
 bounty of Darius, who was always mind- trians, but when he had them in his 
 
 ful of services, according to the Persian power, he was satisfied with removing 
 
 law. The crime of Histiaeus may cer- their abode. Valckenaer. 
 tainly be considered great, but the ser-
 
 70 HERODOTUS. 
 
 him to be crucified at his arrival in that city, and sent his head 
 embalmed to Darius at Susa. When the king was informed 
 of this action, he expressed his discontent against the authors, 
 because they had not brought Histiagus alive to his presence ; 
 and commanded his head to be washed, and decently interred, 
 as the remains of a man, who had been a great benefactor to 
 himself and the Persians. Thus died Histiaeus. 
 
 XXXI. The Persian fleet, which wintered at Miletus, 
 easily subdued in the following year Chios, Lesbos, and Tene- 
 dos, islands lying near the continent ; and in every one of 
 these, when the Barbarians had possessed themselves of the 
 place, they took the inhabitants in a net. For taking one an- 
 other by the hand, and forming a line, from the north to the 
 south side, they marched over the island, and hunted out all 
 the inhabitants. They took the Ionian cities on the continent 
 with the same ease; but attempted not to inclose the inhabit- 
 ants in the same manner, because that was impossible. 
 
 XXXII. After they had done this, the Persian generals 
 made good the menacing messages they had sent to the loni- 
 ans, when the two armies were in view. For upon the reduc- 
 tion of the Ionian cities, they made eunuchs of the handsomest 
 of the youth, sent the most beautiful virgins to the king, and 
 burnt the private houses and temples. Thus the louians were 
 the third time conquered ; first by the Lydians, and twice fol- 
 lowing by the Persians. 
 
 XXXIII. The Persian fleet having left Ionia, reduced 
 the places situate on the left hand of those who sail into the 
 Hellespont ; for all the countries that lie on the right, and 
 were on the continent had already been subdued by the Per- 
 sians. The European side of the Hellespont contains the fol- 
 lowing places, the Chersonese, on which are many cities, Pe- 
 rinthus, Selybrie, Byzantium, and divers walled towns of 
 Thrace. The Byzantians, with the Chalcedonians who are 
 situated on the opposite shore, would not wait the coming of 
 the Phoenician fleet ; but leaving their habitations, and flying 
 to the Euxine, built the city of Mesambria on that sea. In the 
 mean time the Phoenicians burnt the places I have mentioned, 
 and sailing to Proconnesus and Artace, set fire to these like- 
 wise ; after which they returned to the Chersonese, in order 
 to destroy all those cities they had not plundered at their first 
 landing. Against Cyzicum they did not sail at all, because 
 the Cyzicenians had voluntarily submitted to the king before 
 the arrival of the Phoenicians, having already capitulated with > 
 QEbares the son of Megabyzus, prefect of Dascylium. The 
 rest of the Chersonesian cities were subdued by the Phoeni- 
 cians, except Cardia. 
 
 XXXIV. These cities were till that time under the do-
 
 ERATO. VI. 71 
 
 minion of Miltiades the son of Cimon and grandson of Stesa- 
 goras, and had been formerly acquired by Miltiades the son of 
 Cypselus in the following manner. The Thracian Dolonci 
 formerly possessed that part of the Chersonese, who being 
 hard pressed in war by the Apsynthians, sent their kings to 
 inquire of the Delphian oracle concerning the event; and 
 were admonished by the Pythian, to invite that man to found 
 a colony in their country, who after their departure from the 
 temple should first offer them hospitality. Accordingly the 
 Dolonci passing by the sacred way* through the territories of 
 the Phoca3ans and Boeotians, and receiving no offer of enter- 
 tainment, turned into the road to Athens. 
 
 XXXV. In that time Pisistratus had indeed the supreme 
 power ; but Miltiades the son of Cypselus was not without au- 
 thority in Athens ; he was of a family which maintained four 
 horses for the games', and was anciently descended from JEa- 
 cus and ^Egina, but afterwards became an Athenian, Philaeus 
 the son of Ajax s , being the first of that blood who settled 
 there. This Miltiades sitting before his gates, and seeing the 
 Dolonci passing by, clothed and armed in a different manner 
 from the Athenians, called out to them ; and upon their com- 
 ing to him, offered them a lodging and hospitality. They ac- 
 cepted his invitation ; and after they had been hospitably en- 
 tertained, acquainted him with the oracle, and requested him 
 to act in conformity to the admonition of the god. Miltiades 
 hearkened to their proposition, and complied with more rea- 
 diness, because he grew impatient of the government of Pisis- 
 tratus, and desired an opportunity to withdraw. In these 
 sentiments he went to .Delphi to consult the oracle, whether 
 he should yield to the request of the Dolonci. 
 
 XXXVI. The Pythian having also ordered him, then at 
 length Miltiades the son of Cypselus, who had formerly been 
 victorious in the Olympian 1 chariot-race, taking with him all 
 such Athenians as were willing to join in his expedition, set 
 sail with the Dolonci ; and arriving in their country was in- 
 vested with the sovereign power. This first thing he did was 
 
 i A very celebrated way, leading from s Pherecydes (Marcellin. Vit. Thucyd. 
 
 Athens to Eleusis is mentioned in Pau- init.) calls him Philaeas, and makes him 
 
 san.i.36.and Athenseus xiii.p.594. This the'son of Aiax, as do Herodotus, Plu- 
 
 one, however, is probably that by which tarch, (in Solone. torn. i. pag. 83.) and 
 
 the Athenians accompanied the sacred Stephens of Byzantium. Pausanias says, 
 
 procession to Delphi. Wesseling. however,that he was his grandson, (i.35.) 
 
 r That is as much as to say, he was There are some difficulties with respect 
 
 very rich ; for Attica being a barren to the descent of Miltiades from this per- 
 
 country and but little adapted to pastur- son, which are stated by Larcher in a note 
 
 age, the keeping of horses was very ex- of considerable length, 
 
 pensive, and it was necessary to be rich * We do not know in what year to place 
 
 to do so. See the beginning of the Clouds this victory, Larcher. 
 of Aristophanes. Larcher.
 
 72 HERODOTUS. 
 
 to build a wall upon" the isthmus of the Chersonese, from 
 the city of Cardia to that of Pactya, in order to prevent the 
 Apsynthians from infesting the country for the future with 
 their incursions. The isthmus is thirty-six stades in breadth ; 
 and the whole length of the Chersonese, beginning in that 
 place, is four hundred and twenty stades. 
 
 XXXVII. When Miltiades had built this wall on the neck 
 of the Chersonese, and by that means excluded the Apsyn- 
 thians, he in the next place made war upon the Lampsacenians; 
 and falling into an ambuscade, was taken alive by the enemy. 
 But Croesus the Lydian being familiarly acquainted * with 
 him, and hearing this event, dispatched a messenger to Lamp- 
 sacus, ordering them to set Miltiades at liberty, and to threaten, 
 if they refused to comply, that he would crush them as pines. 
 The Lampsacenians being in uncertainty about the meaning of 
 the menace sent by Crossus, that he would crush them as pines, 
 were at length informed by an old man, who, having perceived 
 the sense of those words, acquainted them that the pine alone 
 of all trees perishes entirely 3 " when cut down, and does not 
 send forth any more shoots ; upon which the Lampsacenians, 
 dreading the power of Croesus, set Miltiades at liberty. 
 
 XXXVIII. Thus having escaped by the means of Croesus, 
 and afterwards dying without children, he left his dominion 
 and riches to Stesagoras the son of Cimon, his brother by the 
 same mother. The Chersonesians honour him with sacrifices, 
 as is usual to a founder 2 , and have instituted gymnastic and 
 equestrian exercises on that occasion, in which no Lampsace- 
 nian is permitted to contend for the prize. During the war, 
 which still continued against the people of Lampsacus, Stesa- 
 
 u In those times, when they knew not ponnese from the invasion of the Turks, 
 
 how any place, by its situation or garri- Lurcher. 
 
 son, could check the incursions of an ene- x T H v k o MtXruidijc Kpocery ry A vcy 
 
 my, they only used to oppose his irrup- iv yvufiy ytyovwQ. This is translated by 
 
 tions by a wall, which, by shutting in the Coray, " Miltiades etoit aime de Cresus ;" 
 
 country, might afford shelter. The Em- and he supposes it to be synonymous 
 
 peror Justinian afterwards repaired this with Kara, yoov tlval, which Herodotus 
 
 wall and endeavoured by additional for- uses, ix. 110. In this he is followed by 
 
 tifications to exclude the Thracians. (See Larcher. Schweighsuser supposes tv 
 
 Procop. de JEdific. Justiniani, iv. 10.) yv&ny ytyovug to be the same as y vupt- 
 
 The Romans had before made use of this fiog, well known and familiar with. 
 
 method to protect the Britons ; I allude l The pine is not the only tree which 
 
 to the wall of Sevenis, which extended dies, when cut down. The circumstance 
 
 from Tinmouth to Solway Frith. The is mentioned by Aulus Gellius, (Noct. 
 
 Chinese, still less skilled than the Ro- Attic, viii. 4.) This expression after- 
 
 mans in the art of fortifying places, could wards became a proverb. Such allego- 
 
 not devise any other means to protect ries were very common among the an- 
 
 themselves from the incursions of the cients. See Arist. Rhet. ii. 17. . 3. and 
 
 Tartars, than by raising that immense iii. 6. 
 
 wall, which is called the great wall. It z The people of Amphipolis paid the 
 
 was thus also, that the Greeks under same honours to Brasidas. See Thucyd. 
 
 Manuel Palaeologus sheltered the Pelo- v. 11.
 
 ERATO. VI. 73 
 
 goras likewise died without children : being killed by the blow 
 of an axe he received on the head from the hand or one, who 
 pretended to be a deserter, but was in fact too crafty an 
 enemy. 
 
 XXXIX. Stesagoras having perished in that manner, the 
 Pisistratidae sent Miltiades, the son of Cimon, and brother of 
 Stesagoras, to the Chersonese, with one ship, to take upon 
 him the government ; having been already favourable to him 
 in Athens, as if they had not had any part in the murder of 
 his father Cimon; the particulars of which I will relate in 
 another place". Arriving in Chersonese, he kept himself re- 
 tired, under colour of honouring the memory of his brother 
 Stesagoras ; which the Chersonesites hearing, the principal 
 persons of every city assembled together ; and coming to his 
 house, with intentions to condole with him, were all seized and 
 imprisoned. And thus Miltiades kept possession of the Cher- 
 sonese, maintaining five hundred auxiliaries for his guard ; and 
 married Hegesipyla b , daughter to Olorus king of Thrace. 
 
 XL. This Miltiades, therefore, the son of Cimon had lately 
 arrived in the Chersonese ; and, after his arrival, greater diffi- 
 culties, than his present circumstances, befel him. For in the 
 third year c before these things, he fled out of the country, not 
 daring to wait the coming of the Scythian Nomades, who 
 having been irritated by the expedition of Darius, had assenv 
 bled their forces, and advanced as far as this Chersonese. 
 Nevertheless, upon the departure of the Scythians, he was 
 conducted back by the Dolonci : these things happened in the 
 third year before the present affairs. 
 
 XLI. Miltiades having then learnt that the Phoenicians 
 were at Tenedos, put all his riches on board five of the 
 
 a See chap. 103. author in ch. 33. had begun to mention, 
 b This princess, after the death of Mil- before he made this digression concerning 
 tiades, married an Athenian of rank. She the former Miltiades, the first king of the 
 gave the name of Olorus to a son she had Chersonese, and which he proceeds to 
 by this man, after her father. Thucydi- explain in ch. 41. Tpiry irii rovTtiav, 
 des was the son of this Olorus, and there- by itself, may signify the third year after, 
 fore his great grandfather was king of but from what is joined to it, it may be 
 Thrace. These alliances of the Atheni- easily seen that it signifies the third year 
 ans with the most illustrious families of before ; as is plainly stated at the end of 
 Thrace, induced them to tell Seuthes the chapter. The things which happen- 
 that he knew the Athenians were rela- ed to him the third year before, were 
 tions. (Xenoph. Anab. vii. 2.) None \a\tiriitrtpa, more sad than the things 
 can be ignorant that Sadocus, son of Si- which now befel him. For, at the pre- 
 talces, king of the Odrysi, and the most sent time, as is related in the following 
 powerful prince of that country, became chapter, he fled to Athens with his 
 a citizen of Athens. Thucyd. ii. 29. wealth, and only lost one ship, with his 
 Lurcher. son, who was well treated by the Per- 
 c Td Kark\ovra 7rpjy/iara, & rort fiiv sians ; but the third year before he was 
 KaTtXapfiavt, the present things which compelled to fly from the Chersonese and 
 then occupied him, (or happened to him,) go into exile. Schweigh. 
 are doubtless those things which our 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 74 HERODOTUS. 
 
 triremes that were at hand, and sailed for Athens. He set out 
 from Cardia and sailed through the gulf of Melas, and as he 
 was going past the Chersonese, the Phoenician fleet fell in 
 with his ships, and took one of the five, commanded by Metio- 
 chus, his eldest son, though born of another woman, and not 
 of the daughter of Olorus king of Thrace ; whilst he with the 
 other four escaped to Imbros. The Phoenicians understand- 
 ing that the captain of the ship they had taken was the son of 
 Miltiades, conducted him to the king, in hope of meriting his 
 favour in a peculiar manner, because Miltiades had formerly 
 endeavoured to persuade the Ionian generals to comply with 
 the Scythians, when they were desired to break the bridge 
 and return home. But Darius, after the Phoenicians had 
 taken up to him Metiochus the son of Miltiades, was so far 
 from doing him any hurt, that on the contrary he conferred 
 great benefits upon him. For he presented him with a house 
 and lands, and gave him a Persian wife, by whom he had 
 children, who were enrolled among the Persians. 
 
 LXII. In the mean time Miltiades arrived at Athens from 
 Imbros, and during that year the Persians attempted no far- 
 ther hostilities' 1 against the lonians : on the contrary, the fol- 
 lowing things were done which were very much to their ad- 
 vantage. For Artaphernes governor of Sardis, having sent 
 for deputies from each city, compelled the lonians to enter 
 into mutual engagements to observe justice, and to desist from 
 committing depredations one upon another. After which he 
 measured their lands by parasangs, (the Persian name for 
 thirty stades,) and settled the tribute they should pay, in pro- 
 portion to the extent of their territories. This regulation 
 established by Artaphernes, being little different from that 
 which they were under before, continued to be observed by 
 the inhabitants in our time. These things tended to produce 
 tranquillity among them. 
 
 XLIII. In the beginning of the next spring, after the king 
 had recalled his generals, Mardonius the son of Gobryas 6 , a 
 young man, who had newly married Artozostra the daughter 
 of Darius, marched down to the coast, with numerous forces 
 to be employed both by land and by sea f ; and embarking in 
 Cilicia, set sail with the fleet, while the other generals led the 
 land army to the Hellespont. When he had passed the coast 
 of Asia, and had arrived in Ionia, he did an action, which will 
 
 d Nflicoe signifies war in Homer fre- the cousin of Xerxes, 
 
 quently, and also in Herodotus, vii. 158. f Isaac Casaubon rightly interprets 
 
 Wesseling. VO.VTIKOV arparbv, Jh to embark in ships. 
 
 e Gobryas was one of the seven con- For it was impossible for Mardonius to 
 
 spirators that dethroned the Magus, take the ships from Persia to Cilicia. 
 
 Mardonius (Diodorus Sic. xi. 1.) was Wesseling.
 
 ERATO. VI. 75 
 
 be a matter of very great astonishment to those Grecians, 
 who cannot believe that Otanes delivered his opinion to the 
 seven Persians, that it was right for the Persians to be go- 
 verned by a democracy. For Mardonius deposed all the Io- 
 nian tyrants, and settled a popular government in every city. 
 After which he departed to the Hellespont ; and having there 
 assembled a great army, with a numerous fleet, passed over 
 that sea into Europe, and turned his march towards Eretria 
 and Athens. 
 
 XLIV. The reduction of these places % was indeed the 
 pretext of their enterprize ; but they really intended no less 
 than to subdue all the Grecian cities they could. For with 
 their fleet they reduced the Thasians without resistance, and 
 with their land forces enslaved the Macedonians' 1 , without 
 reckoning those who were before subjected ; for all the na- 
 tions on this side ' Macedonia were already under their power. 
 From Thasus their fleet stood over to the continent, and 
 coasted along the shore to Acanthus ; but as they were en- 
 deavouring to double the cape of mount Athos, a violent and 
 irresistible north wind came upon them, and roughly treated 
 very many of their ships by dashing them against Athos. The 
 general report is, that they lost by this disaster three hundred 
 ships, and upwards of twenty thousand men ; many of these 
 being devoured by monstrous marine animals which abound 
 in that sea, many dashed in pieces on the rocks, while some 
 who could not swim perished in the water, and some who 
 could swim perished with cold. 
 
 XLV. In the mean time Mardonius encamping with his 
 army in Macedonia, was attacked in the night by the Brygi k , 
 a people of Thrace, who killed great numbers of his men, and 
 wounded Mardonius himself. Nevertheless they could not 
 preserve themselves from falling under the power of the Per- 
 sians ; but were subdued by Mardonius before he quitted those 
 parts : and then, considering the loss he had received from 
 the Brygi, and the greater disaster of his fleet at mount Athos, 
 he thought fit to retire ; and accordingly repassed into Asia 
 with his forces, after an unsuccessful expedition. 
 
 f Revenge against Athens and Eretria ch. vii. 3. 
 
 for the insult at Sardis, was the avowed h A part of Macedonia had given earth 
 
 purpose of this formidable armament. and water to the Persians, as we have 
 
 But, considering all the best information seen in the preceding book, ch. 18. 
 
 remaining to us of the character of Darius Lurcher, 
 
 and of the circumstances of the times, ' This must be understood in reference 
 
 it appears highly probable that the same to the Persians. 
 
 necessity for employing restless spirits, k A part of this people was transported 
 
 which had urged the Scythian expedi- into Asia, and peopled Phrygia, to which 
 
 tion, was the principal motive also to the they gave their name, the B being 
 
 permission of this enterprize. Mitford, changed into Ph. Larcher. 
 
 L 2
 
 76 HERODOTUS. 
 
 XLVI. In the second year after these events, Darius, 
 being informed by the neighbours of the Thasians that they 
 designed to revolt, dispatched a messenger to command them 
 to demolish their walls, and to send away their ships to Ab- 
 dera. For the Thasians, who had been besieged by Histiaeus 
 the Milesian, and wanted not considerable revenues, applied 
 their riches to the building of ships of war, and fortifying their 
 city with a stronger wall. Their revenues arose partly from 
 the continent 1 , and partly from their mines : those of Scapte- 
 Hyle m , which were of gold, producing at least" eighty talents 
 yearly, and those of Thasus something less ; yet in such a 
 quantity, that not paying taxes on the produce of their lands, 
 the Thasians usually received in all two hundred talents yearly 
 from the continent and from the mines ; and when the great- 
 est quantity came in, three hundred. 
 
 XLVII. I myself have seen these mines ; of which the 
 most wonderful are those found by the Phoenicians, who ac- 
 companied Thasus, when he settled in this island, and gave 
 his name to the country. These Phoenician mines are in 
 Thasus itself between two places, one of which is called 
 ^Enyri, and the other, Caenyri, where a great mountain, 
 which fronted Samothracia, has been overturned in the 
 search. Such is the state of things there. The Thasians in 
 obedience to the king demolished their walls, and took all 
 their ships to Abdera. 
 
 XLVIII. After which Darius resolving to try the inten- 
 tions of the Greeks, whether they would submit or make war 
 against him, sent his heralds into divers parts of Greece to 
 demand earth and water in his name ; and when he had done 
 this, dispatched other messengers to the tributary cities on 
 the coast, with orders to build ships of war, and transports for 
 horses. 
 
 XLIX. Whilst these preparations were carried on, many 
 people of the continent made their submission to the Persian 
 in the manner required by his heralds ; and all the other 
 islanders , and the JEginetae, delivered the usual present of 
 earth and water in testimony of obedience. Immediately after 
 
 1 Thucydides (i. 100.) informs us that depends entirely on the particle y ; I am 
 the Thasians had some valuable mines however of opinion, that we ought to 
 and lands on the opposite coasts of comprehend in this calculation the pro- 
 Thrace, duce of the lands of the island and conti- 
 
 m Tlie dug or mined wood. nent. Lurcher. 
 
 n Without the particle y the reason- Herodotus says all the islands ; but 
 
 ing is not correct. For if the produce of he afterwards (vii. 46.) excepts the little 
 
 the mines in the island is not so consi- islands of Seriphos, Siphnos and Melos. 
 
 derable as those of Scapte-Hyle, and Apparently he should also have excepted 
 
 those of Scapte-Hyle only produce eighty Eubcea and Crete, or at least most of 
 
 talents, how can the two together amount their towns. Mitford, ch. vii. 3. 
 to 00 or 300 talents? The reasoning
 
 ERATO. VI. 77 
 
 this, the Athenians threatened them, as they suspected that 
 this act of the JEginetse was aimed at them, in order that they 
 might march against them, in conjunction with the Persians ; 
 and readily taking the opportunity, sent to Sparta, and accused 
 the ^Eginetae as betraying Greece by that act. 
 
 L. Upon this complaint Cleomenes the son of Anaxan- 
 drides, at that time king of Sparta, passed over to ^Egina, 
 with intention to seize the principal persons concerned in that 
 action ; and endeavouring to put his design in execution, met 
 with opposition from many of the ^Eginetae, but chiefly from 
 Crius the son of Polycritus, who told him plainly, that he 
 should not carry off" any one of the inhabitants with impunity ; 
 that he came to make this attempt without, the consent of the 
 Spartans, being persuaded by Athenian money ; and that if 
 things had not been so, the other king of Sparta would have 
 accompanied him on this occasion : which words were spoken 
 by Crius upon a private message he had received from Dema- 
 ratus. When Cleomenes was thus forced to retire, he asked 
 Crius his name ; and after Crius had informed him, said, 
 " Tip therefore p , O Ram, your horns with brass; since you 
 " are about to meet with a great calamity." 
 
 LT. Demaratus the son of Ariston was likewise king of 
 Sparta at the same time with Cleomenes ; and staying at home 
 aspersed the conduct of his colleague. He was indeed of the 
 inferior branch ; but as they were both descended from the 
 same stock, it was only inferior, since the family of the Eurys- 
 thenes was more honoured, on account of its being the 
 elder. 
 
 LII. The Lacedaemonians, differing from all the poets, af- 
 firm, that they were not conducted into the region they now 
 possess by the sons of Aristodemus q ; but by their king Ari- 
 
 P Kpioc, in Greek signifies a ram. province, in gratitude for important fa- 
 
 Thus Cicero ridicules Verres, (ii. in vours received from Hercules, is said to 
 
 Verrem, ch. 78.) " Videtis Yerrutium? have adopted Hyllus, eldest son of that 
 
 " videtis primas>literas integras? videtis hero, by Deianeira, and to have be- 
 
 " extremam partem nominis, caudam queathed his principality to him. Being 
 
 " illam Verris tanquam in luto demer- thus raised from the condition of exiles to 
 
 " sam esse in litura." Many more ex- that of princes, the posterity of Hercules 
 
 amples are collected by Valckenaer. See were not satisfied with a command in the 
 
 his note. wilds of (Eta and Parnassus. Esteeming 
 
 i About 80 years after the destruction themselves direct heirs of the family of 
 of Troy, (Thucyd. i. 12.) a great revolu- Perseus, they never ceased to claim the 
 tion happened, which changed the popu- dominion of Peloponnesus, and particu- 
 lation of a large part of Greece, and, in larlyof Argos, of which they had been de- 
 its consequences, that of a long extent of prived by the Pelopids. Twice penetrat- 
 the western coast of Asia Minor. The ing through the isthmus, they were corn- 
 children and partizans of the great Her- pelled to retreat with loss. But at length 
 cules had been invited from Athens, their Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, 
 first place of refuge from Eurystheus, to said to be great-grandsons of Hyllus, as- 
 settle in Doris. ^Epalius, chief of that sociating Oxylus, an ^Etolian chieftain,
 
 78 HERODOTUS. 
 
 stodemus himself, who was the son of Aristomachus ; grand- 
 son of Cleodaeus, and great grandson to Hyllus ; that in a 
 little time after their arrival, Argia r the wife of Aristodemus, 
 and daughter, as they say, to Autesion the son of Tisamenes, 
 whose father was Thersander the son of Polynices, brought 
 him two male children at a birth, which he had no sooner 
 seen than he died by sickness ; that the Lacedaemonians of 
 that day, resolved after a consultation to make the eldest 
 child king, according to custom ; but they did not however 
 know which to choose, since they were alike and of the same 
 size. Being unable to discover, they at length, or perhaps 
 before s , asked the mother ; she replied, that she herself was 
 unable to tell, although she knew very well, but was desirous 
 that both, if possible, might be made kings ; that the Lacedae- 
 monians continuing still in doubt, sent to inquire of the oracle 
 at Delphi, how they should act in this case. The Pythian, 
 they add, exhorted them to receive both for their kings ; but 
 to pay the greatest honours to the eldest : that after this an- 
 swer they were in no less perplexity than before, till one 
 Panites a Messenian advised the Lacedaemonians to observe 
 which of the two children the mother would first wash and 
 feed ; assuring them, that if she was constant to the same 
 method, they might be certain of the thing they so much de- 
 sired to know ; but if she should vary in her manner, and ap- 
 ply her care indifferently to both, they ought to believe she 
 knew more than they did, and must endeavour to find out 
 some other expedient. The Spartans, in pursuance of his ad- 
 vice, watched the mother of the children of Aristodemus, who 
 had no suspicion of their design, and found that she constantly 
 preferred the elder both in washing and feeding. They there- 
 fore took the child, which had been so honoured by its parent, 
 as if it was the eldest, and educated it in public ; they named 
 
 their kinsman, crossed the Corinthian wards added to the Argian dominion ; 
 gulf from Naupactus, at the head of an the former by Phalces, son of Temenus ; 
 army, with which, excepting the moun- the other by Rhegnidas, son of Phalces. 
 tainous province of Arcadia, they overran Mitford's Greece, ch. iii. sect. 1. 
 the whole peninsula. Tisamenus, son of r Argia was the sister of Theras, who 
 Orestes, forced from Argolis and Laco- was the uncle and tutor of Eurysthenes 
 nia, made however a stand in vEgialeia ; and Procles ; see book iv. ch. 147. She 
 and maintaining himself there, the coun- was descended in a direct line from Cad- 
 try acquired from his followers the name mus. Lurcher. 
 
 of Achaia. Of the rest the Heracleids s This is translated by Larcher, " ne 
 
 became complete masters. Temenus " pouvant pas plus qu'auparavant dis- 
 
 took possession of Argos, Cresphontes of " tinguer." He follows Wesseling, and 
 
 Messenia, and, Aristodemus dying, his understands /taXAov before ?/ <ca irpb 
 
 twin-sons Eurysthenes and Procles were TOVTOV. I have followed Schweighaeuser. 
 
 made joint kings of Lacedaemon: Co- To icdpra signifies vel maiime, quam 
 
 rinth was given to Aletes, also a descend- maiime, as in i. 71. 5. iii. 104. 14. vii. 
 
 ant of Hercules, and Eleia was allotted 16. 24. 
 to Oxylus. Sicyon and Phlius were after-
 
 ERATO. VI. 79 
 
 him Eurysthenes, and gave the name of Procles to the 
 younger. These two brothers, after they had attained the age 
 of men, could never agree during all the time of their lives ; 
 and their descendants lived in the same enmity*. 
 
 LIII. The Lacedaemonians are the only people of Greece 
 who report these things ; but I must not omit to mention what 
 the rest of the Grecians say on this subject. They affirm then, 
 that all the Dorian kings up to Perseus the son of Danae, 
 without comprehending the Deity, are rightly enumerated" 
 by the Greeks, and rightly proved to be Greeks ; for at that 
 time they were enrolled among the Greeks : I say, up to 
 Perseus *, and go no higher; because he had no surname de- 
 rived from a mortal father, as Hercules had from Amphytrion; 
 and therefore I have had reason in only saying up to Perseus; 
 but if we were to trace the line of their male ancestors from 
 Danae, the daughter of Acrisius we should find that the 
 leaders of the Dorians were originally natives of Egypt : and 
 this is the genealogy which the Greeks give. 
 
 L1V. Nevertheless, the received opinion among the Per- 
 sians is, that Perseus being an Assyrian by birth, became a 
 Greek by settling in Greece, which none of his ancestors had 
 ever done. But that the ancestors of Acrisius, at any rate, 
 were in no way related to Perseus, but were Egyptians, as 
 the Grecians themselves own. 
 
 LV. And this I think sufficient to say concerning these 
 things ; forbearing to mention how, and by the performance of 
 what actions they, who were Egyptians, became kings of the 
 Dorians, because others have related that transaction ; but I 
 will make mention of those particulars which others have not 
 touched upon. 
 
 LVI. To begin, the Spartans have conferred the following 
 privileges upon their kings. In the first place, two priest- 
 
 * What Livy writes, xl. 8. " sociabilem name. It suits Perseus, in relation to his 
 
 " consortionem inter binos Lacedaemo- horse Pegasus. One reason prevents me 
 
 ' niorum reges salutarem per multa se- from adopting this Phoenician etymology, 
 
 " cula ipsis fuisse patriaeque," is not at which is, that Perseus had a son named 
 variance with our author. For although Perses, who gave his name to the Per- 
 
 they disagreed in private, yet they most sians. See Herod, vii. 61. Bellanger. 
 frequently agreed in effecting the public If the tradition related by Herodotus, 
 
 good; or in a praise- worthy manner con- vii. 61. is true, that is, if Perseus was 
 
 tended which should most serve his coun- the son of Danae and Jupiter, and if 
 
 try, as Aristides says viii. 79. Valckenaer. he had by Andromache a son named 
 
 u KaraXtyojilj'ovc and a.TroliiKWfi.i- Perses, who gave his name to the Per- 
 
 VOVQ are put for infinitives. Schweigh. sians, the Greeks and Persians are agreed 
 
 See Matthias's Greek Grammer, . 550. as to his father and mother, but not as to 
 
 Obs. 4. his grandfather and his ancestors : if the 
 
 x Perseus, according to a remark of Le Persians will exclude Acrisius and the 
 
 Clerc on Hesiod Theog. v. 280. is a rest from any connection with Perseus, 
 
 Phoenician word, and signifies a knight. Danae must be of Assyrian and Persian 
 
 Thus it is both an epithet and a proper descent. Wesseling,
 
 80 HERODOTUS. 
 
 hoods, of the Lacedaemonian and the Celestial Jupiter, 5 ' 
 may lead an army against any country they please ; and no 
 Spartan may place an impediment in their way, under penalty 
 of incurring the guilt of impiety : when they march out to 
 war, the kings must march at the head of the troops, and 
 retire last: in the field they have a hundred chosen men 2 for 
 their guard : they sacrifice as many cattle as they please, 
 during the expeditions, and the skins with the chine belong 
 to them. These honours they have in times of war. 
 
 LVII. Other privileges of the following kind are given 
 them in peace. If any one make a public sacrifice" the 
 kings sit first at the feast ; are first served, and each receives 
 a double allowance 6 of whatever is given to the rest of the 
 company. They make the first libation, and receive the 
 skins of the victims. Every new moon, and seventh day of 
 every month c , a perfect victim is presented to each of them, 
 at the public charge, to be sacrificed at the temple of Apollo ; 
 and a medimnus of meal, and a Laconian quart of wine. 
 They have the chief places d at all public games, and the pri- 
 vilege of appointing such citizens as they please to be 
 Proxeni; 6 and also of choosing each two Pythii. The 
 Pythii f are messengers who are sent to consult the oracle of 
 Delphi, and have their provision with the kings at the public 
 charge. When the kings are not present at supper, two 
 chosnices of flour, with a cotyle of wine, are sent home to 
 each ; but when they are present, they receive a double por- 
 tion of every thing. And if they are invited to sup with 
 
 y Herodotus is the only author where deserving. Larcher. 
 
 we find Jupiter worshipped under this c 'Efi6[iac; iffTapevov rov fit]vo. The 
 
 title ; and therefore nothing certain can months of the ancients, which consisted 
 
 be said on the subject. I am of opinion of thirty days, were divided into three 
 
 that AaKiSaijjn>}v is Jupiter tonans, which parts. The first ten days were p,t]vos 
 
 comes from XctKtiv, sonare, and therefore iarctfievov, or ap%opivov ; the second 
 
 it is the same as in//t/3p|wrj>c. Larcher. fjirjvbg fitaovvroQ ; and the third jijjvoc 
 
 z Thucydides, who was well informed QOivovrog, or Travofjiivov, or Xr;yoi>rof . 
 
 on the subject of the Spartan govern- See Potter's Archaeol. Graec. book i. ch. 
 
 ment, says that they had three hundred. 26. fin. 
 
 See book v. 72. also note on book vii. ch. d When the king appeared (Xenoph. 
 
 205. Rep. Lac. xv. 6.) every one rose up out 
 
 a This may appear not to suit with a of reverence, except the Ephori, whose 
 
 private individual, but perhaps the ma- office was in some respect superior to the 
 
 gistrate is meant, whose office it was to royal dignity, since it was first esta- 
 
 superintend the sacrifices. But 9vair) Wished to limit it. Larcher. 
 
 t)HOTi\rjc; may mean a sacrifice of an in- e Kvo<; is a person who receives into 
 
 dividual to which he invites his country- his house a friend on a journey, &c. or 
 
 men, or those of the same tribe. Schweigh. is received when journeying himself. 
 
 b This is an ancient custom frequently UpoKtvog is the person who is appointed 
 
 mentioned by Homer. Xenophon very by the State to receive the ambassadors 
 
 well observes (de Republ. Lacedaen. xv. and deputies of princes and towns. The 
 
 4.) that Lycurgus assigned a double por- Proxenus not only lodged them, but also 
 
 tion to the king, not that they might eat introduced them at the public assemblies, 
 
 twice as much as anybody else, but that Larcher. 
 
 they might give it to him who appeared f See also Xenophon deRep. Lac.xv. 5.
 
 ERATO. VI. 81 
 
 private persons, they are treated with the same honours. 
 They have the keeping of all prophecies, which they are ob- 
 liged to communicate to the Pythians. But the kings alone 
 decide upon the following affairs only. They have the power 
 of determining who ought to marry those heiresses, who 
 have not been betrothed during the lives of their fathers. 
 They have the care of the public highways : and if any man 
 desires to adopt a child 8 , he is obliged to perform that act be- 
 fore the kings. They assist at the deliberations of the senate, 
 which consists of twenty-eight senators ; and if they are ab- 
 sent, those senators who are most nearly connected with 
 them, enjoy their privileges, and have two votes 1 ' besides 
 their own. 
 
 LVIII. These advantages are conferred by the republic of 
 Sparta upon their kings while they live ; those which follow, 
 when they are dead. Horsemen are dispatched through all 
 Laconia to notify their death ; but in the city, women go 
 about beating a cauldron ; when this is accordingly done, it is 
 necessary for two free people of each house, a man and a 
 woman, to disfigure themselves from sorrow : heavy fines are 
 imposed on them, if they do not do so. The Lacedaemonians 
 have the same custom with regard to the deaths of their 
 kings, as the barbarians of Asia, who, for the most part, 
 vary nothing from the Spartans in the performance of these 
 ceremonies. For upon the death of a Lacedaemonian king, 
 besides the Spartans', a certain number k of those who dwell 
 around 1 are obliged to come from all Laconia to attend the 
 funerals : and when many thousands of these are met together, 
 
 5 The custom of adoption among the ' Xw/olf Sirapriijrsw*/ : this signifies, 
 
 Romans was much more frequent than without counting the Spartans. Wessel- 
 
 among the Greeks, though borrowed of ing appears to have been of a different 
 
 the latter by the former. In Greece, an opinion, since Lycurgus interdicted 
 
 eunuch could not adopt a child ; and it (Plutarch. Instit. Laconic, p. 238.) the 
 
 was necessary that the person adopted Spartans from weeping and lamentations: 
 
 should be eighteen years younger than but I think that the prohibition only re- 
 
 the person who adopted him. In Rome, fers to the loss of an individual, and not 
 
 the ceremony of adoption was performed to a loss which interested the whole 
 
 before the prsetor, or before an assembly State. Lurcher. It is also evident, from 
 
 of the people. In the times of the em- what follows, that the Spartans lamented 
 
 perors, the permission of the prince was his death. Schweigh. 
 
 sufficient. Beloe, k 'Api9fi(f signifies in a certain, deter- 
 
 h Thucydides (1. 20.) says the con- mined number. See Valckenaer's note, 
 
 trary. We must presume that this author ' Ot -n-tpioiKoi, Heinsius supposes that 
 
 had some reason for what he says. Lu- these are the same as the Helots ; but he 
 
 cian (Harmonid. iii. torn. 1. p. 855.) is mistaken. Herodotus clearly distin- 
 
 also says, that they had each two votes, guishes them in ix. 28. ; for the five 
 
 but he may perhaps affirm it upon the thousand Lacedaemonians of which he 
 
 authority of Herodotus. The Scholiast, speaks, must be Perioeci. They were 
 
 on the passage in Thucydides, reconciles not freed Helots, as is evident from Xe- 
 
 the difference by saying that they gave nophon, (Hellen. i. 3. 10.) But they are 
 
 but one vote, but it had the effect of always mentioned in opposition to the 
 
 two. Lurcher. Spartiates, and we must understand by 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 82 HERODOTUS. 
 
 with the Helots and Spartans themselves, they eagerly beat 
 themselves, both men and women, crowded together, and 
 incessantly howl, affirming that the last king was the best 
 they ever had. If one of their kings die in war, his effigy is 
 prepared, and exposed to public view, placed on a couch 
 richly ornamented. When they have buried him, they do not 
 meet in the public place for ten days, nor does the assembly 
 of magistrates sit, but they mourn during that time. 
 
 L1X. They agree in this other respect with the Persians ; 
 when a king dies, and the successor enters upon the admini- 
 stration, he remits whatever debts may be due from any 
 Spartan to the king, or the public ; and so also the king of 
 Persia, at his accession to the throne, discharges all the cities 
 from the arrears of tribute. 
 
 LX. In this respect also the Lacedaemonians resemble the 
 Egyptians" 1 ; for every herald, musician, and cook, takes 
 upon him the profession of his father; so that a musician be- 
 gets a musician ; one cook begets another ; and the son of a 
 herald is always of the same profession ; no man, applying him- 
 self to that office on account of the clearness of his voice, 
 excludes another ; but, on the contrary, every one continues 
 to exercise his father's art. And such is the account of these 
 things. 
 
 LXI. Whilst Cleomenes continued at ^gina, endeavour- 
 ing to promote the common cause of Greece, Demaratus ac- 
 cused him at home ; not so much out of kindness to the 
 JEginetae, as from motives of envy and jealousy. But Cleo- 
 menes upon his return, resolved to deprive Demaratus of the 
 kingdom, and made the following circumstance the foundation" 
 of his design. When Ariston reigned in Sparta, he married 
 two wives, and had no child by either ; but not acknowledging 
 any defect in himself, he married a third in this manner. He 
 had a friend, who was a Spartan, to whom he was more at- 
 tached than to any other citizen. The wife of this man was by 
 far the most beautiful woman of all Sparta, and though she 
 was in her infancy very ugly, had become most beautiful . 
 For her nurse perceiving her deformity, and knowing her to 
 be the daughter of opulent P persons, and that her parents 
 
 the term, all the inhabitants of Laconia, insistit. i.e. argumentum quo quis nititur. 
 
 with the exception of Sparta. Lurcher, Schweigh. Lei. 
 
 In Crete all the lower orders, including Pausanias (Laconic, vii. p. 220.) 
 
 the slaves who cultivated the lands, relates the same story. 
 
 were called Periceci. P Since the lands of Laconia were 
 
 m See Diodorus Siculus, i. 74. Hero- equally divided among all the citizens, 
 
 dotus mentions that the custom prevailed and gold and silver were proscribed in 
 
 with regard to soldiers. See book ii. the Republic of Sparta, under pain of 
 
 ch. 165 and 166. death, now was it possible that there 
 
 n Eirlfiaaie, fundamentum quo quis should be any rich men ? Avarice, more
 
 ERATO. VI. 83 
 
 considered her form a great misfortune, resolved to carry her 
 every day to the temple of Helen, which is built in Therapne, 
 above the temple of Apollo. When she carried the child to 
 the temple, she stood before the image of the goddess, and 
 entreated her to remove the deformity of the child. The 
 common report is, that as the nurse was one day going out of 
 the temple, a woman appeared to her, and asked what she 
 had in her arms : that the nurse answered, she carried an in- 
 fant ; which when the woman desired to see, the nurse re- 
 fused to comply, because the parents had commanded her to 
 shew the child to none : the woman however begged her by 
 all means to shew it her, and at length the nurse complied ; 
 upon which she stroked the head of the child with her hands, 
 and said she should become the most beautiful woman of 
 Sparta ; and from that day her appearance began to change. 
 When she had attained to a proper age, she was married to 
 Agetus the son of Alcides, this same friend of Ariston. 
 
 LXII. Ariston being very much smitten q with love for 
 this woman, contrived the following design. He acquainted 
 Agetus, who was her husband and his familiar friend, that 
 he would make him a present of any one thing he should 
 choose out of all his possessions, on condition he would 
 oblige himself to do the like to him. Agetus not suspecting 
 any design upon his wife, because he knew Ariston had one 
 already, accepted the proposal ; and an oath for mutual per- 
 formance was sworn on both sides. Accordingly Ariston gave 
 him the thing he chose out of all his treasures ; and then re- 
 quiring the same compliance from Agetus, wished to carry off 
 his wife. Agetus consented to every thing else but this ; 
 nevertheless, finding himself under the obligation of an oath, 
 and deceived by the artifice of the king, he suffered her to be 
 led away. 
 
 LXIII. In this manner Ariston married a third wife, after 
 having divorced his second. But before the usual term was 
 expired, and the ten months r elapsed, she brought him this 
 Demaratus ; and when one of his servants came to tell him 
 as he sat with the Ephori, that a son was born to him, Ariston 
 not forgetting the time of his marriage, but counting the 
 
 powerful than all laws, had closed their sometimes it is not more than seven, 
 
 eyes to a great number of abuses. The ancients generally reckoned ten 
 
 Larcher. months, because their year was lunar. 
 
 <i Literally ; love for this woman pierced Nine months of our solar year make 274 
 or pricked, &c. "EKVI&. The word is days, nine of a lunar year 265. Thus, 
 also used in the same way in Pindar. nine days of the tenth month must have 
 Pith. x. fin. and Isthm. vi. 74. and in passed, before the woman can have corn- 
 many other places, pleted her time, on which account the 
 
 r The period of gestation is ordinarily ancients almost always reckoned ten 
 
 nine months, sometimes it exceeds it, months for the time. Larcher. 
 
 M2
 
 84 HERODOTUS. 
 
 months upon his fingers 3 , said with an oath in the hearing of 
 the Ephori, This child cannot be mine 1 . The Ephori seemed at 
 that time to make no account of those words ; but when the 
 boy grew up, Ariston repented of what he had said, being 
 then fully persuaded that Demaratus was his son. He gave 
 him the name of Demaratus u , because before his birth the 
 Spartans had made public supplications, that Ariston, whom 
 they esteemed the most illustrious of all the kings they ever 
 had, might have a son. 
 
 LXIV. After some time Ariston died, and Demaratus ob- 
 tained the kingdom. But it was fated, as it appears, that 
 this thing having been noticed, should deprive the son of his 
 authority, since x he had incurred the hatred of Cleomenes, 
 because he had before led away the army from Eleusis y ; and 
 now more particularly when Cleomenes had crossed over 
 against those ^Eginetae, who favoured the Persian. 
 
 LXV. When Cleomenes had thus resolved to take his 
 revenge, he entered into an agreement with Leotychides the 
 son of Menares and grandson of Agis z , a person of the same 
 family with Demaratus ; under this condition, that if he should 
 make him king in the place of Demaratus, Leotychides should 
 accompany him in an expedition against the JEginetee. 
 Leotychides had become an enemy of Demaratus, chiefly for 
 this reason. He had been engaged to marry Percalus the 
 daughter of Chilon a , the son of Demarmenes ; when Dema- 
 ratus by an insidious contrivance disappointed him of his 
 bride ; and having possessed himself of the woman by vio- 
 lence, retained her for his wife. On this account Leotychides 
 became his enemy, and at the instigation of Cleomenes swore 
 against Demaratus, affirming that he had no right to be king 
 of Sparta, because he was not the son of Ariston ; and re- 
 called to recollection the words spoken by Ariston, when upon 
 the message he received concerning the birth of his son, and 
 the computation he made of the time elapsed after his mar- 
 riage, he affirmed with an oath, that the child was not his. 
 Insisting upon the authority of these words, Leotychides 
 
 The ancients used to make calcula- same assort, because that, &c. Schweigh. 
 
 tions by the help of their fingers. All ? See book v. ch. 75. 
 
 the numbers from one to a hundred were * Agis was not the son of Menares, but 
 
 reckoned on the left hand, and the hun- Agesilaus, as we see, viii. 131. Leuty- 
 
 dredth began upon the right, and the chides is an lonism for Leotychides, as 
 
 two hundredth returned to the left. See we meet with it in Thucydides, (i. 89.) 
 
 Juvenal Sat. x. ver. 248. Larcher. a This is not the one who was consi- 
 
 * See Hoogeveen ad Viger. viii. 2. 8. dered one of seven sages. He was the 
 u This name is compounded of Afjfiog, son of Damagetus ; the one here men- 
 
 the people, and apdouat, I pray, and sig- tioned was the son of Demarmenus. 
 
 nines, requested by the prayers and wishes Herodotus also mentions him, i. 59. and 
 
 of the people. vii. 235. 
 
 * Aid rd, by the Ionic idiom, is the
 
 ERATO. VI. 86 
 
 openly maintained, that Demaratus was neither the son of 
 Ariston, nor rightful king of Sparta; and for the truth of his 
 assertion appealed to the Ephori, who then sat by the king, 
 and heard him pronounce the words in question. 
 
 LXVI. Thus the matter being drawn into dispute, the Spar- 
 tans determined to inquire of the oracle at Delphi, whether 
 Demaratus was the son of Ariston or not. But since the 
 matter had been referred b to the Pythian by the advice of 
 Cleomenes, he gained over one Cobon the son of Aristo- 
 phantus ; who being a person of great authority in Delphi, 
 prevailed with Perialla the prophetess to give such an answer 
 as Cleomenes desired. So that when the Spartans came to 
 consult the oracle, the Pythian pronounced Demaratus not 
 to be the son of Ariston ; which collusion being afterwards 
 discovered, Cobon fled from Delphi, and Perialla was de- 
 prived of her dignity. 
 
 LXVII. By this means Demaratus was deposed ; and in 
 conclusion betook himself to the Medes on account of an in- 
 sult of the following kind. After his deposition he was 
 chosen and held the office of magistrate. And while he was 
 a spectator of the Gymnopaediae c , Leotychides who had been 
 appointed king in his room, sent a messenger to ask him, in 
 order to deride and insult him, " what he thought of being a 
 " magistrate after he had been a king?" Demaratus, dis- 
 turbed with the insolence of his message, answered, " that 
 " he indeed had experienced both, but Leotychides had not ; 
 " and added, that this question should be the commencement 
 " either of infinite calamity, or infinite prosperity to the Lace- 
 " daemonians." When he had said these words, and covered 
 his face, he went out of the theatre to his house, where he 
 sacrificed an ox to Jupiter, and afterwards sent for his mother. 
 
 LXVIII. When his mother came, he put the entrails' 1 of 
 the victim into her hands, and supplicated her in the follow- 
 ing terms : " Mother, I adjure you by all the other gods, 
 " and by this Hercean Jupiter 6 , to tell me the truth, and let 
 
 b 'AvuiiffTov ytvofiivov, re relatd, &c. were naked, it must not be supposed 
 
 'Av onorof is the same as avoiaroq , fonn- that they were entirely so. The middle 
 
 ed from dvoiw, which is the same as of the body was concealed by a garment 
 
 avaipepuj, from whence is formed the or girdle. The Greeks most frequently 
 
 first Aorist avijiaai in book i. ch. 157. understood by yvfivog, a person only 
 
 Schiceigh. Leiicon. lightly clothed, Larcher. 
 
 c This word is derived from yvfivoe, d The custom in oaths and supplica- 
 
 naked, and TTrtlc, a child. The Gymno- tions of touching the altars and the en- 
 
 paediae were festivals, in which naked trails of the victims is well known, 
 children sang hymns in honor of Apollo, e The enclosure of a house was called 
 
 and the three hundred Spartans who fell *'pro ; within this enclosure and in the 
 
 at Thermopyloe. They were celebrated court, altars were raised to Jupiter, who 
 
 on the 7th or 8th of Hecatombaeon, which for this reason was called Hercean. He 
 
 answers to the 20th and '21st of our July, was the protector of the house. Larcher. 
 Although I have said that the children
 
 86 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " me know plainly who was my father. For Leotychides in 
 " his disputes affirmed that you were with child by your for- 
 " mer husband before you came to Ariston : others assert a 
 " more foolish story, and say, you had the company of one 
 " who kept the asses, and that I am his son. I adjure you 
 " therefore by the gods to inform me of the truth : for if 
 " you have done as they say, you are not singly guilty ; 
 " others have done the like. Besides, many of the Spartans 
 " are persuaded that Ariston was incapable of begetting 
 " children ; otherwise, they say, his former wives had not 
 " been unfruitful." Thus spoke Demaratus. 
 
 LXIX. His mother replied in these words : " Son, because 
 " you so suppliantly entreat me to speak the truth, I shall 
 " conceal nothing from you. The third night after Ariston 
 " had conducted me home to his house, a phantom entirely 
 " like him in shape entered my chamber, and having lain 
 " with me, put a crown on my head, and went out again. 
 " Ariston himself soon after came in, and seeing the crown 
 " on my head, asked who had made me that present. I 
 " answered, he himself; but perceiving he would not own 
 " the thing, I added an oath to my assertion, and told him 
 " he did not well to deny what he had done, having been so 
 " lately in my chamber, and given me the crown after he had 
 " lain with me. When Ariston perceived that I affirmed it 
 " with an oath, he learnt that it was the deed of a deity. 
 " And indeed, not only the crown was found to have been 
 " taken from the chapel of the hero Astrabacus f , which stands 
 " by the gates of the palace ; but the prophets likewise 
 " affirmed, that it was the hero himself. Thus, my son, you 
 " have the whole truth, which you so much desired to know : 
 " and therefore either the hero Astrabacus, or else Ariston, 
 " was your father ; for I conceived you in that night. As to 
 " that reproach, which your enemies endeavour chiefly to 
 " fasten upon you, by affirming that Ariston himself, when 
 " he received the news of your birth, said in the presence of 
 " many persons, that you could not be his son ; those words 
 " were thrown out by him for want of sufficient information 
 " concerning such matters. For women are not always ac- 
 " customed to complete ten months ; but some are delivered 
 " in nine, and others even in seven. You, my son, were born 
 " within the space of seven months ; and Ariston himself was 
 " in a little time convinced, that those words were the effect 
 
 { This person was of the family of the iii. 16.) All that I can find concerning 
 
 Eurysthenidae, the chief royal family of him is, that he with his brother Alopecus 
 
 Sparta. He was the son of Irbus, who found the statue of Diana Orthia, which 
 
 was the son of Amphisthenes, the son Orestes and Iphigenia brought from 
 
 of Amphicles, the son of Agis, (Pausan. Tauris, and both became mad. Larcher.
 
 ERATO. VI. 87 
 
 ' of his ignorance. Believe no other stories concerning your 
 ' birth ; for you have heard the whole truth. And if Leoty- 
 ' chides or any other has calumniated us with the fable of the 
 ' keeper of our asses, may their wives bring them children so 
 ' begotten." 
 
 LXX. Demaratus having thus satisfied himself concerning 
 the matter he desired to know, took provisions for the way, 
 and departed to Elis ; pretending he designed to go to Delphi, 
 in order to consult the oracle. But the Lacedaemonians sus- 
 pecting that he intended to make his escape, pursued him. 
 Before they reached Elis, Demaratus had crossed over to 
 Zacynthus : the Lacedaemonians having crossed over after 
 him, took away his attendants, and endeavoured to seize him 
 himself. But afterwards, because the Zacynthians refused to 
 deliver him up, he crossed over to Asia to king Darius, who 
 received him honourably, and presented him with lands and 
 cities. Thus Demaratus went away to Asia, having met with 
 such fortune, after he had become illustrious 8 among the 
 Spartans, both by many deeds and sayings, and having ob- 
 tained an Olympic victory in a four-horse chariot, had attached 
 that honour to his city, being the only one of all the kings of 
 Sparta who had done this' 1 . 
 
 LXXI. Leotychides the son of Menares, created king in 
 the place of Demaratus, had a son named Zeuxidamus, who 
 by some of the Spartans is called Cyniscus. This Zeuxida- 
 mus was never king of Sparta ; for he died before his father ; 
 leaving behind him a son named Archidamus. Leotychides, 
 after the death of his son, took for his second wife Eurydame 
 the sister of Menius and daughter of Diactorides ; who brought 
 him no male child, and only one daughter, named Lampito, 
 whom he gave in marriage to Archidamus the son of Zeuxi- 
 damus. 
 
 LXXII. Nevertheless Leotychides did not grow old in 
 Sparta, but made the following reparation to Demaratus. 
 For while he was making war in Thessaly at the head of the 
 Lacedaemonian army, and might easily have conquered all the 
 country, he suffered himself to be corrupted with money. 
 Being caught in the very act of sitting on a sleeve full of 
 silver, he was summoned to appear in the court of justice, 
 and was banished from Sparta. His house was demolished, 
 
 R The construction of the sentence is, h Perhaps the other kings of Sparta 
 
 a\Xa rt, (i. e. KCLT aXAo TI) av\va were of the same opinion as Agesilaus, 
 
 (tv) AaKtSaipovtoifft airo\afj.-irpvvGtis that the victory in the Olympic games 
 
 ipyoiffi Tf Kai yj>wu7j<Ti, iv Si Srj (roi depended more on riches than courage. 
 
 oXXoic) 'OXvfnridoa (VI'KIJV) o<j>i vpo- Valckenaer.
 
 88 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and he went to Tegea, in which city he died. This hap- 
 pened some time after. 
 
 LXX.III. Cleomenes having successfully accomplished 
 his design against Demaratus, and being highly incensed 
 against the JEginetae for the affront he had received, took 
 Leotychides with him to ^Egina; and since the ^Eginetse did 
 not think it right any longer to resist, as both kings had come 
 against them, they took ten of the most eminent citizens in 
 birth and riches, (among them Crius the son of Polycritus 
 and Casambus the son of Aristocrates, who had the principal 
 authority,) carried them away to Attica, and put them into 
 the hands of the Athenians, their greatest enemies. 
 
 LXXIV. After this expedition, Cleomenes became alarmed 
 because the Spartans had discovered his fraudulent practices 
 against Demaratus, and fled away privately to Thessaly ; and 
 from thence passing into Arcadia, began to form new designs, 
 soliciting the Arcadians to make war upon Sparta, and en- 
 gaging them by an oath to follow him to what part soever he 
 would lead them. He was in particular desirous to lead the 
 principal inhabitants to the city of Nonacris, to make them 
 swear by the waters of the Styx 1 , which the Arcadians say 
 are found in that place. And indeed there is a spring drop- 
 ping from a rock into a hollow place surrounded by a wall. 
 Nonacris is a city of Arcadia near Pheneum. 
 
 LXXV. When the Lacedemonians were informed of 
 these intrigues of Cleomenes, through fear, they recalled 
 him to Sparta and restored him to his former dignity. But 
 he was no sooner returned, than he was seized by a madness, 
 though he was not before quite in his senses ; for whenever 
 he met any Spartan he used to dash his sceptre on his face. 
 His relations seeing these actions, and perceiving him to be 
 deprived of his understanding, confined him in stocks. When 
 he was confined and saw only one of his keepers with him, he 
 demanded a knife k . The keeper at first refused to obey; 
 yet after Cleomenes had threatened to punish him hereafter, 
 dreading the effect of his menaces, (for he was one of his 
 Helots 1 ,) he gave him a knife. Which Cleomenes taking into 
 
 ' It appears by this passage that the the word sword. The Xiphos was a 
 Greeks assembled at Nonacris, to swear large knife, and used for the purpose of 
 by the waters of the Styx, when they a knife equally and a weapon. -Mil- 
 wished to render their oaths inviolable. ford's Greece, ch. i. sect. 3. 
 The gods also swore by the Styx, and it ' The Helota; were properly so called 
 was the greatest oath they could use. from Ilelos, a Laconian town, conquered 
 
 k The Greeks of the heroic age usually by the Spartans, who made all the in- 
 carried two weapons of the sword kind, habitants prisoners of war, and reduced 
 one called i'0oc and the other fia^aipa, them into the condition of slaves. The 
 very different one from the other, but free men of Sparta were forbidden the 
 commonly both rendered in English by exercise of any mechanical employmeat :
 
 ERATO. VI. 89 
 
 his hand, began to lacerate himself, beginning at his legs, 
 and making long incisions from the leg to the thigh ; then 
 proceeding from the thigh to the loins, he at last came to 
 his belly, which he cut in pieces, and died in this manner. 
 Most of the Grecians say, he was thus punished for suborn- 
 ing the Pythian to frame the answer she gave concerning 
 Demaratus : the Athenians alone pretend, that it was because 
 he invaded Eleusis and cut down the grove of the goddesses m ; 
 but as the Argives say, it happened because he took out 
 those Argives who had fled from the battle into the grove of 
 Argos" and butchered them, and having disregarded the 
 sanctity of the place, had set fire to the grove. 
 
 LXXVI. For when Cleomenes consulted the oracle of 
 Delphi, the answer he received was, that he should take 
 Argos. Upon this assurance marching at the head of the 
 Spartans he arrived at the river Erasinus, which, as they say, 
 begins at the Stymphalian lake, and, passing through a sub- 
 terraneous cavity of the earth, rises again in Argos, and from 
 that place is called, by the Argives, Erasinus . Cleomenes 
 upon his arrival sacrificed to the god of the river ; but finding 
 the entrails of the victim without any marks of a successful 
 passage, he said, that he admired the Erasinus because he 
 would not betray his own people, yet the Argives should not 
 even thus escape with impunity. Decamping therefore with 
 his army, he marched to Thyrea ; where, after he had sacri- 
 ficed a bull to the sea, he conducted his forces in ships' 5 to 
 the country of Tiryns and Nauplia. 
 
 LXXVIL The Argives, hearing of their arrival, marched 
 out towards the sea, and being advanced near Tiryns, to a 
 place called Sepia, they encamped opposite the Lacedaemoni- 
 ans, leaving only a small interval between the two armies. 
 They were not afraid of coming to a fair battle, but of being 
 surprised by fraud and stratagem ; because the oracle they 
 
 and therefore the ground was tilled and and his territory. He had no temple, 
 
 all sorts of trades practised by the Helots, and perhaps not even a chapel. Pausa- 
 
 and the whole care of supplying the nias only mentions his monument, which 
 
 city with necessaries, devolved upon was doubtless in the consecrated grove, 
 
 them. But they were also treated in See Pausanias ii. 16. 22. 34. This Ar- 
 
 the most barbarous manner, and even gos was very different from that sur- 
 
 murdered without the least show of jus- named Panoptes, who, because he let 
 
 tice. See Potter's Arch. Graec. book i. nothing escape his notice, was said to 
 
 ch. 10. Fora more particular account have eyes all over his body. This last 
 
 see Cragius de Republica Lacedaemo- was the son of Agenor, and great grand- 
 
 niorum. son of the one we are speaking of. 
 
 m Ceres and Proserpine. Larcher. 
 
 n This Argos was the son of Jupiter This river is now called Kephalani. 
 and Niobe, the daughter of Phoroneus: i 1 He seized the vessels of the JEgi- 
 
 he gave his name to the town of Argos netas and Sicyonians. See ch. 92. 
 VOL. II. N
 
 90 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and the Milesians had jointly* 1 received from the Pythian, 
 seemed to predict such an event. The words were these ! 
 
 When in the streets of Argos female pride r 
 Shall be exalted, and the male expel ; 
 Then shall the Argive dames so sadly mourn, 
 That thus shall one in future ages say, 
 KilPd by a spear a wreathed serpent lies. 
 
 All these things happening together, struck the Argives with 
 great terror ; so that they resolved to regulate their move- 
 ments by the herald of the enemy : and accordingly when any 
 thing was signified to the Lacedaemonians by a herald they 
 did the same. 
 
 LXXVIII. Cleomenes having perceived that the Argives 
 did whatever his herald signified, gave order to the Spartans, 
 that instead of going to dinner upon the usual signal, they 
 should betake themselves to their arms 8 , and march out 
 against the Argives. The Lacedaemonians executed his order, 
 and falling upon the Argives at the time of their dinner, killed 
 many on the spot ; and having driven a far greater number 
 into the grove, surrounded them there. 
 
 LXXIX. After which Cleomenes having received full in- 
 formation, by deserters, concerning their persons, sent a herald 
 to summon by name all the Argives who were shut up in the 
 sacred place to come out, for he had received their ransom ; 
 which in Peloponnesus is fixed at two mines for every man. 
 Cleomenes put to death about fifty Argives, who were called 
 out man by man, whilst those who still continued within, could 
 not see the slaughter, by reason of the thickness of the grove ; 
 till at last one of them getting up into a tree, saw what was 
 doing. Those therefore who were afterwards called would 
 not go out. 
 
 LXXX. Cleomenes seeing this, commanded all the Helots 
 to surround the grove with combustible materials ; and after 
 they had executed his ofders, he set fire to the place. When 
 all was in a flame, he asked one of the fugitives, to what god 
 that grove was consecrated; and being told to Argos, Cleo- 
 menes, with a deep sigh, said, " O prophetic Apollo ! thou 
 
 i The part which related to the Mile- answers have given him the surname of 
 
 sians had been given in ch. 19. Aoi, obliquus. Lurcher. 
 
 r This oracle is very obscure, the first A romantic story is related by later 
 part is explained by Pausanias (ii. 20.) writers, of a poetess, Telesilla, who, at 
 and Plutarch (de Virtut. Mulier. torn. ii. the head of the women, boys and old 
 pag. 245.) in nearly the same terms. men of Argos, repelled the assault of the 
 The Argive women taking arms, under Lacedaemonians. Had such a story had 
 the conduct of Telesilla, repulsed Cleo- any credit in Herodotus' age, he was not 
 menes with considerable loss. As to the of a temper to leave it unnoticed. Mil- 
 second part, I leave the explanation of it ford's Greece, ch. vii. 3. 
 to those who think themselves inspired Polyajnus relates this stratagem more 
 by the God of Delphi, whose ambiguous at length, i. 14.
 
 ERATO. VI. 91 
 
 " hast greatly deluded me, by promising that I should take 
 " Argos. I conjecture thy prophecy is accomplished." 
 
 LXXXI. After these things Cleomenes sent home the 
 greater part of his army to Sparta, and retaining a thousand 
 chosen men with him, went to the temple of Juno, in order to 
 sacrifice on her altar. But the priest forbidding him to pro- 
 ceed, told him, that no stranger might sacrifice in that temple : 
 upon which Cleomenes commanded his Helots to drag the 
 priest from the altar and beat him. In the mean time he him- 
 self sacrificed ; and when he had performed his devotions, 
 went away to Sparta. 
 
 LXXXII. At his return he was summoned to appear be- 
 fore the Ephori by his enemies, who accused him of corrup- 
 tion ; and affirmed, that in consideration of money received, 
 he had neglected the conquest of Argos, which he might easily 
 have accomplished. I know not whether the answer of Cleo- 
 menes were true or false ; but, however, his answer was, that 
 he thought the oracle fulfilled when he had taken the temple 
 of Argos, and therefore resolved not to attempt the city, be- 
 fore he had inquired whether heaven would favour or obstruct 
 his enterprize ; and that whilst he was sacrificing favourably 
 in the temple of Juno, a flame of fire issued from the breast 
 of the image; and that by that means he learnt for certain that 
 he should not take the city of Argos : for if the fire had pro- 
 ceeded from the head he thought that he should have entirely 
 taken Argos, but as it shone forth from the breast he thought 
 that every thing had been done which the deity wished. These 
 reasons seemed probable to the Spartans, and Cleomenes was 
 acquitted by a great majority. 
 
 LXXXIII. Argos however was left so destitute of men, 
 that their slaves usurped the administration 1 of affairs, and ex- 
 
 1 The Argives, says Plutarch (de Virt. the death of Ceisus, son of Temenus ; 
 
 Mul. torn. ii. pag. 245.) did not marry founder of the Heracleid dynasty. But 
 
 to their slaves the wives of those who neither was Argos fortunate in the change, 
 
 had fallen in battle, as Herodotus assures In its defective history indeed we read of 
 
 us, contrary to all truth, but first admit- scarcely any thing but disorders, and 
 
 ted the best of the neighbours to the those often of extraordinary violence. In 
 
 rights of citizens, and then married them general we learn that the higher and 
 
 to the widows. These appeared to de- lower ranks were continually at variance, 
 
 spise their new husbands, and on that ac- but the democratical faction was mostly 
 
 count it was ordained by law, that new superior ; the priesthood had peculiar 
 
 married women should wear a false beard, authority: sometimes tyrants raised 
 
 the first time they lay with their hus- themselves over all, and once the slaves 
 
 bands. got possession of the city, and filled the 
 
 Of the states on the continent of magistracies. Originally an ill-consti- 
 
 Greece, Argos was 'among the first to tuted government, no legislator of supe- 
 
 abolish monarchy ; or, however, so to re- rior wisdom and probity ever acquired 
 
 duce its powers that we hardly perceive the power, no fortunate train of circum- 
 
 among historians whether it existed or stances ever occurred of themselves, to 
 
 no. The Argian government is said to unite liberty and administration upon a 
 
 have become republican so early as on firm and even basis. One famous tyrant, 
 
 N 2
 
 92 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ercised all the magistracies, until the sons of those who had 
 been killed grew up. These then recovered Argos and ex- 
 pelled the slaves from the city. These servants after their 
 expulsion took Tiryns by assault, and for a time concord sub- 
 sisted between them, till they were persuaded by one Clean- 
 der, an Arcadian prophet of Phigalea", to attack their masters; 
 and entering into a long war, they were at last subdued by 
 the Argives, though not without great difficulty. 
 
 LXXXIV. To the guilt of these actions the Argives at- 
 tribute the madness and miserable death of Cleomenes. But 
 the Spartans deny that he was ptmished with distraction by 
 any deity, and affirm that from associating with the Scythians, 
 he became a drinker of unmixed wine, and from that he be- 
 came mad. For the Scythian Nomades, whose country Darius 
 had invaded,being desirous to revenge that injury, sent am- 
 bassadors to conclude an alliance with the Spartans on these 
 terms; that the Scythians should endeavour to make an irrup- 
 tion into Media by the river Phasis ; that the Spartans should 
 march into Higher Asia x by the way of Ephesus ; and that 
 both armies should meet at the same place. They say, that 
 by associating too much with the Scythians who came for 
 this purpose, Cleomenes contracted a habit of drinking un- 
 mixed wine, and that his madness was derived from this cause. 
 And from this occasion, as they themselves report, when they 
 wish to drink stronger drink, they say Episcythison, " Imi- 
 " tate the Scythians." These things are said by the Spartans 
 concerning Cleomenes ; but I am of opinion that this punish- 
 ment was inflicted for the wrong he had done to Demaratus. 
 
 LXXXV. When the ^Eginetae were informed of the death 
 of Cleomenes, they sent ambassadors to Sparta with loud com- 
 plaints against Leoty chides, on account of the hostages de- 
 tained at Athens: and the Lacedaemonians, having summoned 
 an assembly to deliberate concerning the matter, resolved 
 
 Pheidon, lineal successor of the Hera- viii. 39.) but afterwards took the name 
 cleids, a prince of great abilities but no of Phialia, from Phialus, the son of 13u- 
 moderation, raised himself, rather than calion, (Id. ibid. 5.) Lurcher. 
 his country, to a superiority which ceas- x This is expressed in Greek by a sin- 
 ed with him. Under its republican go- gle word, avafiaivtiv. In almost all 
 vernment, impotent abroad as unhappy historians this word is used to signify, to 
 at home, Argos finally lost that pre-emi- go from the sea. In our author and in 
 nence which under monarchical rule it Xenophon it is to advance from the coast 
 had obtained among the Grecian states, of the sea towards the centre of the do- 
 Far from leading the affairs of Pelopon- minions of the great king. Thus the ex- 
 nesus, every little town of Argolis itself pedition of the Greeks which we call the 
 resisted the Argian dominion. Mitford's retreat of the ten thousand, is called in 
 Greece, ch. iv. 2. Greek 'Avdpafftg, because they went 
 u Phigalea is a town of Arcadia, near from the coast towards Babylon. We 
 which the river Neda flows, which rises call it the retreat, with reference to the 
 in Mount Lyceum. It was founded by most celebrated part of it, and not to the 
 Phigalus the son of I.ycaon : (Pausan. Greek term. Larcher.
 
 ERATO. VI. 93 
 
 that the ^gineta? had been treated with indignity by Leoty- 
 chides, and therefore determined that he should be delivered 
 into their hands, and carried prisoner to ^Egina, in the place 
 of those who were detained by the Athenians. But when 
 they were ready to carry him away, Theasides the son of 
 Leoprepes, an eminent Spartan, spoke to them in these terms: 
 " Men of JEgina," said he, " what'are you about to do? Are 
 " you resolved to take away the king of Sparta, because he is 
 " delivered into your hands ? If the Spartans in their anger 
 " have so decided, take care lest if you do these things, they 
 " may bring into your country a calamity which will utterly 
 " destroy you." The ^Eginetae having considered these words, 
 were contented to desist, on condition nevertheless that Leo- 
 tychides would accompany them to Athens, and procure the 
 restitution of the men. 
 
 LXXXVI. Accordingly Leotychides went to Athens, and 
 after he had demanded the persons in question, the Athenians, 
 seeking by an artificial evasion to elude his instances, told 
 him, that as two kings had come to entrust them, they could 
 not justly restore them to one in the absence of the other. 
 
 Leotychides, when the Athenians refused to give them up, 
 said, " Do that, O Athenians, which pleases you best. If you 
 " restore the hostages, you will do an action of justice ; if not, 
 " the contrary. Yet I will tell you what happened formerly 
 " concerning a deposit in Sparta. We Spartans say, that 
 " about three ages have passed, since one Glaucus y the son 
 " of Epicydides lived in Lacedaemon ; a man singularly emi- 
 " nent in all manner of virtues, and more esteemed for his 
 " justice than any other person among the Lacedaemonians. 
 " In process of time z a certain Milesian came to Sparta, being 
 " desirous of coming to a conference with him, who spoke to 
 " him in these terms : Glaucus, said he, I am a Milesian, and 
 " now come to enjoy the benefit of thy justice. For since 
 " throughout all the rest of Greece, and particularly in Ionia, 
 " there was great talk of your justice, I considered with 
 " myself that Ionia is always exposed to great dangers, and 
 " that on the contrary Peloponnesus is perpetually secure, 
 " because the inhabitants are known to have no riches. Upon 
 " this reflection I determined to deposit with thee one half of 
 " my estate, which I have reduced into money ; being fully 
 " assured it will be safe in thy hands. Take then this silver, 
 " with these tokens, and give the money back to the person 
 " who shall bring the same tokens. 
 
 " When the Milesian had said these words, Glaucus re- 
 s' This Glaucus was king of Sparta, if translates, " Dans un temps determin6, 
 we credit Pausanias, (ii. 18.) " dans le temps fixe par la divinite." 
 
 1 'Ev%p6v<t> iKvtvfisvtft. This Larcher 

 
 94 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " ceived the treasure, with a promise to do as he desired. 
 " After a long time the sons of this man coming to Sparta, 
 " addressed themselves to Glaucus, and having shewed him 
 " the token, demanded the money, which had been deposited 
 " in his hands. Glaucus rejected them with this answer, ' I 
 " remember nothing of the matter, nor have I any knowledge 
 " of the affair a . Yet,' said he, ' if I can recover the memory 
 " of this thing, I will do every thing that is just ; for if I have 
 " been entrusted, I will strictly give it back. But if, on the 
 " contrary, 1 have received nothing, 1 shall seek that satisfac- 
 " tion which the laws of Greece allow ; and therefore I defer 
 " finally deciding on this matter for four months.' 
 
 " The Milesians, considering it a great calamity departed, 
 " as if they had been deprived of their money. But Glaucus 
 " went to inquire of the oracle at Delphi, whether he should 
 " retain these riches by perjury, and received this answer 
 " from the Pythian in verse : 
 
 Perfidious oaths, and violated faith, 
 
 Are oft attended by a present gain : 
 
 Swear boldly then ; because the honest man 
 
 Must die as surely as the vilest slave. 
 
 But know, that oath a nameless offspring has 
 
 Which bears not feet or hands, but swift pursues 
 
 The perjur'd man, until it has destroy'd 
 
 With utter ruin all his house and race; 
 
 But honest men hereafter are more blest. 
 
 " When Glaucus heard this, he prayed the God to pardon h 
 " the words he had said. But the Pythian told him, that to 
 " tempt the god, or commit the crime, was the same thing. 
 
 " So Glaucus sent for the Milesians and restored the money. 
 " Now I shall inform you, O Athenians, with what design I 
 " have related this event. There is at present no descendant 
 *' of Glaucus, nor any house which is supposed to have be- 
 " longed to Glaucus; but he is utterly extirpated from Sparta. 
 
 a Ad verbum Neque mihi in animum " looked, and behold a flying roll. Then 
 
 (in memoriam) redit (revolvitur.) Schw. " said he unto me, This is the curse that 
 
 Leu. " goeth forth over the face of the whole 
 
 b What can we think of Josephus, who, " earth ; and it shall enter into the house 
 
 wishing to prove (Antiquit. Jud. xii. 9.) " of the thief, and into the house of him 
 
 against Polybius, that Antiochus perish- " that sweareth falsely by my name ; 
 
 ed for having plundered the temple at " and it shall remain in the midst of his 
 
 Jerusalem, and not for having intended " house, and shall consume it with the 
 
 to pillage the temple of Diana in Ely- " timber thereof." ch. v. ver. 2. and seq. 
 
 mais, as the Greek historian pretends, See also a similar story in Stobaeus, Serin. 
 
 (Excerpt. Val. pag. 145.) adds," The 117. pag. 362. Lurcher. 
 " intention, without having executed it, c Juvenal has introduced this story: 
 
 " does not merit punishment." One must " Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia 
 be vexed to find such an assertion in the " vates, 
 
 mouth of a Jewish priest. He must have " Haud impunitum quondam fore, quod 
 forgotten the passage in Zechariah, which " dubitaret 
 
 I more willingly quote, as it agrees very " Depositum retinere et fraudem jure 
 well with this history of Glaucus. "I " tueri
 
 ERATO. VI. 95 
 
 " By which you may see that you ought to entertain no other 
 " thought concerning a deposit, than to restore it when the 
 " owner requires it." Leotychides having finished these 
 words, when the Athenians did not even thus listen to him, 
 departed. 
 
 LXXXVII. But before the ^Egintae received the punish- 
 ment they deserved for the injuries they had done a to the 
 Athenians in favour of the Thebans, they executed the follow- 
 ing enterprize. Being incensed against the Athenians, and 
 thinking themselves injured, they prepared to take their re- 
 venge ; and to that end, knowing that the Athenian galley 6 , 
 which they used to send annually to Delphi, was then at 
 Stinium, they intercepted the vessel, and put in chains many 
 principal Athenians who were found on board. 
 
 LXXXVIII. From the time of that disaster the Atheni- 
 ans no longer delayed contriving every thing against the JEgi- 
 netae. There was at ^Egina an eminent man named Nicodro- 
 mus the son of Cncethus ; this person being incensed against 
 the ^Eginetae on account of his former banishment from the 
 island, and now hearing that the Athenians were preparing 
 to annoy the ^Eginetae, entered into an agreement with them 
 to deliver the city into their hands*, and told them on what 
 day he would make the attempt, that they might come on that 
 day to his assistance. In pursuance of this engagement Nico- 
 dromus seized that part of the place which is called the Old- 
 Town. 
 
 LXXXIX. The Athenians, however, did not arrive at the 
 proper time, because they had not a sufficient number of ships 
 to fight the ^Eginetae; and while they were entreating the 
 Corinthians to lend them some ships, the enterprize failed. 
 
 " Jurando. Quaerebat enim quae Numi- departure from Crete. As soon as the 
 
 " nis esset festival celebrated on this occasion com- 
 
 " Mens, et an hoc illi facinus suaderet menced, they purified the town, and it 
 
 " Apollo. was an inviolable law to put no one to 
 
 " Reddidit ergo metu, non moribus ; et death till this vessel returned. It was 
 
 " tamen omnem sometimes a long while on its passage, 
 
 " Vocem adyti dignam templo, veram- especially when the wind was contrary. 
 
 " que probavit, This festival called Theoria commenced 
 
 " Extinctus tot& pariter cum prole domo- when the priest of Apollo had crowned 
 
 " que, the poop of the vessel. Theoros was the 
 
 " Et quamvis longa deductis gente pro- name of the ambassador who was sent to 
 
 " pinquis. offer sacrifices to a god or consult an ora- 
 
 " Has patitur poenas peccandi sola vo- cle : it distinguished them from those 
 
 " luntas." charged with commissions on civil affairs . 
 
 Sat. xiii. v. 199. and seq. See also Ci- who were called Hpe.trf3ti. Lurcher. 
 
 cero's Offices, iii. 8. See also Potter's Arch. Grsec. book ii. 
 
 d See book v. ch. 80, 81. ch. 9. 
 
 e The Theoris. This was a vessel f Aristotle (Politic, v. 6.) speaks of 
 
 which was every year sent to Delos to this event. From him it appears that 
 
 offer sacrifice to Apollo, in consequence the leader of the Athenians was named 
 
 of a vow which Theseus had made at his Chares.
 
 96 HERODOTUS. 
 
 The Corinthians, who were then great friends to the Athe- 
 nians, assisted them at their request with twenty ships*; but 
 took five drachmas for each, because by their laws they were 
 forbidden to let them go without reward. When the Atheni- 
 ans had received this succour, and made ready their own 
 fleet, they sailed to ^Egina with seventy ships in all, and ar- 
 rived one day after the day agreed upon. 
 
 XC. Nicodromus, when the Athenians did not arrive at the 
 proper time, made his escape by sea with divers of his accom- 
 plices, to whom the Athenians gave Suuium for an habitation; 
 from whence they afterwards infested the .^Egineta?, and com- 
 mitted many depredations on the island. 
 
 XCI. In the mean time the most wealthy citizens of ^Egina 
 having overpowered the Plebeians who made the insurrection 
 with Nicodromus, led them out to execution. And from that 
 time they incurred the guilt of a sacrilegious crime, which 
 they could never atone for by sacrifices ; but were ejected out 
 of the island, before they had appeased the anger of the God- 
 dess. For as they led to execution seven hundred of the 
 people they had taken prisoners, one of them getting loose 
 fled to the porch of the temple of Ceres the legislatress, and 
 caught hold of the handle of the gate ; but they having in vain 
 endeavoured to drag him from the place, cut off both his 
 hands, which they left fastened to the gate, and forced him 
 away in that condition. 
 
 XCII. Thus the ^Eginetae treated the insurgents. They 
 next fought a battle by sea against the Athenians who arrived 
 with their seventy ships ; and being defeated, sent again to 
 the Argives to desire their assistance. But the Argives would 
 not any longer succour them, but complained that the ships of 
 jEgina, which had been seized by Cleomenes' 1 , had touched 
 at the territories of Argos, and that the ^Eginetas had landed 
 their forces with the Lacedaemonians ; as some of the Sicy- 
 onians had likewise done in the same expedition. And a 
 penalty of five hundred talents was imposed upon each by 
 the Argives. The Sicyonians acknowledged that they had 
 acted unjustly, and agreed with the Argives to pay one hun- 
 dred talents and be free from the rest ; but the ^Eginetae 
 were more haughty, and would not condescend to own them- 
 selves in the wrong. For these reasons none of the Argives 
 were sent by the commonwealth to assist the ^Eginetee ; but 
 about a thousand volunteers, under the conduct of Eurybates, 
 who had practised for the pentathlum 1 , marched to their suc- 
 
 s The Corinthians reminded the Athe- h In the expedition mentioned in ch. 
 
 nians of this kindness, when they were 76 and 77. 
 
 inclined to assist the Corcyraeans. See 'Simonides has collected the five games 
 Thucyd. i. 41.
 
 ERATO. VI. 97 
 
 cour. But the greater part of these perished in the war 
 against the Athenians, and never returned home from ^Egina. 
 Eurybates himself, after he had killed three several antagonists 
 in single combat, died by the hand of Sophanes of Decelea k , 
 who was the fourth he encountered. 
 
 XCIII. Nevertheless the ^Eginetse having found an oppor- 
 tunity of attacking the Athenians, when they were in disorder, 
 obtained a victory, and took four ships with all the men that 
 were on board. 
 
 XCIV. Whilst the Athenians were thus engaged in a war 
 against ^Egina, Darius was not remiss in his affairs ; so that 
 being continually put in mind by his servant to remember the 
 Athenians 1 , and incessantly surrounded by the Pisistratidse 
 who criminated the Athenians, and being also desirous, under 
 this pretext, of subduing all those parts of Greece which had 
 denied him earth and water, first of all he removed Mardonius 
 from his command, because he had not succeeded in his ex- 
 pedition ; and sent Datis a native of Media, and Artaphernes 
 the son of his brother Artaphernes 111 , to make war upon Eretria 
 and Athens, with orders to enslave the inhabitants of those 
 cities and bring them into his presence. 
 
 XCV. After these generals had been declared, and had 
 taken leave of the king, they advanced at the head of a nu- 
 merous and well-provided army into a plain of Cilicia, called 
 Aleium", and encamped there. In the mean time the fleet 
 arrived with vessels for the transportation of horses, which 
 Darius in the preceding year had commanded the tributary 
 provinces to furnish ; and when the men and horses were all 
 embarked, they sailed for the coast of Ionia with six hundred 
 galleys. In this voyage they would not sail towards the 
 Hellespont and Thrace, but departing from Samos p directed 
 their course across the Icarian sea, and through the islands ; 
 chiefly, as I conjecture, dreading to double the cape of mount 
 Athos, where they had sustained so great a loss in the former 
 year ; and partly in order to attack the island of Naxus, which 
 they had not yet reduced. 
 
 XCVI. When they had sailed over the Icarian sea, and 
 had touched at Naxus, (for the Persians, bearing in mind 
 
 which composed the Pentathlum into one n This plain was divided by the river 
 
 verse : Pyramus, to the north of Mallus. 
 
 "A\fia, iroS<i>Kiir)v, cioicov, uicovra, ira- "Ex HV is a ls frequently used by 
 
 \i)v. Anth. i. 1. Epigr. 8. Ed. H. Steph. Homer to signify the same as tXavvtw. 
 
 Leajnng, running, throwing the quoit, and See Iliad, N. 326. Wesseling. 
 
 the javelin, and wrestling. P I( would have been shorter to have 
 
 k See book viii. ch. 74. gone directly to Naxus, but they doubt- 
 
 1 See book v. 105. less intended to rest at Samos after the 
 
 m Artaphernes, the governor of Sardis, fatigues of so long a voyage, and before 
 
 was the brother of Darius, v. 25, 30, they commenced the siege of Naxos. 
 
 73, &c. Larcher. 
 
 VOL. II. O
 
 98 HERODOTUS. 
 
 what had formerly happened* 1 , intended to attack this place 
 first,) the Naxians abandoned their habitations, and fled to 
 the mountains : upon which the Persians took as many pri- 
 soners as they could seize ; and after they had burnt the city, 
 with the temples, departed to the rest of the islands. 
 
 XCVII. During this enterprize the Delians left their is- 
 land, and fled to Tenus ; but when the fleet arrived near 
 Delos, Datis sailed forward and would not permit them to 
 bring their ships into a station near the island, but at Rhenea 
 which was opposite ; and being there informed where the 
 Delians were, he sent a herald to them with this message : 
 " Sacred men, upon what motive have you fled away and 
 " have not conceived a proper opinion of me ? I am not your 
 " enemy in inclination ; and besides I have received a com- 
 " mand from the king, that in the region, where two deities r 
 " are born, I should commit no violence either against the 
 " inhabitants or the place. Return therefore to your houses, 
 " and resume the possession of your island." This message 
 he sent to the Delians by means of a herald ; and afterwards 
 he piled three hundred talents of frankincense upon the altar 
 and burnt it. 
 
 XCVIII. Datis, after he had done this, sailed with the 
 whole fleet towards Eretria, accompanied by the lonians and 
 ^Eolians. The Delians say, that upon his departure the is- 
 land of Delos was shaken by an earthquake 8 , the first and 
 last ever felt in that place to our time ; and that the God 
 thereby foretold the calamities impending over the men of 
 that age. For under the reigns of Darius the son of Hystas- 
 pes, of Xerxes the son of Darius, and of Artaxerxes the 
 son of Xerxes ; I say during the consecutive reigns of these 
 three kings, more disasters fell upon Greece than in twenty 
 generations before, partly brought upon it by the Persians, 
 and partly by the principal powers 1 of the country contending 
 .for superiority. So that it is nothing improbable that the 
 island of Delos, though unmoved before, should be shaken 
 at that time, as a former oracle had predicted in these 
 words ; 
 
 I'll Delos shake, however yet unmov'd. 
 
 And certainly the names of these three kings are rightly ex- 
 
 i See book v. ch. 34. eight years passed between this period 
 
 r Apollo and Diana. and the Peloponnesian war, he may 
 
 Thucydides (ii. 8.) relates that this have expressed himself in a general way. 
 
 island was shaken by an earthquake a Wesseling is of the same opinion. Lar- 
 
 little before the Peloponnesian war, and cher. 
 
 assures us that it had never been shaken ' He alludes to the Peloponnesian 
 
 before within the memory of man. war, the commencement of which he 
 
 Thucydides may probably speak of the bad seen. Lurcher. 
 same as Herodotus; and as only forty-
 
 ERATO. VI. 99 
 
 plained by the Grecians ; for, in our language, Darius signifies 
 one who restrains ; Xerxes a warrior ; and Artaxerxes a 
 mighty warrior. 
 
 XCIX. After the Barbarians had left Delos, they touched 
 at the other islands ; from whence they took forces and the 
 sons of the inhabitants for hostages. Then advancing farther 
 among the islands, they arrived at Carystus", the people of 
 which refused either to put hostages into their hands, or to 
 fight against their neighbours of Athens and Eretria. For 
 this cause the Carystians were besieged by the Persians, and 
 their territories ravaged, till at last they surrendered to the 
 Persians. 
 
 C. By this time the Eretrians being informed that the 
 Persians were coming to invade them with their fleet, im- 
 plored the assistance of the Athenians ; who at their request 
 ordered those four thousand men that were in possession of 
 the lands formerly belonging to the Chalcidean Hippobotae *, 
 to march to their succour. But the councils of the Eretrians 
 were corrupted and unsteady ; and though they had desired 
 the aid of the Athenians, they could not come to any settled 
 resolution. For some among them proposed to abandon the 
 city, and to retire among the rocks y of Eubosa; whilst others 
 were ready to betray their country 2 to the Persians, in ex- 
 pectation of private advantages to themselves. So that 
 ^Eschines the son of Nothon, a man of principal authority in 
 the city, being perfectly informed of these divisions, commu- 
 nicated the present state of their affairs to the Athenian 
 forces, and advised them to return home, that they might 
 not be involved in the common ruin. The Athenians followed 
 his counsel, and by a timely retreat to Oropus, saved them- 
 selves from destruction. 
 
 CI. In the mean time the Persians arriving on the coast of 
 Eretria, brought their fleet to an anchor near Tamynae*, 
 
 a A town of Eubcea, situated at the had retired to this place, they would have 
 
 foot of Mount Ocha, where there were had nothing to fear from the Persians, 
 
 quarries of green marble. It was in the whose fleet durst not have attacked 
 
 south-west part of the island, and nearly them amongst rocks so very dangerous, 
 
 opposite Cynosurum, which is on the Lurcher. 
 
 eastern coast of Attica. Lurcher. z Gongylus, the only Eretrian who 
 
 * See book v. ch. 77. and note. had taken part with the Persians, as 
 
 y Ta t'lK/xi r% Evj3oir)f. These are Xenophon affirms, (Hellenic, iii. 1. 4.) 
 
 what Virgil calls, had for his reward the cities of Gam- 
 
 ,, -ri u /-< T, brium, Paleerambrium, Myrina, and 
 
 Euboic* cautes^ ultorque Caphe- < ^ and Go } his 
 
 reus. jEneid, n. ver. 260. d J cendantS) ^ ere still in po s Lsion of 
 
 There were in this part of the island them ninety years afterwards, when 
 
 places called the Hollows of Eubcea, be- Thymbron, a Lacedaemonian general, 
 
 cause the coast retired in that part, rd passed into Asia Minor to make war in 
 
 KoiXa rf/c m&fioias. See also Livy, Persia. Larcher. 
 xxxi. 47. If the inhabitants of Carystus * Tamynsa was a small town in the ter- 
 
 o2
 
 100 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Chosreae and ^Egilia, and having touched at these places, 
 landed their horses with diligence, and prepared all things in 
 order to a battle. But the Eretrians having been obliged by 
 a plurality of voices not to abandon the city, applied them- 
 selves wholly in making provision for the defence of their 
 walls, and would not march out to offer battle to the enemy ; 
 which when the Persians perceived, they began to attack the 
 place ; and, after six days had passed with various success and 
 great slaughter on both sides, Euphorbus the son of Alcimachus, 
 and Philagrus the son of Cyneus, men of considerable figure 
 among the Eretriaas, betrayed the city to the Persians. In 
 this manner the Persians having gained entrance into the 
 city, both pillaged and set fire to the temples, in revenge for 
 those which had been burnt at Sardis, and enslaved the inha- 
 bitants b , pursuant to the orders of Darius. 
 
 CII. When they had taken this city, and rested a few 
 days, they sailed to Attica, reducing the Athenians to great 
 difficulties, and expecting to treat them in the same way as 
 they had the Eretrians. Marathon is a region of Attica, 
 more commodious for horse than any other of that country, 
 and situate near Eretria. 
 
 CIII. To this place therefore Hippias the son of Pisistra- 
 tus conducted the Persians, which when the Athenians heard, 
 they sent their forces thither also under ten captains, the tenth 
 of whom was Miltiades, whose father Cimon d the son of Ste- 
 sagoras had been formerly obliged to fly from Athens in the 
 time of Pisistratus the son of Hippocrates. During his exile 
 he obtained the Olympic prize 6 in the quadrijugal chariot-race, 
 and transferred the honour to Miltiades his brother by the 
 same mother. In the next Olympiad, he obtained a second 
 victory with the same mares, and permitted Pisistratus to be 
 proclaimed victor ; by which concession he had liberty to re- 
 turn home upon his honour. At last, having had the same 
 glory a third time, he was assassinated in the night by the 
 treachery of the sons of Pisistratus, after the death of their 
 father: for they suborned certain persons to that purpose, 
 who killed him in the Pritaneum. He lies interred without 
 the city, on the other side of the road which is called Dia 
 Caeles f ; and his mares, which had won him three Olympic 
 
 ritory of the Eretrians, according to closing them in straights, as in book v. 
 
 Strabo, (x. p. 687.) who follows liar- 63. See also Thucydides, vi. 6. ll'es- 
 
 pocration, and near it was a temple de- seiing. 
 
 dicated to Apollo. Valckenaer. d See ch. 39 41. 
 
 b According to Plato, (De Legibus e We do not know in what Olympiad 
 
 iii. torn. 2. page 698.) the Persians took Cimon obtained this victory. See Cor- 
 
 Eretria as it in a net. Diogenes Laertius sini, in Catalogo Olympionicarum. 
 
 (iii. 3.) describes the same thing. Lurcher. Lurcher. 
 
 c Karepyovrif rt irokXbv : bringing { Coela is (Marcellin. in Vit&Thucyd. 
 
 the Athenians into great difficulties, en- page 3.) a place in Attica, near the Me-
 
 ERATO. VI. 101 
 
 prizes, are buried over against his monument. Indeed Eva- 
 goras g the Lacedaemonian had a set of mares, that had done 
 the same before ; but besides these, none ever arrived to that 
 excellence. Stesag-oras the eldest son of Cimon* 1 was at that 
 time in the Chersonese under the care of his uncle Miltiades ; 
 but the younger in Athens with his father, and had the name 
 of Miltiades from his ancestor, the founder of the Chersonese. 
 
 CIV. This Miltiades returning at that time from the Cher- 
 sonese, was made captain of the Athenians, after he had 
 twice escaped death ; once, when the Phoenicians pursued 
 him to Imbrus, exceedingly desirous to take him, in order to 
 present him to the king ; and a second time, when, after he 
 had escaped the Phoenicians, and had returned home, where 
 he thought himself in safety, his enemies brought him before 
 a court of justice, and accused him of tyrannizing in the Cher- 
 sonese. But he was cleared of this accusation, and elected 
 captain of the Athenians by the suffrages of the people. 
 
 CV. Whilst these generals were yet in the city, they sent 
 a message to Sparta by one Phidippides an Athenian, who 
 was a courier by profession. To this man, as he himself said, 
 and affirmed to the Athenians, Pan appeared about Mount 
 Parthenius beyond Tegea, calling him loudly by his name, and 
 commanding him to ask the Athenians, why they made so little 
 account of him, who had always been inclined to favour them ; 
 and had already often deserved well of their state, as he re- 
 solved to do for the future. The Athenians, being then in a 
 prosperous condition, gave credit to his report ; built a tem- 
 ple to Pan' at the foot of the Acropolis, and from that time 
 honoured him with annual sacrifices and the race of torches. k 
 
 letian gates, where the tomb of Cimon in his Analecta, torn. i. pag. 156. viii. 
 
 was. It was not far from Ceramicus, Larcher. See the remainder of his note 
 
 for ^Elian (Hist. Animal, xii. 40.) says, concerning this hymn, 
 
 he interred in that place the mares which k The manner of the race was this. A 
 
 obtained the three Olympic victories, man with a torch in his hand ran from 
 
 Valckenaer. the altar of the god, in whose honour the 
 
 e ^lian (loc. laud.) says, that Eva- race was celebrated, to a certain point, 
 
 goras in like manner gave his horses an without extinguishing his torch ; if the 
 
 honourable sepulture. torch was extinguished before he arrived 
 
 h As in ix. 107. the dative case Aaptiy at the end, he delivered it to the second, 
 
 is not governed by the substantive and he in like manner to the third. The 
 
 yvvaiKct, but by the verb /)yaytro; so victory was his that carried the torch 
 
 iniv. 51. The dative rolai "S.Kv6yai is lighted to the end of the race, and he 
 
 governed by the following verb iarl, and was called Aa/iTrafoj^opoe ; but if none 
 
 in this passage the dative rtf TLifiuvi de- could perform it, the victory was not ad- 
 
 pends on >}i> : than which construction judged to any of them, for there were 
 
 nothing is more common. Schiceigh. only three antagonists. If any of the 
 
 ' This is mentioned by Pausanias, (i. contenders, for fear of putting out the 
 
 28.) After the victory at Marathon, torch, slackened his motion, the specta- 
 
 they sung in honour of this god a hymn, tors used to strike him with the palms of 
 
 which is given by Athenaeus,(Deipnosoph. their hands. There are frequent allu- 
 
 xv. 14.) but more correctly by Brunck, sions to this in authors, of which I shall
 
 102 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CVI. This Phidippides, who said he had seen Pan in his 
 way, arriving in Sparta on the following 1 day after his depar- 
 ture from Athens, spoke to the magistrates in these terms : 
 " Men of Lacedffimon," said he, " the Athenians desire you 
 " to assist them, and not to suffer the most ancient of all the 
 " Grecian cities to be enslaved by Barbarians. Eretria is al- 
 " ready destroyed, and Greece already weakened by the loss 
 " of so considerable a place." The Lacedaemonians having 
 heard the message delivered by Phidippides in pursuance of 
 his instructions, consented to succour the Athenians ; but 
 could not do it immediately without violating one of their 
 laws. For being then at the ninth day of the month, they 
 said they might not march into the field before the moon was 
 full m , and therefore would wait that conjuncture". 
 
 CVII. In the mean time Hippas the son of Pisistratus, in- 
 troduced the Barbarians into the plain of Marathon, having the 
 night before seen the following vision. He fancied that he lay 
 with his mother ; and from thence concluded that he should 
 certainly recover the dominion of Athens, and die an aged 
 man in his own house. While he then acted as guide to the 
 Persians, he first landed the slaves from Eretria in ^Egilia, an 
 island belonging to the Styreans, and then brought the ships 
 of the Persian fleet into station at Marathon P; and while 
 
 only mention one instance from Lucre- military operations ; the Hyacinthia at 
 tius, ii. ver. 76. the beginning, and the Carneia at the 
 
 .. A ,- ... end of the summer. This was one of 
 
 Augescunt ahae gentes, alie mmu- ^ curbs tQ which Lycurgus trusted for 
 
 ', , restraining that ambition which he could 
 
 " In que brevi spatio mutantur sajcla ,. 
 
 not but foresee must arise among his 
 
 animantum : e u *. j i_ * * o 
 
 ,. -c,. -. i , . fellow-countrymen. Mitford, ch. 4. 4.3. 
 
 duF 1 CUrS reS * " As thin S s now stood > Probability of 
 
 Potter's Arch. Grxc. ii. 20. successful opposition was so small that 
 
 perhaps we ought not to impute to any 
 
 1 That is to say, he travelled in two base or unreasonable selfishness the cau- 
 
 days 1140 stades, which is the distance tion of the Lacedaemonian government, 
 
 from Athens to Sparta. This was con- though we should believe that policy or 
 
 sidered, saysPliny, (Hist. Nat. vii. 20.) irresolution, more than religion, detained 
 
 a great thing, till Anystis, a courier of their army. Mitford's Greece, ch. 7. $.4. 
 
 Lacedaemon, and Philonides, a courier This was considered as a fortunate 
 
 of Alexander, went from Sicyon to Elis dream. (See Artemidor. Oneirocrit. i. 
 
 in one day, a distance of 1200 stades. 82.) Ca;sar, who abused the talents 
 
 But allowing for the windings of the nature had bestowed on him, to reduce 
 
 road, the distance is scarcely more than his country to slavery, had a similar 
 
 600 stades. If Pliny in this place dream : and although he did not believe 
 
 meant to speak of the smaller stade, he the immortality of the soul, (seeSueton. 
 
 ought to have mentioned it, because he Jul. Ca;sar. vii.) yet he was weak 
 
 just above spoke of the greater stade, as enough to believe it, and even to be trou- 
 
 the passage clearly proves. Lurcher. bled by it, until the interpreters assured 
 
 m It was a sacred law at Sparta, that him that he would one day become mas- 
 the full moon must be waited for before ter of the world. Lurcher. 
 the army could quit Laconia ; and, on P For a description of the field of Ma- 
 whatever foreign service, it must return rathon, the reader is referred to Wheeler's 
 for the observance of two religious festi- Journey into Greece, book 6. and Chand- 
 vals, both within the ordinary season of ler's Travels in Greece, ch. 34.
 
 ERATO. VI. 103 
 
 drawing up the Barbarians as they landed, he happened to 
 couerh and sneeze with unusual violence, and as he was far 
 advanced in years, several teeth were shaken in his head, and 
 one falling out into the sand, could not be found, though all 
 possible search was made for it. Upon which accident, with a 
 deep sigh Hippias said to those who were present, " This 
 " country neither belongs to us, nor will ever be subdued by 
 " us ; whatever share I had of this land, my tooth possesses." 
 CVIII. Thus Hippias conjectured that his dream was ac- 
 complished. When the Athenians had drawn up their forces 
 in a place sacred to Hercules, the Plataeans came to their as- 
 sistance with all the men they could raise. For they had put 
 themselves under the protection of Athens, and the Atheni- 
 ans had gone through many dangers in their defence. For 
 when the Platseans saw themselves oppressed by the Thebans, 
 they first offered their submission to Cleomenes the son of 
 Anaxandrides, and to the Lacedaemonians who happened to 
 be present. They would not receive them, but replied; " We 
 " live at too great a distance from you, and such would be 
 " a cold assistance. For you might frequently be enslaved 
 " before we could be informed of your danger. We ad- 
 " vise you therefore" 1 to put yourselves under the protec- 
 " tion of the Athenians, who are your neighbours, and are 
 " not backward in assisting." This counsel the Lacedaemoni- 
 ans gave, not so much from any good will to the Plataeans, as 
 from a desire of seeing the Athenians harassed by a war 
 against the Boeotians. However the Plataeans not disobeying 
 their advice, went to Athens; and arriving there when the 
 Athenians were met to sacrifice to the twelve Gods, they sat 
 down by the altar r in the posture of suppliants, and offered to 
 give themselves up. Which when the Thebans heard, they 
 sent an army against Plataea, and at the same time the Athe- 
 nians marched to assist the Plataeans. But as they were ready 
 to engage in battle, the Corinthians prevented them ; for hap- 
 pening to be present, they interposed their offices to reconcile 
 the contending parties, and with the consent of both sides de- 
 termined the dispute by this agreement ; " That the Thebans 
 " should leave alone all those Boeotians, who would no longer 
 " be accounted members of Bceotia." After this decision the 
 Corinthians returned home, and as the Athenians were retir- 
 ing likewise, the Boeotians fell upon them in their march ; but 
 were repulsed with loss. Upon which success the Athenians 
 enlarged the frontier of the Plataeans, and instead of that ap- 
 pointed by the Corinthians, fixed the limits of the Thebans at 
 
 i This is abo confirmed by Tbucydides, r See book ii. ch. 7. 
 iii. 55.
 
 104 HERODOTUS, 
 
 the Asopus and Hysiae. In this manner the Plataeans came 
 under the protection of the Athenians, and joined their forces 
 at Marathon. 
 
 CIX. When the army was assembled, a division arose 
 among the Athenian captains ; some delivering their opinion 
 against fighting, because they were far inferior in number to 
 the Medes ; and others as vehemently pressing to come to a 
 battle, among whom was Miltiades ; who, finding they could 
 not agree, and that the worst opinion would probably prevail, 
 went to Callimachus of Aphidnae, at that time polemarch 5 in 
 the army, and elected to that office by the Athenians with the 
 privilege of an eleventh voice. For in former time the Athe- 
 nians made the polemarch equal to the captains in the decision 
 of all matters in debate. To this person therefore Miltiades 
 applied himself in these words : " It now depends on you, O 
 " Callimachus, to enslave Athens; or by preserving its liberty, 
 " to leave an eternal monument of your fame, such as Har- 
 " modius and Aristogiton have not left. For the Athenians 
 *' were never in so great danger from the time they were first 
 " a people. If they bend beneath the power of the Medes, it 
 " has been decreed, what they are to suffer, when put into 
 " the hands of Hippias ; but if they conquer, Athens will be 
 " the principal city of Greece. I will now proceed to inform 
 " you, by what means these things may be effected, and how 
 " the decision of them falls upon you. The opinions of us ten 
 " generals are divided ; some of us proposing to fight, and 
 " others advising the contrary. If we decline a battle, I fore- 
 " see some great dissension will shake the fidelity of the army, 
 " and induce them to a compliance with the Medes. But if 
 " we fight before any corruption arises among the Athenians, 
 " we shall be able, if the Gods are impartial, to obtain the 
 " victory. All these things are in your power, and entirely 
 " depend upon the resolution you shall take. For if you would 
 " support my opinion with the accession of your vote, you will 
 " see your country free, and Athens the first city of Greece ; 
 " but if you join with those who would dissuade us from a 
 " battle, you can expect no other consequences than such as 
 " are most contrary to these advantages." 
 
 CX. Miltiades, by these words, gained over Callimachus. 
 When the polemarch came over to that opinion, it was decreed 
 
 8 The polemarch was the third of the fered funeral sacrifices to Harmodius and 
 nine archons. He used to offer sacrifices Aristogiton. He judged the causes of 
 to Diana Agrotera, i. e. the huntress, the Metoecs, or foreigners resident at A- 
 and to Mars. These sacrifices were per- thens, and exercised the same regard to- 
 formed every year in memory of the vie- wards them as the archon Eponymus 
 tory of Marathon. He regulated the fu- did towards the citizens. Lurcher. See 
 neral games, which were celebrated in also Potter's Arch. Gr. book i. ch. 12. 
 honour of those who died in war, and of- and book iii. 5.
 
 ERATO. VI. 105 
 
 that they should engage the enemy. Afterwards all those 
 captains, who in the council of war had pressed for a battle, 
 whenever their turn came to command the army, yielded that 
 honour to Miltiades ; but though he accepted the power, yet 
 he would not hazard an engagement before his own day. 
 
 CXI. When therefore that day was come, the Athenians 
 were drawn up in this order of battle. Callimachus placed 
 himself at the head of the right wing, because the laws of 
 Athens assigned that post to the polemarch. Then the tribes, 
 ranged in a line, followed in order, and last of all the Platae- 
 ans were posted on the left ; from which time, in the solemnity 
 of the quinquennial festivals 4 , the Athenian herald prays for 
 the welfare of the Plataeans, as well as for the prosperity of 
 Athens. The Athenian forces drawn up in this manner, w r ere 
 equal in front to the Medes. But because they had not a 
 sufficient number of men in the centre", that part was the 
 weakest of the whole line, but the wings were strengthened 
 by considerable numbers. 
 
 CXII. When all things were thus disposed, and the sacri- 
 fices were propitious, the Athenians, at the signal, ran with 
 speed towards the enemy, though the space between the 
 two armies was no less than eight stades* in length. The 
 Persians, seeing the Athenians advancing with such precipita- 
 tion, prepared themselves to sustain the attack ; they imputed 
 to the Athenians madness, and a very destructive one, when 
 they saw so small a number, wholly destitute of cavalry y and 
 archers 2 , rushing towards them with speed. But the Atheni- 
 ans coming up with the Barbarians, fell on with such valour, 
 that their actions deserve ever to be remembered with honour. 
 
 * The Delia and Panathenaaa were ce- x It appears most probable that Hero- 
 
 lebrated every five years. I suppose dotus here speaks of the small stade 
 
 Herodotus alludes to the Panathenaea which is about 53 French toises, and 
 
 which were more famous than the Delia, means by running, merely double quick 
 
 Meursius is of the same opinion. See time. Larcher. 
 
 his work entitled Panathenaea, ch. 26. Concerning the stade of the Greeks, 
 
 Larcher. see Rennell's 2nd section. 
 
 u If it might be allowed to the histo- y The Athenians being" unable tomain- 
 
 rian at all to wander from positive autho- tain cavalry on account of the barrenness 
 
 rity, the known abilities of Miltiades, of Attica, retained in their pay that of 
 
 and his acquaintance with the temper Thessaly. But Thessaly was at that 
 
 and formation of the Persian army, add- time in the hands of the Persians, and 
 
 ed to the circumstances of the action, besides the Thessalians were attached to 
 
 would almost warrant a conjecture that the family of Pisistratus. See Herod, v. 
 
 the flight of his weak centre was in- 63. Lurcher. 
 
 tended, purposely to lead the flower of z ^Eschylus, who is said himself to 
 
 the enemy's forces out of the battle, and have fought at Marathon, at Salmais, 
 
 fatigue them with unprofitable pursuits, and Plataea, adverts in several passages 
 
 Mitford's Greece, ch. vii. sect. 4. of his tragedy of the Persians to this dif- 
 
 The centre was composed of the tribes ference of weapons, and in verse 152 the 
 
 Leontis and Antiochis only; Themistocles characteristical weapons are put for the 
 
 commanded the first, Aristides the se- nations who bore them. Mitford, ch. 
 
 cond. Plutarch in Aristide. p. 321. vii. sect. 4. note. 
 
 VOL. II. P
 
 IOC HERODOTUS. 
 
 For they were the first of all the Grecians, who ran to meet 3 
 the enerny and endured the sight of the Median dress, and to 
 stand before the men who wore that dress ; whereas in former 
 time the bare name of the Medes was a word of terror in 
 every part of Greece. 
 
 CXIII. After a long and obstinate fight b , that part of the 
 Barbarian army in which were the Persians and the Sacae, 
 broke the centre of the Athenians, and pursued them towards 
 the inland parts. But the Athenians and the Plataeans, who 
 were in the right and left wings, defeated the Barbarians on 
 both sides ; and, having suffered them to fly out of the field, 
 closed the two points, and fell upon those who had broken 
 their centre. When they had defeated these, they pursued 
 the flying enemy c , with great slaughter, to the sea, called for 
 fire, and laid hold of the ships. 
 
 CXIV. In this battle Callimachus' 1 the polemarch, after he 
 had given signal proof of his valour, was killed, with Stasileus 
 the son of Thrasylus, one of the commanders in chief; and 
 Cynaegirus e the son of Euphorion, having laid hold of a part 
 of the poop f of one of the enemy's ships, had his hand struck 
 off with an axe, and died of his wound. Many other persons 
 of considerable name were slain in this action. 
 
 CXV. Seven ships of the enemy were in this manner taken 
 by the Athenians. The Barbarians hastily rowed off 8 with 
 
 * If we may believe Pausanias, (iv. 8.) has made no mention of the exploits of 
 the Messenians long before this period Aristides. His silence is supplied by 
 ran to attack the Lacedaemonians. But Plutarch, (in Aristid. pag. 321.) Ari- 
 this author is too modern to oppose He- slides was one of the ten generals, as was 
 rodotus. However that may be, the also Themistocles. He delivered his opi- 
 Greeks for the most part adopted this nion in the council that they should im- 
 custom, and we see many examples of it mediately engage. When his day of 
 in the retreat of the ten thousand. Caesar command arrived, he yielded it to Mil- 
 practised it with success against Pompey. tiades, and his example was followed by 
 See Caesar de Bello Civili, iii. 92. and all the others. See Plutarch. Lurcher. 
 Appian de Bell. Civilib. ii. pag. 782. d The Rhetoricians say that he was 
 Lurcher. pierced by such a number of spears and 
 These honest confessions of Herodotus, arrows, that he was supported by these 
 which have given so much offence to weapons, and expired in a standing posi- 
 Plutarch, we find all, more or less, con- tion. See Polemo Or. i. p. 2. Wesseling. 
 firmed by the elder writers of the highest e Cynasgirus was the brother of JEs- 
 authority. See Plato Menexen. p. 240. chylus, the celebrated tragic poet, (Sui- 
 Mitford's Greece, ch. vii. sect. 4. note. das in Voc.) He distinguished himself in 
 
 b No account is given by Herodotus of this battle, but it does not appear that he 
 
 any thing done by the Persian horse, had any separate command, any more 
 
 though he speaks of it as numerous. The than Epizelus. See Plutarch. Oper. torn, 
 
 detail however which he afterward gives ii. pag. 305. and Justin, ii. 9. Lurclier. 
 
 of actions of the Persian cavalry previous 'To d<p\affTOv is the raised part of the 
 
 to the battle of Plataea, together with poop composed of large and bent planks, 
 
 every description of the field of Mara- This Larcher has proved in an elaborate 
 
 thon, sufficiently accounts- for their inac- note. 
 
 tion and inefficiency there. Mitford, 'E%avaKpovaafj,fvot. I had inter- 
 
 vii. 4. note. preted this, in puppim remigantes; row- 
 
 e It is very surprising that Herodottis ing, a-stern or backing water : as if it had
 
 ERATO. VI. 
 
 the rest, and having taken from the island in which they had 
 left them, the Eretrian slaves, doubled the promontory of Su- 
 nium, with a design to surprise Athens before the return of 
 the army. The Athenians say this measure was undertaken 
 at the solicitation of the Alcmeeonidae, and that they held up 
 a shield 11 for a signal to the Persian fleet. 
 
 CXVI. However, whilst they were doubling the cape of 
 Sunium, the Athenians decamping from the temple of Her- 
 cules in Marathon, marched with all possible diligence to the 
 succour of their city'; and, before the Barbarians could arrive, 
 came and encamped at another temple of Hercules, in Cyno- 
 sarges. Upon which the Barbarians having appeared off Pha- " 
 lerum, the harbour of the Athenians, lay to with their fleet 
 for some time, and afterwards sailed back towards Asia. 
 
 CXVII. In this battle of Marathon were killed k about six 
 thousand three hundred of the Barbarians, and one hundred 
 ninety-two Athenians. This was the exact loss of 1 both sides'. 
 But here I must not omit a most surprising thing which hap- 
 pened during that action. One Epizelus the son of Ciipha- 
 goras, an Athenian, fighting in his rank with a becoming 
 valour, lost his sight on a sudden, without being struck by any 
 weapon in close combat, or any missile in any part of his body ; 
 
 been iirl irpv(tvr\v ava.Kpovffdp.tvot, 
 which our author uses, viii. 84. Larcher 
 also translated it, " ils se retinerent sans 
 " revirer de bord," and refers to the 
 Schol. on Thucydides, i. 50. This inter- 
 pretation would have very well agreed, 
 if the ships had stood with their prows 
 next the, shore ; and this we might sup- 
 pose the case, if a<j>\affTa, (c. 114. 1. 5.) 
 which Cynaegirus caught hold of, was the 
 same as dicpocrroXia, as some grammari- 
 ans say. (See Heyne on Iliad xv. 717. 
 and ix. 242.) But since it is clearly 
 proved that the aplustre was in the stern 
 of the ship, we shall more properly trans- 
 late t^avaKpovtrdfiitvoi citatis (valide 
 pulsatis) remis sese recipientes, rowing 
 away with speed. Schweigh. 
 
 h This was for a signal to the Persians 
 to attack Athens. Demetrius lifted up a 
 gilded shield as a signal for battle. Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, xx. 51. Reiske, after a 
 great deal of trouble, in order to explain 
 this passage, concludes his note thus, 
 scutum earn ad rem significandam tolli 
 consuevisse, alibi non legi. It was a thing 
 agreed upon between the Alcmoeonidaj 
 and the Persians. We must not look for 
 any other mystery. Larcher. 
 
 1 The Persians thought that they were 
 fresh troops. Frontin. Stratagem, iv. 7. 
 $.43. 
 
 k Plutarch (de Herodot. Malign.) re- 
 marks, that Herodotus derogates from the 
 victory by diminishing the number of the 
 slain. Some affirm that the Persians lost 
 200,000 men on this occasion. Hippias, 
 according to Justin, (ii. 9.) and Cicero, 
 (ad Attic, ix. Ep. 10.) perished in the 
 battle. Suidas (in voce) says, that he 
 fled to Lemnos, where he fell sick and 
 died. Larcher. 
 
 Xenophon (Cyri Exped. iii. 2. . 7.) 
 relates, that the Athenians made a vow 
 to sacrifice to Diana as many goats as 
 they should kill enemies, and being un- 
 able to procure a sufficient number, they 
 determined every year to sacrifice five 
 hundred. ^Elian (Var. Hist. ii. 25.) re- 
 lates the same fact with some slight va- 
 riation. 
 
 1 The small proportion of the Atheni- 
 ans slain perhaps appears least consistent 
 with the other circumstances. Yet it is 
 countenanced by authentic accounts of 
 various battles in different ages, and 
 particularly those in our own history of 
 Crecy, Poitiers, and above all, of Agin- 
 court. When indeed the whole frout qf 
 the soldier was covered with defensive 
 armour, slaughter could seldom be great, 
 but among broken troops, or in pursuit. 
 Mitford's Greece, ch. vii. 4.
 
 108 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and, from that time, continued blind to the end of his liie. I 
 have heard that he affirmed concerning his misfortunes, that 
 he thought he saw a man of uncommon height standing before 
 him in complete armour, holding a shield covered by the 
 length of his beard ; and that this phantom, passing by him, 
 killed the person who stood next in the rank. 
 
 CXVIII. Datis in his return to Asia, arriving at Myconus, 
 saw a vision in his sleep. What the vision was, is not men- 
 tioned ; yet upon the first dawn of day he ordered all the fleet 
 to be searched ; and, having found a gilded image of Apollo in 
 one of the Phoenician ships, inquired from what temple they 
 had taken it. When he was informed where they had obtained 
 the statue, he sailed in his own ship to Delos, and, finding the 
 inhabitants returned thither, he deposited the image in one of 
 their temples ; commanding the Delians to transport it to 
 Delium a city of Thebes, built on the sea-coast over against 
 Chalcis ; and, after he had given this order, put to sea again. 
 Nevertheless, because the Delians failed to execute his com- 
 mand, the Thebans themselves, sending to Delos upon the ad- 
 monition of the oracle, brought away the statue twenty years 
 after. 
 
 CXIX. In the mean time Datis and Artaphernes, arriving 
 in Asia, conducted the Eretrian captives to Susa ; and though 
 Darius had expressed great indignation against the Eretrians, 
 before the reduction of that place, and charged them with the 
 guilt of beginning the war ; yet, finding they were now his 
 prisoners, and entirely in his power, he did them no other hurt, 
 than to send them to inhabit a place in Cissia, in his own sta- 
 tion, which is called Ardericea m , and is distant from Susa two 
 hundred and ten stades, and forty from a well which yields three 
 species of things, for they draw from it bitumen, salt, and oil, in 
 this manner; it is used for the purpose of a water engine, to 
 which the half of a leathern bag is attached instead of a bucket : 
 a man having dipped down" with this, draws up the liquid, and 
 pours it into a receiver, from thence it is poured into another, 
 and is changed in three ways : the bitumen and salt presently 
 form themselves into masses; and the oil, which is black, of a 
 strong scent, and by the Persians called rhadinace is skimmed 
 off and put into jars. In this country Darius placed the Ere- 
 trians, who still continue to inhabit the same region, and have 
 preserved their ancient language to my time . Thus I have 
 finished what I had to say concerning the affairs of the Ere- 
 trians. 
 
 m This is not the place mentioned in See note on iii. 130. 
 
 book i. 185. that was in Babylon, where- If we can believe Philostratus, (in 
 
 as this was in Cissia. Lurcher. Vit. Apollon. i. 36.) they occupied the 
 
 n "YjrorvTrmv signifies to put one thing same place at the commencement of the 
 
 under another, in order to raise the other. Christian zera. Larcher.
 
 ERATO. VI. 109 
 
 CXX. After the full moon, two thousand Lacedaemonians 
 arrived in Athens, with so great a desire of finding the enemy, 
 that they had spent but three days in their march from Sparta 
 to Attica : and though they came too late to be present at the 
 battle, yet being violently bent upon seeing the Medes, they 
 proceeded to Marathon ; and, when they had satisfied their 
 curiosity, commended the Athenians for their valour, and re- 
 turned home. 
 
 CXXI. But I am amazed, and can never admit the story 
 that the Alcmasonidae should, from an agreement with the 
 Persians, hold up a shield for a signal ; as if they would have 
 wished to see the Athenians subject to the Barbarians, and to 
 Hippias ; they who had ever shewn as much hatred to tyrants, 
 or more, than Callias the son of Phaenippus, and father of 
 Hipponicus ; though Callias was the only man among the 
 Athenians, who, besides many other actions of the utmost en- 
 mity, had the courage to purchase the goods of Pisistratus, 
 when, after his expulsion, they were publicly sold by a decree 
 of the people. 
 
 CXXII. Callias indeed deserves? to be frequently men- 
 tioned by every one; as well for his zeal, which I before men- 
 tioned, in restoring the liberty of his country, as for the actions 
 he performed at the Olympian exercises. He won the race 
 with a single horse, and was second in the quadrijugal course. 
 He had been before victorious in the Pythian solemnities, 
 and distinguished himself by his magnificence in the view of 
 all the Grecians. He was so indulgent to his three daughters, 
 that when they had attained to marriageable years, he pre- 
 sented them with a magnificent dowry, and bestowed on them 
 this gratification ; he gave them in marriage to whomsoever 
 they might select from all the Athenians. 
 
 CXXIII. But since nothing is more evident, than that the 
 Alcmaeonidae were no less haters of tyrants than Callias, my 
 wonder is the greater; and I can never believe that they made 
 a signal to the Persians ; they, I say, who in all time had 
 avoided to live under tyranny, and had actually, by their con- 
 trivance, expelled the family of Pisistratus ; acquiring by that 
 action a better title, in my opinion, to be called the deliverers 
 of Athens, than Harmodius and Aristogiton. For these men, 
 by killing Hipparchus, only exasperated those who survived ; 
 but could not prevent them from continuing the tyranny. 
 Whereas the Alcmaeonidae manifestly restored the freedom of 
 Athens, if we may believe that they induced the Pythian to 
 admonish the Lacedaemonians to rescue the Athenians from 
 servitude, as I mentioned before q . 
 
 P Valckenaer and Larcher suppose that here : it is wanting in some manuscripts, 
 the whole of this chapter has no business 1 See book v. ch. 63, 66.
 
 110 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CXXIV. Perhaps some may pretend, that from some dis- 
 content towards the people, they endeavoured to betray their 
 country: on the contrary, no men were ever in greater esteem 
 among the Athenians, or had a greater share in the public 
 honours ; and therefore reason forbids us to think that they 
 held up the shield on that account. That a shield was seen, 
 cannot be denied, for the thing was done ; but who the person 
 was that held it up, I am unable to determine any farther. 
 
 CXXV. The Alcmaeonidae had from their first origin been 
 considerable in Athens, and received an additional lustre from 
 Alcmaeon and Megacles. For when the Lydians were sent 
 by Croesus to consult the oracle of Delphi, Alcmseon the son 
 of Megacles assisted them, and zealously forwarded their 
 plans : Croesus, having learnt that he did great services to the 
 Lydians, who went to consult the oracle, sent for him to Sardis, 
 and, after his arrival, gave him as much gold as he could carry 
 about his body at once. To receive this present Alcmseon 
 contrived and applied 1 the following plan: he put on a large 
 tunic, in which there were wide folds, and fastened to his feet 
 the most capacious buskins he could find, and thus went to the 
 treasury, to which he was conducted by the attendants. He 
 there threw himself upon a great heap of gold dust ; and first 
 crammed as much into his buskins as they could contain, he 
 next filled the folds of his garments, and then, having sprinkled 
 some of the dust in his hair, and taken some more in his mouth, 
 he went out of the treasury, hardly able to drag his buskins 
 after him, and resembling any thing rather than a man, since 
 his mouth was stuffed up and every thing was swelled to a 
 great size. When Crossus saw him, he broke out into a fit of 
 laughter, and gave him all he had brought out, with many 
 other presents of no less value. Thus that family became very 
 rich : and Alcmaeon having thus kept horses, won the quad- 
 rijugal prize at the Olympic games. 
 
 CXXVI. But in the second generation after him, Clis- 
 thenes tyrant of Sicyon, raised this house so that it became 
 much more celebrated throughout Greece than before. This 
 Clisthenes, who was the son of Aristonymus, and grandson to 
 Myron the son of Andreus, had a daughter named Agarista, 
 whom he purposed to marry to the man he should judge most 
 worthy among all the Grecians. To that end, during the 
 Olympic solemnity, in which Clisthenes obtained the victory" 
 in the quadrijugal race, he caused open proclamation to be 
 made, that whoever of the Greeks thought himself worthy to 
 
 r Up!>G TTJV Swptrjv, &c. Ad donum We are unable to find Clisthenes 
 illud (sc. capiendum) tale invention ad- among the Olympic victors. Lurcher, 
 tulit Callias. Schweigh.
 
 ERATO. VI. 
 
 Ill 
 
 be son-in-law to Clisthenes, should come to Sicyon before the 
 expiration of sixty days ; because he had determined to marry 
 his daughter within the compass of a year after that time. 
 Upon which notification all such Grecians as were proud of 
 their own personal merit, or the fame of their country, came 
 as suitors; whom Clisthenes having prepared a course and 
 palaestra 1 , detained, in order to make trial of them, 
 
 CXXVII. From Italy arrived Smindyrides" the son of 
 Hippocrates, a man plunged in voluptuousness beyond most 
 examples, and born at Sybaris, which was then at the height 
 of its prosperity ; with Damas of Siris, the son of Samyris, 
 surnamed the Wise. From the gulf of Ionia came Amphim- 
 nestus the son of Epistrophus of Epidamnus ; and from ^Eto- 
 lia, Males the brother of Titormus x , who Surpassed all the 
 Grecians in strength, and had retired from men to the ex- 
 tremities of ^Etolia. From Peloponnesus, arrived Leocedes 
 the son of Phidon y , tyrant of Argos; of that Phidon, I say, 
 who established measures to the Peloponnesians ; and exceed- 
 
 * Not unlike to this conduct of Clis- 
 thenes were the solemnities described in 
 books of romance and chivalry, as pre- 
 ceding the nuptials of a king's daughter. 
 The knight who was victorious at tilts 
 and tournaments, generally captivated the 
 affections of the lady, and obtained the 
 consent of the father. Beloe* 
 
 u This man took with him a thousand 
 cooks, and a thousand fowlers, (Athen. 
 Deipnosoph. xii. 11.) Seneca (de Ira, 
 ii. 25.) gives the following account of 
 him ; " Smindyridem aiunt fuisse ex Sy- 
 ' baritarum civitate; qui cum vidisset 
 ' fodientem, et altius rastrum allevan- 
 ' tern, lassum se fieri questus, vetuit il- 
 ' lum opus in conspectu suo facere ; 
 ' idem saepius questus est quod foliis 
 ' rosse dnplicatis incubuisset." Lur- 
 cher. 
 
 x This man, according to Athenaeus, 
 (x. 2.) one day disputed with Mjlo of 
 Crotona, which could soonest devour a 
 whole ox. iMrcher. 
 
 1 As the text now stands, Herodotus 
 confounds the two Phidons together, and 
 this is not probable, as he lived so near 
 the time of the last. Larcher follows the 
 correction of Gronovius, by which it be- 
 comes " son of Phidon, tyrant of Argos, 
 " and descended from that Phidon," 
 &c. &c. See Larcher's learned note. 
 
 It would be of some importance, if it 
 were possible to determine the age of 
 Phidon. The circumstance of his hav- 
 ing assumed the presidency of the Olym- 
 pian festival, were the Olympian regis- 
 
 ter perfect, should have put his age be- 
 yond question ; yet authors who pos- 
 sessed the best means of information are 
 not to be reconciled concerning it. Pau- 
 sanias (vi. 22.) says that he presided in 
 the eighth Olympiad. But, according 
 to Strabo (viii. p. 355.) the Eleians pre- 
 sided without interruption to the twenty- 
 sixth ; and if the copies of Herodotus are 
 faithful, Phidon must have lived toward 
 the fiftieth Olympiad, where Newton 
 would fix him. The copies of Herodotus 
 are not without the appearance of defect 
 where Phidon is mentioned. The chro- 
 nologers have been desirous of imputing 
 error to those of Strabo, but that writer, 
 as his copies now stand, is consistent 
 with himself; and, upon Newton's sys- 
 tem, consistent with Herodotus. It can 
 scarcely be said that Pausanias is con- 
 sistent with himself; at least he is very 
 deficient, when it clearly is his desire to 
 give full information. I am therefore 
 inclined, with Newton, to suppose an 
 error in the date which stands assigned, 
 as on his authority, for the presidency of 
 Phidon. That ready method for accom- 
 modating chronological difficulties by the 
 supposition of two or more persons of the 
 same name, in the same situation, and 
 sometimes of the same character and the 
 same fame, in different ages, has been 
 employed to adjust the age of Phidon : 
 but we find no historical authority for the 
 existence of more than one king of Argos 
 of that name. Mitford's Greece, App. 
 toch. 3.
 
 112 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ing all the Grecians in arrogance, removed the Elean agono- 
 theta3 z , and assumed to himself the power of regulating the 
 Olympian exercises ; Amiantus an Arcadian of Trapezus and 
 son to Lycurgus ; with Laphanes the Azanian of Paeus, son 
 of that Euphorion, who, according to a common report, enter- 
 tained Castor and Pollux in his house, and from that time re- 
 ceived all strangers with great hospitality : these, with Ono- 
 mastus of Elis, the son of Agaeus, came from Peloponnesus. 
 From Athens came Megacles the son of that Alcmason who 
 visited Croesus ; and Hippoclides the son of Tisander, in 
 riches and beauty surpassing all the Athenians of his time. 
 From Euboea Lysanius alone, a native of Eretria, which was 
 then in a flourishing condition. From Thessaly, Diactorides of 
 Cranon of the family of Scopadae*; and from the Molossians, 
 Alcon. Such was the number of suitors. 
 
 CXXVIII. When these had arrived on the day ap- 
 pointed, Clisthenes, in pursuance of his design, first examined 
 every one touching his country and descent : after which he 
 detained them a whole year, in order to try their merit, tem- 
 per 6 , education, and manners ; conversing with them fre- 
 quently apart, and together, and conducting the youngest to 
 the gymnastic exercises. Above all he endeavoured to dis- 
 cover their inclinations when he entertained them with feast- 
 ing ; for he tried all experiments, and treated them with great 
 magnificence during the whole time they stayed with him. But 
 among the several candidates he principally favoured the 
 Athenians ; especially Hippoclides the son of Tisander, who 
 was preferred for his merit, and because his ancestors were 
 related to the Cypselidae of Corinth. 
 
 CXXIX. When the day appointed for the celebration of 
 the marriage d , and the declaration of Clisthenes, had arrived; 
 he sacrificed a hecatomb, and feasted all the suitors and the 
 Sicyonians. After supper they entered into a dispute con- 
 cerning music, and other things that occasionally fell into 
 discourse at that time : and, as the wine went about 6 , Hippo- 
 clides attracting the attention of all the company, commanded 
 the musician to play a tune called Emmelia f ; in which being 
 
 1 These were the judges and umpires avvfffrla : it implies also conversation 
 
 of the games, and familiar intercourse : avvtffTia sig- 
 
 a The riches of this family became pro- nifies only a banquet. Schweigh. 
 
 verbial. Critias, one of the thirty ty- d Ka7<kXnc rov ya/tov, is properly 
 
 rants, wishes for the wealth of the Sco- the act of placing the bridegroom in the 
 
 padas in his Elegies. See Plutarch in nuptial bed, by the side of his bride, or 
 
 Cimon. p. 484. Lurcher. the act of reclining at table on a couch, 
 
 b 'Opyrj, ingenium, inrloles, animi im- by the side of his spouse. Lurcher, 
 
 petus. Schweighseuser. It is used also e In Greece they did not drink till 
 
 in this sense in book i. 73. after they had done eating. See Xenoph. 
 
 c 'EC ffvvovairjv iwv : as in ii. 78. Anabas. vii. 3. sect. 12. Larcher. 
 
 avvovcia has a wider signification than f Dances were divided into warlike,
 
 ERATO. VI. 113 
 
 readily obeyed, he danced with much satisfaction to himself; 
 though Clisthenes, observing all that passed, began to look at 
 him with displeasure g . When Hippoclides had finished his 
 dance, and rested some time, he commanded a table to be 
 brought in ; which was no sooner done, than mounting upon 
 it, he first imitated the Laconian dances, and then other Attic 
 ones ; and, last of all, setting his head upon the table, and 
 erecting his feet, he gesticulated with his legs, as if they had 
 been hands. Though at the first and second of these dances 
 Clisthenes was too much disgusted to choose Hippoclides for 
 a son-in-law, on account of his dancing and want of modesty, 
 yet he contained himself, not wishing to break out against 
 him. But when he saw him endeavouring with his legs to 
 imitate the actions of his hands, he could no longer contain 
 himself, but cried out, " O son of Tisander, thou hast danced 
 " away thy marriage." The other sharply replied, " No mat- 
 " ter to Hippoclides." Which saying afterwards obtained 
 the authority of a proverb. 
 
 CXXX. Then Clisthenes, having commanded silence, 
 spoke to the assembly. " O suitors of my child, I commend 
 you all, and would* willingly gratify you all, if I could, 
 without distinguishing any one in particular, or rejecting 
 the rest. But because I have no more than one daughter, 
 and consequently cannot comply with the desires of so 
 many persons, 1 give a talent of silver to every one of those 
 who shall be excluded, in acknowledgment of the honour 
 you have conferred on me, in wishing to marry my daughter, 
 and on account of the time you have spent in a long ab- 
 sence from your habitations ; and I affiance my daughter 
 Agarista to Megacles the son of Alcmaeon, according to the 
 laws of the Athenians." Megacles immediately accepted 
 the alliance, and the marriage was ratified by Clisthenes. 
 
 CXXXI. Thus the dispute so long depending between 
 these rivals was determined, and the Alcmaeonidae became 
 famous in Greece. Of this marriage was born a son, named 
 Clisthenes from the father of his mother, who divided the 
 Athenians into tribes 1 ', and established the democratical go- 
 vernment. Megacles had also another son named Hippo- 
 crates, who was the father of another Megacles, and of an- 
 other Agarista, so called from the daughter of Clisthenes. 
 This Agarista being afterwards married to Xanthippus the son 
 
 which were called Pyrrhic, and those of decent and immodest. See Larcher's 
 
 peace which were called Emmelias: elaborate note. 
 
 the airs to which they danced bore the K '\TTOITTIVIIV signifies circumspicer' , 
 
 same name. Some of .the Emmelias limis et iratisoculisadspicere. Wesseling. 
 
 were decent and modest, others were in- h See book v. 69. 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of Ariphron, and big with child, dreamt she had brought 
 forth a lion, and within few days was delivered of Pericles. 
 
 CXXXII. Miltiades, after the defeat at Marathon, ac- 
 quired a much greater reputation in Athens than he had 
 before, demanded seventy ships of the Athenians, with men 
 and money proportionable, in order to undertake an expe- 
 dition, which he kept private, but only told them, that if they 
 would follow him, he would put them into possession of great 
 riches, as he would lead them into a country, from whence 
 they should bring home gold in abundance without difficulty. 
 The Athenians elated with hope, gave him the ships. 
 
 CXXXIIT. When Miltiades had received the armament, 
 he set sail for Paros, under colour that the Parians had sailed 
 in a trireme with the Persians to Marathon, and thus began 
 hostilities. But the truth is, he was incensed against the 
 Parians, because Lysagoras the son of Tiseas, a man of Pa- 
 rian extraction, had spoken ill of him to Hydarnes the Per- 
 sian. When Miltiades arrived at Paros, he besieged the 
 city, and sending in his heralds, demanded a hundred talents 
 of the Parians ; threatening, in case of refusal, not to draw 
 off his army before he had taken the place. But the Parians 
 did not think of giving the money to Miltiades, but applied 
 themselves wholly to contrive by what means they might de- 
 fend the city ; repairing their fortifications in divers places, 
 and working in the night, till they had made their walls doubly 
 higher than before, in that part where they were most easily 
 assailed. 
 
 CXXXIV. Thus far all the Grecians agree in their re- 
 port : the rest, as the Parians alone say, passed in this man- 
 ner. When Miltiades was embarrassed', one Timo, a woman 
 of Paros, sub-priestess of the national gods, and then his pri- 
 soner, came to him and counselled him, if he valued the 
 taking of Paros, to do as she should advise. Miltiades having 
 heard her proposal, went directly to the hill which is before 
 the city and leapt over the wall of the temple of Ceres the 
 legislatress, since he was unable to open the gate ; he then 
 went towards the temple, in order to do something, or to move 
 something, which ought not to have been moved. But while 
 he stood before the doors, he was seized with a sudden horror, 
 and went back the same way, and as he was leaping over the 
 wall, he sprained his thigh, though some say he bruised his 
 knee. 
 
 CXXXV. Miltiades being thus in a bad state, sailed away 
 without carrying any money to the Athenians, or having taken 
 
 ' The account of Cornelius \epos is very different.
 
 ERATO. VI. 
 
 Paros, after he had ravaged the country, and besieged the 
 city twenty-six days. When the siege was raised, the Pa- 
 rians, being informed of the counsel which Timo had given to 
 Miltiades, and desiring to bring her to justice, sent deputies 
 to inquire of the oracle at Delphi, whether they should punish 
 her with death, for .endeavouring to betray the city to the 
 enemy, and discovering the sacred mysteries to Miltiades, 
 which ought not to be revealed to any man. But the Pythian, 
 not permitting them to do as they desired, affirmed that Timo 
 was not the author of that advice ; and that the gods having 
 determined the destruction of Miltiades, had only made her 
 the instrument of his death. This answer the Pythian gave 
 to the Parians. 
 
 CXXXVI. When Miltiades returned to Athens, all the 
 Athenians questioned his conduct, and none more than Xan- 
 thippus the son of Ariphron, who accused him to the people 
 for deceiving the Athenians, and desired he might be pu- 
 nished with death. Miltiades could not be present to defend 
 himself, because his thigh beginning to mortify, rendered him 
 unable. But when he was brought forth on a cduch his 
 friends made a defence for him, reminding them of the actions 
 he performed at Marathon, together with the acquisition of 
 Lemnos ; which Miltiades reduced under the dominion of 
 Athens, and inflicted vengeance on the Pelasgians for the in- 
 juries they had doneto the Athenians. The people so far favour- 
 ed him that they would not sentence him to death k ; but fined 
 him fifty talents' for his crime. Soon after which, Miltiades 
 ended his life by the putrefaction and mortification of his 
 thigh ; and his son Cimon paid his fine m . 
 
 k Plato (in Gorgic torn. i. p. 516.) passage; " Herodote, parlant du proces 
 assures us that he was condemned to be " de Miltiade, ne dit rien, ni de la pri- 
 precipitated into the barathorum, and " son du pere, ni de la prison du fils, et 
 that had not the Prytanis interposed he " il insinue clairement que Miltiade ne 
 would have been hurled down. It is to " fut point emprisonne ;' and a little far- 
 be wished that Plato had also preserved ther a quotation from Plato, (Georg. p. 
 the name of the generous citizen who 516.) which so confirms his opinion, that 
 preserved his life. Larcher. I do not hesitate to reject the reports of 
 
 'This, according to Cornelius Nepos, the later writers. Bayle translates /3apa- 
 
 was the sum which was expended on the 9pov, I think properly, le Cachot. Ori- 
 
 armament. ginally that word is said to have been 
 
 m Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch, Valerius the name of a deep pit in Attica, which, 
 
 Maximus, and Justin, all affirm, that in early times, was used as a place for 
 
 Miltiades was thrown into the common capital punishment, by throwing criminals 
 
 prison, and died there : and they add headlong upon sharp stakes fixed at the 
 
 some circumstances to improve the story, bottom. That cruel mode of execution 
 
 On such a concurrence of authority, I was, we are told, (Schol. in Plut. Aris- 
 
 thought myself warranted to report the toph. v. 431.) by the advice of an oracle, 
 
 simple circumstance (though Herodotus afterwards disused, and the pit was filled : 
 
 has omitted mention of it) that Miltiades the name nevertheless remaining as the 
 
 died in prison. But looking into Bayle's common term for a dungeon. Mitford's 
 
 Dictionary (article Cimon.) I found this Greece, ch. vii. sect. v. note. 
 
 Q2
 
 116 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CXXXVII. As for Lemnos, Miltiades took possession of 
 that island in the following manner. The Pelasgians had 
 been already driven out of Attica by the Athenians ; whether 
 justly or unjustly I shall not determine; having nothing more 
 to say than what is reported on both sides. Hecataeus the 
 son of Hegesander affirms they were unjustly expelled. For, 
 says he, when the Athenians saw that the lands about Hymet- 
 tus n , which they had given to the Pelasgians in payment, for 
 the wall they had built about the Acropolis, were improved 
 from a barren and unprofitable soil, into a fertile and well- 
 cultivated region, they grew envious of their prosperity ; and 
 coveting to resume the country, drove out the Pelasgians with- 
 out any other pretence whatever. On the other hand the 
 Athenians affirm, that they were justly ejected. For they say 
 that while the Pelasgians continued to inhabit under mount 
 Hymettus, they made incursions from thence, and committed 
 the following injuries. Their daughters used to go for water 
 to a place called the Nine Fountains , because in those times 
 neither they nor any other people of Greece were furnished 
 with slaves ; that the Pelasgians used, from insolence and 
 pride, to offer violence to them, and not satisfied with this, 
 they at last were discovered in the very act of forming a de- 
 sign against Athens ; and that the Athenians shewed them- 
 selves so much the more generous, inasmuch as when they had 
 the power of punishing these offenders, since they had found 
 them plotting against them, they would not do so, but com- 
 manded them only to depart the country ; which the Pelasgi- 
 ans obeying, possessed themselves of other places, and Lemnos 
 in particular. Thus Hecataeus relates this occurrence in one 
 manner, and the Athenians in another. 
 
 CXXXVIII. But those Pelasgians who inhabited in Lem- 
 nos, desiring to be revenged, and knowing all the festival 
 days of the Athenians, fitted out some galleys of fifty oars 
 each ; and having laid an ambuscade for their women p , as they 
 
 n This mountain was situated E. S. E. Minerva is called in Homer (Iliad, i. lib. 
 of Athens and the Ilissus, towards the 12.) 'AGijvaia. They designated their 
 Saronic gulf. It was celebrated for its women by a periphrasis, as in this pas- 
 honey and quarries of marble. It now sage, or by the word 'Aarai, because 
 bears the name of Hymetto. Athens was called "Aorv, or the city, by 
 
 This fountain was called Callirhoe. way of excellence. 
 
 It took its rise at the foot of Hymettus. The Pelasgians took away the Cane- 
 
 Pisistratus conducted it to Athens and phori, or young women who carried the 
 
 distributed its waters by nine pipes, sacred baskets at the feast of Diana. The 
 
 Hence it derived the name of Ennea festival was called Brauronia, from the 
 
 Crouni. name of the place in which it was cele- 
 
 P In the Greek we find, raf TWV 'A.6r\- brated. A goat was sacrificed, and por- 
 
 va'uav yvvaiKCLQ. It is worth while ob- tions of Homer sung by the Rhapsodists. 
 
 serving that the Athenians, who called It was celebrated every five years. Young 
 
 themselves 'AOijvaloi, never gave their girls, sacred to Diana, celebrated the 
 
 women the name of 'AGijvalai, because feast in saffron-coloured robes ; they
 
 ERATO. VI. 117 
 
 celebrated the feast of Diana in Brauron, they surprised a 
 great number ; carried them away to Lemnos, and kept them 
 for concubines. These women having many children, taught 
 them the language of Attica, and manners of the Athenians ; 
 by which means they not only refused to converse with the 
 sons of the Pelasgian women, but if any one of their number 
 was attacked, they all immediately ran to his assistance, and 
 revenged one another ; and they even thought that they ought 
 to govern the others, and proved far superior to them. When 
 the Pelasgians were informed of these things, they consulted 
 together, and considered it a very serious matter: If, said 
 they, at these years they have learned to defend one another, 
 and constantly endeavoured to usurp a superiority over the 
 children of our legitimate wives, what will they not do, when 
 they attain to the age of men ? upon which they resolved to 
 murder the children they had by the women of Attica ; and, 
 to complete their cruelty, dispatched the mothers after them. 
 From this atrocious crime, and that which was perpetrated 
 before by those women, who with the assistance of Thoas q 
 killed their husbands, all enormous actions pass among the 
 Grecians under the name of Lemnian. 
 
 CXXXIX. But the Pelasgians, after the murder of those 
 children, with their mothers, perceiving their lauds to become 
 barren, their wives unfruitful, and their flocks not to yield the 
 usual increase ; tormented with famine, and destitute of chil- 
 dren, sent to Delphi, in order to be informed by what means 
 they might be delivered from these calamities ; and being ad- 
 monished by the Pythian to give satisfaction to the Athenians 
 in the manner they should desire, they went to Athens, and 
 professed themselves ready to suffer any punishment they 
 should think fit to impose on account of the whole injury. The 
 Athenians having heard their offer, spread a couch in the 
 Prytaneum, in the most magnificent manner, and having placed 
 by it a table covered with every thing good, they commanded 
 the Pelasgians to surrender their country, in as excellent a 
 condition. To which they answered, " When a ship shall 
 " make the voyage in a single day by the north wind from our 
 " country to yours, we will then deliver it up." This they 
 said as they supposed the thing to be impossible, because 
 Attica is situate much more south than Lemnos. 
 
 might not be more than ten or less than bands. The Lemnian women (Schol. 
 
 five years old. So that the women of Eurip. Hecub. 887.) used annually to 
 
 whom Herodotus speaks, were really celebrate a festival in honour of Venus; 
 
 young girls, not yet marriageable, but having neglected this, the Goddess 
 
 Larcher. punished them by giving them so dis- 
 
 *> Later writers have made Hypsipyle agreeable an odour, that their husbands 
 
 preserve the life of her father Thoas. shunned them. The women, thinking 
 
 The following was the reason that the themselves despised, slew all the men. 
 
 Lemnian women murdered thfir hus- Larcher.
 
 118 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CXL. But many years after they had given this answer, 
 when the Hellespontine Chersonese became subject to the 
 Athenians, Miltiades the son of Cimon, having embarked at 
 Eleus, a city on the Hellespont, was carried by a strong Ete- 
 sian wind in one day to Lemnos ; and, immediately command- 
 ing the Pelasgians to depart out of the island, reminded them 
 of the oracular words', which they expected never to see ac- 
 complished. The Hephaestians obeyed the order of Miltiades : 
 but the Myrinaeans, not acknowledging the Chersonese to be 
 Attica, sustained a siege, till they were compelled to surren- 
 der. And in this manner Lemnos was reduced under the 
 power of the Athenians and Miltiades. 
 
 r A speech of the kind related in the phetic. An instance occurs in book iii. 
 last chapter, though delivered by common ch. 153. 
 persons, was frequently considered pro-
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 BOOK vn. 
 
 POLYMNIA. 
 
 WHEN Darius the son of Hystaspes had received the news 
 of the battle fought at Marathon, he became much more in- 
 dignant with the Athenians, having been very much exaspe- 
 rated a with them before, on account of the attack upon Sardis, 
 and became much more eager to carry on the war against 
 Greece. He immediately sent messengers to the several 
 cities of his dominions, enjoining every one in particular to 
 prepare a greater number of forces than before, and ships of 
 war b , horses and transports. These commands being sent 
 around, Asia was thrown into agitation during the space of 
 three years. But in the fourth year, when the bravest men 
 were enrolled and preparing, in order to invade Greece, the 
 Egyptians, who had been subdued by Cambyses, revolted 
 from the Persians. Upon this Darius only became more eager 
 to march against both. 
 
 II. But when he had prepared all things for his expeditions 
 to Greece and Egypt, a great contest arose, between his sons, 
 concerning the succession of the kingdom ; for by the customs 
 of Persia the king is obliged to nominate his successor, before 
 he marches out on any expedition. Darius had three sons by 
 the daughter of Gobryas, his first wife, all born before he was 
 king ; and after his accession to the throne, he had four more 
 
 Xapaaouv properly vessels to carry provisions, or to transport 
 
 signifies to engrave, to make incisions, cavalry. This distinction is clearly 
 
 hence to irritate, exasperate. marked in book vi. eh. 48. last line. 
 
 tire vessels nf war; ir\olfi, Valckenaer.
 
 120 HERODOTUS. 
 
 by Atossa the daughter of Cyrus. Of the first, Artabazanes 
 was the eldest ; of the latter Xerxes : and these two being 
 born of different mothers, disputed concerning the succession. 
 Artabazanes urged that he was the eldest of all the sons of 
 Darius, and that it was acknowledged by all men that the eldest 
 son should possess the kingdom : on the other hand, Xerxes 
 alleged that he was the son of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus, 
 who had acquired freedom for the Persians. 
 
 III. Darius had not yet declared his opinion, when Dema- 
 ratus the son of Ariston, who had been deprived* 1 of the 
 kingdom of Sparta, and had voluntarily fled from Lacedsemon, 
 happened to come up to Susa e at the same time. This person 
 having heard of the difference between the sons of Darius, 
 went to Xerxes, as report says, and counselled him to add 
 these reasons to his defence ; that he was born after Darius 
 had obtained the kingdom, with all the dominions of Persia ; 
 whereas, Artabazanes was born when Darius was yet a private 
 man ; and consequently, that any other should possess that 
 dignity in preference to him would be contrary to the rules of 
 equity and justice ; since also in Sparta f , Demaratus continued 
 to suggest, this custom prevailed, that if some children were 
 born before their father was made king, but another later, 
 when he had now come to the throne, this last born son should 
 succeed to the kingdom. Xerxes adopted the suggestion of 
 Demaratus, and Darius having acknowledged the justice of it, 
 declared him king. But I am inclined to believe, that without 
 this advice, Xerxes would * have been king ; for Atossa g 
 had the chief authority. 
 
 IV. When Darius had nominated 1 ' Xerxes to succeed him, 
 he prepared to march. It happened, however, that after these 
 things and the revolt of Egypt, while he was in the following 
 year making preparations, Darius died after a reign of thirty- 
 six years ; nor was it possible for him to inflict vengeance ' ei- 
 ther on the Egyptians or Athenians. 
 
 c The account of Plutarch differs very first, according to Hellanicus, (Clem, 
 
 materially. De Fratern. Amor. torn. ii. Alex. Stromat. i. 16.) who wrote letters, 
 
 pag. 488. If we may believe Aspasius (ad Aristot. 
 
 d See book vi. ch. 70. Rhet. pag. 124.) she came to a most 
 
 e Xerxes (XenophonHellen.iii.l.. 4.) miserable end. In a fit of frenzy, her 
 
 gave Demaratus the cities of Pergamus, son Xerxes tore her in pieces and eat her. 
 
 Teuthrania, and Halisamia, because he Lurcher. 
 
 accompanied him in his expedition into h Ezekiel Spanheim (ad Julian, pag. 
 
 Greece. Eurysthenes and Procles en- 278.) pretends that the person appointed 
 
 joyed them about the end of the first as successor became the colleague of his 
 
 year of the 95th Olympiad, that is 78 father, although his father might return 
 
 years after. Lurcher. safe and sound. Herodotus says nothing 
 
 f On this subject see H. Grotius, Jur. of it. Lurcher, 
 
 Belli et Pacis, ii. 7. 13. Wesseling. ' Aristotle (Rhet. ii. 20.) says, that 
 
 See iii. 68. 88. 134. She was the Darius, after having subdued Egypt,
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 121 
 
 V. Xerxes the son of Darius succeeding him in the king- 
 dom, was by no means eager at first to make war against 
 Greece, but collected forces for the reduction of Egypt. But 
 Mardonius the son of Gobryas by the sister of Darius, and 
 consequently cousin to Xerxes, who had the greatest influence 
 with him of all the Persians, spoke to him to this effect: " Sir^it 
 " is not proper that the Athenians should go unpunished, after 
 " all the mischiefs they have done to the Persians. However, 
 " at present finish the enterprize you have in hand; and when 
 " you shall see the insolence of the Egyptians humbled, lead 
 " your army against Athens ; that you may acquire a good re- 
 " putation among men, and any one for the future may be 
 " cautious of marching against your dominions." This dis- 
 course hitherto tended only to revenge, he also added, that 
 Europe was a very beautiful country, produced all kinds of 
 cultivated trees, and was very fertile, and fit to be possessed 
 by the king alone. 
 
 VI. Mardonius said this, since he was desirous of new en- 
 terprizes, and wished to be himself governor of Greece ; after 
 some time he effected his purpose, and prevailed with Xerxes to 
 do as he advised ; for other things also contributed to persuade 
 him. In the first place, ambassadors came from the Aleuadae k , 
 the kings of Thessaly, to invite the king to invade Greece, 
 and using all earnestness to accomplish it. The Pisistratidas 
 likewise, then in exile at Susa, used the same language, and 
 still more eagerly solicited him 1 , since they had with them a 
 certain Athenian named Onomacritus, a soothsayer and seller 
 of the oracles" 1 of Musaeus. This man was reconciled to them, 
 and went up with them to Susa, but had been formerly their 
 enemy. For he was first banished from Athens by Hipparchus 
 the son of Pisistratus, upon the discovery of Lasus n the son of 
 
 passed over into Europe. The authority Wesseling. Onomacritus had in his care 
 
 of Herodotus, who was almost a cotem- the writings of Musaeus, occasionally con- 
 
 porary, seems preferable to that of Ari- suited and interpreted them. But Hero- 
 
 stotle, wholivedalongtimeafterwards.lt dotus says something more. Aia0sr;c 
 
 may be an error of the copyists. Larch. signifies one who sells, deals in, &c. We 
 
 k The family of the Aleuadse reigned at find in book i. ch. 1. SiariOeadat rov 
 
 Larissa, as appears from Aristotle (Politic. Qoprov, to sell the cargo ; and in anum- 
 
 v. 6.) According to Herodotus (ix. 57.) ber of passages in Xenophon and other 
 
 there were three of these, Thorax, Thra- authors. Lurcher. 
 sydeius, and Euripylus. Larcher. n Lasus was a musician, a poet, and 
 
 1 NpoffopiyovTo oi, &c. Ad regem se also one of the seven sages of Greece, 
 
 applicabant , instabant regi, enmque urge- according to some. (Diogen. Laert. in 
 
 bant, Tlpoffttytpiro in line 25. is not so Thalete, i. 42. cf. Suid. voc. Acurog .) He 
 
 strong. Schweigh. is said to be the son of Charmantides, 
 
 m AtaQerrjv. Gronovius translates this Sisymbrinus, or Chabrinus. He was born 
 
 word wnditorem, et Valla, edissertatorem. at Hermione, in Argolis. He institu- 
 
 Thom. Magist. interprets it, 6 KaBiaruiv ted the Chori Cyclici, and invented the 
 
 xat OIKOVOH&V, and he is followed by Dithyrambic verse. Larcher. 
 VOL. II. R
 
 122 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Hermion, who surprised him in the very fact of inserting a sup- 
 posititious oracle among those of Musaeus, importing that the 
 islands about Lemnos should be swallowed up by the sea : and 
 on that account Hipparchus expelled him out of Athens, al- 
 though he had been particularly intimate with them. This 
 Onomacritus, having accompanied the Pisistratidae to Susa, 
 when he came into the presence of the king, was spoken of 
 by them in very high terms, and recited some of his oracles ; 
 always remembering to suppress those that foretold any disas- 
 ter to the Barbarians, and producing only such as were favour- 
 able to their affairs. Among those of the last sort, he men- 
 tioned that a bridge should be laid over the Hellespont by a 
 Persian ; and alluded to the expedition. Thus he by his ora- 
 cles, and the Pisistratidae and Aleuadae, by their opinions, 
 assailed the king. 
 
 VII. When Xerxes was persuaded to make war against 
 Greece, he then, in the second year after the death of Darius, 
 first made an expedition against those who had revolted, and, 
 having reduced all Egypt to a worse condition of servitude 
 than they had felt under his father, gave the government of 
 that country to his brother Achaemenes the son of Darius; 
 who was afterwards killed by Inarus the son of Psammitichus, 
 king of Lybia. 
 
 VIII. When Xerxes had thus recovered Egypt, and was 
 about to take in hand the expedition against Athens, he sum- 
 moned a council of the principal Persians, as well to hear their 
 opinions, as to explain before all his intentions; and after they 
 were all assembled, spoke to this effect: 
 
 " I will not, O Persians, be the first to establish this cus- 
 " torn among you, but will adopt it, as I have received it from 
 " my forefathers. For as I learn from men of elder years, 
 " from the time we wrested the power out of the hands of the 
 ' Medes, and Cyrus dethroned Astyages, we have never lived 
 ' an inactive life p ; but a deity thus leads us on, and under 
 ' his guidance we have attained to a great measure of pros- 
 ' perity. The actions performed by Cyrus, by Cambyses, and 
 ' by my father Darius, together with the nations they added 
 ' to our empire, no one need mention to you who well know 
 ' them. As for me, since I took possession of the throne, 
 1 my principal care has been, not to fall short of my predeces- 
 ' sors in this dignity, and to acquire as great a proportion of 
 * power to the Persians. Revolving these thoughts in my 
 ' mind, I find that we may at once obtain a glorious name, 
 
 See book iii. ch. 12. the expedition of Xerxes. See the Persae' 
 
 P This is the motive also alleged by v. 759. 
 yEschylus, in the person of Atossa, for
 
 POLYMNJA. VII. 
 
 " and a country not inferior to that we now possess, but ra- 
 " ther more abounding in all thing's ; and at the same time 
 " revenge for the injuries we have received. To this end 
 * ' therefore I have now called you together, that I may com- 
 " municate to you what I intend to do. 
 
 " I design to lay a bridge over the Hellespont, and to lead 
 " an army through Europe into Greece, that I may punish the 
 " Athenians for the injuries they have done to the Persians 
 " and to my father. You know Darius had determined to 
 " make war against those men ; but death prevented him from 
 " executing his design. But I, in his cause and the cause of 
 " the other Persians, will not lay down my arms, till I have 
 " taken and burnt Athens ; whose citizens, you know, first 
 " commenced hostilities against me and my father. In the first 
 " place, they invaded Sardis, in conjunction with Aristagoras 
 " the Milesian, our servant, and burnt down the sacred groves 
 " with the temples. And secondly, how they treated us, 
 " when we made a descent into their territories, under the 
 " conduct of Datis and Artaphernes, is sufficiently known to 
 " you all. 
 
 " On account of these things I have resolved to invade 
 " their country with fire and sword; and in reflecting on the 
 " matter, I find the following advantages in this conduct : if 
 " we can subdue the Athenians, with their neighbours, who 
 " inhabit the country of Pelops the Phrygian, the Persian 
 " dominions will be bounded by no other limits than the hea- 
 " vens ; nor will the sun look down upon any country which 
 " borders on ours. For I intend, with your concurrence, to 
 *' march through all the parts of Europe, and to reduce the 
 " whole earth into one empire ; being well informed, that no 
 " city or nation of the world will remain, which will be able 
 " to come to a battle with us, after the reduction of those I 
 " have mentioned. And thus not only the guilty, but likewise 
 " those who are not guilty, must equally submit to the yoke of 
 " servitude. 
 
 " By doing these things you will gratify my desires ; when 
 " I shall have declared to you the time, it will be the duty 
 " of each of you to come promptly. And I now promise, 
 " that he who shall appear with the best provided troops, 
 " shall be rewarded by me, with those gifts, which in our 
 " country* 1 are considered most honourable. But lest I 
 
 i 'Ev -ijfif.Ti.pou. The same expres- weighaeuser, at the end of his note, re- 
 
 sion occurs in book i. 35. and also in marks, that there are in every language 
 
 Dionys. Halic. (de vi dicendi in De- numerous forms of expression, which 
 
 mosth. sect. 41.) This has given some although at variance with the rules of 
 
 trouble, but as it is the reading of all syntax, have been established by custom, 
 
 the best manuscripts, it is retained. See quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma 
 
 Schaefer. ad Bos. Ellips. p. 345. Sch- loquendi. - 
 
 R 2
 
 124 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " should seem r to follow my own opinion only, I lay the mat- 
 " ter before you, and desire every one that wishes, to declare 
 " his sentiments." 
 
 IX. After Xerxes had finished these words, Mardonius 
 rose up, and said, " Sir, you are not only the most excellent 
 " of all the Persians that have lived before your time, but 
 " likewise of all that shall be born in future ages. Since in 
 " other things you have spoken most judiciously and truly ; 
 " and will not suffer the European lonians, vile as they are, 
 " to deride us with impunity 5 . For it would indeed be a 
 " great indignity, if, when we have conquered, and now hold 
 " in servitude the Sacae, Indians, Ethiopians, and Assyrians, 
 " with many other powerful nations, which never did us any 
 " wrong, in order only to enlarge our dominions, we should 
 " suffer the Grecians to go unpunished, who have first pro- 
 " voked us by their injurious attempts ? Of what are we 
 " afraid ? What multitude of soldiers ? What abundance of 
 " wealth? 
 
 " We know their manner of fighting ; and we are no less 
 " informed of their weakness. Besides we have already sub- 
 " dued their descendants the lonians, JEolians, and Dorians, 
 " who inhabit within our territories. I myself made trial of 
 " them when I marched against them at the command of 
 " your father. I penetrated into Macedonia ; and though I 
 " wanted but little of reaching Athens itself, no man had the 
 " courage to oppose my passage. 
 
 " And yet on other occasions the Greeks, as I am in- 
 " formed, are accustomed to take up arms with very little de- 
 " liberation, from obstinacy and folly. For when they have 
 " declared war against one another, they march into the best 
 " and most open plain they can find, and fight a battle; in 
 " which the conquerors never go away without great loss, 
 " and of the conquered, I say nothing, for they are utterly 
 " destroyed. Whereas, being of the same language, they 
 " ought rather to adjust their differences by ambassadors, and 
 " try all ways of accommodation, before they have recourse to 
 " arms ; but if it were absolutely necessary to go to war with 
 " one another, they ought to find out where each nation is most 
 " unlikely to be conquered, and there try the issue of a battle. 
 " Yet these very men, though accustomed to this ill method, 
 
 r The end of this speech is very mild, KaraytXaom iip.lv. Herodotus fre- 
 
 but that which Valerius Max. attributes quently puts with a dative KctTayiXav 
 
 to the king is much more haughty. and other similar words, which, from the 
 
 " Ne viderer meo tautummodo usus con- force of (card, are in other authors joined 
 
 " silio, vos contraxi. Ceterum memen- with a genitive. See iii. 37, 38, and 
 
 " tote parendum magis vobis esse, quam 155. and iv. 79. Sckweigh. 
 " suadendum." Lib. ix. c. 5. Valcken.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 
 
 " never ventured to come to a battle 1 with me, when I 
 " marched as far as Macedonia. 
 
 " How then shall any one oppose you, and offer battle to 
 " you, when attended by all the forces and ships of Asia? 
 " For my own part, I cannot imagine that the Grecians will 
 " ever proceed to such a degree of audaciousness. But if I 
 " should happen to be deceived, and if elated by folly they 
 " should advance against us, let them learn that of all men, 
 " we are the best in war. Let nothing then be untried ; for 
 " nothing is accomplished of its own-self, but all things are 
 " commonly effected by being attempted." Mardonius hav- 
 ing thus smoothed over the opinion of Xerxes, finished 
 speaking. 
 
 X. When the rest of the Persians continued silent, be- 
 cause they would not venture to propose a contrary opinion, 
 Artabanus the son of Hystaspes, and uncle to Xerxes, trust- 
 ing in this relationship, delivered his sentiments in the follow- 
 ing terms. 
 
 " O king, unless opposite opinions are spoken, it is impos- 
 " sible to choose the most advantageous, but it becomes 
 " necessary to follow that which is proposed; whereas when 
 " various and contrary opinions have been stated, it is possi- 
 " ble : as we are unable to distinguish unalloyed gold by it- 
 " self, but discern the best, when we have rubbed it u on the 
 " Lydian stone near other gold. I endeavoured to dissuade x 
 " Darius your father and my brother from making war against 
 " the Scythians, a people who have no city any where ; but 
 " he, hoping to conquer the Nomades, rejected my advice ; 
 " undertook that expedition ; and after he had lost the best 
 " of his forces, was compelled to retire with the rest. You 
 " are now disposing all things to attack a much braver 
 " nation than the Scythians ; men, who are said to be most 
 " valiant both by sea and land ; and therefore I think myself 
 " obliged to inform you of the dangers that attend your en- 
 " terprize. 
 
 " You say, that after having thrown a bridge over the Hel- 
 " lespont, you will march through Europe into Greece ; but 
 " it may possibly happen that we shall be worsted either by 
 " land or by sea, perhaps in both : for, as I am informed, they 
 " are a warlike people; and this one may conjecture, since 
 
 c rovrov \6yov might ap- rubbing it with pure gold, and therefore 
 
 pear in this passage to signify induxerant the texts presents great difficulties. I 
 
 in animum, came to a resolution ; but by have followed the interpretation of Sch- 
 
 comparing it with iii. 99. we perceive weighaeuser. Larcher adopts a different 
 
 that if rovrov Xoyov, in our author, is reading, 
 
 nearly the same as if TOVTO. Schweigh. * See book iv. ch. 83. 
 u Alloyed gold cannot be discerned by
 
 126 HERODOTUS, 
 
 " the Athenians alone defeated and ruined that numerous 
 " army which invaded Attica, under the conduct of Datis and 
 " Artaphernes. But supposing- they are not successful in 
 " both, yet if they attack us with their fleet, and, after 
 " having obtained a naval victory, should sail to the Helles- 
 " pont, and destroy your bridge, we shall then be in great 
 " danger. 
 
 " I do not found this conjecture on my own wisdom. But 
 " how near were we to utter destruction, when your father 
 " had passed into Scythia by the bridges he laid over the 
 " Thracian Bosphorus, and over the Ister ! For the Scy- 
 " thians arriving on the banks of that river, most earnestly 
 " desired the lonians, left there for a guard, to break the 
 " bridge : and if Histiseus tyrant of Miletus had assented to 
 " the opinion of the rest, and had not opposed that design, 
 " the power of Persia would have been ruined for ever. It 
 " is dreadful even to hear it said, that the safety of the king 
 " depended on a single man. 
 
 " Let me persuade you therefore not to expose yourself to 
 " so great dangers, since there is no necessity ; dissolve this 
 " assembly ; and after a more deliberate reflection upon these 
 " things, declare your intentions, and take such measures as 
 " you shall judge most advantageous. I have ever found, 
 " that to form a design upon the best counsels, is in all events 
 " most useful : for if the expected success should not follow, 
 " yet he who has taken the most rational measures, has al- 
 " ways the satisfaction of having done his part ; though for- 
 " tune happen to be superior to wisdom. But he, who has 
 " followed bad councils, if fortune attend him, has found a 
 " prize, but has nevertheless the disgrace of having formed 
 " bad councils. 
 
 " Do you see how the deity strikes with his thunder those 
 " animals which rise above others, and suffers them not to 
 " cherish proud conceits 2 , while the lowly do not at all excite 
 
 J As the formula OVKOVV, or oiiK ovv, 124. 9. where afyaviaQiivai and ov Qav- 
 
 is frequently used to express an interro- TctZ,terQai are synonymous. Compare vii. 
 
 gation, (on which see Hermann, ad 15. 9. But we may readily perceive 
 
 Viger. not. 261.) it may be taken in that that something more is intended in this 
 
 sense in this passage ; but so that the in- passage; which Valla has not badly ex- 
 
 terrogation may have the same force as pressed, nee sinit insolescere. For, as 
 
 a sentence expressed affirmatively, with Qavraffia not only signifies species, visits, 
 
 the conditional particle tl prefixed, ex- aspectus, but also major qiucdam et insig- 
 
 actly as in book iv. 118. see the note. nior species ; (see Lexicon Polyb. p. 645.) 
 
 So that this passage becomes the same so the verb ^avrd^taOai denotes in- 
 
 as if he had said ti &v OVK antyorspy, signem aliquam pro: se speciem ferre ntyue 
 
 (i. q. icar 5 afityoripa, lin. 21.) <r^t k^ta- ostentare. See Steph. Thesaur. torn. iv. 
 
 pt)<Tt, or %<apriati. Schweigh. p. 37. Schiceigh. 
 
 z $a.vrdtffOai sometimes signifies con- Larcher translates the passage " qu'ils 
 
 spici, apparere, as in many passages of " les fait disparoitre." See his note. 
 Euripides, and in our author, book iv.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 127 
 
 " his jealousy ? Do you see how he hurls his bolts against 
 " the most stately edifices a , and most lofty trees? For the 
 " deity takes a pleasure in cutting off whatever is too highly 
 " exalted. Thus, a great army is often defeated by a small 
 " number of men ; when struck by the jealous God with a 
 " panic fear, or terrified by the noise of his thunder, they 
 " often perish ingloriously ; because the deity will not suffer 
 " any one to entertain lofty sentiments but himself. 
 
 " In all actions precipitation produces errors ; which for 
 " the most part are attended with pernicious consequences. 
 " But there are many advantages in delaying, though per- 
 " haps not immediately apparent, yet after a time one may 
 " perceive them. 
 
 " This, O king, is the advice I would persuade you to 
 " pursue : and as for thee, Mardonius, thou son of Gobryas, 
 " cease to speak such vain words of the Grecians, who do 
 " not deserve to be spoken ill of. By unjust detraction you 
 " endeavour to engage the king to make war against them ; 
 " and in my opinion have strenuously exerted your efforts 
 " that way. But heaven forbid that such methods should 
 " prevail. For calumny is a most serious evil ; in it two 
 " commit injustice, but one is injured; for he who calumni- 
 " ates another, acts unjustly by accusing an absent person ; 
 " and he who believes the calumny, is no less unjust, in 
 " giving his assent to the accusation, before he is duly in- 
 " formed. Whereas the absent person receives a double in- 
 " jury, being falsely accused by one, and unjustly condemned 
 " by the other. 
 
 " But Mardonius, if nothing can dissuade you from making 
 " war against the Grecians, let the king continue in Persia. 
 " Let our children be deposited as a stake, and do you go on 
 " with your expedition, accompanied by the best forces you 
 " can choose, and in what numbers you think fit ; and if 
 " things succeed in the manner you suggest, let my children 
 " be put to death, and myself also. But if, on the contrary, 
 " the event be such as I foretell, then let your children suffer 
 " death, and you also, if ever you return. If you refuse to 
 " accept these conditions, and obstinately resolve to lead an 
 " army against Greece, I venture to affirm, that some of those 
 " you shall leave in this place, having learnt against what 
 " people you are persuading the king to march, will hear that 
 " Mardonius, having brought some fatal disaster upon the 
 " Persians, was torn in pieces by dogs and birds b , in the ter- 
 
 Compare Horace II. Ode x. ver. 9. " Heu terra ignotae, canibus data prse- 
 and seq. " da Latinis, 
 
 b Compare Virgil : " 4/ttifrusquejaces." ^neid,ix. 485.
 
 128 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " ritories of Athens, or Lacedaemon ; unless this befel him on 
 " his march, before he arrived in Greece." 
 
 XI. When Artabanus had thus spoken, Xerxes, inflamed 
 with anger, replied; "Artabanus," said he, "you are my fa- 
 " ther's brother; this will protect you from receiving the just 
 " recompence of your foolish discourse. Yet I will set a 
 " mark of dishonour upon you, since you are both base and 
 " cowardly ; you shall not accompany me in my expedition 
 " against Greece ; but shall stay here among the women, 
 " whilst I accomplish my designs without you. For I should 
 " not be the son of Darius , who derived his blood from Hys- 
 " taspes, Arsames, Ariaramnes, Teispes, Cyrus, Cambyses, 
 " and Achaemenes, unless I inflict vengeance upon the Athe- 
 " nians. I know too well that if we continue quiet, yet they 
 " will not, but will very soon invade our territories, if it is 
 " right to judge of their future enterprizes by those that are 
 " passed. They have already burnt Sardis, and made in- 
 " cursions into Asia. Thus both parties have advanced too 
 " far to retreat, but a struggle is proposed for us, in which 
 " we must inflict or suffer : and either all these dominions 
 " must fall under the power of the Grecians, or their country 
 " be an accession to this empire. For there is no mean in 
 " this enmity. It is honourable for us, who have first suf- 
 " fered, henceforth to take revenge, that I may be informed 
 " upon the place, what mischiefs those men can bring upon 
 " me, who were so entirely conquered by Pelops d the Phry- 
 
 c The following was the genealogy of this family : 
 Achaemenes 
 
 .1 
 Teispes 
 
 ( Whom Herodotus 
 Camb y se8 I here mentions. 
 
 Cy 
 
 C W'hom Herodotus 
 { here mentions. 
 
 r 
 Cambyses (husband of Mandane) 
 
 Cyrus (founder of the Monarchy) 
 Cambyses 
 
 Teispes 
 Ariaramnes 
 Arsames 
 
 Hystaspes 
 
 Darius. 
 See Larcher's note, and also Bellanger's elaborate note quoted by Lurcher. 
 
 d Pelops and his father Tantalus were Phrygia was not, at that time, under the 
 
 originally of Sipylus, a small town on dominion of the Persians or Medes ; but 
 
 the frontiers of Phrygia and Lydia. See was dependant upon Assyria. (See 
 
 Euripides, Iphigen. in Aulid. ver. 953. Plato, Leg. iii. p. 685.) The Medes
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 129 
 
 " gian, a servant of my ancestors ; that both the inhabitants 
 " and the country they possess, are still called by his name." 
 
 XII. With these words Xerxes ended his speech. After- 
 wards, when night came on, the opinion of Artabanus began 
 to cause uneasiness 6 to Xerxes; deliberating upon the mat- 
 ter by night, he discovered that it would not be to his advan- 
 tage to make an expedition against Greece. Having thus 
 altered his resolution, he fell asleep, and, according to the re- 
 port of the Persians, saw in a dream a man of uncommon sta- 
 ture and beauty standing by him, and uttering these words : 
 " Do you then change the design you had formed to lead an 
 " army into Greece, after having given positive orders to the 
 " Persians to assemble their forces? You do not well to 
 " alter your resolution, neither will you find any man who 
 " will agree with you. Take therefore that course, which 
 " you resolved upon in the day." The phantom having pro- 
 nounced these words, appeared to Xerxes to fly away. 
 
 XIII. When the day dawned, Xerxes, neglecting his 
 dream, summoned the same persons together again, and said, 
 " Pardon me, O Persians, if I make resolutions which are so 
 " soon changed ; for I have not yet attained to the highest 
 " perfection of judgment, neither are those ever absent from 
 " my presence, who persuade me to this enterprize. When 
 " I heard the opinion of Artabanus, my youth immediately 
 " grew hot, so that I threw out more unbecoming words than 
 " I ought to a person of his years. But now acknowledging 
 " my error, I will follow his advice : and therefore since I 
 " have laid aside my design of invading Greece, you may 
 " enjoy the advantages of peace at home." When the Per- 
 sians heard this, they were transported with joy, and prostrated 
 themselves before the king. 
 
 XIV. But in the following night the same dream stood 
 again by Xerxes as he slept, and pronounced these words : 
 
 Son of Darius, you have then openly renounced, in the as- 
 sembly of the Persians, your intended expedition ; and make 
 no account of my admonition, as if you had heard it from 
 no one. Be well assured however of this, that unless you 
 immediately undertake this enterprize, you shall become 
 mean and contemptible, in as little time as you have been 
 raised to greatness and power." 
 
 XV. Terrified with this dream, Xerxes hastily left his 
 
 subdued the Assyrians, and the Persians e The word Kviuv does not so much 
 
 overthrew their Empire and established signify angere, as pungere, mordere, irri- 
 
 their own. The kings of Media and tare- In vii. 10. 49. ci/ttt fiiv, invidiam 
 
 Persia regarded the ancient kings of itlius movent ; excite his jealousy and 
 
 Assyria as their ancestors, because they bring down his vengeance upon them- 
 
 had inherited their power. Lurcher. selves. Schweigh. 
 
 VOL. II. S
 
 130 HERODOTUS. 
 
 bed, sent for Artabanus, and when he came, spoke thus to 
 him: " Artabanus, I did not on the moment act discreetly, 
 " when I reviled you with ill language for the good counsel 
 " you gave me. But after no long time I changed my opi- 
 " nion, and acknowledged that those measures, which you 
 " suggested were to be adopted. Nevertheless, whatever 
 " inclination I have to do so, I find the execution impossible. 
 " For I had no sooner altered my resolution, and acknow- 
 " ledged my error, than a dream twice came and appeared to 
 " me, which by no means approved of my pursuing that line 
 " of conduct ; and it has just now vanished, after great threats. 
 " If then it is a deity which sends this dream, and if he is 
 " very desirous that an expedition to Greece should take 
 " place, the same dream, will appear to you and give you 
 " the same injunctions. This I think will happen if you should 
 " sit in the throne, clothed in all my royal robes, and after- 
 " wards sleep in my bed." 
 
 XVT. Artabanus did not obey the first order, as he did 
 not think himself worthy of the honour of sitting on the 
 king's throne f : but when he was at last compelled, he did as 
 Xerxes desired, after he had delivered his sentiments in 
 this manner. 
 
 " To form good plans, and to be willing to follow him who 
 " gives good counsel, are held by me in the same estimation 6 ; 
 " both of which qualities attach to you, but the society of evil 
 " men overthrow them h ; like the sea, which of all things is 
 " the most useful to mankind, yet the blasts descend upon it, 
 " and will not leave it in its natural state. As for me, when 
 " I heard your reproaches, I was not so much concerned for 
 " myself, as grieved to find that of two opinions, one of which 
 " tended no less to propagate insolence, than the other to 
 " suppress it, and to shew the vanity of inuring the mind in- 
 " cessantly to covet new acquisitions, you had chosen the 
 " worse and most dangerous to yourself and the Persians. 
 
 " Yet now, after you have changed to the better resolution, 
 " and quitted the design of invading Greece, you say that a 
 " vision, sent by some god, appears to you, which forbids you 
 " to abandon your enterprize. But know, my son, that this 
 
 f It was a capital crime in Persia to " bene monenti obediat." Livy, xxii.29. 
 
 sit on the king's throne. " Illis enim f " Sapientissimum esse dicunt eum, 
 
 " (Persis) in sell& regis consedisse capi- " cui quod opus sit veniat in mentem ; 
 
 " tale foret." Quint. Curt. viii. 4. sect. " proxime accedere ilium, qui alterius 
 
 17. Larcher. " bene inventis obtemperet." Cicero, 
 
 8 Larcher here quotes the following pro Cluent, 31. 
 
 passages To these Valckenaer adds Hesiod. 
 
 e ego audivi, milites, eum pri- Opp. et Dieb. 293. 
 
 P.SSI* vinim mil msp pnnQiilnt n " Tilvil rnmrminir 
 
 "mum esse virum, qui ipse consulat "'' Evil communications corrupt good 
 " quid in rem sit; secundum eum, qui 
 
 " manners," 1 Cor. xv. 33.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 131 
 
 " is not divine, for the dreams which wander about and ap- 
 " pear to men are of the following nature. The visions of 
 " those things which have employed our thoughts by day 1 , are 
 " for the most part wont to hover around us in our dreams : and 
 " we have been for several days entirely occupied with the 
 " expedition to Greece. 
 
 " Now, if this be indeed a divine message, and not such a 
 " dream as I conjecture, you have said all in a word ; and 
 " the vision will doubtless appear to me no less than to you, 
 " and command me the same things. But there is no reason 
 " that it should the rather appear to me, if I should be 
 " clothed in your robes, and lie in your bed, than if I wear 
 " my own garments, and sleep in my own bed ; if indeed it 
 " will appear at all. For that which has appeared to you in 
 " your sleep, whatever it be, can never arrive to such a de- 
 " gree of simplicity as to suppose from your garments that I 
 " am you. But if the spectre shall hold me in contempt, and 
 " not condescend to appear to me, whether I be clothed in 
 " your robes, or in my own; and if it shall visit you again, 
 " then such an event will deserve consideration. For if you 
 " have the same dream frequently repeated, I myself must 
 " confess it to be divine. Nevertheless, if you have resolved 
 " to proceed this way, and will not be turned from your pur- 
 " pose, but it is necessary for me to sleep in your bed, I obey, 
 " and when this has been done, let the phantom appear to me 
 i( also. But till that time I shall persist in my present opi- 
 " nion." 
 
 XVII. After these words, Artabanus, not doubting to 
 shew the vanity of all that Xerxes had said, complied with 
 his desires; clothed himself in the royal robes, and sat in 
 the throne. He afterwards went to bed, and as he slept, 
 the same phantom appeared k to him as had appeared to 
 Xerxes, and it stood over him and said, " Art thou the man, 
 " who, as if w r atching over him, hast dissuaded Xerxes from 
 " invading Greece ? But know, that thou shalt not with im- 
 " punity endeavour to divert what is decreed, either now or 
 " in time to come : and as for Xerxes, he is sufficiently ad- 
 " monished of the calamities he shall suffer upon his dis- 
 " obedience." 
 
 XVIII. Artabanus imagined, that the dream uttered these 
 threats, and was proceeding to burn out his eyes with a hot 
 iron. Upon this, having uttered a loud shriek, he leaped from 
 
 ' Beloe quotes the following from k larcher supposes that some one had 
 
 Locke on this subject ; " The dreams of been hired by Mardonius or the Pisistra- 
 
 " sleeping men are all made up of the tida; to act the part of a ghost. This is 
 
 " waking man's ideas, though for the also the opinion of Schweighaeuser. 
 " most part oddly put together/' 
 
 s 2
 
 132 HERODOTUS. 
 
 the couch, and went to Xerxes ; where, after he had related all 
 
 the particulars of the vision he had seen, he spoke to him in this 
 
 manner : "I, O king, having already seen many and great 
 
 " powers' overthrown by inferior forces, would not suffer you 
 
 ' to yield entirely to youth ; well understanding the dangers 
 
 ' that attend a boundless ambition. I called to mind the 
 
 ' fortune of that army which Cyrus led against the Massa- 
 
 ' getae ; the expedition of Cambyses against the Ethiopians ; 
 
 ' and the invasion of Scythia, in which I accompanied your 
 
 ' father Darius. From the consideration of these misfortunes, 
 
 ' I was of opinion that you must be pronounced happy by all 
 
 ' men, if you would live in peace. But since you are moved 
 
 ' by a divine impulse, and some great disaster, decreed by 
 
 ' heaven, seems ready to fall upon the Grecians, I change 
 
 ' my opinion, and shall contend no longer : your part there- 
 
 ' fore will be, to inform the Persians of this divine message, 
 
 ' and to command them to go on with their preparations for 
 
 ' war, according to your former orders ; that nothing on your 
 
 ' part may be wanting, since the deity entrusts this to you." 
 
 When he had said these words, and both were encouraged 
 
 by the vision, Xerxes early the next morning acquainted the 
 
 Persians with what had happened ; and Artabanus, the only 
 
 man who had before disapproved of the expedition, was now 
 
 openly most zealous to promote it. 
 
 XIX. In the mean time Xerxes, having resolved to un- 
 dertake the expedition, had another dream ; which the Magi 
 interpreted to relate to the whole world, and to signify that 
 all mankind should be reduced under his power. For the 
 king dreamt he saw himself crowned with the sprig of an 
 olive-tree, the branches of which extended over all the earth; 
 and that afterwards this crown disappeared from about his 
 head. Upon this interpretation of the Magi, the Persians, 
 who were then assembled in council, departed immediately 
 to their several governments, and with the utmost diligence 
 applied themselves to execute the king's orders ; every man 
 hoping to obtain the proposed reward. All the regions of 
 the continent were searched, in order to compose this army. 
 
 XX. For from the time of the reduction of Egypt, four 
 whole years were spent in assembling these forces, and pro- 
 viding all things necessary for this expedition. In the fifth 
 year m Xerxes began his march with an incredible number of 
 
 1 Compare Thucydides, book ii. ch. Egypt revolted, (ib. 4.) and in the follow- 
 
 98. 6. ing year, which was the fifth from the 
 
 m *Em avofiivift volvente anno, quum battle of Marathon, that prince died . 
 
 quintus ageretur annus. Schweigh. Xerxes employed four years in making 
 
 Darius occupied three years in making preparations, and in the course of the 
 
 the necessary preparations for his expe- fifth set out. After a long march he 
 
 dition to Greece, (vii. 1.) in the fourth arrived at Sardis, where he passed the
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 133 
 
 men. For this expedition was by far the greatest of all we 
 know ; so that that of Darius against the Scythians appears 
 nothing, when compared with this ; and also the Scythian 
 army, which entering Media in pursuit of the Cimmerians, 
 subdued almost all the upper Asia, on account of which 
 Darius attempted to inflict vengeance on them ; and that which 
 under the conduct of the Atridae marched, as we are told, to 
 the siege of Troy ; and that of the Mysians and Teucrians, who 
 before the Trojan war passed over the Bosphorus into Eu- 
 rope, subdued all Thrace, and advancing to the Ionian sea, 
 penetrated to the southward as far as the river Peneus. 
 
 XXI. All these expeditions, and any others besides which 
 we have not mentioned, cannot be compared with this one of 
 Xerxes n . For what people of Asia did he not lead against 
 Greece ? what waters, except those of great rivers, were un- 
 exhausted by his numerous forces ? Some nations supplied 
 ships ; others were ordered to furnish horse, and others foot : 
 some were obliged to build vessels for the transportation of 
 horse ; others to prepare long barks for bridges ; and some to 
 furnish corn, with ships to transport it. 
 
 XXII. As those who had first attempted to double mount 
 Athos, had met with considerable disasters, he first of all em- 
 ployed nearly three years in making preparations about Athos. 
 Some triremes were stationed at Eleus in the Chersonese, 
 from thence detachments of every nation were sent, and were 
 compelled by the scourge , to dig a passage, and relieved one 
 another at intervals. The adjoining inhabitants assisted them; 
 and Bubaris the son of Megabyzus, with Artachaeus the son 
 of Artaeus, both Persians, presided over the work. Athos is 
 a mountain of great fame and magnitude, running out into 
 the sea, and inhabited. It terminates to the landward in the 
 form of a peninsula, and makes an isthmus of about twelve 
 stades. This isthmus is a plain with some little hills, from the 
 coast of Acanthus to the sea which is opposite Torone. On 
 this isthmus p , where mount Athos terminates, stands Sana, a 
 
 winter, (ib. 32.) At the commence- "richer than they all: and by his 
 
 ment of the spring he went to Abydos, " strength through his riches he shall 
 
 (ib. 37.) and from thence into Greece. " stir up all against the realm of Gre- 
 
 It follows from this calculation that " cia." Daniel xi. 2. 
 
 Xerxes did not pass into Greece until Such was the military discipline of 
 
 the eleventh year after the battle of the Persians, of which we see several 
 
 Marathon. This agrees with Thucydi- other examples in Herodotus and Xeno- 
 
 des, who says, (i. 18.) that this prince phon. A soldier thus treated could not 
 
 undertook the expedition on the tenth be sensible of honour. Lurcher. 
 
 year after that battle. Wesseling. See what Aristotle observes on this 
 
 n This expedition was foretold by Da- subject, Ethic. Nichom. book iii. c. 8. 
 
 niel 80 years before it took place. "Be- P A description of this isthmus which 
 
 " hold.thereshallstandupyetthreekings Darius cut through, and by which Athos 
 
 " in Persia; and the fourth shall be far was originally connected with the conti-
 
 134 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Grecian city: but those within Sana and on Athos itself, which 
 the Persian resolved to place in an island, instead of a con- 
 tinent, were Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoon, Thyssus, and 
 Cleonae. 
 
 XXIII. The operation was carried on in this manner. The 
 Barbarians having drawn a line before the city of Sana, di- 
 vided the ground among the several nations : and when the 
 trench was considerably sunk, those who were in the bottom 
 continued to dig, and delivered the earth to men standing upon 
 ladders, who handed the same again to such as were placed 
 in a higher station, till at last others, who waited to. receive the 
 burthen at the edge of the canal, carried it away and threw it 
 elsewhere. The brink of the trench falling in gave double 
 labour to all the rest, except the Phoenicians ; for as the top 
 and bottom were made of equal breadth, such a thing would 
 naturally happen. But the Phoenicians on this, in particular, 
 as on other occasions, shewed their wisdom : for they opened 
 the part which was assigned to their care, twice as large as it 
 was necessary for the trench to be ; and as they went on, they 
 contracted it gradually, so that when they came to the bottom, 
 the work was equal to the rest. In a meadow adjoining to 
 this place they had a market q , and great abundance of flour 
 was brought, from Asia. 
 
 XXIV. My conjectures lead me to think, that Xerxes 
 undertook this enterprize upon a motive of ostentation, in 
 order to shew the greatness of his power, and to perpetuate 
 
 nent, and is at present again joined, is Xerxes remains confidently mentioned in 
 given by the illustrious Count de Choi- the epitome of his work. The place was 
 seil-Gouffier, (Voyage pittoresque "de la moreover so surrounded with Greek set- 
 Grece, torn. ii. part 1. pag. 145, &c. tlements, that it seems impossible for 
 Paris, 1809.) who declares that suffi- -such a report, if unfounded, to have held 
 ciently clear traces of that ancient canal any credit. At the very time of the ex- 
 are now discovered. Schweigh. pedition there were no fewer than five 
 Scarcely any circumstance of the ex- Greek towns on the peninsula of Athos 
 pedition of Xerxes is more strongly sup- itself, one even on the isthmus, situate, 
 ported by historical testimony than the as Thucydides particularly mentions, 
 making of the canal of Athos. The in- close to the canal, and many on the ad- 
 formed and exact Thucydides, who had jacent coasts. Yet Juvenal has chosen 
 property in Thrace, lived part of his time the story of this canal for an exemplifica- 
 upon that property, and held at one time tion of the Grecian disposition to lie ; and 
 an important command there, speaks of the a traveller, (Bellon. Sing. Her. Obser. p. 
 canal, made by the king of Persia, with 78.)- who two centuries ago visited, or 
 perfect confidence. (Thucyd. iv; 109.) thought he visited the place, has asserted 
 Plato, (de Leg. iii.) Isocrates, (Pane'g. that he could find no vestige of it. Mit- 
 p. 222.) and Lysias (or. funeb.) all ford's Greece, ch. viii. sect. i. note 2. 
 mention it as an undoubted fact ; the <t 'Ayoprj rt icai Trprjrijptoi/. Herodo- 
 latter adding, that it was, in his time, tus uses the figure, which grammarians 
 still a subject of wonder and of common call tv Sid Svolv. by the addition of the 
 conversation. Diodonis relates tjie fact word Trpjjrjjpior, he shews what kind of 
 not less positively than Herodotus. That ayop) is meant, viz. riav uviwr, T&V 
 part of Strabo, which described Thrace, irnrpaffKOfiiviav. Schweigh. 
 is unfortunately lost; but the canal of
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 
 
 the memory r of his name. For though he might have caused 
 his fleet to be conveyed over the land 5 without much difficulty, 
 yet he would rather command the isthmus to be cut, and a 
 canal to be made to receive the sea, of such a breadth as 
 might be sufficient for two triremes to rowa-breast. He like- 
 wise ordered the same men, who had been employed in this 
 work, to lay a bridge over the river Strymon. 
 
 XXV. He caused cordage, made of the byblus and of white 
 flax, to be prepared for the bridges, which he entrusted to the 
 Phoenicians and Egyptians : he also ordered them to collect 
 provisions for the army ; that neither the men nor the cattle 
 which were to be taken into Greece might suffer from famine : 
 and having fully inquired into the situations of the places, he 
 ordered them to carry provisions from every part of Asia, in 
 vessels of burden and transports, and lay them in the most 
 convenient spots. Of these provisions the- greater quantity 
 was carried to that part of Thrace which is called Leuce- 
 Acte 1 . The rest was ordered to Tyrodiza of the Perinthians; 
 to Doriscus; to Eion upon the Strymon ; and to Macedonia. 
 
 XXVI. While these men were employed in executing the 
 injunctions they had received, Xerxes having assembled bis 
 army, parted from Critalis" in Cappadocia, and marched to 
 Sardis, which was the place appointed for the rendezvous of 
 all the forces that were to accompany him from the continent. 
 But I cannot affirm who was the general that received the 
 rewards promised by the king, for bringing the best appointed 
 troops ; being altogether uninformed whether this question 
 were ever brought into dispute. When the army had passed 
 the river Halys, they marched through Phrygia, and arrived 
 at Cela?na? ; where rise the springs of the Masander, and of 
 another river no less considerable, called the Catarractes ; 
 which rising in the public place of Celaenae, flows afterwards 
 into the Majander, in which citv also the skin of Marsvas the 
 
 r It seems no rash conjecture that deep shore and small town of Thrace, on the 
 policy may have prompted this under- Propontis. Near Cardia there was a 
 taking. To cross the -Egean, even now, plain called lltciov \tveov, ike tckiu 
 with all the modern improvements in na- plain ; Leuce-Acte was situated al one 
 rigation, is singularly dangerous. To extremity of this plain, and Pteleum at 
 double the cape of Athos is still more the other. The southern promontory of 
 formidable. The object, therefore, being Eulxxa, three hundred stades from Sa- 
 to add the countries west of the ^Egean mum, was also called Leuce-Acte. Lar- 
 to the Persian dominion, it was of no cher. 
 
 small consequence, to lessen the danger This may be supposed to have been 
 
 and delays of the passage for a fleet, near the site of the present Erekti, (the 
 
 Mitford's Greece, ch. viii. sect. 1. ArcMau Colvnia of the Romans; in 
 
 * This was frequently done by the an- which .position, no town is marked by 
 
 cients. See Thucyd. iii. 15. .81. viii. 8. Xenophon.) Renneil, p. 319. 
 and livy, xxv. 11. Valtkemur. Larcher is of the same opinion ; see his 
 
 1 The white coast. Leuce-Acte was a Table Geographique.
 
 136 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Satyr" is suspended; which the Phrygians say was stripped 
 off and hung up there by Apollo. 
 
 XXVII. Pythius* the son of Atys, aLydian, then residing 
 in Celsenae, entertained the king and all his army with great 
 magnificence, and offered him his treasures towards the ex- 
 pence of the war : when he made this offer of his treasures, 
 Xerxes asked the Persians in attendance, who this Pythius 
 was, and what riches he possessed, since he made such an 
 offer ? They replied, " This, O king, is the person who pre- 
 " sented your father Darius with a plane-tree 2 and vine of 
 " gold; and, after you, is the richest man we know in the 
 " world." 
 
 XXVIII. Xerxes, surprised with these last words, asked 
 him to what sum his treasures might amount. " I shall con- 
 " ceal nothing from you," said Pythius, " nor pretend to be 
 " ignorant of my own wealth ; but being perfectly informed of 
 " the state of my accounts, shall tell you the truth with sin- 
 " cerity. When I heard you were marching down towards the 
 " Grecian sea, I resolved to present you with a sum of money 
 " towards the charge of the war ; and to that end having taken 
 " an account of my riches, I found by computation that I had 
 " two thousand talents of silver, and four millions of Daric 
 " staters a , all but seven thousand. These treasures I freely 
 " give you, because I shall be sufficiently furnished with what- 
 " ever is necessary to life from my slaves and lands." 
 
 XXIX. Xerxes heard these words with pleasure, and in 
 answer to Pythius, said, " My Lydian host, since I parted 
 " from Susa, I have not found a man besides yourself, who 
 " has offered to entertain my army, or who has come into my 
 " presence and voluntarily offered to contribute his treasures 
 " to promote the present expedition. You alone have treated 
 " my army magnificently, and readily offered me immense 
 " riches : therefore, ill return of your kindness, I make you 
 " my host ; and that you may be master of the entire sum of 
 
 * The story of Marsyas is well known ; z This was not large enough, according 
 
 see Ovid. Metamorph. vi. 382. The pu- to Antiochus, to give shade to a grasshop- 
 
 nishment of Marsyas, according to For- per. Xenoph. Hellen. vii. 1. $. 26. The 
 
 tunio Liceti, is only an allegory. Before vine was taken from the citadel of Susa 
 
 the invention of the lyre, says he, (Hiero- by Antigonus, 316 B.C. Diodor. Sic. 
 
 glyph. 119.) the flute was the first of xix. 48. Larcher. 
 all musical instruments. After the in- a The stater Daricus was worth 50 
 
 troduction of the lyre, the flute came Attic drachmae, or 1. 12s. 3$d. of our 
 
 into disrepute, and nothing was earned money according to Arbuthnot. Conse- 
 
 by playing on it. In ancient times they quently an Attic talent would be equi- 
 
 used money made of leather, the poets valent to 120 Daric staters. According 
 
 therefore said, that Apollo, who played to this computation the 7000 presented 
 
 on the lyre, had flayed Marsyas, who by Darius would be equivalent to 
 
 played on the flute. Larcher. 11,302. Is. 8d. and then the whole four 
 
 T There is a different story in Plutarch millions would amount to 6,356,614. 
 
 de Virtut. Mulier. pag. 262, &c. 11s. 8d.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 137 
 
 " four millions in gold, I will give you seven thousand Daric 
 " pieces out of my own treasure. Keep then all the riches 
 " you now possess, and be careful always to continue such as 
 " you are, and if you do this, you shall never repent, either 
 " now or in future." 
 
 XXX. When Xerxes had said this, and performed his 
 promise, he continued his march ; and passing by Anaua a 
 city of Phrygia, and a lake from which salt is obtained, he ar- 
 rived at Colossae b , a considerable city of the same province; 
 where the river Lycus falling into an aperture of the earth, 
 disappears for the space of about five stades in length ; and 
 then rising again runs afterwards into the Maeander. From 
 this place the army advanced to the city Cydrara c , built on 
 the borders of Phrygia and Lydia ; where an inscription en- 
 graved on a pillar, which was erected by Croesus, declares the 
 limits of each country. 
 
 XXXI. After they had entered the territories of Lydia, 
 they found the way divided into two routes ; one on the left 
 hand, leading to Caria, the other on the right, to Sardis. Those 
 who take the last of these ways are necessitated to cross the 
 Maeander, and to pass near the city of Callatebus ; in which 
 honey is made by men, with wheat and the tamarisk. Xerxes 
 taking his march by this way, saw a plane-tree, which on ac- 
 count of its beauty he presented with golden ornaments' 1 , 
 and having committed the care of it to an immortal guardian 6 , 
 arrived the next day at Sardis, the capital of Lydia. 
 
 XXXII. Upon his arrival in that city he sent heralds to 
 Greece, with orders to demand earth and water, and to require 
 all the cities, except Athens and Lacedaemon f , to provide 
 every thing necessary for the king's table ; not doubting that 
 the terror of his arms would now induce all those to a ready 
 submission, who had formerly refused to comply with the like 
 demand, made on the part of his father Darius. In order 
 therefore to know this for certain, he dispatched the messen- 
 gers and afterwards prepared to march towards Abydos. 
 
 XXXIII. In the mean time those who were ordered had 
 made a bridge over the Hellespont from Asia to Europe. 
 There is in the Hellespontine Chersonesus, opposite the city 
 
 b A town of Phrygia, wealthy and well paraphrases it by necklace and bracelets. 
 
 peopled. Part of its inhabitants em- e Herodotus appears here to mean one 
 
 braced Christianity in the time of St. whose successor was appointed while he 
 
 Paul, and we have an epistle addressed was alive, so that the office might never 
 
 by him to them from Rome. be vacant, and therefore the guardian 
 
 c This seems to be the same as the would never die. Schweigh. 
 
 Kovpapa of Strabo, xii. p. 578. and xiv. Larcher and Wesseling suppose that 
 
 p. 663. Schweigh. he was one of the immortal band de- 
 
 d Koff/zoc signifies ornaments proper for scribed in ch. 83. 
 
 women; and /Elian (Var. Hist. li. 14.) f See the reason inch. 133. 
 
 VOL. II. T
 
 138 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of Abydos, and between Sestos and Mady tus, a craggy shore 
 extending into the sea. In that place, some time after this 
 enterprize, Xanthippus the son of Ariphron, an Athenian 
 commander, took Artayctes, the Persian governor of Sestos, 
 and impaled him alive, for taking the women into the temple 
 of Protesilaus in Eleus, and there committing unlawful crimes 8 . 
 
 XXXIV. The bridge was begun at Abydos h , by men ap- 
 pointed to that end, and carried on to this coast on the oppo- 
 site side, which is seven stades 1 distant from that city; the 
 Phoenicians making use of cordage of white hemp in one 
 bridge, and the .^Egyptians of another sort, made of the byblus, 
 in the other. But no sooner had they finished the bridge, 
 than a violent storm arising, broke in pieces and dispersed the 
 whole work. 
 
 XXXV. Which when Xerxes heard, he became so indig- 
 nant, that he commanded three hundred stripes' 5 to be inflicted 
 on the waters, and a pair of fetters to be let down into the 
 Hellespont. I have heard he likewise ordered the proper 
 people to brand it with marks of infamy. But it is certain, 
 that he ordered them, as they inflicted the lashes, to pronounce 
 these barbarous and wicked words : " O thou salt and bitter 
 " water ! thy master has condemned thee to this punishment, 
 " because thou hast injured him, when thou hadst not suffered 
 " any harm. And king Xerxes will cross over thee, whether 
 " thou wishest or not ; it is with good reason that no man sacri- 
 " fices to thee, because thou art both a deceitful and salt 
 " river 1 ." Thus having commanded the Hellespont to be 
 chastised, he ordered the heads of those who had the direction 
 of the workmen to be taken off. 
 
 XXXVI. Those, to whom this unpleasant office belonged, 
 executed these orders ; and other architects constructed other 
 bridges in the following manner. They connected together 1 " 
 
 R This is related more circumstantially it. Gibbon allows no more than 500 
 
 in book ix. ch. 115. paces. Kennell, p. 121. 
 
 h It seems to be allowed that the site k See Juvenal, Satir. x. ver. 179. 
 
 of Sestos is marked by the ruins of Ze- ' It may appear strange that Herodotus 
 
 mentc. Abydos is also marked by other calls the Hellespont a river. An excel- 
 
 ruins, not far from the point of Nagara. lent reason is given by Wood, in his de- 
 
 Again, Malta, situated on the European scription of the Troade, pag. 320, 321. 
 
 side, at a few miles from Zemenic, to- Chandler (Travels in Asia Minor, ch.iii. 
 
 wards the entrance of the Dardanelles, p. 10, 11.) is of the same opinion. Lar- 
 
 and beyond Abydos, appears to be the cher. 
 
 Madytus of Herodotus. Rennell, p. 119. m Since the Hellespont, in the neigh- 
 
 1 The ancients agree, almost univer- bourhood of Abydos, has a very consider- 
 
 sally, in representing the breadth of this able bend in its course, first running 
 
 strait to be seven stadia at the narrowest northward from Abydos towards Sestos, 
 
 part. Of the modern authorities Tourne- and then taking a pretty sharp turn to 
 
 fort appears to allow it the breadth of a the eastward ; may it not have been, that 
 
 mile. Pococke only gives it, on the au- the two lines of ships were disposed on 
 
 thority of the ancients, at seven stadia, different sides of the angle just mention- 
 
 which however implies that he admitted ed, by which it might be truly said, that
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 139 
 
 vessels of fifty oars and triremes, to the number of three hun- 
 dred and sixty, in the bridge towards the Euxine, and in the 
 other, three hundred and fourteen ; with regard to the Euxine, 
 they were placed transversely; with regard to the Hellespont, 
 in the direction of the current, that it might keep the ropes 
 regularly stretched. When they had fastened these together, 
 they let down very long anchors, in the bridge towards the 
 Euxine, because of those winds that blew from it ; in the other, 
 which was towards the west and the ^Egean, because of the 
 south and south-east winds. They left three openings" be- 
 tween the ships, in order that he who wished might be able to 
 sail into or out of the Euxine. When they had done this, 
 they extended ropes from the shore, stretching them with 
 wooden machines ; not as before using the two kinds sepa- 
 rately, but assigning two of white flax to four of byblus. The 
 thickness and quality was the same, but those of flax were 
 stronger in proportion, every cubit weighing a full talent. 
 Having carried on these lines of ships from one shore to the 
 other, they sawed out pieces of wood according to the width 
 of the bridge, and placed them upon the extended ropes : 
 when they had laid them in regular order, they fastened them 
 together. After this they put faggots in regular order, and 
 then brought earth upon them : when the earth had been well 
 trodden down, they made a fence on each side, that the horses 
 and other cattle might not be terrified by looking over at the 
 sea. 
 
 XXXVII. When the bridges were finished, and the canal 
 at mount Athos secured by a bank of earth thrown up at each 
 end, to prevent the tides from choking the passage with sand ; 
 and when tidings were brought that the canal was entirely 
 completed, the army being fully prepared set out, at the be- 
 ginning of the spring, from Sardis, where it had wintered, to- 
 wards Abydos. When it was on the point of setting out, the 
 sun quitting his seat in the heavens, disappeared ; and though 
 
 the ships in one line presented their heads Rennell, p. 125. 
 
 to the Euxine, the other their sides, al- For an exact account of the other par- 
 though the heads of both were presented ticulars of the bridge, the reader is refer- 
 to the current. The different numbers red to the latter part of sect. 7. of Ren- 
 in the two lines certainly indicate differ- nell's learned work. His opinion is op- 
 ent breadths of the strait, and which can posed by Larcher. 
 
 only be accounted for by their being at n '\iro<pav<nQ signifies an opening which 
 
 some distance from each other ; for it gives free passage to the light. Larcher. 
 
 cannot be supposed that the line was There was no eclipse at Sardis this 
 
 placed obliquely across the strait. year, but a very considerable one the 
 
 The cables extended from each shore year preceding, on the 19th of April, 481. 
 
 appear to have been for the sole purpose B. C. as I have been informed by the 
 
 of supporting the bridge-ways. The ships late M. Pingre, of the Academy of 
 
 were kept in their places, by anchors Sciences. It consequently happened about 
 
 a-head and a-stern ; by the lateral pressure the time of the departure of Xerxes from 
 
 of each other, and by side fastenings. Susa. Herodotus, who had heard that 
 
 T2
 
 140 HERODOTUS. 
 
 the air was perfectly serene, and free from clouds, a suddeu 
 night ensued in the place of day ; this excited the anxiety of 
 Xerxes when he saw it, and he inquired of the Magi what the 
 prodigy might portend. They answered, that the God by this 
 presage plainly foretold the destruction of the Grecian cities ; 
 because the sun announced what would happen to the Greeks, 
 and the moon to the Persians. Xerxes, pleased with their 
 interpretation, began his march. 
 
 XXXVIII. As he was leading his army away, Pythius 
 the Lydian, partly terrified by the late prodigy of the heavens, 
 and partly confiding in the merit of his liberal offer, went to 
 the king, and spoke to him in these terms : " Sir, will you 
 " condescend to grant me a thing I desire? It is easy for you 
 " to grant, and of great importance to me." Xerxes, sus- 
 pecting nothing less than what he designed to ask, assured 
 him he would grant his request, and bid him ask freely. Upon 
 which Pythius taking confidence, " Sir," said he, " I have five 
 " sons ; and it happens that they are all attending you in this 
 " expedition against Greece. But do you, O king, pity me 
 " thus advanced in years, and exempt my eldest son from the 
 " present service, that he may take care of me, and of my 
 " estate. Take the rest with you, and when you have accom- 
 " plished your designs you may return home in safety p ." 
 
 XXXIX. The king, transported with indignation at these 
 words, answered, " Base man ! how darest thou mention thy 
 " son, when thou seest me marching in person against Greece, 
 " and taking with me my children, my brothers, and my rela- 
 " tions and friends! thou, I say, who art my slave, and bound 
 " in duty to follow me with all thy family, and even with thy 
 " wife. Remember then, that the spirit of a man resides in 
 " his ears; which when it hears pleasing things, fills the whole 
 " body with delight, but when the contrary, it swells with in 
 " dignation. When you did well, and promised to continue 
 " the same, you will not boast of having surpassed the king in 
 " liberality. But now, when you have adopted a more shame- 
 " less conduct, you shall not suffer that punishment which 
 " you deserve, but a less severe one. Your hospitality pre- 
 " serves four of your children, but you shall be punished with 
 
 this eclipse took place at the departure order to conciliate his good-will, and 
 
 of Xerxes, imagined that that departure make him favourable to his request. 
 
 was from Sardis, which was a year later Lurcher. 
 
 than that from Susa. Although Pythius P This is an imitation of Iliad, i. ver. 
 
 was alarmed by it, it does not follow that 18, 19. 
 
 it happened just at the moment of march- .... > , . , n . 
 
 iog from Sardis ; but it appears very pro- Y t' v *" v Qtot * ol(v ' O**>p*ia f^ar 
 
 bable, that it was this fear which induced T , I , . 
 
 him, contrary to his natural avarice, to E f> np t a/*o,o *o\w, tv V onca 
 
 make such rich presents to Xerxes, in att
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 141 
 
 " the loss of the one, whom you most regard." Having finish- 
 ed these words, Xerxes commanded the proper officers to find 
 out the eldest son of Pythius, and to cut his body into two 
 parts q ; one of which they were ordered to lay on the right 
 hand, and the other on the left of the way, that the army 
 might pass between both. 
 
 XL. When they had done this the army passed between 
 the two parts. The suttlers and beasts of burden went first ; 
 and were followed by men of all nations, formed into a body 
 without distinction', and amounting to more than one half of 
 the army. Behind these an interval was left, that they might 
 not mix with that part where the king was. Before him 
 marched a thousand horsemen, chosen from among all the 
 Persians ; and next to them a thousand more of the same na- 
 tion, men equally well chosen, and bearing javelins pointing 
 downwards. After these came ten sacred horses called Nissan, 
 with most superb trappings. They are called Nisaean, from a 
 large plain of that name in Media, which produces these large 
 horses. The sacred chariot of Jupiter immediately followed, 
 drawn by eight white horses, the driver on foot holding the 
 reins, because no mortal is permitted to mount the seat. Then 
 Xerxes himself appeared on a chariot drawn by Nisaean 
 horses, and driven by Patiramphes the son of Otanes, a Per- 
 sian. 
 
 XLI. He departed from Sardis in this equipage, and when- 
 ever he choose, used to change from his chariot to an Harma- 
 maxa 5 . A thousand spearmen of the bravest and most noble 
 among the Persians marched next to the king, carrying their 
 spears in the usual manner; and were followed by another 
 body of horse consisting of a thousand more, all chosen men of 
 the same nation. After the horse, ten thousand Persian foot 
 advanced ; and of these, one thousand, armed with javelins, 
 which had at the lower end pomegranates of gold instead of 
 the point by which they stuck the javelin into the ground, and 
 inclosed the other nine thousand, whose javelins had a pome- 
 granate of silver. All those who marched nearest to the per- 
 son of the king, and turned the points of their arms towards the 
 ground, had pomegranates of gold in like manner on their ja- 
 
 i See Seneca de Ira, iii. 17. separate body, and each of those bodies 
 
 r Herodotus does not mean to say that was subdivided into others still smaller, 
 
 these troops observed no order, but that accordingtothenumberoftribesofwhich 
 
 the soldiers of which they were compos- it was composed. Larcher. 
 
 ed were not divided according to nations. 8 The difference between these two 
 
 It was nearly the same as our regiments, kinds of carriage is clearly marked by 
 
 in each of which we find soldiersof every Xenophon, (Cyropaed. i. and Anabas. i.) 
 
 one of our provinces. Our historian The Harmamaxa was more easy and 
 
 makes this remark, because in the Gre- more appropriated to females. Wes- 
 
 cian armies, each small people formed a seling.
 
 142 HERODOTUS. 
 
 velins. The ten thousand foot were followed by ten thousand 
 Persian horse; and after an interval of two stades, all the rest 
 of the forces came on promiscuously. 
 
 XLII. Thus the army marching from Lydia, arrived at the 
 river Caicus and the territory of Mysia ; and leaving the 
 mountain Cana on the left, passed through Atarneus to the 
 city Carina. From thence they marched through the plain of 
 Thebes : and passing by the cities of Adramyttium and the 
 Pelasgian Antrandus, entered the country of Ilium, having 
 mount Ida on the left hand. But as they passed the night at 
 the foot of that mountain, many of their men were destroyed 
 by thunder and lightning. 
 
 XLIII. When they arrived on the banks of the Scamander, 
 which was the first river, from the time they set out from Sar- 
 dis, whose waters failed 1 and were not sufficient for the army 
 and beasts of burden ; when Xerxes had arrived at this said 
 river he went up into the citadel of Priam", being desirous of 
 seeing it; and when he had satisfied his curiosity, and inquired 
 into divers particulars, he sacrificed a thousand oxen to the 
 Ilian Minerva", and the Magi poured out a libation in honour 
 of the heroes. After they had performed this, a panic spread 
 itself in the camp during the night. At the dawn of day they 
 marched from thence, leaving on their right the cities of 
 Rhcetium, Ophrynium, and Dardanus, which borders on 
 Abydos, and on their left the Gergithae-Teucri-. 
 
 XLIV. When they arrived at Abydos, Xerxes desired to 
 behold all his army. The Abydeni had previously constructed 
 on a hill for that purpose, in obedience to his former com- 
 mands, a lofty throne of white marble. When he had taken 
 his seat here, he looked down on the shore and beheld both 
 his fleet and his land army. After he had enjoyed the sight, 
 he desired to see a naval battle. When this had accordingly 
 taken place, and the Sidonian Phoenicians were victorious, he 
 shewed himself exceedingly pleased with the contest and his 
 forces. 
 
 XLV. When he saw the Hellespont covered with his 
 ships, and all the shore and plain of Abydos full of men, he 
 pronounced himself happy ; but afterwards wept z . 
 
 t 'Eiri\iirt rb pttQpov. sc. Kara TO pet- Troy, offered sacrifices to the Pallas of 
 
 Opov, as in ii. 19. 10. Schweigh. Ilium. See Arrian i. 11. and Diodorus 
 
 u Pergamus was the name of the citadel Sic. xvii. 18. Wesseling. 
 
 of Troy ; Herodotus added of Priam, to J' The Gergithse were a remnant of the 
 
 distinguish it from the town of Pergamus ancient Teucri, as we are informed by 
 
 in Mysias, which afterwards became the Herodotus, v. 122. 
 
 capital of a kingdom, and also from Per- z The reflections which Xerxes made 
 
 gamus, a town of Pieria. Lurcher. on the sad lot of so many thousand men, 
 
 x She had a temple in the citadel, as reduced him to the feelings of humanity, 
 
 we see in Homer, (Iliad, vi. 88.) Alex- but ambition soon obtained the upper 
 
 ander the Great also, when he arrived at hand and stifled these useful thoughts. I
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 143 
 
 XLVI. Artabanus, his paternal uncle, who had before 
 freely declared his opinion and advised him not to invade 
 Greece, having observed his tears, addressed him thus : " How 
 " very different, O king, is your present conduct, from what 
 " it was a little while ago; you but lately pronounced yourself 
 " happy, now you weep." The king answered, " When I con- 
 " sidered the shortness of human life, I could not restrain the 
 " effects of my compassion ; for of all these numbers of men, 
 " not one shall survive at the hundredth year." " But," re- 
 " plied Artabanus, " we suffer during our lives other things, 
 " much more to be lamented. There is not one, either of 
 " these men or of others, so happy, that it will not arise in his 
 " mind, I do not say once, but frequently, to wish rather to 
 " die than to live. The frequent calamities and diseases inci- 
 " dent to all so disturb the best of our days, that life, though 
 " really short, yet seems of a tedious length; so that death, 
 " when life has become painful, is the most desirable refuge 
 " for man: and the deity, in giving us a taste of pleasures", 
 " has made his jealousy appear." 
 
 XLVII. " Artabanus," said the king, " since the condition 
 " of human life is such as you have described, let us say no 
 " more on that subject ; but rejecting all sad reflections, enter- 
 " tain ourselves with the promising hopes we have now in view. 
 " Be plain with me ; if you had not seen the vision you saw so 
 " evidently in your dream, would you still persist in your first 
 " opinion, and continue to dissuade me from making war 
 " against Greece? Tell me the truth with freedom and sin- 
 " cerity." To this question Artabanus answered, " May the 
 " event of my dream be such as we both desire : but I am 
 " still full of apprehensions and not master of myself, when I 
 " reflect on many other things, and particularly when I per- 
 " ceive two things of the greatest importance, most hostile 
 " to you." 
 
 XJLVIII. " My good sir," replied Xerxes, " and what 
 " may those two things be, that are so hostile to my designs? 
 " Do you find any fault with our land army on the score of 
 " numbers, and do you think that the Grecian army will be 
 
 very much doubt whether Valerius Maxi- " ut mihi non venia solum dignae, verum 
 
 mus has perceived the true motive of " etiam laude, videantur illae Regias la- 
 
 these tears, and I think that there is some " crimae. Nam ferunt Xerxem, cum im- 
 
 slight malice in what he says; " Qui " mensum exercitum oculis obiisset, illa- 
 
 " mihi specie alienam, revera suam con- " crymasse, quod tot millibus, tarn brevis 
 
 " ditionem deplorasse videtur ; opum " immineret occasus." Wesseling is of 
 
 " magnitudine, quam altiore animi sensu a different opinion. Larcher. 
 " felicior." (ix. 13. Extern, i.) I pre- a 'O fivaaQ signifies one who has given 
 
 fer what Pliny says, (Plin. Jun. Epist. to taste, particularly to taste any thing for 
 
 xiii. 7.) " Tarn angustis terminis tantae sale ; 6 -ytwafiivog, one who had tasted. 
 " multitudinis vivacitas ipsa concluditur, 

 
 144 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " much more numerous than ours ? Or does our navy ap- 
 " pear to be inferior to theirs ? Or, in a word, are our ene- 
 " mies superior in both? For if our forces appear in that 
 " respect too weak, we can quickly assemble another army." 
 
 XLIX. " O king," answered Artabanus, " no man of com- 
 " mon understanding can reproach either your land forces, or 
 " the number of your ships. 
 
 " And if these should be augmented, the two things I in- 
 " tended would become more contrary to your affairs, than 
 " they are at present. By these two things I mean the sea 
 " and the land. For, as I conjecture, no harbour can be 
 " found in any part sufficient to receive and ensure the 
 " safety of your whole fleet, if a storm should arise. And yet 
 " one is not enough : there will be need of similar ones along 
 ' the whole coast of the continent, to which this expedition 
 " will lead you. Since therefore you have no commodious 
 " harbours, you will do well to remember, that men are in the 
 " power of fortune 6 , and not fortune in the power of men. 
 
 " Having thus explained one of the two things I proposed, 
 " I shall proceed to the other. The land will be your enemy 
 " in this way : if nothing happens to oppose you, it becomes 
 " the more formidable the farther you advance, since you 
 " will be always hurried on without perceiving it : for men 
 " are never satisfied with success. This therefore being 
 " granted, that you meet with no opposition, I maintain that 
 " the country which you will have marched over, becoming 
 " more extensive in process of time, will produce a famine. 
 " A man would therefore thus prove himself most wise, if 
 " in deliberation he should be fearful and consider himself 
 " likely to suffer every misfortune, but in action should be 
 " bold." 
 
 L. To this Xerxes answered, "Artabanus, your discourse 
 " concerning these particulars is rational ; yet do not fear all 
 " things, nor examine every circumstance with the same 
 " strictness. 
 
 " For if you should deliberate with the same circumspec- 
 " tion on every thing that presents itself, you would never do 
 " any thing. It is better to undertake every thing with bold- 
 " ness and suffer half the evils, than to fear every thing be- 
 " fore hand and never suffer any thing. If you oppose every 
 
 b " Neque regerentur magis, quam re- " yet favour to men of skill; but time 
 
 gerent casus." Sallust, Bell. Jugurth. 1. " and chance happeneth to them all." 
 
 Beloe quotes the following from EC- c " Prius-quam incipias, consulto ; et 
 
 clesiastes ix. 1 1 . "I returned, and saw " ubi consulueris, mature facto opus est." 
 
 " under the sun, that the race is not to Sallust, Catilin. 1. Compare also Thu- 
 
 " the swift, nor the battle to the strong, cyd. ii. 11. and vi. 34. extr. Many 
 
 "neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet other instances might be quoted from 
 
 " riches to men of understanding, nor Demosthenes and Polybius.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 145 
 
 ** thing that is said without proposing- something certain, you 
 " must fail as much as the person who has given the con- 
 " trary opinion. This then comes-to the same. 
 
 " I am of opinion that no mortal can determine with cer- 
 " tainty concerning the event of human affairs. Experience 
 " shews, that those who resolve to push boldly, are for the 
 " most part successful ; whereas those, who act with so much 
 " caution, and form so many difficulties, very rarely do any 
 " thing with advantage. Do you see to what a degree of 
 " power the Persians have attained ? If then the kings my 
 " predecessors had entertained such thoughts as you have, 
 " or had met with such counsellors, though they did not en- 
 " tertain such opinions themselves, you would never have 
 " seen their power advanced to this pitch. By hazarding 
 " dangers, they carried it to this height of grandeur. For 
 " great successes are generally accomplished by great perils. 
 " We will therefore endeavour to imitate our ancestors ; and, 
 " entering upon action in the most agreeable season of the 
 " year, we intend to subdue all Europe, and afterwards 
 " to return home, without suffering by famine, or any other 
 " misfortune. For we not only carry a vast quantity of pro- 
 " visions with us, but shall be masters of all the corn that 
 " grows in the countries we are about to invade, which are 
 " inhabited by husbandmen, and not by feeders of cattle." 
 
 LI. Artabanus having heard this answer of Xerxes, said, 
 " Sir, since you will not permit me to fear the success of your 
 " enterprize, yet hearken to my counsel in another thing ; and 
 " excuse me, if having many things to say, I am necessitated 
 " to extend my discourse to a farther length. Cyrus the son 
 " of Cambyses constrained all the lonians, the Athenians only 
 " excepted, to be tributary to the Persians. I advise you 
 " therefore not to lead these men against their fathers, upon 
 " any motive whatever : especially since we have forces more 
 " than sufficient to sxibdue our enemies, without their assist- 
 " ance. For if they accompany you in this expedition, one 
 " of these two things must happen. They must either be 
 " most unjust, if they enslave their mother-city ; or most just 
 " if they contribute all their endeavours to preserve its 
 " liberty. If they should be most unjust, they will not at- 
 " tach to many great advantage ; but if just they become able 
 " to bring great mischief upon your army. Consider there- 
 " fore on the justice of this ancient saying, that at the com- 
 " mencement of a thing, the end is not always evident d ." 
 
 d Beloe quotes Horace, lib. iii. Od. " Caliginosa node premit Deus 
 xxix. 29. " Ridetque, si mortalis ultra 
 
 c . -n j t * * " Fas trenidat," &c. 
 
 " Prudens futun temporis exitum 
 
 VOL. II. U
 
 146 HERODOTUS. 
 
 LI I. " Artabanus," replied Xerxes, "of all the opinions 
 " you have given you are deceived most particularly in this, 
 " viz. in fearing lest the lonians should revolt. You, and all 
 " those who invaded Scythia under my father Darius, must 
 " own, that they gave the most certain proof of their affec- 
 " tion e to us, when having in their power to save or destroy 
 " the whole army of the Persians, they refused to violate 
 " their faith, or do any thing that might be prejudicial to 
 *' our nation. Besides, they have left their children, their 
 " wives, and their possessions, in our territories ; and there- 
 " fore we must not expect that they will attempt any inno- 
 " vation. Fear nothing therefore of that sort ; but with good 
 " spirits take upon you the care of my family, and of my go- 
 " vernment. For to you alone, out of all, I entrust my 
 " sceptre." 
 
 LIIL After this discourse, Xerxes dismissed Artabanus, 
 with orders to return to Susa ; and having again assembled 
 the principal men among the Persians, he spoke to this pur- 
 pose : " I have called you together at this time, to exhort 
 " you to acquit yourselves like men of courage, without blem- 
 " ishing the great and glorious actions of your ancestors. 
 " Let every one therefore in particular, and all of us in con- 
 " junction, shew our alacrity and resolution in this enterprize, 
 " which is undertaken for the common good. But on this 
 " account I call on you to apply yourselves earnestly to the 
 " war, for as I am informed, we are marching against a brave 
 " and warlike people ; and that if we conquer them, no other 
 " army will dare to oppose us. Prepare then to pass the sea, 
 " after we have recommended ourselves to the care of those 
 " Gods who have obtained by lot the protection f of Persia." 
 
 LIV. The rest of the day was spent in disposing all things 
 in order to their passage : and on the next day they waited 
 for the sun, as they wished to see it rising, and in the mean 
 time burnt all sorts of perfumes upon the bridges, and strewed 
 the way with myrtle branches 8 . When the sun was risen, 
 Xerxes, pouring a libation into the sea out of a golden cup, 
 addressed a prayer to the sun, that he might not meet with 
 any impediment so great, as to prevent him from subduing 
 Europe, until he had arrived at the utmost limits of it. After 
 which he threw the cup into the Hellespont, with a bowl of 
 
 e It is very surprising, says Larcher, and preside over. Wesseliiig. 
 
 that Xerxes did not remember their re- & The myrtle was with the ancients a 
 
 volt under Darius. very favourite plant, and always expres- 
 
 f This profession of the king bears very sive of triumph and joy ; the hero wore 
 
 great resemblance to the strange opinions it as a mark of victory ; the bridegroom 
 
 of some ancient Theologists, viz. that the on his bridal day ; and friends presented 
 
 angels, at the order of God, decided by each other with myrtle garlands in the 
 
 lot what countries "they should protect conviviality of the banquet. Beloe.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 147 
 
 gold, and a Persian scymeter. But I cannot determine, 
 whether he wished by throwing them into the sea to conse- 
 crate these things to the sun, or whether he repented of hav- 
 ing scourged the Hellespont, and as a compensation made 
 that present to it. 
 
 L\. After this ceremony all the foot and horse of the 
 army passed over that bridge, which was next to the Euxine ; 
 while the servants, and beasts of burden, passed over the 
 other, which was nearer to the JEgean sea. The ten thou- 
 sand Persians I mentioned before led the van, with crowns 
 on their heads, and were followed by troops promiscuously 
 composed of all nations. These passed the first day. On the 
 second, the cavalry, and next those who carried their javelins 
 pointing to the ground, passed over, wearing crowns likewise. 
 Then came the sacred horses and the sacred chariot ; after- 
 wards Xerxes himself, followed by the spearmen, and one 
 thousand horse. All the rest of the army closed the march; 
 and at the same time the ships went over to the opposite 
 shore. I have also heard that Xerxes crossed over last of 
 all. 
 
 LVI. When Xerxes had crossed over into Europe, he saw 
 his forces compelled by blows to pass over the bridge ; which 
 yet was not effected in less than seven days and seven nights, 
 though they continued to pass without intermission during all 
 that time. After his landing, a certain man of that country, 
 as is said, cried out, " O Jupiter 11 , why art thou come to 
 " overthrow Greece in the shape of a Persian, and under the 
 " name of Xerxes, with all mankind following thee? whereas 
 " thy own power is sufficient to do this without their assist- 
 " ance." 
 
 LVII. When they had all crossed and had set out on their 
 march, a great prodigy appeared, which Xerxes took no ac- 
 count of, although easy to be interpreted. A mare cast a 
 hare instead of a colt ; from which one might easily conjec- 
 ture, that after Xerxes had transported a mighty army into 
 Greece with great vanity and ostentation, he should be afraid 
 for his own life, and run away to the place from whence he 
 came. Another prodigy had been seen before, during the 
 time he stayed at Sardis ; where a mule brought forth a colt, 
 with the parts both of a male and a female, the former being 
 above. 
 
 LVIII. But Xerxes slighting both these events, continued 
 to advance with his landforces ; while the fleet at the same 
 
 h Gorgias of Leontium calls Xerxes with reason derides this, (De Sublim. 
 the Jupiter of the Persians ; Longinus Hi.) Lurcher. 
 
 u 2
 
 148 HERODOTUS. 
 
 time sailing out of the Hellespont, coasted along by the shore, 
 and kept on an opposite course 1 . For they stood to the 
 westward for the promontory of Sarpedon k ; where they were 
 commanded to attend farther orders ; but the land forces 
 marched through the Chersonese, towards the east, and the 
 rising sun, having the sepulchre of Helle the daughter of 
 Athamas on the right hand, and the city of Cardia 1 on the 
 left, they passed through a place called Agora m ; and from 
 thence, bending their march round a bay called Melas, they 
 crossed the river Melas n ; whose waters did not suffice for the 
 army, but failed. After they had passed this river, from 
 which the bay derives its name, they marched eastward, and 
 passing by JEnos , an ^Eolian city, and the lake Stentoris, 
 they arrived at Doriscus. 
 
 LIX. Doriscus is a shore and large plain of Thrace, through 
 which the large river Hebrus flows. In that plain a royal 
 fort is built, the same that is now called Doriscus, in which a 
 Persian garrison had been established by Darius, from the 
 time that he marched against the Scythians. Xerxes judging 
 this place convenient for reviewing and numbering his forces, 
 commanded the captains to bring all their ships to the shore 
 near Doriscus ; in which Salaf 5 , a Samothracian town, and 
 Zona, are situate; the extremity of it is Serrhium, a famous 
 promontory, formerly belonging to the Ciconians q . When 
 they had brought the ships to land, they drew them 
 
 1 It would be necessary for the fleet, in dia and Pactye, which is also evident 
 
 order to go from the Hellespont, to turn from Demosthenes, (De Halones.) Lar- 
 
 its back upon the army, which would cher. 
 
 march upwards towards the beginning of n The river is at present called La- 
 the Isthmus and the town of Cardia. rissa ; the gulf, Megarision and Magari- 
 Larcher. sion. See Melet. Geograph. Antiq. et 
 
 k I am not aware that any other author Nova. pag. 419. 
 
 besides Herodotus speaks of this pro- The Greeks distinguished between 
 
 montory. I suppose that it was on the _<Enos and ^Eneia, or ^Enea. The Latins 
 
 northern coast of the Chersonese and at on the contrary have confused them, 
 
 the southern entrance of the gulf Melas. This town is now called Eno, and the 
 
 Larcher. little bay on which it is built, and which 
 
 1 This town was situated on the west- forms part of the gulf of Melas, is called 
 
 ern side of the Isthmus, which connected the bay of Eno. Larcher. 
 
 the Chersonese with the continent. It P Herodotus calls this a Samothracian 
 
 received its name, according to Pliny, town, because it was in a district of the 
 
 (iv. 11.) from its resemblance to the continent inhabited by the Samothra- 
 
 figure of a heart ; or because, when Her- cians. 
 
 mocrates, the founder, was sacrificing, a 1 The Ciconians formerly occupied the 
 crow carried off the heart of the victim coast of Thrace, which is opposite Samo- 
 and dropped it in the place where the thrace, but were after wards driven north- 
 town was afterwards built, (Steph. By- wardsby the Samothracians. Virgil, in his 
 zant.) Lysimachus, one of the succes- 4th Georgic, ver. 520 and 524. beautifully 
 sors of Alexander, destroyed it, and from describes the Ciconian women as throw- 
 that time it has been no more than a uig the head of Orpheus into the Hebrus. 
 village, (Pausan. i. 9.) Lurcher. Larcher. 
 
 m This must have been between Car-
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 149 
 
 up r and careened them ; and in the mean time Xerxes num- 
 bered his army in the plain of Doriscus. 
 
 LX. What proportion of men each nation furnished to this 
 expedition, I cannot affirm exactly, because it is not mentioned 
 by any one ; but the whole number of land forces amounted 
 to seventeen hundred thousand 5 , for they were computed in 
 this manner : ten thousand men being first drawn out into 
 one place and crowded as close together as might possibly be, 
 were encompassed with a circle traced upon the ground : after 
 which they were dismissed, and a wall was built on this circle, 
 to the height of a man's middle. When this was done, they 
 caused another ten thousand to enter the place inclosed by 
 the wall, and continued to proceed in the same manner, till 
 they had computed the whole army. Then they divided all 
 the troops into distinct bodies according to their nations. 
 
 LXI. The following nations marched in the expedition. 
 First, the Persians*, who were equipped as follows: on their 
 heads they wore loose coverings", called tiaras; on the body 
 they wore tunics of different colours, with sleeves, and breast- 
 plates, with iron scales like those of fish, and on their legs they 
 had loose trowsers ; instead of shields, they used bucklers, 
 called gerrha, under which their quivers hung". Their javelins 
 were short; their bows long; their arrows were made of cane, 
 
 r The ancients used to draw on shore amounted to a moderate number only, 
 
 their vessels, which were small in com- it would have been nugatory to levy that 
 
 parison with ours, whenever they wished number throughout the whole empire, 
 
 to stay any time at a place. This custom, and to collect troops from India and E- 
 
 which was observed during the Trojan thiopia, to attack Greece, when the whole 
 
 war, as we see in Homer, still obtained number required might have been col- 
 
 in the more flourishing condition of lected in Lower Asia. Eennell, p. 318. 
 
 Greece. Frequent mention is made of it * The Persians may, perhaps, not in- 
 
 i n Xenophon's Hellenics and Thucydides. aptly be compared, in respect of the rest, 
 
 Larcher. with the Europeans in a British army in 
 
 8 The evident cause of the assemblage India, composed chiefly of Sepoys, or na- 
 
 of so many nations was, that the Euro- tive troops. Rennel, p. 292. 
 
 peans (as at the present day) were deem- u Valla had translated airaytas impe- 
 
 ed so far superior to Asiatics, as to require netrable, and Portus has taken the word 
 
 a vastly greater number of the latter to in the same sense. Wesseling, however, 
 
 oppose them. This is no less apparent has rendered it non compactos, which in- 
 
 in the history of the wars of Alexander, terpretation is confirmed by the Scholiast 
 
 and of the wars of Europeans in the east, on Aristoph. Av. ver. 487. who informs 
 
 in modern times. However, we do not us that the king of Persia alone wore his 
 
 by any means believe in the numbers de- tiara erect, the others wore it folded and 
 
 scribed by the Greek historians, because projecting over the forehead. On the 
 
 we cannot comprehend, from what is seen whole of this dress see a comment of 
 
 and known, how such a multitude could Mongez, in the 4th vol. of the Acta In- 
 
 be provided with food, and their beasts stitut. Lit. et Artium. &c. Schweigh. 
 
 with forage. But that the army of Xerxes x On their march, of which we are 
 
 was great, beyond all example, may be here speaking, their bucklers were hung 
 
 readily believed; because it was collected over their backs, and therefore the qui- 
 
 from a vastly extended empire, every part vers would be under them. Schweigk. 
 
 of which, as well as its allies, furnished So also Larcher. 
 a proportion ; and if the aggregate had
 
 150 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and their swords were suspended from the belt by the right 
 thigh. They were commanded by Otanes the father of Ame- 
 stris, the wife of Xerxes. In ancient times the Persians were 
 by the Grecians called Cephenes, and by themselves and 
 nearest neighbours, Artaeans: but Perseus y the son of Jupiter 
 and Danae, coming to Cepheus the son of Belus, married his 
 daughter Andromeda ; and by her had a son, whom he named 
 Perses, and afterwards left with Cepheus, because he had no 
 male child ; and from him they took the name of Persians. 
 
 LXII. The Medes marched in the same dress as the Per- 
 sians ; for the equipment I have described, belongs properly 
 to the Medes, and not to the Persians. They marched under 
 the conduct of Tigranes, who was of the family of the Achae- 
 menidae. The Medes were anciently called Arians by all na- 
 tions ; but changed their name, as they say themselves, when 
 Medea of Colchis arrived from Athens in their country. The 
 Cissians, appearing in every thing like the Persians, except 
 only that they wore mitres on their heads, were led by Ana- 
 phes the son of Otanes. The Hyrcanians were also armed 
 after the Persian manner, and commanded by Megapanus, 
 who was afterwards governor of Babylon. 
 
 LXIII. The Assyrians had helmets of brass to cover their 
 heads, woven in a strange fashion, not easy to be described : 
 they had bucklers, javelins, and poignards after the manner of 
 the Egyptians ; with linen cuirasses z , and wooden clubs knot- 
 ted with iron. By the Greeks they are called Syrians 11 , and 
 by the Barbarians, Assyrians. Among these the Chaldeans 
 were accounted, and Otaspes the son of Artachaeus was their 
 leader. 
 
 LXIV. The Bactrians had turbans on their heads, very 
 much like those of the Medes ; and carried bows made of cane 
 peculiar to their country, and short spears. The Sacae, who 
 are Scythians, wore on their heads caps, which ended in a 
 point and stood erect : they also wore trowsers, and carried a 
 sort of bow peculiar to their nation, with poignards, and also 
 axes, called Sagaris b . Although they are Amyrgian Scythi- 
 ans, the Persians call them Sacae; which is the common name 
 they give to all the Scythians. The Bactrians and Sacaa were 
 led by Hystaspes, son of Darius, by Atossa the daughter of 
 Cyrus. 
 
 y See ch. 150. and also vi. 53. b The Sagaris (Hesych. in voc.) was a 
 z Perhaps vests quilted with cotton, or kind of axe used by the Amazons, which 
 some such substance, to resist the ordi- had only one edge. The word Sakr sig- 
 nary cut of a sabre war jackets. These nifies a hatchet in the Armenian Ian- 
 are worn at present by the soldiery, in guage. See Whiston, preface to Moses 
 the service of the petty princes of India. Chorenensis, pag. 6. lurcher. See also. 
 Eennell, p. 266. Rennell, p. 302. 
 a See note on ch. vi. book 1;
 
 POLYMNIA, VII. 151 
 
 LXV. The Indians, who wore garments made of cotton , 
 and had bows and arrows of cane d pointed with iron, were 
 commanded by Pharnazathres the son of Artabates. 
 
 LXVI. The Arians were furnished with Median bows ; and 
 in all other things resembled the Bactrians. They were com- 
 manded by Sisamnes the son of Hydarnes. The Parthians, 
 Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gandarians 6 , and Dadicse, appeared 
 in the same arms and clothing as the Bactrians, under the 
 following leaders ; Artabazus the son of Pharuaces com- 
 manded the Parthians and the Chorasmians ; Azanes the son 
 of Artaeus the Sogdians ; and Artyphius the son of Artabanus 
 the Gandarians and Dadicae. 
 
 LXVII. The Caspians', clothed in mantles called Sisyrnae g , 
 and armed with scymetars and with bows made of cane after 
 the manner of their country, had for their captain Ariomardus 
 the brother of Artyphius. The Sarangae h were conspicuous 1 
 from their dyed garments ; they also wore buskins reaching 
 up to the knee, and carried a bow and javelins, like those of 
 the Medes. They were led by Pherendates the son of Mega- 
 byzus. The Pactyes, clothed likewise in Sisyrnae, had bows 
 peculiar to the country and poignards, and were commanded 
 by Artyntes the son of Ithramites. 
 
 LXVIII. The Utii, Mycii, and Paricanii, armed and clothed 
 like the Pactyes, marched under the following captains. Arsa- 
 menes the son of Darius led the Utii and Mycii ; and Siro- 
 mitres the son of CEbazus, the Paricanii. 
 
 LXIX. The Arabians k wore large robes, called Zeirae, 
 
 c The dresses here intended may per- Sogdians, Gandarians, and Dadicae ; so 
 
 haps have been quilted, like those of the that all the nations situated to the east 
 
 Phffinicians and the Assyrians; who are and north of Media ha"d so many points 
 
 said to have had linen cuirasses. Ren- of resemblance to each other, as to shew 
 
 nell, p. 305. . that they had a common origin, that is, 
 
 The Indians at present wear clothes doubtless, from Scythia; and this is shewn 
 
 made of cotton, of which their country also from many passages in Strabo and 
 
 produces great abundance, lurcher. Pliny- Rennetl, p. 275. 
 
 d In this and several other instances, 8 The 'Survpa or 'Zicrvpva is the skin of 
 
 (as amongst the Bactrians, Caspians, &c.) a goat with the hair. See the Lexicon on 
 
 bamboos are unquestionably to be under- Plato of Tim^us, published byRuhnken. 
 
 stood ; as they are at this day in common Larcher. 
 
 use. Rennelt, p. 306. h The dress of this nation characterizes 
 
 e This people Major Rennell places in them as a civilized, rich, and industrious 
 
 Margiana ; see note on book iii. 91. Lar- people. In effect, they were the Euer- 
 
 cher places them near the Bactrians, and gehe of the Greeks. See Diodorus Sic. 
 
 on each side of the Indus. See his Table xvii. 8. Rennell, p. 289. 
 
 Geographique. l The text has the same force as if it 
 
 f The Caspians are the only nation of had been li/Maai pfpapnivou; ijaav lp- 
 
 the llth Satraphy (iii. 92.) which we irptiriu; or SiaTrptiriif. So in ch. 83. 
 
 find in the army of Xerxes. They resem- Compare also ^Esch. Agam. v. 1231. and 
 
 bled the Bactrians and Arians, their v. 30. and Theb. 118. Schweigh. 
 
 neighbours ; and there was a general re- k These Arabians were probably Id u- 
 
 sfimblance in the armour of the Bactri- means and Nabutheans, and not of Ara- 
 
 ans, Caspians, Parthians, Chorasmians, bia Felix, which had never been made
 
 152 HERODOTUS. 
 
 fastened with girdles; and carried on their right shoulder long 
 bows which might be bent both ways. The Ethiopians were 
 clothed with the skins of lions and panthers ; and armed with 
 bows full four cubits long, made of the branches of the palm- 
 tree ; to put in these, they had short arrows made of cane, 
 and pointed, instead of iron, with a sharp stone, of that sort 
 on which they engrave seals 1 . They had also javelins pointed 
 with buck's horns sharpened like a lance, and knotted clubs. 
 When they are about to engage in battle, they paint one 
 half of their bodies with white plaster, and the other half with 
 vermilion. The Arabians, and these Ethiopians who inhabit 
 above Egypt, were commanded by Arsames the son of Darius, 
 by Artystona the daughter of Cyrus ; whom Darius loved 
 more than all his wives, and whose image he had caused to be 
 made of wrought gold. 
 
 LXX. The eastern Ethiopians (for two kinds served in 
 the expedition) were stationed with the Indians, and did not 
 at all differ from the others in form, but in their language, 
 and in their hair. For the oriental Ethiopians have long 
 straight hair : but the hair of the Lybian Ethiopians is, more 
 curled than that of any other people. The arms and habit 
 of the Asiatic Ethiopians" 1 were almost the same with those 
 of the Indians : but instead of a helmet, they wore the skin 
 of a horse's head", stripped off with the ears and mane; and 
 contrived in such a manner, that the mane might serve for a 
 crest,' while the ears stood erect. They used the skins of 
 cranes to defend themselves, instead of shields. 
 
 LXXI. The Lybians had coats made of leather ; carried a 
 pointed lance hardened at one end by the fire , and were 
 under the conduct of Massages the son of Oarizus. 
 
 subject to the Persians. Rennell, p. cus, Argonaut, i. 34. and also Virgil, 
 
 255. and Larcher. JLneid xi. 680. 
 
 1 This stone is the Smiris of Dioscori- .. .-, . . . ,. . 
 des, (v. 166.) It is the same as our '-. Caput ingens ons hiatus, 
 emery, a kind of metallic stone. It is Et ,, m f h ? }f K lu l n cum dentlbus 
 used to polish steel, to cut glass and pre- 
 cious stones, &c. but it will not cut dia- Homer gives the same weapon to 
 monds. Larcher. Ulysses to put out the eye of Polyphe- 
 
 m We must regard these as the people mus : see Odyssey ix. 328. Pope trans- 
 
 of Makran, Haur, (the Oritffi of Alexan- lates the passage thus, 
 der and Nearchus,) and other provinces 
 
 in that quarter. See Rennell, p. 303. ^hose point we hardened by the force 
 
 - The noofttrowrtfuw was a kind of of fire ' Larcher. 
 
 helmet made of the skin of the head of The savages of America use the same 
 
 any animal. They were very common, process for their spears at this day. 
 
 particularly among the Germans. See Beloe. 
 
 the figures in Clarke's edition of Caisar's The Lybians were, in point of wea- 
 
 Comment. (Lond. 1712. fol.) This was pons, the most contemptibly furnished of 
 
 in ancient times the armour for the head, any throughout the whole army; in 
 
 Hercules used for this purpose the head which were every kind of offensive wea- 
 
 of the Nemean lion. See Valerius Flac- pon, from polished steel, to wood hard-
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 153 
 
 i 
 
 LXXII, The Paphlagonians wore woven helmets?, and 
 carried small shields, and not large spears: they also had 
 darts and poignards. On their feet they wore shoes after 
 the manner of their country, reaching up to the middle of the 
 leg. The Ligyes, the Matieni q , and the Mariandyni, with 
 those Syrians who by the Persians are called Cappadocians, 
 marched in the same dress as the Paphlagonians. The Ma- 
 tieni and the Paphlagonians were led by Dotus the son of 
 Megasidrus ; and the Mariandyni, with the Ligyes, and Sy- 
 rians, by Gobryas the son of Darius and Artystona. 
 
 LXXIII. The Phrygians were equipped very nearly in 
 the same way as the Paphlagonians ; the difference was tri- 
 fling. This people, if we may believe the Macedonians, went 
 under the name of Briges r , as long as they were Europeans, 
 and dwelt with them ; but when they went over into Asia, 
 they changed their name with their country, and have ever 
 since been called Phrygians. The Armenians, being a colony 
 of the Phrygians, appeared in the same accoutrements ; and 
 both these nations were commanded by Artochmes, who had 
 married a daughter of Darius. 
 
 LXXIV. The Lydians were armed more like the Greeks 
 than any other people of the army : they had been formerly 
 known by the name of Masonians, but were afterwards called 
 Lydians, from Lydus the son of Atys. The Mysians had a 
 sort of helmet peculiar to their country, with a little buckler, 
 and pointed javelins hardened at the end by fire. They are 
 a colony of the Lydians, and are called Olympians, from the 
 mountain Olympus. Both these nations were led by Arta- 
 phernes, the son of that Artaphernes who with Datis invaded 
 Marathon. 
 
 LXXV. The Thracians 5 marched with their heads covered 
 
 ened in the fire ; with all the interme- 1 One might have supposed Matiene 
 
 diate varieties of Jish-bone, horn, and was an error, especially as there is an- 
 
 stones ; and of defensive armour, from other country of Matiene in Medea. But 
 
 coats of mail of burnished steel formed this agrees with Clio, 72. No traces of 
 
 in scales,, like those of fishes, (which the such a name can, however, be found 
 
 Persians wore,) to the raw hides of ani- there. It is possible that the province 
 
 roals. Rennell, p. 255. of Tyana, may be the Matiene here 
 
 P This description of the Paphlagonian spoken of, as the situation agrees. Or 
 
 helmet is sufficiently obscure. Xeno- Tyana, as a part, may have given name 
 
 phon gives a more clear and detailed to the whole. It is, in effect, a part of 
 
 account of it when speaking of those of Cilicia ; but has sometimes been reckon- 
 
 the Mosynaaci; "They wear on their ed to Cappadocia. Rennell, p. 239. 
 
 ' heads a helmet of leather, similar to r In l^rato 45, the Brygi of Thrace, 
 
 ' those of the Paphlagonians, from the attack Mardonius, in Macedonia. Ren- 
 
 ' centre of which proceeds a tuft of nell,p- 238. 
 
 ' twisted hair, which rises into a point 8 The Thracians, although transplanted 
 
 ' like a tiara." (Exped. Cyri, v. 4. into a warmer climate, preserved their 
 
 sect. 6. Larcher. ancient customs. The description of the 
 
 VOL. II. X
 
 154 HERODOTUS. 
 
 with a cap made of the skins of foxes, and around their bodies 
 they wore tunics, and over them loose robes of different co- 
 lours ; on their feet and legs they had buskins made of the 
 skins of fawns ; they also carried javelins, small bucklers 
 called Peltae 4 , and small poignards. They have gone under 
 the name of Bithynians ever since they crossed over to Asia ; 
 and if we may believe their own report, were formerly called 
 Strymonians, from the river Strymon, where they inhabited, 
 and from whence they were expelled by the Mysians and by 
 the Teucrians, These Asiatic Thracians were commanded 
 bv Bassaces the son of Artabanus. 
 
 " LXXVI. The Chalybes" carried small bucklers composed 
 of untanned hides, and each had two javelins fit for hunting 
 wolves"; and a helmet of brass, having the ears and horns of 
 an ox of the same metal. They also wore a crest at the top 
 of their helmet ; and their legs were enveloped in bandages 
 of purple cloth. They have an oracle of Mars in their 
 country. 
 
 LXXVII. The Cabalian Ma3onians y , who are also called 
 Lasonians, had the same arms and clothing with the Cili- 
 cians ; which I shall describe when in the course of my nar- 
 ration I shall arrive at that people. The Milyae carried 
 short lances, and their garments were fastened by clasps. 
 Some of them had Lycian bows, and a cap composed of skins. 
 All these were commanded by Badres the son of Hystanes. 
 
 LXXVIII. The Moschi had helmets of wood, with small 
 bucklers, and javelins headed with large points. The Tiba- 
 renis, Macrones, and Mosynceci were armed as the Moschi ; 
 who with the Tibareni marched under the conduct of Ario- 
 mardus, the son of Darius by Parmys, the daughter of Smer- 
 dis the son of Cyrus. But the Macrones and Mosynosci were 
 
 European Thracians by Xenophon (Anab. the oracle of Mars, and because they 
 
 vii. 4. sect. 2.) perfectly agrees with border on the above-mentioned people, 
 
 that by Herodotus of the Asiatic Thra- as we have seen in i. 28. 
 cians. Lurcher. * IIpo/36Xouc vo Xwcofpyeaf. Lar- 
 
 ' Those who carried this kind of buck- cher reads AvKtotpyiag, and translates it, 
 
 ler, which was peculiar to the Thracians, "deux 6pieux facon de Lycie." See 
 
 were called Peltastx. The buckler of his reasons in his long note. I have fol- 
 
 the heavy armed troops was difficult to lowed Schweighasuser. 
 manage. Iphicrates (Diodor. Sic. xv. J These appear to be the same as the 
 
 44. and Corn. Nepos in Iphicrat. i. 3.) Cabalians of iii. 90. The inhabitants of 
 
 substituted the Pelta about the 3rd year Cabalis, a town near Cydrara, to the 
 
 of the 101st Olympiad, B.C. 374. The south of the Masander were called Caba- 
 
 name of Hoplite does not appear among lees, according to Hecatsus. Herodotus 
 
 the Grecian troops from that time. Lar- calls them Cabelians, because, according 
 
 cher. to the Ionic dialect, alpha is changed 
 
 u There is evidently a lacuna in the into eta. Larcher wishes to read Ka- 
 
 text. Wesseling has conjectured that /3ijXc & icai oi AIjjovt . See his note, 
 the Chalybes are meant on account of
 
 POLYMNIA. Vn. 155 
 
 led by Artayctes 1 , the son of Cherasmis, and governor of Ses- 
 tos on the Hellespont. 
 
 LXXIX. The Mares wore caps, woven after the manner 
 of their country ; and carried javelins, with small shields co- 
 vered with skins. The Colchians had helmets of wood, with 
 small bucklers made of untanned hides ; short lances and 
 swords. The forces of these two nations had for their leader 
 Pherendates the son of Teaspes. The Alarodi and the Saspi- 
 res, armed like the Colchians, marched under the command 
 of Masistius the son of Siromitres. 
 
 LXXX. The people who came from the islands of the 
 Erythraean sea a , in which the king makes the persons who 
 are called Anapasti b dwell, were clothed and armed in a 
 manner very similar to the Medes, and led by Mardontes the 
 son of Bagaeus, who was killed two years after, at the battle 
 of Mycale. 
 
 LXXXI, These were the nations that marched on the 
 continent, and composed the infantry ; and those who have 
 been mentioned were the leaders, who divided and numbered 
 all the forces, and appointed the commanders of a thousand, 
 and of ten thousand. But those who had the command of 
 ten thousand, nominated the centurions and the decurions. 
 Thus to each band and nation there were other leaders, but 
 those I have mentioned. were their commanders in chief. 
 
 LXXXII. Over these and the whole infantry the follow- 
 ing generals were appointed, Mardonius the son of Gobryas, 
 Tritantaechmes the son of Artabanus, who gave his opinion 
 against the expedition into Greece ; Smerdomenes the son 
 of Otanes, (both sons to the brothers of Darius, and cousins 
 to Xerxes,) Masistes the son of Darius by Atossa, Gergis the 
 son of Arizus, and Megabyzus the son of Zopyrus c . 
 
 LXXXITT. These were the generals of the whole in- 
 fantry, except the ten thousand ; Hydarnes the sou of Hy- 
 darnes commanded the ten thousand select Persians, who 
 were surnamed Immortal, because if any one, from death or 
 sickness make a deficiency in the number, another is presently 
 substituted in his place; so that they never amount to more 
 
 z See his melancholy end, ix. 118, b Laicher shews from our author, iv. 
 
 119. 204. vi. 119. and v. 98, that no nation 
 
 a These are the inhabitants of the is- was ever transported to these islands, 
 
 lands of the Persian gulf. These is- and therefore that avaaTraaroz ought 
 
 lands, which were very numerous, were not to be referred, in this passage, to a ; 
 
 subject to the Persians. They were si- people torn from their country, but to in- 
 
 tuated off Carmania and Persia. There dividuals exiled by order of the prince, 
 
 were too few in the Erythraean, and those c This is the famous Zopyrus, through 
 
 few too distant from Persia to have ever whose means Babylon was taken, iii. 
 
 been conquered by the kings of Persia. 160. 
 Larcher. 
 
 x '2
 
 156 HERODOTUS. 
 
 or less than ten thousand. The Persians displayed the great- 
 est magnificence of all, and were also the bravest; their ar- 
 mour was such as has been described ; but besides this, they 
 were conspicuous from the quantity of gold d which they 
 wore ; and at the same time they had Harmamaxas for their 
 women with their attendants, who were numerous and richly 
 clothed ; and their provisions were brought upon camels and 
 other beasts of burthen, separate from the other soldiers. 
 
 LXXXIV. All the nations I have mentioned are ac- 
 customed to mount on horseback ; but not. all supplied cavalry, 
 only those which I shall enumerate. First, the Persians, 
 who were no otherwise armed than their foot ; except only 
 that some of them wore on their heads ornaments of brass 
 and wrought iron. 
 
 LXXXV. There is a certain Nomadic people, called Sa- 
 gartii, of Persian extraction and language, but armed and 
 clothed in a manner participating both of the Persian and 
 Pactyan fashion, who furnished eight thousand horsemen to 
 this expedition. They had no weapon either of iron or brass, 
 except a short sword ; they use cords made of twisted leather, 
 on which they place their dependence in action. Their mode 
 of fighting is this : when they approach the enemy, they 
 throw out their cords with a noose at the end, and whatever 
 they catch, whether horse or man, they drag them towards 
 them ; and easily dispatch whatever is so entangled 6 . In 
 this manner they fight; and were drawn up with the Per- 
 sians. 
 
 LXXXVI. The Median and Cissian horse were no other- 
 wise equipped than the foot of those nations. The Indians 
 were also armed like their foot ; besides led horses, they had 
 chariots drawn by horses and wild asses f . The Bactrian and 
 Caspian cavalry was furnished in all points as their infantry. 
 The Lybians 5 were armed and clothed like their foot, and 
 every one of them had a chariot. In like manner the Cas- 
 piri h and Paricanii, carried the same arms with their foot. 
 
 d Larcher quotes the following from adversaries the Secutores, and thus en- 
 
 Quintus Curtius, iii. 3. sect. 13. " Illi tangled put them to death with a kind 
 
 " aureor torques, illi vestem auro dis- of trident, which constituted their offen- 
 
 " tinctam habebant." sive weapon. Beloe. 
 
 e Pausanias (i. 21.) applies to the f This Larcher translates Zebras. See 
 
 Sauromataj what Herodctus here says of his reasons in his long note, 
 
 the Sagartii. Larcher. g The text has certainly been altered ; 
 
 A similar mode of fighting was prac- the Lybians can have no place here. I 
 
 tised by those of the Roman gladiators, am of opinion that we ought to substitute 
 
 who were called Retiarii : beneath their the -gli, whom Herodotus (iii. 92. } 
 
 bucklers they carried a kind of net, places near the Bactriani. Lurcher. 
 
 which, when the opportunity presented h The general reading is Caspians, but 
 
 itself, they threw over the head of their this must evidently be wrong. I have
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. J57 
 
 And the Arabians, not at all differing from their infantry in 
 arms or clothing, were mounted upon camels not inferior to 
 horses in speed. 
 
 LXXXVII. These were the only nations that composed 
 the cavalry ; which amounted to the number of fourscore 
 thousand, besides the camels and the chariots. All the horse 
 were disposed in bands ; but the Arabians were placed in the 
 rear, lest the horses should be affrighted at the sight of the 
 camels, which they cannot bear 1 . 
 
 LXXXVIIL Armamithres and Tithaeus, the sons of Da- 
 tis, were generals of the cavalry. For Pharnuches, who had 
 been appointed their colleague, had been left behind at Sar- 
 dis sick. For as they were setting out from Sardis, he met 
 with a sad accident. As he was riding out, a dog ran be- 
 tween the legs of his horse ; and the animal being frightened 
 from not having perceived it before, reared up and threw 
 Pharnuches ; upon which he vomited blood, and the disease 
 terminated in a consumption. But the servants of Pharnu- 
 ches, as he ordered, immediately punished the horse upon the 
 spot : for leading him to the place where he had thrown his 
 master, they cut off his legs at the knees. And thus Pharnu- 
 ches lost the office of general. 
 
 LXXXIX. After the land forces had been viewed, the 
 ships of war were also numbered, and found to be twelve 
 hundred and seven k ; fitted out by the following nations, in 
 
 followed Schweighaeuser. Major Ren- lus, (Persae. v. 339 et seq.) who was a 
 nell (p. 302.) thinks, that probably the cotemporary, the Persian fleet amounted 
 Casians, or people of Casia, in Ptolemy to 1207 ; but according to Diodorus Si- 
 are meant, who answer to the inhabit- culus (xi. 3.) to 1200. The numbers 
 ants of Kashgur. Larcher is of the same which each nation furnished do not 
 opinion. agree, as may be seen in the following 
 
 ' See i. ch. 80. and note. comparison: 
 
 k According to Herodotus, and ^Eschy- 
 
 According to | According to 
 Herodotus. Diodorus. 
 
 The Phoenician vessels were 300 300 
 
 Egyptian 200 200 
 
 Cyprian 150 150 
 
 Cilician 100 80 
 
 Pamphylian 30 40 
 
 Lycian". 50 40 
 
 Dorian 30 40 
 
 Carian 70 80 
 
 Ionian 100 100 
 
 Islanders 17 50 
 
 JEollan 60. 40 
 
 Hellespontine 100 80 
 
 1207 1200 
 
 Diodorus says also that the Greeks had 320 ships, but in his enumeration he only 
 makes 310. This must be the fault of the copyists. Larcher.
 
 158 HERODOTUS. 
 
 such proportions as I shall set down. The Phoenicians and 
 Syrians who inhabit Palaestine furnished three hundred ships, 
 with men armed in this manner: on their head they wore 
 helmets, nearly resembling those of the Grecians, and they 
 also wore linen breast-plates. They carried javelins, and 
 shields whose rims were not strengthened with metal. These 
 Phoenicians, as they say of themselves, were anciently seated on 
 the Red sea 1 ; from whence they crossed over and settled in 
 the maritime parts of Syria ; which, with all the country ex- 
 tending down to Egypt, go under the name of Palaestine. 
 The Egyptians sent two hundred ships for their part. Their 
 men had woven helmets, convex bucklers with large rims", 
 pikes proper for a sea fight, and large battle-axes. The 
 greater part had breast-plates, and were armed with large 
 swords. 
 
 XC. The Cyprians brought a hundred and fifty ships, and 
 were equipped in this manner : their kings wore mitres on 
 their heads, and the rest were clothed in tunics p , and were in 
 other respects armed like the Greeks. The people of Cy- 
 prus, if we may believe their own report, are composed of 
 divers nations ; some deriving themselves from Salamis and 
 Athens ; and others from Arcadia, from Cythnus, from Phoe- 
 nicia, and some from Ethiopia. 
 
 XCI. The Cilicians furnished a hundred ships. They w r ore 
 a cap made after the manner of their country ; and instead of 
 
 1 The following account of the original into Colchis and Cappadocia, and then 
 settlements of the Phoenicians on the back again iato Palestine ; or than the 
 Red sea, agrees with book i. ch. 1 ; and conjecture of Vitringa on Isaiah xiv. 
 with the sacred writings of Moses and the which makes them come from Cyrenaica 
 Prophets, and Bochart, Vitringa, and Re- and Crete. Wesseling. 
 land, after investigating the origin of the Hesychius explains Kpavta \ri\tVTu, 
 Philistines, came to the same conclusion, by TrXtKrd iKa^oivov, woven of bulrushes. 
 No one can deny that the Palaestini and Valla has badly interpreted it cassides 
 Philistines are the same. Casluhim(out forcipulattr. See Stephen. Thesaur. t. iv. 
 of whom came Philistim) and Captho- p. 515. Wesseling. 
 rim are mentioned in Gen. x. 14. Deut. n "Irvg is the border or rim of a buck- 
 ii. 23. and Amos, ix. 7. The tract of ler. It has been by some confounded 
 country, which they originally inhabited, with the bp(j>a\u, or boss. It was gene- 
 bordered on the sea, and was perhaps rally made of iron, whence Poly bius (vi. 
 insular. See Jerem. xlvii. 4. Such a 21.) calls it mS^ovv aia\wnn, the iron 
 situation there was at the outer part of circumference of the shield. Larcher. 
 the Arabian gulf, which was also most These were probably used to prevent 
 convenient, from whence before the time boarding. 
 
 of Moses they set out, and occupied the P Corn, de Pauw pleasantly asks whe- 
 
 lower part of Egypt, Exod. xiii. 17. ther the Cyprians covered their heads 
 
 Which account, since the Philistines with tunics. He substitutes KITU^IMQ for 
 
 were of Egyptian origin, and formerly KiBiavaQ. Wesseling objects to this, be - 
 
 dwelt near Egypt, and since they them- cause the citaris was used by the Per- 
 
 selves testify, that their ancestors origi- sians. But the Cilicians may have bor- 
 
 nally dwelt on the borders of the Red rowed their head-dress from that people, 
 
 sea, seems more credible than with Bo- Larcher. 
 chart to lead them by an unusual tract
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 159 
 
 shields, had bucklers of a small size, covered with untanned 
 hides. They were clothed in woollen vests ; and every one 
 carried two javelins, with a sword very much resembling the 
 Egyptian. The Cilicians were anciently called Hypachseans, 
 and took the name they now have from Cilix the son of Age- 
 nor, a Phoenician. The Pamphylians, who are descended 
 from those who, in their return from Troy, were dispersed by 
 a tempest with Amphilochus q and Calchas r , furnished thirty 
 ships, and were armed after the manner of the Greeks. 
 
 XCIL The Lycians supplied fifty ships, and were equipped 
 with breast-plates and greaves. They had bows made of the 
 corneil-tree, and arrows of reed, but without feathers, and 
 javelins. Over their shoulders goat-skins were suspended ; 
 and upon their heads they wore caps encircled with a coronet 
 of feathers. They had also falchions and poignards. They 
 derive their original from Crete, and were formerly called 
 Termilae, but received the name of Lycians from Lycus the 
 son of Pandion, an Athenian. 
 
 XCIII. The Dorians of Asia furnished thirty ships ; and 
 as they were Peloponnesians by descent, appeared, in all 
 points, armed like the Greeks. The Carians contributed se- 
 venty ships ; and, except their daggers and falchions, were 
 armed after the manner of Greece. What name they had in 
 ancient time, I have mentioned in the former part 3 of this 
 work. 
 
 XCIV. The lonians brought a hundred sail, and were 
 equipped as the Greeks. Whilst they lived in Peloponnesus, 
 and inhabited those parts which are now called Achaia, before 
 the arrival of Danaus and Xuthus, the Greeks say, they went 
 under the name of Pelasgian ^gialees 1 ; and that they had 
 the name of lonians from Ion the son of Xuthus. 
 
 XCV. The Islanders" contributed seventeen ships, and 
 
 i See note on book iii. ch. 91. ceived still greater honours, and Calchas 
 r Every one is acquainted with the killed himself. Lurcher. 
 name of Calchas, but few perhaps with s See book i. ch. 171. 
 his end. Mopsus, son of Manto and * All Peloponnesus was anciently call- 
 Apollo, held at the death of his mother ed Pelasgia, but because these people in- 
 the oracle of Apollo at Claros, by right habited the shores of the Corinthian gulf, 
 of inheritance. About the same time, they were called AiyiaXtit; . Wesseling. 
 Calchas, who had wandered about after u These Ionian Islanders could not be 
 the taking of Troy, arrived at Colophon. either those of Chios or of Samos. These 
 The two seers disputed a long time, but assembled at the Panionium and formed 
 at last Amphimachus, king of Lycia, ter- part of the twelve cities, which these Is- 
 minated their differences; for Mopsus landers did not. Diodorus Siculus (xi. 
 dissuaded him from going to war, fore- 3.) also joins the inhabitants of Chios 
 telling that he would be defeated ; Cal- and Samos to the lonians, and, like Hero- 
 chas exhorted him to march, asserting dotus, separates the Islanders. But who 
 that he would prove victorious. Am- then were they 1 The same Diodorus in- 
 phirnachus being defeated, Mopsus re- forms us. "The king," says he, " was
 
 160 HERODOTUS. 
 
 were armed like the Greeks, These also being of Pelasgian 
 original, were afterwards called lonians for the same reason, 
 as the twelve Ionian cities which are sprung from Athens. 
 The JEolians, who, as the Grecians say, were anciently called 
 Pelasgians, brought sixty ships, and were armed after the 
 manner of Greece. All the Hellespontines (except the Aby- 
 denians, who were ordered by the king to stay at home for the 
 guard of the bridges) furnished one hundred sail ; and being 
 colonies of the lonians and Dorians, appeared in Grecian 
 arms. 
 
 XCVI. On board every one of these ships the Persians, 
 Medes and Saca3 served as marines. But the Phoenician 
 ships, and of these the Sidonian were the best sailors. All 
 the divisions of this fleet, as well as of the land forces, had 
 their own national officers ; but I shall forbear to mention 
 their names, as it is not necessary to inquire into the matter, 
 because those commanders were not worthy of mention ; and 
 because they were no less numerous than the cities contained 
 within the several nations, from which they came. They did 
 not follow in the quality of generals, but like the other slaves, 
 who marched on the expedition. And I have already men- 
 tioned as many of the generals, as were Persians, who had 
 the chief command and were the leaders of each nation. 
 
 XCVII. The naval forces were commanded in chief by 
 Ariabignes the son of Darius ; by Prexaspes the son of Aspa- 
 thines ; by Megabazus the son of Megabates ; and by Achse- 
 menes the son of Darius. The lonians and Carians were 
 under the conduct of Ariabignes the sou of Darius by the 
 daughter of Gobryas; the Egyptians under that of Achae- 
 menes brother to Xerxes, both on the father's and mother's 
 side ; and all the rest of the fleet was commanded by the two 
 other generals before named. It appeared also that galleys 
 of fifty and thirty oars, cercuri x , and long vessels to transport 
 horses, assembled to the number of three thousand. 
 
 XCVIII. Of those who served in the fleet, the following 
 were the most illustrious, after the generals ; Tetramnestus 
 the son of Anysus of Sidon, Mapen the son of Siromus of 
 Tyre, Merbalus the son of Arbalus of Aridos, Syennesis y the 
 son of Oromedon of Cilicia, Ciberniscus the son of Sica of 
 
 " joined by all the islands between the ed by the Athenians, as we see in Hero- 
 
 " Cyanean and the promontories of dotus, viii. 46 and 48. and in Thucydi- 
 
 " Triopium and Sunium." Thus it ap- des, vii. 57. Valckenaer. 
 
 pears that they were the inhabitants of * The Cercurus was a very long vessel, 
 
 the isles of Ceos, or Cea, as the Latins of which the Cyprians were the inventors. 
 
 say, Naxos, Siphnos, Seriphos, Andros Pliny, Hist. Nat. vii. 56. 
 
 and Tenos, who were Ionian, and found- x See note on book i. 74.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 161 
 
 Lycia, Gorgus the son of Chersis, and Timonax the son of 
 Timagoras, both Cyprians ; and of the Carians, Histiaeus the 
 son of Tymnes, Pygres the son of Seldomus, and Damasithy- 
 mtis the son of Canclaules. 
 
 XCIX. The other captains I pass by without mentioning, 
 because I judge it unnecessary. But above all I admire 
 Artemisia 2 , who, though a female, joined in this expedition 
 against Greece. This woman, as her son was under age at 
 the death of her husband, took upon herself the administra- 
 tion of the kingdom, and, from a bold and manly spirit, joined 
 in the expedition, though not constrained by any necessity. 
 She was the daughter of Lygdamis, and derived her original 
 by the father's side from Halicarnassus, and from Crete by 
 the mother. The Halicarnassians, the Coans, the Nisyrians, 
 and the Calydnians, were under her command; and she joined 
 the fleet of Xerxes with five ships of war, which were the 
 best in the whole fleet, I mean next to the Sidonians. Of all 
 the confederates, she gave the most prudent counsel to the 
 king. The people, which I before mentioned as being under 
 her government, are, in my opinion, of Doric origin ; for the 
 Halicarnassians are a colony of the Troezenians ; and the rest 
 are descended from the Epidaurians. But this is sufficient 
 for the naval armament. 
 
 C. When Xerxes had caused all his forces to be numbered, 
 and drawn into distinct bodies, he desired to pass through and 
 survey them ; and to that end stepping into a chariot, was 
 carried past each nation, and having asked such questions as 
 he thought necessary, commanded his secretaries to put in 
 writing the answers he received ; continuing to proceed in 
 this manner, till he had gone from one extremity to the other, 
 both of the horse and foot. When he had finished this, and 
 the ships had been launched into the sea, he went from his 
 chariot, on board a Sidonian ship, and sat under a gilded 
 canopy : he then sailed past the prows of the ships, and made 
 the like inquiry as before in relation to the land forces, and 
 ordered an account of all the particulars to be written down 
 by the same persons. In order to this review, the commanders 
 had put to sea in due time; and having drawn their ships into 
 one line, at the distance of about four hundred feet from the 
 shore, with their heads fronting that way, they armed their 
 men as for a battle ; and Xerxes sailing between the land and 
 the ships, viewed them. 
 
 7 If we may believe Ptolemy, (He- Her love being only increased by the 
 
 phaest. ap. Phot. p. 492.) a writer who anger of the Gods, she went to Leucas 
 
 lias mixed many fables with some truths, by order of the oracle, and having taken 
 
 Artemisia became enamoured of Uarda- the celebrated lover's leap, she perished, 
 
 nus of Abydos ; but finding herself slight- Lurcher, 
 ed, she put out his eyes while he slept. 
 
 VOL. ' Y
 
 162 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CI. When he had made an end of viewing the fleet, and 
 had landed from his ship, he sent for Demaratus the son of 
 Aristou, who accompanied him in the expedition, and ad- 
 dressed him thus : " Demaratus, I desire to ask you certain 
 " questions ; you are a Greek, aud moreover, born in a city 
 " of Greece, which, as I am informed by you, and other per- 
 " sons of that nation with whom I have conversed, is neither 
 " the least, nor the weakest. Tell me, therefore, whether you 
 " think the Grecians will dare to lift up their hands against 
 " me ? for I am persuaded, that if, not only all the Grecians, 
 " but all the rest of the western world, were collected into 
 " one body, they would not be able to oppose my attack, un- 
 " less they were in perfect union. However, I am desirous 
 " to know your opinion on this subject." " Sir," said Dema- 
 ratus, " shall I frame my answer according to the truth, or 
 " according to what is agreeable*?" The king bid him speak 
 the truth with freedom, assuring him that he would not be at 
 all less agreeable to him on that account. 
 
 CII. Which when Demaratus heard, he began thus: " O 
 " king, since you positively require me to follow the truth, I 
 " will speak those things 5 , which no one speaking as I do, 
 " will be hereafter convicted of falsehood. Poverty has ever 
 " been the foster sister of Greece; virtue has been introduced 
 " as an ally, having been accomplished by wisdom , and by a 
 " steady discipline, with which she has warded off poverty 
 " and tyranny. These praises are justly due to all those Gre- 
 " cians who inhabit the country of the Dorians. But I shall 
 ' not now speak of any other people than of the Lacedaemo- 
 " nians alone. In the first place, they never will hearken to 
 " your terms, because they are destructive to the Grecian 
 " liberty: nay more, they will not fail to meet you in the field, 
 " though all the rest of the Grecians should side with you. 
 " To ask how many they are in number, is unnecessary; for 
 " whether a thousand men, or more, or even less, should have 
 " marched out, they will certainly give you battle." 
 
 CHI. At these w r ords of Demaratus, Xerxes laughing- 
 said, " What have you said? that a thousand men will venture 
 " to engage so great an army ? Come, tell me, do not you say 
 
 a Beloe quotes the following from the (\i^as)fit)i^tvSofifv6sTis v 
 
 Andria of Terence : aXtitrtrat. Quundo-quidem his de rebus 
 
 " Obsequicem amicos veritas odium verba facientem me jubes ad veritatem 
 
 " pant." loqui, ea dicam,qn(f qui diicrit a te post en 
 
 See the remarks of Cicero on this sen- non arguetur mendacii. Valckenaer. 
 timent, in his treatise de Amicitia, 24. c 2o0ia, in our author, as in common 
 
 b This sentence is rather intricate. We among the Greeks, signifies the liberal 
 
 must supply it, as if it had been thus arts, learning, the cultivation of the un- 
 
 expressed; iirtidrj (it TUVTO. \tyovra derstanding, &c. Schweigh.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 1C3 
 
 " that you have been the king of these men ? Will you then 
 " on the spot fight singly against ten men? And yet if all 
 " your fellow-citizens are such as you pretend, you, who are 
 " their king, ought by your own institutions to be matched 
 " against twice that number ; and therefore, if one of these is 
 " able to fight ten of my men, I may justly require you to 
 " fight twenty, and by that experiment your discourse would 
 " be confirmed. But if ye boast so much, when ye are nei- 
 " ther of greater strength, nor of a higher stature, than you, 
 " and the rest of the Grecians I have seen, consider, whether 
 " the words which you have uttered are not an idle boast 11 . 
 " For let us see what is in any way probable : how could a thou- 
 " sand men, or even ten thousand, or, if you will, fifty thou- 
 " sand, all equally free, and not subject to the command of a 
 " single person, possibly resist such an army as mine? and 
 " unless they are more than five thousand, we have more 
 " than a thousand men against one. Were they, indeed, like 
 " our forces, under the absolute command of one general, they 
 " might from their apprehensions of his power, prove superior 
 " to their natural courage ; and might, constrained by the 
 " scourge, attack a far greater number than themselves ; but 
 " now, being under no compulsion, they are not likely to do 
 " either the one or the other. And I am of opinion, that the 
 " Grecians, upon trial, would hardly be a match for an equal 
 " number of Persians. Those qualities of which you boast, 
 " are really in us only, though I must own they are rare and 
 " uncommon. Yet I have Persians in my guards, who will 
 " not refuse to encounter three Greeks at once e ; and you 
 " being ignorant of these men, speak many idle trifles." 
 
 CIV, To this Demaratus replied ; " Sir, I knew from the 
 " beginning, that if I followed the truth, I should not speak 
 " what would be agreeable to you ; but because you con- 
 " strained me to deliver my opinion with sincerity, I told you 
 " the real character f of the Spartans, You know how little 
 " cause I have to retain any affection for those, who, after they 
 " had deprived me of the honours and dignity of my ances- 
 " tors, constrained me to abandon my country. On the other 
 " hand you know how generously your father received me, 
 " and made ample provisions for my support; and therefore 
 
 d Marijv, in this and in a hundred ing allured to Susa by promises, chal- 
 
 other places, does not signify frustra, but lenged three of those whom the Persians 
 
 /a/so. Larcher. call immortal, engaged with them all 
 
 e This vain boast of Xerxes was in the three at once and killed them. Larcher. 
 end punished by Polydamas. Darius, f Td (carjjrovra are the present, actual 
 (Pausan. vi. 5.) the natural son of Ar- affairs. Larcher proposes to translate the 
 taxerxes, who ascended the throne by the passage ; " Je vous ai dit des choses con- 
 favour of the Persians, had heard of his " venable aux Spartiates." 
 extraordinary strength. Polydamas, be- * That prince gave him (Xenoph.
 
 164 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " it is improbable that any man in his right senses should re- 
 " ject such manifest kindness, but regard it with all possible 
 " gratitude. For my own part, I do not undertake to fight 
 " with ten men, nor with two; and [ would not willingly fight 
 " with one. But if there was any necessity or any great 
 " danger to excite me, I would most willingly engage one of 
 " those, who pretend to be singly equal to three Grecians. 
 " In like manner the Lacedaemonians are not worse than 
 " other men in single combat ; but in a collected body they 
 " surpass all mankind. And though they are a free people ; 
 " yet in some things they are willing to be restrained. For 
 " the law is their sovereign ; which they obey with a more 
 " awful reverence, than your subjects pay to you. They do 
 " whatever she enjoins ; and her injunctions are always uni- 
 " form. She forbids them to fly from any enemy, though his 
 " forces are ever so numerous ; and commands them to keep 
 " their ranks, and to conquer or die in the battle. If you 
 " think I entertain you wi'h impertinent discourse, I shall 
 " say no more on this subject: nor indeed should have said 
 " so much, had I not been constrained by the command you 
 " laid upon me. Nevertheless I wish you all the prosperity 
 " you can desire." 
 
 CV. When Demaratus had thus spoken, Xerxes laughed, 
 and, without being at all angry, dismissed him mildly ; and 
 after he had appointed Mascames the son of Megadostes to 
 be governor of this above-mentioned Doriscus' 1 , in the room 
 of another person who had been placed in that government by 
 Darius, he advanced with his army through Thrace towards 
 Greece. 
 
 CVI. To this Mascames, Xerxes used to send a present 
 every year, as being the best of all the governors that either 
 he or Darius had appointed; and his son Artaxerxes continued 
 the same bounty to his posterity. For before this expedition 
 prefects were appointed in Thrace, and along the whole coast 
 of the Hellespont. And of all these, whether in Thrace or on 
 the Hellespont, none were able to preserve the places they 
 held, from falling into the hands of the Grecians, except only 
 Mascames ; who kept himself in possession 1 of Doriscus, not- 
 
 Hellen. iii. 1. $ 4.) the towns of Perga- &c. Schtveigh. 
 
 mus, Teuthramia, and Halisarnia. ' Herodotus alone, among the Gre- 
 
 h Herodotus only adds the pronoun cian historians remaining to us, has had 
 
 ovTog to those names, of which he has the candour to mention this, or to ac- 
 
 before made mention; and therefore, by knowledge that a Persian garrison con- 
 
 the expression, iv r< Aopiox^ rovrtf), he tinued to exist in Europe: but these 
 
 refers the reader to that part of the nar- events, being posterior to the period 
 
 ration, (ch. 59.) from whence he had which he had fixed for the term of his 
 
 digressed, in order to give an account of history, he has noticed them only inci- 
 
 the nations which composed the army, dentally ; so that we are without infor-
 
 POLYMNIA VII. 165 
 
 withstanding the many attempts they made against him : and 
 on this account he annually received a present from the king 
 of Persia. 
 
 CVII. But among all the governors of those cities, which 
 were retaken by the Grecians, Xerxes thought no man had 
 behaved himself with courage, except Boges k , who commanded 
 in Eion. He took every occasion to mention him with praise, 
 and conferred the highest honours upon the children he left 
 in Persia. The truth is, Boges deserved the greatest com- 
 mendation. For when he was besieged by the Athenians, 
 under the conduct of Cimon the son of Miltiades, and might 
 have marched out, with leave to return to Asia upon his 
 honour, he refused to accept any conditions, lest the king 
 should suspect him of cowardice : and persisting constantly in 
 that resolution, after his provisions were quite spent he caused 
 a great pile to be raised; and having killed his wife and chil- 
 dren, with his concubines and servants, threw their bodies into 
 the flames : then mounting the walls of the city, he cast all 
 the silver and gold that was to be found into the river Stry- 
 mon ; and after he had so done, threw himself into the fire. 
 So that he is with justice 1 even to this day commended by the 
 Persians. 
 
 CVI1I, Xerxes set out from Doriscus towards Greece, 
 and compelled all the nations he found in his way to join his 
 army with their forces. For, as I said before, all those 
 countries, even to Thessaly, had been subdued and made tri- 
 butary to him by Megabazus, and afterwards by Mardonius. 
 In his march from Doriscus, he passed by first the Samothra- 
 cian fortresses ; the last and most westwardly of which is 
 called Mesambrie", situated at a small distance from Stryme , 
 a city of the Thasians. Between these two places runs the 
 river Lissus; which could not supply water enough for Xerxes 
 and his army, but failed. This country was anciently known 
 by the name of Galaice, and is now called Briantice ; but of 
 right belongs to the Ciconians p . 
 
 mation of any further particulars con- pears to me to be that of a madman; 
 
 cerning that remarkable defence of Do- all laws, both divine and human, con- 
 
 riscus by Mascames. Mitford, ch. xi. demn it equally. Larcher. 
 
 sect. 3. m See v. 12. 15. and vi. 43, 44, 45. 
 
 k This name is by Pausanias errone- n This is a different place from Me- 
 
 ously written Boes. See viii. 8. Thu- sambria, which was on the Euxine. Its 
 
 cydides (i. 98.) also mentions this ex- modern name is Misevria. Larcher. 
 
 pedition of Cimon, as well as yEschines This place was famous for its com- 
 
 (contra Ctesiph. p. 80.) and several merce. According to Harpocration it 
 
 other authors. This Cimon was the was an island. It appears to have been 
 
 grandson of the one mentioned in vi. under the protection of Maronea. It still 
 
 34. 39. Larcher, preserves its ancient name. Larcher. 
 
 1 I cannot be of the same opinion as P Compare ch. lix. 1. 12. and ch. ex. 
 
 Herodotus. The conduct of Boges ap- 1. 2.
 
 166 HERODOTUS. 
 
 % 
 
 CIX. When Xerxes had passed the dried-up channel of 
 the Lissus, he marched by the Grecian cities of Maronea q , 
 Dicea r , and Abdera 5 ; with the memorable lakes of Ismaris and 
 Bistonis 1 , which lie in their neighbourhood. For the former 
 of these is situate between Maronea and Stryme ; and the 
 latter is contiguous to Dicaea, and receives the waters of the 
 two rivers Travus and Compsatus. Xerxes passed by no re- 
 markable lake about Abdera, but the river Nestus, which 
 runs into the sea : he afterwards continued his march past the 
 midland cities. In one of these, called Pistyrus", is a lake, 
 about thirty stades in circumference ; it is very salt and 
 abounds in fish ; which was drunk up by the draught horses, 
 and other cattle belonging to the baggage of his army. He 
 passed by all these maritime and Grecian cities, leaving them 
 on the left hand. 
 
 CX. The nations of Thrace, through whose country he 
 marched, are these ; the Paeti, the Ciconians, the Bistonians, 
 the Sapasi, the Dersaei, the Edoni, and the Satras. As many 
 of these as are situate near the sea, attended him with their 
 ships ; and those who inhabited the inland parts were all 
 obliged to follow the army by land, except the Satrae. 
 
 CXI. This people, as far as we are informed, were never 
 subject to any one, and among all the Thracians, have singly 
 continued free to this day. For they dwell on lofty moun- 
 tains, covered with woods and snow ; and are peculiarly vali- 
 ant in war; they have an oracle of Bacchus in the highest 
 part of their hills. The Bessi x act as interpreters y in this 
 temple ; and, as in Delphi, a priestess delivers the answers of 
 the oracle, which are not more ambiguous. 
 
 CXII. Having traversed these countries, he passed by 
 
 i Muronea acknowledged Bacchus as the letters of this word may be found in 
 
 its protector, on account of the excellent the other, with the exception of two., 
 
 wines which were produced there. It is Larclier. See his Table Geograph. 
 
 now called Marogna, and is an archiepis- x The Bessi were a people of Thrace 
 
 copal seat. Larcher. to the north west of Pieria, and inha- 
 
 1 This place is now called Mporou, ac- bited the banks of the Nestus, from its 
 
 cording to Meletius, Geograph. p. 419. source to the country of the Satrae. 
 
 8 Abdera has been destroyed, or at They were partly blended with the 
 
 any rate we are ignorant of its modern Satrae, since they interpreted the ora- 
 
 name. It gave birth to Democritus, cles of Bacchus. They occupied the 
 
 Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and the histo- greater part of Mount Ha:mus. (Strabo 
 
 rim Hecataeus, nevertheless Juvenal has vii. p. 490.) They were called Lestze, 
 
 stigmatized it in his 10th Satire, v. 47. (Xijffrai) or robbers. Pliny (iv. 11.) 
 
 as being unable to produce great men. says, that the people in general were 
 
 Larcher. called Bessi, and they contained seve- 
 
 1 This is now called the lake of ral tribes, each of which had its own 
 
 Bouron; the Turks call it the lake of particular name. Larcher. 
 
 Mporou. y Their office was to put in order, 
 
 u I am of opinion that the name of and to declare the oracles which the 
 
 this town has been altered by copyists, priestess pronounced, 
 and that we ought to read Topiris. All
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 167 
 
 certain forts of the Persians, one called Phagres and the other 
 Pergamus ; leaving Pangaeus on the right hand, which is a 
 great and high mountain, abounding in mines of gold and sil- 
 ver, possessed by the Pierians, Odomanti, and especially by 
 the Satra?. 
 
 CXIII. Then passing through the territories of the Paeo- 
 nians, the Doberes, and the Pseoplae, who inhabit to the 
 north, beyond mount Pangasus, he bent his march westward, 
 till he arrived at Eion on the river Strymon; of which city, 
 Boges, whom I have so lately mentioned 2 , was at that time 
 governor. The country that lies about the mountain Pan- 
 gaeus is called Phillis ; on the west side, extending to the 
 river Augites, which falls into the Strymon; and on the south, 
 to the Strymon itself. At their arrival, the Magi offered a 
 sacrifice of white horses a to this river. 
 
 CXIV. After these and many other incantations besides, 
 had been performed with regard to this river, they marched 
 into the Nine Ways belonging to the Edoni, over the bridges' 1 
 prepared for their passage over the Strymon. But being in- 
 formed that this place was called by the name of the Nine 
 Ways, they took nine of the sons and daughters of the inha- 
 bitants, and buried them alive. The custom of burying people 
 alive is prevalent in Persia. And I have heard that Amestris 
 the wife of Xerxes, having attained to a considerable age, 
 caused fourteen children of the best families in Persia to be 
 interred alive, for a sacrifice of thanks to that god who, they 
 say, is beneath the earth. 
 
 CXV. The army having left the river Strymou, passed by 
 a Grecian city called Argilus ; which is situate to the west- 
 ward, on the sea coast, and, with the country that lies above 
 it, goes under the name of Bisaltia. Then leaving the bay, 
 where the temple of Neptune is built, on the left hand, they 
 marched through the plain of Syleus; and passing by Stagirus 
 a Grecian city, arrived at Acanthus ; accompanied by the 
 
 1 Ch. 107. b In the same place Amphipolis was 
 
 a When the Persians arrive at a lake, afterwards built. See Thucyd. iv. 102. 
 
 river or fountain, they dig a trench, Kara rag yi^wpag has been by soma 
 
 and in it kill the victim, taking great badly rendered ad ponies; so also Lar- 
 
 care that the clear water be not stained cher, " ils marcherent vers les ponts." 
 
 with blood, as it would pollute it. They It would have been more correct to 
 
 then place the flesh of the victim on have put per pontes, over the bridges 
 
 branches of myrtle or laurel, and burn which Xerxes had ordered (see ch. 25.) 
 
 it with small sticks, during which they to be thrown over the Strymon. Sch- 
 
 chaunt their Theogony and offer liba- weighttuser. 
 
 tions of oil mixed with honey, which c Plutarch (de Superstit. p. 171.) 
 they do not pour into the fire or water, says 12 men. The examples of Cam- 
 but on the ground. The singing the byses and others, quoted by the Presi- 
 Theogony occupies a long time, during dent Brisson, (de Regno Pers. ii. 218.) 
 which they hold in their hands a bundle prove that this was a common custom 
 of short pieces of briars. Strabo, xv. p. among the Persians. Lurcher. 
 1065.
 
 168 HERODOTUS. 
 
 forces of the Pangaeans, and of all the other nations I have 
 named, which they found in their way ; the inhabitants of the 
 maritime places putting to sea in their ships, and those of the 
 inland parts following the army on foot. From the time of 
 this march, the Thracians have always shewn so great a vene- 
 ration for the way, by which Xerxes led his forces, that they 
 have totally abstained from breaking up or sowing any part of 
 that ground to this day. 
 
 CXVI. When the army was arrived at Acanthus, Xerxes 
 proclaimed an intercourse of hospitality with the inhabitants ; 
 and presented them with suits of apparel made after the fa- 
 shion of the Medes d ; he also commended their readiness to 
 attend him in this war, and expressed great satisfaction when 
 he heard that the canal of mount Athos was finished. 
 
 CXVII. But whilst he continued at Acanthus, Artachaees e , 
 who had been the director of that work, fell sick and died. 
 He was highly esteemed by Xerxes, and derived his blood 
 from Achaemenes : his voice was stronger than that of any 
 other man ; he was in stature the tallest of all the Persians, 
 and wanted only four fingers to complete the full height of 
 five royal cubits 1 . Xerxes much lamenting the loss of this 
 person, caused him to be accompanied to the grave, and in- 
 terred with great pomp. All the army was employed in heap- 
 ing up a mound 8 as a monument to his memory ; and the 
 Acanthians, admonished by an oracle, honour him as a hero 
 with sacrifices and invocations. Thus Xerxes considered the 
 death of Artachaees as a great misfortune. 
 
 CXVIII. The Grecians, who entertained the army and 
 provided a banquet for Xerxes, were reduced to extreme 
 distress, so that they were obliged to abandon their homes. 
 Since when the Thasians received and entertained his army, 
 in the name of their continental cities, Antipater the son of 
 Orges, one of the most distinguished citizens, who was se- 
 lected for the purpose, shewed them that four hundred talents 
 of silver had been expended on the banquet. 
 
 d This dress was the invention of Semi- who fell before Troy. See Odyssey xxiv. 
 
 ramis, daughter of Ninus. (Diodor. Sic. 84. The custom of forming these sepul- 
 
 ii. 6.) It was so graceful that the Medes chral barrows, long lost over the greater 
 
 adopted it after they had conquered Asia, part of Europe, is yet preserved in Spain. 
 
 in which they were followed by the Per- " By the road side," says Townsend, 
 
 sians. Larcher. (Journey through Spain, vol. i. p. 200.) 
 
 e See ch. 21. " are seen wooden 'crosses, to mark the 
 
 f Supposing Herodotus to mean the " spot where some unhappy traveller 
 
 Babylonian measures, this, according to " lost his life. The passengers think it 
 
 D'Anville, would be seven feet eight " a work of piety lo cast a stone upon the 
 
 inches high, French measure. Larclier. "monumental heap. Whatever may 
 
 e Homer gives a corresponding descrip- " have been the origin of this practice, 
 
 lion of the sepulchral barrow raised by "it is general over Spain." Mitford's 
 
 the Grecian army in honour of the heroes Greece, ch. viii. sect. 1. note 4.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 187 
 
 CXIX. In like manner those who presided in the other 
 cities, gave in their accounts. For the supper, as a long pre- 
 vious notice had been given, and great preparations had been 
 made, was of this kind. In the first place, as soon as they 
 heard the heralds proclaiming it all around, the inhabitants of 
 those places distributed all the wheat and barley they had, in 
 convenient portions, among themselves ; and were occupied 
 in grinding it h for many months. They bought and fatted the 
 best of cattle ; furnished their ponds and yards with all man- 
 ner of land and water fowl, and did whatever they could to 
 make provisions for Xerxes and his army. Besides, they 
 provided cups and basons of gold and silver, with all things 
 necessary for the service of a table. But these preparations 
 were made for the king, and for those who were admitted to 
 eat with him : the rest of the army had provisions only. In 
 all places where Xerxes arrived, he found a spacious tent 
 erected for his reception; but the forces had no other covering 
 than the air. At the time of eating, those who furnished the 
 provisions, had the labour of serving their guests ; who, after 
 they had been plentifully treated, and passed the night, car- 
 ried away the tent, with all the furniture and utensils ; leaving 
 nothing behind them at their departure in the morning. 
 
 CXX. On which occasion Megacreon of Abdera aptly 
 said, that he would advise the Abderites to go in a general 
 procession, with their wives and all the people, to the temples 
 of that city ; and to take their seats as suppliants to the Gods, 
 beseeching them to avert one half of the evils to come, as well 
 as to acknowledge their favour in not inclining Xerxes to eat 
 twice every day : for if the Abderites were commanded to 
 provide a dinner for him equal to his supper, they would be 
 necessitated either to abandon their dwellings, or, if they 
 should stay, to be ruined in the most wretched manner. Yet 
 they obeyed the injunctions they had received, though not 
 without difficulty. 
 
 CXXI. Xerxes dispatched his fleet from Acanthus to 
 pursue their voyage, having issued orders to the prefects that 
 the fleet should await his arrival at Therma, situated on the 
 Thermasan gulf, which derives its name from the city, be- 
 cause he had heard that was the shortest way he could take. 
 The order of his march between the cities of Doriscus and 
 Acanthus was thus. He divided the army into three bodies; 
 one of which, commanded by Mardonius and Masistes, marched 
 along the coast, and kept company with the fleet. A second 
 advanced by the way of the inland countries, under the con- 
 duct of Trintataechmes and Gergis : whilst the third body, with 
 
 h "AXti/pa is the flour of wheat, " AX^tro the flour of barley. Larcher. 
 VOL. II. Z
 
 188 HERODOTUS. 
 
 which was the king himself, marched between the other two, 
 with Smerdomenes and Megabyzus at their head. 
 
 CXXII. But the fleet, when it had been dismissed by 
 Xerxes, and had passed through the canal which extends 
 along Athos as far as the bay', where the cities of Assa, Pilo- 
 rus, Singus, and Sarta are situate, after they had obliged those 
 places to join them with their forces, set sail towards the 
 bay of Therma k . Doubling the Torouaean promontory of 
 Ampelos, they passed by the following Greek cities, from 
 which they took ships and men, viz. Torone, Galepsus, Ser- 
 myle, Mecyberna, and Olynthus, all belonging to the country 
 which is now called Sithonia. 
 
 CXXIII. From the cape of Ampelus, crossing over to the 
 promontory of Canastrum, which advances farther into the 
 sea than any other upon all the coast of Pallene, they had an 
 additional force of ships and men, out of the cities of Potidaea, 
 Aphytis, Neapolis, JEga, Therambus, Scione, Meude, and 
 Sane 1 , cities of Pallene; which was anciently known by the 
 name of Phlegra. Continuing their voyage along that coast, 
 they assembled more auxiliary forces, out of the cities of Li- 
 paxus, Combrea, Lisas, Gigonus, Campsa, Smila, and JEnea; 
 which are situate in the neighbourhood of Pallene, and near 
 the bay of Therma. The country, in which these cities are 
 situate, is even to the present time known by the name of 
 Crossaea m . From ^Enea, the last of the places I mentioned, 
 the fleet stood for the gulf of Therma, and the Mygdonian 
 coast; till, according to their instructions, they arrived at 
 Therma, and at the cities of Sindus and Chalestra, both situate 
 on the river Axius, which divides the territories of Mygdonia 
 from those of Bottiaeis ; where the cities of Ichnai and Pella 
 stand in a narrow region near the sea. 
 
 CXXTV. The fleet took their stations either near the 
 river Axius, or the city of Therma, or else in the places that 
 lie between both ; and there waited the arrival of the king. 
 In the mean time Xerxes and the land army departed from 
 Acanthus in his way to Therma ; and advancing by the mid- 
 land countries, marched through the territories of the Paeo- 
 nians and Crestonasans towards the river Echidorus ; which 
 
 *The verb i\tiv in book i. eh. 180. 11. ' This was a very different town from 
 
 and other passages in our author, has the that which was mentioned in ch. 22. 
 
 same force as dirigi, tendere versus all- Wesseling. 
 
 quod eitremum. And so also its com- m Thucydides (ii. 79.) calls this coun- 
 
 pound 5is^iv (although used elsewhere try Crusis, (Kpoueri.) Dionysis. of Hali- 
 
 in a very different signification) might carnassus, and Stephens of Byzantium, 
 
 very conveniently signify percenire, per- agree with Thucydides, and on their au- 
 
 tingere, pertinere mque ad Mud ipsum ex- thority Larcher here reads Crusaea. See 
 
 tremum, quo lendebatur. Schu-eigk. his Table Geographique. 
 
 k This bay was called Singiticus Sinus.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 189 
 
 beginning among the Crestonaeans, passes through Mygdonia, 
 and discharges itself near a marsh, which is above the river 
 Axius. 
 
 CXXV. In this march the camels that carried provisions 
 for the army were assaulted by lions; which coming down in 
 the night from their haunts, fell upon those animals only ; 
 leaving all the other cattle, and the men, untouched. And I 
 wonder what could be the reason, which induced the lions to 
 abstain from all the rest, and attack the camels alone, an ani- 
 mal which they had never before seen or tasted. 
 
 CXXV1. But lions are very numerous in those parts ; and 
 wild bulls with large horns frequently brought into Greece. 
 Nevertheless these lions never pass beyond the river Nestus 
 which runs through Abdera on one side, nor beyond the Ache- 
 lous, which flows through Acarnania on the other. And no 
 man ever saw a lion in Europe, eastward of the river Nestus, 
 nor in any part of the continent that lies to the westward of 
 the Achelous ; but they breed between these two rivers. 
 
 CXXVII. Being arrived at Therma, Xerxes disposed his 
 army into a camp, extended along the maritime parts, from 
 the city of Therma, and from Mygdonia, to the rivers Lydias 
 and Haliacmon ; which joining their streams together, pass 
 between the territories of Bottia3is and Macedonia. Here 
 the Barbarians encamped, after they had exhausted the wa- 
 ters of the Echidorus, which was the only river they found in 
 this march that afforded not a sufficient quantity for the use of 
 the army. 
 
 CXXV1II. From Therma Xerxes had a prospect of the 
 Thessalian mountains, Olympus and Ossa, remarkable for 
 their height and bigness ; and being informed that the river 
 
 n " Herodotus," says Bellanger, in a wonderful as it did to Herodotus, unless 
 note on this passage, " was no great na- we say that it is an instinct given them 
 turalist. The Arabians, and all those by the Author of nature. Lurcher. 
 who inhabit the countries, where there This passage, as far as relates to 
 are lions and camels, very well know Geography, is one of the most difficult 
 how fond the lion is of the flesh of the in Herodotus. The Lydias and the 
 camel." See ^Elian. Hist. Anim. xvii. Haliacmon, according to Ptolemy and 
 36. Herodotus certainly was not very the abridger of Strabo, have different 
 wellversedinnaturalhistory.butif he had mouths. Until we have more accurate 
 been, it might still have appeared sur- knowledge of these countries, it will be 
 prising to him, that lions, which had never impossible to decide one way or the other, 
 before seen camels or tasted their flesh, Larcher supposes that the copyists sub- 
 should attack them in preference to other stituted the Haliacmon which they had 
 beasts of burden. That in Arabia lions heard of for the Astraeus which is not so 
 should prefer a camel to a horse seems considerable, but whose course agrees 
 natural enough ; they know by expe- with the one here ascribed to the Haliac- 
 rience the flesh of these two animals, and mon. See his Table Geographique, and 
 that of the former is doubtless more to also the conjectures of the Abbe Bellan- 
 thcir taste : but how could they have ger in his Essais Critique, pag. 376. et 
 obtained this knowledge in Macedonia ? seq. 
 I confess this would appear to me as
 
 190 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Peneus runs into the sea through a narrow passage between 
 those hills, and that there was a road leading to the plains of 
 Thessaly, he much desired to embark and see the mouth of 
 that river ; because he designed to march with his army by 
 the upper country through Macedonia, and by the city of 
 Gonnus, into the country of the Perrhrebi ; which he under- 
 stood to be the safest way. Accordingly, leaving his forces 
 in their camp, he went on board a Sidonian ship, which he 
 always used upon such occasions, and made a signal for all 
 the rest of the fleet to follow. When he arrived at the mouth 
 of the river Peneus, he viewed the place, and being sur- 
 prised with the situation, asked his guides, if any means could 
 be contrived to divert the course of the stream, and to carry 
 it by another channel into the sea. 
 
 CXXIX. Thessaly p is reported to have been anciently a 
 lake, since it is encompassed by vast mountains on all sides. 
 For Pelion and Ossa joining together at the foot of each, shut 
 up that part which faces the east : on the north side stands 
 mount Olympus, Pindus on the west, and Othrys closes that 
 side which lies to the southward. The hollow space in the 
 midst of these mountains is Thessaly. Since then several 
 other rivers, and these five principal ones, viz. the Peneus, 
 the Apidanus, the Onochonus, the Enipeus, and the Pamisus, 
 flow into this country, from the mountains that encompass it ; 
 they, all joining their streams together, discharge themselves 
 into the sea through one narrow channel, and from the place 
 of their conjunction, the name of the Peneus prevails, and ren- 
 ders the others nameless. They also say, that, before this 
 channel was laid open, neither these rivers, nor the lake Bce- 
 beis, were known by the names they now bear, though the 
 waters then fell down from the mountains in the same quan- 
 tity as at this day, but that they made all Thessaly one entire 
 lake. The Thessalians tell us, that the channel, by which 
 the river Peneus passes into the sea, is the work of Neptune, 
 and their story is not improbable. For those who think that 
 god to be the author of earthquakes, and such divulsious of 
 countries to be the effect of his power, will not fail, upon 
 sight, to attribute this to Neptune. And in my opinion, 
 the separation of these mountains was effected by an earth- 
 quake 11 . 
 
 CXXX. But the guides of Xerxes, in answer to his ques- 
 
 P Rennell remarks, that this descrip- i Strabo (ix. p. 658.) and the Scho- 
 
 tion of Thessaly, as well as of the straits liast on Pindar (Pyth. iv. ver. 246.) 
 
 of Thermopylae, proves how well Hero- agree with our Author in attributing the 
 
 dotus had considered the scenes of parr separation of the mountains to an earth- 
 
 ticular actions. quake.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 191 
 
 tion, whether the river Peneus might be conveyed into the sea 
 by another channel, being well acquainted with the place, 
 said, " O king, this river has no other way to discharge its 
 " waters, except this alone ; because all Thessaly is sur- 
 " rounded with hills." At this Xerxes is reported to have 
 said: " The Thessalians are prudent men, and therefore they 
 " long ago took precautions, and acknowledged their infe- 
 " riority, both on other accounts, and because they possessed 
 " a country which might be easily subdued in a short time. 
 " For nothing more is required to effect this, than to force 
 " the river from its channel by a mound, and to turn it from 
 " its present course ; which would certainly lay all Thessaly 
 " within the mountains under water." Xerxes expressed 
 himself in this manner, in reference to the Aleuadae 1 "; who 
 being Thessalians, had put themselves under his protection, 
 before any other people of Greece ; and he supposed that 
 they proffered their alliance in the name of the whole people. 
 Having thus spoken, and satisfied his curiosity, he sailed back 
 to Therma. 
 
 CXXXI. He spent several days about Pieria, while one 
 third part of his forces was employed in clearing a way for all 
 his army to pass over a mountain of Macedonia into the terri- 
 tories of the Perrhaebi. In the mean time the heralds, who 
 who had been sent 3 to Greece to demand earth and water, 
 returned to Xerxes ; some with earth and water, and others 
 without. 
 
 CXXXII. The nations that sent, in compliance with his 
 demands, were, the Thessalians, the Dolopians, the ^nienes, 
 the Perrhaebi, the Locri, the Magnates, the Melians, the 
 Achaeans, the Pthiotae, and the Thebans, with all the rest of 
 the Boeotians, except the Thespians and the Plataeans. 
 Against these all the Greeks, who resolved to defend them- 
 selves against the Barbarians by war, took a solemn oath 1 , 
 " that so soon as the affairs of Greece should be restored to a 
 " good condition, they would compel every Grecian commu- 
 " nity, which should be convicted of having put themselves 
 " into the hands of the Persians without manifest necessity, to 
 " pay the tenth part" of all their possessions to the God at 
 " Delphi." Such was the form of the oath. 
 
 CXXXIII. Xerxes sent no heralds either to Athens or 
 
 r See chap. vi. In like manner we say in English, 
 
 See chap, xxxii. strike a bargain. Beloe. 
 
 1 The Greek is irafiov opKtov, seen- " M. Terrasson supposed that every 
 
 ervntjufjnrandiim. This expression ori- tenth person was to be given up to the 
 
 ginated from their never making any God; and the same is hinted at by Creu- 
 
 treaty or agreement, without sacrificing zer in his Fragments of Ancient Greek 
 
 victims. So also the Latins said./erire Histor. p. 178. See the remarks of 
 
 faedvs. Larcher* Larcher and Schweighaeuser.
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Sparta to demand earth and water ; because, when Darius had 
 formerly sent ambassadors for the same purpose, the Athe- 
 nians threw the heralds into the barathrum", and the Lace- 
 daemonians into a well, bidding- them carry earth and water to 
 the king- from those places. For that reason no heralds were 
 dispatched to either of these nations. What disaster*' fell 
 upon the Athenians, in consequence of this treatment of those 
 messengers, I cannot affirm ; except that their city and all 
 their territories were devastated; but not, as I believe, on 
 that account. 
 
 CXXXIV. On the Lacedaemonians, however, the anger 
 of Talthybius, who had been herald to Agamemnon descended. 
 He has a temple in Sparta; and his posterity 2 , who go by the 
 name of Talthybiadas/have the privilege of performing all 
 embassies. After the bad reception they gave to the heralds 
 of Darius, the Lacedaemonians could not sacrifice for a long 
 time ; and being much disturbed at this, and considering it a 
 great calamity, they met together often, and by public procla- 
 mation made inquiry, " if any Lacedaemonian would die for 
 " Sparta." Upon which notification, Sperthies* the son of 
 Aneristus, and Bulis the son of Nicolaus, both Spartans of 
 distinguished birth, and possessed of the greatest riches in 
 the place, voluntarily offered their lives, to make satisfac- 
 tion to Xerxes the son of Darius for the heralds who were 
 put to death at Sparta. And accordingly the Lacedaemonians 
 sent these persons to the Medes, as to certain death. 
 
 CXXXV. But as their courage deserved admiration, so 
 their words were no less memorable. For when, in their way 
 to Susa, they came to Hydarnes, a Persian by birth, and go- 
 vernor of the maritime parts of Asia, he offered them hospita- 
 lity, and entertained them, and while they were feasting asked 
 them this question ; '" Men of Lacedaemon, why have you 
 " such an aversion for the king's friendship J You may see by 
 " example, and the dignities I possess, how well the king 
 " knows in what way to honour a brave man. So also, if you 
 " would surrender yourselves to the king, since he entertains 
 
 x See note on book vi. ch. 136. it is of little importance. Suidas, by an 
 
 y The anger of Talthybius (Pausan. unpardonable negligence, changes these 
 
 iii. 12.) fell on the republic of Lacedae- two Lacedaemonians into two Athenians. 
 
 mon generally, but at Athens on one par- They sung in honour of these two gene- 
 
 ticular family, on that of Miltiades, son rous men a melancholy dirge called 
 
 of Cimon, because he advised the Athe- Sperchis, though I doubt not but that 
 
 nians to put to death the heralds who Bulis was also celebrated in it, as Aris- 
 
 came into Attica. Larcher. togiton was in that of Harmodius. See 
 
 1 Compare book vi. ch. 60. Theocrit. Idyll, xv. ver. 96 98. and 
 
 a There is great variation with regard consult the remarks of Valckenaer on 
 
 to the name of this Spartan. It is writ- the Syracus, of Theocritus. Larcher. 
 
 ten Spertis, Sperchis, and Sperches, but
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 193 
 
 " a high opinion of you, each of you would obtain from him 
 " the government of some part of Greece." They answered, 
 " Hydarnes, the advice you give us is not fair; you advice 
 " us to the one, which you have tried, but you are ignorant 
 " of the other. To be a servant, you know perfectly well ; 
 " but you have never tasted whether liberty be sweet or 
 " not. If you had ever tasted it, you would counsel us to de- 
 " fend it, not with lances, but with hatchetsV This answer 
 they made Hydarnes. 
 
 CXXXVI. AVhen they arrived at Susa, and appeared be- 
 fore the king, in the first place, when the guards commanded, 
 and endeavoured to constrain them by force to prostrate them- 
 selves , and to adore him, they said, they would by no means 
 do so, although they were thrown on -their heads ; that they 
 had never been accustomed to adore a man, and came not 
 thither to that end. They thus defended themselves from 
 this, and then they spoke d to Xerxes in these and simi- 
 lar words ; " King of the Medes, we are sent by the Lacedae- 
 " monians, to make you satisfaction for the death of those 
 " heralds who were killed in Sparta;" Xerxes generously an- 
 swered, " that he would not be like the Lacedaemonians, who 
 " had violated the rights of mankind by the murder of his 
 " heralds; nor do the same thing which he blamed in them : 
 " and by the death of two men acquit the Spartans from the 
 " guilt they had contracted." 
 
 CXXXVII. However, after the Lacedemonians had 
 offered this satisfaction, the anger of Talthybius ceased for 
 that time, though Sperthies and Bulis returned safe to Sparta. 
 But after many years, and during the war between the Pelo- 
 ponnesians and the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians say, that 
 the wrath of Talthybius broke out again, in a manner which 
 to me appears one of the most wonderful things I ain ac- 
 quainted with 6 . For that the anger of Talthybius descended 
 on those who were sent, and did not cease until accomplished, 
 
 b That is exert ourselves to the utmost live Xeyovat is repeated with the particle 
 
 in defence of liberty ; fighting with the ct, as is usual with our Author : so in ch. 
 
 spear being at a greater distance, and 141. line 7. 10. Therefore in order that 
 
 less furious than fighting in close combat this connexion might be more apparent, 
 
 with the battle-axe, the wounds inflicted so large a stop ought not to be put after 
 
 by which would be more severe. Tiffovrag in line 10. nor Xsyowi be be- 
 
 c This will naturally call to mind the gun with a large A. Sckweigh. 
 conduct of Lord Amherst in his Embassy e 'Ev roiai Geiorarov has the same 
 
 to China. force as tv rolffi Otiorarov (i. e. Oiwra- 
 
 d Asyotxn might appear to be in the rwc) ysvo/iivotf. See Matthias's Greek 
 
 third person plural, were not afyi added, Grammar, sect. 289. Larcher follows 
 
 which shews that it is the dative of the the alterations of Valckenaer and De 
 
 participle, governed by the verb l$r\, Pauw, and translates this, " Je ne trouve 
 
 which follows in Hue 12. where, because en cet evenement rien de divin. See his 
 
 the sentence is interrupted by the ad- note, 
 dress of the ambassadors, the same da-
 
 194 HERODOTUS. 
 
 is just and natural ; but that it should fall on the sons of those 
 very men, who went up to the king on account of that wrath, 
 makes it evident to me that it was the work of the divinity. 
 For Nicolaus the son of Bulis, and Aneristus the son of Sper- 
 thies, (who, with a manned merchant vessel 1 , had captured 
 some Tirynthian fishermen,) being sent on a message to Asia 
 by the Lacedaemonians, were betrayed in their passage by Si- 
 talces 8 the son of Teres, king of Thrace, and Nymphodorus 
 the son of Pytheus of Abdera, were taken near Bisanthe in 
 the Hellespont, and carried to Attica, and put to death by the 
 Athenians, with Aristeas' 1 the son of Adimantus, a Corin- 
 thian. But these things happened many years after the ex- 
 pedition of Xerxes '. 
 
 CXXXVIII. To return now to my former narration : this 
 war was coloured over with the pretence of attacking Athens, 
 but was really directed against all Greece. Yet the Greeks, 
 who had long heard of the preparations made by Xerxes, were 
 not all affected in the same manner. For those who had pre- 
 sented him with earth and water, felt confident that they 
 should not suffer any kind of damage from the Barba- 
 rians ; but those who had refused to pay that acknowledg- 
 ment, were under terrible apprehensions, because all Greece 
 was not able to furnish a sufficient number of ships to fight 
 the enemy; and many inclining to favour the Medes k , were not 
 willing to engage in the war. 
 
 CXXXIX. And here I feel necessitated to declare my 
 opinion 1 , although it may excite the envy of most men, yet, in 
 the way, it appears true, I will not check myself. If the Athe- 
 nians, terrified with the impending danger, had abandoned their 
 country ; or continuing at home, had surrendered to Xerxes, 
 no other people would have ventured to resist him by sea. If 
 
 f Larcher approves of the conjecture cond year of the eighty-sixth Olympiad ; 
 
 of De Pauw, who reads, be eiXt aXitae see Thucyd. i. 62. The unjust conduct 
 
 rot> tK Ti'(wv0oe 6Xcai icara7r\aerai/rae of his father Adimantus towards Themis- 
 
 .3f\r)f)ti 'AvSpiw. tocles, and his flight from Salamis, (viii. 
 
 Thucydides gives a full account of this 59.61.94.) contributed very much to 
 circumstance; see book ii. ch. 67. He his death. Larcher. 
 says, that the Lacedaemonians in general ' In the third year of the eighty- 
 had put to death the Athenian merchants seventh Olympiad ; see Thucyd. ii. 67. 
 and th ir allies, whom they found in the and therefore fifty-two years after the 
 ships of burden sailing about the Pelo- expedition of Xerxes. Wesseliug. 
 ponnese. * This is in a great measure confirmed 
 
 % Thucydides relates the connexion of by Thucydides iii. 56. ETrdvioi/ f)v T>V 
 
 the Athenians with Sitalces ; see book ii. 'EXXffvwv nva aptT^v ry SE^OV Svvd- 
 
 ch. 29. Sadocus the son of Sitalces was fiei dvriTa^affOcu ; see also Plato de 
 
 made an Athenian citizen by the interest Leg. iii. 
 
 of Nymphodorus, who was the brother- ' This testimony in favour of Athens 
 
 in-law of Sitalces. appears upon the whole not less true 
 
 h Aristeas commanded the Corinthians than honourable. Mitford's Greece, ch. 
 
 in the engagement before Potidaca, and viii. sect. 2. 
 defeated the Athenian wing in the se-
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 195 
 
 then no one had opposed him in that way, the following things 
 must at any rate have occurred on land. For though the 
 Peloponnesians had fortified the isthmus with many walls m , yet 
 the Lacedaemonians, after they had seen their allies dispos- 
 sessed of their cities by the enemy's fleet, and constrained by 
 necessity to abandon the confederacy, would inevitably have 
 been left alone to sustain the weight of the war: and had they 
 been thus left alone, they would have displayed noble deeds 
 and died nobly. They would either thus have suffered or 
 would before this have made terms with Xerxes, when they 
 saw all the other Greeks also supporting the Medes. And 
 thus in both cases Greece must have been reduced under the 
 Persian power ; for I cannot yet learn, of what advantage the 
 wall upon the isthmus would have proved, if the king had 
 been master of the sea. To say, therefore, that the Athe- 
 nians were the deliverers of Greece, is no deviation from the 
 truth. They could have cast the balance which side soever 
 they had taken. But having chosen that Greece should sur- 
 vive with freedom, these were the people who awakened all 
 those Greeks who had not joined with the Medes ; and I 
 should say next to the Gods, repulsed the king. They would 
 not be persuaded to abandon Greece, by the terrible menaces 
 of the Delphian oracle ; but they stood firm and determined 
 to sustain all the efforts of the invader. 
 
 CXL. For the Athenians had sent deputies- to Delphi in 
 order to consult the God, and when these deputies had per- 
 formed the usual ceremonies, they sat down in the sanctuary, 
 and received this answer from the Pythian, whose name was 
 Aristonica. 
 
 Fly to the farthest regions of the earth, 
 
 Unhappy men ! why sit ye here so long ; 
 
 Fly from th' encircled city's lofty tow'rs, 
 
 For neither head nor feet shall firm remain, 
 
 But total ruin shall destroy the whole. 
 
 A fiery Mars a Syrian car shall drive 
 
 And many towers, not thine alone, consign 
 
 To fire's devouring jaws ; the Gods now stand 
 
 Trembling with terror for their lofty shrines : 
 
 Great drops of sweat and blood flow from their heads 
 
 And give sad presage of impending ills. 
 
 Depart ; and be prepared to bear your fate n . 
 
 ra Literally, many tunics of walls. " sides in what way they might meet the 
 
 Hence the expression, To rtixog I/JICLTIOV " impending ills." Since, however, eiri- 
 
 iroXfwQ. Eustath. ad Homer, p. 379. KI'C>J/J;/U properly signifies inspergo, it has 
 
 n Ka/eoi 8' iTruciSvart Qvpov. Valla put me in mind of the healing powder 
 has translated this, mails effundite men- which is scattered into wounds ; and I 
 tern ; but this seems more obscure than conceive that the oracle advices them to 
 the Greek. Larcher renders it, Armes apply their courage to the ills, spargile 
 vous de courage centre tant de maux. unhid robur super mala; or as Larcher 
 Henry Stephens' Thesaur. t. iii. p. 814. has interpreted it, his mulis cyponiU ant- 
 says, " Perhaps the Pythian by these mi robur, Schweigh. 
 " words advises them to examine on all 
 
 VOL. II. A a
 
 196 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CXLI. The deputies of the Athenians, when they heard this 
 answer, were very much afflicted ; and as they were giving 
 themselves up as lost on account of the predicted misfortune, 
 Timon the son of Androbulus, a man of principal authority in 
 Delphi, counselled them to return and consult the oracle 
 again in the humblest manner, with olive-branches in their 
 hands. The Athenians were easily persuaded to follow his 
 advice ; and returning accordingly, addressed the God in 
 these words : " O king, vouchsafe to give us a more favour- 
 " able answer concerning our country, and shew some regard 
 " to these branches which we hold in our hands ; otherwise 
 " we will never depart from thy sanctuary, but will remain 
 " here till we die." After which prayer the priestess gave 
 a second answer in these terms. 
 
 Pallas in vain has us'd her utmost art 
 To pacify the wrath of angry Jove ; 
 So that my present answer must again 
 Of almost Adamantine firmness P be. 
 Yet for Minerva's sake the God will give 
 A safe protection- under walls of wood 
 To all that lies contain'd within the bounds 
 Of Cecrops, or Cithaeron's sacred hills. 
 These, these alone impregnable shall prove. 
 But never stay to fight the dreadful troops 
 Of horse and foot, advancing thro' the plains. 
 If e'er you see them, save yourselves by flight ; 
 Some future day resistance will be safe". 
 Thou, god-like Salamis, shall see the sons 
 Of many women perish on thy isle ; 
 Be Ceresi scatter'd or be gather'd in. 
 
 CXLII. The Athenians, rightly judging this answer to be 
 more moderate than the former, wrote down the words, and 
 departed for Athens : where, when they were arrived, and had 
 acquainted the people with all that had passed, many differ- 
 ent opinions arose about the meaning of the oracle ; but these 
 two were most opposed to one another. Some of the old men 
 thought the God had declared, that the Acropolis should re- 
 main safe, because that fortress had been formerly encom- 
 passed with a palisade ; they therefore conjectured that this 
 was meant by the wooden wall. Others, on the other hand 
 said, that the God alluded to their ships, and therefore ad' 
 vised, that, omitting all other designs, they would apply them- 
 
 This oracle was the production of book viii. 61. The oracles were those 
 
 Themistccles ; " This great roan," says concerning Salamis, &c. Lurcher. 
 
 Plutarch, (in Themist. p. 116.) "despair- P 'ASapavTi TriXdaaag, adamanti ap- 
 
 " ing of persuading the people by human propinquare faciens hoc verbum, i. e. ada- 
 
 " reasons, had recourse to a machine, as manti simile reddens, adamantis in modum 
 
 " in Tragedies, and made use of oracles illud firmans. Schweigh. 
 
 " and prodigies." These prodigies were i That is in sowing time or harvest, 
 the disappearing of the serpent, &c. see
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 197 
 
 selves to prepare a fleet : nevertheless this opinion seemed to 
 be overthrown by the last verses pronounced by the Pythian : 
 
 Thou, god-like Salarais, shall see the sons 
 Of many women perish on thy isle ; 
 Be Ceres scatter'd or be gather'd in. 
 
 These lines, I say, confounded the sentiment of those, who 
 said that ships could only be meant by walls of wood : and 
 the interpreters of oracles declared themselves of opinion, 
 that their fleet should be defeated upon the coast of Salamis, 
 if they prepared for a naval engagement. 
 
 CXLIII. There was a certain Athenian who had lately 
 raised himself to the first rank, whose name was Themistocles, 
 but he was commonly called the son of Neocles ; this man 
 maintained, that the interpreters had not rightly understood 
 the sense of the oracle ; because if the prediction had con- 
 tained such a meaning, the God would certainly not have 
 used so mild an 'expression, and in his answer would have in- 
 serted the unhappy Salamis, instead of the god-like Salamis, 
 had the inhabitants of that place been destined to perish on 
 its shores; and therefore that all those, who would judge 
 rightly, ought to conclude, that the oracle was not intended 
 against the Athenians, but against their enemies. For this 
 reason he advised them to prepare for a naval engagement, 
 as their ships were really the walls of wood. When Themis- 
 tocles thus declared his opinion, the Athenians considered it 
 preferable to that of the interpreters, who dissuaded them 
 from making any preparations for the sea, and in short ex- 
 horted them not to resist the enemy at all, but to abandon 
 Attica, and settle in another country. 
 
 CXLIV. Before this advice, Themistocles had delivered 
 another opinion, which, very opportunely for the present con- 
 juncture, had prevailed. For when the Athenians, finding 
 their treasury enriched by the profits they received from the 
 mines of Laurium, had resolved to make a dividend of ten 
 drachmas to every citizen not under age ; they were diverted 
 from that division by Themistocles, who persuaded them to 
 lay out the money in building two hundred ships, to be em- 
 ployed, he said, in the war with the ^Egineta3 r . One may 
 justly say, that war saved Greece, by necessitating the Athe- 
 nians to apply themselves to maritime affairs. And though 
 the ships I mentioned were not applied to the purpose for 
 which they were built, yet they were ready most opportunely 
 for Greece. These therefore were already built, and it was 
 
 r Themistocles seems to have used the the sea, and the return of the Persians, 
 war with the jEginetas as a pretext, but with a more formidable armament than 
 also to have had an eye to the empire of they had at Marathon. Larcher. 
 
 A a 2
 
 198 HERODOTUS. 
 
 only necessary to construct a farther reinforcement. Which 
 having well considered, the Athenians by common consent, 
 and in obedience to the oracle, resolved, that all who were 
 able to bear arms should go on board their ships ; and with 
 such of the Greeks as would join them, wait the approach of 
 the enemy. Such were the oracles delivered to the Athe- 
 nians. 
 
 CXLV. When those Greeks, who had the safety of 
 Greece at heart, met together 3 ; they entered into mutual en- 
 gagements of fidelity to one another, and agreed, before all 
 other things, to reconcile all former enmities and differences. 
 For divers wars were then actually on foot*, though none so 
 considerable as that of the Athenians against the ^Eginetae. 
 After this consultation, being informed of the king's arrival at 
 Sardis with his army, they determined to send spies into 
 Asia, in order to discover the true state of his affairs ; and to 
 dispatch others to Argos, to engage the Argives in an alliance 
 against the Persians. They also resolved to send an em- 
 bassy to Gelon the son of Dinomenes, the Sicilian, because 
 they had heard, that his power was great, and his forces much 
 superior" to any of the Grecians. With the same intention 
 they agreed to send messengers to the Corcyramns and Cre- 
 tans, in order that, as far as might be, the whole body of the 
 Grecians might be united, and unanimously concur in resist- 
 ing the dangers which threatened all alike. 
 
 CXLVI. Having taken these resolutions, and laid aside 
 their mutual animosities, they first sent three spies into Asia, 
 who arriving at Sardis, and endeavouring to get intelligence 
 of the king's forces, were discovered, and after they had been 
 examined by torture by the generals of the army, were led out 
 to execution. But when Xerxes heard of this proceeding, he 
 disapproved of the opinion of his generals, and immediately 
 sent some of his guards, with orders to bring them to him, if 
 they should find them yet alive. The guards obeyed ; and 
 finding the men yet living, brought them into the king's pre- 
 sence, who when he had enquired of them the cause of their 
 coming, commanded his guards to lead them round", and to 
 
 At the isthmus. See ch. 172. 29. Schweighauser. 
 
 1 'Eyefxpq/iEi/ot. Schweighaeuser, in x A similar conduct was pursued by 
 
 his Lexicon, derives this from iyx ft i>^' Canis Fabricius, with regard to the spies 
 
 aQcu which is used concerning that which of Pyrrhus. Beloe. 
 is attempted, taken in hand, 6iC. the ie- Injustice to Xerxes it ought not to be 
 
 gular perfect part. pass, of which would forgotten that he stands first on record 
 
 be i-YKfxtipTjpivoQ, which by syncope for this treatment, generous at least, if 
 
 would form iyicexpry/ievoc. See his Lexi- we refuse to call it magnanimous, of 
 
 con. enemies, whose lives were forfeited by 
 
 u On the Greek phrase which is very the law of nations of all ages. Mitford's 
 
 similar to oiiSfig OOTIQ ov, and the Latin. Greece, ch. viii. 2. 
 nemo non ; see Hermajm's notes on Viger.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 199 
 
 shew them all his forces, both of horse and foot, and after- 
 wards, when they had seen enough, to let them go unhurt, to 
 whatever country they should choose. 
 
 CXLVII. When he issued these orders he added this 
 reason, that if the spies were put to death, the Greeks would 
 neither be informed that his preparations were yet greater 
 than fame had published, nor suffer any considerable damage 
 by the loss of three men : whereas, if they were allowed to 
 return to Greece, he doubted not that the Greeks, hearing of 
 his numerous forces, would surrender their liberty to his 
 mercy, before the expedition should take place, and by that 
 means save them trouble in marching against them. Thfs 
 opinion of Xerxes was not unlike this other one. When he 
 was at Abydos he saw certain ships laden with corn coming 
 from the Euxine sea y , and sailing through the Hellespont, to 
 ^Egina and to Peloponnesus. And when those about him 
 were informed that the vessels belonged to the enemy, and 
 fixed their eyes upon the king, in expectation to" receive his 
 orders for seizing them, Xerxes asked to what part they were 
 bound ; and understanding they had corn on board for his 
 enemies, he said, " Are not we also going to the same place 
 " where these men are bound? And are we not obliged 
 " among other things to carry corn with us ? What hurt then 
 " can they do us by carrying corn thither for us ?" Accord- 
 ingly, when the spies had seen all the king's forces, and had 
 been dismissed, they returned to Europe. 
 
 CXLVIII. But the Greeks, who had engaged in a con- 
 federacy against the Persian, next sent an embassy to Argos. 
 But the Argives affirm, that what concerned them occurred 
 in the following manner ; that having received early notice of 
 the Barbarians' design against Greece, and having learnt that 
 the Greeks would endeavour to obtain their assistance against 
 the Persian, since they had lately lost six thousand men, who 
 were killed by the Lacedaemonians under the conduct of 
 Cleomenes z the son of Anaxandrides, they sent to enquire of 
 the oracle of Delphi what measures would prove most to 
 their advantage ; and that the answer they had from the 
 Pythian was in these terms ; 
 
 By neighbours hated, by the Gods belov'd, 
 Be on your guard*, and be prepar'd to strike ; 
 Defend the head ; for that shall save the rest. 
 
 > All the Greeks, and more particu- sition for their elegance, than those of 
 
 larly the Athenians, carried on a consi- London and Paris at the present day, 
 
 derable commerce with the coasts of the In exchange for these, they carried home 
 
 Euxine, and principally with the Cher- corn, wax, honey, wool, &c. and this 
 
 sonesus Taurica, (the Crimea). They commerce greatly enriched the Atheni- 
 
 carried thither the wines of Cos, Thasus, ans. Larcher. 
 
 &c. the earthenware and merchandizes * See book vi. 79, 80, and 83. 
 
 of Athens, which-were not less in requi- a lituw rbv vnofioXaiov i\wv Trt^u-
 
 200 HERODOTUS. 
 
 That after they had received this answer, the ambassadors, 
 arriving at Argos, were introduced into the senate; and when 
 they had delivered their message, the Argives answered, that 
 they were ready to comply on their part, and to that end 
 would be willing to make a truce with the Lacedaemonians 
 for thirty years, provided they might have an equal share 
 with them in the command, though they might justly b pretend 
 to the whole. 
 
 CXLIX. This, they say, was the answer of their senate, 
 notwithstanding the Pythian had forbidden them to enter into 
 any confederacy with the Grecians ; and that they took care 
 to insist upon a truce of thirty years, although fearing the 
 consequences of the oracle, that their children might become 
 men before the expiration of that time ; but if a truce was 
 not made, they were afraid c lest, if in addition to their present 
 calamity, they might chance to meet with another blow in the 
 Persian war, they might in future become subject to the La- 
 cedaemonians. To these propositions of the senate the Spar- 
 tans answered, that the question about a truce should be re- 
 ferred to the people ; but as to the leading of the forces, 
 they were instructed to put them in mind, that they had two 
 kings, whereas the Argives had only one d ; and that they 
 could not consent to deprive either of their kings e of his 
 power : yet that there was nothing to hinder the Argive king 
 from having an equal vote with their two. Upon which the 
 Argives said, they could no longer bear the arrogance of the 
 Spartans f , but would rather choose to be subject to the Bar- 
 barians, than to yield at all to them ; and that they ordered 
 the ambassadors to depart out of the territories of Argos be- 
 
 Xay/tevoc iytro. Coray, in my opinion, verb tm\iyea$ai, (which properly signi- 
 has very rightly affirmed, that 7rpo/36- fies secvm reputare, perpendere ,) Coray 
 Xaioc is nothing else than 7rpo/3o\o, a has well shewn that it frequently in- 
 hunting spear, or javelin ; and therefore volves the notion of fear, and has nearly 
 I supposed that TOV 7Tpo/36Xaiov tla<it the same force as ^>oj3tiffQai. See vii. 47, 
 t\ii.v signified hastam intus premere, non 11. 49,21. 236,17. Schweighteitser. 
 eiserere, quietum sese tenere. The same d I do not think that any other pas- 
 learned person however (from compari- sage in history can be found, which says 
 son of a passage in Xenophon, Cyneget.x. that the Argives had at this period any 
 12. and 16.) has concluded that that king. Larcher. 
 
 posture of a huntsman or soldier is al- e Herodotus (v. 75.) says that a law 
 
 Inded to, in which he is prepared either had been passed, forbidding both their 
 
 to strike or ward off a blow. Schireigh. kings to be present with the army at the 
 
 b On account of the pre-emineace of same time. This is at variance with the 
 
 the Argives, in the time of Agamemnon, present passage. Larcher. 
 over all the other people of Greece, they ( This was doubtless the true reason 
 
 deemed it just that the chief command which induced the Argives to present 
 
 over ail the united forces of Greece neutrality, or even to favour the Per- 
 
 should be conferred on them. Schtceigh. sians, because they considered it a less 
 
 c The infinitive tiriXkytaSai, as the evil to be subject to the Barbarians than 
 
 preceding ones, viroicpivaaOai and airov- to the Lacedsemonians. They had also 
 
 6ffv i\uv, legitimately depend on the been ill treated on every opportunity, 
 
 former word \eyovai. Concerning the and especially by Cleomenes. Valck.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 201 
 
 fore the setting of the sun, under the penalty of being treated 
 as enemies. 
 
 CL. Such is the Arrive account of this affair : but another 
 report is prevalent, throughout Greece. For they say, that 
 before Xerxes began to advance with his army against 
 Greece, he sent a herald to Argos with a message conceived 
 in these terms: " Men of Argos, we are well informed, that 
 " Perses g , our progenitor, was son to Perseus the son of 
 " Danae, by Andromeda the daughter of Cepheus. And 
 " therefore, as we must thus derive our original from you, 
 " we ought not to lead an army against the country of our 
 " fathers, nor should you appear in arms against us to assist 
 " other men ; but rather, choosing to enjoy the benefit of 
 " peace, continue quiet in your own habitations. Which if 
 " you do, and I succeed according to my expectation, no 
 " people shall have a greater part in my esteem than you." 
 It is reported, that the Argives, when they heard this, con- 
 sidered it a great thing, and at first made no promise of their 
 own accord h , or demanded any thing from the Greeks. But 
 when the Greeks wished to take them into the confederacy, 
 they demanded an equal share of the supreme command, 
 although they knew the Lacedemonians would never give 
 them any share, that they might have a pretext for remaining 
 quiet. 
 
 CLT. Certain Greeks also relate a story, which agrees with 
 this conduct, and which occurred many years after 1 . When 
 Callias the son of Hipponicus, with other ambassadors of the 
 Athenians, happened to be at the Meninonian Susa on certain 
 business, the Argives at the same time sent an embassy like- 
 wise to the same place, to inquire of Artaxerxes the son of 
 Xerxes, whether he would observe the alliance they had with 
 his father, or whether he accounted them his enemies. Ar- 
 taxerxes answered, that he understood their ancient alliance 
 to be still in force, and that he considered no city more friendly 
 than Argos. 
 
 CLII. But I cannot affirm with certainty, either that 
 Xerxes sent such a message to Argos, or that the ambassadors 
 
 s See ch. 61. ' Artaxerxes (Diodor. Sic. xii.4.) hav- 
 
 h OuSiv ETrayyfXXo/iEvouf fisTaiTitiv ing learnt his great losses in Cyprus, de- - 
 
 has the same force as ovSiv iirayytX- termined to make peace with the Greeks. 
 
 \io5ai Kal ovSiv [itTairitiv. As the Ar- Artabazus and Megabyzus sent ambas- 
 
 gives had made no promises or offers sadors on this subject to Athens. The 
 
 concerning alliance, (for they had not conditions appeared reasonable to the 
 
 attended to deliberate with the rest,) so Athenians, and they on their part sent 
 
 they made no demand, required no terms, ambassadors to Artaxerxes, with full 
 
 &c. In the verb TrapaXaupdvtiv the powers. Callias, son of Hipponicus, was 
 
 action is put for the desire and attempt ; at the head of this embassy. It was in 
 
 adsumere for conari adsumere, invitare ad the fourth year of the eighty-second O- 
 
 contrahendam societatem. Schweigh. lympiad, or B. C. 449. Lurcher.
 
 202 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of the Argives went to Susa to continue their alliance with 
 Artaxerxes ; nor do I declare any other opinion on the sub- 
 ject than what the Argives themselves say. Only this I know, 
 that if all men were to bring together their faults into one 
 place k , in order to make an exchange with their neighbours, 
 they would no sooner have more closely inspected those of 
 others, than they would be most willing to return home with 
 their own. And in this view, the conduct of the Argives was 
 not the most base. However, I am obliged to relate what is 
 said, though I am not obliged to believe every thing without 
 distinction ; which I desire may be considered in all the course 
 of this history. For the Argives are likewise charged with 
 having invited the Persian into Greece, thinking any change 
 more tolerable, than the miserable condition, to which they 
 had been reduced by their ill success in the war against the 
 Lacedaemonians. This is sufficient concerning the Argives. 
 
 CLIII. Other ambassadors of the associated Greeks went 
 to Sicily, to confer with Gelon, and more particularly Syagrus 
 on the part of the Lacedaemonians. An ancestor of this Gelon, 
 a citizen of Gela 1 , originally came from the island Telus, which 
 lies over against Triopium, and when Gela was founded by the 
 Lindians from Rhodes under the conduct of Antiphemus, he 
 accompanied them. In the course of time his posterity be- 
 came priests of the infernal Deities 1 ", which dignity they en- 
 joyed without interruption, it having been first acquired by 
 Telines, one of their forefathers, in the following manner. For 
 when some of the inhabitants of Gela were overcome in a 
 sedition, and had retired to the city of Mactorius above Gela, 
 Telines conducted them back again, without any human assist- 
 ance, and having nothing but the things sacred to those gods ; 
 though, where he had these sacred things, or where he obtained 
 them, I cannot say. However, in confidence of this authority, 
 he brought them home to Gela, on condition, that the priest- 
 hood of the infernal Gods should continue in his descendants. 
 I am the more astonished that so great a thing should be ef- 
 fected by Telines, because I conceive that such actions are 
 not in the reach of every man, but proceed from a brave spirit 
 and superior strength. Whereas, on the contrary, the inha- 
 bitants of Sicily say, he was effeminate and rather indolent. 
 By these means he attained to this dignity. 
 
 CLIV. Upon the death of Oleander, the son of Pantares, 
 
 k " Solon aiebat, si in unum locum Spectator. 
 
 " cuncti mala sua contulissent, futuram, ' Gela was built 45 years after the foun- 
 
 " ut propria deportare domum, quam ex dation of Syracuse, which was built in 
 
 " communi miseriarum acervo portionem the 3rd year of the fifth Olympiad, or 
 
 " suam ferre mallent." Val. Max. vii. 2. B. C. 758. 
 
 Compare also Nos. 557 and 558. of the m Ceres and Proserpine.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 209 
 
 who was killed by Sabyllus of Gela, after he had reigned 
 seven years, his brother Hippocrates took upon him the go- 
 \ eminent of Gela : during whose reign this Gelon, who was 
 descended from Telines the priest, together with many others, 
 and especially ^Enesidemus the son of Pataicus, was one of 
 the guards of Hippocrates, and soon after made general of the 
 horse on account of his valour. For in all the wars made by 
 Hippocrates against the Callipolitae, the Naxians, the Zaii- 
 clseans, the Leontines, and the Syracusans, besides divers 
 Barbarian nations, Gelon signalized himself by the glory of 
 his actions ; and was so successful, that none of those people, 
 except the Syracusans, escaped being enslaved by Hippo- 
 crates. But the Corinthians and Corcyraeans saved the Syra- 
 cusans, after they had been defeated upon the river Elorus ; 
 yet with this condition, that they should give up Camarina" to 
 Hippocrates, which they had always possessed to that time. 
 
 CLV. When Hippocrates had reigned as many years as his 
 brother Oleander, he died before HyblaP, while carrying on 
 the war against the Sicels. Upon which Gelon, under colour 
 of defending the rights of Euclides and Oleander, the sons of 
 Hippocrates, against their subjects, who would no longer 
 obey, defeated the Geloans, and having excluded the young 
 men, possessed himself of the tyranny. After this success, 
 undertaking to restore some Syracusans, who were called 
 Gamori' 1 , and had been expelled by the populace, and by their 
 own servants, called Cyllyrii 1 , he conducted them from Cas- 
 mene to Syracuse, where the populace, upon his arrival, put 
 him into possession of the city and themselves. 
 
 CLVI. When he saw himself master of Syracuse 3 , he 
 
 8 Camarina (Thucyd. vi. 5.) was then Galeotis, and more frequently Megara, 
 
 destroyed, but the Syracusans gave the from which the bay, on the south of 
 
 territory belonging to that town to Hip- which the town stood, took the name of 
 
 pocrates, tyrant of Gela, who took a co- Megarensis Sinus. It was before the se- 
 
 lony thither and re-established it. Lar- cond that Hippocrates fell. Larcher, 
 
 cher* Table Geographique. 
 
 The Sycacusans, in fact, founded it 1 The Gamori or Geomori are properly 
 
 about 135 years after the foundation of those who, being sent with the colony, 
 
 Syracuse, or 11. C. 623. Thucyd. vi. 5. divided the land amongst themselves. 
 
 P There were in Sicily three cities of The nobles of Syracuse bore this title 
 
 this name, the great, the middle, and the because they were descended from those 
 
 little. The first lay under the south side of Greeks who accompanied Archias of 
 
 Mount Etna, not far to the westofCatana Corinth, andfoundedSyracuse. Lurcher. 
 
 and N. E. of Murgentium. It has long r Larcher calls them Cillicyrii. They 
 
 ceased to exist. The second was also obtained this name, because they assem- 
 
 called Heraea, and was on the southern bled in great numbers to attack their 
 
 coast of Sicily, on the road from Agri- masters (roTf Kt>p('ot.) Zenobius Adag, 
 
 gentum to Syracuse, E. of Gela, and VV. Centur. iv. 54. 
 
 of Acne. Cluvier puts there the modern s This important acquisition of domi- 
 
 Ragusa. The little Hybla was on the nion thus extraordinarily made, it be- 
 
 eastern coast of Sicily, a little to the came the object of Gelon to mould into 
 
 north of Syracuse. It is also named one the many little states which ackaow- 
 
 VOL. II. B b
 
 204 HERODOTUS. 
 
 deemed of less consequence the government of Gela, but en- 
 trusted it to his brother Hiero ; he however strengthened Sy- 
 racuse, which was now every thing to him. By this means 
 that city immediately shot up and flourished 1 . For in the first 
 place he destroyed Camarina, and transferring the inhabitants 
 to Syracuse, gave them the privilege of citizens, as he did 
 likewise to more, than one half of the Geloans. He besieged 
 the Megareans, who had settled in Sicily, and having obliged 
 them to surrender their city, he contented himself to remove 
 the most wealthy of the inhabitants to Syracuse, and conferred 
 the same privileges on them also, though they expected no- 
 thing less than death, because they had been the authors of 
 the war against him. But he dealt otherwise with the Mega- 
 rean Plebeians ; and, albeit they had no part in promoting the 
 war against him, nor expected to suffer any detriment, he sold 
 them in Syracuse, with express condition, that they should be 
 transported out of Sicily. He treated the Eubosans of that 
 island in the same manner, and made the same distinction 
 among the inhabitants out of an opinion, that a populace is 
 a most unpleasant neighbour. And by these means Gelon 
 became a powerful tyrant, 
 
 CLVII. When therefore the ambassadors of the Grecians 
 arrived at Syracuse, and had obtained an audience of Gelon, 
 they delivered their message in these terms : " The Lacedae- 
 " monians and their allies have sent us hither, to invite you 
 " to enter into their confederacy against the Barbarian king. 
 " For doubtless you have heard that a Persian intends to come 
 " to invade Greece, that he has laid a bridge over the Hel- 
 " lespont, and brings with him all the eastern nations of Asia, 
 " under colour indeed of making war against the Athenians, 
 " but really designing to subdue all Greece. You therefore, 
 " who have attained to so great power, and possess not the 
 " least part of Greece, since you rule Sicily, assist those, who 
 " would preserve Greece from servitude, and concur with 
 " them in maintaining the common liberty. For if all Greece 
 " assembles, a large force is collected, and we become suffi- 
 " cient to resist the invader. But if some of us should be- 
 " tray the public cause, and others refuse to give their assist- 
 " ance, the sound and honest part of Greece must of neces- 
 " sity be reduced to so small a number, that the whole would 
 " be in danger of utter ruin. For you must not expect that 
 " the Persian, if he should subdue us in war, will not proceed 
 " against you, but take every precaution. By assisting us, 
 
 Jedged his authority. The circumstances Greece, ch. x. 1. 
 
 of every Grecian government required ' Compare Homer Iliad, xviii. v. 56. 
 
 that the capital should be strong, and all 'O ' aviSpaptv tprti i<rof. 
 
 the dependant towns weak. Mitford's
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 206 
 
 " you render yourself secure. For enterprizes founded upon 
 " prudent counsels are generally attended with success." The 
 ambassadors thus spoke. 
 
 CLVIII. Gelon answered with vehemence ; " Men of 
 " Greece, with an overbearing proposal", you have dared to 
 " invite me to come to your assistance against the Barba- 
 " rian. And yet you yourselves, when I formerly implored 
 " your succour against the Barbarian army of the Cartha- 
 " ginians, and exhorted you to avenge the death of Dorieus* 
 the son of Anaxandrides upon the ^gestaeans, you refused 
 both ; and would neither help me in my necessity, nor re- 
 venge the death of Dorieus, though at the same time I 
 offered you my assistance to restore the liberty of those 
 ports, to which you trade with great advantage. So that as 
 far as you are concerned, all this country is now in the 
 power of Barbarians. But because my affairs have suc- 
 ceeded better, and the war is at last brought home to your 
 own country, you now at length remember Gelon. Neverthe- 
 less, though you treated me with contempt, I shall not imitate 
 your example. On the contrary, I am ready to supply you 
 with two hundred galleys, twenty thousand Hoplites, two 
 thousand horse, two thousand bowmen, two thousand 
 slingers, and two thousand light-horse. I will likewise un- 
 dertake to furnish the whole Grecian army with corn y , du- 
 ring all the time of the war. But I engage to perform 
 these things, on this condition, that I may be general of the 
 Greeks : neither will I come myself, nor send any others 
 to Greece, except only on that condition." 
 CLIX. Syagrus, when he heard this proposal, could not 
 contain himself, but said, " Agamemnon, the descendant of 
 " Pelops, would certainly utter a deep groan, if he heard 2 that 
 " the Spartans had been deprived of the supreme command 
 " by a Gelon a and by Syracusans, Forbear to mention this 
 " proposition again ; and if you are willing to succour Greece, 
 " you must march under the conduct of the Lacedaemonians, 
 " or, if you disdain to obey their orders, you need not assist 
 " us." 
 
 CLX. Gelon finding Syagrus averse to his design, made 
 this last proposal ; " Spartan, said he, injurious language, 
 
 u n\ov*rjc Xoyoe. Peculiarly at- z This is an imitation of Homer's 
 
 tentive to your own interests, you de- Iliad, vii. ver. 125. 
 
 mand of others those favours which you 'H KI fisy' olfjiw^tu yspoiv 'nrirqXdra 
 
 will not condescend to bestow on them, IIijAvc. 
 
 when they request it. Schweigh. a Larcher remarks that we must no- 
 
 x See book v. ch. 45, 46. tice the absence of the article in the ex- 
 
 J Sicily was afterwards called the pression, virb FeXwi'oe rt KOI 2 
 
 granary of Rome. oiuv.
 
 206 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " when uttered against any one, is wont to raise indignation. 
 " Yet, though you have used contumelious words b towards 
 " me, you have not induced me to violate decency in return. 
 " Nevertheless, since you so passionately affect the supreme 
 " command, I cannot forbear to tell you, that I might with 
 " more justice pretend to that honour, because I have a far 
 " greater number than you/both of ships and land forces. 
 " However, seeing you are so averse to the proposition I 
 " made; I shall abate something of my first pretensions. If 
 " then you choose to command the army by land, I will have 
 " the conduct of the fleet ; or if you had rather command at 
 " sea, I will be general of the land forces. One of these con- 
 " ditions you must be contented to accept, or resolve to return 
 " home without obtaining any assistance from me." 
 
 CLXI. When Gelon had proposed these terms c , the ambas- 
 sador of the Athenians, preventing the Lacedaemonian, re- 
 plied in these words : " King of Syracuse, the Grecians have 
 " sent us to you, not to desire a general, but an army. On 
 " the other hand you tell us, you will send none of your forces 
 " unless you may be general of Greece ; which you seem to 
 " affect extremely. As long as you demanded the command 
 " of all the forces of Greece, we were contented to remain 
 " silent, as we knew that the answer of the Spartan would in 
 '' that particular be sufficient for us both. But because, since 
 " your exclusion from the whole command, you have thought 
 " fit to require the command at sea, we must inform you, that 
 " though the Lacedemonians should be willing to comply 
 " with your demand, the Athenians will never consent to give 
 " you such a power. For the honour of that command be- 
 " longs to us, unless the Lacedaemonians themselves will take 
 " it. If they have that intention, we shall not oppose their 
 " design, but we will never yield the pre-eminence to any 
 " other. In vain should we possess the greatest naval forces 
 " of all the Greeks, if we should suffer ourselves to be com- 
 " manded by the Syracusans ; we, who are Athenians, the 
 " most ancient people of Greece, and the only nation of those 
 " parts which has never changed its country d ; we, I say, who 
 " are of a city, which, according to the testimony of Homer 
 " the epic poet, sent to the seige of Troy the most expe- 
 
 b The proposal of the Spartan was not offered'to another, to demand for one's self 
 
 unjust. It was natural that the mother certain privileges and rewards. Schw. 
 
 city should preserve some authority over d See book i. ch. 56. Mtravaorijc 
 
 its colony; and Corinth, the founder of is an Homeric word, (Iliad, ix. 644. and 
 
 Syracuse, was itself subject to the Lace- xvi. 59.) and ought not to be referred to 
 
 daemonian general. Larcher. 'iarrjfii and <rrao> as its theme, as is done 
 
 c TIpoTeivtffQai, in the middle voice, by some, but to be derived from vdw, 
 
 properly signifies in return for services valu, habito. Schiceighteuser.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 207 
 
 " rienced man' of all others in the art of disposing and draw- 
 " ing up an army to the best advantage. After such a testi- 
 " mony, we need not blush at speaking so honourably of our 
 " country." 
 
 CLXII. To this speech Gelon answered : " Athenian 
 " stranger, you seem to abound as much in men who would 
 " command, as destitute of those who should obey; and since 
 " you resolve to retain the whole power in your hands without 
 " relaxing any thing, you cannot possibly depart too quickly 1 
 " out of my territories, and carry this news to Greece, that 
 " the spring is taken from its year ;" intimating by these 
 words, that his army was the most considerable of the Grecian 
 forces, as the spring is the most excellent of the seasons : and 
 he* compared Greece, deprived of his assistance, to a year 
 which should have no spring, 
 
 CLXIII. With this answer the ambassadors returned 
 home from Sicily, In the mean time, Gelon, apprehending 
 that the Grecians would not be able to resist the Barbarian, 
 and yet determining not to go to Peloponnesus, because he 
 must there have obeyed the Spartans, which he accounted an 
 intolerable condition to be imposed upon a Sicilian tyrant, 
 took another resolution. For he was no sooner informed that 
 the Persian had passed the Hellespont, than he dispatched 
 Cadmus the son of Scythes 8 , a Coan, to Delphi, with a friendly 
 message, and three fifty-oared ships laden with great riches ; 
 enjoining him to wait the event of a battle ; and if the Barba- 
 rian should conquer, to make him a present of that treasure, 
 with earth and water for all the places in his possession ; but 
 if the Greeks should be victorious, to bring back the money 
 to Sicily. 
 
 CLXIV. This Cadmus had formerly received from his 
 father the sovereignty of Cos; and though his power was 
 firmly established, and his affairs in a prosperous condition, 
 from his love for justice, he freely surrendered the govern- 
 ment into the hands of the Coans, and retired into Sicily ; 
 where he lived with the Samians in the city of Zancle, after- 
 wards known by the name of Messana' 1 . Gelon, who was not 
 
 e Mnetheus is alluded to ; see Homer's Scythes, king of Zancle. Perizoniu 
 
 Iliad, ii. 554: Wesseling. (Ad ^Elian. Var. Hist. viii. 17.) thinks 
 
 f QVK civ QQavoiri by Itself would sig- that he was the father of Cadmus. I am 
 
 nify, non poteris nimis cito, nimis celeriter more inclined to think with Valckenaer, 
 
 hocfacere: i.e. ocyus et quam ocyssime that he was the uncle of the father of 
 
 hoc fac. See Hermann. Adnot. Viger. Cadmus. In fact, if Cadmus had not 
 
 204. But since rijv ra^iffrrjv is here been of the same family, it seems strange 
 
 added, it implies etiamsi quam citissime that he should have lived at Zancle, of 
 
 hinc abire properaretis, tamen non nimis which Scythes had been the sovereign, 
 
 cito abieritis. Schiveighguser. Lurcher. 
 
 s We met in book vi. ch. 24. with a u It is by no means agreed at wh?
 
 208 HERODOTUS. 
 
 unacquainted with these things, nor ignorant of many other 
 proofs of his integrity, sent him to Delphi on this occasion : 
 and in addition to his former upright acts, he left this which 
 is not the least monument of his justice. Though master of 
 considerable riches which Gelon had entrusted to his care, 
 and though it was in his power to appropriate' them, yet he 
 would not : but so soon as the Greeks had obtained the vic- 
 tory by sea, and Xerxes was retiring with his forces, he also 
 returned to Sicily with the whole of the money. 
 
 CLXV. But the Sicilians, varying from some particulars 
 of this relation, say, that Gelon, notwithstanding that he must 
 be governed by the Lacedemonians, would have assisted the 
 Greeks in that conjuncture, if at the same time Terillus the 
 son of Crinippus, who was tyrant of Hymera, and dispossessed 
 of his government by Theron k son to JEnesidemus and king of 
 the Agrigentines, had not brought in an army of three hundred 
 thousand men, consisting of Phoenicians, Lybians, Iberians, 
 Ligyans, Elisycians, Sardinians, and Cyrnians, under the con- 
 duct of Amilcar the son of Hanno, king of Carthage 1 . To 
 this expedition Terillus persuaded the Carthaginians, partly 
 by the hospitality which existed between them, but princi- 
 pally by means of Anaxilaus the son of Critines, tyrant of 
 Rhegium, who having given his children for hostages into the 
 hands of Amilcar, induced him to enter Sicily" 1 , in order to re- 
 venge the injury done to his father-in-law. For Anaxilaus 
 had married Cydippe the daughter of Terillus. And Gelon 
 being incapable of succouring the Greeks sent money to 
 Delphi. 
 
 CLXVI. They add, that Gelon andTheron defeated Amil- 
 
 time this happened. Herodotus and than one instance, and who has enume- 
 Thucydides place it between the fourth rated in book iv. ch. 168. and seq. the 
 year of the seventy-first Olympiad, and different nations of Lybia, has not given 
 the first of the seventy-sixth. Pausanias us any information concerning this na- 
 places it in the twenty-ninth Olympiad. tion, nor any description of its empire, 
 See Larcher's long note on this subject. its power and commerce. But this sur- 
 ' Kari\iiv signifies to keep a thing for prise will cease, if we consider that he 
 another ; KaraaxtffQai, to keep a thing for cculd not speak of the Carthaginians in 
 one's self. See Kuster on Middle Verbs, a suitable manner without deviating 
 Larcher. from his plan, and without making his 
 k The second and third of the Olym- readers lose sight of the subject of which 
 pic odes of Pindar are addressed to this he proposed to treat. Besides, the 
 prince. Greeks had too little relation to the Car- 
 1 This title was frequently given to thaginians, to take any interest in such a 
 the generals and the suffetes (or chief digression, since the Sicilians alone at 
 magistrates) of the Carthaginians. There that period had any connexion with that 
 are instances in Polyaenus, (Stratagem i. people. Larcher. 
 27.) and in Corn. Nepos. (in Hannib. m Diodorus Sic. (xi. 1.) relates that 
 vii. 4.) Xerxes had made a treaty with the Car- 
 Several people have expressed their thaginians, and that in consequence of 
 surprise, that Herodotus, who has made this treaty, they carried war into Sicily, 
 mention of the Carthaginians in more Larcher.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 209 
 
 car the Carthaginian in Sicily, on the same day" in which the 
 Greeks obtained the victory at Salamis against the Persian. 
 I am also informed, that Amilcar, who was a Carthaginian by 
 his father, and of Syracuse by his mother, and chosen king of 
 Carthage for his virtue, was never seen either living or dead, 
 after the battle in which his army was defeated, though Gelon 
 sought him in all places with the utmost care and diligence. 
 
 CLXVII. The following story is also related by the Car- 
 thaginians with great probability, that whilst the Barbarians 
 were engaged with the Grecians of Sicily in that battle, which 
 began early in the morning, and lasted to the twilight of the 
 evening, Amilcar continuing in the camp, sacrificed entire 
 victims upon a large pile ; and when he saw his army flying, as 
 he happened to be pouring out libations on the victims, he 
 threw himself into the flames, and thus, being burnt to ashes, 
 disappeared. But whether he disappeared in the manner re- 
 lated by the Phoenicians, or as the fact is reported by the Car- 
 thaginians, they not only honour him with sacrifices, but have 
 erected monuments to his memory in all the cities they have 
 founded ; though the most memorable are in Carthage. 
 These things I have thought fit to say concerning Sicily p . 
 
 CLXVIII. The Corcyrasans in this conjuncture acted in a 
 manner very different from the professions they made. For 
 the same ambassadors who went to Sicily, invited these also to 
 assist them in such terms as they also used to Gelon in Sicily ; 
 the Corcyrseans immediately promised to send succours, adding 
 at the same time, " that they ought by no means to behold with 
 " indifference the ruin of Greece, for if it should be over- 
 " thrown, nothing else would remain to them, but to submit 
 " to a yoke of slavery on the very next day ; and that there- 
 " fore they ought to exert their utmost in her defence," Such 
 a specious answer did they make ; but when they ought to 
 have given succour, they, with different intentions, manned 
 
 n Aristotle (Poetic. 23.) agrees with According to Polyaenus, (Stratag. i. 
 
 our author. Diodorus Sic. (xi. 24.) re- 27. sect. 2.) Gelon destroyed him by 
 
 lates that this battle took place on the stratagem while sacrificing. See that 
 
 same day as the battle of Thermopylje, author. 
 
 which differs a few months from our au- P Among the deficiencies of Sicilian 
 
 thor. For a more accurate account of ' history, nothing is so much to be re- 
 
 the battle, &c. see Diodorus, book xi. gretted as the scantiness of information 
 
 ch. 24. about the form of government established 
 
 The concurring testimony of ancient by Gelon, and the civil occurrences of 
 
 writers to these glorious events, which his r ign. It is not the number of pri- 
 
 appear to have at once terminated the soners he made, nor the buildings he 
 
 war, little as we are assured of any par- erected, that excite curiosity, so much 
 
 ticulars, is confirmed by the irrefragable as the general prosperity of the country 
 
 evidence of the growing greatness and under his administration, and the lasting 
 
 lasting splendour of Syracuse and Agri- popularity of his character. Mitford's 
 
 gentum. Mitford's Greece, ch. x. 1. Greece, ch. x. 1.
 
 210 HERODOTUS. 
 
 sixty ships, and after great delays they sailed to the coast of 
 Peloponnesus, where they anchored about Pylus and Taena- 
 rus, which belong to the Lacedaemonians. In that station they 
 waited to see the event of the war, not imagining- that the 
 Greeks were in any possibility of prevailing ; but that the 
 Persian would obtain a decided superiority, and become master 
 of all Greece. They therefore acted thus by a premeditated 
 scheme, that they might say afterwards to the king, " Sir, 
 " when the Greeks solicited us to take part in the war, we, 
 " who have a considerable force, and should have supplied 
 " not the least number of ships, but the greatest number, 
 " next to the Athenians, would not be persuaded to oppose 
 " you, nor to give you the least cause of displeasure." By 
 which protestation they hoped to obtain more favour than 
 the rest; and, if Xerxes had conquered, I am of opinion, 
 they would not have been disappointed of their expectation. 
 On the other hand, they had prepared an excuse to the 
 Grecians, which they afterwards alleged in their defence. 
 For when they were accused of neglecting to succour Greece, 
 they urged, that having armed and fitted out sixty ships, 
 they were hindered by the Etesian winds from passing the 
 cape of Malea, and consequently that they could not reach 
 Salamis, and that it was not from bad intentions that they 
 were not present at. the engagement. In this manner they 
 attempted to elude q the Greeks. 
 
 CLXIX. When the Cretans were solicited by ambassa- 
 dors, appointed for that purpose by the confederate Greeks, 
 to join in the defence of Greece, they dispatched certain per- 
 sons by common consent to inquire of the oracle at Delphi, 
 whether they should best consult their own advantage, by giv- 
 ing the assistance demanded. The Pythian answered, " Fools, 
 you complain of all the woes which angry Minos brought 
 upon you, for aiding Menelaus r ; because they would not 
 revenge the death of Minos % who was murdered at Cami- 
 cus, and yet you assisted them to revenge the rape of a wo- 
 man carried off from Sparta by a Barbarian." When the 
 Cretans had received this answer, they laid aside the thoughts 
 of succouring Greece. 
 
 CLXX. Touching the fate of Minos, the report is, that 
 having, in search of Daedalus 4 into Sicania, which is now 
 
 i AiaKpovfiv is frequently used by cours given to Menelaus. See note on 
 
 Demosthenes and others to signify to book v. 45. 
 
 elude, especially by putting off, delaying, 6 Minos, the second of that name, and 
 
 dissembling, &c. Schweighauscr. posterior to the first by about a hundred 
 
 r The Cretans had sent troops to Troy and twenty years. Lurcher. 
 
 under the conduct of Idomeneus and ' Daedalus was an Athenian, and 
 
 Merion. MmXtw rt ^wp^ara are sue- great-grandson of Erectheus. He was a
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 211 
 
 called Sicily, he there met with a violent death : that after 
 some time, by divine admonition, all the people of Crete, ex- 
 cept the Polichnitae, and the Prcesians, undertook an expedi- 
 tion to Sicania \vith a numerous armament, and during five 
 years besieged the city of Camicus", which is now in the pos- 
 session of the Agrigentines ; that finding themselves unable 
 to take the place, or to continue the siege, because they 
 were oppressed by famine, they re-embarked their men, and 
 passing by the coast of Japygia, were forced a-shore by a vio- 
 lent storm ; that seeing their ships dashed in pieces, and all 
 hope of returning to Crete cut off, they settled in that place, 
 and having built the city of Hyria, took the name of Messa- 
 pian Japygiaus, instead of that of Cretans ; and instead of 
 Islanders, became inhabitants of the continent. From Hyria 
 they sent out several colonies, and founded other cities, which 
 after a long interval the Tarentines endeavoured to destroy, 
 but met with a heavy loss, so that this was the greatest slaugh- 
 ter * that we have ever heard of. Not only the Tarentines 
 themselves, but the people of Rhegium suffered on this occa- 
 sion. For of the Rhegians only, who were constrained by Mi- 
 cythus the son of Chcejus to assist the Tarentines, three thou- 
 sand men died in that expedition ; but the number of Taren- 
 tines who perished on that occasion, was never known. This 
 Micythus was a servant of Anaxilaus, and had been left in 
 charge of Rhegium. He is the same that was afterwards ex- 
 pelled from Rhegium, and who, having settled in Tegea, a city 
 of Arcadia, dedicated a great number of statues y in Olympia. 
 
 skilful sculptor, and invented several rus Siculus, iv. 76, 
 
 things which contributed to the perfec- u This town derived its name from 
 
 tion of his art. He was the first who the river of the same name, on the right 
 
 expressed the eyes and the legs sepa- bank of which it was situated, in a tract 
 
 rated, and the arms extended. His ne- of country now called the valley of Ma- 
 
 phew Talos, who was his pupil, so dis- zara, between Agrigentum and Heraclea 
 
 tinguished himself, that from jealousy he or Minoa. It was already destroyed in 
 
 killed him. For this he was condemned the time of Strabo, (vi. p. 419.) The 
 
 to death by the Senate of the Areopagus, river now bears the name of Fiume delle 
 
 He fled to Crete, where his skill procured Canne, or according to D'Anville, Fiume 
 
 him reputation and the friendship of Mi- di Platani. Larcher's Table Geograph. 
 
 nos. But forfeiting this by endeavour- x See also Diodorus Siculus, xi. 52, 
 
 ing to gratify the passion of Pasiphje, he who adds that Rhegium was taken on the 
 
 fled in a ship with his son Icarus, who occasion, which might have been the rea- 
 
 fell overboard, and gave his name to the son that Micythus fled from Rhegium. 
 
 sea in which he perished. Daedalus fled And as Herodotus has mentioned his de- 
 
 to Sicily, whither he was pursued by parture immediately after the defeat, it 
 
 Minos, who, attended by a numerous may easily be supposed that this depar- 
 
 fleet, arrived at Agrigentum, and de- ture was the consequence of the other 
 
 manded him from Cocalus the king of the event. This however does not agree 
 
 country, who had received him. Coca- with Diodorus, xi. 66. 
 
 lus invited him to a conference, promised * These, according to Pausanias, (v. 
 
 to give up Daedalus, and, having offered 26.) were the statues of Amphitrite, of 
 
 him the rites of hospitality, caused him Neptune and Vesta, the works of Glau- 
 
 k> be stifled in a hot bath. See Diodo- cus, a native of Argos. There were also 
 
 VOL. II. C C
 
 212 HERODOTUS. 
 
 CLXXI. These things concerning the Rhegians and Ta- 
 rentines, 1 thought fit to insert in this place by way of di- 
 gression. As for Crete, the Praesians say, that men of other 
 nations, and especially the Grecians, went and inhabited that 
 deserted country : that Minos died about three generations 
 before the Trojan war, in which the Cretans were not the 
 most backward to avenge the injury done to Menelaus : that 
 on this account they were afflicted at their return with famine 
 and pestilence, which destroyed both men and cattle ; and 
 that Crete being thus depopulated again, was afterwards inha- 
 bited by the present possessors, in conjunction with such as 
 survived those great calamities. The Pythian therefore, put- 
 ting the Cretans in mind of these things, checked the desire 
 they had to assist the Grecians. 
 
 CLXXII. The Thessalians were compelled by necessity 
 to take part with the Medes ; after they had by their con- 
 duct given sufficient evidence, that they disapproved of the 
 intrigues 2 of the Aleuadae. For they were no sooner in- 
 formed that the Persian w r as ready to pass into Europe, than 
 they sent ambassadors to the isthmus ; where deputies from 
 those cities who entertained better wishes for Greece were 
 then assembled, to consult about the safety of Greece ; and 
 when their ambassadors were arrived, they went into the as- 
 sembly, and delivered their message in these words : " Men 
 of Greece, the pass of Olympus ought to be guarded with 
 the utmost care, in order that not only Thessaly, but 
 all Greece, may be sheltered from the war. For our 
 own part, we are ready with all our forces to concur in de- 
 fending that important post. But we expect at the same 
 time that you should send a considerable army to act in 
 conjunction with us ; and if you refuse to comply with our 
 demand, be assured, we will make our peace with the Per- 
 sian : for it is not just that we, w r ho are placed so far on the 
 frontiers of Greece, should perish alone in your defence. 
 If you will not succour us, you cannot use compulsion ; for 
 compulsion is, by its own nature, always inferior to inabi- 
 lity. In a word, we must endeavour to take such measures 
 as may be most condusive to our own safety." 
 CLXXIII. Upon this representation of the Thessalians, 
 the Grecians resolved to send an army by sea to secure that 
 passage into Thessaly ; and when they had assembled their 
 forces to that end, they sailed through the Euripus, and hav- 
 ing arrived at Alus, a city of Achaia", they disembarked, and 
 
 Proserpine, Venus, Ganymede, Diana, * See ch. vi. 
 
 Homer, Hesiod, ^Lsculapius and Hygeia, a This is the Achiia of Thessaly, or 
 
 &c. Phthiotis.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 213 
 
 having left their ships there, they marched into Thessaly, and 
 arrived at Tempe, at the pass that leads from the lower Ma- 
 cedonia to that country, by the river Penens, and between 
 the mountains of Olympus and Ossa. There the Grecians 
 encamped, to the number of ten thousand Hoplites, and were 
 joined by the Thessalian cavalry. The Lacedaemonians were 
 led by Euaenetus, the son of Carenus, chosen from among the 
 Polemarchs b , though not of the royal blood, and the Atheni- 
 ans marched under the conduct of Themistocles the son of 
 Neocles. But they continued not many days in that post, 
 before messengers arrived from Alexander of Macedonia, the 
 son of Amyntas, and in his name advised them to retire, and 
 not to stay in the pass and be trampled under foot by the in- 
 vading army ; alluding to the numbers of his men and ships. 
 The Grecians imagining the Macedonian to be their friend, 
 and his counsel safe, determined to follow his advice ; though 
 I am of opinion that their own fear was the most prevalent 
 motive to induce them to do as they did. For they had 
 heard there was another passage leading to Thessaly, through 
 the country of the Perrhaebi and upper Macedonia, near the 
 city of Gonnus ; and indeed the army of Xerxes afterwards 
 entered by that way. Thus the Grecians, returning to their 
 ships, sailed back again to the isthmus. 
 
 CLXXIV. Such was the expedition they made into Thes- 
 saly, whilst the king stayed at Abydos, preparing to pass 
 from Asia into Europe with his army. After which, the Thes- 
 salians, finding themselves abandoned by their allies, made 
 no farther scruple to take part with the Medes ; and were so 
 zealous, that they rendered important services to the king. 
 
 CLXXV. The Greeks having thus returned to the isth- 
 mus, consulted, in consequence of the message of Alexander, 
 by what means and in what places they should carry on the 
 war. The opinion which prevailed was, that they should de- 
 fend the pass of Thermopylae, for it appeared to be more 
 
 b The Polemarch (Thucyd. v. 66.) in c Our geographical information con- 
 time of war received the orders of the cerning this country, though much lin- 
 king, and issued them to the Lochagi, proved of very late years, is still very 
 and the Lochagi to the Pentecontarchs, deficient. The able and indefatigable 
 &c. Each Polemarch commanded a Mo- D'Anville seems to have been able to 
 ra. (See Xenoph. Laced. Republ. xi. 4.) procure none of any value. His map is 
 In time of peace the Polemarchs pre- grossly incorrect Some better informa- 
 sided over the Sypitia, and sent to the tion has been obtained through recent 
 absent their share of the repast, if the travellers, from which Barthelemi has 
 cause of their absence was lawful. The profited. But since his work came out, 
 Polemarchs had also other offices relat- the modern geography of the countries 
 ing to war, &cc. It appears, by this pas- round the ^Egean has been very supe- 
 sage of Herodotus, that the Polemarchs riorly given in a map compiled by De la 
 were for the most part of the blood royal. Rochette, and published by Faden. Mil-. 
 Lurcher. ford's Greece, ch. viii. sect. 2. note 14. 
 
 c c2
 
 214 HERODOTUS. 
 
 narrow than that of Thessaly, and nearer to their o-wn territo- 
 ries. For they knew nothing of the path, by which those 
 Greeks who were taken at T hermopylse were afterwards sur- 
 prised, till they were informed of it by the Trachinians after 
 their arrival in those straits. They accordingly resolved to 
 defend this post, and not to suffer the Barbarian to enter 
 Greece ; and to send their fleet to Artemisium on the coast 
 of Histiaeotis, which being not far distant from Thermopylae, 
 might facilitate a constant communication between both. 
 
 CLXXVI. These two places are thus situate: Artemi- 
 sium' 1 as you leave the Thracian sea, gradually contracts from 
 a wide space into a narrow frith which lies between the island 
 of Sciathus and the continent of Magnesia. The coast of Ar- 
 temisium begins at the mouth of the Eubosan strait, and has 
 a temple dedicated to Diana. But the entrance into Greece 
 through Trachis is, in the narrowest part, no more than fifty 
 feet in breadth : and yet this passage is wider than those that 
 lie before and behind Thermopylae. For the way is so narrow 
 near Alpeni, which is situate on the farther side of Thermo- 
 pylae, that only one carriage can pass : nor is the other wider, 
 which lies on this side, near the city of Anthela, and the river 
 Phoenix. Thermopylae is bounded* on the west by an inac- 
 cessible and steep mountain, which extends to mount CEta ; 
 and on the east is the sea, and a morass. Within this pas- 
 sage are baths of hot water, to which the inhabitants give the 
 name of Chytri f , and above these there is an altar consecrated 
 to Hercules. A wall had been raised in this pass, in which 
 there were formerly gates. This the Phocaeans had formerly 
 built, through fear of the Thessalians ; who having abandoned 
 Thesprotia, came to settle in that part of ^Eolia g which they 
 now possess. By this means, and by letting in the hot waters, 
 to render the way impassable, they defended themselves 
 against the attempts of the Thessalians, and omitted nothing 
 that might prevent them from making incursions into their 
 country. But because through the length of time the greater 
 
 d Artemisium is the name for the arm 
 of the sea which extends from Eubcea 
 to the isle of Sciathus, as well as for all 
 the N.N.E. coast of Eubosa. It derived 
 its name from a temple of Diana, or, as 
 she was called by the Greeks, Artemis. 
 Larcher's Table Geograph. 
 
 e The description of this place is very 
 accurate, and is not inferior to that of 
 
 cum sinum vergente her est non latius 
 quam sexaginta passus. Haec una mi- 
 litaris via est, qua traduci exercitus, si 
 non prohibeantur, possint. Ideo Pylae, 
 et ab aliis, quia calids aquse in ipsis 
 faucibus sunt, Thermopylae locus ap- 
 pellatur, nobilis Lacedsmoniorum ad- 
 versus Persas morte magis memorabili 
 quam pugna." 
 
 Livy, book xxxvi. c. 15. Wesseling. * Cauldrons. 
 
 Livy describes it thus: " Extremes ad e This was the name which Thessaly 
 
 " orientem monies jtam vocant ; quo- anciently bore. See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 
 
 " rum quod altissimum est.Callidromon 67. and Apollodor.Biblioth. i. 7. sect. 3. 
 " appellatur, in cujus valle ad Malia-
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 215 
 
 part of this wall was fallen down, the Grecians thought fit to 
 rebuild it, and resolved in that place to repel the Barbarian 
 from Greece, reckoning to be supplied with provisions from 
 Alpeni, which was very near the passage. 
 
 CLXXVII. Accordingly these situations appeared favour- 
 able. For the Greeks having provided for every thing, and 
 having considered that the Barbarians would neither be able 
 to use their great numbers nor their cavalry, resolved to await 
 the attack of the enemy in this post : and were no sooner in- 
 formed that the Persian army was advanced to Pieria, than 
 breaking up from the isthmus, the land forces marched away 
 to Thermopylae, and the fleet made towards Artemisium. 
 
 CLXXVIII. But while the Greeks were with all diligence 
 carrying assistance to the different places to which they were 
 ordered, the Delphians, anxious for themselves and the rest of 
 Greece, consulted the oracle, and received for answer, " that 
 " they should address their prayers to the winds, which would 
 " be the most strenuous defenders of Greece." This admo- 
 nition they presently communicated to those Greeks who were 
 zealous for their liberty, and as they very much dreaded the 
 Barbarians, they acquired, by giving that message, a claim for 
 everlasting gratitude. After that, the Delphians erected an 
 altar to the winds in Thyia, (where there is an enclosure con- 
 secrated to Thyia h , the daughter of Cephissus, from whom the 
 place derives its name,) and appeased them with sacrifices. 
 And these sacrifices to the winds are to this day celebrated 
 by the Delphians, in obedience to that oracle. 
 
 CLXXIX. In the mean time the naval forces of Xerxes 
 departing from Therma, detached ten of the swiftest vessels 
 of the fleet across to the island of Scyathus, where three Gre- 
 cian ships lay to watch the enemy, one of which was of Trce- 
 zene, another of ^Egina, and a third of Attica. The Greeks 
 seeing the Barbarian ships advancing, betook themselves to 
 flight. 
 
 CLXXX. But the enemy chasing, soon became masters of 
 the Troszenian ship, which was commanded by Praxinus ; and 
 having led to the prow the handsomest of the Epibatse, they 
 sacrificed him, considering the handsomest Greek they had 
 first taken a favourable omen. The name of the man was 
 
 h Larcher quotes the following from ' frantic in honour of that God, were 
 
 Pausanias, x. 6. " Others say that Cas- ' called T hyiades. They say also that 
 
 ' talius, a native of that country, had a ' Delphus was the son of this Thyia and 
 
 ' daughter, who was named Thyia. She ' Apollo ; but others pretend that the 
 
 ' was a priestess of Bacchus, and first ' mother of Delphus was Melxna, the 
 
 ' celebrated the orgies in honour of that ' daughter of Cephissus." 
 God. From that time all who became
 
 216 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Leon 1 , and perhaps it was owing to his name k that he met 
 with this fate. 
 
 CLXXXI. They met with more difficulty in taking the 
 ship of ^Egina, which was commanded by Asonides. For 
 Pytheas the son of Ischenous, one of the Epibatae, distin- 
 guished himself on that occasion, and continued to make re- 
 sistance after the ship was taken, till he was entirely cut to 
 pieces. At length, when he fell, as he was not dead, but still 
 breathed, the Persians who served in the ships admiring his 
 valour, took all possible care to preserve his life, by healing 
 his wounds with myrrh, and binding them with bandages of 
 the finest linen 1 . At their return, they shewed him with ad- 
 miration to the whole army, and gave him all manner of good 
 usage, though they treated the rest of the prisoners as slaves. 
 
 CLXXXII. Thus these two ships were taken : whilst the 
 other, which was commanded by Phormus an Athenian, in its 
 flight ran a-shore near the mouth of the river Peneus, the ship 
 fell into the hands of the Barbarians, but the men saved them- 
 selves a-shore. For they had no sooner run the ship a-ground m , 
 than they abandoned her ; and taking their way through Thes- 
 saly, arrived safely in Athens. When the Greeks, who had 
 their station at Artemisium, received the news of this loss, 
 they fell into so great a consternation, that they removed 
 to Chalcis, in order to defend the passage of the Euripus ; 
 and placed guards by day on the principal eminences of 
 Euboea. 
 
 CLXXXIII. On the other hand, the Barbarians with 
 three of the ten ships went up to the hidden rock" called Myr- 
 mex, which lies between Sciathus and Magnesia, and erected 
 a pillar of stone upon it, which they had carried thither. The 
 fleet, when every obstacle had been removed, and they had 
 waited eleven days after the king's departure from Therma, 
 sailed towards this place. Pammon, a native of Scyros, 
 pointed out to them this hidden rock, which was almost di- 
 rectly in their course. They employed a whole day in reach- 
 ing Sepias in Magnesia, and the shore which lies between the 
 city of Cast hau am and the coast of Sepias. 
 
 This word signifies Lion. ship with its rigging, and 
 
 k Literally, perhaps he may have reaped without. 
 something from his name. 'EiravpfoScu, in n This rock (as Larcher has observed) 
 
 the sense offructum percipere, is used appears to have been scarcely, if at all, 
 
 both concerning good and bad. See Ste- above the surface of the water : on which 
 
 phen. Thesaur. in Indice. Vatckenaer. account it was the more necessary that 
 
 1 Larcher has a long note to prove that it should be pointed out by one ac- 
 
 Byssus is cotton, as he proved at book ii. quainted with the situation of the differ- 
 
 ch. 86. This opinion is disputed. ent places, and that a column should be 
 
 ra Larcher translates cxa'^oc, ce tais- erected to warn pilots of their danger. 
 
 seau demate et prive tie ses agres, and adds Schtceighauser. 
 in a note, that Navj properly signifies a
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 217 
 
 CLXXXIV. As far as this place, and Thermopylae, the 
 army had met with no misfortune, and, as I find from my 
 calculations, at that time consisted of the following numbers. 
 The ships that came from Asia, amounted to one thousand 
 two hundred and seven; which originally had on board two 
 hundred forty-one thousand four hundred men, of various 
 nations; allowing two hundred to each ship, besides thirty 
 Persians, Medes, and Sacee, who, computed together, made 
 up thirty-six thousand two hundred and ten men more. To 
 these numbers, I must add those that were on board the lesser 
 vessels, which, as I have already said p , amounted to three 
 thousand ; and accounting eighty men as the average number 
 for each, they will be found to have been two hundred and 
 forty thousand. So that the whole naval force that arrived 
 from Asia was composed of five hundred and seventeen thou- 
 sand six hundred and ten men. The land army consisted of 
 seventeen hundred thousand foot, and fourscore thousand 
 horse ; besides the Arabians who drove the camels, and the 
 Libyans in chariots ; who, as I conjecture, might amount to 
 about twenty thousand more. In a word, the number of these 
 forces that were levied in Asia, and employed either in the 
 fleet or by land, was two millions three hundred and seventeen 
 thousand six hundred and ten men ; not including their train 
 of servants, nor those who were on board the ships that carried 
 provisions. 
 
 CLXXXV. To these must be added, the forces that were 
 raised in Europe ; the number of which I can only give from 
 supposition. The Grecians of Thrace and the islands adja- 
 cent, furnished one hundred and twenty ships, which had on 
 board twenty- four thousand men. The Thracians, the Paeoni- 
 ans, the Eordis, the Bottiaeans q , the Chalcidian race, the Brygi, 
 the Pierians, the Macedonians, the Perrhaebi, the ^Enianes, 
 the Dolopians, the Magnesians, and the Achasans, together 
 with those who inhabit the maritime parts of Thrace, sent such 
 a number of land forces, as, in my opinion, were not less than 
 
 He means the complement furnished and gained their livelihood by manual 
 by the different nations of Asia, without labour. The Cretans, wishing to fulfil 
 reckoning the Persians, Medes, and some vow, sent to Delphi the first-fruits 
 Sacae, in order to distinguish them from of their citizens, to whom they added 
 the troops levied in Europe in the coun- these descendants of the Athenians. As 
 tries through which the king passed. they could not subsist there, they went 
 Larcher. to Italy, and established themselves in 
 
 P Ch. xcvii fin. the neighbourhood of Japygia: from 
 
 1 The Bottiaeans were of Athenian ori- thence they passed into Thrace, and ob- 
 gin, and, according to Aristotle, (Plu- tained the name of Bottiaeans. From 
 tarch in Theseo, pag. 6.) descended from this circumstance, their daughters in an 
 those children, whom the Athenians sent annual sacrifice sing, Let vs go to Athens. 
 to Minos in Crete by way- of tribute. Larcher. 
 
 These children grew old in that island,
 
 218 HERODOTUS. 
 
 three hundred thousand. So that if we add these myriads to 
 those that were levied in Asia, we shall find in all, two millions 
 six hundred forty one thousand six hundred and ten fighting 
 men. 
 
 CLXXXVI. Nevertheless, though the number of fighting 
 men was so prodigiously great, I am persuaded that the ser- 
 vants, with those on board the store ships and other vessels 
 which accompanied the fleet were not less, but, I believe, 
 more numerous. But supposing them only equal in number, 
 and not more nor less than the military part, it follows that 
 Xerxes the son of Darius led five millions two hundred 
 fourscore and three thousand two hundred and twenty men r , 
 to Sepias and to Thermopylre. 
 
 CLXXXVII. Such was the number of this army. But 
 the women that served for concubines, and makers of bread, 
 and eunuchs, the draught-horses, and other beasts of burthen, 
 with the Indian dogs that followed the forces, were so many, 
 that no man can affirm any thing with certainty touching their 
 numbers. Therefore I am not astonished, if the streams of 
 some rivers proved insufficient for this multitude ; but rather, 
 how so many myriads were supplied with provisions. For 
 according to my calculations, I find that allowing only a choe- 
 nix of wheat by day to each man, the total will amount to one 
 hundred and ten thousand three hundred and forty medimni 3 , 
 
 r This sum is exactly made up by the seveial numbers mentioned ; for 
 
 1207x200(seelin.2.c. 184.) . . , = 241,400 
 
 1207x30 (lin. 8 and seq.) = 36,210 
 
 3000x80(lin. 12 and seq.) = 240,000 
 
 Whence is formed the number of the naval forces (lin. 16 and seq.) 517,610 
 To these add the number of foot soldiers (lin. 20. compare also 60.) 1,700,000 
 
 Number of Cavalry (lin. 21. compare c. 87.) 80,000 
 
 Of those who rode on Camels and in Chariots (ibid.) 20,000 
 
 Which gives the number of forces brought over from Asia . . . 2,317,610 
 Add the naval forces supplied by Thrace and the neighbouring ) 
 
 islands 120X200 (lin. I.e. 185.) . . ] Z *' ( ** 
 
 The land forces from the same places, (lin. 6. c. 185.) .... 300,000 
 
 And we have the number of fighting men and sailors (1. xiv. c. 185.) 2,641,610 
 This number doubled gives 5,283,220, which is given at the end of 
 ch 186. Schu-eightfuser. 
 
 8 There were 48 choenices to one me- 48' /5,283,220 (110067 
 
 diminus. Herodotus therefore has made 48 
 
 some slight mistake in his calculations ; 48 
 
 for 110,067 medimni, and 4 chosnices 48 
 
 would be required for 5,283,220 men, 322^ 
 
 at the rate of one choeniae to each man, 
 as is evident from the following scheme : 
 
 336
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 219 
 
 consumed every day ; without including the food of the women, 
 the eunuchs, the cattle, and the dogs. But of all this prodigious 
 number, no man, either for stature or beauty, seemed more 
 worthy to command than Xerxes himself. 
 
 CLXXXVIII. When the fleet as I have mentioned had 
 set sail and reached the shore of Magnesia between the city 
 of Casthannea and the promontory of Sepias, the foremost 
 ships were ranged close by the land, the others lay at anchor 
 behind. But because the shore was not very wide, they 
 turned the heads of their ships to the sea, and anchored in 
 eight rows in the form of a quincunx', one behind another, and 
 in that posture passed the night. The next morning at day- 
 break, after a serene sky and still weather, the sea began to 
 rise ; and a terrible storm ensued, with a violent north-east 
 wind, which by the inhabitants of that coast is called Helles- 
 pontine". Those who perceived the wind increasing, and 
 were not hindered by their station, prevented the mischiefs of 
 the tempest, and hauling them upon the shore, saved them- 
 selves and their ships. But of those who were surprised out 
 at sea, some were driven upon those parts of Pelion called 
 Ipni x ; others were forced a-shore ; some dashed upon the pro- 
 montory of Sepias ; some stranded upon the shallows of Me- "' 
 libcea, and others near the city of Casthanasa ; so intolerable 
 was the violence of the storm. 
 
 CLXXXIX. The report is, that the Athenians having 
 been admonished by another oracle 1 to implore the assistance 
 
 Since the writ;:r has, instead of 67, put of the eight rows, each exterior row was 
 the number 340, it is evident, 1 think, less by one, or shorter than the interior, 
 that he forgot to divide the latter number so that the fleet exhibited the appearance 
 340 by 48, as he ought to have done, of a truncated equilateral triangle. After 
 Schweighecuser. I had written the above, I discovered 
 ' The word Trpoicpocrcrat, the meaning that Reiske had explained the word in 
 of which is by no means apparent, we the same way. Schweighaeuser. 
 have met with in bock iv. ch. 152. It u This wind, as it comes from the Hel- 
 seems very evident that Wesseling, who lespont, ought to be the N. E. But He- 
 with Portus translates it " quarum prone rodotus calls it Apeliotes, which is doubt- 
 ponto obiersiE stabant," has not fully ex- less the east. The ancients originally 
 pressed the meaning of the word in this knew only four winds, to which after- 
 passage, because those which were next wards eight were added, but as that ap- 
 the shore also had their prows toward peared too intricate, they contented them- 
 the sea. (See note on vi. 1 15.) Nor does selves with only four new ones. Larcher. 
 the interpretation of Suidas (irpoKfxxraai The accuracy in stating winds, usual 
 oXXjj sir a\Xp) appear sufficient. For with our seamen, was not common among 
 Herodotus had already expressed that the ancients ; nor is it at this day in the 
 idea in the words aXXat nr iiciivyffi. Mediterranean, where generally winds 
 Wherefore that explanation appears to are still named from the countries whence 
 be most probable, by which the ancient they blow, without any very exact refer- 
 critics interpret the TrpoBpofftrag vfjag in ence to the points of the compass. Mit- 
 Homer, viz. placed rXiftacijf of ; which ford's Greece, ch. viii. 2. note, 
 in French might be translated par 6che- x i.e. Ovens. 
 
 Ions, and 1 have translated in Latin, in T A different one from that mentioned 
 
 ytiincuncein locatas ; yet supposing that in ch. cxl. 
 
 VOL. II. D d
 
 220 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of Iheir son-in-law, addressed themselves to Boreas 7 ; who, 
 according to the tradition of the Greeks, married Orithya, a 
 woman of Attica, and daughter to Erectheus. On account 
 of this marriage, they say, the Athenians conjectured that 
 Boreas was their son-in-law, and therefore, while they lay at 
 Chalcis in Eubcea with their fleet, when they saw the storm 
 increasing, or even before, they offered sacrifices to Boreas 
 and Orithya, invoking their aid, and praying that they would 
 destroy the Barbarian ships, as they had done before at mount 
 Athos 11 . For my own part, I cannot undertake to say that 
 their prayers prevailed with Boreas to fall upon the Barbari- 
 ans in this station ; but the Athenians say, that this and the 
 former aid they received, were both owing to Boreas, and 
 therefore, at their return, they built him a temple upon the 
 river Ilissus. 
 
 CXC. In this disaster the Barbarians, according to the 
 most moderate computation, lost four hundred ships b , besides 
 an innumerable multitude of men, and infinite riches ; so that 
 this shipwreck proved afterwards of great advantage to Ami- 
 nocles the son of Cretinus, a Magnesian. For afterwards, 
 breaking up some ground about Sepias, he found many cups 
 and other vessels both of gold and silver, which had been 
 driven a-shore. He also found treasures belonging to the 
 Persians, and collected a great quantity of gold. Although 
 by this means he became very rich, yet in other things he was 
 unfortunate; for a calamity which destroyed his children af- 
 flicted him. 
 
 CXC1. The store-ships and other vessels cast away in the 
 storm were so many, that the commanders, fearing to be at- 
 tacked by the Thessalians after this disaster, fortified them- 
 selves with a rampart of a considerable height, composed of 
 the broken pieces of the wreck. Three whole days the tem- 
 
 7 Astraeus had by Aurora four sons, ford's Greece, cb. viii. 2. 
 
 (Hesiod. Theog. v. 378.) Argestes, Ze- a See book vi. ch. 44. 95. and book 
 
 phyrus, Boreas and Notus. Some have vii. ch..2l. 
 
 taken Boreas for a wind, others for a b Diodorus Sic. (xi. 12.) gives double 
 
 prince of Thrace. This Boreas went from the number. 
 
 Thrace to Attica, from whence he carried c The expression in Herodotus is am- 
 
 ofT Orithya, the daughter of Erectheus, biguous. Plutarch (De Herodot. Malign. 
 
 6th king of Athens. He took her to p. 871.) makes it signify that Ameino- 
 
 Thrace and married her. By this mar- cles killed his children. But Palmerius 
 
 riage he became the son-in-law of Erec- (Exercit in Graec. Auctor. p. 37.) has 
 
 theus, and the Athenians considered him endeavoured to shew that the word TTCU- 
 
 their ally and son-in-law. Larclter. o<j>6vo is to be referred merely to ffvfi- 
 
 Those indeed who know the power of 0op>) : his opinion is, however, opposed 
 
 whistling, or of an egg-shell, upon the by Reiske and Schweighamser ; the lat- 
 
 minds of English seamen at this day, ter of whom compares book i. 41, 3. with 
 
 may imagine what the encouragement of i. 35, 2, 9. and in. 50, 2. with iii. 52, 15. 
 
 the Delphian oracle to expect assistance Larcher is of the same opinion as Palme 
 
 from Boreas and their princess Orithya rius. 
 might do among the Athenians. Mit-
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 221 
 
 pest continued ; but on the fourth, after the magi h id immo- 
 lated victims, and endeavoured to charm the winds by en- 
 chantments, and had sacrificed to Thetis and to the Nereids, 
 they laid the storm ; or perhaps the wind- fell of itself. They 
 sacrificed to Thetis, because they had learnt from the lonians, 
 that Thetis was taken away by Peleus out of this country, and 
 that all the coast of Sepias is dedicated 11 to her, and to the 
 rest of the Nereids. Thus the tempest ceased on the fourth 
 day. 
 
 CXCII. The Hemeoscopi ran down from the heights of 
 Eubcea on the second day after the rising* of the storm, and 
 acquainted the Greeks with what had occurred with regard to 
 the shipwreck. Which when they had heard, they poured 
 out a libation and offered vows to Neptune the deliverer, and 
 immediately set sail for Artemisium ; hoping that there would 
 be only a few of the enemy's ships to oppose them. Thus 
 arriving a second time at Artemisium, they came to an anchor; 
 and ever since, even to this day, have given to Neptune the 
 surname of the Deliverer. 
 
 CXCIII. On the other hand, the Barbarians, when the 
 wind had ceased and the sea became calm, launched their 
 ships and sailed along the shore of the continent ; and having 
 doubled the promontory of Magnesia, stood directly into the 
 bay leading to Pagasae. It is reported, that in one part of the 
 country adjacent to this bay, Hercules was abandoned by 
 Jason and his companions, whilst he had been sent on shore 
 from the Argo to get water when they were sailing to Aia in 
 Colchis, for the golden fleece ; for when they had got water 
 they intended to sail out into the open sea : from this circum- 
 stance the name of Aphetae 6 was given to the place. Into that 
 station the Persian fleet retired. 
 
 CXCIV. But fifteen of their ships, which put to sea some 
 time after the rest, somehow perceived the Greeks about 
 Artemisium, and thinking they were friends, fell in among 
 their enemies. The Barbarians were commanded by Sandoces 
 the son of Thaumasius, governor of Cyme, an ^olian city. 
 He had been formerly condemned by Darius to be crucified, 
 for taking a bribe to pronounce an unjust sentence, when he 
 was one of the royal judges. But whilst he was actually 
 hanging on the cross, the king, considering with himself that 
 
 . d This coast was dedicated to Thetis, whence we depart, and is derived from 
 
 because that Goddess, desirous of eluding <'tifiit)[*i. Opinions are divided concern- 
 
 the pursuit of Peleus, changed herself in ing the place where Hercules was left. 
 
 this place into a cuttle-fish, which the ApolloniusRhodius(i.ver. 23.) says, that 
 
 Greeks call S?j7ria. This fable gave the it was Cios in Mysia; Dionysius of Hali- 
 
 name of Sepias to the coast and promon- carnassus says, it was Colchis, &c. 
 
 tory. Lurcher. Lurcher. 
 K Aphetaj signifies the place from 
 
 D d 2
 
 222 HERODOTUS. 
 
 the services he had done to his family were greater than his 
 crime, and that his condemnation was rather the effect of pas- 
 sion than of prudence, ordered him to be set at liberty. In 
 this manner he escaped the punishment, to which he had been 
 condemned by Darius ; but now, falling- in among the Gre- 
 cians, he found no way to escape a second time. For when 
 they saw him making towards them, they presently perceived 
 the mistake, and advancing to meet him, soon made them- 
 selves masters of all the ships. 
 
 CXCV. In one of these, Aridolis, tyrant of Alabandus in 
 Caria, was taken ; and in another, Penthylus the sou of De- 
 monous, commander of the Paphians. He had twelve ships 
 when he sailed from Paphos ; but having lost eleven in the 
 storm, he was taken at Artemisium, with only one remaining 
 of that number. When the Grecians had examined the pri- 
 soners, and made inquiry into such things as they desired to 
 know concerning the forces of Xerxes, they sent them away 
 to the isthmus of Corinth. 
 
 CXCVI. Thus then the Barbarian fleet, except these fifteen 
 ships, Avhich were under the conduct of Sandoces, arrived safe 
 at Aphetae. In the mean time Xerxes with the land forces 
 marched through Thessaly and Achaia, and entered on the third 
 day into the territories of the Melians. In Thessaly he made 
 trial of his cavalry against those of that country, which he had 
 heard was the best of all Greece ; and the Grecian cavalry 
 proved very inferior. Of all the rivers of Thessaly, only the 
 Onochonus had not a sufficient quantity of water for the use 
 of the army ; Avhereas of the rivers of Achaia, even the Api- 
 danus, which is the greatest, scarcely sufficed. 
 
 CXCVII. When Xerxes arrived at Alos in Achaia, his 
 guides, who were always ready to inform him. of every thing 
 remarkable, gave him an account of the tradition of the coun- 
 try, concerning the place dedicated to the Laphystian Jupiter f ; 
 and how Athamas the son of ^Eolus conspired with Ino to 
 take away the life of Phryxus. They told him, that the 
 Acheeans, to punish his descendants, decreed, by the counsel 
 
 f It was to this God that Phryxus sa- of this God. Phryxus and Helle being 
 
 erificed the ram on which he was saved, on the point of being sacrificed in this 
 
 and even to this day, says the Scholiast place by Athamas, they say that Jupiter 
 
 on Apollonius Rhodius, (Ad Argon, ii.) sent them a ram with a golden fleece, 
 
 one of the descendants of Phryxus enters and that they saved themselves on this 
 
 into the Prytaneum according to law, beast. Jupiter, surnamed Laphystius, ac- 
 
 and offers sacrifices to this God. This cording to Kuhnius, (see note on Pausan. 
 
 place consecrated to the Laphystian Ju- Attic, p. 56.) was the protector of fugi- 
 
 piter was in Achaia or Phthiotis. Twenty lives. AaQvatrti is applied to one who 
 
 stades from Coronea was mount Laphys- hastens, according to llesychius. But 
 
 tius, where was a mound dedicated to I am more inclined to suppose that he 
 
 the Laphystian Jupiter. (Pausan. ix. 34.) derived this oame from the mountain 
 
 There is still seen in this place a statue where he was worshipped. Lurcher.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 223 
 
 of an oracle, that the eldest person of his race should be ex- 
 cluded from the Prytaueurn, which they call Leitum ; and that, 
 if ever he should presume to go in, he should not go out 
 again, except in order to be sacrificed ; so that many of his 
 posterity, when on the point of being sacrificed, fled away and 
 went to another country : that in succeeding time, when any 
 one of these returned, and happened to be taken in the Pry- 
 -taneum, they related, how he is covered with sacred fillets, 
 and led out in a procession and sacrificed : that the posterity of 
 Cytissorus the son of Phryxus became liable to the same pu- 
 nishment ; because, when the Achaians, by the advice of an 
 oracle, were ready to expiate this guilt with the sacrifice of 
 Athamas the son of ^Eolus, Cytissorus 3 arriving from Aia in 
 Colchis, forced him out of their hands, and by that action drew 
 the anger of the Gods upon his descendants. When Xerxes 
 had heard this relation, and was come to the sacred grove, he 
 not only abstained from entering it himself, but commanded 
 all the army to follow his example ; he shewed the same vene- 
 ration for the habitation and enclosed ground belonging to the 
 posterity of Athamas. 
 
 CXCVIII. Having done these things in Thessaly and 
 Achaia, he passed from this country to Meiis, which is situate 
 near a bay of the sea, where the tide ebbs and flows every 
 day. About this bay lies a plain, of a considerable breadth in 
 one part, and very narrow in the other; enclosed by high and 
 inaccessible mountains, which surrounding the whole country 
 of Melis, are known by the name of the Trachinean rocks. 
 The first city that appears in this bay, to those who come from 
 Achaia, is Anticyra* 1 , by which the river Sperchius, descend- 
 ing from the country of the ^Enianes, falls into the sea : and 
 about twenty stades from thence, another river is seen, called 
 the Dyras ; which, they say, rose up to succour Hercules 
 when he was burning himself. At a like distance from this 
 there is another river called the Melas. 
 
 CXCIX. Five stades distant from this river the city of 
 Trachis is built in the most spacious part of all the plain ; 
 which in that place is two and twenty thousand plethra in 
 breadth. In these mountains that surround the plain, a pas- 
 sage is open on the south side of Trachis, through which the 
 river Asopus runs past the foot of the mountain, 
 
 CC. To the south of the Asopus is another river, not very 
 large, called the Phoenix, which flowing from the same moun- 
 tains, falls into the Asopus. The country is very narrow by the 
 river Phoenix ; the road which is constructed only admits one 
 
 B Phryxus hail two sons, Cytissorus same name in Phocis,. was famous for its 
 and Plirontis. hellebore. 
 
 h This town, as well as that of the
 
 224 HERODOTUS. 
 
 carriage. Thermopylae is fifteen stades beyond that river, 
 and between both lies the town of Anthela. The Aso]>us 
 passes by this place, and afterwards falls into the sea. The 
 country about Anthela is open, and has a temple dedicated to 
 Ceres Amphictyonis'; in which are the seats of the Amphir- 
 tyons, and the chapel of Amphictyon himself. 
 
 CCI. The Persian king- encamped with his army in the 
 plain of Trachis, in the territory of Melis, and the Greeks iti 
 the pass : which, by the inhabitants of the place and their 
 neighbours, is called Pyla3 k ; and by the greater part of the 
 Greeks Thermopylae. Xerxes was in possession of all the 
 countries that lie to the northward, as far as Trachis ; and the 
 Greeks of those parts of that continent which lean to the 
 south. 
 
 CCII. The Greeks who awaited the approach of the Per- 
 sian in this post, were these 1 . Three hundred Spartans in 
 heavy armour ; five hundred Tegeans, and the same number 
 of Mantineans ; one hundred and twenty Arcadians of Orcho- 
 menus, and one thousand more from the other parts of Arca- 
 dia ; four hundred Corinthians, two hundred men from 
 Phlius, and fourscore from Mycenae. All these were Pelo- 
 pounesians. Of the Boeotians, seven hundred Thespians, 
 and four hundred Thebans. 
 
 CCIII. Besides this the Opuntian Locri, with all their 
 forces, and a thousand Phocians, had arrived according to the 
 summons that had been sent. For the Greeks had invited 
 them to their assistance, representing by their ambassadors 
 that they had arrived as forerunners of the others, and that the 
 rest of the confederates might be daily expected ; that the sea 
 was sufficiently protected, being guarded by the Athenians, 
 the ^Eginetae, and others, who were appointed to the navy, 
 and that they had nothing to fear; that the invader was not a 
 God, but a man; and that there never was, and never would 
 be, any mortal, who would not, during his life, meet with cala- 
 mity ; and that the greatest fall to the greatest ; and there- 
 fore, the enemy being no more than a man, might fall off from 
 his expectations. Persuaded by this exhortation, these people 
 also marched to assist their allies in the country of Trachis. 
 
 ' It was the meeting in autumn Greece, ch. viii. sect. 2. 
 
 (Strabo, ix. p. 643.) that was held in this ' Pausanias (x. 20.) makes the whole 
 
 place. In the spring they met at Delphi. Grecian army amount to 11,200 men. 
 
 At the commencement of the meeting Herodotus, with the exception of the 
 
 they offered sacrifices to Ceres, whence Opuntian Locri, makes but 5,200. Pau- 
 
 probably she derived the epithet of Am- sanias says that the Locri amounted to 
 
 phictyonis. Lurcher. 6000, but although Herodotus says they 
 
 k The Gates a term of precisely the came wavarpumj, that sum appears too 
 
 same import in the common speech of large, 
 many parts of England. Mitford's
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 225 
 
 CCIV. The nations that composed thesev forces, had their 
 own particular leaders : but the general, who was in most 
 esteem, and had the command of all, was Leonidas, a Lace- 
 daemonian, the son of Anaxandrides, descended from Leon, 
 Eurycratides, Anaxander, Eurycates, Polydorus, Alcamenes, 
 Teleclus, Archelaus, Agesilaus, Doryssus, Leobotes, Eche- 
 stratus, Agis, Eurysthenes, Aristodemus, Aristomachus, Cleo- 
 daeus, Hyllus, and Hercules. He became king of Sparta, 
 contrary to his own expectation. 
 
 CCV. For as he had two elder brothers, Cleomene*s and 
 Dorieus, he was far from thinking to obtain the kingdom. 
 But after the death of Cleomenes, who left no son to succeed 
 him, the kingdom descended to Leonidas ; because Dorieus 
 was no longer alive, but had perished before in Sicily, and 
 he himself was older than Cleombrotus, the youngest of all 
 the sons of Anaxandrides, and especially as he had also mar- 
 ried the daughter of Cleomenes. He then marched to Ther- 
 mopylae, having chosen the regular body of three hundred" 
 Spartans, all of whom had children. In his march he took 
 the Thebans with him, amounting to the numbers I mentioned 
 before, and led by Leontiades the son of Eurymachus. The 
 Thebans were the only Greeks whom Leonidas was eager to 
 invite to accompany him, because they were very much ac- 
 cused of favouring the M edes : he therefore summoned them 
 as he wished to see whether they would accompany him in 
 this expedition, or openly renounce their alliance with the 
 Grecians. But the Thebans, though they had different inten- 
 tions , yet sent some troops. 
 
 CCVI. The Spartans sent these men with Leonidas before 
 the rest of their troops, in order that the confederates, see- 
 ing their diligence, might be encouraged to take the field, and 
 that they might not also go over to the Medes, if they saw 
 them backward ; intending, as soon as they had celebrated the 
 Carnean festival P, which was then an impediment, to leave 
 some forces for the guard of the city, and to march imme- 
 diately with their whole strength to the defence of Greece. 
 The rest of their confederates intended to act in the same 
 
 m See book v. ch. 45, 46. parties in Thebes, one of which sent four 
 
 n This is the body of three hundred, hundred men to Thermopylae. Lurcher. 
 which accompanied the kings in all ex- P This festival was celebrated for nine 
 
 peditions. See Thucyd. v. 72. They days in honour of Apollo. Various rea- 
 
 were called 'liririic, although they did sons are given for its institution. See 
 
 not use horses. See the learned notes of Potter's Archsol. Grasc. book ii. ch. 20. 
 
 Sch weigh aeuser and Larcher, and note Lycurgus enjoined that they should re- 
 
 on book vi. 56. gularly celebrate this festival and that of 
 
 They were inclined towards the Per- the Hyacinthia, to check distant expedi- 
 
 sians, but assisted the Greeks. Diodorus tions. See note on vi. 120. See also 
 
 Si culus (xi. 4.) says, that there were two Thucyd. v. 75, 76.
 
 226 HERODOTUS. 
 
 manner themselves; for the Olympic festival* 1 came round at 
 this same period. As they did not therefore suppose that the 
 engagement at Thermopylae could so soon be decided, they 
 dispatched some of their men as forerunners. Such then were 
 their intentions. 
 
 CCVII. In the mean while, those Greeks who were already 
 arrived at Thermopylae, when the Persian advanced towards 
 the pass, apprehending the event, began to think of retiring. 
 All the Peloponnesians, except the Spartans, were of opinion 
 thev should march away to Peloponnesus, and defend the isth- 
 mus of Corinth. But Leonidas, perceiving the Phocians and 
 Locrians very averse to that proposition, determined to stay 
 there, and to dispatch messengers to the confederates, to de- 
 sire them to come to their succour, because they were too few 
 to keep off the army of the Medes. 
 
 CCVIII. During the time of these deliberations, Xerxes 
 sent a scout on horseback, to view their numbers, and to dis- 
 cover how they were employed. For whilst he stayed in 
 Thessaly, he was informed, that the Grecians had assembled 
 a small army in that place, the leaders of which were the La- 
 cedaemonians, and Leonidas, of the race of Hercules. The 
 scout, when he rode up to the Grecian camp, could not see 
 their whole force, because the wall, which they had rebuilt, 
 covered all those who were within : so that he discovered no 
 more of their men than those who were slationed in the front 
 of the wall. On that day the Lacedaemonians happened to 
 be posted without ; and by that means he saw some of them 
 performing their exercises, and others combing their hair. 
 When he had seen these things with astonishment, and in- 
 formed himself of their number, he retired at his leisure ; no 
 man pursuing, nor seeming to take any notice of him. At his 
 return he gave an account to Xerxes of every thing he had 
 seen. 
 
 CCIX. When the king had heard his report, he could not 
 imagine that the Grecians were come thither, only as men 
 prepared to die, and to destroy as many of their enemies as 
 they could ; though nothing was more true. But, as their 
 conduct appeared to him ridiculous, he sent for Demaratus 
 the son of Ariston, who was then in the camp ; and when he 
 was come into his presence, examined him touching each par- 
 ticular, shewing himself desirous to know what the Lacedae- 
 monians were doing. " Sir," said Demaratus, " you have al- 
 " ready heard my opinion concerning these men, when we 
 " were sitting out against Greece : and though I told you no 
 " more than I foresaw would come to pass, you laughed' at 
 
 i See book viii. ch. 26.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 209 
 
 " me. For it is my chief aim to speak the truth in your pre- 
 " sence, O king, and therefore now also hear it. These Spar- 
 " tans are advanced to this place with a resolution to fight, 
 " and are now preparing themselves to dispute our passage. 
 " For their custom is, to put their hair in order r , when they 
 " are going to expose their lives to the greatest dangers. But 
 " if you conquer these Lacedaemonians, and those they left 
 " behind in Sparta, be assured, no other nation will dare to 
 " lift up a hand against your power. For you are now to at- 
 " tack the most valiant men, and the best government of all 
 " Greece." These things seeming incredible to Xerxes, he 
 asked him again how so small a number could possibly resist 
 his army. " O king," replied Demaratus, " deal with me as 
 " with a liar, if these things do not turn out as I say." 
 
 CCX. Demaratus by these words did not convince Xer- 
 xes ; who let four days pass without any movement, as he 
 constantly expected that they would betake themselves to 
 flight. But on the fifth day, perceiving they were not yet 
 withdrawn, and imputing their stay to arrogance and rash- 
 ness, transported with indignation, he sent out the Medes 
 and the Cissians, with orders to take them alive, and bring 
 them into his presence. When the Medes rushed upon the 
 Greeks with great impetuosity, many of them fell ; to these 
 others succeeded, and though they met with great slaughter 
 they did not retreat : and they made it evident to every one, 
 and not least of all to the king, that they were indeed many 
 men, but few soldiers 3 . This action lasted through the whole 
 day. 
 
 CCXI. When the Medes were thus roughly handled, they 
 retired ; and in their room Hydarnes advanced, with that body 
 of Persians who by the king were called Immortal, not doubt- 
 ing to put an end to the dispute with ease. But when they 
 came to close with the Grecians, they succeeded no better 
 than the Medes : since they used spears, which were shorter 
 than those of the Greeks; and as they fought in a narrow 
 place, they were unable to use their numbers to advantage. 
 The Lacedaemonians deserve ever to be remembered with 
 honour for the way in which they fought that day ; in which, 
 among other things, they shewed how much they were supe- 
 rior to the enemy in military knowledge. For whenever they 
 
 r Long hair distinguished the free man over the Argives. See book i. ch. 82. 
 
 from the slave: and, according to Plu- Lurcher. . 
 
 tarch, (in Lycurg. p. 53.) Lycurgus used 8 Cicero says of C. Marius, " Tulit 
 
 to say that long hair added grace to the " dolorem ut vir; et, ut homo, majorem 
 
 handsome and made the ugly more ter- " ferre sine causa necessaria noluit." 
 
 rible. The Lacedaemonians did not let Tusc. ii. 21. 
 their hair grow until after their victory 
 
 VOL. II. E e
 
 210 HERODOTUS. 
 
 retired, they made their retreat in close order: and when 
 they found they were pursued by the Barbarians with noise 
 and shouting, then, facing about on a sudden, they killed an 
 inconceivable number of the Persians, with little loss on their 
 side. So that after the enemy had in vain attempted to make 
 themselves masters of the pass, both in separate bodies, and 
 in every other manner, they were at last obliged to retire. 
 
 CCXII. The report is, that the king, who was spectator of 
 this fight, lept thrice from his throne during these attacks, 
 being under great apprehensions for his army. The next 
 day the Barbarians, considering how few the Grecians were 
 in number, and supposing so many of them to be already 
 wounded, that they wotild not be able to maintain a second 
 fight, resolved to make another attempt ; in which they had 
 no better success than before. For the Greeks, having drawn 
 up their forces in bands according to the several nations, 
 fought in turn ; excepting only the Phocians, who were sent 
 to guard the passage of the mountain. When the Persians 
 found nothing different from what they had seen on the pre^ 
 ceding day, they retreated. 
 
 CCXII1. But whilst the king was doubtful what measures 
 he should take in this state of affairs, Ephialtes 1 , the son of 
 Eurydemus, a Melian, coming to him in expectation of a 
 great reward, informed him of the path u which leads to Ther- 
 mopylae, over the mountain ; and by that means caused the 
 total destruction of those Greeks who were stationed there. 
 Afterwards, fearing the indignation of the Lacedaemonians, 
 he fled to Thessaly: and during his flight the Pylagorae*, in 
 the general assembly of the Amphictyons at PylaB, set a price 
 upon his head. But after some time he was killed at Anti- 
 cyra by Athenades, a Trachinian ; .who, though he killed him 
 for another reason, which I shall mention hereafter - v , was re- 
 warded by the Lacedaemonians. 
 
 CCXIV. Some indeed relate this story in a different man- 
 
 'Calliades and Timaphernes, (Ctesias, The pass of Thermopylae was defended 
 
 Pers. 24.) the leading men of Trachis, by the Greeks, and taken by the Gauls, 
 
 had joined Xerxes with their forces, so many years after this event, by the 
 
 that the action of Ephialtes is not pro- same path, &c. See Pausan. i. 3, 4. 
 
 perly treasonable. The Greek word is Larcher. 
 
 ETriaXrijc, which ought to be translated * The term Amphictyon is the most 
 
 Ephialtes. Epialtes is an lonism. Lar- general. It includes the Pylagorae, the 
 
 cher. Hieromnemons, and all those who had 
 
 u The Greeks call a narrow path arpa- admission into the council. See Lar- 
 
 TTOC, and this word is always used by cher's note on book v. ch. 62. Potter, 
 
 Herodotus to signify the path which E- Arch. Graec. book i. ch. 16. confounds 
 
 phialtes shewed to the Persians. Though the Pylagora; with the Amphictyons. 
 
 common to all other paths, yet it after- * This promise Herodotus has not ful 
 
 wards became the proper name of this filled, 
 one. See Appian. Histor. Syriac. p. 158.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 211 
 
 ner, and pretend, that Onates, the son of Phatmgoras, a Ca- 
 rystian, and Corydalus of Anticyra, were the men who disco- 
 vered the path to the king, and conducted the Persians by 
 the way of the mountain. But to me this seems altogether 
 incredible; which may be concluded in the first place by this, 
 that when the Amphictyons set a price upon the head of 
 Ephialtes the Trachinian z , and not upon Onates and Coryda- 
 lus, they surely would have gained most accurate inform- 
 ation on the subject. In the second place, we are certain 
 Ephialtes ran away on this occasion. It is true, that Onates, 
 though he was not a Melian, might be well acquainted with 
 this path, if he had been much conversant with the country. 
 But it was Ephialtes who conducted the Persians over the 
 mountain, and I accuse him of this crime. 
 
 CCXV. Xerxes having heard with satisfaction what Ephi- 
 altes took upon him to perform, shewed himself extremely 
 pleased, and ordered Hydarnes to march away immediately 
 with the forces he commanded. In the evening" Hydarnes 
 began to advance towards the path, by which formerly the 
 inhabitants of Melis, who were the first discoverers, conducted 
 the Thessalians against the Phocians, when they, having built 
 a wall to defend the other pass, thought themselves secure 
 from war. And from that time it had not proved of any ser- 
 vice to the Melians. 
 
 CCXVI. This path runs thus : it begins at the river Aso- 
 pus, which passes through an aperture of the mountain ; (the 
 name both of the mountain and path is Auopasa ;) it extends 
 along the back of the hills, and ends near Alpenus, the first 
 Locrian city towards Melis, by the stone of Melampygus b , 
 and the seats of the Cercopes c ; where the way is more nar- 
 row than in any other part. 
 
 CCXV1I. Along this path, thus situate, the Persians 
 marched all night, after they had passed the river Asopus, 
 having the mountains of (Eta on their right, and the Trachinian 
 on their left hand ; and at day-break arrived at the top of the 
 hills ; where, as I have already said, a thousand Phocians 
 
 z Herodotus, in the preceding chapter, with their heads downwards, and below 
 
 calls him a Melian, but this amounts to his lion's skin. The brothers perceiving 
 
 the same, as Trachinia formed part of that Hercules had black buttocks, re- 
 
 Melis. Lurcher. collected their mother's caution, and 
 
 a Literally, about the lighting of can- laughed. Hercules, when he learnt the 
 
 dies. reason of their mirth, loosened them, 
 
 b Thia, (Zenob. Adag. v. 10.) a daugh- and let them go. Lurcher. 
 terofOceanus, had two sons, who insulted c The Cercopes were robbers. There 
 
 passengers. Their mother cautioned them were some at Ephesus in the time of 
 
 against a certain Melampygus, (one who Hercules. It is probable that the name 
 
 had black buttocks.) Hercules met them was afterwards applied to all robbers, 
 
 one day, and having tied their feet to- and there were doubtless some in mount 
 
 gether, hung them over his shoulders, (Eta. Larcher. 
 
 E e 2
 
 212 HERODOTUS. 
 
 were posted, to secure their own country, and to guard the 
 path. For the lower pass was guarded by those I mentioned 
 before : and the Phocians had voluntarily undertaken to Leo- 
 nidas to defend that across the mountain. 
 
 CCXVIII. The Persians were not discovered by the Pho- 
 cians till they had reached the top of the hills ; having been 
 all that time concealed by the great number of oaks d which 
 grew in the way. But then, the noise of the leaves they 
 trod upon gave notice of their approach ; which was natural, 
 as the air was perfectly serene and quiet. "Upon this alarm 
 the Phocians sprung up, and began to put on their arms, 
 when immediately the Barbarians appeared ; and when they 
 saw men putting on their armour, they were astonished ; for, 
 expecting to find nothing to oppose them, they fell in with an 
 army. Hydarnes fearing the Phocians might be Lacedaemo- 
 nians, demanded of Ephialtes of what nation the enemy was ; 
 and being informed who they were, he drew up the Persians 
 in order of battle. The Phocians, finding themselves galled 
 by the great numbers of darts, which the Persians threw in- 
 cessantly among them, retired with precipitation to the high- 
 est part of the mountain ; and supposing that this enterprize 
 was formed expressly against them e , prepared to die gal- 
 lantly. But the Persians, with Ephialtes and Hydarnes, paid 
 no regard to the Phocians, but marched down from the moun- 
 tain with all possible expedition. 
 
 CCXIX. The augur Megistias having inspected the sacri- 
 fices, was the first who acquainted the Greeks at Thermo- 
 pylas of the death that would befal them in the morning. 
 After which, certain deserters' arriving in the night, gave in- 
 formation that the Persians were passing over the mountain : 
 and, thirdly, at day-break, the Hemeroscopi came running 
 from the hills with the same intelligence. Upon this the 
 Greeks held a consultation, and their opinions were divided. 
 For some would not hear of abandoning their station, and 
 others were of a contrary sentiment. Afterwards, when the 
 assembly broke up, some of them departed, and dispersed to 
 
 d These mountains, according to all " Ipsum jam puppibus aequor 
 
 travellers, are now woodless. Nor has ' ' Deficit, et totos consumunt caibasa 
 
 the destruction been a modern event : " ventos." 
 
 it is noticed by Statius, as in his time Stat. Achill. i. 426. 
 
 extensive in the Roman empire, and Mitford's Greece, viii. 3. note 22. 
 
 especially in Greece : e 'Apxrjv. This word taken adverbi- 
 
 " Nusquam umbras veteres ; minor 0- ally is very common in Herodotus. It 
 
 " thrys, et ardua silent signifies absolutely, precisely, entirely. 
 
 " Taygeta ; exuti viderunt aera mon- Larcher. 
 
 " tes. f Diodorus Sic. xi. 8. mentions but 
 
 "Jam natat omnen'emus: casduntur one. 
 "robora clas&i.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 213 
 
 their several cities ; but the rest prepared to stay there with 
 Leonidas. 
 
 CCXX. Some say, that Leonidas, out of an earnest desire 
 to preserve their lives, dismissed all those who marched away; 
 but that he, and the Spartans with him, could never with ho- 
 nour desert the post they came to defend. For my own part, 
 I am most inclined to think, that Leonidas, observing his 
 allies averse and unwilling to run the same hazard with him, 
 gave them leave to retire ; but that he considered it disho- 
 nourable for himself to depart : on the other hand, if he re- 
 mained there, he would acquire immortal glory, and the feli- 
 city of Sparta would not be obliterated. For the Spartans, 
 having already consulted the Pythian touching the event of 
 this war, had received for answer, that Sparta should be de- 
 stroyed by the Barbarians, or their king should lose his life. 
 The oracle was delivered in hexameters, to this effect : 
 
 To you who dwell in Sparta's spacious plains, 
 
 Either your glorious city is destroyed 
 
 By Persian warriors, or your borders mourn 
 
 A king's destruction, of Herculean race ; 
 
 For neither bulls nor lions shall withstand -^. f - ' 
 
 His furious charge. Jove's mighty force he wields, 
 
 And will not stop, till this or that shall fall. 
 
 My opinion therefore is, that Leonidas revolving these things 
 in his mind, and being desirous to acquire glory for the Spar- 
 tans alone, sent away the confederates ; and not, that those 
 who marched away, differed in opinion, and went away in such 
 a dishonourable manner. 
 
 CCXXI. The following is not the least proof concerning 
 this matter. For it is certain, that Leonidas not only dis 
 missed the others, but also Megistias, in order that he might 
 not also perish with them. This Megistias followed the army 
 as a prophet, and had foretold from an inspection of the vic- 
 tims what was about to turn out. He was a native of Acar- 
 nania, and is said to have derived his origin from Melampus 8 . 
 He himself, though he was dismissed, did not depart, but 
 sent home his only son, who had attended him on this expe- 
 dition. 
 
 CCXXII. So that in truth, the allies that went away, re- 
 tired by the persuasion of Leonidas : only the Thespians and the 
 Thebans 11 remained with the Lacedaemonians ; the Thebans in- 
 deed unwillingly, and against their inclination, for they were 
 detained as hostages by Leonidas ; but the Thespians volun- 
 
 s Concerning Melampus see note on eighty men to Theimopylae, who shared 
 
 book ii. 49. in this glorious action; and in another 
 
 h Diodorus Siculus (xi. 9.) speaks place (x. 20.) he says, that all the allies 
 
 only of the Thespians. Pausanius (ii. retired before the battle, except the 
 
 16.) says, that the Mycenaeans sent Thespians and Mycenaeans. Larcher.
 
 214 HERODOTUS. 
 
 tarily, and, with their leader Demophilus the son of Diadromas, 
 constantly refusing to abandon Leonidas and his Spartans, 
 died with them in the field. 
 
 CCXXIII. Xerxes, after he had poured out a libation at 
 the time of the rising of the sun, and stayed till the hour men 
 usually meet in the public places 1 , began to move on with his 
 army, as Ephialtes had advised ; because the descent of the 
 mountain is much shorter, and more free from windings, than 
 the circuit and ascent. Upon their approach, Leonidas with 
 the Greeks, marching out as if for certain death, now advanced 
 into a much wider part of the defile than they had before. 
 For till that time they used to guard the wall, and on former 
 days they used to march out and fight in the narrowest part of 
 the pass ; but now engaging in the widest, great numbers of 
 the Barbarians fell. For their officers standing behind the 
 divisions with scourges, struck the soldiers, and constantly 
 urged them forward ; so that many falling into the sea were 
 drowned, and many more were trampled under foot ; and no 
 regard was paid to those that perished. The Greeks, on their 
 part, knowing they could not avoid death upon the arrival of 
 those who were going round the mountain, regardless of 
 themselves, and madly desperate, exerted their utmost efforts 
 against the Barbarians, 
 
 CCXXIV. Already were most of their javelins broken, 
 and they had began to dispatch the Persians with their swords. 
 In this struggle fell Leonidas, after he had done all that a brave 
 man could do, and with him other eminent Spartans, whose 
 names, as they had proved themselves valiant men, I enquired, 
 as well as the rest of the three hundred. On the part of the 
 Persians also at this time many other illustrious men were 
 killed, and among these, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, sons of 
 Darius, by Phrataguna the daughter of his brother Atarnes, 
 who was son to Hystaspes, and grandson to Arsames. When 
 Atarnes married his daughter to Darius, he gave him all his 
 possessions, because he had no other offspring. 
 
 CCXXV. These two brothers of Xerxes fell at this place 
 while bravely fighting : and a violent struggle ensued between 
 the Lacedffimonians and Persians for the body of Leonidas k : 
 
 ' See note on book ii. ch. 173. places, penetrated to Xerxes, and 
 
 k " While the Lacedaemonians were snatched the diadem from his head. 
 
 " taking their repast," says the author of "When he was dead, the king caused 
 
 the Minor Parallels attributed to Pin- his heart to be taken out, which he 
 
 tarch, " the Barbarians marched in a found covered with hair, according to 
 
 ' body to attack them. Leonidas seeing Aristides." Larcher. 
 
 ' them approach, said to his men, Dine The report of Diodorus, followed by 
 
 ' as if you were to sup in the palace of Plutarch, Justin, and others, that Leoni- 
 
 ' Pluto. He routed the Barbarians, and das with his Spartans attacked the Per- 
 
 ' although pierced with pikes in many sian camp by night, and penetrated to
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 215 
 
 till at last the Greeks rescued it by their valour, and four 
 times repulsed the enemy. This was the state of things when 
 the army with Ephialtes arrived ; of which the Greeks were 
 no sooner informed, than the battle altered 1 . For returning 
 into the narrow way, and passing within the wall, they all drew 
 together, except the Thebans, and posted themselves in close 
 order on a rising ground; where a lion of stone" 1 is now seen, 
 erected for a monument to Leonidas. In this place, those who 
 had swords remaining, defended themselves with them, the 
 others used their hands and teeth": but the Barbarians 
 overwhelmed them with missiles, some of them attacking 
 them in front after they had overthrown the wall, and others 
 surrounding them on all sides. 
 
 CCXXVI. The general opinion is, that though the Lace- 
 daemonians and Thespians shewed such invincible courage, 
 yet Dieneces the Spartan distinguished himself beyond all 
 others : and when a Trachinian p told him, before the fight 
 began, that the multitude of the Barbarians was so great, that 
 when they let fly their arrows, they would hide the light of 
 the sun ; he was so far from being astonished, that in con- 
 tempt of their numbers he said, " our Trachinian friend an- 
 nounces all sorts of advantages, if the Medes obscure the sun, 
 we shall then fight in the shade." This and other such say- 
 ings were left as memorials by Dieneces the Lacedaemonian. 
 
 CCXXVII. After him, those who signalized themselves 
 most among the Lacedaemonians were two brothers, Alpheus 
 and Maron, sons of Orisiphantus ; and of the Thespians, Di- 
 thyrambus the son of Harmatides. 
 
 CCXXVIII. They were all buried in the place where 
 
 the royal tent, is inconsistent with the Spartans alone were admitted to contend 
 
 other circumstances, whether of place or for the prize. Lurcher. 
 time ; nor does it seem too much to say, n This appeared to Longinus hyper- 
 
 that it is an absurd fiction. Indeed, most bolical, (see his treatise ITtpi 'Y\|/oi>e,) 
 
 of the tales, the omission of which by but it does not to me. This method of 
 
 Herodotus has so much excited the in- fighting was familiar to the Lacedaemoni- 
 
 dignation of Plutarch, appear fitter for aus. Cicero was witness of it himself, 
 
 poetry or romance than history. Mil- " Adolescentium greges Lacedaemone vi- 
 
 ford's Greece, ch. viii. 3. note 26. " dimus ipsi, incredibili contentione cer- 
 
 1 This is what Homer calls trtpoX- " tantes pugnis, calcibus,anguibus,mor- 
 
 KTjf. " su denique." Tuscul. Qusest v. 27. 
 
 m Two epigrams on this subject are Larcher. 
 
 preserved in the Analecta Veter. Poet. Beloe refers to the instance of a Nu- 
 
 Graec. torn. i. pag. 132. N. 35. and torn. midian soldier, who was found in the 
 
 ii. pag. 162. N. 8. field of Cannae, expiring under the body 
 
 The bones of Leonidas (Pausan. iii. 14) of a Roman, whose head he was tearing 
 
 were carried to Sparta by Pausanias, with his teeth. See Livy, xxvii. 51. 
 forty years after his death. They were Diodorus Siculus relates this battle 
 
 placed in a tomb opposite the Theatre, somewhat differently. See xi. 9 and 10. 
 and every year a funeral oration was pro- P Cicero (Tuscul. Disput. i. 42.) at- 
 
 nounced to his honour in this place, and tributes this to a Persian by mistake, 
 
 games were celebrated, at which the Wesseling.
 
 216 HERODOTUS. 
 
 they fell ; as well those who died in this action, as those who 
 were^killed before Leonidas dismissed the confederates ; and 
 a monument was erected to their memory with this inscription; 
 
 Four thousand men, from ancient Pelops' land, 
 Here once against three hundred Myriads fought. 
 
 This epitaph was made for all : that which follows, for the 
 Spartans in particular ; 
 
 Stranger go tell the Spartans, that we here, 
 Obedient to their sacred law si, have fallen. 
 
 Besides these, there was another inscription for the prophet 
 Megistias, conceived in these words ; 
 
 Slain by the Medes, divine Megistias lies 
 Under this stone ; he saw approaching fate 
 With heart undaunted ; and refused to fly, 
 When Sparta's leaders had resolved to die. 
 
 The Amphictyons caused them to be honoured with these in- 
 scriptions and columns, but this of Megistias was erected by 
 Simonides r the son of Leoprepes, in testimony of their mutual 
 friendship. 
 
 CCXXIX. Some say, that Eurytus and Aristodemus, two 
 of three hundred Lacedaemonians, being desperately afflicted 
 with a disease of the eyes, retired to Alpeni by the permission 
 of Leonidas : and though they both might have preserved 
 their lives by returning to Sparta; or, refusing to return, 
 might have died with the rest, they could not agree in either; 
 but continued to differ in their opinions, till at last Eurytus, 
 hearing the Persians had gone round the mountain, called for 
 his arms, and when he had them on, ordered his servant to 
 lead him into the midst of the combatants, where, falling in 
 among the thickest of the enemy, he lost his life ; whilst Aris- 
 todemus, wanting courage, stayed behind at Alpeni : as for 
 the servant of Eurytus, he had no sooner conducted his master 
 to the place where the fight was, than he left him, and ran 
 away. Now, if Aristodemus alone had been disabled by his 
 distemper, and in that condition had returned to Sparta ; or if 
 both had gone home together, I cannot think the Lacedaemo- 
 nians would have been displeased. But one of these dying in 
 the field, put them under a necessity of shewing their resent- 
 ment against the survivor ; who, when he had the same ex- 
 cuse as the other, refused to die. 
 
 CCXXX. Thus, some men say Aristodemus returned safe 
 to Sparta under colour of his disease ; but others pretend, 
 that being sent with orders from the army, though he might 
 
 i The word in the original is prjpaai. cero, in his Tusculans, has translated it, 
 But as the laws of Lycurgus were called Dum sanctis patria legibtu obsequimitr. 
 p)rpi, I have translated it laws. Ci- r See note on book v. c. 102.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 217 
 
 have arrived while the battle was going on, he would not, but 
 lingered on the road and preserved his life ; though his com- 
 panion arrived in due time, and died in the field. 
 
 CCXXXI. Aristodemus, at his return, was punished with 
 ignominy and dishonour ; with dishonour, in that no Lacedse- 
 monian would converse with him, or give him a light 5 ; with 
 ignominy, in that they gave him the name of Aristodemus the 
 coward*. But he afterwards wiped off all the charge that was 
 brought against him, at the battle of Plataea. 
 
 CCXXXII. They say also, that another of the three hun- 
 dred, whose name was Pantites, having been sent on a message 
 to Thessaly, survived this action ; and when, at his return to 
 Sparta, he was held in dishonour", he strangled himself. 
 
 CCXXXIII. As for the Thebans and their general Leon- 
 tiades, they were necessitated for some time to fight against 
 the king's army in conjunction with the Greeks : but they no 
 sooner saw the Persians victorious, than they abandoned the 
 rest of their allies, as they were hastening to the hill ; and 
 with extended hands approached the Barbarians, saying, and 
 with great truth, that they had always been partizans of the 
 Medes ; that they were among the first who presented the 
 king with earth and water ; that they came to Thermopylae from 
 compulsion, and were no way guilty of the loss he had sus- 
 tained. By these words, which the Thessalians confirmed with 
 their testimony, the Thebans saved their lives ; but they were 
 not however fortunate in every respect. For the Barbarians 
 killed many of their men, as they advanced to surrender them- 
 selves ; and by the command of Xerxes, branded a much 
 greater number with the royal mark, beginning at their gene- 
 ral Leontiades ; whose son Eurymachus having afterwards 
 surprised the city of Plataea at the head of four hundred The- 
 bans, was killed by the Plataeans x . 
 
 CCXXXIV. Thus the Grecians fought at Thermopylae. 
 Upon this event, Xerxes having sent for Demaratus, began 
 his discourse in this manner : " Demaratus," said he, " I find 
 " by the certain evidence of truth, that you are a man of in- 
 " tegrity ; for all things have happened as you foretold. Tell 
 " me now, therefore, how many the rest of the Lacedsemo- 
 " nians may be? And how many of them, or whether all are 
 
 s This was a common way among the u He might in fact have answered 
 
 Greeks of shewing their abomination for Leonidas as another Spartan did on the 
 
 wicked and polluted persons. Wesseimg. same occasion : " I followed you to fight, 
 
 See Euripides Orest. v. 885. where " and not to carry your messages." See 
 
 the refusing to converse with a polluted Plutarch, de Malign. Herod, p. 866. 
 
 person is also mentioned ; as in Soph. Larcher. 
 
 (Ed. Tyr. 238. and ^Esch. Choeph. 228. * This was at the commencement of 
 
 and Eumenid. 445. the Peloponnesian war. See Thucyd. 
 
 1 See book ix. ch. 70. book ii. ch. 2, 3, 4, 5. 
 
 VOL. II. F f
 
 218 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " such as these in war ?" " O king," said Demaratus, " the La- 
 " cedaemonians are numerous, and have many cities; but I 
 " shall inform you of that which you desire to know. Fn La- 
 " conia is Sparta v , a city which contains, as near as may be, 
 " eight thousand men ; all these are equal in valour to those 
 " who have fought in this place, and the rest of the Lacedae- 
 " moniaus are valiant, though not like these." " Let me 
 " know then," said Xerxes, " how we can conquer these men 
 " with the least trouble ; for, since you have been their king, 
 " you are well acquainted with the course of their counsels.' 
 
 CCXXXV. " Sir," replied Demaratus, " since you with 
 " confidence ask my advice, I am bound to give you the best 
 " I can. You should then send a fleet of three hundred ships 
 " to the Lacedaemonian coast. For there is an island called 
 " Cythera, lying off that shore ; w r hich Chilon, one of the 
 " wisest men of our nation, said would be more advantageous; 
 " to the Spartans, if drowned in the bottom cf the sea, than in 
 " the present situation ; always apprehending such an enter- 
 " prize? as I am about to propose : not that he foresaw the 
 " arrival of your fleet, but fearing equally every naval force 7 . 
 " From this island let your ships issue and alarm the Lacedae- 
 " monians; who finding themselves involved in a defensive 
 " war at home, will no longer give you cause to fear, lest they 
 " should succour the rest of Greece, while it is being taken 
 " by your land forces. In a word, when by this means you 
 " have subdued the other parts of Greece, the Lacedsemo- 
 " nians will be then Aveak and left alone. But if you act 
 " otherwise, expect the following events. There is in the 
 " Peloponnesus a narrow isthmus; in this place all the Pelo- 
 " ponnesians being assembled in a league against you, expect 
 " more violent struggles than the past; whereas, if you put 
 " my advice in execution, not only the isthmus, but their 
 " cities also will be yours without a battle." 
 
 CCXXXVI. When he had finished these words, Achrc- 
 menes, brother to Xerxes, and commander in chief at sea, 
 being present at this discourse, and fearing the king might be 
 induced to follow the counsel of Demaratus, " Sir," said he, 
 " I perceive you hearken to the suggestions of a man, who 
 " either envies your prosperity, or perhaps would betray your 
 " affairs. For the constant manner of the Greeks is, to envy 
 " the fortunate, and to hate their superiors. If therefore, 
 " after you have lost four hundred ships by the storm, you 
 
 y The Spartans exercised a superiority * This did actually come to pass in the 
 
 over the inhabitants of all the neigh- Peloponnesian war. The Athenians 
 
 bouring cities who were called oi Trepi- possessed themselves of Cythera, and 
 
 oiicoior AaKtSaifiovtoi. These are plainly very much annoyed Lacedacmon. See 
 
 alluded to by Demaratus. Valckenaer. Thucyd. iv. 53.
 
 POLYMNIA. VII. 219 
 
 " should send three hundred more to hover about the coast of 
 " Peloponnesus, our enemies might fight us upon equal terms; 
 " but if our fleet be kept in a body, it becomes invincible, 
 " and the Greeks will be unable to resist. Besides, if the 
 " whole fleet accompany the land army, they will be able inu- 
 " tually to assist each other; whereas, if you separate your 
 " naval forces, they can be no way useful to you, nor you <o 
 " them. Arrange therefore your own matters well, and re- 
 " solve not to enter into a particular discussion of your 
 " enemy's affairs ; nor inquire, what they will do ; where they 
 " wiil make a stand ; or what numbers they are. They are 
 " sufficient to think about themselves, and we on our part, no 
 " less. If the Lacedaemonians dare venture a battle against 
 " the Persians, they will not cure their present wound." 
 
 CCXXXVII. " Achaemenes," replied Xerxes, " I ap- 
 " prove your reasons, and will do as you advise. But I am 
 " persuaded, Deniaratus gave me that counsel which he 
 " thought most advantageous to me, though at the same time 
 " your opinion is superior. For I will by no means admit 
 " that Demaratus does not wish well for my affairs, which I 
 " conclude from his former discourses, and from this fact; 
 " that a citizen indeed generally envies his fellow-citizen, if 
 " he sees him prosper, and hates him privately, and, unless 
 " he have attained to an uncommon degree of virtue, will not 
 "give him the best advice, if he ask it. But a friend bears 
 " the greatest regard for his friend in prosperity ; and, if he 
 " ask his advice, always gives him the best he can a . For the 
 " future therefore I enjoin all men to abstain from such ca- 
 " lumny concerning Demaratus, who is my guest and friend." 
 
 CCXXXVII I. When Xerxes had said these words, he 
 passed through the dead ; and having heard that Leonidas was 
 king and general of the Lacedaemonians, he commanded his 
 head to be taken off, and fixed upon a pole. By which ac- 
 tion in particular, and many other proofs, I am persuaded, 
 that Xerxes was more highly incensed against Leonidas dur- 
 ing his life than against any one else ; for else he would not 
 have violated the laws of humanity upon his dead body ; be- 
 cause the Persians are accustomed to pay a greater reverence 
 to men eminent in military virtue, than any other nation we 
 know. However, the king's command was executed by those 
 to whom the order was given. 
 
 CCXXXIX. But to return to my narration. The Lace- 
 daemonians were the first who had notice of the king's expc- 
 
 iivov re av nvpfiovXiv- every Lexicographer except II. Sleplia- 
 atii TU apiara. The difference between nus. 2t'fi/3o'Xuti>, signifies in givecoun- 
 the active and middle verb is here very ap- sel ; ffv^ovXtvofiai , to make anathcr 
 parent, and has been unnoticed by almost /jire one counsel, or to consult. LaKchcr. 
 
 Ff2
 
 220 HERODOTUS. 
 
 dition against Greece ; and on that occasion sending to the 
 oracle at Delphi, received the answer I lately mentioned b . 
 But the way, by which they had their information, deserves to 
 be remembered. Demaratus the son of Ariston, being at that 
 time an exile among the Medes, had, as I conjecture, and ap- 
 pearances support my opinion, no great kindness for the La- 
 cedemonians. But whether he acted in this affair by a mo- 
 tive of affection, or in order to insult his country, I shall leave 
 to the conjectures of others. For when Xerxes had resolved 
 to make war against Greece, and Demaratus, who was then 
 in Susa, had heard of his intention, he determined to acquaint 
 the Lacedaemonians with the design. But because he could 
 contrive no other means, and apprehended the danger of a 
 discovery, he fell upon this invention. He took a double ta- 
 blet, and having shaved off the wax, he engraved the king's 
 resolution on the wood ; which when he had done, he melted 
 the wax again upon it, in order that the tablet having nothing 
 written on it, no trouble might arise, as it was carried from 
 the guards of the way. When the tablet arrived at Sparta, 
 the Lacedaemonians could not comprehend it ; till Gorge, the 
 daughter of Cleomenes, and wife to Leonidas, having consi- 
 dered the matter with herself, bid them break up the wax, and 
 they should find letters written on the wood. The Lacedae- 
 monians did as she ordered ; and when they had found and 
 read the contents, sent them to the rest of the Greeks. These 
 things are reported to have happened in this manner. 
 
 b Ch. ccxx.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 
 HERODOTUS 
 
 :IiK 
 
 11 
 morl ? 
 
 URANIA. 
 
 ,v 
 
 THE Greeks who were assigned to the navy, were these. 
 The Athenians furnished one hundred and twenty-seven 
 ships % manned by themselves, and the Platasans, who from 
 their zeal and courage, though inexperienced in sea affairs, 
 went on board with them b . The Corinthians brought in forty 
 ships; the Megareans twenty. The Chalcidians manned 
 twenty ships borrowed of the Athenians. The people of ^Egina 
 furnished eighteen ; the Sicyonians twelve ; the Lacedaemo- 
 nians ten ; the Epidaurians eight ; the Eretrians seven ; the 
 Troezenians five ; the Styreans two. The inhabitants of the 
 isle of Ceos contributed two ships of war, with two galleys of 
 fifty oars each ; and the Opuntian Locri came to their succour 
 with seven galleys of fifty oars. 
 
 II. These were the people who went out to Artemisium, 
 and this was the number of ships which each nation supplied. 
 The whole number of ships that were collected was two hun- 
 dred and seventy-one, besides fifty-eared galleys. The prin- 
 cipal command was in the hands of Eurybiades the son of 
 
 a The Athenians at Artemisium had same number 200 is mentioned by Corn. 
 
 127 ships. They were afterwards joined Nepos in Themist. ch. iii. Schweigk. 
 
 by 53 more, (see ch. xiv.) which makes b IlX^pw/ia generally signifies the row- 
 
 up the number of 180 that fought at Sa- ers and sailors as opposed to the Epibatze ; 
 
 lamis,(seech.xliv.) If to these are added but sometimes comprehends both, (see 
 
 the 20 others manned by the Chalcidi- viii. 43. 45.) So here avviir\ripovv re- 
 
 ans, mentioned in line 7. we shall have fers both to rowers and those that fought. 
 
 oOO ships, which Diodorus Sic. (xv. 78.) Schweighaitser. 
 
 ays, the Athenians had at Salamis. The ,
 
 222 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Euryclides, nominated to that dignity by the Spartans, because 
 the confederates had declared that they would not follow the 
 Athenians, but would break up the fleet and return home, un- 
 less they might have a Lacedaemonian for their leader. 
 
 III. For before they sent ambassadors to make an alliance 
 in Sicily, they had debated about the expediency of entrusting 
 the conduct of the naval forces to the Athenians. But the 
 Athenians finding the confederates opposed to that proposal, 
 and being extremely desirous to preserve Greece, which they 
 knew must inevitably be destroyed, if they should split into 
 factions for the command, yielded voluntarily, and gave a 
 great proof of their wisdom in so doing . For intestine dis- 
 sensions are by so much more pernicious than a war carried on 
 with unanimity, as war in general is more prejudicial than 
 peace. This they well understood ; and therefore did not re- 
 sist, but yielded as long as they had need of their assistance, 
 as they clearly demonstrated. For when they had driven out 
 the Persian, and were now contending for his country, they 
 used as a pretext the arrogance of Pausanias* 1 , and deprived 
 the Lacedaemonians of the chief command. But these things 
 took place afterwards. 
 
 IV. But at that time, those Greeks who had gone to Arte- 
 misium, seeing a prodigious number of tb^e enemy's ships at 
 Aphetae, all places filled with their forces, and the Barbarians 
 successful beyond their expectation and opinion, in a great 
 consternation, deliberated concerning retiring from Artemi- 
 sium into the inner parts of Greece. The Euboeans hearing 
 of this consultation, earnestly begged of Eurybiades to defer 
 the departure of the fleet for a short time, until they could 
 convey away to a place of safety their children and families e . 
 But finding him inflexible, they went over to Themistocles the 
 Athenian general, and by a present of thirty talents prevailed 
 with him to promise, that they would stay and fight the enemy 
 before Eubcea. 
 
 c Historians have, upon this occasion, had skill to lead the froward populace of 
 justly applauded the moderation of the Athens to submit their passions to his 
 Athenian leaders, who patiently acqui- opinion. Mitford's Greece, viii. 4. The 
 esced under this decision ; and, superior character of Themistocles is beautifully 
 to little punctilio, continued with un- given by Tliucydides, book i. ch. 138. 
 abated zeal to prosecute the great pur- d The justice of Aristides contributed 
 poses of the common cause. liut the not a little to induce the Greeks to trans- 
 Athenian counsels were, at this time, fer the chief command to the Athenians, 
 directed by a man who could conceal This, however, happened three years af- 
 unbounded desire of glory under the terwards, in the 4th year of the 75th 
 mask of modesty ; who, with a temper as Olympiad. See Thucyd. i. 96. Corn, 
 pliable as his genius was penetrating, Nepos in Aristid. ch. ii. and Diodorus 
 weighing the necessities of the times, Sic. xi. 44. 46. 
 
 and foreseeing the opportunities of ambi- e OiKsrag. This not only means slaves, 
 
 tion, could not only accommodate him- but all the family. Hesychius explains 
 
 self to all seasons and circumstances, but O/cerat, ci KOTU rov OIKOV
 
 URANIA. VIII. 223 
 
 V. Themistoclos caused the Greeks to stay in this manner. 
 He imparted five talents of this money to Eurybiades, as if 
 forsooth for himself; and having gained him over, he addressed 
 the Corinthian commander Adimantus f the son of Ocytus ; 
 because he was now the only person who struggled against 
 lliis measure, and had peremptorily declared he would leave 
 Artemisium, and with an oath said to him, " Adimantus, you, 
 " at least, shall not abandon us; for I will make you a greater 
 " present than the king of trie Medes would send you for 
 " deserting the allies.'" When n he had spoken these words, he 
 presently sent him three talents of silver on board his ship. 
 The commanders being thus astonished at his presents were 
 persuaded to stay, and he at once gratified the Eubceans, and 
 gained considerably himself, by secretly keeping 8 the rest; 
 whilst those who took part of the money thought it had been 
 sent from Athens for that purpose. 
 
 VI. Thus the Greeks continued on the coast of Eubcea till 
 they came to an engagement, which happened in this manner. 
 The Barbarians arriving in the road of Aphetae about day- 
 break, and observing that the Greeks were at Artemisium 
 with a small number of ships, as they had been already in- 
 formed, were eager to attack them, in the hope of taking 
 them. But they were not of opinion to attack them in front, 
 lest the Greeks, seeing them approaching, should betake them- 
 selves to flight ; and, favoured by the ensuing night, should 
 make their escape ; whereas, according to their account, not 
 even the torch-bearer 1 ' ought to survive. 
 
 VII. For this purpose they devised the following plan: they 
 detached two hundred ships chosen out of all their fleet; with 
 orders to sail behind Sciathus, that they might not be seen by 
 
 f A man of honour, faithful to his duty, According to Phanias of Lesbos, he 
 
 is only sensible to the glory which may gave one talent to Architeles, an Athe- 
 
 result from it. Interest is never the spring nian. See Plutarch in Themist. p. 115. 
 
 of his actions. Adimantus, alarmed by Lurcher. 
 
 the impending danger, wished to sepa- h Before trumpets were used in armies, 
 
 rate himself from the allies, but influ- signals were given by a torch. (See Scho- 
 
 enced by money, he remained. We liast. Eurip. Phoeniss. v. 1386.) Those 
 
 must not, therefore, be surprised that a who bore it were sacred to Mars. They 
 
 man who performed his duty only from advanced at the head of the armies, and 
 
 so base a motive, should have ultimately in the space between let fall their torches 
 
 behaved so cowardly. Such at least and retired without molestation. The 
 
 was the idea entertained at Athens. armies engaged, and the torch-bearer's 
 
 The rest of Greece thought differently, life was always spared, because he was 
 
 Simonides wrote an epitaph, which was consecrated to Mars. Hence in a total 
 
 inscribed on his tomb, saying, that " it defeat the proverb was used, Not even 
 
 " was by his counsels that Greece ob- the torch-bearer has escaped. Herodotus 
 
 " tained the crown of liberty." Seethe is the first who used this expression, 
 
 Analecta Yeter. Poet. Gr. torn. i. p. 133. which afterwards became very common. 
 
 N. 41. Lurcher. Lurcher.
 
 224 HERODOTUS. 
 
 the Greeks, and shape their course to the Euripus, by Ca- 
 phareus and Geraestus ; that by these means they might sur- 
 round the enemy, the one party by going round in that way 
 and intercepting the retreat, and themselves attacking them 
 in front. When they had taken this resolution, they sent 
 away the two hundred ships ; and not intending to attack the 
 Greeks that day, nor before they should see the signal agreed 
 upon to notify the arrival of their detachment, they applied 
 themselves to take the number of ships which remained at 
 Aphetas. 
 
 VIII. Whilst they were numbering their ships, there hap- 
 pened to be in the camp, Scyllias' of Scyone, the best diver 
 of his time; he had saved for the Persians a great part of 
 the treasure sunk in the shipwreck at Pelion k , and had ac- 
 quired a considerable sum for himself. He had been long de- 
 sirous to go over to the Grecians ; but a good opportunity had 
 not offered itself until that time. By what means he made 
 his escape to the Grecians I cannot certainly affirm, and I 
 wonder whether the account given of him is true. For the 
 report is, that he plunged into the sea at Aphetae, and rose 
 no more till he arrived at Artemisium, having passed through 
 the sea for a space of, as near as can be, eighty stadia. Many 
 other things are related of this man, that have the air of false- 
 hood ; and some that are true. Yet after all, my opinion is, 
 that he made his passage to Artemisium in a boat. At his 
 arrival, he informed the commanders of the particulars of the 
 shipwreck 1 , and of the ships that were sent round Euboea. 
 
 IX. Which when the Grecians heard, they called a council, 
 and after divers opinions had been proposed, came to a reso- 
 lution, " that they would continue in their station all that 
 " day, and at midnight weigh anchor to advance to meet the 
 " fleet, which was sent out to prevent their escape." After- 
 wards, when no ships advanced towards them, they lay by till 
 sun-set m ; and then sailed of themselves against the Barbarians, 
 in order to make a trial of their manner of fighting, and 
 their skill in going through the diecplus". 
 
 X. When the enemy, both officers and soldiers, saw 
 them approaching with so few ships, they attributed their en- 
 
 ' Pausanias (x. 19.) relates that his m Larcher translates ceiXqv o-^iijv, 
 daughter Cyane dived with him at the " Sur les trois heures apres-midi." He 
 time of the tempest, and removed the an- affirms that this is the proper meaning, 
 chors which held the Persian vessels. because Dion Chrysostnm (de Glor. Or. 
 k See book vii. ch. 188. 2.) says that fo/Ai/ has that signification, 
 1 No one was better able to inform the and because the Greeks, after the en- 
 Greeks of the events of the tempest than gagement, returned to Artemisium that 
 Scyllias, who had been employed as a night. See his note, 
 diver. Larcher. " See note on book vi. ch. 12.
 
 UBANIA. VIII. 225 
 
 lerprize to extreme madness ; and advancing likewise on their 
 part, doubted not but that they should easily take them. The 
 truth is, they had great reason to expect success, since they 
 saw that the Grecian ships were few, and their own not only 
 far more in number, but much better sailers, and therefore, in 
 contempt P, they encompassed them on all sides. Those of 
 the lonians, who retained an affection for the Greeks, and 
 were with regret among the enemy's forces, were extremely 
 concerned to see them surrounded in such a manner ; thinking 
 that not one of them would return ; so weak did the Grecian 
 affairs appear. Those on the other hand, who were pleased 
 with their situation 1, laboured with all their might, who should 
 take the first Athenian ship, and receive a recompence from 
 the king. For the Athenians were in greater esteem in both 
 fleets than any of the other confederates. 
 
 XI. At the first signal the Greeks drew into a circle, and 
 turned the heads of all their ships against the Barbarians. At 
 the second signal, though crowded into a narrow compass, 
 they commenced the combat. In a short time they got pos- 
 session of thirty Barbarian ships by a direct attack 1 with Phi- 
 laon the son of Chersis, brother to Gorges king of the Sala- 
 miniaus ; a man highly esteemed in their army. Lycomedes 
 the son of ^Eschreus, an Athenian, was the first who took a 
 ship from the enemy, and received the prize for his valour. 
 But night coming on put an end to the dispute, after they had 
 fought with various success on both sides ; the Greeks return- 
 ing to Artemisium, and the Barbarians to Aphetac, with differ- 
 ent success than what they expected. In , this engagement 
 Antidorus the Lemniau was the only one among all the Greeks 
 in the king's service who went over to the confederates ; and 
 on that account the Athenians rewarded hkft with lands in 
 Salamis. 
 
 XII. This battle was fought in the midst of summer ; and 
 during all the night so prodigious a storm of rain fell, accom- 
 panied with hard thunder, breaking out from about Pelion, 
 that the dead bodies and pieces of wreck driven to Aphetae, 
 rolling round the heads of their ships, impeded the blades of 
 their oars. Which the soldiers who were on board hearing, 
 
 Beloe compares with this Shakspeare's noteof WasseonSallust Jug. 8ti. Lurcher. 
 
 animated description of the French con- r Kara yrofta. As in general in naval 
 
 tempt of the English army previous to the engagements they attacked the enemy by 
 
 battle of Agincourt. endeavouring to dart upon their sides, or 
 
 P For the force of the verb Kara^po- sweep away their oars by the movement 
 
 vilv, see note, book i. ch. 69. cal led diecplus, and frequently by darting 
 
 ( i The expression in the original is very on the stern, I suppose that in the pre- 
 
 common among Greek writers. It is sent case they captured the enemy by a 
 
 used also by Tacitus, (Vit. Agricol. 18.) direct impact on their prows. Schweigh- 
 
 " Quibusbellum volentibuserat."Seethe icuser. See his long note. 
 
 VOL. II. G g
 
 22C HERODOTUS. 
 
 were struck with consternation, and expected nothing but 
 death, when they saw so many calamities succeeding one an- 
 other. For before they had recovered breath, after the former 
 tempest and shipwreck at mount Pelion, they were forced to 
 fight a dangerous battle at sea ; and before that engagement 
 was well over, were surprised by impetuous rains and horrid 
 thunder, with torrents of water rushing into the sea. In this 
 terror they passed that night. 
 
 XIII. But to those, who had been ordered to sail round 
 Eubcea, this night proved so much the more severe, as it came 
 upon them while they were in the open sea ; and thus they 
 perished miserably 8 . For as they were sailing near the bay of 
 Eubcea, called the Ccela 1 , the storm and rain fell upon them 
 with such violence, that they were driven they knew not 
 where by the force of the winds, and dashed in pieces upon 
 the rocks. This the Gods did, to reduce the Persian fleet to 
 an equality with that of the Grecians, or at least not to leave 
 them so much superior in number. And thus these ships pe- 
 rished near the Ccela of Eubcea. 
 
 XIV. The light of the next day was welcome to the Bar- 
 barians at Aphetas ; who keeping themselves quiet in their 
 station, were contented, after their ill success, to attempt no- 
 thing more for the present. On the other hand the Greeks 
 received a reinforcement of fifty-three Athenian ships, which, 
 with the news they brought, that all the Barbarians, who were 
 sailing round Eubcea, had perished in the storms, so heightened 
 their courage, that having waited to the same hour they chose 
 the day before, they attacked and destroyed the squadron of 
 the Cilicians, and returned at night to Artemisium. 
 
 XV. On the third day the commanders of the Barbarians, 
 moved with indignation to be thus insulted by a few ships, and 
 fearing the displeasure of Xerxes, would not stay for the 
 Greeks to begin the battle ; but encouraging their men to 
 acquit themselves valiantly, unmoored about noon, and pre- 
 pared to fight. These actions by sea happened on the same 
 days with those by land at Thermopylae ; and the contest in 
 both places was of the same nature. For as Leonidas and 
 those who were with him endeavoured to defend the pass of 
 Thermopyla3, so the naval forces fought to prevent the enemy 
 
 To reXoc a<j>i tyivtro axapt. This ex- See Heyne's note. Homer was the first 
 
 pression is censured by Longinus (Trtpi who expressed himself in that way ; 
 
 "Yi^ove. 42.) as too feeble. But this is a and as his writings were the base of the 
 
 common mode with Herodotus of describ- education of the Greek youth, it became 
 
 ing any thing shocking. Compare Vir- generally adopted. See Larcher's note, 
 
 gil's 3rd Georgic. init. and note on book i. 41. 
 
 Quis aut Eurysthea durum, ' Sin , us Edicus, quern C^a vocant, 
 
 "Aut{ n /dt,-nescit Busirides aras?" susjiectus naut.s. Liv Hist. Roman. 
 
 xxxi. 41. bee note on book vj. ch. 10
 
 URANIA. VIII, 227 
 
 from entering the Euripus ; the Greeks on their part encou- 
 raging one another not to suffer the Barbarians to break into 
 Greece ; and these on the other hand animating their men to 
 destroy the Greeks, and make themselves masters of the 
 passages. 
 
 XVI. In this view the Barbarians having drawn out their 
 fleet, advanced towards the Grecians, who were lying quiet 
 at Artemisium. The Barbarians having drawn up their ships 
 in the form of a half-moon, were encircling them in order to 
 take them ; upon which the Greeks came out likewise, and 
 engaged. The battle was fought with equal forces" on both 
 sides. For the fleet of Xerxes, from the number of its ships, 
 impeded itself, as the ships ran foul of one another and con- 
 founded their order ; yet they continued to fight, and would 
 not retire, because they were ashamed to be put to flight by 
 so few. So that many of the Grecian ships perished in the 
 action, and many men : but the loss of the Barbarians was 
 much greater in both. After such a combat they each sepa- 
 rated. 
 
 XVII. In this battle the Egyptians signalized their cou- 
 rage above the rest of the enemy's forces ; and besides other 
 memorable actions, took five Grecian ships, with all the men 
 on board. On the part of the Greeks, the Athenians behaved 
 themselves with the greatest valour ; and among the Atheni- 
 ans, Clinias* the son of Alcibiades. who fought in his own 
 ship, which he had manned with two hundred men, maintained 
 at his own expence. 
 
 XVIII. But after both the fleets had voluntarily separated, 
 the Grecians, though they were in possession of the dead, and 
 of all the wreck; yet being in a shattered condition, and espe- 
 cially the Athenians, whose ships were half of them damaged, 
 took into their consideration, whether they should retire to the 
 interior of Greece. 
 
 XIX. At the same time Themistocles having considered 
 with himself, that if the lonians and Carians could be detached 
 from the Barbarians, they might be able to overcome the rest; 
 and therefore as the Eubceans were driving their cattle down 
 to the shore, he assembled the Grecian commanders together, 
 
 " The Latin translator has rendered sides. Larcher. 
 
 this in my opinion wrong, qua in pugnd x This Clinias was the father of the 
 
 ixtri marte pugnatum est. For the issue celebrated Alcibiades. He married Di- 
 
 shews that such cannot be the meaning. nomache the daughter of Megacles, 
 
 The Persians, from the great number of grandson? to Agariste, the daughter of 
 
 their ships, could not perform their ma- Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon. He fell at 
 
 noeuvres in so confined a space. Their the battle of Coronaea. See the learned 
 
 multitude consequently was of no use, note of Valckenaer for other particulars 
 
 aad the number of effective combatants concerning this Clinias. 
 was therefore nearly the same on both
 
 228 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and told them he had contrived a stratagem, by which he 
 hoped to deprive the king of the best of his allies. He dis- 
 covered rio more for the present ; only adding, that in the pre- 
 sent state of affairs, they should kill as many of the cattle be- 
 longing to the Euboeans, as they thought fit ; because their 
 own army ought rather to have them than the enemy. He 
 also exhorted them to direct their men to kindle fires ; and 
 promised he would choose so convenient a time for their de- 
 parture, that they should all arrive safe in Greece. The cap- 
 tains resolved to do as he advised, and after they had ordered 
 fires to be lighted, they began to fall upon the cattle. 
 
 XX. For the Euboeans y , slighting the answer they received 
 from the oracle of Bacis 2 as signifying nothing, had neither 
 carried out any thing to a place of safety, nor collected provi- 
 sion in their cities, as men would do, who expect a war ; and 
 by that means had brought their affairs into a critical state. 
 The oracle was conceived in these words ; 
 
 When a Barbarian shall with byblus yoke 
 
 The boisterous sea, then drive your bleating goats 
 
 Far from Euboean shores. 
 
 But the Euboeans shewing no regard to this admonition, 
 though they were in a bad condition at present, and, in ex- 
 pectation of farther misfortunes, fell into the greatest* 
 distress. 
 
 XXI. In the mean time the spy arrived from Trachis. 
 For Polyas of Anticyra was left as a spy at Artemisium, and 
 had an oared vessel ready to attend him, with orders to in- 
 form the Grecians at Thermopylaa, if the fleet should come to 
 an action ; in the same manner Abronychus, the son of Lysi- 
 c!es an Athenian, was with Leonidas, and was ready to carry 
 the tidings to those at Artemisium in a galley of thirty oars, if 
 any (thing considerable should happen to the land forces. 
 This Abronychus arriving, gave an account of what had be- 
 fallen Leonidas, and those who were with him : which when 
 the Greeks heard, they resolved not to defer their departure, 
 but stood away immediately in the order they were ; the 
 Corinthians in the van, and the Athenians in the rear b . 
 
 XXII. Themistocles at the same time having chosen the 
 
 y Schweighseuser thinks that the fol- same force as tc TO. ^uywrra. Scliweigh. 
 lowing chapter would be better placed b Later writers tell of Grecian victo- 
 
 after the fourth. ries off Artemisium, utterly inconsistent 
 
 z There were three soothsayers of this with the events that followed ; but Pla- 
 
 name ; the most ancient was of Eicon in to's (de Legib. iv.) slight mention of the 
 
 Bceotia, the second of Athens, and the actions there confirms Herodotus's ac- 
 
 third of Caphya in Arcadia. See the count ; and even Plutarch (Themist.) 
 
 Scholiast of Aristophanes, (Pax. 1071.) gives some degree of corresponding tes- 
 
 Larchcr. timony. Mitford's Greece, viii. 4. note 
 
 a Ilpof ra fiiyiffTa. This expression is 29. 
 somewhat unusual, but has I think the
 
 URANIA. VIII. 229 
 
 swiftest of the Athenian ships, sailed to the place where there 
 was fresh water, and engraved these words upon the stones, 
 which were read the next day by the lonians, when they ar- 
 rived at Artemisium : " Men of Ionia, you are guilty of iu- 
 " justice, in fighting against your fathers, and helping to en- 
 " slave Greece : resolve, therefore, to come over to us ; or, if 
 " you cannot do that, withdraw your forces from the contest, 
 " and persuade the Carians to imitate your example. But if 
 " both these ways are impracticable, and you find yourselves 
 " under an absolute necessity of continuing in the Persian 
 " fleet, at any rate be cowards intentionally, when we come 
 " to an engagement ; and remember, that you are not only 
 " descended from us, but are the original cause of the Barba- 
 " rians' enmity against us." I suppose Themistocles did this 
 with a double view ; hoping, that if these words were not dis- 
 covered to the king, he might induce the lonians to come over 
 to the Greeks ; or if they were reported to him, and imputed 
 to the lonians for a crime, he should bring them into such a 
 suspicion, that Xerxes would for the future keep them back 
 in the naval engagements. 
 
 XXIII. Themistocles finished this inscription , and imme- 
 diately a certain man of Histiaea went over in a boat, and gave 
 the Barbarians an account of the departure of the Greeks 
 from Artemisium ; but they, suspecting the messenger, secured 
 him under a guard, and sent out some light vessels to discover 
 the state of things. At their return, being informed of the 
 truth, all the fleet weighed anchor at the rising of the sun d , 
 and sailed directly to Artemisium ; where they continued till 
 about noon, and then proceeding to Histiaea, possessed them- 
 selves of that city, and ravaged all the maritime villages in 
 the district of Ellopia, which is in the province of Histiaeotis. 
 
 XXIV. Whilst they were on this coast, they received a 
 message from Xerxes, after he had disposed of the dead bo- 
 dies of his men as he thought most convenient : for of twenty 
 thousand of his army, who were killed at Thermopylae, leav- 
 ing only one^-thousand unburied, he caused all the rest to be 
 interred in pits dug for the purpose, and then caused earth to 
 be put over them, and leaves to be scattered about, that they 
 might not be seen by those who should come from the fleet. 
 When his messenger arrived at Histiasa, he summoned a ge- 
 
 c Leotychides (see book ix. 97.) made Our great poet Milton has adopted a si- 
 use of a similar artifice. milar expression in the opening of the 
 
 d "Afi T)\i({t 9Kt&vctf&v<p. As soon as 5th book of Paradise Lost ; 
 
 the sun scattered 'its rays. The same ., NQW morQ( her st J Q th> 
 
 figure .s used by Homer, and by Asch. ., eastern dime 
 
 Pers. 502. Sparger, lum.ne terras is -Advancing, sow'd the earth with 
 
 common among the Latins ; Lucretius or j ent 
 and Lucan frequently mak.e use of it. 

 
 230 HERODOTUS. 
 
 neral meeting of all the naval forces, and said, " Friends and 
 " allies, any of those among you that are desirous, may leave 
 " his post and see the king's forces have fought against incon- 
 " siderate men, who vainly imagined they could conquer his 
 " army, with the permission of king Xerxes," 
 
 XXV. Upon which notification, nothing was more scarce 
 than a boat, so many were anxious to enjoy the spectacle. 
 When they had crossed over, they went through the field of 
 battle, and viewed the dead; they believed 6 all the bodies to 
 be those of the Lacedaemonians and Thespians, though indeed 
 many Helots were among them ; but the method Xerxes had 
 taken to dispose of the bodies of his own men, could not be 
 concealed from those who came from the fleet : and, indeed, 
 the thing was ridiculous ; to shew only a thousand Barbarians 
 killed, when all the four thousand Grecians lay dead in heaps 
 in the same spot. In this view they spent that day, and on the 
 next returned with their ships to Histitea, whilst Xerxes ad- 
 vanced with his army. 
 
 XXVI. In his march, a small number of Arcadians f , indi- 
 gent and desirous of employment, deserted to him ; and, be- 
 ing brought into the king's presence, were examined concern- 
 ing the present occupation of the Greeks. One of the Per- 
 sians in particular put these questions : the Arcadians an- 
 swered, they were employed in celebrating the Olympic games 8 , 
 and in viewing the horse-races and gymnastic combats. The 
 Persian asked farther, what reward the victorious were to 
 have ; they replied, a crown of olive. Upon which Tritan- 
 taechmes h the son of Artabanus delivered his opinion with 
 a noble generosity, which caused him to be accused of fear by 
 the king : for when he heard that the recompence of the con- 
 querors was a crown, and not riches, he could not forbear 
 breaking out into this expression : " O Mardonius," said he, 
 " against what kind of men have you persuaded us to make 
 " war ! Men who fight not for wealth, but for glory' !" 
 
 e 'EiriffTaaOai is frequently used in s For a full account of these games, 
 
 this sense. Although the Helots were see a Dissertation on the Olympic games, 
 
 equipped differently from the Lacedae- by Gilbert West. See also book vii. ch. 
 
 momans, the troops of Xerxes could not 206. 
 
 distinguish them. Lurcher. h Most editions have Tigranes. I 
 
 f I do not think any author has men- have followed the manuscript of San- 
 
 tioned the name of that people of Area- croft, the translation of Valla, and the 
 
 dia which deserted to the Persians. I editions of Wesseling and Borheck. 
 
 am of opinion with Heringa, that they Larcher. 
 
 are the same as the Caryatae mentioned Schweighaeuser also reads Tritan- 
 
 by Vitruviusi. 1. Larcher. taechmes, and supposes that he was the 
 
 The practice of seeking hire in foreign individual who questioned the Arcadians, 
 
 military service, appears to have obtained ' 'Aptrtj does not signify so much 
 
 among that mountain-people before it what we call virtue, as courage, glory; in 
 
 became usual with the other European a word, all military virtues. Larcher. 
 Greeks. Mitford's Greece, viii. 4.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 231 
 
 XXVII. In the mean time, and immediately after the de- 
 feat at Thermopylae, the Thessalians k sent a herald to the 
 Phocians, as they had always entertained hatred 1 towards 
 them, and particularly after their last defeat. For not many 
 years before the expedition of Xerxes, the Thessalians, in 
 conjunction with their allies, having invaded the territories of 
 the Phocians with all their forces, had been repulsed with 
 great loss, in this manner. The Phocians being compelled to 
 retire to mount Parnassus, made use of this stratagem, by the 
 advice of the prophet Tellias of Elis, who was then in their 
 camp. They covered the armour and faces of six hundred of 
 their best men with white plaster", and sent them out by night 
 against the Thessalians, with orders to kill every man they 
 should not find beflowered with chalk like themselves. The 
 sentinels of the Thessalians first saw them, and were terrified, 
 as they supposed it was some strange prodigy, and afterwards 
 the whole army were struck with such a terror, that the Pho- 
 cians got possession of four thousand dead and their shields, 
 one half of which they dedicated at Abas, and the other half 
 at Delphi. The tenth part of the booty they took in this fight 
 was employed to purchase those great statues which stand 
 about the tripod which is in the front of the temple at Delphi, 
 and others of equal dimensions erected in Aba??. 
 
 XXVIII. Thus the Phocians dealt with the foot of the 
 Thessalians, by which they had been besieged ; and completely 
 ruined their cavalry r , when they made an eruption into their 
 
 k Thessaly, by the extent and rich- hereditary. We meet afterwards (ix. 
 ness of its territory, should have carried 37.) with Hegesistratus of this family, 
 the greatest political importance of per- The Phocians in gratitude for this vic- 
 haps any province in Greece. The whole tory caused his statue to be made, and 
 country besides could not raise such a sent it to Delphi, with those of the lead- 
 force of cavalry ; and no other province, ers and heroes of their country. (Pau- 
 by the superiority of its produce to its san. x. 1. Lurcher. 
 consumption, could equally support ex- n This was in order to frighten the 
 pensive establishments, and maintain dis- enemy, as well as that they might know 
 tant warfare. But Thessaly was divided one another. The Arii, the inhabitants 
 and subdivided into little governments, of the present Silesia, are described by 
 yet more than Boeotia, with connecting Tacitus (de Morib. German. 43.) as 
 institutions even more defective. Thus painting their shields black, and attacking 
 the history of its people is reduced to the foe during the darkest nights in order 
 confused accounts of conquest, of which to terrify them. Lurcher. 
 no detail remains, over the northern in- The temple properlyso called, which 
 habitants of their own country, the Perr- was within the sacred enclosure or ipov. 
 heebians and Magnetes, and of eternal P Concerning this oracle see note on 
 predatory war with the Phocians, their ch. cxxxiv. 
 
 southern neighbours ; whence arose a 1 Other acts of enmity between these 
 
 national animosity that nearly involved two nations, and the rejoicings of the 
 
 the subjugation of all Greece, when as- Phocians in consequence of these vic- 
 
 sailed by a foreign enemy. Mitford's tones, are related by Plutarch de Vir- 
 
 Greece, v. 1. tut. Mulier. p. 244. and Pausanias x. 1. 
 
 1 See book vii. ch. 176. * TheThessalian cavalry was very fa- 
 
 111 He was the chief of the family of mous. 
 the Telliada, in which divination was
 
 232 HERODOTUS. 
 
 territories ; for, having opened a vast trench in the entrance 
 into their country, which is near the city of Hyampolis 8 , and 
 filled it with empty amphorte, which they covered with earth, 
 and brought to a level with the rest of the ground, they waited 
 the coming of the Thessalians ; who, advancing with impe- 
 tuosity, as if to carry off the Phocians, fell in among the 
 earthen vessels, and broke the legs of their horses. 
 
 XXIX. The Thessalians bearing a grudge against them 
 for these two things, sent this message by their herald to the 
 Phocians : " Be convinced now more than ever, O Phocians, 
 " that you are inferior to us. For both in former times among 
 " the Greeks, as long as that party pleased us, we always 
 " proved superior to you ; and now, we have so great iuflu- 
 " ence with the Barbarian, that it is in our power to dis- 
 " possess you of your country, and even to enslave your per- 
 " sons. Nevertheless, though you are entirely at our mercy, 
 " we forget the injuries you have done us, and ask no more 
 " than fifty talents of silver, by way of reparation ; we engage 
 " upon your compliance, to prevent the dangers impending 
 " over you." 
 
 XXX. The Thessalians sent to make this demand, be- 
 cause the Phocians were the only people of those parts who 
 had not fallen in with the interest of the Medes : from which, 
 as I conjecture, they were restrained by no other reason, than 
 their enmity to the Thessalians ; and I am of opinion that the 
 Phocians would have joined with the Medes, if the Thessalians 
 had taken part with the Greeks. However, in answer to this 
 message, the Phocians peremptorily refused to give the money, 
 and said, if they were disposed to revolt to the Medes, the 
 way was open to them, as well as to the Thessalians ; but that 
 they would not willingly be traitors to Greece. 
 
 XXXI. When their answer was reported, the Thessalians 
 then became so incensed against the Phocians, that, serving 
 for guides to the Barbarians, and marching in the van of their 
 army from Trachis, they entered Doris. For a narrow neck 
 of Doric land extends that way, about thirty stades in breadth, 
 and situate between Melis and the territories of the Phocians, 
 and anciently known 1 by the name of Dryopis. This country is 
 the mother country of all the Dorians in Peloponnesus. The 
 Barbarians made no depredations in their passage through the 
 
 s This was originally called Hyanton- appears to belong to r!js <J>wtci&>e ^wpj/f. 
 
 polis, because first built by the Hyanti, But Phocis was never called Doris or 
 
 when driven by Cadmus from Bceotia. Dryopis. The Dorians did formerly oc- 
 
 (Pausan. x. 35.) Eustathius (Comment, cupy Dryopis, from whence they went 
 
 ad Iliad, ii. pag. 275.) is of a different into the Peloponnese. See book i. 56. 
 
 opinion. Larcher, Table Geograph. and ch. xliii. of this book. Larcher. 
 
 1 In the Greek there is fyTrtp, which
 
 URANIA. VIII. 233 
 
 territories of Doris, because the inhabitants were partizans of 
 the Medes, and the Thessalians advised them riot to do so. 
 
 XXXII. From thence they entered into Phocis, and did 
 not get possession of the Phocians themselves, but under the 
 guidance of the Thessalians, the Barbarians over-ran the whole 
 country, carried fire and sword wherever they went, and threw 
 fire both into their cities and their temples. For some of the 
 Phocians had retired to the top of mount Parnassus", on that 
 top which is separate from the other, and opposite the city 
 Neon*, and goes by the name of Tithorea; it is spacious 
 enough to contain considerable numbers ; to this summit they 
 carried their moveables and went themselves ; but the greater 
 part had betaken themselves to Amphissa, a city belonging to 
 the Locri Ozolae, situated above the plain of Crisa. 
 
 XXXIII. In their march the Barbarians ravaged all the 
 country along the river Cephissus, and burnt the cities of 
 Drymus, Charadra, Erochus, Tethronius, Amphicaea, Neon y , 
 Pediea3, Tritese, Elatea, and Hyampolis ; Parapotamii and 
 Abae ; in which was a wealthy temple of Apollo, ornamented 
 with many treasures 2 , and consecrated donations, where oracles 
 were delivered in those days, as they are at present. This 
 temple they plundered and burnt; and pursuing the Phocians 
 into the mountains, took several prisoners : such numbers of 
 men forcing the women who fell into their hands, that divers 
 died in the place, 
 
 XXXIV. After the Barbarians had passed the Parapota- 
 mii, they arrived in the territories of the Panopeans, and from 
 thence their army proceeded in two bodies. The most nu- 
 merous and powerful part of their forces marched towards 
 Athens with Xerxes, and entered Bosotia into the territory of 
 Orchomenus. But because all the Boeotians were in the in- 
 terest of the Medes, their cities were preserved by Macedo- 
 nians, posted in different places, which Alexander had sent, to 
 make it known to Xerxes that they favoured his party. This 
 was the direction which that party of the Barbarians took. 
 
 XXXV. The rest, with their guides 51 , having on their right 
 
 u This mountain, which was situated be Cleonae. He has so interpreted the 
 
 in Phocis, had t\ro principal summits, preceding Chapter, that Neon appears 
 
 Nauplia and Hyampaja, which gave to it to be situated in the mountain, and to 
 
 the epithet of biceps. Larcher. have been the refuge of the Phocians. 
 
 For a description of it and the sur- See his note. 
 
 rounding country, see Spon and Whe- z These were composed of the presents 
 
 ler's Travels in Greece, vol. ii. which had been made to the God : and 
 
 * Neon probably was built at the foot perhaps also the citiesof Phocis deposited 
 
 of that summit which stands alone, and their wealth in the temple, as the greater 
 
 therefore, when the city was taken, the part of the Greeks did at Delphi. Larch. 
 
 inhabitants saved themselves in the top * I suppose that -fjytfiovag here signi- 
 
 of the mountain. See the note of Schw. fies guides, as in ch. 31. r'iyip.6vtf rijf 
 
 i Larcher supposes that this ought to bdov. What need was there to remark 
 
 VOL. II. ' H h
 
 234 HERODOTUS. 
 
 mount Parnassus, advanced towards the temple of Delphi; 
 and destroying all they found in their way belonging to 
 Phoeis, set fire to the cities of the Panopians, Daulians, 
 and ^Eolians b . These forces were detached from the other 
 part of the army, and sent this way, in order to plunder the 
 temple of Delphi, and present them to Xerxes ; who, as I 
 have learnt, was better informed of all the valuable things 
 there, than of those he left behind him at home ; so many per- 
 sons continually entertained him with discourses concerning 
 these treasures, and more especially of the donations made by 
 Croesus the son of Alyattes. 
 
 XXXVI. When the Delphians heard of their design, 
 they fell into a great consternation ; and with dreadful ap- 
 prehensions, consulted the oracle, whether they should hide 
 their treasures under ground, or transport them to another 
 country. But the God would not suffer the treasures to be 
 moved ; saying, he was sufficiently able to protect his own. 
 The Delphians having received this answer, began to think of 
 themselves ; and after they had sent their wives and children 
 across to Achaia, the greater part of the men went either to 
 the top of Parnassus, or into the Corycian cave c ; whilst others 
 retired to Amphissa, belonging to the Locrians : in a word, all 
 the inhabitants of Delphi abandoned the city, except only 
 sixty men, and the prophet d . 
 
 XXXVII. When the Barbarians were advanced within 
 sight of the temple, the prophet, whose name was Aceratus, 
 seeing the arms, which no mortal may without impiety touch, 
 brought out, and laid before the sacred place 6 , went and told 
 the prodigy to the Delphians who were left in the city. But 
 when the Barbarians, hastening their march, arrived at the 
 temple of Minerva Pronaea f , much greater prodigies than the 
 
 that they had generals. Larcher. with the reputation of the oracle, there 
 
 b Valckenaer and Wesseling wish to became need of more. They were chosen 
 
 read AiXaieu>v instead of A loXifiiuv. by lot from the principal Delphians. The 
 
 Larcher thinks the general reading pre- term prophet properly signifies one who 
 
 ferable. See their notes. speaks in the place of another. Hence 
 
 c There was another celebrated cave it was applied to the person who repre- 
 
 of the same name in .Cilicia. Schw. sented to the Divinity the wants of a 
 
 A very beautiful description of the one people or an individual, and who re- 
 
 at Delphi is given in the Travels of Ana- ported the answers of the God. Lurcher. 
 
 charsis, vol. ii. p. 30, 31. See also Spon e A little before the battle of Leuctra, 
 
 and Wheler's Travels in Greece, &c. it was given out that the temples had 
 
 vol. ii. p. 37. opened of themselves, and that the arms 
 
 d As the Pythia delivered her oracles which were in the temple of Hercules 
 
 in a confused and unintelligible manner, had disappeared from it, as if Hercules 
 
 there was a sacred interpreter to put himself had gone to be present at the 
 
 them in order, and give them to those engagement. But many persons said 
 
 people who came to consult the God. that these prodigies were the inventions 
 
 This interpreter was called the Prophet, of the Magistrates. Xenoph. Hellen. 
 
 In the time of Herodotus there was but vi. 4. sect. 7. 
 
 one. But superstition having increased f See ^**p on book i. rh. 92.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 235 
 
 former were seen. And indeed though the sight of those in- 
 struments of war, which had moved out of the temple of them- 
 selves, was very wonderful ; yet the second prodigies, which 
 followed the former, deserve peculiar admiration beyond all 
 others. For when the Barbarians, as they came on, reached 
 Minerva's temple, thunder fell from heave 11 upon their troops, 
 and two crags torn from Parnassus, rolled upon them 5 with a 
 loud crash, and killed many of their men, and a loud cry and a 
 war-shout was heard issuing from the temple of the Goddess. 
 
 XXXVIII. All these things in conjunction struck the 
 Barbarians with a panic ; the Delphians having learnt that 
 they had betaken themselves to flight, came down after them 
 from the mountain, and made a great slaughter among them. 
 The survivors fled into Bceotia ; and, as I am informed, those 
 who returned declared, that, besides other miraculous things, 
 they saw two persons of more than human stature, completely 
 armed, pursuing' 1 and killing them in their flight. 
 
 XXXIX. The Delphians say these two were, Phylacus' 
 and Autonous, heroes of the country, and that there are 
 places dedicated to them not far from the temple ; that of 
 Phylacus is situated by the highway above the temple of Mi- 
 nerva Pronaea, and the other near the Castalian spring under 
 the rock Hyampea. The rocks that broke from Parnassus 
 are seen to this day lying in the enclosure of Minerva, on the 
 place~"where they fell among the Barbarians. And such was 
 the retreat of these men from the temple k . 
 
 XL. The Grecian fleet, in their return from Artemisium, 
 put in at Salamis, at the solicitation of the Athenians ; who 
 made this request, in order to carry off their wives and chil- 
 dren out of Attica, and to consult of measures to be taken in 
 that conjuncture ; for in the present condition of affairs they in- 
 tended to hold a consultation, because they had been disap- 
 pointed in their expectation. For whereas they thought to 
 find the Peloponnesians with all their forces waiting in Bceotia 
 to receive the Barbarians, they found no signs of them ; but 
 on the contrary, were informed that they were employed in 
 fortifying the isthmus with a wall ; considering it of the great- 
 
 s This is also related by Diodorus Si- came to plunder the temple of Delphi, 
 
 culus, xi. 14. the heroes Hyperochus, Laodocus, Pyrr- 
 
 h The participle i-^tav, which is oc- hus, and some say Phylacus, came to their 
 
 casionally joined to finite verbs, is not assistance. Justin (xxiv. 8) has meta- 
 
 redundant, but appears to indicate a kind morphosed the two first into two virgins 
 
 of continuity : which Hermann. (Adnot. of extraordinary beauty. Lurcher. 
 228. ad Viger.) has remarked, and has k From this story it is not difficult to 
 
 stated that XjjptTc, signifies you are trifling detach the preternatural machinery, and 
 
 now, but XI/PEU; i\iav, you are a trifter. we find an account remaining, neither 
 
 Scliweigh&user. improbable nor very defective. Mitford's 
 
 1 When the Gauls (Pausan. x. 23.) Greece, viii. 4. 
 
 H h2
 
 236 HERODOTUS. 
 
 est consequence to preserve Peloponnesus, to protect it, and 
 be careless of the rest ; and for these reasons the Athenians 
 desired the allies to stay at Salamis. 
 
 XLT. The rest therefore continued in that station, but the 
 Athenians returned home ; and at their arrival caused procla- 
 mation to be made 1 , that every one should endeavour to save 
 his wife and children by the best means he could contrive. 
 Accordingly they sent the greater part to Trcezene m ; some to 
 -lEgina, and others to Salamis ; using all possible diligence in 
 transporting their families, not only in obedience to the oracle, 
 but in particular for this reason. For the Athenians say, that 
 the Acropolis was guarded by a great serpent which lived in 
 the temple n ; and, as if it really did exist there, they every 
 month solemnly presented a certain quantity of paste mixed 
 with honey ; which in former time having always been con- 
 sumed, now remained entire and untouched. So that when 
 the priestess had given public notice of this event, the Athe- 
 nians were more eager to leave the city, because they con- 
 cluded the God had abandoned the fortress; and therefore, 
 after every thing had been deposited in a place of safety, they 
 sailed to the station of the rest of the fleet. 
 
 XLII. When the rest of the naval forces of the Greeks 
 understood that those who had lain at Artemisium were ar- 
 rived at Salamis, they hastened thither from Trcezene, where 
 their rendezvous had been appointed in the harbour of Pogon. 
 This fleet, much more numerous than that which fought at 
 Artemisium, as being furnished by a greater number of cities, 
 was still commanded by Eurybiades the son of Euryclides, a 
 Spartiate, though he was not of the royal family. The Athe- 
 nians supplied the most and the best sailing ships. 
 
 XLIII. The following people joined in the expedition. 
 From the Peloponnese, the Lacedaemonians furnished sixteen 
 ships ; the Corinthians the same number? they had at Arte- 
 misium ; the Sicyonians fifteen ; the Epidaurians ten ; the 
 Trcezenians five ; and the Hermionians three. All these, ex- 
 cept the last, were originally Dorians and Macedni q , and 
 came from Erineus, Pindus, and last of all from Dryopis. 
 
 1 It was a crime at Athens to leave at the public expence. They allowed 
 
 one's country in time of danger, or even the children to gather fruit any where, 
 
 to remove one's wife and children before and payed masters to instruct them. The 
 
 permission to do so had been given by a author of this decree was Nicagoras. 
 
 decree. See Larcher's note. Lurcher. 
 
 Plutarch relates that Cimon, the son " The temple of Minerva Polias. See 
 
 of the great Miltiades, distinguished him- note on book i. ch. 160. 
 self upon this trying occasion. See his Themistocles contrived this prodigy, 
 
 Life of Cimon. according to Plutarch. See his Life of 
 
 m Plutarch (in Themist. p. 116.) re- Themistocles, p. 116. 
 ceived them with great humanity, and P That is, forty. See ch. i. 
 decreed that they should be maintained i See book i. ch. 56.
 
 URANIA. Vlir. 237 
 
 The Hermionians indeed are of Dryopian extraction ; but 
 they were ejected by Hercules r and the Melians out of that 
 country which is now called Doris. These were the Pelopon- 
 nesians who served. 
 
 XLIV. From the continent beyond the isthmus, the Athe- 
 nians, who may be put in comparison with all the rest 8 , of 
 themselves furnished one hundred and eighty ships ; for the 
 Plataeans were not with them at the battle of Salamis, on ac- 
 count of the following circumstance. When the Greeks had 
 abandoned Artemisium, and were arrived on the coast of 
 Chalcis, the Platagans landed on the opposite coast in Bosotia, 
 in order to carry oft' their wives and children ; and whilst they 
 took care to preserve their families', were themselves left be- 
 hind. When the Pelasgians possessed those countries, which 
 now go by the name of Greece, the Athenians were Pelas- 
 gians", and went by the name of Cranai x : under the reign of 
 Cecrops y they had the name of Cecropidse; which when Erec- 
 theus succeeded to the throne, they changed for that of Athe- 
 nians; they were named lonians, from Ton the son of Xuthus, 
 who became their leader. 
 
 XLV. The Megarenes supplied the same number of ships 2 
 as at Artemisium ; the Ambraciots brought to their assistance 
 seven ; and the Leucadians, who are Dorians, of Corinthian 
 extraction, three. 
 
 XLVI. From the islands, the ^Eginetse furnished thirty 
 ships"; and having left several others equipped at home for 
 the guard of their country, fought at Salamis in these thirty ; 
 which were the swiftest they had. The JEginetas are Dorians, 
 
 r See Pausanias, iv. 34. who adds, that bore that of Erectheids from Erectheus. 
 
 Hercules afterwards, in obedience to an Hence the modern learned have supposed 
 
 oracle, conducted them into the Pelo- a fault in the copies of Herodotus, and 
 
 ponnese, where they occupied Asine, have proposed ingenious amendments, 
 
 near Hermione. (See Wesseling's note.) Perhaps, how- 
 
 Compare Thucyd. i. ch. 74. Nerve ever, we had better leave the copies of 
 
 p'tv ft if rug TtrpaKOffiaz , 6\iytf> i\a(r- Herodotus as we find them, and pay 
 
 <rov rwv Svo fiotpaiv. See also note on a little more attention to an expression of 
 
 ch. i. Strabo, where he is treating of the early 
 
 ' See note on ch. iv. history of Attica, O'irt Jj) TIJV 'ArOiSa 
 
 u See note on book i. ch. 56. Also an ffvyfpm^avrtg TroXXa SuKpwvovvrtQ, &c. 
 
 Essay of De La Nauze in the Hist, de Strabo, ix. p. 392. Mitford's Greece, 
 
 1'Acad. des Inscript. torn, xxiii. p. 125. ch. i. sect. 3. note 34. 
 
 and seq. Scliweighauser. i This prince flourished a little before 
 
 x The Athenians had this name from Deucalian. He established marriages 
 
 the rough and mountainous country among the Athenians, and ordained that 
 
 which they occupied, and not from Cra- each man should have but one wife. See 
 
 naus their king, as most authors main- Justin, ii. 6. Larcker. 
 
 tain. Lurcher. * Twenty. See ch. i. 
 
 It has been generally held by later a Valckenaer supposes that we ought 
 
 writers, that Cranaiis succeeded Cecrops here to read 42. Borheck and Larcher 
 
 in the throne of Attica ; and that from have adopted this conjecture. But all 
 
 him the people must have had the name the manuscripts agree in giving 30. See 
 
 of Cranaans, as they afterward sometimes note on ch. xlviii. Schweigh.
 
 238 HERODOTUS. 
 
 descended from Epidaurus, and their island was formerly 
 known by the name of CEnone. Next to these, the Chalcidi- 
 ans furnished the same twenty as they had at Artemisium ; 
 and the Eretrians the same seven : both these nations are 
 louians. The people of Ceos, who are likewise lonians, and 
 descended from Athens, came with the same number 6 they 
 had before. The Naxians brought in four ships, though they 
 had been sent by their people to join the Medes with the rest 
 of the islanders ; but slighting their orders, they chose to side 
 with the Greeks; chiefly by the persuasion of Democritus , an 
 eminent citizen of Naxus, and then captain of a trireme. 
 The Naxians also are lonians, and derive their blood from 
 Athens. The Styreans came in with the same ships' 1 they 
 had at Artemisium; and the Cythnians with one, and a galley 
 of fifty oars. Both these people are Dryopians. The Seri- 
 phians, the Siphnians e , and the Melians took part with the Gre- 
 cians likewise ; having already distinguished themselves from 
 all the rest of the islanders, by refusing earth and water to 
 the Barbarian. 
 
 XLVII. All these nations are situate on this side the river 
 Acheron and the Thesprotians. For the Thesprotians border 
 on the Ambraciots and Leucadians, who came from the ex- 
 tremities of Greece. But of all the people that inhabit the 
 countries beyond the Thesprotians, the Crotoniate, originally 
 of Achaia f , came singly to succour Greece in this time of dan- 
 ger; and brought in one ship of war, commanded by Phayllus g ,, 
 who had thrice been victorious 11 in the Pythian exercises. 
 
 XLVIII. The Melians, the Siphnians, and the Seriphians 
 furnished galleys of fifty oars; but the rest joined the expedi- 
 tion with triremes. The Melians, who are descended from 
 Lacedaemon 1 , furnished two; and the Siphnians with the Se- 
 riphians, both lonians, of Athenian original, one each. So 
 that the whole number of these ships, without recounting the 
 penteconters, amounted to three hundred and seventy-eight k . 
 XLIX. When the leaders had assembled at Salamis from 
 the several cities I have mentioned, they held a council of 
 war; in which Eurybiades proposed to the rest of the captains, 
 
 b Two. See ch. i. Phayllus, from gratitude to the country 
 
 c Simonides wrote an inscription to ce- in which he had obtained three Pythian 
 
 lebrate the glory acquired by Democritus victories, fitted out the ship at his own 
 
 in the battle of Salamis. It is preserved expence. This suspicion is confirmed by 
 
 by Plutarch, de Malign. Herodot. p. 869. Pausanias, x. 9. Valckenaer. 
 
 d Two. See ch. i. h Twice in the Pentathlum and once 
 
 e See book iii. ch. 57. and note. in the Stadium. Pausan. x. 9. 
 
 f Strabo, vi. p. 402. also describes the ' See Larcher's Essay on Chronology, 
 
 Crotoniatje as a colony from Achaia. ch. xiv. pag. 362. and seq. and particu- 
 
 8 It seems strange that so powerful a larly ch. xv. sect. 3. pag. 441. for infor- 
 
 state should only have sent one ship; matron on the foundation of this colony, 
 
 but it appears much more probable that k The following scheme represents the
 
 URANIA. VIII. 239 
 
 that every man \vould freely deliver his opinion, where he 
 thought they might fight with most advantage, in those parts 
 which were yet in their possession. For Attica was already 
 given up, and he made this proposition concerning the other 
 places. The greater number of opinions agreed, that they 
 should sail to the isthmus, and fight before Peloponnesus; 
 alledgiug for their reasons, that if they should lose a battle at 
 Salamis, they should be besieged in the island, without the 
 least hope of succour ; whereas, if the like misfortune should 
 happen at the isthmus, they might retire to their own cities. 
 
 L. When the Peloponnesians were debating on this point, 
 a certain Athenian arrived with intelligence, that the Barba- 
 rian had entered Attica, and was devastating the whole of it 
 with fire. For the army, with Xerxes, which had taken its 
 route through Boeotia, after having burnt the city of the Thes- 
 pians, who had retired to Peloponnesus, and also the city of 
 the Plataean^, had arrived at Athens, and was laying waste 
 every part of it. They set fire to Thespia and Plataea, upon 
 information from the Thebans, that those cities were not in the 
 interest of the Medes. 
 
 LI. The Barbarians, after having crossed the Hellespont, 
 stopped one month on its shores, including the time occupied 
 in passing over into Europe ; they then began their march, and 
 in three months more arrived in Attica, when Calliades was 
 archon of the Athenians, and took the city, abandoned by all the 
 inhabitants, except a few men they found in the temple, with 
 the treasures' of the temple, and some indigent persons; who, 
 having fortified the Acropolis with gates, and palisades of 
 
 different numbers furnished by each na- number of triremes at Salamis amounted 
 
 tion .at Artemisium and Salamis : only to 366, but every manuscript here 
 
 At Artemis. At Salamis. reads 378. To remove this difficulty 
 
 Lacedaemonians .... 10 16 Valckenaer conjectures that the vEgineUe 
 
 Corinthians 40 40 furnished 42, and not 30, as in ch. xlvi. 
 
 Sicyonians 12 15 This conjecture has been adopted by Lar- 
 
 Epidaurians 8 10 cher and Borheck. Sch weigh aeuser ob- 
 
 Trcezenians 5 5 jects to this alteration of the text, but 
 
 Hermionians 3 supposes that the ./Eginetae furnished 
 
 Athenians 127 180 only 30, and that they left 12 behind to 
 
 Megareans 20 20 protect their country, which 12 are here 
 
 Ambraciots 7 taken into account, as forming part of 
 
 Leucadians 3 the Greek naval forces. See his note, 
 
 ^Eginetje 18 30 and also those of Valckenaer and Larcher. 
 
 Chalcidians 20 20 'The quaestors of the temple of Mi- 
 
 Eretrians 7 7 nerva in the Acropolis, to whom the care 
 
 Ceans 2 2 of the public treasures was committed. 
 
 Naxians 4 See Jul. Pollux, (viii. 9. segm. 97.) 
 
 Styreans 2 2 Harpocrat. and Suidas, (in voc.) See 
 
 Cythnians 1 also Aristoph. Lysist. v. 173. and seq. 
 
 Crotoniatae 1 and a dissertation by Barthelemy on an 
 
 ancient Greek inscription, relative to the 
 
 271 366 Athenian finances. Paris, de I'lmprim. 
 
 It appears by this table that the whole Roy ale, 1792. 4to. Larcher and Schw.
 
 240 HERODOTUS. 
 
 wood, defended themselves against the enemy. These men 
 did not go to Salamis, partly by reason of their poverty, and 
 partly because they thought they had found the sense of the 
 oracle delivered by the Pythian, " That the wall of wood 
 " should be impregnable ;" imagining, that this was the refuge 
 predicted by the priestess, and not the navy. 
 
 LII. The Persians, on their part, posted themselves over 
 against the fort, upon a hill, which the Athenians call Areo- 
 pagus" 1 , and began their attack in this manner. Having 
 wrapped their arrows in tow, and set fire to them, they shot 
 them against the palisade. Upon this the besieged, though 
 they were in the utmost extremity, and though their pali- 
 sade had failed them, yet endeavoured to defend themselves, 
 and refused to accept the terms that were offered by the Pi- 
 sistratidse, if they would surrender ; and, among other things 
 they contrived for their defence, threw down large stones upon 
 the Barbarians, as they made their approaches to the gates ; 
 so that Xerxes was in no little perplexity for a considerable 
 time, as he could not take it. 
 
 LIU. At length, in the midst of these difficulties, a way of 
 entering was discovered by the Barbarians ; for it was neces- 
 sary, according to the prediction of the oracle, " That all the 
 " territories of Attica, which are situate on the continent, 
 " should be subdued by the Persians." In front of the cita- 
 del, but behind the gates and the road which leads up to it, 
 where no one kept guard, nor would any one ever have had any 
 suspicion that any man could ascend that way, some of the 
 Barbarians mounted by the temple of Aglauros", the daughter 
 
 m Or hill of Mars. On this hill was archonship previous to their becoming 
 
 held the celebrated court of Areopagus. regular members. They had cognizance 
 
 It was so called, according to Suidas, be- of murders, all wounds inflicted delibe- 
 
 cause all wilful murders came under its rately, poison, matters of religion ; and it 
 
 cognizance, Mars being the God of war was for this reason Socrates was con- 
 
 and bloodshed. Others ( Pausan. i. 28. demned by this tribunal, and St. Paul ar- 
 
 Demosth. in Aristoc. p. 413. and Aris- raigned before them. Idleness was a 
 
 tid. Panalh. p. 6.) relate that Mars was crime which came peculiarly under their 
 
 here tried by the Gods, for murdering cognizance. They sat in the open air, 
 
 the son of Neptune. But ^Eschylus, and heard and determined all causes by 
 
 (Eumen. 688. and seq.) who is the most night, and in the dark that they might 
 
 ancient, says that the Amazons, when not be influenced. See Potter's Grecian 
 
 they came to attack Theseus, offered sa- Antiq. book i. ch. 19. 
 crifices to Mars, their reputed father. n Larcher writes this word Agraulos 
 
 See also the Etymolog. Magn. Some on the authority of Apollodorus (Biblioth. 
 
 attribute the establishment of the Senate xiii. 3. 2.) and Stephanas of Byzantium, 
 
 to Cecrops, but it is evident that Solon Pausanias (i. 8.) and Ovid (Metamorph. 
 
 regulated and augmented its power. Its ii. ver. 739.) write it Aglauros, as in all 
 
 origin however is uncertain. See De- the editions of Herodotus. The part by 
 
 mosthenes, loc. cit. The number of which the Persians penetrated into the 
 
 judges is not agreed upon. The nine citadel was to the south-west. See the 
 
 archons, or as some say only the Thes- plan of the citadel of Athens in the se- 
 
 mothetas, belonged toil ; all of them give cond volume of Stuart's Antiquities of 
 
 an account of their conduct during their Athens.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 241 
 
 of Cecrops, although the place was craggy and precipitous. 
 When the Athenians saw the enemy within the Acropolis, 
 some threw themselves down from the walls, and were killed; 
 and others retired into the temple : but the Persians, who had 
 entered, went immediately to the gates ; and having forced 
 them open, killed all those that had taken sanctuary there ; 
 after which slaughter, they pillaged the temple, and set fire to 
 every part of the Acropolis. 
 
 LIV. Xerxes being thus entirely master of Athens, dis- 
 patched a messenger to Susa on horseback, to acquaint Arta- 
 banus with the prosperous condition of his affairs : and the 
 next day, after the departure of this courier, he called toge- 
 ther the Athenian exiles, who were in his army, and ordered 
 them to go up to the Acropolis, and to sacrifice according to tbe 
 custom of their own country. But whether he commanded 
 this by the impulse of a dream, or from a motive of remorse 
 for burning the temple, is uncertain. However that be, the 
 exiles performed his command. 
 
 LV. I will now give the reason, why I mentioned the thing. 
 In the Acropolis stands a temple dedicated to Erectheus p , 
 who is reported to have been born of the earth ; and within 
 that building an olive- tree >! , and a sea r , which, the Athenians 
 say, were placed there by Neptune and Minerva, in testimonv 
 of their contest* about that country. The olive-tree happened 
 
 See note on ii. 175. was heard like that of agitated waves ; 
 
 P He appears to have been styled the and on the stone was the figure of a tri- 
 son of earth, because his origin was not dent, which is said to be a testimony of 
 known. In his temple in the Acropolis the dispute between Neptune and Mi- 
 there were three altars. The first was nerva. Larcher. 
 
 consecrated to Neptune and Erectheus, Beloe quotes 2 Kings, ch. xxv. ver. 
 
 whence Neptune was called Erecthean ; 13. where the word sea is used in the 
 
 the second was dedicated to Butes, and same sense ; " And the pillars of brass 
 
 the third to Vulcan, ( Pausan. i. 26.) " that were in the house of the Lord, 
 
 These altars were raised because he " and the bases, and the brazen sea that 
 
 sacrificed his daughter for the safety of " were in the house of the Lord, did the 
 
 his country, when it was invaded byEu- " Clialdees break in pieces and carried 
 
 inolpus king of Thrace. See Lycurg. " the brass of them to Babylon." 
 cont. Leocrat. p. 217. Edit. Taylor. This sea is described in 1 Kings vii. 
 
 Larcher. 23. The Greek word in the Septuagint 
 
 < Pliny (Hist. Nat. xvi. 44.) informs is also BaXaaaa. 
 
 us that this olive was said to exist in his s When Cecrops was king of Attica 
 
 time: Athenis quoque olea durare tradi- (Apollodor. iii. 13. 1.) he changed the 
 
 tiir in certamine edita a Minerva-. Be- name of the country, which was before 
 
 -cause goats destroy it and render it bar- Actjea, into Cecropia. It is said that 
 
 ren, it was forbidden to bring goats into under his reign the Gods chose cities in 
 
 the citadel, except once a-year for the which they wished to be peculiarly ho- 
 
 necessary sacrifices. Larcher. noured. Neptune came first into Attica, 
 
 r This sea was only a cistern, into and having struck the earth with his tri- 
 which sea-water was conducted by sub- dent in the middle of the citadel, pro- 
 terraneous conduits. The only thing duced a sea, which is now called Erech- 
 remarkable in it (Pausan. i. 27.) was, the'ides. Afterwards came Minerva, 
 that when the south wind blew, a noise who produced an olive, which we now 
 VOL. II. I i
 
 24-2 HERODOTUS. 
 
 to be burnt with the rest of the temple by the Barbarians ; 
 and yet the next day after, when the Athenians went thither 
 to sacrifice, by the king's command, they saw a shoot 1 risen 
 from the trunk, of a full cubit" in height. The exiles gave this 
 account. 
 
 LVI. When the Greeks at Salamis were informed of what 
 had happened to the Acropolis of Athens, they fell into so 
 great a consternation, that some of the commanders, without 
 staying to hear the ratification of the matter proposed to their 
 deliberation, hastened to their ships and hoisted sail, in order 
 to depart ; whilst those who continued to sit, came to a resolu- 
 tion, to come to a naval engagement before the isthmus. The 
 assembly broke up at night, and every one departed to his 
 own ship. 
 
 LVII. But when Themistocles* had come on board his own 
 ship, Mnesiphilus y , an Athenian, asked him what they had de- 
 termined to do ; and being told they had resolved to return to 
 the isthmus, and fight to defend Peloponnesus; " Then," said 
 he " if these men carry off their ships from Salamis, you will 
 " fight for no country at all ; because they will certainly re- 
 " turn home to their several cities ; and neither Eurybiades, 
 " nor any other man living, will be able to prevent the disper- 
 " sion of the fleet; and Greece must perish by bad counsel. 
 " Therefore, without delay, endeavour to contrive some means 
 " to put an end to what has been determined ; and try, by all 
 " possible ways, to persuade Eurybiades to alter his opinion, 
 " and to continue in this station." 
 
 LVIII. Themistocles was pleased with this suggestion, 
 and, without returning any answer, went immediately to the 
 ship of Eurybiades ; and after he had acquainted him that he 
 had something to communicate to him, which concerned the 
 
 see in Pandrosium. Jupiter adjudged the historian proceeds to relate. Mitford's 
 
 town to Minerva, who gave it her name, Greece, viii. 4. 
 
 which in Greek is Athene. Larcher. 1 Mnesiphilus belonged to the bo- 
 Other accounts say that Neptune pro- rough of Prearrhi, as did also Themisto- 
 duced a horse, which was not considered cles. " He was (says Plutarch, 
 
 so useful to mankind, since it was an em- 
 blem of war, as the olive the emblem of 
 peace 
 
 1 Sunt et miracula forluita. Nam et 
 oliva in totum ambusta revixit; et in 
 Bceotia derosse a locustis ficus germina- 
 vere. Pliny, Hist. Nat. iii. 17. 
 
 Themist. p. 112.) neither an orator, nor 
 a philosopher, but he applied himself 
 to that study which was then called 
 wisdom, which was nothing more than 
 the science which teaches men to 
 govern well, and renders prudence 
 vigorous and active." Themistocles 
 
 u Pausanias (i. 27.) says two cubits. had been his disciple, and this accounts 
 
 The marvellous increases with time, for the deference he paid his advice ; but 
 
 Larcher. as he was not of sufficient consideration, 
 
 * Nothing can be more consonant to Themistocles thought it better to appro- 
 
 the common character of human affairs, priate his counsel, without naming the 
 
 in which little circumstances often de- author. Larcher. 
 cide the greatest events, than what the
 
 URANIA. VIII. 243 
 
 common safety, the Lacedaemonian desired him to come on 
 board and say what he pleased. Then Themistocles, seated 
 beside him, related what he had heard from Mnesiphilus, as 
 if it was his own, and also proposed other arguments, till at 
 last he prevailed with him to go from his ship, and to summon 
 the commanders to a council. 
 
 LIX. When they were all assembled, before Eurybiades 
 had acquainted them with the cause of his having called them 
 together, Themistocles, as he was very desirous to influence 
 him, was very vehement in his arguments. But whilst he 
 was speaking, Adimantus, the son of Ocytus, commander of 
 the Corinthians, interrupting him, said, " Themistocles, those 
 " who stand on the games before the others, are beaten." 
 " True," replied Themistocles, justifying himself, " but those 
 " who are left behind 2 are not crowned." 
 
 LX. He then mildly answered the Corinthian. Afterwards, 
 turning to Eurybiades, he used none of the arguments he had 
 before mentioned, that when they had weighed anchor and left 
 Salamis, they would run away ; because he thought himself 
 obliged by decency not to accuse any of the confederates in 
 their presence ; but he took a different method, and said, 
 
 " The safety of Greece, O Eurybiades, is now entirely in 
 " your power, if, approving my opinion, you will stay and 
 " fight in this place, and not hearken to those who would per- 
 " suade you to retire with the fleet to the isthmus. Attend 
 " then, and weigh the .arguments on both sides against each 
 " other. If you fight before the isthmus, you must fight in an 
 " open sea ; which will be by no means advantageous to us, 
 " because our ships are not only heavier, but fewer in nuni- 
 " ber than those of the enemy ; and, besides, you will inevita- 
 " bly sacrifice Salamis, Megara, and ^Egina, though we should 
 " happen to meet with better fortune in other places; for the 
 " land army of the Barbarians will certainly follow their fleet ; 
 " and you will by this means draw all their forces towards 
 " the Peloponnesus, and bring all Greece into the utmost 
 " danger. 
 
 " But, on the other hand, if you will do as I advise, you 
 " will reap the following advantages. In the first place, if 
 " we fight with few ships against a great number, in a narrow 
 " straight, according to all the probabilities of war we shall 
 
 1 That is, those who are beaten. Lar- lion, said, " Strike, but hear me." This 
 
 cher expresses his surprise that Herodo- trait of greatness disconcerted the Spar- 
 
 tus should have omitted that instance of tan. 
 
 the great moderation of Themistocles, Plutarch, through an inattention not 
 
 related by Plutarch in his life. When unusual with him, has in his Life of The- 
 
 Themistocles was urging his advice, that mistocles attributed the reprimand toEu- 
 
 they should stay at Salamis, Eurybiades rybiades, in his Apothegms to Adimantus. 
 
 approached him with his cane uplifted. Mitford's Greece, viii. 5. note 32. 
 Themistocles, without the least emo-
 
 '244 HERODOTIS. 
 
 " be far superior ; ibr fighting in a confined place is to our 
 " advantage; in an open place to that of the enemy. Be- 
 " sides, we shall preserve Salamis, where we have left our 
 " wives and children. Moreover, in this line of conduct we 
 " have that same advantage, which you principally keep in 
 " vie^v ; for, if you stay and fight here, you will defend Pelo- 
 " ponnesus no less effectually, than by fighting at the isth- 
 " mus; and, if you consult your prudence, you will never 
 " lead the enemy thither. 
 
 " In a word, if we beat the Barbarians at sea, as I hope 
 " we shall, they will neither proceed to the isthmus, nor pene- 
 " trate farther than Attica, but must return home with dis- 
 " grace ; and we shall have this additional advantage, that we 
 " shall preserve Megara, ^Egina, and Salamis; at whi<-h place 
 " an oracle has foretold that we shall prove superior to the 
 " enemy, Men generally meet with success when they have 
 " founded their deliberations on reason; but not even God 
 " himself is wont to second the opinions of those who are not 
 " guided in their decisions by probability 3 ." 
 
 LXI. When Themistocles had said these words, Adiman- 
 tus the Corinthian, breaking out a second time into invectives 
 against him, bade him to be silent, because he had no coun- 
 try; and dissuaded b Eurybiades from putting any question to 
 the vote for one who had no city ; for Themistocles might then 
 have a voice in the council, when he should be able to say, 
 he had a city ; he upbraided him in this manner because 
 Athens was t.iken, and in the hands of the Persian. The- 
 mistocles thus at length heaped many reproaches upon the 
 Corinthians, and Adimantus in particular ; and shewed that 
 the Athenians had a city and country of greater power than 
 Corinth ; and as long as they had two hundred ships of war r 
 armed and manned by themselves, no nation of Greece could 
 repel them. 
 
 LXII. After he had signified this, addressing his discourse 
 again to Eurybiades, he said with more vehemence, " If you 
 " stay here, and act the part of a brave man, you will save 
 " Greece ; if not, you will overthrow it; for the fate of the 
 
 * Vigilando, agendo, bene consulen- rendered. It should be rendered in cru- 
 de, prospere omnia cedunt: ubi socordia? tium hominis, &c. So in Homer, Iliad, v, 
 tete atque ignavia: tradideris ; nequid- ver. 210. 
 
 quam deos implores, irati infestique "On "l\iov tig tpaTiivi}v ijjtofiriv 
 
 sunt. Sallust. Bell. Catilin. 52. Tpa7<ri. 
 
 b QVK iHjv, as Valckenaer has well Tpoitffffi signifies in gratiam Tnyaiwrtim. 
 
 explained it, signifies dissuading him Lurcher. 
 
 from, as in ii. 30, &c. 'Eiri-^rj^nv sig- c There is in the original an ellipsis, 
 
 nifies to ask their opinions, to put it to We must supply fftoatu; or op^oxme T/JV 
 
 the vote, (sententias rogare.) " A.iro\i av- 'EXXatfa, or else icnXdif or tv av t\cn. 
 
 cpi is what grammarians call dativus ralckenaer. 
 Cflmmodi ; this dative is frequently badly
 
 URANIA. VIII. 
 
 ' war rests wholly in our fleet. Be persuaded then by my 
 " reasons ; or, if you are resolved not to do as I desire, we 
 " will immediately take our families on board, and depart to 
 " Siris, a city of Italy, belonging to us from ancient time ; 
 " which we are told by an oracle is to be built and peopled 
 " by the Athenians : and you will all remember my words, 
 " when you shall find yourselves abandoned by such allies." 
 
 LXIII. When Themistocles had thus spoken, Eurybiades 
 was induced to alter his opinion d ; or, rather, as I conjecture, 
 the apprehensions he had, that the Athenians would leave 
 him, if he should sail with the fleet to the isthmus, prevailed 
 upon him to change his resolution ; for without the assistance 
 of the Athenians, the rest were no way able to resist the ene- 
 my; so adhering to the opinion of Themistocles, he determined 
 to stay, and fight it out by sea at Salamis. 
 
 LXIV. Thus the Greeks at Salamis, after this verbal skir- 
 mish, as soon as Eurybiades had come to this determination, 
 prepared themselves for an engagement in that place. But 
 after day-break, upon the rising of the sun, a shock was felt 
 both by land and sea; upon which they resolved to invoke the 
 Gods, and to implore the help of the yEacida;. Accordingly, 
 having addressed their prayers to all the Gods, and invoked 
 Ajax and Telamon, in the place where they were, they sent a 
 ship to ^Egina to invite to their assistance vEacus and the 
 
 LXV. Dicaeus the son of Theocydes, an Athenian exile, in 
 great reputation with the Medes at that time, affirmed, that 
 after the territories of Attica had been ravaged by the land 
 forces of Xerxes, and abandoned by the Athenians, he hap- 
 pened to be at that time with Demaratus, in the plain of 
 Thriasium, where he saw so great a dust rising from Eleusis, 
 as might probably be raised by thirty thousand men: that 
 wondering at the sight, and who should be the cause, they 
 suddenly heard a voice, which to him seemed like that of the 
 Mystic Iacchus f ; that Demaratus, being unacquainted with 
 the Eleusinian mysteries, asked him the meaning of the noise, 
 and that he made the following answer ; " Demaratus," said 
 
 A 'AvactfiaffKiaOai, priora dednceri, lacchus or Bacchus crowned with myrtle, 
 
 vel dedocendum se praebere, ut quis alia and holding a torch in his hand. (Arist. 
 
 discat istis contraria: to be convinced of Ran. v. 331. and seq. Scholiast.) During 
 
 any thing contrary to one's former opi- the procession they sung in honour of the 
 
 nion. See Thucyd. viii. 86. Valckenaer. God a hymn, which was called lacchus, 
 
 e See book v. ch. 80. and in which they often repeated the 
 
 f On the 20th of the month Boedro- word lacche. It was sung in honour of 
 
 mion, (which answers to the 30th of Sep- Bacchus, the son of Jupiter and Proser- 
 
 tember,) which was the 16th day of the pine. (See Arrian. Exped. Alex. ii. 16. 
 
 festival of the mysterie? of Ceres, (Plu- and Cicero De Nat. Deor. iii. 23.) Lar- 
 
 tarch. in Carmillo, p. 138.) they carried cher. 
 from Ceramicus to Eleusis a figure of
 
 246 HERODOTUS. 
 
 he, " it is impossible but that some great mischief will befal 
 " the king's army ; for since Attica is deserted, it is very 
 " manifest, that it must be the Divinity which spoke, and that 
 " he is coming from Eleusis, to succour the Athenians and 
 " their allies. If he goes to Peloponnesus, the king and his 
 " land forces will be in danger on the continent ; and if he 
 " takes his way to Salamis, the king will run the hazard of 
 " losing his fleet. The Athenians annually celebrate this fes- 
 " tival to Ceres and- Proserpine; admitting all other Grecians, 
 " who desire it, to be initiated in these mysteries 8 ; and the 
 " cries you hear, are such as they make at the celebration of 
 " this solemnity." To these words Demaratus replied, " Be 
 " silent, and relate this story to no one ; for if it should be 
 " reported to the king, you will lose your head ; and neither 
 " I, nor any other could possibly save you : therefore keep 
 " the thing secret; and as for the army, let the care of that 
 " rest with the Gods." He said that Demaratus gave him 
 this counsel, and that, after the dust and the voice, a cloud 
 arose, which ascended into the air and rolled to Salamis to- 
 wards the Grecian fleet ; by which they understood that the 
 navy of Xerxes should be destroyed. These things were af- 
 firmed by Dicaeus the son of Theocydes, appealing to the 
 testimony of Demaratus and other witnesses. 
 
 LXVI. When the naval forces of Xerxes had viewed 11 the 
 defeat of the Lacedaemonians, they passed over from Trachis 
 to Histiaea ; and after three days' stay, sailed through the 
 Euripus, and in three days more arrived at Phalerum. Their 
 numbers, in my opinion, were not less, both by land and by 
 sea, when they came to Athens, than when they arrived at 
 Sepias and at Thermopylae. For I balance the loss of those 
 that perished in the storm, and at Thermopylae, as well as of 
 those that were killed in the sea fight at Artemisium, with the 
 additional forces they received from the Melians 1 , the Dorians, 
 the Locrians, and the Boeotians, with all their forces, except 
 the Thespians and the Plataeans; none of these people having 
 before joined the king's army. To this number I must also 
 add the Carystians, the Andrians, and the Tenians, with all 
 
 8 On these mysteries see Meursius, in small number of the others. These were 
 
 his treatise entitled, Eleusinia: and par- my former opinions, but they have been 
 
 ticularly Warburton's Divine Legation refuted in the learned work of M. de 
 
 of Moses. This learned divine is how- Sainte-Croix, on the Mysteries of Pa- 
 
 ever, in my opinion, wrong, when he ganism. Sect. v. Art. 5. Lurcher. 
 
 supposes that the initiated were instruct- The processions and different ceremo- 
 
 ed in the unity of God. This might per- nies observed on the celebration of these 
 
 haps have been done with regard to those mysteries are carefully collected in Pot- 
 
 who were inclined to believe it; but I ter's Archaeol. Graeca, book ii. ch. 20. 
 
 am persuaded that they did not mention h See ch. xxiv. 
 
 it to the generality of the initiated, and j The people of Melis, not those of the 
 
 that they preached atheism to a very island Melps. Larcher.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 247 
 
 the rest of the Islanders, except the five cities' 1 I mentioned 
 before. For the farther the Persian penetrated into Greece, 
 the more nations followed him. 
 
 LXVII. When they were all arrived at Athens, except 
 only the Parians, who stayed at Cythnus in expectation of the 
 event, Xerxes himself went on board the fleet to confer with 
 the commanders, and to know their opinions ; where, after he 
 had taken his seat, and the kings of the several nations, with 
 the other generals of his marine forces, were assembled by his 
 direction, they sat down likewise according to the honour he 
 assigned them ; the king of Sidon first ; next to him the king 
 of Tyre ; then the rest : when they had all set down in order 
 according to their rank, Xerxes sent Mardonius to put the 
 question to every one in particular, whether they should ven- 
 ture an engagement by sea. 
 
 LXVIII. Accordingly Mardonius beginning at the king of 
 Sidon, went round and put that question : all the rest agreed 
 in their opinions, except only Artemisia, who said, 
 
 " Mardonius, tell the king 1 for me, that I give my opinion 
 " in these words : Sire, since I have not behaved myself 
 " worse, nor done less, than others, in the actions upon the 
 " coast of Eubcea, I may with reason lay before you what I 
 " happen to think most advantageous to your affairs. I ad- 
 " vise you then to spare your ships, and not to come to an 
 " engagement against those, who, by sea, are as much supe- 
 " rior to your forces, as men are to women. Besides, what 
 " need have you to hazard another battle at sea ? Is not 
 " Athens in your possession, for which you undertook the war? 
 " And are you not master of the rest of Greece? for no man 
 " now opposes you, since those who ventured to resist, met 
 " with the fate they deserved. 
 
 " I will also tell you, in what way I think the affairs of our ad- 
 " versaries will turn out. If, instead of hastening a naval battle, 
 " you should keep your ships here on shore, or advance to- 
 " wards the Peloponnesus, all the projects you originally en- 
 " tertained, will succeed without trouble. For the Greeks 
 " cannot be long in a condition to resist; but must sepa- 
 " rate, and fly to their own cities ; because, as I am informed, 
 " they have no provisions in this island. Neither can we 
 " with any reason believe, that, when you have marched your 
 
 k As all the islands of the ^Egean had aorist. Our Author frequently uses in- 
 
 a city of the same name as the island, finitives in this way. See the Ionic Lexi- 
 
 the words ir6\ig and vijffOQ came to sig- con of Portus, under the title 'Airapsft- 
 
 nify the same thing on such occasions. QaTO. avri TWV vpoffraxrucuiv : where, 
 
 Compare iii. 139, &c. The five islands among many other examples, there is 
 
 were Naxus, Melos, Sipnos, Seriphus and this with the pronoun /xoi <ri> Si fint ini 
 
 Cythnus. Lurcher. ri\v 'EXXafor ffrpaTtvtoQcu. iii. 134. 21. 
 
 1 EtTrat is the infinitive of the first Valckenaer.
 
 248 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " land forces into Peloponnesus, those who came hither from 
 " thence, will continue here ; nor that they will care to fight 
 " for the Athenians. 
 
 " But if you determine to engage the enemy at this time, 
 " I fear the defeat of your naval forces will cause the destruc- 
 " tion of your land army. Consider besides, O king, that good 
 " men generally have bad servants, and bad men good. You 
 " are the best of men ; but you have bad servants, who yet 
 " go under the name of your confederates ; and such are the 
 " Egyptians, the Cyprians, the Cilicians, and the Pamphylians, 
 *' who are all useless." 
 
 LXIX. When Artemisia had said these words to Mardo- 
 nius, her friends were not a little disturbed ; fearing she might 
 fall under the ting's displeasure, for dissuading him from a 
 battle at sea. But those who envied her, because she was 
 honoured by him above all the confederates, were glad she had 
 delivered such an opinion as they thought must certainly ruin 
 her. Yet when the opinions were reported to Xerxes, he 
 shewed himself extremely pleased with the opinion of Arte- 
 misia; and having always esteemed her zealous for his in- 
 terests, he now honoured her with greater praises than before. 
 Nevertheless he determined to comply with the majority ; 
 and thinking his forces had not done their best at Euboea, be- 
 cause he was not present, he resolved to be spectator of the 
 engagement. 
 
 LXX. To that end orders were given out for sailing, and 
 the whole fleet stood towards Salamis, and drew up in order 
 for battle at leisure : but because night was coining on, and 
 the remaining light not sufficient for a battle, they prepared 
 themselves to fight the next day. In the mean time the 
 Greeks were under much fear and apprehensions, of which the 
 Peloponnesians had the greatest share ; reflecting with fear, 
 that they were then at Salamis, about to fight for the country 
 of the Athenians; and that if they were beaten, they should 
 be cut off and besieged in the island, while they had left their 
 own country unprotected. 
 
 LXXI. In that same night the land army of the Barbarians 
 marched towards Peloponnesus ; though the Greeks had con- 
 trived all they could to prevent an eruption by the way of the 
 continent. For so soon as they heard of the slaughter of those 
 with Leonidas at Thermopylae, they drew together from their 
 cities to the isthmus, and put themselves under the conduct 
 of Cleombrotus m the son of Anaxandrides, and brother to 
 Leonidas. Being encamped there, they first fortified the 
 pass of Sciron"; and afterwards having resolved to erect a 
 
 * This Cleombrotus died soon after. " This road leads from Megaris to the 
 See ix. 10. isthmus past the mountain of Sciron,
 
 URANIA. VIII. 249 
 
 wall upon the isthmus, they brought that work to perfection ; 
 every man, of so many thousands that were in the army, 
 performing his part, without exception : for they were all 
 employed in carrying stones, bricks, timber, and baskets full 
 of sand ; working without intermission, both by night and by 
 day. 
 
 LXXII. The Greeks who came with all their forces to 
 succour the common cause at the isthmus were, the Lacedae- 
 monians, all the Arcadians, the Eleans , the Corinthians, the 
 Sicyonians, the Epidaurians, the Phliasians, the Troezenians, 
 and the Hermionians. ' These were the people who, very much 
 alarmed at the dangers which threatened Greece, came to her 
 assistance. But the rest of the Peloponnesians did not con- 
 cern themselves about it, though the Olympian and Carnian 
 solemnities were now past. 
 
 LXXI1I. Peloponnesus is inhabited by seven nations ; 
 two of which are the Arcadians and the Cynurians ; who, being 
 originally of that country, have always dwelt in the same 
 places they now possess. After these, the Achaians ; who, 
 though they never abandoned the Peloponnesus P, yet left their 
 ancient seat, and settled themselves in another. The remain- 
 ing four are strangers ; and consist of Dorians, ^Etolians, 
 Dryopians, and Lemnians. The cities of the Dorians are 
 teany and of great fame; the ^Etolians q have only Elis : the 
 Dryopians, Hermione and Asine, situate near Cardamyle ' of 
 Laconia, and the Paroreata3 s , are all Lemnians. The Cy- 
 nurians, although Autocthones, alone appear to some to be 
 lonians ; but in course of time they became Dorians after they 
 fell under the power of the Argives, & well as the Orneatae 1 , 
 
 (Strabo ix. p. 600.) which takes its name his own name, (Apollodor. i. 7. sect. 6.) 
 
 from the famous robber. He used to who had before been called Epeans. I 
 
 throw travellers headlong into the sea, or therefore do not see when the yEtolians 
 
 put them to death with great cruelty. He established themselves in Elis ; but I find 
 
 was killed by Theseus. Lurcher." (Apollodor. i. 7. sect. 5.)that Endymion, 
 
 Pausanias (v. 4.) also says the Eleans son of -itthlius and Calyce, led the Jjo~ 
 joined in the confederacy against Xerxes, lians (i. e. the descendants of ^Eolus) 
 Diodorus Sic. (Excerpt.de Virtut. et from Thessaly and founded Elis. If we 
 Vitiis. torn ii. p. 54.) contradicts him. follow the first tradition of Pausanians, 
 
 P See the remarks at the end of book 1 . these /Etolians were properly .-Eolians. 
 
 1 Pausanias also relates that Elis was Calydon was anciently called ^Eolis. See 
 peopled by the ^Etolians, who set out Thucyd. iii. 102. 1 am therefore tempted 
 from Calydon and the rest of ^Etolia: to substitute ^-Eolians for JElolians. Larch. 
 but when he gives an account of the an- r He adds of Laconia, to distinguish it 
 tiquities of that nation he says nothing from Cardamyle of Argolis. 
 
 about it. On the contrary, it appears See book iv. ch. 145 48. 
 
 that ^Etolus, brother of Epeius, being ' Instead of tovrtg 'OpviTJrtu, which 
 
 obliged to fly on account of a murder he makes no sense, 1 read o> rt 'Opvfijrai. 
 
 had committed, retired towards the A- The Argives subdued the Orneatae and 
 
 chelous,andgavehisnametothecountry. incorporated them with their nation. 
 
 Eleius having succeeded to his brother ( Pausan. ii. 25.) We see also in Thu- 
 
 Epeius, called the people Eleans from cydide, (v. 41.) that the Argives de- 
 
 VOL II. K
 
 250 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and their neighbours. Now, all the cities of these seven na- 
 tions, except those I enumerated, did not interfere with either 
 party ; or rather, if I may speak with freedom, absented them- 
 selves, because they favoured the Medes. 
 
 LXXIV. The Greeks at the isthmus were occupied in 
 e work above mentioned with great eagerness, as they were 
 now contending for every thing, and as they did not expect 
 to distinguish themselves by sea. On the other hand, those 
 at Salamis were much disturbed when they heard these things, 
 as being more concerned for Peloponnesus than for them- 
 selves. They first began to whisper to one another, and to 
 wonder at the imprudence of Eurybiades ; till at last break- 
 ing out into open murmurings, a council of war was called, 
 and a long debate arose. Some said they ought to sail for 
 Peloponnesus, and hazard a battle for that country, rather 
 than to stay and fight for a place already in the power of the 
 enemy. But the Athenians, the ./Eginetae, and the Mega- 
 reans, voted to stay and fight at Salamis. 
 
 LXXV. Then Themistocles, seeing his opinion over- 
 powered by the Peloponnesians, went privately out of the 
 council, and sent away a man to the enemy's fleet, in a small 
 vessel, having instructed him what to say. The name of the 
 man was Sicinnus ; he was one of his domestics, and had the 
 care of instructing his sons ; and in succeeding time, when 
 the Thespians augmented the number of their citizens, The- 
 mistocles procured him to be made a citizen of Thespia, and 
 gave him considerable riches. This person, arriving in the 
 boat, delivered his message to the Barbarian generals in these 
 words : " The captain of the Athenians, (who is in the iri- 
 ' terest of the king, and desires your affairs may prosper, 
 ' rather than those of Greece,) has sent me privately away, 
 ' with orders to let you know, that the Greeks in great con- 
 ' sternation have determined to betake themselves to flight ; 
 ' and you have now an opportunity of achieving the most 
 ' glorious of all enterprises, unless through negligence you 
 ' suffer them to escape. For being divided in their opinions, 
 ' they will not oppose your forces ; but you will see those 
 ' who are your friends, fighting against those who are not of 
 ' your party/' Sicinnus, having thus delivered his message, 
 departed immediately. 
 
 LXXVI. As these tidings appeared worthy of credit, they 
 first landed a considerable number of Persians in Psyttalea, 
 an island lying between Salamis and the continent ; and after- 
 wards, when midnight arrived, they led out their ships towards 
 
 manded of the Lacedaemonians the sur- to them. See book i, ch. 82. Lar- 
 render of Cynuria, as belonging of right cher.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 251 
 
 Salamis u , in order to surround the western wing of the 
 Greeks; whilst those who were about Ceos and Cynosura x 
 sailed out and covered the whole of the frith as far as Mu 
 nychia with their ships. They drew out their fleet in this 
 manner, in order that the Greeks might have no way to 
 escape ; but being shut up in Salamis, might suffer punish- 
 ment for the battles at Artemisium; and they landed the 
 Persians in Psyttalea, to the end that, as they expected the 
 most part of the disabled ships and distressed men, would be 
 driven thither, because that island is situate in the straight 
 where the battle was like to be fought, they might be ready 
 to save whatever they thought fit, and to destroy the rest. 
 But these things they did secretly, in order that the enemy 
 might not perceive them, and passed the whole night without 
 sleep in making all necessary preparations. 
 
 LXXVII. When I reflect on these events, I have nothing 
 to say against the truth of oracles ; resolving not to attempt 
 to invalidate so manifest a prediction. 
 
 When circling ships shall join the sacred shore 
 
 Of Artemis to Cynosura's coast, 
 
 Just vengeance then i'astidious Pride J shall quench, 
 
 True son of Insolence, who, vainly proud 
 
 Of ravaged Athens, insolently thought 
 
 That all must stoop z to his audacious rage. 
 
 For clashing brass shall meet a , and Mars shall stain 
 
 The foaming billows with a purple gore. 
 
 Then Saturn's son and victory shall bring 
 
 A glorious day of liberty to Greece. 
 
 These words of Bacis are so clear, that I dare not dispute 
 the veracity of oracles myself, nor shall admit the objections 
 of others. 
 
 LXXVIII. In the mean time the generals at Salamis 
 continued their debates with great contention, not knowing 
 that they were surrounded by the ships of the Barbarians. 
 But they supposed that the enemy's ships were in the same 
 place as they had seen them stationed in during the day. 
 
 LXXIX, Whilst they were still disputing, Aristides, the 
 son of Lysimachus, came over from ^Egina. He was an 
 Athenian, but had been banished by ostracism b ; though, as 
 
 u The best idea of this engagement who translates it, " S'imagine faire re- 
 will be obtained in the chart annexed to " tentir 1'univers entier de son nom." 
 the Travels of Anacharsis the younger. 'A.v& irdvra TiQiaOai, which isSchweigh- 
 
 * Cynosura is a promontory of Attica, ceuser's reading, is the same as avari- 
 
 S.E. of Brauron, and N.E. ol'Prasia;. StaSai iravra, to overturn every thing, 
 
 y Kopoc signifies the fastidiousness to (urn them upside down ; as if he had 
 
 arising from satiety. Pindar (Olymp. said, dvia icarw r&taSai. Compare iii. 
 
 xiii. 12.) makes Insolence the mother of 3. 11. See Schweighaeuser's note. 
 Satiety, (eopoc.) Wesseting. a This alludes to the brazen prows of 
 
 1 Wesseling reads dva irdvra irvSta- the ships. 
 Sfat, in which he is followed by Larcher, b Ostractsm is a Greek word derived 
 
 Kk2
 
 252 HERODOTUS. 
 
 far as I have learnt of his manners, he was the best and 
 justest man in Athens. This person, coming to the place 
 where the council sat, sent for Themistocles out, who was not 
 his friend, but rather the fiercest of his enemies ; yet the 
 greatness of the impending danger made him forget their 
 former enmity, and he called him out in order to confer with 
 him ; for he had already heard that the Peloponnesians were 
 desirous to retire with the fleet to the isthmus. When The- 
 mistocles came out, Aristides said, " We ought at this time, 
 " and on all occasions, to contend, who shall do the greatest 
 " service to our country. I assure you, that to say little or 
 " much to the Peloponnesians about their departure is the 
 *"' same thing ; for I tell you, as an eye-witness, that neither 
 " Eurybiades himself, nor the Corinthians, can now retire, if 
 " they would ; because we are on all sides inclosed by the 
 " enemy's fleet. Go in again, therefore, and acquaint the 
 " council with these things." 
 
 LXXX. Themistocles answered, " Your admonition is 
 " exceedingly favourable, and the news you bring most ac- 
 " ceptable. For you tell me you have seen that, which I de- 
 " sired should come to pass above all things. Know then, 
 " that what the Medes have done, proceeds from me. For 
 " necessity required, that those Greeks who would not fight 
 " voluntarily, should be compelled to an engagement against 
 " their will. But since you have brought so good news, let 
 " the council hear it from yourself; because, if I should be the 
 " reporter, they would think it a fiction, and I shall not per- 
 " suade them any more, than if the Barbarians were doing no 
 " such thing. Go in, therefore, and inform them of the fact : 
 " if they believe you, nothing better can happen ; if not, we are 
 " still in the same condition ; for they have no way open to 
 " escape by flight, if, as you say, we are already encompassed 
 " on all sides." 
 
 LXXXI. Accordingly Aristides going in, gave the same 
 account to the council, acquainting them that he came from 
 
 from ocrrpaKov, a shell. It was a process gates ; the people entered by tribes, and 
 
 established at Athens, by which they each put into the urn his ostracon, on 
 
 usually exiled for ten years (five accord- which his vote was written. If six thou- 
 
 ing to Diodoms Siculus, xi. 55.) those sand votes were found against the ac- 
 
 whom they thought too powerful, or cused, he was forced to leave the city 
 
 whose fame and riches they dreaded, within ten days. Without that number 
 
 Ostracism was invented after the Athe- he was not condemned. This exile dif- 
 
 nians had been freed from the yoke of fered from banishment in three points : 
 
 the Pisistratids ; by means of it they it was only for a time, the place was 
 
 got rid of those whom they thought ca- assigned, and the property was not con- 
 
 pable of destroying the popular govern- fiscated. Ostracism was deemed honor - 
 
 ment. able, and was not, like banishment, im- 
 
 For this judgment the forum was in- posed by judges, after a mature exa- 
 
 dosed with planks, in which were ten mination for any crime. Bellunger.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 253 
 
 , after he had with great difficulty made his passage, 
 and eluded the vigilance of the enemy's stations, for the whole 
 Grecian fleet was surrounded by the ships of Xerxes. He 
 counselled them therefore to prepare themselves with all dili- 
 gence for their defence ; and when he had said this, he retired. 
 A dispute however again arose among the generals, for the 
 greater part gave no credit to the tidings. 
 
 LXXXII. Whilst they thus doubted, a Tenian ship, com- 
 manded by Panastius the son of Socimenes, deserted and came 
 over to them, and discovered the whole truth ; and for that 
 action the name of the Tenians was engraved upon the tripod c 
 consecrated at Delphi, among those who defeated the Barba- 
 rian. By the addition of this ship, and that of Lemnos, which 
 came over before at Artemisium d , the Grecian fleet now 
 amounted to three hundred and eighty sail ; for before they 
 wanted two of that number. 
 
 LXXXIII. The Grecians at length believing the account 
 they received from the Tenians, prepared for an engagement; 
 and when the day dawned they called a general assembly of 
 the Epibata? ; in which Themistocles, above all the other cap- 
 tains, delivered an animated harangue. During the whole of 
 his discourse he made a parallel between good and bad things, 
 and exhorted them to choose the best of all those things, 
 which depended on the nature and condition of man. When 
 he had finished his speech, he gave orders 6 for them to go on 
 board ; while they were doing this the ship they had sent to 
 jfEgina, with orders concerning the ^acidaa, returned to Sala- 
 mis ; and then the whole Grecian fleet advanced. 
 
 LXXXIV. While they were advancing, the Barbarians 
 immediately fell upon them, and the Greeks began to back 
 water and run their ships a-shore ; but Aminias, an Athenian 
 of the borough of Pallene, breaking out of the line, darted 
 upon an enemy ; and when his ship became entangled with the 
 other, and they could not get clear, the other ships came out to 
 his assistance and thus began the engagement. But the ^Egi- 
 netae affirm, that the ship which went to ^Egina with the in- 
 structions about the ^Eacidae, was the first engaged. There 
 is also a report that a phantom appeared in the shape of a 
 woman, encouraging the Grecians with so loud a voice, that she 
 was heard by all the fleet, after she had first reproached them 
 in these words; " Infatuated men! how long will you back 
 " water," 
 
 c This tripod was of gold, and the d See ch. xi. 
 
 names of all those people who assisted e This order of Themistocles is only ad- 
 
 in overthrowing the Persians were en- dressed, as his speech to the Athenians, 
 
 graved upon it. See Thucydides, book The other commanders doubtless gave 
 
 i. ch. 132. similar orders. Lurcher.
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 LXXXV. The Phoenicians were posted opposite the Athe- 
 nians, and occupied the wing which was to the westward towards 
 Eleusis. The lonians were ranged on the other point, facing 
 the Lacedemonians, and stretching towards the east and the 
 Piraeeus. Of these some few, persuaded by the exhortations 
 of Themistocles f , voluntarily omitted to perform their part. 
 Yet the greatest number did their best : and I could give the 
 names of many captains who took Grecian ships, though I shall 
 mention no more than Theomestor the son of Androdamas, 
 and Phylacus the son of Histiaeus, both Samians. I name 
 these two because Theomestor was afterwards made tyrant of 
 Samos by the Persians, for his service on this occasion ; and 
 Phylacus was not only enrolled in the number of the king's 
 benefactors 8 , who are called in the Persian language Oro- 
 sangae, but rewarded with large possessions in laud. And 
 such were the recompences of these two commanders. 
 
 LXXXVI. A greater part of the enemy's fleet h was shat- 
 tered at Salamis, being destroyed by the Athenians and the 
 JEginetse. For as the Greeks observed so good order, and 
 such a steady conduct in the fight, w r hilst the Barbarians 
 fought in a disorderly manner, and without judgment, such an 
 event would naturally turn out. Yet the enemy shewed 
 far more courage that day than they had done before on the 
 coast of Euboea, and surpassed themselves ; every one exerting 
 himself vigorously, in fear of the king's displeasure, because 
 each imagined that his actions were observed by him. 
 
 LXXXVII. I cannot exactly relate' how each particular 
 
 f Seech, xxii. desty. His- narrative is dubious and in- 
 
 They used to write down in registers complete, as all faithful narratives of 
 the names of those who had rendered great battles must be, unless some eye- 
 any service to the king. See the letter witness, very peculiarly qualified by 
 of Xerxes to Pausanias, in Thucydides, knowledge and situation, be the relator. 
 i. 129. Mordecai, who had informed We cannot therefore but regret, not in- 
 Ahasuerus of a conspiracy concerning deed that ^-Eschylus was a poet, but that 
 his life, was inscribed in the Chronicles, prose-writing was yet in his age so little 
 and was in course of time rewarded. common, that his poetical sketch of this 
 (Esther, vi. ver. 1. &c.) Larcher. great transaction is the most authorita- 
 
 h A comet appeared during this battle ; ti ve, the clearest, and the most consistent, 
 ceratlas cornus specitm habet, qualis f nit of any that has passed to posterity. Con- 
 ciun Grsrcia apnd Salamina depugnarit. cerning a day, however, so glorious, so 
 Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 25. This battle singularly interesting to Greece, and par- 
 took place in the first year of the 75th ticularly to Athens, anecdotes would un- 
 Olympiad, on the 20th of the month doubtedly abound ; and an historian, a 
 Boedromion, or on the 30th of Septem- few years only later, desirous to shine in 
 ber, 480 B. C. Larcher. description rather than to relate the truth, 
 
 Dodwell(Annal. Thucyd.) makes the could not have wanted materials. Anec- 
 
 engagement to have taken place on the dotes indeed ofparticularcircumstancesin 
 
 20th of October. great battles may often be authenticated ; 
 
 1 In considering Herodotus's account and to these Herodotus has chiefly con- 
 
 of this celebrated sea fight, we find not fined himself; avoiding a detail of the 
 
 less reason, than on former occasions, to battle at large, with an express decJara- 
 
 praise his scrupulous honesty and mo- tion that he could obtain none upon
 
 URANIA. VIII. 255 
 
 person, either of the Greeks or Barbarians, behaved himself 
 in this engagement; but an adventure happened to Artemisia, 
 which served to augment her credit with Xerxes. For when 
 the king's affairs were in the utmost confusion, the ship of 
 Artemisia was chased by an Athenian ship, and not being able 
 to escape, because she had those of her own party in front, 
 and her own happened to be very close to the adverse fleet, 
 she resolved to do a thing which turned to her great advan- 
 tage. As she was pursued by the Athenian, she drove directly 
 upon a ship of her own side, belonging to the Calyndians, and 
 ha\ ing their king Damasithymus on board ; but whether, on 
 account of any quarrel they had while at the Hellespont, she 
 purposely run down his ship ; or whether the Calyndians were 
 in her way by accident, I cannot affirm ; however, she darted 
 upon it, and sunk it, and had the good fortune to reap a dou- 
 ble advantage by that blow. For the captain of the Athenian 
 ship, when he saw her darting on a Barbarian vessel, con- 
 cluding Artemisia's ship to be a Grecian k , or at least one that 
 had deserted from the enemy and was assisting the Greeks, 
 gave over the chace, and turned towards the others. 
 
 LXXXVIII. By which means Artemisia not only escaped 
 the danger, but advanced her reputation with Xerxes, though 
 she had done him an injury. For they say, that when the 
 king, who was spectator of the exploit, had taken notice of the 
 ship which gave the shock, one of those about him 1 said, " Sir, 
 " you see with what courage Artemisia fights, and has sunk 
 "one of the enemy's ships." Then the king asking, if indeed 
 Artemisia had done that action? they answered, that they 
 knew the figure at the prow perfectly well ; aud they also had 
 no doubt but that the sunk ship was an enemy. For to the 
 rest of her good fortune, which I mentioned before, this also 
 was added, that none of the company belonging to the Calyn- 
 dian ship survived to accuse her. So that when Xerxes 
 heard their answer, he is reported to have said, " My men 
 " have fought like women, and my women like men m ." 
 
 LXXXIX. In this battle Ariabignes", the son of Darius 
 
 which he could rely. Mitford's Greece, dition. (Diodorus Siculus, xi. 18.) He 
 
 viii. 5. sat by Xerxes and related all that passed 
 
 k PolyzEims (Stratagem, viii. 53. I.) between the two fleets. Lurcher. 
 
 relates that Art misia caused her Per- m Ennius has imitated this in the well- 
 
 sian ensign to be taken down ; a cir- known lines ; 
 
 cumstance omitted by Herodotus, but ,,,-.- 
 
 which adds much to the probability of ^ ? ( ete , mm ' J UveneS ' anmrain ' S e " tlS 
 
 the story. Larcher. T ' mullebr ? m ',, 
 
 ' According to Ptolemy, it was Draco, 
 
 the son of Eupompus of Samos. His Many similar expressions are to be found 
 
 sight was so acute that he could distin- in Greek and Latin writers. Compare 
 
 guish objects at the distance of twenty also chap. Ixviii. 
 
 stades. Xerxes gave him a thousand n This Ariabignes is the same as the 
 
 talents to accompany him on tbis exoe- Ariamenes of Plutarch, (in Tliemist. p.
 
 256 HERODOTUS. 
 
 and brother of Xerxes, was killed, with great numbers of 
 illustrious men, as well Persians and Medes as their confe- 
 derates. On the part of the Greeks the slaughter was not 
 great ; because those who lost their ships, and did not perish 
 by the hands of the Barbarians, as they were skilful in swim- 
 ming, reached Salamis ; whereas many of the Barbarians, 
 being ignorant of that art, perished in the sea. The greatest 
 loss the enemy sustained began after their headmost ships 
 were put to flight ; for those who lay a-stern, endeavouring to 
 pass on to the front, that they might shew the king some proof 
 of their courage, fell foul upon their own flying ships. 
 
 XC. In this confusion, some Phoenicians, whose ships were 
 destroyed, going to the king, accused the lonians of having 
 betrayed him, and that they thus had been the cause of the de- 
 struction of their ships. It however turned out that the Ionian 
 captains were not put to death, but that those Phoenicians who 
 accused them, received the following reward. For whilst 
 they were yet speaking, a Samothracian ship attacking one of 
 Attica, sunk it ; and a ship of ^Egina coming up in that in- 
 stant, sunk the Samothracian. But the Samothracians being 
 armed with javelins, poured in such a shower "from the sinking 
 vessel, that they drove the Epibatae from the deck, jumped 
 into it and got possession of it. This success saved the loni- 
 ans: for Xerxes having seen them perform so great an action, 
 turned about to the Phoenicians ; and being above measure 
 troubled, and ready to fling the blame every where, com- 
 manded their heads to be struck off, that they might no more 
 accuse those who were braver, while they themselves had acted 
 cowardly. He sat upon the descent of a hill called ^Egaleos , 
 over against Salamis ; and whenever he saw a remarkable 
 action done in the fight by any one of his officers, he made 
 inquiry concerning the man, and caused his secretaries to write 
 down his name, his family, and his country. Ariaramnes also, 
 a Persian nobleman, and a friend to the lonians, who hap- 
 pened to be present, contributed P by his accusations to the 
 misfortune of the Phoenicians. 
 
 XCT. Whilst they were attending to the Phoenicians, the 
 Barbarians had betaken themselves to flight, and were sailing 
 away to Phalerum ; and then the JEginetee waiting for them 
 in their passage through the straits, gave memorable proof of 
 their valour : and as the Athenians destroyed those which 
 
 119.) and as the Artobazanes in our au- Demosthenes Timocrat. p. 466. Wes- 
 
 thor, book vii. ch. 2. Wesseling. seling. 
 
 The ancients differ concerning the P The verb \afltaOai and its compounds 
 
 place from which Xerxes beheld the bat- always govern a genitive case ; the ob- 
 
 tle of Salamis. Herodotus is followed by jection of Schultz, that vpoffXapsffOat 
 
 the Scholiast on JEschylus, byTzetzes or is never taken in a bad sense, can have 
 
 Lycophron, p. 142. and by Ulpian on no weight here, for the construction is
 
 URANIA. VIII. 257 
 
 were flying and those which ventured to resist ; the ^Eginetae 
 did no loss execution upon those, which escaped out of the 
 battle. So that for the most part, when any ship happened to 
 escape the Athenians, they fell into the hands of the ^Eginetae. 
 
 XC1I. At this time the ship of Themistocles giving chace 
 to one of the enemy, came up with another commanded by 
 Polycritus of ^Egina the son of Crius, which had fallen upon 
 a Sidonian ship, the same that took the ship of the ^Egineta3 q , 
 wliich was keeping watch near Sciathus, with Pytheas the son 
 of Ischenous on board ; "who being covered w r ith wounds, was 
 exempted from death by the Persians, in admiration of his 
 valour, and kept prisoner in the ship. In this action the Si- 
 donian ship was taken with all the men on board, and by that 
 means Pytheas returned safe to ^Egina. But when Poly- 
 critus 1 " saw the Athenian ship, which he knew to be the admi- 
 ral's ship by the figure, he called out to Themistocles and 
 rallied him in a cutting 1 manner, upbraiding him wkh the at- 
 tachment of the ^Eginetse to the Medes. He threw out these 
 reproaches on Themistocles, when attacking the Sidonian ship. 
 In the mean time, those Barbarians, whose ships were not de- 
 stroyed, fled and remained at Phalerum, under the protection 
 of the land army. 
 
 XCIII. Among the Grecians that fought this battle, the 
 .^Eginetae were most commended ; and next to these, the Athe- 
 nians : among the captains, Polycritus of ^Egina ; and among 
 the Athenians, Eumenes of the Anagyrasian, with Aminias* 
 of the Pallenian ward ; who gave chace to Artemisia ; and if 
 he had known she had been in the ship, would not have given 
 over the pursuit, till either he had taken her, or she him. For 
 the Athenians had given orders to that purpose to all their 
 captains, and promised a reward of ten thousand drachmas to 
 the person who should take her alive ; resenting with great 
 indignation, that a woman should make war against Athens. 
 But, as I said before, she made her escape, and the rest, 
 whose ships survived, lay at Phalerum. 
 
 XCIV. The Athenians say 1 that Adimantus, the Corinthian 
 
 avroiQ, (scil. TOIQ "Iwtri) * Dion Chrysostom (in Corinth, p. 
 
 TOVTOV TOV 4>o/. ira.Qf.os ' gave his assist- 456.) relates that our historian, not hav- 
 
 ance to the lonians, to turn the calamity ing received the recompencehe expected 
 
 from them on the heads of the Phoenicians. from the Corinthians, to whom he had re- 
 
 Schweigh. cited what he had written in their praise, 
 
 i See book vii. ch. 181. related their conduct at Salamis, and also 
 
 ' See the accusation brought against that of Adimantus, in a different man- 
 
 his father Crius, book vi. ch. 50. 73. ner. Plutarch attributes it to his ma- 
 
 That accusation occasioned the recrimi- lignity, and, if what Dion Chrysostom 
 
 nation of Polycritus. says were true, Plutarch would not have 
 
 This Aminias was brother to the omitted it. I am more inclined to believe 
 
 great tragedian yEschylus. Diodor. Sicu- that he wished to gratify the Athenians, 
 
 lus, xi. 27. then at enmity with Corinth. Plutarch 
 
 VOL. II. L 1
 
 258 HERODOTUS. 
 
 general, struck with alarm and great fear in the beginning of 
 the fight, put up all his sails, and betook himself to flight; that 
 the Corinthians seeing their admiral's ship flying, bore away 
 after him ; and when they had arrived off' the temple of Mi- 
 nerva Sciras 11 , on the coast of Salamis, a light bark fell in 
 with them by the guidance of heaven, for no one appeared to 
 have sent it; and that it came up to the Corinthians, who 
 were in ignorance of every thing relating to their fleet. They 
 concluded the thing to be divine ; for as soon as the bark 
 came up with their ships, those on board cried out, " Adiman- 
 " tus, thou hast by thy flight deprived the Grecians of the as- 
 " sistance of these ships, and art a traitor to Greece ; yet 
 " know, they are conquering their enemies, as completely as 
 " they desired." That finding Adimantus gave no credit to 
 their words, they added, that they would be contented to re- 
 main as hostages, and be put to death, if the Greeks were not 
 victorious : upon which Adimantus with the rest of the Corin- 
 thians returned to the fleet, but came not in till 'the work was 
 done. This is affirmed of them by the Athenians ; yet the 
 Corinthians deny the fact, and affirm, they signalized them- 
 selves as much as any in this engagement, and the rest of 
 Greece bears testimony to their assertion. 
 
 XCV. Whilst things were in this confusion on the coast of 
 Salamis, Aristides the son of Lysimachus, the Athenian, men- 
 tioned by me a little before as a most excellent person, taking 
 with him a considerable number of Athenian soldiers, who 
 were drawn up along that shore, passed over to Psyttalea*, 
 and put to the sword all the Persians he found in the island. 
 
 XCVI. The Greeks, after the engagement by sea was over, 
 brought to Salamis all the wreck that continued floating about 
 that coast, and prepared for another battle, expecting the 
 king would make use of his remaining ships to that end. But 
 the greater part of the broken vessels were carried by a west 
 wind to the shore of Colias in Attica ; so that not only those 
 
 (p. 870.) with reason opposes to Hero- u Salamis was formeily called Sciras, 
 
 dotus the silence of Thucydides, the of- (Strabo, ix. p. 603.) from a here of that 
 
 feringsmade at Delphi, the vow of the name. Minerva was honoured under that 
 
 women of Corinth, the Inscriptions of Si- name in the island, whence came the 
 
 monides, and other poets, of which our sacrifice, called at Athens Episcirosis ; 
 
 historian could not be ignorant. I add, and the month Scirophorion, which cor- 
 
 that if Herodotus had been influenced by responds with our June. The hero Sci- 
 
 eitlier of the imputed motives, he would ras (Pausan. i. 36.) was an augur, who 
 
 not have opposed to the Athenian ac- came from Dodona to find Erectheu/s, 
 
 count the testimony of the whole of during the war, which the Thracians, 
 
 Greece. Lurcher. who were in possession of Eleusis, were 
 
 The Epigrams and Inscriptions of Si- waging against that prince. Lurcher. 
 monides, and the others alluded to, are x This agrees with Plutarch (in Aris- 
 
 preserved by Brunck, in his Analecta, tid. p. 323.) and with yEschylus, (Pers. 
 
 torn. i. p. 132. Nos. 36, 37, 39, and 40. v. 447464.)
 
 URANIA. VIII. 251) 
 
 predictions of Bacis y and Musasus 2 , concerning the success of 
 the sea fight, were fulfilled ; but that also relating to the wrecks 
 which were drifted on that shore, which many years before 
 had been delivered in these terms by Lysistratus, an Athenian 
 augur, but had not been understood by any one : 
 The Colian dames shall shudder at the oars*. 
 
 This was to happen after the departure of the king. 
 
 XCVII. When Xerxes was informed of the loss b he had 
 sustained, he began to fear lest some of the lonians might 
 suggest to the Greeks, or lest they themselves might resolve 
 to sail to the Hellespont, to break the bridges, and lest he 
 himself, being thus cut off in Europe, might be in danger of 
 perishing. Under these apprehensions he meditated on flying ; 
 but being willing to conceal his intentions both from the Greeks 
 and from his own forces, he attempted to throw a mound across 
 to Salamis c ; and having fastened together the Phoenician 
 tenders, to serve for a bridge and a rampart, he, prepared all 
 things, as if he designed to fight another battle at sea. Every 
 one that saw him thus employed, firmly believed he had seri- 
 ously prepared to stay, and to carry on the war ; but his de- 
 signs did not escape the notice of Mardonius, since he was best 
 acquainted with his thoughts. Whilst Xerxes was making 
 these preparations, he dispatched a message to the Persians, 
 with an account of the misfortune which had befallen him. 
 
 XCVIII. There is nothing among mortals' 1 which arrives 
 sooner at the end of its journey, than these couriers. It has 
 
 y See note on ch. xx. " bitants whom he found there to slavery, 
 
 1 There were several of this name. " and finally returned to Asia, after hav- 
 
 The one here mentioned was an Athe- " ing imposed a tribute on the Greeks, 
 
 nian, and of Eleusis, and son of Antiphe- " It is evident that this recital is false; 
 
 mus. He wrote precepts in verse to his " but it is not impossible, nay, it is very 
 
 son Eumolpus, (see Pausanias, x. 5.) " probable, that the king caused this to 
 
 He also composed certain oracles, which " be told the Asiatic nations, in order 
 
 were attributed to Onomacritus. Larch. " that they might not be alarmed." 
 
 a All the manuscripts have ^pigoueri: This battle, so glorious for the Greeks, 
 
 yet Larcher, Schaefer, and Borheck have and particularly for the Athenians, gave 
 
 adopted QpvZovm, shall roast their food ; wings to their valour and their genius, 
 
 which reading is recommended by Vale- Larcher. 
 
 kenaer and VVesseling. Larcher trans- This frith was only two stadia across, 
 
 lates QpvZovffi feroni griller forge : and according to Strabo, (ix. p. 605.) who 
 
 add^ in a note, that before they had supposed, that the king began this work 
 
 slaves, the women used to grind barley before the battle ; which was also the 
 
 for food, and roast it. opinion of Ctesias Pers. c. 26. Wesseling. 
 
 b " I have been informed by a Mede," d Gvqrov ibv, is opposed to the Gods, 
 
 saysDionChrysostom, (Oral. xi.p. 191.) whose swiftness equals thought. Valc- 
 
 " that the Persians do not agree to what kenaer asks, whether pigeons, which were 
 
 " is reported by the Greeks. They affirm, formerly used to carry letters, are not 
 
 " that Xerxes vanquished the Lacedae- quicker, and therefore proposes to read 
 
 " monians at Thermopylae, and killed avQp<i>vifiov,Sx.c. Larcher and Schweigh- 
 
 " their king ; that he made himself mas- euser both doubt whether pigeons were 
 
 " ter of Athens, reduced all the inha- generally used for that purpose. 
 
 L 1 2
 
 260 HERODOTUS. 
 
 been thus managed 6 by the Persians. As many days as are 
 occupied in going the whole journey, say they, so many horses 
 and men are posted at the regular intervals of a day's journey. 
 Neither snow, rain, heat nor darkness prevents them from 
 performing their proper distance as quick as possible. The 
 first of these couriers delivers his orders to the second, the 
 second to the third, and so it passes from one to the other 
 as far as the last ; as the torch in the lampadephonia*, which is 
 performed in honour of Vulcan, passes from hand to hand 
 among the Greeks. And this regular course of horses the 
 Persians call Angarion. 
 
 XCIX. The first message which was brought to Susa from 
 Xerxes, with the news that he had taken Athens, caused so 
 great joy among the Persians who had been left there, that 
 they strewed all the streets with myrtle, burnt perfumes, sa- 
 crificed, and were occupied with festivity and luxury. But the 
 second messenger arriving, put them all into such a consterna- 
 tion, that they tore their clothes 5 , and with incessant howlings 
 and lamentations, threw all the blame upon Mardonins : the 
 Persians acted thus, not so much from sorrow for the disaster 
 of the fleet, as from fear for the king's person ; and continued 
 in their fears during all the time that passed between this 
 message and the return of Xerxes. 
 
 C. In the mean time Mardonius* 1 , seeing Xerxes much 
 afflicted at the unhappy event of the sea fight, and suspecting 
 he was meditating his escape from Attica, began to think with 
 himself, that he should suffer punishment, as he had persuaded 
 the king to make war against Greece ; and therefore that it 
 would be more advantageous to him to try the chance of war, 
 and either to conquer Greece, or die with glory, as he had been 
 excited by the hope of great achievements. Reflecting upon 
 these things, and inclining to believe he might subdue Greece, he 
 
 e This system was originally invented dertaken to give a detail that could not 
 
 by Cyrus. See Xenophon Cyr. Institut. come to him duly authenticated. We 
 
 viii. 6. sect. 9 ; whose description agrees might draw, even from the flatterer of a 
 
 with our Author. despot, some information of which the 
 
 f See note on vi. 105. total wreck of Persian literature hath 
 
 8 This was the custom among the deprived us. Yet, although the speeches, 
 
 Orientals, of which we meet with a hun- which Herodotus puts into the mouth of 
 
 dred examples in Holy Writ. See also Persian cabinet-counsellors, must be as 
 
 the Persae of ^schylus, ver. 63. et pas- fictitious as those which Livy attributes 
 
 sim. Larcher. to his fellow-countrymen at the head of 
 
 h It is impossible here not to wish for armies, yet large means were certainly 
 
 those Persian histories of these great open, for Greeks of rank and character, 
 
 events, which probably once existed, to know the manners of the Persian 
 
 and which a learned orientalist of our great, and even to pry into the politics 
 
 country (Richardson) would flatter us of the empire, as far perhaps as the Per- 
 
 with the hope of still recovering : but sians themselves : for under a despotic 
 
 we most wish for them when the Persian government the counsels which direct the 
 
 counsels become particularly interesting, greatest affairs are generally open to 
 
 of which the Grecian historian has un- very few. Mitford's Greece, viii. 5.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 261 
 
 addressed himself to the king in these words : " Sire, be not 
 " disturbed, nor think you have received so great a loss by the 
 " late action ; for a contest of timber has not the greatest in- 
 " fluencje over the issue of the war, but one of men and horses. 
 " None of those, who imagine they have given us a finishing 
 " blow, will quit their ships to appear against you in arms by 
 " land, neither have we any thing to fear from those of the conti- 
 " nent ; for those who have opposed us, have offered sufficient 
 " punishment. If then you think fit, let us immediately make 
 " an attempt upon Peloponnesus; or if you had rather take 
 " time to consider of that enterprise, you may do so without 
 " hazard : only be not discouraged ; for the Greeks have no 
 " way to exempt themselves from rendering a severe account 
 " of their past and present actions, and from becoming your 
 " servants. In this manner I would especially advise you 
 " to act : but if you have determined to return and to with- 
 " draw the army, I have other counsel to offer on that sub- 
 " ject. Above all things, O king, do not suffer the Persians 
 " to be exposed to the derision of the Greeks ; for they have 
 " brought no disaster upon your affairs, nor can you charge us 
 " with want of courage on any occasion. If the Phoenicians, 
 " Egyptians, Cyprians, and Cilicians, have behaved them- 
 " selves ill, this disaster does not regard us, and ought not to 
 " be imputed to us. Since therefore the Persians cannot be 
 " justly blamed, let me persuade you ; if you have resolved 
 " not to stay here, do you return to your home, and take with 
 " you the greatest part of the army ; but leave me three hun- 
 " dred thousand chosen men, and I take upon me to deliver 
 " to you Greece reduced to slavery." 
 
 CI. Xerxes, when he heard these words, was greatly de- 
 lighted, as after great troubles ; and he told Mardonius he 
 would consider his propositions, and let him know which of the 
 two he would adopt. While he was deliberating with the 
 Persians he had convoked, he thought fit to send for Artemi- 
 sia, in order to consult with her also, because she alone, 
 he found, had before understood the measures that ought to 
 have been taken. When Artemisia came, Xerxes ordered 
 his counsellors and guards to withdraw, and spoke to her in 
 these terms : " Mardonius encourages me to stay here, and 
 " to attack Peloponnesus ; telling me, that no disaster can be 
 " imputed to the Persians and the land army ; but that they 
 " wish for an occasion to give me demonstration of their va- 
 " lour. This enterprise he counsels me to attempt ; or else, 
 " with three hundred thousand men chosen out of my forces, 
 " he himself proposes to enslave Greece for me, and desires 
 " I would return home with the rest of the army. Do you, 
 " therefore, who gave me such prudent counsel in dissuading
 
 262 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " me from hazarding a battle at sea, advise me now, by adopt- 
 " ing which measure, I shall have consulted best for my 
 " affairs." 
 
 CII. To this demand Artemisia answered : " O king, it is 
 " a difficult matter for me to say' what may be best for you 
 " who now ask my advice. However, in the present state of 
 " things, I am of opinion you should return home, and leave 
 " Mardonius here with the troops he requires, if he will take 
 " this enterprise upon him. For, on the one hand, if he coii- 
 " quers these countries, as he promises, and all things suc- 
 " ceed to his mind, the achievement, Sire, will be yours, be- 
 " cause your servants have accomplished it. But, on the 
 " other hand, if contrary to the expectation of Mardonius, the 
 " event should prove unprosperous, the misfortune cannot be 
 " great, so long as you survive, and your own affairs are safe 
 " at home. For whilst you and your house are in being, the 
 " Grecians will be often driven to run the utmost hazards to 
 " preserve themselves. So that whatever disaster may fall 
 " upon Mardonius is of no importance ; neither will the 
 " Greeks, if they are victorious, gain any signal victory in de- 
 " stroying your slave. But do you, since you have burnt 
 " Athens, which was the thing you proposed to do in this ex- 
 " pedition, now return home." 
 
 CHI. This counsel being so agreeable to the inclination of 
 Xerxes, pleased him exceedingly ; for his fears were so great, 
 that if all the men and women of the world had advised him 
 to stay, I believe he would never have consented. After he 
 had applauded the wisdom of Artemisia, he sent her to con- 
 duct to Ephesus some of his natural sons, who had accompa- 
 nied him in his expedition. 
 
 CIV. With these children he sent Hermotimus to protect 
 them, by descent a Pedasian, and among the eunuchs inferior 
 to none in the king's favour. The Pedasians inhabit k above 
 Halicarnassus ; and it is said that when any calamity is, within 
 a certain time, to fall upon themselves and all those who live 
 about their city, a great beard shoots from the chin of Miner- 
 va's priestess ; which prodigy has been seen twice ' in that 
 place. 
 
 CV. Hermotimus then, as I said, was sprung from these Pe- 
 dasians ; and of all the men we know, revenged himself in the 
 
 * Tv^tiv iiTraffav does not differ from have read the one in the 1st book. 3. It 
 
 iiirai. Wessellng. is in its place in that book, and if Hero- 
 
 k The whole of this passage, which is dotus had wished to repeat it, it would 
 
 the same as in book i. ch. 175. reason- have been more convenient to have done 
 
 ably appeared to Valckenaer to have so in book vi. ch. 20. Larcher. For 
 
 been spuriously inserted here. 1. The the differences in style, see Valckenaer's 
 
 style is somewhat different from that of note. 
 Herodotus. 2. Strabo appears only to 'In book i. ch. 175. he says thrice.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 263 
 
 severest manner for an injury he had received. He was taken 
 by an enemy, and sold to one Panionius a Chian, who gained 
 a livelihood by a most impious practice. For whenever he 
 purchased boys of great beauty" 1 , he castrated them, and sold 
 them at Sardis and Ephesus for immense sums ; because the 
 Barbarians set a greater value upon eunuchs than upon others, 
 on account of their fidelity in all respects". Panionius, as he 
 lived by this means, had castrated many others, and among 
 them this Hermotimus ; he, however, not being unfortunate in 
 every thing, was sent from Sardis with other presents to the 
 king ; and in time became the greatest favourite of all his 
 eunuchs. 
 
 CVI. Whilst Xerxes was at Sardis, preparing to lead his 
 army against Athens, Hermotimus went, for some reason I 
 know not what, to Atarneus, a town of Mysia, possessed by the 
 Chians , and found Panionius there. After he had recognized 
 him, he addressed him with great friendship, and having first 
 acquainted him with the many felicities he had acquired by 
 his means, he next promised him great things in requital, 
 if he would come to his house, and bring his sons with him. 
 Panionius heard all this with satisfaction, and accordingly 
 came with his wife and children. But when Hermotimus saw 
 the whole family in his power, he said, " O thou, who hast 
 " gained a livelihood, by the most infamous acts, that any 
 " man has ever yet practised, what harm had I, or any of my 
 " ancestors, done to thee, or thine, that of a man, thou hast 
 " made me nothing? Thy opinion surely was, that thy machi- 
 " nations would pass unobserved by the Gods ; but they, for 
 " thy crimes, have now enticed p thee into my hands with so 
 " much justice, that thou canst have no colour to complain of 
 " the punishment I shall inflict upon thee." When he had 
 thus upbraided him, he ordered his four sons to be brought in, 
 and compelled the father to mutilate them himself. Panio- 
 nius, constrained by inevitable necessity, did as he com- 
 
 m E(tC iTraftfiivov^. Forma praedi- ' the place of all these : so that I do not 
 
 tos. 'ETra/j/iEvoc is by the Ionic dialect ' think, that fidelity of eunuchs, so ce- 
 
 put for tyrmpivos, which is the perf. ' lebrated in history, as very worthy of 
 
 part. pass, from iQairrtiv, adligare, sus- ' praise, but rather as a simple effect of 
 
 pendere. ' their wretched condition. They doubt- 
 
 n Larcher quotes the following from ' less serve one better and are less de- 
 
 ' Chardin, (Voyages, torn. ii. p. 159.) ' ceitful, but they are also cruel and 
 
 ' Having no connexion with any one but ' revengeful." 
 
 ' the master who has bought them, eu- The Persians had given Atarneus 
 
 ' nuchs have neither tenderness nor pity; to the people of Chios, to recompence 
 
 ' but for this same reason, they feel an in- them for having delivered Pactyas up to 
 
 ' comparable attachment towards their them. See book i. ch. 160. 
 
 ' master, and do for him, what another P 'YTrayav signifies properly to draw 
 
 ' would do for his best friend, his pa- any one to you by a bait, as a lamb by 
 
 ' rents, for his children, for his wife and offering it grass. Larcher. 
 ' country, because their master occupies
 
 264 HERODOTUS. 
 
 manded ; and, after he had done, his sons were forced to do 
 the same to him. In this manner Hermotimus was revenged, 
 and Panionius punished in the way he deserved q . 
 
 CVII. Xerxes having committed his sons to Artemisia's 
 care, in order to be conducted to Ephesus, sent for Mardo- 
 uius, and bid him choose what forces he would out of the 
 army, and endeavour to make his actions correspond with his 
 promises. Nothing more was done that day ; but in the 
 night, the generals, by the king's order, sailed with the fleet 
 from Phalerum, making towards the Hellespont, with all pos- 
 sible diligence, to preserve the bridges, for him to cross r in his 
 return. The Barbarians, as they sailed by Zoster 3 , imagining 
 the little promontories which run out from that coast to be 
 ships of war, fled for a considerable time ; but afterwards, 
 perceiving they were promontories, and not ships, they col- 
 lected together, and pursued their voyage. 
 
 CVIII. The next morning, the Greeks, seeing the enemy's 
 land forces still encamped in the same place, supposed their 
 fleet to be at Phalerum ; and therefore, in expectation of an- 
 other engagement, prepared to defend themselves ; but when 
 they were informed of their departure, they presently deter- 
 mined to sail in quest of them. But coming up to Andros, 
 without having discovered any of the enemy's ships, they 
 called a council of war ; in which Themistocles moved, that, 
 shaping their pursuit by the way of the islands, they would 
 make directly to the Hellespont, and destroy the bridges. 
 But Eurybiades was of a contrary opinion, and said, that if 
 they broke the bridges, they would do the greatest possible 
 harm to Greece ; for if the Persian, intercepted by that means, 
 should be constrained to continue in Europe, he would endea- 
 vour not to be inactive, because by inaction he could neither 
 advance his affairs, nor open a way to his return ; but his army 
 must inevitably perish by want : that if he should be the ag- 
 gressor, and enter upon action, all the cities and nations of 
 Europe must probably become an accession to his empire, 
 either by force or by a preceding agreement ; and for provi- 
 sions, the annual produce of Greece would furnish him suffi- 
 ciently : that being of opinion Xerxes would not willingly 
 
 i " Qui primus pueris genitalia mem- spot, unfastened her Zone, from whence 
 
 " bra recidit the place was called Zoster. Young 
 
 " Vulnera quae fecit, debuit ipse pati. women, from the time that they arrived 
 
 ( Ovid. Am. ii. El. iii. 3, 4. at marriageable years, wore a girdle, 
 
 r The construction of this sentence is which the bridegroom unfastened on the 
 
 this, $icuj)V\dffffovaai /SaciXs'i (wore ai>- first night of the marriage ; hence the 
 
 TOV) Tropiv9 fivcu. Schweigh&user. expression solvere zonam. After their 
 
 8 It is said that Latona, when flying marriage they wore another girdle, un- 
 
 from the jealousy of Juno, being over- til their first accouchement. Larcher. 
 
 taken by the pangs of child-birth in this
 
 URANIA. VIII. 265 
 
 continue in Europe after the defeat he had received at sea, 
 he was for favouring his flight, till he should arrive in Asia : 
 after which he advised them to carry the war thither, and 
 compel him to fight for his own territories. To this opinion 
 the other captains of the Pelopounesians unanimously adhered. 
 
 CIX. Themistocles, when he found he could not persuade 
 at least the greater number to sail for the Hellespont, altered 
 his opinion and addressed the Athenians, who of all the allies 
 were most annoyed at the escape of the enemy, and were de- 
 sirous to proceed thither alone with their own ships, if the rest 
 should refuse to concur in that design. " I have myself fre- 
 " quently witnessed similar occasions," said he, " and much 
 " more often heard, that men, when reduced to necessity 4 
 " though conquered, have renewed the fight and repaired 
 " their former losses. Since therefore we have unexpectedly 
 " preserved ourselves and Greece, by having repelled such 
 " a cloud of men, let us no longer pursue those that fly: 
 " for this success is not owing to our own force, but to the 
 " Gods and to the heroes, who were too jealous to permit one 
 " man to be king both of Asia and Europe : a man of such 
 " impiety and insolence, that he burnt all places, sacred and 
 " profane, without distinction ; overthrew the images of the 
 " Gods ; and even scourged the sea, and threw into it fetters. 
 " Since then our affairs are in so good condition, and we have 
 " completely driven out the Barbarian, let us continue in 
 " Greece, and let us take care of ourselves and our families ; let 
 " every one repair his house and sow his lands with diligence"; 
 "" and let us sail to the Hellespont and to Ionia at the begin- 
 " ning of the next spring." This turn Themistocles gave to 
 his discourse, in order to insinuate himself into the favour of 
 the Persian, that he might have a place of refuge if any mis- 
 fortune should overtake him from the Athenians, as after- 
 wards fell out x , 
 
 CX. Themistocles, though his words were -deceitful, yet 
 persuaded the Athenians; for as he had been before considered 
 a wise man, and had now given such manifest proofs of his 
 consummate prudence and excellent counsels, they were en- 
 tirely disposed to believe him in every thing. But after they 
 had assented to his opinion, he presently sent off certain per- 
 
 * This advice of Themistocles has been Castor and Pollux are called "Avaxtg 
 imitated by several illustrious generals. from the care which they take of the 
 Frontinus (ii. 6.) quotes, among other Greeks. The word ava%, king, has the 
 instances, the words of Scipio Africanus, same origin, because kings carefully la- 
 warn hostibus qu&fvgiant esse muniendam. bour for the good of their subjects. Lar- 
 A similar saying of Agesilaus is given by cher. 
 Polyamus, ii. 1. 6. Valckenaer. * This is related by Thucydides, book 
 
 u 'AvaiccDf I-XITII>. This expression ap- i. ch. 130. and seq. 
 pears to me s'ronger than iiri(te\tiTa>. 
 
 VOL. U. M m
 
 266 HERODOTUS. 
 
 sons in a boat, who he was confident, would, though put to 
 every torture, keep secret what he had enjoined them to tell 
 the king ; among these his servant Sicinnus was again sent. 
 When they arrived on the coast of Attica, the rest continued 
 on board, and Sicinnus y going alone to the king said, " The- 
 " mistocles the son of Neocles, general of the Athenians, the 
 " most wise and valiant of all the confederates, sent me to 
 " tell you, that being desirous to do you a good office, he has 
 " detained the Greeks, when they were desirous to pursue 
 " your ships, and to destroy your bridges on the Hellespont ; 
 " so that you may now retire at your leisure 2 ." And after he 
 had delivered his message, they returned to Themistocles. 
 
 CXI. The Greeks having thus determined neither to con- 
 tinue their pursuit, nor to sail for the Hellespont to break the 
 enemy's bridges, besieged Andros, with intention to destroy 
 that city ; because the Andrians were the first of all the 
 islanders who refused to give money, when demanded by 
 Themistocles: but when he told them that the Athenians were 
 come thither accompanied by two powerful deities, Persua- 
 sion and Force, and that therefore they must part with their 
 money; the Andrians answered, that the Athenians being pro- 
 tected by such kind deities were great and prosperous* of 
 course ; but that the Andrians were in possession of a parti- 
 cularly barren country, and that two unprofitable goddesses, 
 Poverty and Impossibility, never forsook their island, but were 
 always fond of living among them, and that they would give 
 no money so long as they had such deities ; adding, that the 
 power of Athens would not at any time prove superior to their 
 inability. Thus they answered; and for refusing to give money, 
 were besieged. 
 
 CXII. During which time Themistocles, incessantly covet- 
 ing more wealth, sent threatening messages to the other 
 islands, by the same persons he had employed before to the 
 Andrians, with orders to demand money in the same terms ; 
 and to let the islanders know, that if they refused to send him 
 the sum he required, he would bring the Grecian forces against 
 them, and would besiege and destroy them. By these menaces 
 he extorted great riches from the Carystians and from the 
 Parians ; who being informed that the Andrians were be- 
 
 . v Sicinnus had been sent before, see the bridge ; and adds, that Themistocles, 
 
 ch.lxxv. Plutarch relates that an eunuch, zealous for his preservation, advised him 
 
 named Arnaces, who had been taken pri- to hasten to pass over into Asia, while he 
 
 soner, was sent. The account of Herodo- raised obstacles to retard the pursuit of 
 
 tus appears most probable. Larcher. the allies. Lurcher. 
 
 z Plutarch (in Themist. p. 120.) makes a This is said ironically : Athens was 
 
 Themistocles inform Xerxer, that the at this present time in ashes and the 
 
 Greeks, after their victory, had resolved country in devastation. Schiccigk. 
 to sail to the Hellespont and break down
 
 URANIA. VIII. 267 
 
 sieged for favouring the Medes, and that Themistocles was in 
 the greatest reputation of all the generals, terrified with ap- 
 prehensions of his indignation, sent him the money he de- 
 manded. Whether any more of the islanders gave him money 
 or not, I cannot affirm ; but I am of opinion that some others 
 did, and that these were not the only people that complied. 
 Yet for all this the Carystians could not at all b defer cala- 
 mity, though the Parians escaped the visit of the army by 
 pacifying Themistocles with money. Thus in a clandestine 
 manner, and without the participation of the other generals, 
 Themistocles demanded money of the islanders, beginning 
 with the Andrians. 
 
 CXIII. The army of Xerxes having continued a few days 
 in their camp after the sea fight, marched back into Bosotia 
 by the same way they came ; because Mardonius deemed it 
 proper to attend the king in his way, and also as the season of 
 the year was improper for military action ; besides he thought 
 it better to winter in Thessaly, and to attack Peloponnesus 
 early the next spring. Upon his arrival in Thessaly, he in 
 the first place made choice of all the Persians, who are called 
 Immortal, except their general Hydarnes ; for he declared he 
 would not leave the king. After these, he chose out of the 
 rest of the Persians the cuirassiers, and the body of a thousand 
 horse d . Of the Medes, Sacae, Bactrians, and Indians, he 
 omitted none, either foot or horse : but from the rest of the 
 allies he selected a few; only choosing such as were of a good 
 appearance 6 , or known to him by some remarkable action. 
 Among the forces he chose, those of the Persian nation were 
 most considerable, and wore bracelets and chains for orna- 
 ment. Next to them, the Medes, not less numerous than the 
 Persians, but inferior in valour. And thus, including the 
 horse, he made up the number of three hundred thousand. 
 
 CXIV. But whilst Mardonius was selecting his army, and 
 Xerxes still in Thessaly, an oracle was brought to the Lace- 
 daemonians from Delphi, admonishing them to demand satis- 
 faction of Xerxes for the death of Leonidas, and to accept 
 whatever might be given. Accordingly they immediately sent 
 away a herald, who, finding all the army of Xerxes still in 
 Thessaly, after he had been brought/ into his presence, said, 
 " King of the Medes, the Lacedaemonians and Heraclidas ' 
 " of Sparta demand of you compensation for killing their king, 
 
 b OiiSiv is equivalent to tear' ovdsv, in TOIV t^ovTic apiara, and therefore IVIK- 
 
 no way, not at all. Ne in breve ^uidem rucoi. Valckenaer. 
 
 tempns dilata est calamitas. Schweigh. f Herodotus expresses himself thus, 
 
 c See chap. cxxi. to distinguish the kings of Lacedjemon 
 
 d See book vii. ch. 40. and is. ch. 62. from those of Argos and Macedonia, who 
 
 e Toiffi tTcta vTrfip\t. These are, if I also were Heraclidae. Larc/ier. 
 
 mistake not, elfooc. iv i\ovri, or ffwfta- 
 
 M m 2
 
 268 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " whilst he endeavoured to defend Greece." At these words 
 the king laughed ; and after he had long forborne to answer, 
 he pointed to Mardonius, who happened to be standing near 
 him, and said, " This Mardonius then shall give them the 
 " satisfaction they deserve." The herald, having accepted 
 the omen, went away. 
 
 CXV. Xerxes, leaving Mardonius in Thessaly, marched 
 with precipitation to the Hellespont. His haste was so great, 
 that he arrived at the passage in forty-five days, leading away 
 with him, if I may so say, no part of the army. His soldiers, 
 wherever, and among whatever nation, they happened to be 
 marching, seized and consumed their corn ; but where they 
 found no kind of fruit, overcome by hunger, they fed upon 
 the herbage that grew spontaneously on the ground, and 
 stripped off the bark, and gathered leaves from the trees, and 
 ate them, both from the wild and cultivated, leaving nothing 
 behind. To this a pestilence and dysentery 8 succeeded, which 
 destroyed great numbers in their march. The sick Xerxes 
 left in the cities through which he happened to be passing, 
 commanding the inhabitants to take care of them, and to fur- 
 nish them with provisions. Some he left in Thessaly, others 
 at Siris, a Pasonian city, and some in Macedonia. In this 
 country, when marching against Greece, he left the sacred 
 chariot of Jupiter, but at his return he did not receive it 
 back : for the Paeonians, having given it before to the Thra- 
 cians, told Xerxes, when he demanded back the chariot, that 
 those who inhabit the upper parts of Thrace, about the springs 
 of the river Strymon, had taken away the mares whilst they 
 were feeding. 
 
 CXVI. In that country, a Thracian, who was king of the 
 Bisalta? and Crestonia, did a most unnatural action. For 
 after he had declared he would not willingly be a slave to 
 Xerxes, and commanded his sons not to join in the expedi- 
 tion against Greece, he retired to the top of mount Rhodope. 
 Nevertheless, either in contempt of his command, or from a 
 desire to see the war, they entered into the army of Xerxes ; 
 but when they all six returned safe, the father, to punish their 
 disobedience, caused all their eyes to be put out. Such was 
 their reward. 
 
 CXVII. The Persians arriving at the passage by precipi- 
 tate marches through Thrace, passed over the Hellespont to 
 Abydos in their ships ; because they found their bridges no 
 longer complete, but dissipated by a storm. While they 
 stayed there, as they were more plentifully furnished with pro- 
 visions than in their march, they filled themselves so immode- 
 
 e This account agrees with that of ^Eschylus. Perss, v. 490, &c.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 269 
 
 rately, that this excess, together with the change of water, 
 destroyed a great part of the remaining army, and Xerxes 
 with the rest arrived at Sardis. 
 
 CXVIII. Some, relating this retreat in another manner, 
 say, that when Xerxes in his retreat from Athens arrived at 
 Eion upon the Strymon, he made no more marches by land ; 
 but leaving Hydarnes the care of conducting the army to the 
 Hellespont, he went on board a Phoenician ship, and passed 
 over to Asia : that in his voyage a violent and tempestuous 
 wind arising from the Strymon 11 overtook them. And that, 
 as the storm increased, and the ship was overloaded bv 
 the number of Persians attending Xerxes, who were on the 
 deck, the king became alarmed, and called aloud to the pilot, 
 asking him if he had any hope to save the ship ; and that the 
 pilot answered, " O king, there is none, unless some way 
 " might be found to get rid of this multitude of its Epibatae." 
 That the king, having heard his answer, said, " O Persians, 
 " now let some among you shew hiSTegard for the king, for 
 " my safely appears to depend on you." That when he had 
 pronounced these words, all the Persians adored the king, 
 and lept into the sea ; and that the ship, being thus lightened, 
 arrived safe in Asia : that immediately after his landing, he 
 rewarded the pilot with a crown of gold for saving the king's 
 life ; but commanded his head to be struck off for destroying 
 so many Persians. 
 
 CXIX. Nevertheless, this manner of relating the retreat 
 of Xerxes is of no credit with me, for divers reasons ; and 
 especially on account of the catastrophe of the Persians ; for 
 granting that the pilot said those words to Xerxes, yet hardly 
 one man of a thousand ' will deny that the king would have 
 done thus : he would have sent down into the body of the 
 ship those who were on the deck, since they were Persians, 
 and the chief among the Persians ; and would as certainly 
 have thrown into the sea an equal number of rowers k , who 
 were only Phoenicians. But indeed he returned to Asia by 
 land, with the rest of the army, as I said before '. 
 
 CXX, The following also is a strong testimony in favour 
 
 h The ancients understood by this ' Herodotus is not among the reputa- 
 
 wind, the north wind ; Qpri'tKiai -xvoai, ble fablers who report, that Xerxes, in 
 
 Thracian blasts; because Thrace was a his retreat, without an army, without a 
 
 cold country, and regarded as the abode fleet, and almost without an attendant, 
 
 of Boreas, lurcher. crossed the Hellespont in a cock-boat. 
 
 ' The Greeks use ten thousand in this He tells indeed another story, not per- 
 
 sense. TheXatins six hundred. haps wholly undeserving attention, as a 
 
 k To this objection of Herodotus it specimen of tales circulated in Greece 
 
 may be answered, that the rowers and concerning these extraordinary circum- 
 
 sailors were wanted to assist in weather- stances ; though he declares for himself 
 
 ing the storm, which the Persians must that he did not believe it. Mitford's 
 
 have been ignorant of. Scku-eightrusei-. Greece, viii. 5. note 37.
 
 270 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of this. It is certain m that Xerxes in his return was at Ab- 
 dera ; that he made an alliance with the inhabitants, and pre- 
 sented them with a scymetar of gold, and a tiara tissued with 
 gold ; to which the Abderites add, though I can by no means 
 believe the thing, that he took off his girdle in their country 
 for the first time, after his flight from Athens, as being at 
 length in a place of safety. Abdera is nearer to the Helles- 
 pont than the river Strymon, or the city of Eion, where they 
 say he embarked. 
 
 CXXI. In the mean time the Greeks, finding themselves 
 unable to reduce Andros, departed to Carystus ; and, after 
 they had ravaged the country, returned to Salamis. There, 
 in the first place, they set apart the first-fruits they intended 
 to consecrate to the Gods, and among other things three 
 Phoenician ships"; one to be dedicated at the isthmus , which 
 continued there to my time ; a second at Sunium p , and the 
 third in the place where they were, to Ajax at Salamis. After 
 that, they parted the booty among themselves, and sent the 
 first-fruits to Delphi, of which a statue was made, twelve cu- 
 bits high, holding the beak of a ship q in one hand, and erected 
 in that place where stands a golden statue of Alexander the 
 Macedonian. 
 
 CXXII. When the Greeks had sent their offerings to 
 Delphi, they enquired of the God in the name of all, if he 
 had received a grateful and satisfactory offering ; to which he 
 answered, that from the rest of the Grecians he had, but not 
 from the ^Eginetas, of whom he expected a due acknowledg- 
 ment, for having behaved themselves with the greatest va- 
 lour r in the sea fight. The ^Eghietse being informed of this 
 answer, sent three stars of gold, which were affixed to a mast 
 
 m On this signification of 0ivo/icu, A pillar, or rather trophy, was erected 
 
 see Viger. de Idiot. Graec. v. 13. 1. in the forum, composed of the beaks of 
 
 n Phormio also consecrated a ship ships taken from the enemy. Beioe. 
 after his victory off Rhium. See Thucyd. r As the victory of Salamis was owing 
 
 ii. 84. to the Athenians, it was foreseen, that, 
 
 This was douhtless consecrated to elated by this superiority, they would 
 
 Neptune, the tutelary deity of Corinth dispute the sovereignty of the sea with 
 
 and the isthmus. Lurcher. the Lacedaemonians. In order to pre- 
 
 P Mitford (xi. 1. note 2.) conjectures vent this, the prize of valor was adjudged 
 
 that this was dedicated to Minerva. The to the -dCginetae . As the Athenians were 
 
 ruins of the temple of the Suniad Mi- annoyed with the inferiority so unjustly 
 
 nerva remain on the promontory to this assigned them, the Lacedaemonians were 
 
 day. He is afso of opinion that the one afraid that Themistocles might contrive 
 
 at the isthmus was consecrated to Nep- something' against them^and the Greeks, 
 
 tune ; more particularly as we find that and therefore bestowed on him peculiar 
 
 a statue was erected to him there upon honours. The Athenians, 'piqued at this, 
 
 occasion of the subsequent victory of deprived him of his command, and gave 
 
 Platasa. See book ix. c. 81. and Pausan. it to Xanthippus, the son of Ariphron. 
 
 ii. L, See Diodorus Siculus, xi. 27. 
 
 i The first naval triumph at Rome Plutarch agrees with Diodorus. See 
 
 was commemorated in a similar manner. his Life of Themistocles.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 271 
 
 of brass, and are in a corner of the temple next to the bowl 
 of Croesus s . 
 
 CXXIII. After the Greeks had thus disposed of the 
 booty, they set sail for the isthmus, with a resolution to confer 
 the accustomed honours upon the person who should be found 
 to have proved himself most deserving during the war; and 
 accordingly, at their arrival, the captains divided the lots 
 amongst themselves near the altar of Neptune, in order to se- 
 lect those who deserved the first and second place. But every 
 one thinking he had performed his part best, voted for him- 
 self first ; and as for the second place, the majority agreed in 
 selecting Themistocles. These, then, had only their own 
 votes, while Themistocles was by a great majority elected to 
 the second *. 
 
 CXXIV. And though the Greeks out of mutual jealousy 
 would not determine this dispute, but returned to their seve- 
 ral countries without coming to a decision ; yet Themistocles 
 was universally applauded, and obtained the reputation of the 
 most prudent man in Greece. Nevertheless, because those 
 who fought the battle at Salamis had not honoured him as he 
 expected, he went presently away to Lacedaemon, that he 
 might there receive the honours he desired. The Lacedae- 
 monians received him splendidly, and payed him the greatest 
 respects. They decreed the prize of valour to Eurybiades ; 
 of dexterity and prudence to Themistocles ; and therefore 
 presented each with a crown of olive. They also gave The- 
 mistocles the most magnificent chariot in Sparta ; and after 
 they had said much in his praise, three hundred chosen Spar- 
 tans, the same that are called knights", attended him at his 
 departure, as far as the borders of Tegea ; and he is the only 
 person we know, whom the Spartans accompanied on his 
 journey. 
 
 CXXV. But upon his return to Athens from Sparta, Ti- 
 modemus of Aphidnae, one of his enemies, though otherwise 
 of no great figure, being inflamed with envy, reproached The- 
 mistocles with his journey to Lacedaemon; and objected, that 
 the honours he received from the Spartans were not confer- 
 red on him for his own merit, but on account of Athens. And 
 because he continued to repeat the same things with importu- 
 nity, Themistocles at last answered him; "The truth is," 
 
 6 This was the bowl of silver. See " care necesse sit. Ex quo potest proba- 
 
 book i. ch. 51. " biliter confici, eum recte primum esse 
 
 * Larcher quotes the following from " judicio suo, qui omnium ceterorum ju- 
 
 Cicero ; " Academico Sapienti ab omni- " dicio sit secundus." Ex incerto libro 
 
 " bus ceterarum sectarum, qui sibi sapi- Academ. ap. D. August, contra Aca- 
 
 " entes viderentur, secundae paries dan- dem. iii. 7. 
 
 " tur, cum primas sibi quemque vindi- u See note on vi. 56. and vii. 205".
 
 272 HERODOTUS. 
 
 said he, " were I a Belbinite x , I should not have received so 
 " much honour from the Spartans ; nor would you, though ah 
 " Athenian." 
 
 CXXVI. In the mean time, Artabazus, the son of Phar- 
 naces, a man of great reputation among the Persians before, 
 and of much greater after the battle of Platasa ; having with 
 him sixty thousand men, drawn out of that army which Mar- 
 donius had chosen, conducted Xerxes to the passage ; and 
 after the king's arrival in Asia, returned back and encamped 
 about Pallene. But because Mardonius was wintering in 
 Thessaly and in Macedonia, and there was nothing as yet to 
 urge him to join the rest of the army, he thought it wrong, 
 since chance had brought him in the way of the Potidaeans 
 who had revolted, not to reduce them to slavery. For as 
 soon as the king had passed by, and the Persian fleet, flying 
 from Salamis, was out of sight, they openly revolted from the 
 Barbarians ; and the other inhabitants of Pallene did the 
 same. At that time Artabazus laid siege to Potidasa. 
 
 CXXVII. And as he suspected the Olynthians would fol- 
 low their example, he besieged Olynthus also ; which was' 
 then in the possession of those Bottireans, who had been driven 
 out of the bay of Therma by the Macedonians. These, when 
 he had taken the city, he brought down into a morass y , and 
 put them all to death ; after which he gave the government to 
 Critobulus of Torone, by descent a Chalcidian ; and by that 
 means the Chalcidians became masters of Olynthus. 
 
 CXXVIII. After the reduction of this place, Artabazus 
 applied himself with more attention to the siege of Potidasa ; 
 and, as he was earnestly occupied with it, Timoxenus, captain 
 of the Scyonaeans, agreed to betray the city to him. Touch- 
 ing the beginning of their correspondence I can say nothing, 
 because nothing is reported : but the event was thus. When 
 Timoxenus wished to write any letter to Artabazus, or Arta- 
 bazus to Timoxenus, they used to roll it round the end of an 
 arrow z ; and afterwards affixing the feathers, shot the arrow 
 into the place they had agreed upon. But the treason of Ti- 
 moxenus was at last detected. For Artabazus, when endea- 
 vouring to shoot into the appointed place, missed the right 
 
 * This reply supposes that Timodemus tribe, and of one of the boroughs de- 
 was of Belbina; yet Herodotus, in the pendant on that tribe. Lurcher. 
 beginning, makes him of Aphidns. Wes- V This morass was to the south of 
 seling supposes with Corn, de Pauw, Olynthus and contiguous to the interior 
 that Timodemus was really a Belbinite, of the gulph of Torone. It was called 
 and that when made a citizen of Athens, Bolyca. Larcher. 
 he had been incorporated in the borough z The y\v<j>icic ar e those four incisions 
 of Aphidnse, according to the practice which are made lengthwise in the lower 
 of that republic, all of whose citizens part of the arrow, into which the wings 
 were enrolled in the registers of their or feathers are fastened. Schw. Lex.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 273 
 
 spot and wounded one of the Potidaeans in the shoulder; 
 upon which the multitude running- together about the wounded 
 man, as is usual in time of war, drew out the arrow, and hav- 
 ing found the letter, carried it to the principal officers of the 
 Potidaeans, and of the other Pallenians their confederates, 
 who were then in the city. When they had read the letter, 
 and discovered the author of the treachery, they determined, 
 out of regard to Scione, not to involve Timoxenus in the 
 charge of treason, lest the Scionaeans should ever after be 
 accounted traitors. Thus the treason of Timoxenus was de- 
 tected. 
 
 CXXIX. As for Artabazus, after he had continued the 
 siege during three months, the sea retired a to a great distance, 
 and for a long time. The Barbarians, seeing the place before 
 occupied by the sea now become a marsh, marched across to 
 enter Pallene : and when they had passed two parts in five of 
 the march they had to make through that way, before they 
 could arrive there, so great an inundation came pouring in 
 from the sea, that the inhabitants say, the like never happened 
 before, though more moderate floods are frequent on that 
 coast. Those that could not swim perished by the waters, 
 and those that could, were killed by the Potidaeans, who sailed 
 out upon them in boats. The cause of this inundation and 
 disaster of the Persians is, by the Potidaeans, attributed to 
 the impieties committed by those who were drowned, to the 
 image and temple of Neptune, which stands in the suburbs ; 
 and to me they seem to give the right cause. The rest re- 
 turned with Artabazus to the camp of Mardonius in Thessaly ; 
 and such was the fortune of those troops that were sent to con- 
 duct the king. 
 
 CXXX. The remains of the fleet of Xerxes which fled 
 from Salamis arriving on the coast of Asia, transported the 
 king and his army across from the Chersonesus to Abydos, 
 and passed the winter at Cyme. In the beginning of the 
 ensuing spring it assembled at Samos, where some of the 
 ships had been laid up. The Epibatae were for the most part 
 Persians and Medes, and were under the conduct of Mardon- 
 tes the son of Bagaeus, and Artayntes the son of Artachaeus, 
 who had associated with him as his colleague his nephew Itha- 
 mitres. And, as they were extremely dispirited, and no one 
 constrained them, they would not adventure farther to the 
 westward ; but continued at Samos with three hundred ships, 
 including those of Ionia, to prevent Ionia from revolting ; 
 
 a *A/i7rwrtc is the ebbing of the sea, the flowing or inundation of the sea; it is 
 avaito8ivTO row vSarog, the water synonymous with pn^n- Valckenaer. 
 being as it were sucked back ; 
 VOL. II.
 
 274 HERODOTUS. 
 
 they were far from expecting that the Greeks would come 
 thither, but supposed that it would be sufficient for them to 
 protect their own country ; because they had so readily retired, 
 without pursuing the Persians, when they fled from Salamis. 
 Thus despairing of victory by sea, and yet believing Mardo- 
 nius with his land forces would be completely successful, they 
 consulted together at Samos, what damage they might be able 
 to do the enemy, and at the same time were attentive to the 
 event of his enterprize. 
 
 CXXXI. But the spring coming on, and Mardonius in 
 Thessaly, awakened the Grecians : and though their land 
 army was not yet assembled, they arrived at ^Egina with one 
 hundred and ten ships ; putting themselves under the conduct 
 of Leotychides, who was descended in a direct line from Me- 
 nares, Agesilaus, Hippocratides, Leotychides, Anaxilaus, Ar- 
 chidamus, Anaxandrides, Theopompus, Nicander, Charillus b , 
 Eunomus, Polydectes, Prytanis, Euryphon, Procles, Aristo- 
 demus, Aristomachus, Cleodasus, Hyllus, and Hercules. He 
 was of the other branch of the royal family, and his progenitors 
 were all kings of Sparta, except the two I mentioned im- 
 mediately after Leotychides. Xanthippus' 1 the son of Ari- 
 phron was the commander of the Athenians. 
 
 CXXXII. When all these ships were assembled at ./Egina, 
 ambassadors from the lonians arrived at the Grecian station ; 
 being the same persons, who a little before had been at Sparta, 
 to desire the Lacedaemonians to deliver Ionia from servitude ; 
 and of these Herodotus the son of Basilides was one. They 
 had been at the beginning seven ; and had conspired together 
 to kill Strattes, tyrant of the Chians ; their conspiracy was 
 discovered by one of the accomplices who gave information of 
 the attempt ; so that the other six withdrew privately from 
 Chios and went first to Sparta, and at the present time to 
 ^Egina, beseeching the Greeks to sail to Ionia; but could 
 hardly prevail with them to advance to Delos. For all beyond 
 that place 6 was dreaded by the Greeks ; who being ignorant 
 of the countries, thought every part to be full of enemies, and 
 that Samos was as far distant from them, as the columns of 
 
 b This prince was not the son of Euno- d See the end of the note on ch. 122. 
 
 mus,but the son of Polydectes and grand- e They were still afraid of the Persian 
 
 son of Eunomus : we ought therefore to power, especially as most of the Greeks 
 
 write Charillus, Polydectes, Eunomus, were ignorant of the countries beyond. 
 
 &c. Tins is the order of Plutarch (in I say most of them, because the shores of 
 
 Lycurg. p. 40.) and Pausanias (ii. 36.) Asia and Thrace near the Hellespont 
 
 Larcher. had been thoroughly explored by the 
 
 c Larcher reads seven instead of two, Athenians in their voyages to Sigeum, 
 
 because neither of the seven last were Ephesus and the Chersouese : Samos also 
 
 kings of Sparta. He attributes the error was not unknown to the Lacedaemonians, 
 
 to the copyists. See iii. 46. Wesseling.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 
 
 275 
 
 Hercules. Thus it happened at the same time that the Bar- 
 barians durst not on account of their fear venture to sail be- 
 yond Samos westward ; nor the Greeks eastward beyond De- 
 los, though earnestly pressed by the Chians ; thus fear pro- 
 tected the nations that lay between both. 
 
 CXXXIII. During the time of this voyage to Delos, 
 Mardonius having passed the winter in Thessaly, and being 
 ready to march out of that country, sent to the oracles a cer- 
 tain person, a native of Europus f , named Mys, with orders to 
 go every where and consult all the Gods it was possible for 
 him to inquire of. What he wished to learn from the oracles 
 when he gave these orders, I cannot say, because fame is 
 silent in that particular ; but I am of opinion, that he sent to 
 inquire about the affairs then depending, and not of other 
 things. 
 
 CXXXIV. However, we are certain that this Mys arrived 
 in Lebadea, and having corrupted a native of the place, de- 
 scended into the cave of Trophonius g ; that he procured access 
 to the oracle of Abae h in Phocis; moreover, when he went be- 
 fore to Thebes, he not only consulted the Ismenian Apollo, 
 where answers are sought from the victims' as in Olympia, but 
 he also obtained permission, by bribing a stranger, not a The- 
 
 f This Mys was probably of Europus 
 in Caria, since the oracle was delivered 
 in the Carian language. The Carians 
 were $iy\waffoi ; they understood both the 
 Persian a nd Greek language. See Thu- 
 cyd. viii. 85. Valckenaer. 
 
 8 Trophonius was the son of Erasinus, 
 and descended from Athamas. He built 
 himself a mansion under ground, or, as 
 some pretend, he was swallowed up by 
 the earth. (See Pausan. ix. 37. and the 
 Scholiast on Aristoph . Xub.) The oracle 
 was first brought into notice at the time 
 that Boeotia was afflicted by a great 
 drought. The God at Delphi sent them 
 to Trophonius, whose cave they found by 
 following a swarm of bees. No one was 
 allowed to descend into this cave till he 
 had stayed some time in a chapel dedi- 
 cated to Good Fortune, and after he had 
 entered, sacrifices were oft'ejed and the 
 priest consulted the entrails to ascertain 
 whether an auspicious answer would be 
 given. After other ceremonies, he was 
 led to the oracle which was at the bot- 
 tom of a low cave, into this the consult- 
 ant was obliged to shove himself feet 
 foremost. After this it appears that he 
 was by some means or other stupified, 
 and while thus astounded strange ap- 
 pearances and noises were seen and heard 
 
 all around : during which an answer to 
 his inquiries was vouchsafed. They af- 
 terwards returned from the cave the same 
 way, feet foremost. All who returned 
 were for some time melancholy and de- 
 jected, from whence the proverb, t/c Ty>o- 
 <!><i)viov fitfia.vTtvrai, became generally 
 applied to melancholy people. They, 
 however, recovered their former cheer- 
 fulness in the temple of Good Fortune. 
 See Pausanias, ix. 34, 37, 39, &c. ; - 
 
 h In Aba? there was a celebrated ora- 
 cle of Apollo, which, according to Ste- 
 phanus of Byzantium, (voce *Aj3ai.) was 
 more ancient than that of Delphi. The 
 temple was set on fire by the Persians, 
 and its destruction was completed by the 
 Thebans in the sacred war. The Scho- 
 liasts say, that Abae was in Lycia, but 
 this opinion is completely refuted. 
 
 1 Answers were obtained at Olympia 
 from the flames which consumed the 
 victim. If the flame was bright, it fore- 
 told a happy event, if thick and smoky, 
 an unhappy. See the notes of Valcke- 
 naer and Wesseling, who wish to read 
 tltirvpoun. Larcher translates it " Par la 
 " flamme des victimes." This emenda- 
 tion is thought unnecessary by Sch- 
 weighaeuser. 
 
 N n2
 
 276 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ban, to sleep k in the temple of Amphiaraus 1 . For noe of the 
 Thebans are permitted to consult there ; because, when Am- 
 phiaraus left to their choice, by an oracle, whether they would 
 have him for their prophet, or their ally, the Thebans rather 
 chose to take him for their ally: and for this cause no Theban 
 may sleep in his temple. 
 
 CXXXV. The Thebans relate the following circumstance, 
 which is to me a matter of great astonishment. They told 
 me, that this Mys, of Europus, as he went round to all the 
 oracles, arrived at the temple of the Ptoan Apollo" ; which, 
 though called by that name, belongs to the Thebans, and 
 stands beyond the lake Copais, at the foot of a mountain , 
 very near the city of Acrasphia : that when this Mys arrived 
 at this temple, he was accompanied by three citizens, chosen 
 by the public to write down the words of the oracle ; and the 
 priestess immediately gave the answer in a barbarous tongue ; 
 that when those Thebans who followed him stood amazed to 
 hear a Barbarian p language instead of Greek, and knew not 
 what to do on that occasion, Mys suddenly snatched the table- 
 book they brought with them, wrote down the words of the 
 priestess, which, he said, were in the Carian tongue ; and after 
 he had done, departed for Thessaly. 
 
 CXXXVI. When Mardonius had read the answers of the 
 oracles, he sent Alexander the son of Amyntas, a Macedonian, 
 to Athens ; as well on account of his relation to the Persians, 
 (for Bubares a Persian had married his sister Gygaea q , the 
 daughter of Amyntas, who bore him a son named after his 
 grandfather, Amyntas ; this Amyutas who was then in Asia, 
 had received from the king Alabanda, a considerable city of 
 Phrygia,) as because he was informed of the mutual friend- 
 ship and hospitality that passed between him and the Athe- 
 nians. This way he thought most effectual to gain the Athe- 
 nians ; and having not only heard that they were a numerous 
 and valiant people, but believing they had been the principal 
 cause of the late disaster of the Persians in the sea fight, he 
 hoped, with reason, that if he could bring them over, he should 
 
 k If the reading of KaTiKolfiurf instead the mountain on which the temple was 
 
 of KOTiKoifJitiat is adopted, it must be built, obtained the name of Ptous. See 
 
 taken transitively, he caused that stran- Plutarch Pelopid. p. 286. 
 ger to sleep in the temple on his account. According to Pausanias, (ix. 23.) 
 
 The other reading however appears pre- Ptous was the son of Athamas and The- 
 
 ferable. Schweighttuser. mista, who gave his name to the moun- 
 
 1 See note on book i. ch. 46. tain and to Apollo. 
 
 m Mot does not belong to Xsytrat but This probably is the mountain men- 
 
 to Qun/fia. tioned in the last note. Larcher. 
 
 n The ancients relate that Latone was P We must recollect that this word 
 
 suddenly alarmed (^dvairroriBrjvai) at the signifies/oreign. See note on i. 1. 
 sight of a wild boar in this place, and 9 See book v. ch. 21. 
 that from this circumstance her son, and
 
 URANIA. VIII. 
 
 277 
 
 easily become master at sea ; and being persuaded of the su- 
 periority of his land forces, concluded, that his forces would be 
 very superior to the Grecian. Perhaps also the oracles coun- 
 selled him to procure the alliance of the Athenians. For 
 these reasons he sent him to them. 
 
 CXXXVII. This Alexander was descended in the seventh 
 degree 1 from that Perdiccas, who in the following manner 
 obtained the monarchy of Macedonia. Gauanes, Aeropus, 
 and Perdiccas, three brothers, descendants of Temenus 8 , fled 
 from Argos to lllyria, and from thence crossing over into the 
 upper Macedonia 1 , arrived in the city of Lebasa; where they 
 entered into the king's service for wages. One of them had 
 the care of his horses ; another of his oxen ; and Perdiccas, 
 who was the youngest, kept the lesser cattle. In ancient 
 times, not only the people, but monarchs too, had little 
 money"; and the wife of this king made their bread herself. 
 Whenever the bread of the younger servant Perdiccas was 
 baked, it became twice as large as at first : and when this 
 always happened, she acquainted her husband with what she 
 had seen. It immediately occurred to the king when he heard 
 it, that it was a prodigy, and related to some considerable 
 event ; he therefore called to him the servants, and com- 
 
 T We must here, according to the cus- 
 tom of the Greeks, include the two ex- 
 tremes, Alexander and Perdiccas. See 
 book i. ch. 91. and note. 
 
 6 Temenus was descended from Her- 
 cules by Aristomachus. (Pausan. ii. 18.) 
 When the Heraclidae divided the Pelo- 
 ponnese, Argos fell to the lot of Te- 
 menus. 
 
 *. Upper Macedonia is the inland coun- 
 try ; the Lower that which extends along 
 the ^Egean sea. A great deal of light is 
 thrown on this passage by Thucydides, 
 book ii. ch. 99. 
 
 u In the times of the Trojan war, the 
 use of money was not known among the 
 Greeks. Homer and Hesiod do not speak" 
 of gold and silver money, but express the 
 value of things by the number of oxen 
 and sheep which they deemed them 
 equivalent to. They marked a man's 
 wealth by the number of his flocks, and 
 that of a country by its pastures, and its 
 metals. See Iliad, vii. ver. 473, 475. 
 
 Lucan (Pharsal. vi. ver. 402.) attri- 
 butes the invention of money to Itonus, 
 king of Thessaly and son of Deucalion ; 
 others to Ericthonius: Aglaosthenes (in 
 Jul. Pollux, ix. 6, 83.) attributes it to the 
 people of Naxos. The most common opi- 
 nion is, that it was invented by Phidon, 
 king of Argos, contemporary with Ly- 
 
 curgus and Iphitus, in order to enable 
 the people of ^Egina to gain a livelihood 
 by commerce, on account of the barren- 
 ness of their island. Plutarch informs 
 us that Lycurgus introduced the use of 
 iron money in Sparta, and excluded gold 
 and silver. Herodotus informs us (i. 94.) 
 that the Lydians first coined gold and 
 silver. The treasuries of Croesus how- 
 ever contained only gold and silver in 
 lumps or dust, (see vi. 125.) And it ap- 
 pears from iii. 96. that coined money 
 was not generally in use at the begin- 
 ning of the reign of Darius, but we are 
 informed in iv. 166. that he caused gold 
 to be coined. 
 
 The form of the small money among 
 the Greeks was very singular. They 
 used small bars or spits of iron or brass, 
 which they called obeli (spits,) and he 
 gave the name of drachma (handful,) to a 
 piece equivalent to six obeli, (or as we 
 call them oboli,) because six were neces- 
 sary to fill the hand. See Plutarch, Ly- 
 sa.ni!. p. 442. 
 
 Gold was very scarce in Greece ; be- 
 fore Gyges, king of Lydia, brass tripods 
 were the only ornaments in the temple of 
 Delphi. The Lacedaemonians had re- 
 course to Croesus for gold, to erect a 
 statue to Apollo on mount Thornax. See 
 book i. ch. 69. Bellanger.
 
 278 HERODOTUS. 
 
 manded them to depart out of his territories. They answered, 
 that in justice they ought to receive their salaries, and then 
 they would readily go. But the king hearing them mention 
 their salary, and at the same time seeing the sun shining 
 through the chimney" into the house, being deprived of his 
 senses by heaven, said, " This I give you as a sufficient re- 
 " ward of your service;" pointing to the sun, as he pronounced 
 those words. Gauanes and Aeropus, the elder brothers, stood 
 amazed at his discourse; but the youngest answering, " We 
 " accept thy offer*, O king," took out a sword, which he hap- 
 pened to have about him ; and having drawn a circle upon 
 the floor round the brightness, made three several motions to 
 put up the light of the sun into his bosom, and then departed 
 with his brothers. 
 
 CXXXVIII. After their departure, one of those who 
 were sitting by him, informed the king what it was which the 
 youth had done, and how the youngest of them must have had 
 some design 2 in accepting his offer; which when the king 
 heard, he fell into a great rage, and sent away men on horse- 
 back to pursue and kill the brothers. In this country is a 
 river, to which the descendants of these Argives sacrifice as 
 their deliverer ; because they had no sooner passed, than the 
 stream ran so high and with such violence, that the horsemen 
 could not possibly get over. The Temenidffi thus escaping, 
 went to inhabit in another country of Macedonia, near the 
 gardens that are said to have belonged to Midas the son of 
 Gordias; where roses of sixty leaves" each, and surpassing all 
 others in fragrance, grow naturally without cultivation. If we 
 may believe the Macedonians, Silenus b was taken in these 
 gardens ; they lay at the foot of a mountain called Bermion, 
 
 * The chimnies of the ancients were VOVVI%WQ, prudently: which sense is 
 
 not constructed like ours. They had no very well suited to the present passage, 
 
 tunnel to conduct the smoke ; the fire Schweighguser. 
 
 was made in the middle of the chamber, a Larcher translates (j>v\\a, pttales. 
 
 which was highest in the centre, and had b Midas asked Silenus, when he had 
 
 the shape of an inverted funnel. In the taken him, what was the best thing for 
 
 top there was a hole through which the man ; Silenus for some time made no an- 
 
 smoke escaped. Larcher. swer ; but at length replied, " It would 
 
 J This answer is meant to be ambigu- " be best for man, if he had never been 
 ous, / accept thy offer, and / accept the " born ; the next best thing is to die as 
 omen. ^k\ta9ai TOV oluivbv, accipere " soon as possible." See Plutarch. Con- 
 omen, is always used in augury. sol. Apollon. 
 
 z Ktivwv in the original should not be Most authors says he was a satyr : 
 
 joined with ovv vby, as Valla has done, some ancients confound the Sileni with 
 
 but with vuararog . The expression avv the satyrs. Marsyas by some writers is 
 
 vfy has caused great difficulty to my called a Silenus, by others a satyr. There 
 
 surprise ; Stephanus interpreted it certo was however some difference, the Sileni 
 
 consiiw, but calls it a very rare phrase. were the oldest satyrs. (Pausan. i. 23.) 
 
 It occurs however in Arrian, (iii. 18.) Silent priusquam senescunt, satiri sunt. 
 
 and also in ch. 86. of this book, where (Servius, Virgil. Eclog. vi. vers. 14. 
 
 it is evident, that it signifies the same as Larcher.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 270 
 
 inaccessible from the cold. When they had possessed them- 
 selves of this tract, they issued from it as their head-quarters, 
 and subdued the rest of M acedonia c . 
 
 CXXXIX. From this Perdiccas, Alexander derived his 
 blood in the following- manner. Alexander was the son of 
 Amyntas, Amyntas of Alcetes, Alcetes of Aeropus, Aeropus 
 of Philip, Philip of Argaeus, and Argaeus of Perdiccas, who 
 acquired the kingdom. Such is the genealogy of Alexander, 
 the son of Amyntas. 
 
 CXL. When he had arrived at Athens as deputed by Mar- 
 donius, he spoke thus to the Athenians : " Men of Athens, 
 " Mardonius says this to you ; 
 
 " I have received a message from the king, conceived in 
 " these terms : I forgive the Athenians all the injuries they 
 " have done me ; and therefore Mardonius, observe the fol- 
 " lowing orders. First restore to them their own territories ; 
 " and next give them moreover whatever other country they 
 " shall choose ; let them govern by their own laws ; and re- 
 " build all their temples which I have burnt, if they will come 
 " to an agreement with me. Having received these orders, I 
 " am obliged to put them in execution, unless you on your 
 " part oppose me : and now, I myself ask you, what madness 
 " pushes you on to make war against a king you will never 
 " conquer, nor always be able to resist I You are not igno- 
 " rant of the numerous forces, and great actions of Xerxes ; 
 " you have heard of the army I now have with me ; and if 
 " you should happen to be victorious and to defeat us, which 
 " you can never hope so long as you have the use of reason, 
 " another much more numerous will come against you. Suffer 
 " not yourselves then to be dispossessed of your country, and 
 " continually running a risk for your own lives, by measuring 
 " your strength with the king ; but be reconciled to him, 
 " since you have now so favourable an opportunity in your 
 " hands, from the present disposition of Xerxes. Enter 
 " therefore into an alliance with us, sincerely and without 
 " fraud, and continue to be a free people. 
 
 " These, O Athenians, are the words which Mardonius or- 
 " dered me to say to you. For my own part, I will say no- 
 " thing of my constant affection to your state; because you 
 " have had sufficient proof of that in former time. I beseech 
 
 c Macedonia was anciently called to overrun the whole world to dissemi- 
 
 Emathia. (Pliny, iv. 10.) It compre- nate the knowledge of wine and corn, 
 
 hended Pieria. Helias (this name sig- During this expedition he left his son 
 
 nines the sun) was first king of Egypt, Macedon in Emathia, and established 
 
 and was succeeded by Saturn, who had him king. From him the country de- 
 
 by his sister Rhea, Osiris and Isis, &c. rived the name of Macedonia. See 
 
 Osiris from a love of glory endeavoured Diodor. Sic. book i. init. Bdlanger.
 
 280 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " you then, hearken to the counsel of Mardonius, for I see 
 " you will not always' be able to make war against Xerxes. 
 " If I had perceived that you were able, I should never 
 " have undertaken to bring- you such a message. But the 
 " power of the king is more than human, and his arm exceed- 
 " ing long' 1 . If then you do not immediately come to an 
 " agreement, when the Persians offer such favourable terms 
 " I dread the consequence to you, who lying in the way of 
 " danger more than any other of the confederates, and pos- 
 " sessing a country placed between the contending parties, 
 " must always be destroyed alone. Let these reasons pre- 
 " vail with you ; and consider the important advantages you 
 " will receive, if the great king forgives you alone among all 
 " the Greeks, and is desirous of becoming your friend." 
 Thus spoke Alexander. 
 
 CXLI. But the Lacedaemonians having been informed that 
 he was gone to Athens, in order to persuade the Athenians to 
 an agreement with the Barbarians ; and remembering the 
 oracles had predicted, that they, together with the rest of the 
 Dorians, should be ejected out of Peloponnesus by the Medes 
 and the Athenians, were not a little afraid that the Athenians 
 would make peace with the Persian ; and therefore resolved 
 forthwith to send ambassadors to Athens. It so happened 
 that an audience was granted to both of them at the same 
 time. For the Athenians had purposely protracted the time 
 of their meeting, as they well knew, that the Lacedaemonians 
 would hear that an ambassador had come from the Barbarians 
 to negociate a treaty, and that when they did hear of it, they 
 would send deputies with all haste. They therefore design- 
 edly deferred the meeting, in order to shew their sentiments 
 to the Lacedaemonians 6 . 
 
 CXLII. By this means Alexander had no sooner finished 
 his discourse, than the Spartan ambassadors speaking next 
 said, " The Lacedaamonians have sent us hither, to desire you 
 " not to introduce innovations into Greece, nor to hearken to 
 " the propositions of the Barbarians ; because such actions are 
 " altogether unjust, and dishonourable in any of the Grecians; 
 " and least of all becoming you, for many reasons. In the 
 " first place you were the authors of this war, against our in- 
 " clination ; the contest originally arose about your territories; 
 
 d The word j(tip among the Greeks particularly, during these remarkable 
 
 signifies the arm; manus in Latin has transactions, directed the measures of the 
 
 frequently the same signification. Attic government ; which, both in wis- 
 
 . , ., dom and magnanimity, at least equal 
 
 An nescis longas regibus esse ma- h - . political history of man- 
 
 "nus?" Ovid.Heroid.^vii^ee. g |, utarch P attnbutes all y to Aris . 
 
 tides. See his life. Mitford's Greece, 
 c Herodotus does not inform us who ix. 2.
 
 URANIA. VIII. 281 
 
 " but it now relates to the whole of Greece. Since this is 
 " the case, it is by no means tolerable that the Athenians 
 " should prove the authors of slavery to Greece, you espe- 
 " cially, who have in all preceding time acquired liberty for 
 "' many nations. We however sympathize in your sufferings ; 
 " because you have been deprived of two harvests, and your 
 " property f has been so long involved in ruin. But in com- 
 " pensation, the Lacedaemonians with the other allies promise 
 " to provide subsistence for your wives, and all the rest of 
 " your families 3 which are useless in war, as long as the war 
 " shall continue. Be not therefore seduced by the smooth 
 " surface, which Alexander the Macedonian has put upon the 
 " words of Mardonius. He acts in conformity to his condi- 
 " tion ; he helps a tyrant, because he is a tyrant himself. But 
 " you ought to act in another manner, if you judge rightly; 
 " because you know the Barbarians have no regard either to 
 " truth or justice." The Spartan ambassadors spoke thus. 
 
 CXLIII. The Athenians next gave the following answer 
 to Alexander : " We are at least aware of ourselves that the 
 " forces of the Medes are far greater than ours, and there- 
 " fore that insult was at any rate unnecessary. But notwith- 
 " standing that, as we are eager for our liberty, we will de- 
 " fend ourselves in whatever manner we may be able. But 
 " we would have you forbear attempting to persuade us to 
 " come to terms with the Barbarian, because we will not be 
 " persuaded. Go then, and tell Mardonius, that the Athe- 
 " niaus declare they will never make peace with Xerxes, so 
 " long as the sun shall continue to perform his accustomed 
 " course : but that, trusting to the assistance of the Gods and 
 " heroes, whose temples and images he has burnt in contempt, 
 " we will march out to oppose him. And do you appear no 
 " more in the presence of the Athenians with such messages, 
 " nor exhort us to do such dreadful acts, under colour of doing 
 " us good offices. For we are unwilling to use methods that 
 " may be unpleasant 11 to you, who are our friend, and engaged 
 " with us in a reciprocal hospitality." 
 
 CXLIV. This was their answer to Alexander ; and to the 
 Spartan ambassadors they said, " That the Lacedaemonians 
 
 f Q'uctfyQopiti) is used in a general man- h This threat includes something seri- 
 
 ner concerning the loss of one's goods, ous : (on this expression see note on i. 
 
 patrimony, &c. Herodotus always uses 41.) in fact Alexander was very near 
 
 it in this sense. In later ages it was being stoned. " Our ancestors so loved 
 
 applied to fornicators. See Larcher's " their country," says Lycurgus, (contr. 
 
 note. Leocrat.) " that they were very near 
 
 8 Ta dxpt)<rra ouctTtuv ixofuva, is " stoning Alexander, the ambassador of 
 put, as usual with Herodotus, for ol " Xerxes, and formerly their friend, be- 
 
 a\pt)ffToi ourtrai. Concerning olnirai " cause he required of them earth and 
 
 see note on ch. iv. IVesseling. " water." Larcher. 
 VOL. II. O O
 
 282 HERODOTUS. 
 
 should be apprehensive lest we should come to an accomo- 
 dation with the Barbarian, was very natural, as they are 
 men ; but such fears seem disgraceful in you at all events, 
 who know the sentiments of the Athenians. No, there is 
 not sufficient gold in the world, nor a country sufficiently 
 beautiful and fertile, which, though offered to us, could 
 make us willing to join with the Medes, and to enslave 
 Greece. Many and powerful reasons forbid us to do this, 
 even though we had the inclination. The first and greatest 
 is, that the temples and images of the Gods have been burnt, 
 and laid in heaps of ruin. This we are under a necessity of 
 avenging with the utmost rigour, rather than to make peace 
 with the man who has perpetrated the crime. Besides, as 
 the Grecian nation is of one blood and language ; has the 
 same altars and sacrifices ; and has congenial manners ; the 
 Athenians would act an unbecoming part, should they be 
 the betrayers of it. In a word, be now informed, if you 
 knew it not before, that so long as one Athenian is left alive, 
 we will never make an accommodation with Xerxes. We 
 acknowledge your provident care of us, in the willingness 
 you express to furnish subsistence for our families, now we 
 have lost our houses and harvests, and your kindness is 
 complete. We however will continue patiently as we are 
 without being a burthen to you. At present, in regard to 
 the condition of affairs, let your army march out with all 
 possible expedition ; for as we think the Barbarian will not 
 delay to invade our territories, but advance immediately, 
 after he shall hear that we will do none of the things he re- 
 quired of us. It is therefore proper for yon to march out 
 to our assistance to Bosotia, before he arrives in Attica." 
 
 After this reply of the Athenians the ambassadors returned to 
 
 Sparta.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 CALLIOPE. 
 
 IVlARDONIUS, when Alexander had returned and had 
 communicated the answer of the Athenians, set out from 
 Thessaly, and led his army with diligence towards Athens, 
 taking with him the forces of all those places that lay upon 
 his march. The chieftains of Thessaly were so far from re- 
 penting of their former actions, that they pressed the Persian 
 more than ever to go on with his enterprize; and among them 
 one Thorax of Larissa a , who had served for a guide to Xerxes 
 in his flight, now openly conducted Mardonius into Greece. 
 
 II. When the Persian army arrived in Bosotia, the The- 
 bans endeavoured to check b the ardour of Mardonius, and told 
 him by way of advice, that their country of all other was most 
 convenient to encamp in ; they tried to dissuade him from 
 advancing farther, by telling him that if he would stay there, 
 he might be master of Greece without hazarding a battle. 
 They represented to him that it was difficult even for all man- 
 kind to subdue the Greeks by force of arms, as long as they 
 remained unanimous, as they had before, " But if," said 
 they, " you will do as we advise, you may without difficulty 
 " frustrate all their plans ; send money to the principal per- 
 
 a This Thorax was the son of Aleuas. valry, exerted themselves to stop him. 
 
 He and his two brothers Eurypylus and This is the force of the imperfect KCITI- 
 
 Thrasideus were very much attached to Xapfiavov. Larcher. 
 
 Xerxes. See chap. Iviii. c In the originar'EXAf/vac fyio^poi/to*'- 
 
 b The Thebans being aware that At- Tag is the accusative absolute, so in ch. 
 
 tica, to which Mardonjus was hastening, xlft. 17. and also in hi. 99, 5. v. 103, 11. 
 
 was not adapted to the evolutions of ca- and ii. 141, 19. Sehweightzuser. 
 
 oo2
 
 284 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " sons of every city ; for by that means you will split Greece 
 " into factions, and then you may easily subdue those who are 
 " not in your interest, with the assistance of these of your 
 " party." * 
 
 III. Such counsel the Thebans gave to Mardonius ; but 
 a vehement desire of taking Athens a second time had insinu- 
 ated itself into him, and he would not listen to them* 1 . He 
 was urged on partly by presumption and partly by the hope 
 of signifying to the king at Sardis that he was master of 
 Athens, by means of beacons 6 across the islands. When lie 
 arrived in Attica, he found no Athenians there ; but being in- 
 formed that most of them were at Salamis, and on board the 
 fleet, he took possession of the abandoned city in the tenth 
 month after the king had taken it. 
 
 IV. Whilst he was at Athens, he dispatched Murychides a 
 Hellespontine to Salamis, with the same instructions which 
 Alexander the Macedonian had already carried to the Athe- 
 nians ; he sent this second time although he had before met 
 with f no friendly wishes from the Athenians, but yet he ex- 
 pected they would remit something of their haughtiness, since 
 all Attica had been taken and was now in his power. For 
 these reasons he sent Murychides to Salamis. 
 
 V. When he had been admitted before the senate, he deli- 
 vered the message of Mardonius. Lycidas, one of the sena- 
 tors, declared as his opinion, that the best resolution they 
 could take would be, to receive the propositions brought by 
 Murychides, and report them to the people. This opinion he 
 delivered, either because he was corrupted by Mardonius with 
 money, or because he was really of that opinion. But the 
 Athenians who were in the council, having heard his words, 
 and those without being soon informed of what he had said, 
 they all resented the thing with the highest indignation ; and 
 immediately gathering about Lycidas, stoned him to death g ; 
 dismissing Murychides the Hellespontine without hurt. The 
 Athenian women observing the tumult that happened at Sala- 
 mis on this occasion, and inquiring into the cause, were no 
 sooner informed of the fact, than collecting together with mu- 
 
 d Diodorus Siculus, however, relates K A certain person named Cyrsilus had 
 
 (xi. 38.) that while Mardonius was in ten months before met with a similar 
 
 Bceotia, he sent money to the chief cities fate, for having advised the people to 
 
 in the Peloponnese, in order to detach stay in the city and admit Xerxes. The 
 
 them from the confederacy. Lurcher. Athenian women in like manner stoned 
 
 e This mode of conveying information his wife. See Demosthenes de Corona, 
 
 is beautifully described by ^Eschylus in Cicero, who reports the same fact, pro- 
 
 his tragedy of Agamemnon, vers. 287, bably after the Athenian Orator, adds, 
 
 323. " Atque ille utilitatem sequi videbatur : 
 
 f IIpOEx<tiv is here put for Trportpov " sed ea nulla erat repugnante hones- 
 
 l\uv. This sense is somewhat rare. " tate." Offic.iii.il. See also Lycur- 
 
 Wesseling. gus advers. Leocrat. Larcher.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 285 
 
 tual exhortations, they went without other inducement to the 
 house of Lycidas, and stoned his wife with his children 11 . 
 
 VI. The reason that moved the Athenians to go to Salamis 
 was this. They had continued in Attica as long as they had 
 any hope that the forces of the-Peloponnesians would come to 
 their assistance; but when they perceived their indolency and 
 insupportable delays, and were informed that Mardonius was 
 already advanced into Boeotia, they transported themselves 
 with their goods to Salamis. They also sent ambassadors to 
 Sparta, partly to blame the Lacedaemonians, because they had 
 suffered the Barbarian to enter Attica, and had not gone out 
 with them to meet him in Bceotia; and partly to remind them 
 of the great advantages the Persian had offered, if the Athe- 
 nians M-ould go over to his side ; and to forewarn them, that 
 unless they brought assistance, they would of themselves find 
 some way to avoid the impending calamities. 
 
 VII. At that time the Lacedaemonians ' were employed in 
 celebrating the Hyacinthia k ; and they deemed it of the great- 
 est importance to attend to the affairs of the Deity. At the 
 same time they were occupied in building the wall at the 
 isthmus, on which they were then putting the battlements. 
 In this conjuncture the Athenian ambassadors, accompanied 
 by those of Megara and Plataea, arriving in Sparta, went to 
 the ephori, and said, " The Athenians have sent us hither, 
 " with orders to tell you, that the king of the Medes is willing 
 " to restore our territories ; and, secondly, to make an alli- 
 " ance with us upon fair and equal terms, without fraud or 
 " dissimulation ; and he is also willing to give us any other 
 " territory we may choose, in addition to our own. Yet the 
 " reverence we bear to the Grecian Jupiter 1 , and our abhor- 
 
 h Plutarch (in his Life of Aristides) which from him was called the Hyacinth, 
 
 seems to applaud this barbarous conduct The Spartans established an annual fes- 
 
 of the Athenian women. tival in honour of him, as he was the ne- 
 
 1 The conduct of the Peloponnesians, phew of their king. These festivals were 
 but most particularly of the Lacedzemo- celebrated at Amyclae in Laconia. A 
 nians, who were at the head of them, description of the solemnity is given by 
 appears upon this occasion, by the ac- Athenaeus Deipnosoph. iv. 7. See Pot- 
 count of Plutarch as well as of Herodo- ter's Archaeol. Graec. book ii. ch. 20. 
 tus, ungenerous, ungrateful, and faith- ' The Hellenian or Grecian Jupiter, is 
 less, if not dastardly : that of the Athe- the same as the Panhellenian. Greece 
 nians magnanimous, even to enthusiasm, being afflicted with a great drought, 
 Mitford's Greece, ix. 2. (Pausan. ii. 29, 30.) deputies were sent 
 
 Plutarch, in his Treatise against He- to consult the Pythia, who told them 
 
 rodotus, has censured that historian for that they must appease Jupiter, for which 
 
 relating what, in his Life of Aristides, they ought to use the mediation of /a- 
 
 he has himself in strong terms confirmed. cus. Deputies were therefore sent from 
 
 Note 7. on Mitford's Greece, ix. 2. all the cities of Greece to that prince, 
 
 k Hyacinthus, the son of Amyclas, who offered sacrifices and prayers to 
 
 was beloved by Apollo. As this God Jupiter Panhellenian, (common to all 
 
 was playing at quoit, he accidentally Greece,) and soon after it rained. Lar- 
 
 killed him. Apollo, disconsolate at his cher. 
 death, changed his blood into a flower,
 
 286 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " rence of the crime of betraying Greece, have prevailed 
 " with us to refuse our consent, and to reject his offers ; 
 " though, in requital, we are injured and betrayed by the 
 " Greeks. We know we should consult our own interest 
 " more, by making peace with the Persian, than by continuing 
 " the war ; but we will never willingly come to an accomoda- 
 " tion with him. Such is the frank and sincere manner in 
 " which we have conducted ourselves towards the Greeks. 
 " But you, who were then in the utmost consternation lest 
 " we should make our peace with the Persian, when you were 
 " assured of our constant resolution never to betray Greece, 
 " and because your wall across the isthmus is now nearly con- 
 " eluded, no longer make any account of the Athenians. For 
 " after you had promised to advance into Bosotia with us, to 
 " meet the Persian m , you left us to shift for ourselves, and 
 " looked upon the irruption of the Barbarian into Attica with 
 " indifference. Hitherto the Athenians are dissatisfied with 
 " you, for neglecting to do that which was becoming: at pre- 
 " sent they exhort you to send your forces to join them with 
 " all expedition ; that having lost the opportunity of meeting 
 " the enemy in Bceotia, we may find him in Attica, where the 
 " plain of Thria" is the most commodious place of all our ter- 
 " ritories for fighting a battle." 
 
 VIII. When* the ephori had heard this message, they put 
 off their answer to the next day, and from that to another ; 
 still protracting the time from day to day, till ten days were 
 passed ; during which all the Peloponnesians wrought with 
 the utmost diligence at the isthmus, and the wall was drawing 
 very near to a conclusion. I can give no other reason of the 
 great industry they used to prevent the Athenians from tak- 
 ing part with the Medes, when Alexander the Macedonian 
 went to Athens, and of their total neglect of them afterwards, 
 than that having fenced the isthmus with a wall, they thought 
 they had no farther need of the Athenians. Whereas, when 
 Alexander went to Athens, their wall was not yet built ; but 
 they were hard at work, as they were much afraid of the 
 Persians. 
 
 m The verb avriovaSai, as far as I in a similar manner, viz. lest two differ- 
 
 have observed, is in no other part of this ent datives, )/iTv and Tif Hipay, should 
 
 history joined with an accusative, but occur in the same phrase. Schweigh. 
 always with a dative case : but as all the u Thria was a borough of Attica, in 
 
 ancient manuscripts agree in putting an the tribe (Eneis, between Athens and E- 
 
 accusative, so the cognate verb avrid- leusis, but rather nearer the latter. (Ste- 
 
 Zf.iv is not only joined with a dative, but phan. Byzant.) D'Anville has wrongly 
 
 more frequently with an accusative case, placed it on the left of the road from 
 
 as in ii. 141,14. iv. 80, 7. 118, 10. Eleusis to Athens, and too far from that 
 
 121, 11. There was also a reason why city. See Galen, torn. i. p. 354. Larcher. 
 avrwvaSai should in this passage be put
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 387 
 
 IX. At length things turned in the following manner, with 
 relation to their answer and march. The day preceding the 
 last audience which the ephori intended to give the ambassa- 
 dors, Chileus of Tegea, a man of the greatest credit with the 
 Spartans of any stranger, being told by one of the ephori 
 what the Athenians had said, spoke to them in these terms : 
 " The matter in short is thus : O ephori, if the Athenians 
 " are not in union with you, but in alliance with the Barba- 
 " rian, wide doors leading into the Peloponnese will be opened 
 " to the Persian, although a strong wall is built across the 
 " isthmus : therefore hearken to the Athenians, before they 
 " come to any other determination which may bring ruin on 
 " Greece." 
 
 X. Such was the counsel of Chileus ; which the ephori 
 having considered with attention, they immediately, the same 
 night, and without speaking to the ambassadors, sent out five 
 thousand Spartans, with seven helots to attend each , under 
 the conduct of Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus P. These 
 forces should have been led by Pleistarchus q the son of Leo- 
 nidas ; but, because he was under age, they were committed 
 to the care of Pausanias, who was his guardian and cousin. 
 For Cleombrotus the father of Pausanias, and son to Anax- 
 andrides, was no longer living, but died very soon after he 
 had conducted from the isthmus the army which had built the 
 wall : he marched away with his forces, because the sun was 
 darkened r in the heavens whilst he sacrificed for success 
 against the Persian. Pausanias chose Euryanax the son of 
 
 The same number fought with the brotus was alarmed at the phenomenon, 
 Spartans at Plataea; see ch. xxviii. We but it seems more probable, that, on ac- 
 also learn from Thucydides, iv.80. v. 57. count of the favourable omen, he led his 
 and 64. that Helots frequently served forces from the isthmus. For Cleombro- 
 with the Lacedaemonians in the Pelo- tus was hastening on the work at the 
 ponnesian war. Valckenaer. isthmus, while the battle of Salamis took 
 
 v See viii. 7 1 . place, and he appears, when he obtained 
 
 1 This prince died at the beginning of news of the victory, to have performed 
 his reign. Plistoanax, son of the Pau- the sacrifice here mentioned in order to 
 sanias here mentioned, succeeded him. learn whether an invasion from the Per- 
 See Pausanias, iii. 4. sian land forces, which were then 
 
 T According to Petavius (De doctrina marching towards the Peloponnese, was 
 Temp. x. 25.) this eclipse happened in to be dreaded. He must, in my opinion, 
 the same year as the battle of Salamis ; have considered the eclipse as a favour- 
 on the second of October, one hour and able omen, as portending the destruction 
 twenty-four minutes after noon. But the of the king's army ; and he therefore led 
 learned M. Pingr6, of the Academy of his troops away with greater confidence, 
 Sciences, informed me that there was an especially as the Persians retired to 
 eclipse on the second of October, 479. Thessaly a few days after. The wall at 
 B. C. This must be the one of which the isthmus accordingly remained unfi- 
 Herodotus speaks, with this difference, nished, until the news arrived that Mar- 
 that Herodotus makes it anterior to the donius was returning, when the Pelo- 
 battle of Platasa, whereas it was poste- ponnesians went back and applied them- 
 rior. Lurcher. selves with the greatest eagerness to 
 
 Herodotus does not say that Cleom- finish it. See ch. viii. Schweigh&user.
 
 288 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Dorieus% a man of his" own family, to assist him in the con- 
 duct of this army. These forces accordingly marched from 
 Sparta with Pausanias. 
 
 XI. The ambassadors, knowing nothing of their departure, 
 and designing to return forthwith each to his own city, went 
 early the next morning to the ephori, and said, " You 
 
 are here, O Lacedaemonians, at your ease, celebrating the 
 festival of Hyacinthus, and diverting yourselves, whilst you 
 betray your allies. But know, that the Athenians, injured 
 by you, and destitute of succour, will make peace with the 
 Persian on such terms as they can obtain. When we 
 have done so, we shall evidently become the king's allies, 
 and shall march with him against whatever country he shall 
 lead us ; and then you will learn what consequences will 
 fall on you." After the ambassadors had thus spoken, the 
 ephori assured them with an oath, that their army was in full 
 march against the foreigners, for by that name they call the 
 Barbarians 1 , and that they doubted not they were already ar- 
 rived at Oresteum. The ambassadors not comprehending this 
 discourse, desired to know their meaning ; and being much 
 surprised when they heard the whole truth, departed with all 
 possible expedition to follow the troops. Five thousand Hop- 
 lites chosen from the Periaeci" accompanied them. 
 
 XII. Whilst these forces were hastening towards the isth- 
 mus, the Argives, who had before undertaken to Mardonius 
 that they would prevent the Spartans from going out, as soon 
 as they heard that they were actually upon the march under 
 the conduct of Pausanias, dispatched the best courier they had 
 to Attica; where, at his arrival, he spoke thus to Mardonius ; 
 " Mardonius, the Argives have sent me to inform you, that 
 " the youth of Laced asmon are marched out, and that they 
 " could find no way to hinder them : they wish you may take 
 " the most advantageous measures on this occasion." When 
 he had said these words, he went away, in order to return 
 home. 
 
 XIII. But Mardouius having received this information, 
 was by no means desirous to stay longer in Attica ; where he 
 had continued to that time, to see what the Athenians would 
 do ; and had neither ravaged or at all injured the country, 
 being in daily expectation that the Athenians would make 
 their peace. But now, finding he could not prevail with them, 
 and understanding how things had passed, he withdrew his 
 army out of Attica, before Pausanias arrived at the isthmus ; 
 
 Dorieus was the son of Anaxandri- ' See note on i. 1. 
 des, by his first wife. See v. 41, et seq. u See note on vi. 58. 
 and vii. 205.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 289 
 
 having first set fire to Athens, and demolished whatever re- 
 mained standing of the walls, houses, and temples, laying all 
 in heaps of ruin. He quitted Attica, because the country is 
 not proper for cavalry ; and if he should have lost a battle, he 
 had no way to get off except through narrow passes, in which 
 a small number of men might have intercepted his retreat. 
 For these reasons he determined to retire to Thebes, and to 
 fight in a country commodious for horse, and near a friendly 
 city. 
 
 XIV. In this manner he abandoned Attica ; and while he 
 was yet on his march, a courier arrived with information, that 
 a body of a thousand Lacedaemonians were gone towards Me- 
 gara x ; when he heard this intelligence he deliberated whether 
 he might in any manner take these first, and accordingly 
 turned his march that way, and his cavalry went on before to 
 scour the country. So far this Persian army penetrated into 
 Europe westward y , and no farther. 
 
 XV. After this, Mardonius, being informed by a second 
 courier that the Grecian forces were assembled at the isthmus, 
 then at length marched back through Decelia. For the Bceo- 
 tarchs 2 had sent for the neighbours of the Asopians, to serve 
 as guides to him. They conducted him first to SphendaleaB, 
 then to Tanagra, where he passed the night, and the next day 
 he turned towards Scolus and arrived in the Theban territory. 
 After his arrival, he ravaged their territories for provisions, 
 though they were in the interest of the Medes ; not out of en- 
 mity to the Thebans, but compelled by great necessity. For 
 he wished to fortify his camp, that he might have a place of 
 refuge, in case he should not meet with the success he desired 
 in a battle. His camp began at Ery three a , passed near Hysiae 
 and extended into the Plataean territory, stretching along the 
 river Asopus. The wall however was not built of so great 
 length, but it was as near as may be about ten stades on each 
 front. While the Barbarians were employed in this work, 
 Attaginus the son of Phrynon, a Theban, invited Mardonius 
 with fifty of the most eminent Persians to a magnificent feast b , 
 which he had prepared at Thebes, and they came accordingly. 
 
 1 The same oracle, which is some- a The camp of Mardonius was not on 
 
 times applied to the people of ^Egium, the same side of the Asopus as Erythrae, 
 
 is by others applied to the Megarians. Hysiae or Plataea, but on the other bank, 
 
 See note on book i. oh. 145. opposite to those towns. See Larcher's 
 
 >" The Persians penetrated into Phocis, note. 
 
 which is entirely to the westward of At- b Athenaeus (iv. 12.) describes this 
 
 tica. Rennell, in order to reconcile this feast as mean ; and adds, " If all the 
 
 inconsistency, supposes that Herodotus " Persians had been regaled in the same 
 
 was speaking only of their progress from " way, they would have perished from 
 
 Attica. " hunger before the battle of Plataea." 
 
 1 The Magistrates or Governors of Larcher conceives it to be improbable 
 
 Bceotia. that it was mean. 
 
 VOL. II. P p
 
 290 HERODOTUS. 
 
 XVI. The rest of this relation I heard from the mouth of 
 Thersander of Orchomenus, a man of great reputation among 
 the Orchomenians. He told me that he himself was invited 
 by Attiginus to this feast, and that fifty Thebans were also in- 
 vited ; and that each person had not a separate couch, but 
 that two men were placed at each, a Persian and a Theban : 
 that after supper, in the midst of their cups , the Persian who 
 was on the same couch asking him in the Grecian tongue, of 
 what country he was, and finding by his answer that he was 
 of Orchomenus, said to him, " Since you have eat at the 
 " same table with me and shared in my libations, I wish to 
 " leave with you a testimony of my sentiments, which may 
 " call me to your remembrance ; in order that, being fore- 
 " warned of what will happen, you may prudently consult 
 " your own safety. Do you see these Persians now feasting 
 " here, and the army we left encamped upon the banks of the 
 " river? Of all these you will see few survivors in a little time." 
 Thersander added, that the Persian having thus spoken, shed 
 abundance of tears ; and that he himself being much astonished 
 at his words, asked him if these things should not rather be 
 communicated to Mardonius, and to those Persians, who, next 
 to him, were the most considerable of the army : to which he 
 answered, " My friend, that which God has determined, it is 
 " impossible for man to avert ; for no one gives credit to those 
 " who give faithful counsel. Many of the Persians are con- 
 " vinced of these things ; but we are necessitated to follow 
 " Mardonius ; and the most cruel of all human sorrows is, to 
 " know many wise plans, and yet be able to accomplish none 
 " of them." This relation* 1 I had from Thersander the Orcho- 
 menian, who told me at the same time, that he immediately 
 mentioned his discourse with the Persian to divers others, 
 before the battle was fought at Plataea. 
 
 XVII. During the time Mardonius was encamped in 
 Boeotia 6 , all the Grecians of the adjacent parts that were in 
 the interest of the Medes sent in their forces, and marched 
 with him to Athens ; except only the Phocians, who had been 
 constrained f by necessity to take part with them, much against 
 
 c The Persians were, at the first esta- language, and desirous of shewing off his 
 
 blishment of their monarchy, extremely eloquence. Schiceigli<esiter. 
 
 sober. See i. 71. and note. But we c Herodotus here alludes to the first 
 
 find that they drank intemperately after encampment, see ch. ii. 
 
 they had extended their power. An in- f The whole sentence in the original 
 
 stance of this occurs in v. 18. Lurcher. appears misplaced. The adverb tr^ofpn, 
 
 d Boethe cannot be convinced that this or, as others read, fityuXuf, is quite un- 
 chapter was written by Herodotus, since intelligible. Some meaning may be ex- 
 it contains nothing but bombast, and the tracted, if the adverb be omitted. See 
 affectation (which is by no means He- the note of Schweighauser. 
 rodotean) of one slightly skilled in the
 
 CALIOPE. IX. 291 
 
 their inclination. But not many days after his arrival at 
 Thebes, they also joined him with a thousand Hoplites, led by 
 Harmocydes, a citizen of principal authority among them. 
 When they also arrived at Thebes, Mardonius sent out some 
 horse, to order the Phocians to encamp by themselves in the 
 plain ; which they had no sooner done, than all the cavalry of 
 the army appeared in sight. Instantly a rumour spread through 
 the Grecian forces, who were with the Medes, that the horse 
 were about to kill all the Phocians with their javelins; the 
 same rumour also spread among the Phocians themselves. 
 Upon this, their general Harmocydes encouraged them in 
 these words: " O Phocians, it is plain that these men have 
 " destined us to certain death, and, as I conjecture, we have 
 " been calumniated by the Thessalians. Every one of you 
 " therefore must exert himself to the utmost on this occasion ; 
 " because we ought rather to die resisting and doing some- 
 " thing in our own defence, than tamely to expose ourselves 
 " to suffer a most disgraceful death. Let us then convince 
 " some t)f these men, that they are but Barbarians, and that 
 " those, whose destruction they have contrived, are Greeks." 
 XVIII. Thus Harmocydes encouraged the Phocians; and 
 the cavalry, when they had surrounded them on all sides, rode 
 up, as if to destroy them, and extended their darts, as if to 
 hurl them ; probably some one did hurl his dart. The others 
 stood firm to oppose them, having collected themselves into as 
 close a body as possible. The cavalry, when they saw this, 
 turned about and retired to their army. I cannot certainly 
 tell, whether this cavalry came to destroy the Phocians at the 
 desire of the Thessalians, and when they saw them prepared 
 to defend themselves, were afraid lest they might receive 
 some wounds, and therefore retreated, in obedience to orders 
 which had been issued by Mardonius ; or whether they came 
 only with a design' to try whether they had any courage g . But 
 after the retreat of the horse, Mardonius sent them a message 
 in these words: " Fear nothing, O Phocians ; you have given 
 " manifest proof that you are men of valour, contrary to the 
 " information I had received. Bear the toils of this war with 
 " resolution, and be assured that you shall never surpass me 
 " or the king in generosity." Such was the event of this af- 
 fair concerning the Phocians. 
 
 XIX. When the Lacedaemonians arrived at the isthmus h , 
 
 z Literally, if they had any share in the isthmus, (Diodorus Siculus, xi. 29.) 
 
 courage . The genitive dXjc jjc is go vern- they resolved to take an oath , which might 
 
 ed by p.irfx ovfft > an( l Tt has the same strengthen their union and stimulate 
 
 force as Kara n : we must not take ri them to sustain danger with courage. 
 
 d\jc";e together. Schweigh. It was conceived in these terms : " I will 
 
 h When the Greeks were assembled at never prefer life to liberty ; I will never 
 
 pp2
 
 292 HERODOTUS. 
 
 they encamped. As soon as this was known, the rest of the 
 Peloponnesians, who favoured the most noble cause, and 
 others also, when they saw the Spartans marching out, thought 
 they could not stay behind without disgrace. Accordingly, 
 after they had performed their sacrifices auspiciously, they all 
 marched out from the isthmus ; and advancing to Eleusis sa- 
 crificed again there, with the same fortunate presages, and 
 continued their march, in conjunction with the Athenians, 
 who, arriving from Salamis, had joined the Peloponnesians at 
 Eleusis. When they were advanced to Erythrae in Boeotia, 
 and learnt that the Barbarians were encamped by the river 
 Asopus, they consulted together, and placed their camp oppo- 
 site the enemy, at the foot of mount Cithaeron. 
 
 XX. But Mardonius finding that the Greeks' declined to 
 come out into the plain, sent against them all his cavalry, 
 commanded by Masistius, a man of great esteem among the 
 Persians, and called by the Greeks Macistius. He was 
 mounted on a Nisaean horse k , that wore ar bridle of gold, and 
 all other furniture suitably magnificent. The cavalry advanc- 
 ing to the camp of the Greeks, made their attacks by parties 1 , 
 in which they did great mischief, and called them women. 
 
 XXI. In these attempts the Megarians, who were acci- 
 dentally posted in that part which was most accessible, and 
 where the cavalry made their chief attack, finding themselves 
 hard pressed, sent a herald to the Grecian generals, with a 
 message, which he delivered in these terms : " The Megari- 
 " ans say thus ; Friends and allies, we are not able alone to 
 " sustain the attacks of the Persian horse, in the post in which 
 
 desert my generals, living or dead ; I Athenians of great rank, in order to pos- 
 will give sepulture to all the allies who sess themselves of the power of the state, 
 may perish in the combat. After having or, if they failed in that, to surrender 
 vanquished the Barbarian, 1 will not dc- Greece to the Persians. It was disco- 
 stroy any city which may have contri- vered and quelled without any disturb- 
 buted to their defeat : I will not rebuild ance by the moderation of Aristides. See 
 any of the temples, which they may have Plutarch's Life of Aristides. 
 burned or overthrown, but I will leave k See book vii. ch. 40. 
 them in the condition in which they are, ' The Persian cavalry all used missile 
 as a monument to posterity of the impiety weapons, darts or arrows, or both ; a 
 of the Barbarians." Lycurgus (contr. practice by which, near four centuries 
 Leocrat. p. 158.) relates the oath nearly and a half after, they destroyed the Re- 
 in the same terms, bat adds this clause, man army under Crassus, and in which 
 " I will decimate all those who have the horsemen of the same countries are 
 taken part with the Barbarian." He still wonderfully skilled at this day. lake 
 says that this oath was taken by the con- the eastern cavalry at this day also, they 
 federates at Platasa, and I think with commonly attacked or harassed by small 
 greater probability, because the Pelo- bodies in succession ; vehement in onset, 
 ponnesians had not any temples burnt, never long in conflict ; but, if the enemy 
 Lurcher. was firm in resistance, retreating as has- 
 1 Plutarch relates some particulars con- tily as they had advanced, to prepare for 
 cerning a conspiracy which had, previous another charge. Mitford's Greece, ix. 3. 
 to these events, been formed by some
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 293 
 
 " we were originally placed, but we have hitherto maintained 
 " ourselves by our constancy and fortitude, though hard press- 
 " ed; but now, unless you will send some other forces to relieve 
 " us, we must abandon our post." When the messenger had 
 made this report, Pausanias sounded the Greeks, to see if any 
 of them would voluntarily offer to go to that post to relieve 
 the Megareans. All the others refused, except the Athenians, 
 who undertook the charge, with a body of three hundred 
 chosen men, led by Olympiodorus the son of Lampon. 
 
 XXII. These were they, who took upon them to defend 
 that post, which the rest of the Greeks at Erythras had de- 
 clined ; and being accompanied by a party of archers chosen 
 by themselves, fought the enemy for some time; till at last, as 
 the cavalry continued to attack in squadrons, the horse of 
 Masistius appearing before the rest, was wounded in the 
 side with an arrow, and rising upright, impatient of the pain, 
 threw his rider to the ground. The Athenians seeing Masistius 
 fall, immediately fell upon him; and having first seized his 
 horse, killed him, as he endeavoured to defend himself. Yet 
 this they could not do presently, because he wore a cuirass 
 underneath covered with scales of gold, and a purple cloke 
 for his upper garment. They tried in vain to penetrate his 
 cuirass ; till at length an Athenian perceiving what was the 
 matter, pierced him in the eye", and by that wound he fell and 
 died. His own troops by some means did not perceive what 
 had happened ; for they neither saw him when he fell from 
 his horse, nor when he was killed ; but as they were at that 
 time retiring, they did not notice it. When however they 
 halted, they immediately missed him, because they had no 
 one to put them in order ; and as soon as they were informed 
 of his fate, animating one another, they all together pushed 
 their horses against the enemy, in order to carry off the dead 
 body. 
 
 XXIII. When the Athenians saw that they no longer at- 
 tacked in parties, but with their whole force, they called out 
 for succour to the rest of the army ; while the whole infantry 
 was coming up to their succour, a sharp contest took place for 
 the dead body. As long as the three hundred were alone, 
 they were much inferior, and were forced to abandon the 
 corpse ; but when the body of the Greeks came in to their 
 assistance, the enemy's horse no longer resisted, and were not 
 only unable to carry off the dead body, but lost many others 
 besides ; they therefore retired to the distance of about two 
 stades, and having consulted about what was to be done, they 
 
 m Hpoexw is used in the same sense 327.) relates that Masistius was killed 
 in Iliad, xxiii. 453. Wesseting. by a wound in the eye, through the vizor 
 
 n Plutarch (in his Life of Aristides, p. of his helmet.
 
 294 HERODOTUS. 
 
 resolved to return to Mardonius, because they had then no 
 one to command them. 
 
 XXIV. When they arrived in the camp, Mardonius and 
 all the army broke out into incessant lamentations for the 
 death of Masistius ; cutting off not only their own hair , but 
 that of their horses and cattle of draught. The sound of their 
 wailings reached over all Boeotia, as for the loss of a man, who 
 next to Mardonius was in most esteem among the Persians, 
 and with the king. In this manner the Barbarians lamented 
 the death of Masistius, according to the custom of their own 
 country. 
 
 XXV. The Greeks having thus sustained and repulsed the 
 enemy's cavalry, were much encouraged ; and because their 
 men, out of a desire to view the body of Masistius, left their 
 stations in great numbers, they placed it on a chariot, and 
 carried it past the ranks ; the body presented a spectacle de- 
 serving admiration, on account of his stature and beauty.' 
 After this, they resolved to march down into the territories of 
 the Plataeans, judging those parts much more commodious for 
 their camp than the country about Erythr, in divers respects, 
 and especially, as it was better supplied with water. They 
 therefore determined to march into this place and to the foun- 
 tain Gargaphia, which is in that country, and there to encamp 
 in order of battle. Accordingly they took up their arms and 
 marched by the foot of mount Cithreron, at a little distance 
 from Hysiae into the territories of Platasa; where, when they 
 arrived, they encamped, some on not high hills, others on a 
 plain, near the Gargaphian spring, and the temple of the hero 
 Androcrates' 3 ; assigning a separate quarter to the troops of 
 every nation. 
 
 XXVI. In the distribution of these stations a long dispute 
 arose between the Tegeatas and the Athenians ; both sides 
 claiming a right to be placed at the head of one of the wings, 
 and alleging their ancient and late actions to justify their pre- 
 tensions. On the one hand, the Tegeatse thus spoke : " We 
 " have up to this time been always honoured with this post 
 " among the allies, whenever the Peloponnesians have marched 
 " out with united forces, from the time in which the Hera- 
 " clida3 q attempted to return into Peloponnesus after the 
 
 This custom was also practised among Platsca to Thebes. See Thucyd. iii. 24- 
 
 the Greeks. See Euripid. Alcest. 429. Lurcher. 
 
 P Androcrates (Plutarch in Aristid. p. i For an account of the Heraclidae, see 
 
 325.) had been formerly a Plataean note on vi. 52. 
 
 chieftain. The oracle at Delphi ordered This speech of the Tegeata; does not 
 
 the Greeks to sacrifice to him if they nppear to me very wise. In my opinion, 
 
 wished for victory. His temple was sur- they ought to have mentioned very 
 
 rounded by a very thick wood. It was slightly their exploits against the Ilera- 
 
 on the right of the road which led from clid, in presence of their descendants,
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 295 
 
 " death of Eurystheus ; and we then obtained this dignity on 
 " account of the following action. When we, in conjunction 
 " with the Achaeans and louians, who were then in Pelopon- 
 " nesus r , had marched out to the isthmus, and were encamped 
 " in sight of the invaders, it is related that at that time Hyllus 
 " publicly declared, that they ought not to expose the armies 
 " to the danger of a battle; but that the Peloponnesians ought 
 " rather to pick out the man they should think the most vali- 
 " ant of all their camp, to fight singly with him on certain con- 
 " ditions. The Peloponnesians thought that this ought to be 
 " done ; and an agreement, confirmed by an oath, was made 
 " between both armies in these terms: If Hyllus conquer the 
 " Peloponnesian chieftain, the Heraclidae shall be restored to 
 " their paternal possessions ; but if he be conquered, the He- 
 " raclidae shall depart with their army, and not endeavour to 
 " return into Peloponnesus during the space of a hundred 
 " years. On this occasion Echemus 5 the son of Aeropus and 
 " grandson of Phegeus 4 , our king and general, being volun- 
 " tarily chosen out of all the confederates, engaged in the 
 " single combat, and killed Hyllus. From this exploit we 
 " obtained of the Peloponnesians of that day other great pri- 
 " vileges, which we enjoy to this time ; and that we should 
 " always take the command of one wing, whensoever we 
 " should march out upon an expedition by common consent. 
 " With you then, O Lacedaemonians, we do not contend, but 
 " allow you to choose which wing you wish to command, and 
 " give that up to you; only we affirm that we ought to lead" 
 " the other, according to the custom of former times. Be- 
 " side the action we have mentioned, we are yet more worthy 
 " of that station than the Athenians, on account of the many 
 " and valiant battles we have fought against you x , and also 
 " against others. For these reasons therefore it is right y that 
 
 who, to punish their presumption, would * Cepheus was the grandfather of Eche- 
 
 naturally adjudge the post of honour to mus. See Pausanias, viii. 4, and 8. Ap- 
 
 their rivals, even when their cause was pollodorus, i. 8, 2, and 16. Larcher 
 
 not so good. Larcher. adopts the reading Cepheus, although all 
 
 r See book i. ch. 145. and the remarks the manuscripts have Phegeus. Palmer, 
 
 at the end of book i. Ryke, Burmann and Wesseling also pre- 
 
 Pausanias (viii. 5.) gives the same fer Cepheus. 
 
 account. Others pretend that Orestes " In the text it is }/iaf ucvetoQai i'iyt- 
 
 was at this time king of Achaia ; but fiovtvuv. I think the copyists have 
 
 Orestes was not yet born. See my Essay omitted the preposition ig before r'jfiEag. 
 
 on Chronology, ch. xv. 1. $ 4. Echemus Herodotus uses that preposition in a simi- 
 
 had espoused Timandra, the daughter of lar phrase in vi. 57. Larcher. 
 
 Tyndarus and sister of Clytaemnestra. x Larcher translates this, " Par le grand 
 
 (Apollodor. iii. 10, 6.) Pausanias (viii. " nombre de combats que nous avous 
 
 53.) relates that there was in his time at " livres pour vous et pour d'autres peu- 
 
 Tegea the tomb of this prince with a co- " pies." One would suppose that he 
 
 lumn on which was sculptured his com- read Trpo instead of wpof . 
 
 bat with Hyllus. Larcher. i Casaubon iias noticed the use of a
 
 296 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " we should hold one wing, rather than the Athenians, since 
 " they have never, either in ancient or modern times, achieved 
 " such actions as we have." 
 
 XXVII. To this speech the Athenians * answered: "We 
 " are not ignorant that these forces were assembled in order 
 " to fight the Barbarian, and not to dispute ; but since the 
 " Tegeatan orator has proposed that we should mention the 
 " great actions that have been done by each nation, both in 
 " ancient and latter time, it becomes necessary for us to make 
 " it plain to you in what way it is our hereditary right, as 
 " long as we are valiant, to hold the first rank, rather than 
 " the Arcadians. As to the Heraclidse, (whose captain these 
 " men boast to have killed at the isthmus,) after they had 
 " been rejected by all the Greeks, to whom they applied 
 " themselves for protection, when they fled from the oppres- 
 " sion of the Mycenaeans, we alone received them ; and ha* r - 
 " ing joined with them, we punished the insolence of Eurys- 
 " theus, and defeated the forces of those who were then in 
 " possession of Peloponnesus. In the next place, having 
 " marched against the Cadmasans, we affirm that we reco- 
 " vered the bodies of the Argives a , who were killed in the 
 " expedition of Polynices against Thebes, and lay unburied, 
 " and interred them at Eleusis, in our own country. We 
 " also fought successfully against the Amazons b , when, pro- 
 " ceeding from the river Thermodon, they invaded Attica; 
 " and in the Trojan war we were inferior to none. But it is 
 " to no purpose c to mention these things ; for perhaps those 
 " who were then valiant might now act somewhat cowardly ; 
 " and those who had little courage then might now be more 
 " brave. Let this therefore suffice concerning ancient achieve- 
 " ments ; and certainly, though we had performed no other 
 
 superlative for a comparative in Athe- a The Athenians marched under their 
 
 naeus, xiii. 1. which enallage is also used king Theseus, who listened to the en- 
 
 by our author in the seventh line of the treaties of Adrastus. See Apollodor. iii. 
 
 next chapter. In the passage now before 7,1. Plutarch (Yit. Parall. in Thes.) 
 
 us, we have a positive for a comparative ; says, that Theseus recovered the bodies 
 
 where before the particle fi the compa- by persuasion, and not by force, 
 
 rative adverb jtoXXov is understood, as Pausanias (i. 39.) also says the bodies 
 
 is common in the Greek language : or were interred at Eleusis. Larcher. 
 
 the passage may be explained, as if they b See note on book iv. ch. 1 10. This 
 
 had said r'/fjisaQ Sinaiov i\uv, Kal ducaio- war is mentioned by several ancient au- 
 
 TCOOV 11 'A6i)vaiov. Schweigh. thors. See Plutarch's Life of Theseus. 
 
 See Matthiae's Greek Grammar, sect. Lysias, Epitaph. Orat. p. 190. 
 
 457. obs. 1 . Larcher quotes the follow- c Ov n irpoi^u properly signifies -non 
 
 ing similar phrase ; prcestat, non melius est, i. e. nil juvat, 
 
 " Eo tacent, quia tacita bona'st mulier inutile est. The Latin expression nihil 
 
 " semper quam loquens." promovet very nearly answers to it. In 
 
 Plaut. Rud. act. iv. s. iv. 70. the same manner ov yap aftuvov is used 
 
 1 Plutarch attributes this speech and for OVK ayaStav ; and irXsov rt iroitlv, 
 
 the whole affair to Aristides. utile quidpium facere, projicere. So also
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 297 
 
 " feat, as we can undoubtedly as many and as illustrious as 
 " any people of Greece ; yet what we did at the battle of 
 " Marathon renders us worthy of this and additional honour. 
 " For, without the assistance of the Greeks, we alone under- 
 " took that hazardous enterprize ; fought the Persian with 
 " our own forces, and obtained a victory over the troops of 
 " six and forty nations. Do we not then from this single 
 " action d deserve to hold this post ? But since in the present 
 " conjuncture it is unbecoming to contend about our post, we 
 " are prepared to obey you, O Lacedaemonians, and will take 
 " our station wherever, and against whatsoever nation, you 
 " shall judge most convenient. For, wheresoever we are 
 " placed, we shall endeavour to prove ourselves brave. Give 
 " judgment therefore in this affair, and be assured of our 
 " ready compliance." 
 
 XXVIII. Thus replied the Athenians ; and immediately 
 the whole army of the Lacedaemonians cried out with one 
 voice, that the Athenians were more worthy to be at the head 
 of the other wing than the Arcadians. So they obtained the 
 rank they demanded, and were preferred before the Tegeans: 
 after which the Greeks, as well those who came at the be- 
 ginning, as those who arrived afterwards, were drawn up in 
 the following manner. Ten thousand Lacedaemonians had 
 the right ; and five thousand of these being Spartans, were 
 attended by thirty-five thousand Helots, lightly armed, every 
 Spartan having seven Helots about his person. The Lace- 
 daemonians chose the Tegeatae to stand next themselves with 
 an army of fifteen hundred Hoplites ; partly to do them ho- 
 nour, and partly in consideration of their valour. After these, 
 five thousand Corinthians ; who, by the permission of Pausa- 
 nias, had three hundred Potidaeatae 6 , who came from Pallene, 
 joined with them. Next in order stood six hundred Arca- 
 dians of Orchomenus ; next to them came three thousand 
 Sicyonians ; and then eight hundred Epidaurians : by the side 
 of these stood three thousand Troszenians, and two hundred 
 men from Leprion. After these, four hundred Mycenaeans 
 and Tirynthians, one thousand Phliasians, three hundred Her- 
 mionians, six hundred Eretrians and Styrians, four hundred 
 Chalcideans, five hundred Ambraciots, eight hundred Leuca- 
 dians and Anactorians, two hundred Paleans from Cephalle- 
 nia, five hundred from ./Egina, three thousand Megareaus, six 
 hundred Plataeans, and, last of all, and at the same time first, 
 
 ovSiv irpovpyov (and irpovpyatrtpov) victory. See the orator Lycurgus contr. 
 
 iari. Schweightevser. Leocrat. p. 162. Aristoph. Equit. 1331. 
 
 d The plain of Marathon was a perpe- and Thucydides, i. 73. Valckenaer. 
 
 tual subject for boasting to the Athe- e Potida was a colony of Corinth, 
 
 nians, because they alone obtained the See Thucydides, i. 56. 
 
 VOL. II. Q q
 
 298 HERODOTUS. 
 
 eight thousand Athenians took their station at the left wing, 
 conducted by Arisfides the son of Lysimachus. 
 
 XXIX. All these, exclusive 1 of the seven Helots attend- 
 ing every Spartan, amounted to thirty-eight thousand seven 
 hundred men, which was the whole number of those who 
 came heavily armed to fight the Barbarian. Their light- 
 armed forces were as follows : of the Helots belonging to the 
 Spartans, thirty-five thousand, being seven to each Spartan ; 
 every one of these was equipped for battle ; and thirty-four 
 thousand five hundred men more in light arms, attending the 
 rest of the Lacedaemonians and other Greeks, about one to 
 each man f . So that the number of these light-armed forces g 
 amounted to sixty-nine thousand five hundred fighting men. 
 
 XXX. So that the whole army of the Greeks assembled 
 at Plataea, including both sorts, wanted only one thousand 
 eight hundred, to complete the number of a hundred and ten 
 thousand ; which yet was made up by the arrival of the sur- 
 viving Thespians h , who to the number of one thousand eight 
 hundred joined them, but they also had not heavy armour 1 . 
 And in this order the Greeks encamped k on the side of the 
 river Asopus. 
 
 XXXI. On the other part, Mardonius with the Barbarians, 
 when they had finished the obsequies of Masistius, and heard 
 that the Greeks were in the territories of Plataea, marched 
 thither also ; and arriving at the river Asopus, drew up his 
 army in the following manner. Opposite the Lacedaemonians 
 he placed the Persians ; and because they were far superior 
 in number, they were not only drawn up in more ranks, but 
 extended as far as the Tegeatae : he drew them up in this 
 manner ; he selected all the most powerful part and stationed 
 them opposite the Lacedaemonians, and the weakest by the 
 side of the others opposite the Tegeatae : this he did by the 
 
 f If there had been actually one to Their town also had been burnt, (viii. 50.) 
 
 each man, th number of light-armed and they had retired into the Pelopon- 
 
 troops would only have been 33,700. nese. When they rebuilt it they offered 
 
 For the whole number of Hoplites the right of citi/enship to other Greeks ; 
 
 amounted to 38,700 ; and from this we and on this occasion Themistocles ob- 
 
 must subtract the 5000 Spartans. We tained that privilege for Sicinnus. See 
 
 mast therefore suppose, (and this is war- viii. 75. Lurcher. 
 
 ranted by other passages,) that some of ' "OTrXa are the arms worn by the 
 
 the Hoplites had two or more light-armed heavy-armed troops. Hence came the 
 
 men attending on them, and some, per- name of Hoplites. Those who had light 
 
 haps, none. Schweighteuser. arms were called piXot and yvfivf/rtQ. 
 
 e There were perhaps other slaves, Larcher. 
 
 who did not bear arms, and there might k Herodotus mentions no horse in the 
 
 be light-armed soldiers, who were not Graecian army ; probably because the 
 
 slaves. Such, apparently, were the Thes- force was inconsiderable, and utterly 
 
 pians. Mitford's Greece, ix. 3. incompetent to face the numerous and 
 
 h Very few Thespians remained after excellent cavalry of Persia. Mitford's 
 
 the battle of Thermopylae, (vii. 222.) Greece, ix. 3.
 
 CALLIOPE. EX. 299 
 
 counsel and information of the Thebans. Next to the Per- 
 sians he placed the Medes, fronting to the Corinthians, the 
 Potidaeatse the Orchomenians, and the Sicyonians. After 
 these, he posted the Bactrians opposite to the Epidaurians, 
 Troezeuians, Lepreatse, Tirynthians, Mycenaeans, and Phli- 
 asians. The Indians had the next station to the Bactrians, 
 over against the Hermionians, Eretrians, Styrians, and Chal- 
 cideans. Contiguous to the Indians, Mardonius placed the 
 Sacas, facing towards the Ambraciots, Anactorians, Leuca- 
 dians, Paleans, and ^Eginetae. But, after the Sacae, and op- 
 posite to the Athenians, Plataeans, and Megarians, he ranged 
 the Boeotians, the Locrians, the Melians, the Thessalians, and 
 the thousand Phocians I mentioned before 1 ; for only some of 
 the Phocians were in the party of the Medes; but others 
 among them assisted the Grecian party and had strengthened 
 themselves in mount Parnassus ; making excursions from 
 thence, they pillaged and harassed the troops of Mardonius, 
 and of the Greeks who were in his army. The Macedonians, 
 with the forces of the countries adjoining to Thessaly, were 
 added to those who faced the front of the Athenians. 
 
 XXXII. These are the names of all the most considerable 
 and illustrious nations, which Mardonius drew up in order of 
 battle. Yet they were mixed with men of other countries, 
 Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Pagonians, ^Ethiopians, and 
 others. They had also among them those Egyptians who are 
 called Hermotybians and Calasirians m , who were armed with 
 swords, and are the only Egyptians who follow the profession 
 of arms. These men, who had served as Epibatae, he took from 
 the ships, whilst he was at Phalerum ; for no Egyptians were 
 in the land army, which followed Xerxes in his expedition 
 against Athens. The Barbarian forces of Mardonius, as I 
 have already said, amounted to three hundred thousand men n ; 
 but no one certainly knows how many his Grecian allies were, 
 because their number was not taken. Yet, if I may give my 
 opinion, I guess they might be about fifty thousand. The 
 infantry was drawn up in such order; and the cavalry was 
 placed in separate stations . 
 
 XXXIII. The next day after the two armies were thus 
 disposed into national and distinct bodies, they offered sacrifi- 
 ces on both sides. For the Greeks, sacrifices were performed 
 
 I See ch. 17. and viii. 30. tidaea. Cornelius Nepos (Life of Aristi- 
 m See ii. 164. des) makes the infantry 200,000, and 
 
 II Herodotus has omitted to deduct the horse 20,000, all chosen troops, 
 those probably lost in the march of Arta- Mitford's Greece, i.x. 3. 
 
 ba/us and in winter quarters, together An ingenious plan of the situations 
 with the sick, besides those by his own of the two armies is given in the Voyages 
 account destroyed at the siege of Po- du Jeune Anacharsis. 
 
 Q q2
 
 300 HERODOTUS. 
 
 by Tisamenus the son of Antiochus, an Elean of the family of 
 the Clytiadae p , and descended fromlamus q , who accompanied 
 the army in the quality of augur, and had been admitted by 
 the Lacedaemonians into the number of their citizens, in this 
 manner. Tisamenus consulting the oracle of Delphi about 
 children, and being told by the Pythian that he should obtain 
 five great victories, mistaking the sense of her answer, ap- 
 plied himself to gymnastic exercises, as if he were to be vic- 
 torious in that sort of combat : and having practised for the 
 Pentathlum, he contended with Hieronymus of Andros, and 
 was at the point of obtaining the victory, but was conquered 
 in wrestling only r . The Lacedaemonians, having learnt that 
 the oracle was to be understood of victories in war, and no 
 other, endeavoured by offers of money to persuade Tisamenus 
 to assist their kings, .the Heraclidae, as a leader 3 in their wars. 
 When he saw the Spartans so extremely desirous of his friend- 
 ship, he set a greater value upon himself; acquainting them, 
 that unless they would make him a citizen of Sparta, with all 
 the privileges they themselves enjoyed, he would never give 
 his consent on any other terms. Which answer being brought 
 to the Spartans, was at first received with indignation, and they 
 altogether slighted his prophetic skill ; till at last, when great 
 terror of the Persian army was hanging over them, they sent 
 for him and assented to his proposal. But Tisamenus, when 
 he saw that the Lacedaemonians had changed their minds, 
 said he would not now be contented with what he had de- 
 manded, unless they would also make his brother Hegias a 
 Spartan, with the same privileges. 
 
 XXXIV. In this demand he imitated the example of Me- 
 lampus*, if we may compare the dignity of a king with the 
 right of citizenship. For Melampus also, when the Argives 
 would have hired him to come from Pylus to cure their women 
 of a frenzy, with which they were infested, demanded one half 
 of the kingdom for his recompense. The Argives rejected 
 
 P TheClytiadae,Jamidae, and Telliadas, phrase irap 6\iyov,prnpemodum. Schw. 
 
 appear to have been three families of The ancient Greeks always used an 
 
 soothsayers. Cicero (de Divinat. i. 41.) augur to conduct and guide them in all 
 
 distinguishes the Clytiadae from the Ja- enterprizes, as well as in those which re- 
 
 midae. I am of opinion that the text of lated to war. Homer says of Calchas, 
 
 Herodotus has been altered ; but as we vfoffai i^ijaaro "l\iov turw. Iliad, i. 
 
 are not sufficiently acquainted with these 7 1 . Larcher. 
 
 families, I thought it right to leave it as * See note on ii. 49. We may add 
 
 I found it. However that may be, the that he cured the daughters of Praetus, 
 
 family was descended from Clytius, the king of Argos, (Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. 
 
 son of Alcmaeon. (Pausan. vi. 17.) ix. 30.) who were afflicted with mad- 
 
 Larcher. ness, and received as his reward two- 
 
 i See note on v. 44. thirds of the kingdom. See also the 
 
 r Pausanias (iii. 11.) relates the same Odyssey of Homer, xi. 286, &c. and XT. 
 
 thing. The preposition irapct has in this 226, &c. Larcher. 
 passage the same force as in the common
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 301 
 
 his proposal, and went away. But many more of their women 
 falling into the same distemper, they at length returned to 
 him, and offered to comply with his demands. Melampus 
 seeing this change, required yet more ; and said, that unless 
 they would give a third part of their kingdom to his brother 
 Bias, he would not do as they desired ; so that the Argives, 
 reduced to these straits, granted him that also. 
 
 XXXV. In like manner the Spartans, out of a vehement 
 desire to gain Tisamenus, assented to every thing he asked : 
 by which means, of an Elean becoming a Spartan, and accom- 
 panying their forces as augur, he achieved in conjunction with 
 them five great enterprizes. These were the only men the 
 Spartans ever admitted into their community 11 ; and the five 
 actions" were as follows. In the first place this of Plataea; 
 the second was against the Tegeatae and Argives, in the ter- 
 ritories of Tegea ; the third at Dipaea, against all the Arca- 
 dians except the Mantineans ; the fourth against the Messeni- 
 ans at the isthmus y ; and the fifth and last at Tanagra 2 against 
 the Athenians and Argives. 
 
 XXXVI. This Tisamenus being then conducted to Plataea 
 by the Spartans, and officiating as prophet to the Grecian 
 army, acquainted them that their sacrifices promised success, 
 if they would stand upon the defensive ; and the contrary, if 
 they should pass the river Asopus, and begin the battle. 
 
 XXXVII. On the side of Mardonius likewise", who was 
 very desirous to attack the Greeks, the sacrifices were not at 
 
 u What must we think of what Plu- tain near the town, we might very easily 
 
 tarch (Lacon. Apophthegm, pag. 230.) conceive that 'iQwfup had been changed 
 
 says, that Tyrtaus was admitted among into 'iffOptf. 
 
 the citizens of Sparta 1 Meursius (Misc. z This battle took place B.C. 458. 
 Lacon. iv. 10.) shews, that he had no Thucydides (i. 108.) assures us that the 
 other privilege than that of being per- Lacedaamonians were victorious, which 
 mitted to live at Sparta, which strangers agrees with Herodotus. DiodorusSiculus 
 were not generally allowed to do. But (xi. 80.) says, that the battle was doubt- 
 he brings forward no other proof but this fnl. Lurcher. 
 passage from Plutarch. Lurcher. a These prophecies, if dictated by 
 
 Valckenaer agrees with Meursius. policy, appear on both sides judicious. 
 
 x Pausanias (iii. 12.) mentions these For the Greeks had only to keep their 
 
 in the same order. Valckenaer. advantageous ground, while the vast 
 
 1 There appears here to be some mis- army of their enemy consumed its maga- 
 take. Valckenaer, Wesseling, Larcher, . zines, and they would have the benefit 
 &c. wish to read Trpoc ry 'ldwfj,y. The of victory without risk. To the Persians 
 words of Pausanias (loc. cit.) are irpog also the same prediction might be useful ; 
 Toitg i, 'loOfiov 'lQii)(ir}v airoffTrjaavrae to account to the soldier for the inaction 
 airo rwv ttXwTwv. Schweighaeuser re- of his general before an army so inferior, 
 marks, that the best manuscripts have no and to keep him quiet under sufferings 
 article before 'laOfjuf, and therefore that from scarcity, and probably badness of 
 the change from 'lOiiifiy to 'I<rfyi<jJ is much provisions; together with the want of 
 more easy. If, he adds, we could learn many things to which Asiatics were ac- 
 from any other quarter that the name of customed, while means were sought to 
 the town was"I0wuoc as well as 'I0w/*y, entice or force the Greeks from their po- 
 or that that was the name of any moun- sition. Mitford's Greece, ix. 3.
 
 302 HERODOTUS. 
 
 all favourable to that purpose ; but very promising, if he would 
 act on the defensive. For he also sacrificed after the manner 
 of the Greeks 1 *, and had for his augur, Hegesistratus of Elis, 
 the most famous of the Telliadae . This man had been for- 
 merly taken by the Spartans, and condemned to die, for the 
 many indignities they had suffered from him : in this dreadful 
 situation, as his life was in the utmost hazard, and he was in ex- 
 pectation of various tortures before death, he performed an 
 action beyond belief. For as he was confined in stocks bound 
 with iron, he got possession of a knife, which had by some 
 means or other been carried in, and immediately contrived the 
 most resolute thing I ever heard. After he had considered 
 how he could get out the rest of his foot, he cut off the front 
 part of it. When he had done this, although he was guarded, 
 he dug a hole through the wall and fled away towards Tegea, 
 travelling by night, and hiding himself by day in the woods : 
 so that he arrived in Tegea the third night, notwithstanding 
 the most diligent search of the Lacedaemonians ; who, when 
 they saw half his foot lying on the ground, and yet could not 
 find his person, were astonished at his boldness. Thus He- 
 gesistratus having evaded the Lacedaemonians, escaped to 
 Tegea, which was at that time in discord with the Lacedae- 
 monians ; and after he was cured of his wound, he procured a 
 wooden foot, and became their avowed enemy. Nevertheless, 
 in the end his enmity to the Lacedaemonians was not advan- 
 tageous to him ; for they took him at Zacynthus, exercising 
 his profession of augur, and put him to death ; but this hap- 
 pened not till after the battle of Plataea. Hegesistratus there- 
 fore being hired with a considerable sum, accompanied Mar- 
 donius to the river Asopus, and there sacrificed with great 
 zeal, partly out of hatred to the Lacedaemonians, and partly 
 for his own profit. 
 
 XXXVIII. But as the sacrifices were not favourable for 
 beginning the battle either to the Persians or the Greeks who 
 were with them, (for they had also an augur named Hippoma- 
 chus of Leucadia,) Timogenides' 1 the son of Herpys, a The- 
 ban, perceiving the Grecian army incessantly increasing by 
 the arrival of other forces, counselled Mardonius to guard the 
 passage of mount Cithaeron ; assuring him that he might sur- 
 prise great numbers of them, as they came in daily. 
 
 XXXIX. The two armies had been eight days encamped, 
 
 b Possibly Mardonius might think it of c See viii. 27. 
 
 consequence to propagate among the ' Pausanias (vii. 10.) says, that Timo- 
 
 Greeks, both his auxiliaries and his ene- genides and Attaginus, two most illus- 
 
 mies, the belief that their own Gods fa- trious citizens of Thebes, betrayed their 
 
 voured the Persian cause. Mitford's country. See the justly merited fate of 
 
 Greece, ix. 3. this wretch in ch, 86 and 87. Larcher.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 303 
 
 fronting to each other, when Timogenides gave this advice ; 
 which Mardonius approving, sent some horse in the beginning 
 of the night to the passages of mount Cithseron, that lead to 
 Plateea, and is called by the Boeotians the three heads; but by 
 the Athenians, the heads of oak. This cavalry was not sent 
 out in vain ; for entering into the plain, they took five hundred 
 cattle carrying provisions from Peloponnesus to the army, 
 with the men that attended them ; and when they had taken 
 this booty, they killed both man and beast without sparing 
 either; when they had glutted themselves with slaughter, they 
 collected the rest, and drove them off to Mardonius and to the 
 camp. 
 
 XL. Both armies passed two days more, after this action, 
 without being willing on either side to begin the battle ; for 
 though the Barbarians advanced to the bank of the Asopus, 
 to irritate the Greeks, yet neither would venture to pass the 
 river. In the mean time the cavalry of Mardonius continually 
 attacked and harassed the Greeks ; for the Thebans being 
 entirely in the interest of the Medes, performed their part 
 with vigour, and constantly led on the forces till they came to 
 an actual engagement ; and from that time they were suc- 
 ceeded by the Persians and Medes, who gave signal demon- 
 strations of their valour. 
 
 XLI. Nothing mere was done during ten days : but on 
 the eleventh day after the two armies had been encamped 
 opposite each other in the country of Plataea, and the Grecian 
 forces were considerably augmented, Mardonius the son of 
 Gobryas, tired with these delays, went to confer with Arta- 
 bazus the son of Pharnaces, whom Xerxes distinguished 
 among the small number of Persians whom he honoured with 
 his esteem ; in which conference they gave their opinions to 
 this effect. Artabazus advised, that they would break up 
 with all their forces, and without farther delay march to the 
 walls of Thebes ; where they should find plenty of provisions 
 for themselves, with forage for their horses ; and that being 
 encamped there, they might accomplish their enterprize at 
 leisure, if his advice was followed : for, having a great quan- 
 tity of gold, coined and uncoined, with much silver and 
 wrought plate ; if they would not be sparing of these trea- 
 sures, but send them around to the Greeks, especially to those 
 of principal authority in each nation, they would undoubtedly 
 prevail with them to betray the common liberty, without 
 hazarding the event of a battle. The Thebans were of the 
 same sentiment with Artabazus, as thinking him a person of 
 greater foresight than the other. But the opinion of Mardo- 
 nius was more bold, pertinacious, and by no means inclined to 
 yielding. He said, that he thought his army much better than
 
 304 HERODOTUS. 
 
 that of the Greeks, and that they ought to engage as quick 
 as possible, and not suffer their enemies to go on collecting 
 greater numbers every day ; and that they ought not to heed 
 the sacrifices of Hegesistratus, nor yet to violate the auspices 6 , 
 but in obedience to the Persian institutions to come to an 
 engagement. 
 
 XLII. When Mardonius f thought this conduct ought to be 
 adopted, no one contradicted him, so that his sentiment pre- 
 vailed, because the king had given the command of the army 
 to him, and not to Artabazus. Then calling together the 
 commanders of his forces, and the Grecian generals who were 
 in his camp, he asked if they had heard of any oracles that 
 threatened the Persians with destruction in Greece ; but they 
 gave him no answer ; because as some of the assembly knew 
 nothing of the predictions, so others, though they knew them, 
 did not deem it safe to mention them, which Mardonius per- 
 ceiving, said, " Since you either know nothing, or dare not 
 " speak, I shall tell you what I know perfectly well. There 
 " is an oracle, importing, that the Persians arriving in Greece 
 " shall plunder the temple of Delphi, and be all destroyed 
 " after that fact. Therefore, being apprised of this predic- 
 " tion, we will neither go towards that temple, nor attempt to 
 " plunder it; and thus we shall preserve ourselves from being 
 " destroyed on that account. Let every one then, who wishes 
 " well to the Persians, rejoice, and be assured that we shall 
 " conquer the Greeks." Having finished these words, he 
 " next ordered them to get all things in readiness, as if the 
 " battle was to take place early in the next morning." 
 
 XLIII. Nevertheless, I certainly know, that the oracle pre- 
 tended by Mardonius to have been pronounced concerning the 
 Persians, was really delivered concerning the Illyrians, and 
 the forces of the Enchelees 6 , and no way concerned the Per- 
 sians. But the following prediction of Bacis relating to this 
 battle had been delivered in these terms : 
 
 e Schweighajuser in his notes prefers pillaged this temple and died of a 
 
 the translation of Valla, which I have plague ; but this does not appear to be 
 
 given. Larcher translates it, " Ne point the one which the oracle alludes to. We 
 
 " violer les loix des Perses. find something more clear in Euripides, 
 
 f The conduct which Herodotus attri- (Bacch. 1333.) Bacchus discovers to 
 
 butes to Mardonius on this occasion, Cadmus an oracle of Jupiter, which pre- 
 
 shews both the general and the politi- dieted, that when he should retire among 
 
 cian. Mitford's Greece, ix. 3. the Illyrians and Enchelees, he should 
 
 e Pausanias, who has described with reign over those people, and that they 
 such accuracy the antiquities of Greece, should destroy a great number of towns ; 
 does not speak (in Phocic.) either of this but after having plundered the oracle of 
 pillage of the temple at Delphi, or of the Delphi, they should meet with an unfor- 
 misfortunes of the people concerned in it. tunate return. If we had the oracle it- 
 Appian says (De Bellis Illyric. p. 1196.) self we might see in what manner Mar- 
 that the Autarians, an Illyrian nation, donius applied it to the Persians. Larch,
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 306 
 
 Thermodon's arid Asopus' verdant banks 
 Shall see the Greek and Barbarous armies meet 
 With dreadful cry ; there multitudes shall fall 
 Of quiver-bearing Medes, when fate assails. 
 
 Besides this oracle of Bacis h , I have heard of others of a like 
 tenor, denounced by Musaeus against the Persians : as for the 
 Thermodon, that river runs between the cities of Tanagra and 
 Glisas 1 . 
 
 XLIV. After Mardonius had made inquiry touching the 
 oracles, and encouraged his men, night came on, and the 
 guards were placed. But when the night was far advanced, and 
 silence appeared to prevail throughout the camps, at the time 
 when men are in the most profound sleep, Alexander the son 
 of Amyntas, king and general of the Macedonians, mounting 
 on horseback, advanced to the Athenian guard, and desired 
 to speak with their principal leaders. The greater part of the 
 guard continued in their station, while some hastened to the 
 generals, and acquainted them, that a certain person arrived 
 on horseback from the army of the Medes, who, after naming 
 the commanders k , said nothing else but that he wished to come 
 to a conference with them. 
 
 XLV. When the guards had received this information, they 
 immediately followed them to the out-posts ; and were no 
 soon,er arrived, than Alexander began thus : " O Athenians, 
 " I now deposit these my words with you as a secret, which I 
 " beg of you to mention to no one except only Pausanias, lest 
 " you should ruin me. For I should not now make this dis- 
 " covery to you, if I were not extremely concerned for the 
 " safety of all Greece ; for I am myself of Grecian original, 
 " and I would by no means wish to see Greece enslaved in- 
 " stead of free. I tell you then, that the victims have not yet 
 " been favourable to Mardonius and the army ; or else you 
 " would have come to an engagement long ago ; but now, he 
 " has taken a resolution to have no regard to the sacrifices, 
 " and to attack you at break of day ; fearing, as I conjecture, 
 " that more forces may come into your succour. Be there- 
 " fore in readiness to receive him. But if Mardonius should 
 " defer the attack, and not put it in execution, do you perse- 
 " vere in remaining in your camp ; for there remain provi- 
 " sions enough but for a few days. And if this war termi- 
 
 h See note on viii. 20. k Plutarch (in Aristid. p. 327.) 
 
 1 This is sometimes written Glissas. says he desired to speak only with Aris - 
 
 It is mentioned by Statius; tides. But the account of Herodotus 
 
 " Hi deseruisse feruntur is much the most probable. Plutarch 
 
 " Exilem Glisanta, Coroniamque, fe- makes Alexander beg of Aristides to 
 
 " racem communicate the secret to no one. 
 
 " Messe Coroniam, Baccho Glisanta Larcher. 
 
 " colentes." Theb. vii. 306. 
 VOL. II. R r
 
 306 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " nates according to your wishes, it is right for you to remem- 
 " her me, and to think of setting me at liberty ; who for the 
 " sake of the Grecians, and out of a desire to preserve their 
 " liberty, have voluntarily undertaken so rash an enterprize, 
 " and acquainted you with the intention of Mardonius ; to the 
 " end that the Barbarians may not surprise you, and fall upon 
 " your forces, before you are prepared to receive them. I 
 " am Alexander the Macedonian." Having received these 
 words, he returned to his station in the camp. 
 
 XLVI. The Athenian captains went to the right wing, and 
 told Pausanias all that they had heard from Alexander ; at 
 this information, as he was afraid of the Persians, he said, 
 " Seeing the two armies are about to engage when the day 
 " appears, you, O Athenians, ought in reason to be placed 
 " opposite to the Persians, and we against the Boeotians and 
 " Grecians, who are now drawn up against your forces ; be- 
 " cause you know the Medes, and their manner of fighting, 
 " having fought with them already at Marathon ; whereas w r e 
 " are inexperienced in, and unacquainted with, those men, 
 " for no Spartan has ever made trial of a Mede l ; but the 
 " Boeotians and the Thessalians we know by experience. It 
 " is therefore right that, you should take up your arms and 
 " come to this wing, and we will take the left." To this pro- 
 posal the Athenians answered, " From the time we first saw 
 " the Persians drawn up against you, it occurred to us also 
 " to mention that which you have now first proposed m ; but 
 " we refrained, out of apprehension that our advice might not 
 " be agreeable to you ; but seeing you yourselves have men- 
 " tioned it, your words are pleasing to us, and we are ready 
 " to do as you desire." 
 
 XLVII. As this proposal pleased both parties, as soon 
 as morning dawned they, changed their stations : the Boso- 
 tians having perceived this, gave notice to Mardonius of what 
 they had done ; and when he had heard their report, he im- 
 mediately began to alter his order of battle, and to place the 
 Persians against the front of the Lacedaemonians again. But 
 Pausauias, having seen what had been done, and found that 
 he was discovered, returned with the Spartans to the right of 
 the line; and Mardonius in like manner towards the left". 
 
 1 Pausanias, says Wesseling, must they conceived, that, by making them 
 
 then have forgotten the noble defence of change their position according to his 
 
 the three hundred Spartans at Thermo- pleasure, he treated them as slaves ; but 
 
 pylffi. I reply, that those Spartans, hav- upon the remonstrances of Aristides they 
 
 ing been all killed, there was no one of changed their opinions. Lurcher. 
 
 the present army of Pausanias who had n 'Eiri TO evuwfiov signifies in l&vum 
 
 engaged with a Mede. Larcher. comu, into the left wing : iirl TOV tvdi- 
 
 m The Athenian commanders, says vvpov, versus, towards the left wing. 
 
 Plutarch, (in Aristid. p. 328.) thought Schweighttuser. 
 this conduct of Pausanias very insolent :
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 307 
 
 XLVIII. When both sides had resumed their former sta- 
 tions, Mardonius sent a herald to the Spartans with the fol- 
 lowing message : " You, forsooth, O Lacedaemonians, are re- 
 " ported to be the best soldiers, by the people in these parts, 
 " and are very much admired as men who never abandon the 
 " field of battle, nor quit your ranks, but continue firm, till 
 " either you have destroyed your enemies, or die upon the 
 " place. Yet none of these things, it seems, are true. For 
 " even before we engaged, and brought hand to hand, we saw 
 " you openly fly, and abandon your station; we saw you leave 
 " to the Athenians the first trial of our valour, and range 
 " yourselves against our servants ; which are by no means the 
 *' actions of brave men. We were then entirely deceived in 
 " you ; for when we expected, on account of your reputation, 
 " that you would have sent a herald to challenge us, and that 
 " you would be desirous of fighting singly with the Persians, 
 " though we were prepared to accept these terms, we have 
 " found you using no such language, but rather shrinking 
 " from us with fear. Now, therefore, seeing you have not 
 " begun this proposal, we will at any rate begin : why do 
 " not you, we ask, on the part of the Greeks, since you have 
 " the reputation of being the bravest, and we, on the part of 
 " the Barbarians, engage with an equal number on both 
 " sides ? If you think the rest ought also to fight, let them 
 " engage afterwards ; but if you are of another opinion, and 
 " think that it is sufficient for us only to engage, we will fight 
 " it out ; and let that side which shall obtain the victory be 
 " accounted victorious for the whole army." 
 
 XLIX. After the herald had thus spoken, and stayed some 
 time without receiving any answer, he returned to Mardo- 
 nius, and gave him an account of what had happened. Upon 
 which Mardonius, being above measure joyful, and elated by 
 an imaginary victory, ordered his cavalry to charge the 
 Greeks : these, with their lances and arrows, as they used 
 bows on horseback, and could not be brought to a close en- 
 gagement, harassed the whole Grecian army, and disturbed P 
 and choked the fountain of Gargaphia, from which all the 
 Grecian army obtained water. Near this fountain the Lace- 
 daemonians only were posted, but the other Greeks were more 
 or less distant from it, as they happened to be stationed. The 
 Asopus was near at hand indeed ; but as they were kept off 
 
 Literally, cold. See vi. 108. ovvk\uv. This translation is not there- 
 
 P M. l'Abb Gfcdoyn, in his transla- fore warranted either by Pausanias or 
 
 tion of Pausanias, makes that author Herodotus. The Persians, barbarous as 
 
 say, that Mardonius poisoned (infecta) they were, respected the right of na- 
 
 the water. The word in Pausanias is tions. Bellanger. 
 
 R r2
 
 308 HERODOTUS. 
 
 from that by the enemy's cavalry and missiles, and could get 
 no water from the river, they therefore all went to the foun- 
 tain. 
 
 L. In this condition of things, destitute of water for the 
 army, and put into great confusion by the Barbarian horse, 
 the Grecian generals went to Pausanias to the right wing, in 
 order to deliberate about these and other affairs. For though 
 their circumstances were bad in these particulars, yet they 
 were in much greater perplexity about provisions : for what 
 they had had been consumed, and their attendants, who had 
 been dispatched to the Peloponnesus to get provisions, were 
 shut out by the cavalry, and unable to reach the camp. 
 
 LI. In this deliberation the captains resolved, if the Per- 
 sians should defer their attack all that day, to remove to the 
 island q . This island is ten stades distant from the river Aso- 
 pus and the spring of Gargaphia, where they were then en- 
 camped, and lies opposite to the city of Platasa. This island 
 must thus be in the midst of the continent. For the river, 
 descending from mount Cithaeron, and running into the plain, 
 divides itself into two streams : these running separate for 
 about three stades, and then rejoining, form an island, which 
 is called by the name of CEroe T ; who, as the inhabitants say, 
 was the daughter of Asopus. Into this place the Greeks de- 
 termining to remove, that they might have a sufficient supply 
 of water, and might not be harassed, as when they were en- 
 camped opposite, by the enemy's horse, agreed to decamp in 
 the night, at the time of the second watch % in order that the 
 Persians might not see them setting out, and the cavalry 
 might not follow and annoy them. They also resolved, that 
 when they should arrive where the Asopian CEroe is encom- 
 passed by the waters which descend from Cithaeron, they 
 would detach one half of their forces to that mountain, in or- 
 der to bring in the attendants who had been sent for provi- 
 sions, and were shut up in Cithaeron. 
 
 LII. Having taken these resolutions, as the" enemy's horse 
 attacked them during the whole day, they suffered incessant 
 labour : but in the evening the enemy retired ; and when the 
 
 i The isle of CEroe was doubtless pus, ten stades from the island. Larch. 
 
 known at that time by the name of the r (Eroe is not mentioned among the 
 
 island, in the same way as at Paris, when twelve daughters of Asopus by Diodorus 
 
 we say the island, we mean the island Siculus, (iv. 72.) nor yet by Apollodo- 
 
 of St. Louis. As to what our author rus, (iii. 11, 5.) who mentions the names 
 
 says, that this island is ten stades from of twenty. Pausanias (ix. 4.) mentions 
 
 the Asopus, we must understand that Peroe, which I think ought from our 
 
 part of th Asopus near which the Gre- author to be altered toCEroe. Wesseling. 
 
 cian army was encamped : otherwise, the s About four hours after sunset. The 
 
 expression would be ridiculou?. I think Greeks divided the night into three 
 
 the river changed its name to that of Aso- watches. Larcher.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 309 
 
 hour of night was come, in which they had agreed to decamp, 
 the greater part took up their arms, and marched away with- 
 out any intention of going to the place appointed : whilst 
 others, upon their breaking up, gladly escaping from the ene- 
 my's cavalry, made towards Plataea ; and arriving at the tem- 
 ple of Juno, which stands before the city, twenty stades dis- 
 tant from the fountain Gargaphia, encamped l in front of the 
 temple. 
 
 LIII. Pausanias seeing these forces departing from the 
 camp, and supposing they were marching to the place agreed 
 on, ordered the Lacedaemonians to take up their arms and 
 follow. All the rest of the leaders were ready to obey, when 
 Amompharetus the son of Poliades, captain of the band of the 
 Pitanatae u , protested he would not fly from the foreigners, nor 
 willingly bring a disgrace upon Sparta ; and was the more as- 
 tonished at what he saw, because he had not been present in 
 the council, where this resolution was taken. Pausanias and 
 Euryanax considered his disobedience to their orders a se- 
 rious thing, but a still more serious one, since he had come to 
 this resolution, to leave the band of the Pitanatae ; lest by exe- 
 cuting the measures they had concerted with the rest of the 
 Grecians, Amompharetus, and all those who were under his 
 conduct, should be destroyed. From these considerations 
 they ordered the Lacedaemonian forces to halt, and endea- 
 voured to persuade him that his conduct was improper. 
 
 LIV. Whilst they were expostulating with Amompharetus, 
 who was the only one of all the Lacedaemonians and Tegeatae, 
 who would not go away, the Athenians, well knowing the ge- 
 nius of the Spartans, and that they are accustomed to say one 
 thing and mean another x , remained quiet in their station ; and 
 
 ' "'EBevro TO. oTrXa. This expression may possibly have asked some Spartan, 
 has three significations. The first, they whether there was in the Lacedaemonian 
 put on their arms, the second, they laid army any \6%o<;, which was regularly 
 down their arms, the third, they encamped. called IIiravdrTjc, and may have re- 
 See the notes of Valckenaer and Wessel- ceived for answer, that there was no 
 ing. It is here used in the last signifi- such a band in his time, and as far as he 
 cation, which, I think, is derived from was aware there never was one of that 
 the second. When the Greeks encamp- name. Schweighxuser. 
 ed, they placed their arms in one place ; x Lycurgus in his institutions recom- 
 hence, to put the arms down, frequently mended cunning and artifice ; and the 
 signifies, to encamp, in Herodotus, Thu- Lacedaemonians are constantly reproach - 
 cydides and Xenophon. Larcher. ed with their falseness : see Aristopha- 
 
 u Pitana was a small town or borough nes, (in Pace, 1065. and Acharn. 307.) 
 
 of Laconia, on the Eurotas: and it ap- and particularly Euripides, (Androm. 
 
 pears probable that a band was formed 446.) The following words of Euripides 
 
 from its inhabitants to serve in the La- exactly agree with the present passage of 
 
 cedsemonian army. Although Thucy- Herodotus; 
 
 dides (i. 20.) plainly denies that there Xiyomc *XXa & v 
 
 ever was in that army a ^band or lochus rjui(nry> ^ vo z VTlg Fstf ty, p ,'. 
 called 1 IHravomc, > et u does not follow ^JJf Valckenaer . 
 
 that Herodotus is wrong. Ihucydides
 
 310 HERODOTUS. 
 
 when they saw the army begin to move, they sent a horseman 
 to see if indeed the Lacedaamonians were preparing to de- 
 camp, or had given up all thoughts of departing ; and also to 
 inquire of Pausanias what was to be done. 
 
 LV. This messenger arriving, found the Lacedaemonians 
 drawn up in their post, and their principal leaders engaged in 
 a warm debate. For while Euryanax and Pausanias were 
 endeavouring to persuade Amompharetus not to bring the La- 
 cedaemonians into danger by continuing singly in the camp, 
 and were by no means able to prevail with him, they had at 
 last fallen into an open quarrel, when the Athenian messenger 
 arrived. In this dispute Amompharetus taking up a stone y 
 with both his hands, and laying it down at the feet of Pausa- 
 nias, said, " With this I give my vote, that we ought not tc 
 " fly from the strangers ;" meaning the Barbarians. But Pau- 
 sauias telling him he was distracted, and not in his right senses, 
 turned to the messenger, and in answer to the questions he 
 was instructed to ask, bid him report the present condition of 
 their affairs to the Athenians, and their earnest desire that 
 they would come over to them, and act, in relation to their 
 departure, as the Lacedaemonians should do. 
 
 LVI. With this answer the messenger returned to the Athe- 
 nians. When morning at last surprised the Spartans still dis- 
 puting with one another, Pausanias having stayed to that 
 time, and supposing, as indeed happened, that Amompharetus 
 would not stay, when the rest were gone, gave the signal, and 
 marched away across the hills with the rest, and was followed 
 by the Tegeatae. On the other hand, the Athenians marched 
 in order of battle by the way of the plain ; for the Spartans, 
 apprehending the enemy's horse, kept close to the higher 
 ground, and the foot of mount Cithaeron. 
 
 LVII. But Amompharetus, who felt fully convinced that 
 Pausanias would never venture to leave them, at first perse- 
 vered in keeping his post ; but when those with Pausanias had 
 got some distance from him, he at length saw that they were 
 really 2 deserting him, and he therefore ordered his company 
 to take up their arms, and led them slowly after the main 
 body; which*, nevertheless, after a march of about ten stades h , 
 halted at the river Molois in the plain of Argiopius, (where a 
 temple stands dedicated to the Eleusinian Ceres,) and waited 
 for his company, in order that it might return to his assistance, 
 
 y The ancieuts used small pebbles to b It does not appear that Pausanias 
 
 vote with. Larcher. intended to march to (Eroe, as the rest 
 
 z 'iQiiy r't\vy. On this phrase see of the Greeks had not gone thither : at 
 
 Hoogeveen on Viger. ii. 9, 2. any rate he did not march directly thi- 
 
 * In the Greek we must understand ther, but kept in the hills. 
 aXXo 0r7^>o to agree with TO. Larcher.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 311 
 
 if he and his forces should persist in their resolution not to 
 leave their station. However, at length Amompharetus and 
 his company came up ; and immediately the whole body of 
 Barbarian cavalry fell upon them. For they rode out to ha- 
 rass them, as they were accustomed to do ; but when they 
 found the place abandoned, where the Greeks were on former 
 days posted, they pursued without delay ; and as soon as they 
 overtook them, they made an attack. 
 
 LVIII. When Mardonius was informed that the Grecians 
 retired under cover of night, and saw the place deserted, he 
 immediately sent for Thorax of Larissa, with his brothers Eu- 
 rypilus and Thrasydeius, and spoke to them in these terms : 
 " What will you say now, O Sons of Aleuas, when you see 
 " this camp abandoned? For you being neighbours to the 
 " Lacedaemonians, used to affirm that they never fled from 
 " battle, but were the first of mankind in valour. These men 
 " you saw first shifting their station ; and now. we all see that 
 " they have fled away during last night, and have given a 
 " clear demonstration, when it was necessary for them to 
 " come to the issue of a battle against men who truly are the 
 " most valiant in the world, that being themselves good for 
 " nothing, they have gained distinction among the Greeks, who 
 " are also nothing. For my part I readily forgave you when 
 " you extolled the Spartans, in whom you were conscious of 
 " some excellence, because you were unacquainted with the 
 " Persians ; but I wondered more at Artabazus, that he should 
 " have such great fear of the Lacedemonians, and therefore 
 " most cowardly advised , that it was expedient to break up 
 " our camp, and retire to Thebes, to endure a siege, which 
 " the king hereafter shall know from me; but of that I shall 
 " say more another time. At present, we must not suffer the 
 " Greeks to succeed in their present attempt, but we must 
 " pursue, until they shall be overtaken, and have given us sa- 
 " tisfaction for all the mischief they have done to the Persians." 
 
 LIX. Having finished these words, he put himself at the 
 head of the Persians, and passing the Asopus with great haste, 
 he followed the track of the Greeks, as if they had betaken 
 themselves to flight ; he only directed his course after the La- 
 cedaemonians and the Tegeatae ; for on account of the hills he 
 did not see the Athenians, who had turned into the plain. 
 When the other commanders of the Barbarian troops saw the 
 Persians advancing in pursuit of the Grecians, they also took 
 up their standards, and followed, each as quick as he could, 
 without observing either rank or order; thus they pursued 
 with thronging and tumult, as if they were about to carry off 
 the Greeks. 
 
 c See ch. xli.
 
 312 HERODOTUS. 
 
 LX. Pausanias in the mean time finding himself pressed 
 by the enemy's cavalry, dispatched a messenger on horseback 
 to the Athenians, with this message : " Men of Athens, in the 
 " great struggle before us, whether Greece shall be enslaved 
 " or continue free, our allies have betrayed both you and the 
 " Lacedaemonians, and have fled away during the last night. 
 " It is now therefore settled what must be our future line of 
 " conduct* 1 , viz. to defend ourselves in the best manner we 
 " can, and to succour each other. If then the enemy's horse 
 " had attacked you first, we, and the Tegeatae, who are with 
 " us, and have not betrayed the common cause, ought to have 
 " assisted you. But seeing all their cavalry has now fallen 
 " upon us, you are obliged in justice to come to the succour 
 " of that part which is most hardly pressed. If however any 
 " insuperable impediment should hinder you from coming to 
 " our relief, yet if you would send us your archers, you would 
 " confer a great favour. We are conscious that you have ex- 
 " hibited the greatest zeal in this present war, and therefore 
 " do not doubt, but that you will listen to our request." 
 
 LXI. The Athenians no sooner heard these words, than 
 they prepared to succour the Lacedaemonians to the utmost of 
 their power; but as they were actually marching with that 
 design, they were attacked, and by that means prevented by 
 those Greeks who sided with the Persian, and had been drawn 
 up opposite to the Athenians. The Lacedaemonians and the 
 Tegeatae being thus deprived of assistance, and necessitated 
 to engage alone against Mardonius and the forces with him, 
 began to offer their usual sacrifices. The former, including 
 the light-armed men, amounted to the number of fifty thou- 
 sand 6 ; and the Tegeatae, who had never parted from the La- 
 cedaemonians, to three thousand. During their sacrifices, 
 which were not at all favourable, they had many men killed, and 
 more wounded; for the Persians, having formed a rampart f of 
 their bucklers g , let fly a great number of arrows so incessantly, 
 that Pausanias, when he saw the Spartans so hard pressed, 
 and their sacrifices unfavourable 11 , turned his eyes towards the 
 
 d The construction in the Greek is ch. 99. line 18. and ch. 102. line 7 13. 
 
 this ; SiSoKTai TO (lonice for o) iroiqriov Schweighteuser . 
 
 (IOTI) ijp.lv ToivQtvriv. Schweighatiser. 8 These were made of osier and covered 
 
 e According to chapter 29, the with skins. See Barn. Brissonius Regn. 
 
 Spartans amounted to .......... 5,000 Pers. iii. 13. and Taylor on Demosthe- 
 
 Helots ...................... 35,000 nes Or. in Neaer. vol. iii. p. 620. Valck. 
 
 Lacedaemonians .............. 5,000 h The phrase TU Upd, or TO. afyayia 
 
 Light-armed men (one to each La- yiviffOai, is often used to express fa vour- 
 
 cedaemonian.) .............. 5,000 able sacrifices. So in ch. Ixii. 1. 4. after 
 
 iyiviro 9vop.tvoujt TO. fftydyta \prfaTa, 
 
 50,000 there is added tl>c ct xpovtft Kori tyivf.ro, 
 
 -- quum vero tandem Iteta essenteita; when 
 
 f This plan of piling up their shields the sacrifices were at length favourable. 
 
 to form a rampart is again mentioned in Valckenaer.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 313 
 
 temple of Juno in Plataea, and invoking the Goddess, prayed 
 that his hopes might not be frustrated. 
 
 LXII. While he was still making this invocation, the Te- 
 geatse began to advance against the Barbarians. Immediately 
 after the prayer of Pausanias, the Lacedaemonians sacrificed 
 happily, and when they were at length favourable, they marched 
 out likewise against the Persians ; who, laying aside their ar- 
 rows, opposed them ; first of all a battle ensued near the ram- 
 part of bucklers, and when these were thrown down, they 
 maintained an obstinate fight near the temple of Ceres, for a 
 considerable time, till at last they came to a close conflict 1 . 
 For the Barbarians laid hold of the enemy's lances, and broke 
 them in pieces. And indeed, in courage and strength, the 
 Persians were not inferior to the Greeks k ; but they were 
 lightly armed, and moreover ignorant of military discipline, 
 and no way comparable to their adversaries in skill ; they 
 rushed forward either singly or in bodies of ten, or more, or 
 less, and falling upon the Lacedaemonians, were certainly de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 LXIII. Nevertheless, in that part where Mardonius, 
 mounted on a white horse, fought at the head of a thousand 
 chosen men 1 , the best among the Persians, there the Greeks 
 were attacked with most vigour. For as long as be continued 
 alive, the Persians made a strenuous defence, and killed many 
 of the Spartans. But when Mardonius fell" 1 , and the chosen 
 troops about him were defeated, the rest immediately turned 
 their backs, and fled before the Lacedaemonians; their dress", 
 which had no defensive armour, was particularly disadvantage- 
 ous to them ; for they were light armed , and fought against 
 Hoplites. 
 
 LXIV. Here the death of Leonidas was revenged by the 
 
 ' 'Q9ia[ibg in our author, (vii. 225, 3.) events, the death of the commander-in- 
 
 and in other writers, signifies the conflict chief can scarcely fail to superinduce 
 
 of men engaged in close combat, and complete confusion and the certain ruin 
 
 mutually pressing and repelling one an- of the enterprize. Mitford's Greece, ix. 3. 
 
 other, as may be expected in a thick n See v. 49. and i. 135. 
 
 crowd. The passage maybe well ren- Valla, Gronovius and Wesseling, have 
 
 dered, donee jam in manus et ad gladios rendered avoir\oi, inermes. I would 
 
 pugna venit ; compare Livy ii. 46. Schw. render it leviter armati. Perhaps it may 
 
 " To the same purpose also even Plu- be better translated, c/vpeis erant nudati ; 
 
 tarch speaks, ITfptruiv TroXXorf OVK compare ch. Ixiii. 9. "OirXov singly signi- 
 
 a.TrpaKTu>eov5iddv}Ui>TriirTOVTag, (Vit. fies a shield, and when the rampart of 
 
 Aristid.) See also Plato. Laches, p. 191. shields was overthrown by the Greeks, 
 
 vol. ii. Mitford's Greece, note 12. on the Persians had not time to recover their 
 
 ix. 3. own. The Persians were besides pro- 
 
 1 See vii. 40. and viii. 113. tected by a scaled breastplate; see vii. 
 
 m In Asiatic armies the jealousy of 61,3. These breastplates, however, were 
 
 despotism being adverse to that close not so compact as tnat of Masistius ; so 
 
 succession of various ranks in command, that the wearer was not protected from 
 
 which, in the European, contributes so wounds. It may also be doubted whe- 
 
 much to the preservation of order in all ther they were made of iron. 
 
 VOL. II. S S
 
 314 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Spartans upon Mardonius, according to the oracular saying v ; 
 and here the' most glorious victory we ever heard of was ob- 
 tained by Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus, and grandson to 
 Anaxandrides ; whose ancestors I mentioned before q in the 
 genealogy of Leonidas ; for they were the same. Mardonius 
 died by the hand of Ai'mnestus, a man of renown at Sparta, 
 who, some time after this Persian war, was killed at Steny- 
 clerus', with three hundred Lacedaemonians, fighting against 
 all the forces of the Messenians 3 . 
 
 LXV. The Persians thus put to the rout by the Spartans 
 in the territories of Plataea, fled in confusion to their camp, 
 which they had fortified with a wall of wood', in the plains of 
 Thebes. But I am surprised, that seeing the battle was fought 
 near the grove of Ceres, not one of the Barbarians was seen 
 to enter into the temple, nor to die in any part of the sacred 
 ground, but all fell in unconsecrated ground ; and if a man 
 may be permitted to form a conjecture concerning divine 
 things, I imagine the Goddess would not receive them, after 
 they had burnt her royal temple" at Eleusis. Such was the 
 event of this battle. 
 
 LXVI. In the mean time, Artabazus x the son of Pharnaces, 
 who from the beginning had disapproved the king's assenting 
 to leave Mardonius in Greece, and who, by all the reasons he 
 could allege, was not able to prevail with him to forbear fight- 
 ing, thought fit to act in this manner. Being displeased at 
 the conduct of Mardonius, and rightly judging what the issue 
 would be, he drew up his men in order - v , and commanded that, 
 during the battle, all the forces under him, consisting of forty 
 thousand men, should follow him wheresoever he should lead 
 them, with the same diligence they should see him make : and 
 after he had given these instructions, he advanced with his 
 
 P See viii. 1 14. and note on vi. 140. pies of most of the Gods. I think it ne- 
 
 <i See vii. 204. cessary to add, that this word is properly 
 
 r Herodotus writes Stenyclerus, be- employed, when we speak of the temple 
 
 cause the Ionic dialect changes alpha of of the Eleusinian Ceres. See Euripides 
 
 the third syllable into eta. Strabo (Geo- Suppl. 87. Lurcher. 
 
 graph, viii. p. 555.) writes it Stenyclarus ; x See ch. xli. 
 
 I'ausanias, however, constantly puts Ste- Rollin, though he sometimes mistakes 
 
 nyclerus, and so does Stephens of Byzan- the Greek military writers, as Thucydides 
 
 tium. Lurcher. and Xenophon, on subjects merely mili- 
 
 s This was in the third Messenian war, tary, is otherwise in this early part of 
 
 which lasted ten years : it began fourteen Grecian history generally exact; but I 
 
 years after the battle of Plataea, B.C. 465. know not where he learnt that Artabazus 
 
 Lurcher. distinguished himself by his gallant ex- 
 
 ' See ch. xv. and Ixx. ertion in this battle. Mitford's Greece, 
 
 u Valckenaer has rightly observed that ix. 3. note 13. 
 
 TO ipbv has been introduced from the ? In my opinion the accusative TOVTOVQ 
 
 margin, where it was placed as a gloss, is governed by KaTt]pTurp.ivog, so that, as 
 
 into the text. The same learned man very many other Greek verbs, this also in 
 
 has also remarked with great justice, that the praeterite passive has an active or 
 
 'Avaicropov is used concerning the tern- middle signification. Schweigh.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 315 
 
 men, as if to join 7 - in the engagement : but as ho was march- 
 ing in front of his troops, he discovered the Persians flying 1 . 
 Upon which, he no longer led his forces in the same order, but 
 fled* with all possible speed; not towards the wall of wood, 
 nor the city of Thebes, but into the territories of the Phocians, 
 being desirous to reach the Hellespont as soon as he could. 
 This was the direction they took. 
 
 LXVII. In this battle, while the rest of the Greeks in 
 the king's army behaved themselves ill on purpose, the Boeo- 
 tians fought for a considerable time against the Athenians. 
 For those Thebans 1 ', who favoured the Medes, displayed no 
 slight ardour, but continued fighting and not willingly relax- 
 ing, so that three hundred of the principal and most valiant 
 were killed by the Athenians upon the place : and the rest, 
 after they were broken and put to flight, would not follow the 
 Persians, nor the vast multitude of their associates, who nei- 
 ther fought at all, nor performed any thing considerable, but 
 retired to Thebes. 
 
 LXVII I. The Barbarians appear to me c to have been to- 
 tally dependant on the Persians on this occasion. For when, 
 they saw the Persians flying, they abandoned the field, even 
 without striking a blow; and by their example at length betook 
 themselves all to flight, except some of the horse, consisting 
 of Boeotians and others. Yet these in their retreat being 
 nearest to the enemy, were of some advantage to those that 
 fled, by defending their friends from the Grecians; who vigor- 
 ously pursuing their victory, pressed hard upon the broken 
 forces of Xerxes, and made a great slaughter among them. 
 
 LXIX. During this pursuit, a message was brought to 
 those Grecians who had absented themselves from the battle, 
 and retired to the temple of Juno d , that the armies had en- 
 gaged, and that the Greeks with Pausanias were victorious. 
 Upon which news they hastened back, without observing any 
 kind of order, the Corinthians 6 by the way of the hills that 
 leads directly to the temple of Ceres, and the Megarians witli 
 the Phliasians took the smoothest road over the plain. But 
 the Theban cavalry, commanded by Asopodorus the sou of 
 Timander, seeing the Megarians and Phliasians approaching 
 
 1 In the phrase wf t'e ftaxf" '/7 SijQfv impersonally, and intransitively ; apparet, 
 
 TOV TTparov, eiercitum tiucehut tanqiitim manifestum Jit mihi. See ii. 117,2. 
 ad pugnam scilicet, cijOtv is used in the (l See ch. li. 
 
 same sense as in vi. 1. Valckenaer. e As ol irtpl or afifyi avrbv frequently 
 
 a The veil) rpo\a'(iv has the same signify no others than a man's self, av- 
 
 signification as Tpi%tiv, to run. TOQ : so in this passage oi dft^i KoptvQiovg 
 
 b The greater and more powerful part and oi a\.i<pl Msyapeaf, are no other than 
 
 of the Thebans favoured the Medes, and the Corinthians, Megarians, Sue. them- 
 
 not all. See Ixxxvi. 3. Schweigh. selves. Schu-eigh. 
 c Ai/Xoi TI tfioi in the original is taken 
 
 S S 2
 
 316 HERODOTUS. 
 
 in so disorderly a manner, pushed on their horses immediately, 
 and falling upon them, killed six hundred on the spot, and 
 drove the rest to mount Cithaeron. Thus these men fell with- 
 out honour. 
 
 LXX. The Persians and the rest of the multitude, when 
 they arrived in their flight within their wooden wall, mounted 
 the towers before the coming of the Lacedaemonians, and im- 
 proved their works in the best manner they could ; so that 
 when the Lacedaemonians arrived, rather a vigorous battle 
 ensued before the walls. For so long as the Athenians were 
 absent, the Barbarians not only defended themselves, but had 
 the advantage over the Lacedaemonians, as they knew not how 
 to attack a fortification 5 . But upon the arrival of the Atheni- 
 ans, the action grew hotter on both sides, and continued for a 
 long time ; till in the end, by their valour and constancy, the 
 Athenians mounted the walls, and made a breach, through 
 which the Greeks poured in. The first that entered into the 
 fortification were the Tegeatag, who plundered the tent of 
 Mardonius, and among other things took away a manger for 
 horses, all of solid brass, and well worth seeing ; this manger 
 they afterwards placed in the temple of the Alean Minerva 8 : 
 but the rest of their booty they brought to the common heap, 
 and deposited with that taken by the other Greeks. The 
 Barbarians, after the forcing of their intrenchment, no longer 
 formed into any body, nor did any one think of valour, but as 
 they were frightened, and as so many myriads were intercepted 
 within a small space, they were thrown into the utmost confu- 
 sion ; by which means they were so easily cut in pieces 1 ' by 
 the Greeks, that of three hundred thousand men, not full 
 three thousand escaped the sword, besides those forty thou- 
 sand who fled away with Artabazus. Of the Lacedemonians 
 of Sparta ninety-one were killed in the battle ; of the Tegeatse 
 sixteen ; and of the Athenians fifty-two'. 
 
 f Thucydides also (i. 102.) mentions with the Barbarians, and the latter with 
 
 the ignorance of the Lacedaemonians in the Thebans ; and that thus the other 
 
 the art of attacking walled towns, &c. states are dishonoured. In his Life of 
 
 But it is rather surprising that they did Aristides, (p. 330.) he opposes to Hero- 
 
 not attempt to set fire to the wooden wall. dotus the number of the slain, and the 
 
 8 See note oni. 66. public monuments; and informs us that 
 
 h The victory of a free people, fighting 1360 Greeks fell on this day, of whom 9 1 
 
 for their possessions, their families, and were Lacedaemonians; 16 Tegeata; ; and 
 
 their independency, against foreign in- 52 Athenians : all of whom, according to 
 
 vaders, is never likely to be mild. Both Clidemus, were of the tribe yEantis, 
 
 Herodotus and Plutarch, however, avoid which fought with the greatest bravery, 
 
 all detail of this massacre. Mitford's Valckenaer. 
 
 Greece, ix. 3. Lysias, in his funeral oration, positively 
 
 'Plutarch (de Herodot. Malign, p. asserts the same fact as Herodotus, (Lys. 
 
 872.) is angry that only Lacedaemonians, Or. Fun. p. 107. vel 195.) It is indeed 
 
 Tegeatse and Athenians are here men- little likely that, while memory of the 
 
 tioned; the two former of whom fought transaction was yet fresh, a historian,
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 817 
 
 LXXI. Those among the Barbarians who fought best 
 were, of the foot, the Persians ; of the horse, the Sacae ; and 
 Mardonius is said to have shewn himself the bravest man. 
 Of the Greeks, the Tegeatae and Athenians evinced great 
 bravery, but the Lacedaemonians surpassed them ; of which I 
 can give this proof only : though the former beat the forces 
 they engaged, yet the Lacedaemonians engaged with and de- 
 feated the strongest part of the enemy's army. But among 
 all the Lacedaemonians, no man, in my opinion, gave so great 
 proofs of valour as Aristodemus, who was before disgraced 
 and dishonoured, because he alone, of the three hundred, had 
 saved himself from the slaughter of Thermopylae. After him, 
 Posidonius, Philocyon, and Amompharetus the Spartan, dis- 
 tinguished themselves. Yet when the question came to be 
 debated, who had behaved himself best k , those Spartans that 
 were present gave judgment, that Aristodemus wished to die 
 in the sight of his countrymen, on account of the disgrace at- 
 tached to him, and therefore rushing forward, like a madman, 
 beyond his companions, had performed actions of great glory ; 
 but that Posidonius having no occasion to desire death, had 
 acted bravely, and therefore deserved the more glory. Per- 
 haps they gave that judgment from a motive of envy. How- 
 ever, they paid great honours to all those I mentioned who 
 died in the battle ; excepting only Aristodemus, who was de- 
 prived of that honour, because he had predetermined to lose 
 his life for the foregoing reason. 
 
 LXXII. These were the men who acquired the greatest 
 fame in the battle of Plataea. For Callicratides, the hand- 
 somest man, not only of the Lacedaemonians, but of others in 
 the Grecian army, died not in the action ; but standing in his 
 rank, while Pausanias was sacrificing, he received a wound in 
 
 writing for the Greek nation, would Greeks decreed to the Platzeans the first 
 venture a false assertion so dishonourable honours for military merit on the occa- 
 to so large a part of it, concerning facts sion, though Diodorus differs from him, is 
 in their nature of such public notoriety ; confirmed by Thucydides, against whose 
 and it is still less likely that such an as- authority that of Diodorus is not to be 
 sertion would remain to be refuted in mentioned. Possibly on account of their 
 Plutarch's age. The interest which the subsequent fate, Herodotus might have 
 Lacedaemonians and Athenians after- had some reason for omitting all mention 
 ward had in courting the other Grecian of them, similar to that, whatever it was, 
 states, may sufficiently account for the which has made him totally silent concern- 
 epigrams, barrows, and other such uncer- ing the first two Messenian wars. When 
 tain evidences as Plutarch has quoted. we consider his extreme freedom by turns 
 Indeed, before Plutarch's testimony can with all the most powerful states of 
 be of any weight, he must first be recon- Greece, both omissions appear mysteri- 
 ciled to himself. It does, however, ap- ous. Milford's Greece, Lx. 3. note 15. 
 pear extraordinary, that Herodotus, in k In the Greek oc is put for n'c, as in 
 his narrative of this great event, should vi. 124,6. and ro (which in other places 
 never have mentioned the Plataeans. is equivalent to o, after the Ionic cus- 
 The assertion of Plutarch^ that the torn) i>put for rl in vi. 37, 9. Schwcigh,
 
 318 HERODOTUS. 
 
 the side by an arrow ; and, as they carried him off, regretting* 
 his fate, he turned to Arimnestus 1 a Platsean, and told him 
 that he did not lament at dying for Greece ; but at not having 
 used his arm, or done any thing worthy of himself, and of his 
 desire for glory. 
 
 LXXIII. Of the Athenians, Sophanes the son of Euty- 
 chides, of the borough of Decelea, is reported to have acquired 
 great reputation. The inhabitants of Decelea, as the Athe- 
 nians say, were the authors of a thing, which has been ever 
 since of advantage to them. For in ancient time, when the 
 Tyndaridas" 1 , seeking to recover Helen", entered the terri- 
 tories of Attica with a numerous army, and dispossessed the 
 people of their habitations, not knowing to what place she was 
 carried ; the Deceleans, and, as some say, Decelus himself, 
 indignant at the wanton crime of Theseus, and fearing that all 
 the country of the Athenians might be ravaged, discovered 
 the whole intrigue, and conducted the Tyndaridae to Aphid- 
 nae, which TitacusP, a native of the place, delivered into their 
 hands. From the time of that action even to this day, the 
 Deceleans have enjoyed at Sparta q immunity from tribute and 
 precedency in assemblies; and also in the war, which happened 
 many years after r , between the Athenians and Peloponne- 
 sians, when the Lacedaemonians pillaged the rest of Attica, 
 they abstained from Decelea 5 . 
 
 LXXIV. Of that borough was Sophanes, who distinguished 
 himself above all the Athenians on this occasion ; but two dif- 
 ferent accounts are given of him. Some say, he carried an 
 
 1 Arimnestus was commander of the P There v,-as a borough in Attica 
 
 Plataeans. See Pausanias, ix. 4. and called Titacidae. SeeSuidas, voc. Tira- 
 
 Plutarch in Aristid. p. 325. Thucydi- Kidai. 
 
 des (iii. 52.) mentions a man named La- 1 This ought to be understood of those 
 
 con the son of A'imnestus, a native of Deceleans who wished to settle in Sparta. 
 
 Plataea. Wesseling. Lurcher. 
 
 n Castor and Pollux. Wesseling. T The battle of Plataea took place B.C. 
 
 n Helen, as every one knows, was the 479 ; the Peloponnesian war began in 
 
 daughter of Tyndarus, and sister of Cas- the spring of the year 431. B. C. that is, 
 
 tor and Pollux. She was carried off by nearly 48 yeais after the battle of Pla- 
 
 Theseus, when he was fifty years old, ta;a. Lurcher. 
 
 according to Hellanicus, ( Plutarch in s This is frequently referred to the 3rd 
 
 Thes. p. 14.) She was not then mar- year of the 91st Olympiad, when Agis, 
 
 riageable, perhaps she was ten years old. the son of Archidamus, occupied Dece- 
 
 This rape consequently took place seve- lea to the great annoyance of the Athe- 
 
 ral years before Menelaus married her, nians ; see Thucydides, vii. 19. This 
 
 and Paris seduced her. The Greeks however must be wrong ; for to occupy a 
 
 were ten years assembling their forces, place with fortifications, furnish it witli 
 
 and ten years before Troy. And there- a garrison, and to make it the seat of war, 
 
 fore when the Trojan senators so admired is very different from abstaining from it. 
 
 her beauty, she must have been thirty- The circumstance here alluded to ap- 
 
 six years old. See Iliad iii. vers. 156, pears to me, and also to Bouhier, to 
 
 &c. and xxiv. vers. 765. Larcher. have occurred in the beginning of the 
 
 Plutarch (in Theseo, p. 15.) differs Peloponnesian war, when Archidamus 
 
 from our author. ravaged Attica. Thucyd. ii. 10. Wessel.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 319 
 
 anchor of iron fastened to the girdle of his breastplate with a 
 chain of brass ; which he fixed before him, when he approached 
 the enemy, to hinder them from forcing him out of his rank 1 ; 
 ;md when they were repulsed, taking up his anchor again, he 
 pursued with the rest. But others, varying from this account, 
 say, that he had no anchor of iron fastened to his cuirass, but 
 one engraved on his shield, which was made to turn round in- 
 cessantly. 
 
 LXXV. Sopbanes did another signal action when the Athe- 
 nians besieged ^Egina. For he challenged in single combat 
 and killed Eurybates u of Argos, who had been victorious in 
 the pentathlum. But sometime after" the Persian war, com- 
 manding the Athenian forces jointly with Leagrus y the son of 
 Glaucon, he was killed by the Edoni at Datos, fighting for the 
 mines of gold, with the same valour he had shewn on all other 
 occasions. 
 
 LXXVI. When the Barbarians were thus defeated at Pla- 
 taja, a woman, who had been a concubine to Pharandates 2 the 
 son of Theaspes a Persian, hearing of the disaster of the Per- 
 sians, and of the victory obtained by the Greeks, came volun- 
 tarily to the army, magnificently dressed, both she and her at- 
 tendants, in gold and the richest of their attire ; and alighting 
 from her chariot, went towards the Lacedaemonians, who were 
 still employed in the slaughter of the enemy ; when observing 
 that Pausanias had the direction of all things, and having often 
 heard his name and his country, she addressed herself to him, 
 and embracing his knees, said, " King of Sparta a , deliver 
 " me, your suppliant, from a slavish captivity. You have 
 " already done me one favour, in destroying those, who had 
 " had no regard either to the gods or heroes. I am of a Coan 
 "family; daughter to Hegetorides the son of Antagoras. 
 " The Persian took me away by force at Coos, and kept me to 
 " this time." " Be confident," replied Pausanias, " partly be- 
 " cause thou art come as a suppliant to seek protection ; and 
 
 ' The word tKir'urTovTtQ ought to be verbial to designate a traitor. He was 
 
 connected with tic TIJQ rdio, and has of Ephesus, the other of Argos. Larcher. 
 
 the same signification as TrpoiZaitFOovTeg x This was B. C. 453. according to a 
 
 in ch. Ixii. 5. The word is what the Scholiast on ./Eschines, quoted by Dod- 
 
 grainmarians would call prttgiians locu- well de Veter. Graec. et Roman. Cyclis. 
 
 tio ; it has the same force as if icai ig all- p. 742. Larcher, 
 
 TOV iaTTiTTTovTig were added, as in ch. y Glaucon the son of Leagrus is men- 
 
 Ixii. 14. or we might understand tKiriir- tioned by Thucydides, i. 51. Pausanias 
 
 rovrtQ tiri abrbv, adversus ipsmn Schw. (i. 29.) mentions this defeat. Wesseling. 
 
 u He was victorious in the Pentathlum z He commanded the Mares and Col- 
 
 at Nemea. See Pausanias, i. 29. who chians. See vii. 79. 
 
 agrees with our author. See also Herodo- a Pausanias was not king, but the 
 
 tus, vi. 92. We must not confound this guardian of the young king, his nephew ; 
 
 Eurybates with the Eurybates who be- and therefore exercised all the functions, 
 
 trayed Crcesus, whose name became pro- See ch. x. and Thucydides, i. 130;
 
 320 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " much more if thou hast spoken the truth, and art indeed the 
 " daughter of Hgetorides the Coan, who is the best friend I 
 " have in that country." Having thus spoken, he committed 
 her to the care of the ephori, who were present ; and after- 
 wards sent her to ^Egina b , where she desired to go. 
 
 LXXVII. Presently after her arrival the Mantineans came 
 up with their forces, when all was over ; and finding they were 
 come too late to fight, were much afflicted, and said, they 
 ought to undergo some punishment c ; and being informed of 
 the flight of the Medes under the command of Artabazus, they 
 wished to pursue them as far as Thessaly, but the Lacedae- 
 monians dissuaded them from so doing. But at their return 
 home, their leaders were all banished. After them came the 
 Eleans, and shewing the same regret, marched back again ; 
 but arriving in their own country, they punished their captains 
 also with banishment. Such was the conduct of the Manti- 
 neans, and of the Eleans. 
 
 LXXVIII. Lampon the son of Pytheas d , one of the prin- 
 cipal men 6 of ^Egina, being then at Plataea in the camp of the 
 ^Eginetae, came in haste to Pausanias ; and soliciting him to a 
 most impious action, said, " Son of Cleombrotus, you have 
 " achieved an action, which, by its greatness and glory, al- 
 " most surpasses the powers of man's nature : God has enabled 
 " you to acquire more glory in preserving Greece from servi- 
 " tude, than any other Greek we have heard of ever obtained. 
 " Yet something remains to be done, in order to render your 
 " name more famous, and to deter all the Barbarians for the 
 " future from undertaking any atrocious actions against the 
 " Greeks. You know that after Leonidas was killed at Ther- 
 " mopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes took off his head, and fixed 
 " it on a pole. If you will punish that insolence by a just re- 
 " taliation, you will be praised, not only by all the Spartans, 
 
 b Pausanias (iii. 4.) says that she was Livy intended to imitate Herodotus; and 
 
 sent to the isle of Cos with all her wealth. secondly, if he did so, he may have mis- 
 
 Larcher. understood the Greek phrase, which he 
 
 c Gronovius says that Livy has bor- now and then has done in Polybius. 
 
 rowed from this passage the following Schweighauser. 
 
 expression ; " Forsitan non indigni si- d Pytheas was victorious in the Pan- 
 " mus, qui nobismet ipsi mulctam irro- cratium at Nemea. The fifth Nemeanof 
 " gemus." See xxx. 30. But, in my Pindar is addressed to him. His elder 
 opinon, if Herodotus had wished to ex- brother Phylacides also distinguished 
 press that meaning, he would have writ- himself in the same way at A'emea, and 
 tenoi)rot'cj/uuxTttt : but asifis, itmust twice at the Isthmus. The fifth and 
 be takeu as if lie had put ^^twOi/vai ; or sixth Isthmian Odes of Pindar are ad- 
 <iKu>s (TIV& either i\.avaavii}v or rove dressed to him. Larcher. 
 "EXXjjvae);/aw<rtti(T$>ac, as the Greeks e Ai'yivjjrEoiv TO. Trp&ra. So Lucre- 
 say d&oe tan Oavfiaaai, by understand- tius, i. 87. prima virorum ; and Ovid, 
 ing, aio TOV rorc dvQpwTrovt; 9avfid- Amor. i. Eleg ix. 37. summa dumm 
 .oaiavTOV. As for the passage in Livy, Atrides. Larcher. 
 in the first place we may doubt whether
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 321 
 
 " hut by the rest of the Greeks ; in a word, if you order Mar- 
 " donius to he impaled, you revenge the indignity done to 
 " your uncle Leonidas. 1 ' This he said under the impression 
 that he should gratify Pausanias. 
 
 LXXIX. But Pausauias answered, " Friend of ^Egina, 
 " I commend your good intentions and your foresight; but 
 " you are far from making a right judgment ; for after having 
 " highly magnified me, my country, and my achievement, you 
 " throw all down again, by soliciting me to insult the dead, 
 " and telling me I shall increase my fame, if I do that, which 
 " is more fit to be done by Barbarians than by Greeks, and 
 " which we blame even in them. I cannot therefore in this 
 " matter please the vEginetae, nor those who approve of 
 " such actions ; it is sufficient for me to please the Spartans, 
 " by doing and saying what is honourable f . As for Leonidas, 
 " whose death you exhort me to revenge, I affirm, that by the 
 " lives of such an innumerable multitude, we have nobly 
 " honoured him, and all those who fell at Thermopylae. Come 
 " no more then to me with such discourses, nor venture to 
 " give me such counsel ; and take for a favour, that you now 
 " escape unpunished." 
 
 LXXX. Lampon having received this answer retired ; 
 and Pausanias, after he had caused proclamation to be made, 
 that no man should meddle with the booty, commanded the 
 Helots to bring together all the riches they could find. Ac- 
 cordingly, dispersing themselves through the camp, they found 
 great quantities of gold and silver in the tents ; couches 
 plated with gold and silver ; bowls, vials, and other drinking 
 vessels of gold ; besides boiling pots of gold and silver, which 
 they found lying in sacks upon the waggons. They took the 
 chains, bracelets, and scymeters of gold from the dead ; but 
 left the rich apparel of various colours, as things of no value. 
 The Helots purloined much of the booty, which they sold to 
 the JEginetae, producing only so much as they could not hide ; 
 and this was the first foundation of the great wealth of the 
 .ZEginetae ; who purchased gold from the Helots, as if it had 
 been brass g . 
 
 LXXXI. With the tenth part of this collected treasure, 
 the Greeks dedicated to the God at Delphi a tripod of gold, 
 supported by a three-headed serpent of brass 11 , and placed 
 
 f How different from the Pausanias in Philip de Comines, v. 2. Wesseling. 
 
 Thucydides! i. 128, &c. h This serpent existed in the time of 
 
 R The Swiss, after they had defeated Pausanias; (x. 13.) the golden tripod 
 Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, at had been taken by the Phocians for the 
 Granson, took his vases of silver for tin, sacred war. Gronovius has given an en- 
 and sold the diamond of that Prince, graving of a serpent from Wheler, but it 
 which was one of the most valuable in does not appear to be the one here men- 
 Europe for a florin. See the Memoirs of tioned. Marcher. 
 VOL. II. T t
 
 322 HERODOTUS. 
 
 , close to the altar ; to the God at Olympia, a Jupiter of brass', 
 ten cubits high ; and a Neptune of brass, of seven cubits, to 
 the God at the isthmus. When they selected these, they di- 
 vided the rest of the booty, consisting of gold, silver, and other 
 treasure, -together with the concubines of the Persians and all 
 the cattle, according to the merit of each person. What par- 
 ticular presents were given to those who were reputed to 
 have fought with the greatest valour in the battle of Plataea, 
 is reported by none ; yet I am of opinion they were considered 
 in a particular manner. But for Pausanias they selected and 
 gave the tenth of all ; women, horses, camels, talents, and 
 every thing else in like manner 1 ". 
 
 LXXXII. Among other things reported to have passed in 
 this expedition, they say, that when Xerxes fled out of Greece, 
 he left all his equipage to Mardonius; and that Pausanias see- 
 ing such magnificent furniture of gold, silver, and tapestry of 
 various colours, commanded the cooks and bakers to prepare 
 a supper for him, as they used to do for Mardonius: that when 
 they had so done, in obedience to his command, and Pausanias 
 had viewed the couches of gold and silver, covered with the 
 richest cushions ; the tables of the same metals ; and the ex- 
 pensive supper prepared ; surprised at the profusion he saw 
 before him, he ordered his attendants, in order to amuse him- 
 self, to make ready a Lacedaemonian meal : and that, after he 
 had observed the vast difference between the two suppers, he 
 laughed and sent for the Grecian generals, and shewing them 
 both the one and the other, said, " I have called you together, 
 " O Grecians, with a design to let you see the folly of the 
 " king of the Medes ; who leading such a life at home, came 
 " hither to pillage us, who fare so hardly." 
 
 LXXXIII. Some time after this defeat, many of the Pla- 
 taeans found treasures of gold and silver, with other riches, 
 buried under ground : and among the dead bodies, when the 
 flesh was consumed from the bones, which lay together at a 
 certain place, they discovered a skull, of one solid bone, with- 
 out any suture 1 . They found also a lower and an upper jaw, 
 
 ' This statue is described by Pausa- 23d of September. But they have pre- 
 
 nias, v. 23. ferred the authority of the copies of Plu- 
 
 k This battle took place on the 4th of larch's Life of Camillus, and of his trea- 
 
 the month of Boedromion, which an- tise on the Glory of Athens : in both of 
 
 swers to our 14th of September, B. C. which the third of the month Boedro- 
 
 479. mion is named as the day of the battle ; 
 
 Many other particulars concerning this therefore brings it to the 22nd of 
 
 this battle are given in Plutarch's Life September, according to our chronologers. 
 
 of Aristides. See Mitford's Greece, ix. 3. note 16. 
 
 Plutarch, in his life of Aristides, says ' Aratus mentions (Jul. Poll. Ono- 
 
 that the battle took place on the 4th of mast. ii. 4. 38.) that he had seen several 
 
 Boedromion, which according to cur heads without sutures. Pliny (Mist, 
 
 chronologers would correspond with the IStit. ji. 27.) describes the bones of th,e
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 323 
 
 with all the teeth, both the grinders and the others, connected 
 together, and formed of one single bone m ; and the skeleton 
 of a man five cubits high. 
 
 LXXXIV. The next day after the battle, the body of 
 Mardouius had disappeared ; though by what person his body 
 was taken away, I never could learn with certainty. But I 
 have heard that many men of almost every nation, were con- 
 cerned in giving him burial, and I know that divers had large 
 presents from Artontes the son of Mardonius, on that account. 
 Yet who, among them all, was the man that carried off and 
 buried the body, I could never discover; however, a re- 
 port has been spread abroad, concerning Dionysiophanes n the 
 Ephesiau, as if he had buried Mardonius. Thus he was bu- 
 ried. 
 
 LXXXV. But the Greeks, after they had parted the booty 
 in the fields of Plateea, buried their dead, each nation sepa- 
 rately . The Lacedaemonians made three graves; in one of 
 which they interred the Irenes p , and Posidonius, Amomphare- 
 tus, Phylocion, and Callicrates, who were of that class ; in an- 
 other they put the rest of the Spartans ; and in the third, the 
 Helots, The Tegeatae buried all their dead together in one 
 grave. The Athenians did the same ; and so did the Mega- 
 reans and Phliasiaus, to those of their forces who were killed 
 by the enemy's cavalry. All these sepulchres were filled with 
 the bodies of men ; but the rest, which are seen about Plataea, 
 were erected, as I am informed, by those, who being ashamed 
 of their absence from the battle, threw up those mounds which 
 are empty, to deceive posterity. Among these, there is one, 
 bearing the name of the ^Eginetae ; which, I have heard, was 
 erected at their request ten years after this war, by Cleades 
 the son of Autodicus, a Plataean, obliged to them by the ties 
 of hospitality. 
 
 LXXXVI. When the Greeks had buried their dead in the 
 territories of Plataea, they took a resolution in council, to lead 
 their army to Thebes, and to demand the partizans of the 
 Medes, especially Tiinegenidas and Attaginus, the ringleaders 
 
 human head thus ; ' ' Ossa. . serratis pec- Pausanias (ix. 2.) says that the La- 
 
 " tinatim structa coinpagibus." Father cedaemonians and Athenians had each a 
 
 Hardouin, in a note on this passage, re- separate grave, the other Greeks a com- 
 
 lates that Albert, Marquis of Brande- mon one. 
 
 bourgh, surnamed the German Achilles, P No one has better explained who 
 
 who was born in 1414, had a skull with- were meant by the Irenes, than Plutarch, 
 
 out a suture. Lurcher. in his Life of Lycurgus, (p. 50.) "The 
 
 m Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, had also 
 teeth of one single bone, although each 
 tooth was clearly marked. So also Eu- 
 ryphyes of Gyrene, and several others. 
 See Valerius Max. i. 7. 12. Larcfor. 
 
 n This agrees with Pausanias, ix. 2. Wesseling. 
 
 T 12 
 
 Lacedaemonians call Irenes those who 
 have attained their second year, from 
 the time that they left the class of 
 boys. An Iren, when twenty years 
 old, commands his company in battle."
 
 324 HERODOTUS. 
 
 of the faction ; and not to depart till they had destroyed the 
 city, if the Thebans should refuse to surrender them. Having 
 all consented to these measures, they broke up ; and on the 
 eleventh day after the battle, arriving at Thebes, they formed 
 the siege and demanded the men. But receiving a denial 
 from the Thebans, they ravaged the country, and made ap- 
 proaches to the walls. 
 
 LXXXVII. On the twentieth day after these hostilities 
 began, which the Grecians incessantly continued, Timegeni- 
 das spoke thus to the Thebans : " Men of Thebes q , since the 
 " Greeks are resolved not to withdraw their army, till either 
 " they shall have taken the city, or you deliver us into their 
 " hands, let not the land of Boeotia undergo farther miseries for 
 " our sake. If under the pretext of demanding our persons, 
 " they design to exact a sum of money, let us give it from the 
 " public treasures ; for we were not the only partizans of the 
 " Medes, but joined with them by general consent. But if, 
 " on the other hand, they really besiege Thebes because they 
 " would have us delivered up, we will present ourselves be- 
 " fore them to plead our cause." The Thebans, approving 
 his proposition as just and seasonable, immediately sent a he- 
 rald to acquaint Pausanias, that they were willing to surrender 
 the persons he demanded. 
 
 LXXXVIII. After this agreement was made, Attaginus 
 made his escape from Thebes ; but, in place of him, his sons 
 were sent out to Pausanias, who acquitted them from the 
 crime r , and said, that boys could have had no part in the 
 guilt of joining with the Medes. Of the others who were 
 delivered up by the Thebans, some thought that they should 
 be permitted to plead their cause, and particularly expected 
 to repel the charge by bribery ; but Pausanias, suspecting 
 their intention, dismissed the confederate army, and conduct- 
 ing the prisoners to Corinth, put them all to death. Such 
 
 o The gallant behaviour of Timegeni- This is also a divine law j " The fa- 
 das will remind the English reader of the 
 seige of Calais by Edward the 3rd, when 
 Eustace de St. Pierre, one of the principal 
 
 inhabitants, behaved precisely in a simi- 
 lar manner. He declared himself will- 
 ing to suffer death for his friends and 
 fellow-citizens. The entreaties of Phi- 
 lippa induced the English monarch to 
 behave with more magnanimity than we 
 find Pausanias did. See Hume's Hist, 
 of England, vol. ii. ch. 14. Beloe. 
 r " Ferret ne ci vitas ulla latorem is- 
 
 thers shall not be put to death for the 
 children, neither shall the children be 
 put to death for the fathers : every 
 man shall be punished for his own 
 sin." Deut. xxiv. 16. Again: "The 
 soul that sinneth, it shall die. The 
 son shall not bear the iniquity of the 
 father, neither shall the father bear 
 the iniquity of the son ; The righte- 
 ousness of the righteous shall be upon 
 him, and the wickedness of the wicked 
 ' upon him." Ezekiel xviii. 20. In obe- 
 
 " tiusmodi legis, ut condemnaretur filius dience to this law Amaziah would not 
 " aut nepos, si pater aut avus deliquis- put to death the children of his father's 
 " set?" Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 38. murderers. See 2 Kings xiv. 6.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 325 
 
 was the event of things in the territories of Plataea and of 
 Thebes. 
 
 LXXXIX. In the mean time Artabazus the son of Phar- 
 naces, continuing' his flight from Plataea, arrived in the coun- 
 try of the Thessalians ; who receiving him in a friendly man- 
 ner, and being altogether ignorant of what had passed, asked 
 him news of the rest of the army. But Artabazus consider- 
 ing, that if he should discover the whole truth, both he and 
 his forces would be in danger of destruction, (because he 
 thought every one would fall upon him, when they should be 
 informed of what had happened,) told nothing of it to the 
 Phocians ; and to the Thessalians spoke thus : " Men of 
 " Thessaly, you see I am hastening to Thrace with the ut- 
 " most expedition, being sent with these forces from the 
 " camp upon a certain affair. Mardonius with his army fol- 
 " lows me close, and may be suddenly expected. Receive 
 " him as a friend, and do him all the good offices you can ; 
 " for you will never have cause to repent of such conduct." 
 Having said this, he broke up with his army, and marched 
 through Thessaly and Macedonia directly towards Thrace, 
 with great haste, and by the shortest ways of the midland 
 country, as he really was urged on by necessity. But arriv- 
 ing at Byzantium, after he had left many of his men by the 
 way, who were part killed by the Thracians, and part over- 
 powered by hunger and fatigue, he crossed over in boats, and 
 thus returned into Asia. 
 
 XC. The same day on which the Persians were defeated 
 at Plataaa, they received another blow at Mycale in Ionia. 
 Whilst the Greeks s , under the conduct of Leotychides the 
 Lacedaemonian continued with their ships at Delos, Lampou 
 the son of Thrasycleus, Athenagoras the son of Archestrati- 
 des, and Hegesistratus the son of Aristagoras, arrived there 
 from Samos ; being sent thither privately with a message by 
 the Samians, who had taken care to conceal their intentions 
 both from the Persians and from the tyrant Theomestor *, the 
 sou of Androdamas, who had been set over them by the Per- 
 sians. These ambassadors, upon their arrival, went to the 
 generals ; and Hegesistratus, among many and various argu- 
 ments, said, that the lonians would not fail to revolt from the 
 Persians, so soon as they should see the Grecian fleet ; and 
 that the Barbarians would never stand an engagement ; or if 
 they should, the booty would be greater than could be found 
 in any other place. He adjured them by the gods they wor- 
 shipped in common, that they would deliver the Greeks from 
 servitude, and repel the Barbarians ; which he affirmed was 
 
 s See viii. 130 132. l In viii. 86. the reason of his being appointed tyrant is given.
 
 326 HERODOTUS. 
 
 easy to be done, because their ships sailed badly, and were in 
 no way a match for those of Greece : he added, that if they 
 suspected any fraud to lie concealed under this invitation, 
 they were ready to go on board with them, and to remain 
 in the ships as hostages. 
 
 XCI. But as the Samian stranger continued his solicita- 
 tions with much earnestness, Leotychides, either for the sake 
 of the presage, or by chance, the Deity so directing it, put 
 this question ; " O Samian friend, what is your name ?" To 
 this the other replied, " Hegesistratus ;" upon which Leoty- 
 chides, interrupting the rest of his discourse, if indeed he in- 
 tended any, " Samian friend," said he, " I accept the omen" ; 
 " do you therefore yourself, and let those who are with you, 
 " give us a solemn promise, that the Samians will be zealous 
 " allies, and then you may depart." 
 
 XCII. When he had said this he proceeded x to bring the 
 matter to a conclusion ; for the Samians having on their part 
 given their promise and oath, with great readiness, to be the 
 confederates of the Greeks, set sail to return home ; except 
 only Hegesistratus, whose name Leotychides taking for a pre- 
 sage of good fortune, ordered him to accompany them in the 
 expedition. The Grecians continued in their station that 
 day, and on the next sacrificed auspiciously, by the hands of 
 the augur Deiphonus, the son of Evenius, a native of Apollo- 
 ma in the gulph of Ionia, 
 
 XCIII. To Evenius, the father of this Deiphonus, the fol- 
 lowing circumstance happened. In the territories of Apol- 
 lonia, a flock of sheep, sacred to the sun, feed by day on the 
 banks of a river, which, descending from the mountain Lac- 
 mon, runs through that country into the sea, near the port of 
 Oricus : but by night they are folded in a cave, far distant 
 from the city, and guarded by men chosen annually to that 
 end, out of the most eminent among the citizens for birth and 
 riches; because the people of Apollpnia set a high value upon 
 these sheep, pursuant to the admonition of an oracle. Eve- 
 nius being elected to this office, guarded them in this place. 
 One night he happened to fall asleep during his watch, and at 
 that time some wolves entered the cave, and destroyed about 
 sixty of the sheep. When he discovered what had happened, 
 he kept silence, and said nothing to any man, intending to 
 
 u The name Hegesistratus signifies, lect those as assistants, whose names 
 
 the leader of an army. A similar pre- were fortunate. So Vespasian, when 
 
 sage occurred to Augustus at Actium ; about to dedicate the Capitol. See Ta- 
 
 a man, whose name was Eutyches, (for- citus Histor. iv. 53. and the note of Lip- 
 
 tunate,) drove an ass named Nicon (vie- sius. Wesseling. 
 
 tory) past the army. From the same su- x Literally, sermoni rem ipsam adjecit, 
 
 perstition the ancients, when about to i. e. rem . ipsum patestitit. Schtoeigh. 
 begin any memorable thing, used to se-
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 327 
 
 purchase others, arid put them in the place of those that had 
 been destroyed. This circumstance, however, did not escape 
 the notice of the Apolloniata?. As soon as they heard it, 
 they brought him before y the court of justice, and sentenced 
 him to lose his eyes, for having fallen asleep during his watch. 
 Tm mediately after they had thus punished Evenius with blind- 
 ness, the sheep brought no more lambs, nor the earth her 
 usual increase. When they had consulted the oracles of Do- 
 dona and Delphi, and enquired of the prophets, to know the 
 cause of the present calamities, they told them 2 , that they 
 had unjustly put out the eyes of Evenius, the keeper of the 
 sacred sheep : that the Gofls themselves had sent in the 
 wolves, and would not cease avenging him, till the people of 
 Apollonia should make him full satisfaction, and such amends 
 for the injury he had received, as he himself should choose, 
 and judge sufficient ; after which they would make so valu- 
 able a present to Evenius, that the greater part of men should 
 pronounce him happy from the possession of them. 
 
 XCIV. These predictions the people of Apollonia kept se- 
 cret, and appointed some of their citizens to negociate the 
 matter ; which they did in this manner. Having found Eve- 
 nius sitting on a chair, they went up, and having sat down by 
 him, began to converse on indifferent subjects, till at length 
 they began to sympathize in his misfortune, and by this means 
 deceiving him, they asked him, what reparation he would 
 choose, if the Apolloniatae were disposed to give him satisfac- 
 tion. Evenius, who had not heard of the oracle, said, if they 
 would give him the lands of inheritance belonging to two citi- 
 zens he named, and which he knew to be the best of that 
 country ; and would moreover add to that gift the most mag- 
 nificent house of the city ; he would, if put in possession of 
 those things, lay aside his anger and be contented with that 
 satisfaction. Those who sat by him immediately taking hold 
 of his answer, said, " the Apolloniatae offer you the reparation 
 " you demand for the loss of your eyes, in obedience to an 
 " oracle they have received." Evenius, when he heard the 
 whole story, was very indignant, to find himself deceived by 
 this artifice. However, the Apolloniatae, having first purchased 
 them of the owners, made him a present of the lands he chose ; 
 and in a short time he obtained the spirit of divination, and 
 by that means acquired a considerable name. 
 
 XCV. Deiphonus was the son of this Evenius, and offi- 
 
 x Herodotus always uses the preposi- Trpo^avra than the answers which fol- 
 
 tion tiTro in these expressions ; others low. For the word does not necessarily 
 
 use ;. In like manner the Latins say, signify a prediction, but any answer of 
 
 " sub judicc lis est." Schweightruser. an oracle. See also v. 63, 5. Schweigh. 
 
 1 Nothing else can be understood by
 
 328 HERODOTUS. 
 
 ciated as augur in the army, being conducted thither by the 
 Corinthians. Yet I have formerly heard, that he was not 
 really the son of Evenius, but having usurped that name, he 
 travelled through Greece and let out his services for money. 
 . XCVI. The Grecians having sacrificed favourably, de- 
 parted from Delos with their fleet, standing towards Samos ; 
 and arriving before Calami a , belonging to the Samians, came 
 to an anchor near the temple of Juno, and made all things 
 ready for an engagement. But the Persians being informed 
 of their approach, and having determined not to hazard a sea 
 fight, because they thought themselves inferior in force to the 
 Grecians, permitted the Phoenicians to return home, and drew 
 up all their other ships on the shore of the continent. This 
 they did, that they might be under the protection of their 
 land forces, which were encamped at Mycale, to the number 
 of sixty thousand men ; having been left for a guard to Ionia, 
 by the order of Xerxes, under the conduct of Tigranes, a man 
 surpassing all the Persians in beauty and stature. To that 
 army the sea commanders resolved to fly for protection ; to 
 draw their ships to the shore, and to throw up an intrench- 
 ment quite round, which might serve for a defence to the 
 fleet, and for a place of refuge to themselves. 
 
 XCVII. Having taken this resolution they set sail, and 
 having passed the temple of the Eumenides in Mycale, arrived 
 at the rivers Gaeson b and Scolopois, where a temple stands de- 
 dicated to Ceres of Eleusis, built by Philistus the sou of Pasi- 
 cles, who accompanied Neleus c the son of Codrus when he 
 founded Miletus. There, having drawn the ships a-shore, they 
 encompassed them with a wall of stone and timber, having cut 
 down the fruit-trees for this purpose, and drove in stakes 
 around it : for having deliberated on the matter, they prepared 
 both to sustain a siege, and to come off victorious. 
 
 XCVIII. When the Greeks understood that the Barba- 
 rians were retired to the continent, vexed that the enemy had 
 thus escaped, they began to doubt what course to take ; and 
 whether they should return home, or proceed to the Helles- 
 pont : but at length laying aside the thoughts of both these, 
 
 a Alexis of Samos (Athenaeus.xiii. 4.) Venus, p. 146, &c. Larcher. 
 
 says in his second book on the limits of b The river Gsson is mentioned in 
 
 Samos, that the courtezans who followed Athenaeus vi. ; it is called Gessus in Pli- 
 
 Pericles, when he besieged Samos, built ny, v. 29, 31 . and Gaesus in Mela, i. 17. 
 
 of the money which they acquired by Scolopois is not mentioned by any other 
 
 their charms, the temple of Venus of Sa- author, but it appears by this passage to 
 
 mos, whom some call Veuus among the be a river, which discharged itself into 
 
 Calami {reeds.) A place of this name is the sea not far from the Gaeson. Schw. 
 
 not mentioned by any geographer ; but c Concerning the colonization of Ionia, 
 
 it. must have been to the south-west of see i. 145. and the remarks at the end of 
 
 the city of Samos. See my Memoire sur book i.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 329 
 
 they determined to make to the continent ; and having pre- 
 pared ladders for landing 11 , and all other things necessary for 
 fighting at sea, they sailed to Mycale. When they arrived 
 near the camp, they saw no enemy in readiness to meet them; 
 but all their ships drawn within the circumvallation, and a 
 numerous army disposed along the coast. Upon which Leo- 
 tychides advancing before the rest, and standing in to the 
 shore as near as he could, made this proclamation by means of 
 a herald to the lonians: " Men of Ionia, all those among you 
 " who hear me, hearken with attention to my words ; for the 
 " Persians will understand nothing of the advice I give you. 
 " When the battle begins, every one of you ought before all 
 " things to remember Liberty; and next the watch-word, 
 " Hebe. Let him, who does not hear me, be informed by 
 " those who do hear." In doing this his meaning was the 
 same as that of Themistocles at Artemisium 6 ; for he ex- 
 pected, that if these words were concealed from the Barba- 
 rians, the lonians would be persuaded to revolt, or if they 
 should be reported, the Persians might become suspicious of 
 the Greeks. 
 
 XCIX. When Leotychides had given the lonians this sug- 
 gestion, the Grecians in the next place putting to shore, landed 
 their men, and drew up in order of battle : which when the 
 Persians saw, and were informed of the exhortation they had 
 made to the lonians, they first disarmed the Samians, as they 
 suspected that they favoured the Grecian side ; because they 
 had already redeemed all the Athenians taken in Attica by 
 the forces of Xerxes, who were brought in the fleet to Asia, 
 and had sent them back to Athens, furnished with provisions 
 for their voyage : on this account they were particularly sus- 
 pected, as they had set at liberty five hundred of the enemies 
 of Xerxes. Having done this, they next committed the care 
 of guarding the passes that lead to the eminences of Mycale 
 to the Milesians, as they were best acquainted with the coun- 
 try, and intending under that colour to remove them from the 
 army. When they had taken these precautions, to make sure 
 of those among the lonians who seemed most likely f to endea- 
 
 d Thucydides (iv. 12.) makes use of sition Kara adds a peculiar force to the 
 
 this word, to express the ladder or steps word, so that it signifies, to form an opi- 
 
 by which Brasidas attempted to land at nion against one, i. e. to condemn, or at 
 
 Pylus. They might also serve for board- least to suspect. When used in this sense 
 
 ing an enemy's ship. it might seem to require to be joined with 
 
 e See viii. 22. a genitive case; but as our author, in- 
 
 1 The verb KaraSoKtiv in other passages stead of Karayt\q.v nvbg and Karapivtiv 
 
 of our author, when put absolutely, or nvoc. says KarayiXqiv nvl, (iii. 37, 4. 
 
 with an accusative and infinitive, or with 38, 2. and in many other passages,) and 
 
 an accusative only, has nearly the same icarcocpivtiv rive, (vii. 146, 6.) so he has 
 
 force as the simple word SoKtlv, existi- used Kara&OKilv nvi. Schvieighauser. 
 mare. In the present passage the prepo- 
 
 VOL. II. U U
 
 330 HERODOTUS. 
 
 vour a change, if they could come at the power, they carried 
 their bucklers together 8 , in order that they might serve as a 
 rampart. 
 
 C. On the other part, the Greeks, after they had prepared 
 all things for a battle, advanced towards the Barbarians ; as 
 they were marching, a herald's staff was seen lying upon the 
 shore, and a sudden rumour spread through the army, that 
 the Greeks had defeated the forces of Mardonius in the terri- 
 tories of Bosotia. Thus the interference of heaven h is mani- 
 fest by many plain signs; for as the blow already given at 
 Platasa, and that now ready to be given at Mycale, happened 
 both on the same day, the news thus reaching the Greeks, in- 
 spired their army with a greater resolution, and a more eager 
 zeal to meet the present danger. 
 
 CI. The following coincidence is, besides, a proof of the in- 
 terposition of the Deity. A temple dedicated to Ceres of 
 Eleusis, stood near the places where both engagements took 
 place. For at Plataea, as I have already said 1 , they fought 
 near the temple of Ceres ; and were now about to fight again 
 in Mycale, near another belonging to the same Goddess. The 
 rumour of the victory obtained by the Greeks under the con- 
 duct of Pausanias, which came to Mycale, turned out to be 
 correct; because the battle of Plataea was fought while it was 
 yet morning, and this of Mycale in the afternoon k : but that 
 both happened on the same day of the same month, was ascer- 
 tained very soon after. Before they heard the fame of the 
 victory of Plataea, they had been in great fear, not so much 
 for themselves, as for the safety of Greece ; fearing lest Mar- 
 donius should defeat the Grecian army : but after they had 
 that rumour among them, they advanced towards the enemy 
 with greater readiness and alacrity. And thus both the Greeks 
 and Barbarians hastened to begin the fight, being equally per- 
 suaded that the islands and the Hellespont must be the reward 
 of the v ictorious. 
 
 CII. The Athenians 1 , with those who were drawn up next 
 them, formed nearly half the army, and had to advance through 
 a level country, and along the shore; but the Lacedaemonians, 
 with those who were stationed after them, had to march over 
 a ravine and some hills. So that whilst the Lacedaemonians 
 were obliged to take a wider compass, those of the other wing 
 were already engaged with the enemy. The Persians, so long 
 
 8 See note on ch. Ixi, &c. ' In ch. Ixi and Ixiv. 
 
 h Diodorus Siculus, (xi. 35.) and Po- k See note on ii. 173. 
 
 lyaenus, (Stratag. i. 33.) with more pru- ' They were commanded by Xanthip- 
 
 dence suppose this a ruse de guerre of pus, the son of Ariphron ; the Archon 
 
 the Spartan commander to animate his Eponymus. Pausanias, iii. 7. 
 troops.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 331 
 
 as their bucklers were riot overthrown, defended themselves 
 strenuously, and were not inferior; but when the Athenians 
 and those next them, had mutually encouraged one another, 
 and applied with more vigour to the battle, to the end that 
 they, and not the Lacedaemonians, might have the honour of 
 the action, the face of affairs immediately became changed; for 
 they broke through the shields of the enemy, and fell in a firm 
 body upon the Persians. At first they were received with 
 vigour ; but after the Persians had continued to defend them- 
 selves during a considerable time, they fled to their intrench- 
 ments ; and the Athenians, with the forces which were drawn 
 up next to them, consisting of the Corinthians, the Sicyonians, 
 and the Troszenians, pursued them so close, that they entered 
 their camp at the same time. When the Barbarians saw their 
 intrenchments taken, they thought no longer of resisting, but 
 betook themselves all to flight, except the Persians ; who, 
 though reduced to a small number, still continued to resist 
 the Greeks, who kept constantly pouring into the intrench- 
 ment. Of the Persian generals, two made their escape, and 
 two were killed. Artayntes and Ithramites, commanders of 
 the naval forces, fled: Mardontes 11 , and Tigranes general of 
 the land army, fell while fighting. 
 
 CHI. At length, whilst the Persians were yet resisting, the 
 Lacedaemonians arrived with the other part of the forces, and 
 made an end of what remained. On the part of the Greeks 
 many were killed; especially of the Sicyonians, who lost their 
 general Perilaus. The Samians, who were in the camp of the 
 Medes, and had been disarmed before the action, when they 
 saw the event doubtful at the beginning of the fight, did all 
 they could to help the Greeks ; and the rest of the lonians, 
 seeing the Samians lead the way, abandoned the enemy in like 
 manner, and fell upon the forces of the Barbarians. 
 
 CIV. The Milesians had been appointed to guard the 
 passes for the Persians, in order for their safety, to the end 
 that, if such a misfortune should overtake them as happened, 
 they might get safe into the mountains of Mycale by their 
 guidance. For this reason, and lest they should attempt any 
 alteration by staying in the army, the Milesians were posted 
 in those stations ; but, acting quite contrary to their orders, 
 they brought back, by other ways, to the enemy, many of 
 those that fled out of the battle ; and at last shewed greater 
 
 m Kfr oXiyowf ftvo^itvoi is the same governed by Trpofftreraicro. Our author 
 
 as oXi'yot yti/6/wj/oi. Schweigh. would have said properly rouu Hspyffi 
 
 n Mardontes commanded the land rag SioSovg Tqpiiv : but, as another da- 
 troops that were to serve as Epibatae, but tive MtX^ffJOiffi is close at hand, he put a 
 these had probably been landed. Larch, genitive in order to vary the sound. 
 
 The genitive riOiv ntpffiwv is not Schu-eigh. 
 
 u u2
 
 332 HERODOTUS. 
 
 fierceness than all others in the slaughter of the Barbarians. 
 Thus Ionia revolted a second time p from the Persians. 
 
 CV. In this battle the Athenians fought with the greatest 
 valour, among all the Grecians; and among the Athenians, 
 Hermolycus q , the son of Euthynus, who had distinguished 
 himself in the pancratium : this Hermolycus was afterwards 
 killed at Cyrnus, in the territories of Carystus, in the war 
 between the Athenians and the Carystians r , and was buried 
 at Geraestus. After the Athenians, those that distinguished 
 themselves were the Corinthians, the Troezeniaris, and the 
 Sicyonians. 
 
 CVI. The Grecians, after they had killed great numbers 
 of the Barbarians, both in the field and in the pursuit, burnt 
 the ships and the whole camp, and brought out upon the 
 shore all the booty, among which were several chests of mo- 
 ney. Having done this they sailed to Samos ; and, arriving 
 there, consulted together about transplanting the lonians, and 
 what country in their possession it was best to settle them in, 
 intending to leave Ionia to the Barbarians, because they 
 judged themselves unable to protect and guard the lonians at 
 all times ; and had no hope, unless they did protect them, 
 that they would be unpunished for their revolt from the Per- 
 sians. The principal of the Peloponnesians proposed to expel 
 those nations of Greece, which had sided with the Medes, 
 and to give their territories and cities of commerce to the 
 lonians ; but the Athenians were by no means of opinion, 
 either that the lonians should be removed, or that the Pelo- 
 ponnesians should intermeddle with the affairs of their colo- 
 nies. As they opposed, the Peloponnesians readily yielded 
 to the Athenians : and after they had obliged the Samians, 
 Chians, Lesbians, and other islanders, who were then in their 
 army, to swear that they would remain firm and not revolt, 
 they took them into the confederacy, and immediately sailed 
 for the Hellespont, in order to ruin the bridges, which they 
 imagined still to find entire. 
 
 CVII. In the mean time, the Barbarians, who fled out of 
 the field, and were forced to betake themselves to the emi- 
 nences of Mycale, made off towards Sardis, reduced to an in- 
 considerable number. But as they were upon their way, Ma- 
 
 P Ionia was first subjugated by Har- " the Carystians, in which the rest of 
 
 pagus, (i. 164, &.c.) It revolted for the " Euboea had no part. It ended by a 
 
 first time, v. 28. and was again reduced, " treaty." Book i. ch. 98. This historian 
 
 vi. 32. under the Persian yoke. Larcher. places the war after the taking of Eion 
 
 i A statue was erected to this Her- on the Strymon, and the isle of Scyros ; 
 
 molycus, in the citadel of Athens. See and before the reduction of Naxos. Dod- 
 
 Pausanias, i. 23. well, from these data, fixes it B. C. 467. 
 
 * Thucydides mentions this war thus : Larcher. 
 "The Athenians had also a war with
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 333 
 
 sistes, the son of Darius, having been present in the late un- 
 fortunate action, gave many hard words to Artayntes ; and 
 among other reproaches told him, that he had shewn less cou- 
 rage than a woman, in performing the part of a general so ill ;, 
 and deserved the worst of punishment, for bringing so great 
 a disaster upon the king's house. Now, because among the 
 Persians to tell a man he has less courage than a woman is 
 accounted the most insupportable of all affronts, Artayntes, 
 having already borne many reproaches, lost all patience, and 
 drew his scymetar to kill Masistes. But Xenagoras the son 
 of Praxilaus, a Halicarnassian, who was behind Artayntes, 
 seeing him rushing upon Masistes, seized him round the mid- 
 dle, and having lifted him up in his arms, threw him down on 
 the ground ; and in the mean while the guards of Masistes 
 came up and protected him. By this action Xenagoras ac- 
 quired the favour of Masistes, and of Xerxes himself, for 
 saving his brother ; and was rewarded by the king with the 
 government of all Cilicia. Nothing more passed among the 
 Barbarians in their way ; but when they arrived at Sardis, 
 they found Xerxes there ; having continued in that place from 
 the time he fled thither from Athens, after his ill success in 
 the engagement by sea. 
 
 CVIII. During his stay at Sardis he fell in love with the 
 wife of Masistes, who also was then in that city ; but when 
 she would not be moved by his solicitations s , he did not wish 
 to offer any violence, out of regard to his brother; (which 
 same consideration was also a restraint to the woman, because 
 she well knew that she would not meet with any violent treat- 
 ment;) and as he was then shut out from any other resource, he 
 resolved to marry a daughter she had by Masistes to his sou 
 Darius, thinking by that means that he should be more likely 
 to get her into his power. Accordingly the contract was 
 made ; and when the usual ceremonies were performed, he 
 departed for Susa. When he arrived there, he introduced 
 the wife of Darius into his palace ; and then his passion for 
 the wife of Masistes ceased ; and changing his inclinations, 
 he fell in love, and succeeded, with the wife of Darius, the 
 daughter of Masistes, whose name was Artaynte. 
 
 CIX. This intrigue was in course of time discovered in the 
 following manner. Amestris* the wife of Xerxes having 
 
 * The verb TTpomrefjiirtiv is used of relates several instances, and the bar- 
 
 those who are sent to solicit a woman's barous manner in which Esther treated 
 
 affections. Larcher. the ten children of Haman, the enemy of 
 
 ' Many learned men, and Scaliger a- the Jews, have given rise to this sup- 
 mong the rest, (EmendaU Temp, vi.) position. But Esther was of a Jewish 
 suppose that this princess is the same as family, Amestris of a Persian. The fa- 
 Esther. A vain similitude of name, the ther of the latter was a Satrap, named 
 cruelty of Amestris, of which Herodotus Onophas, according to Ctesias, and 0-
 
 334 HERODOTUS. 
 
 woven a mantle of various colours, large and beautiful, made 
 a present of it to Xerxes; being delighted with this present, 
 he put it on, and went to Artaynte. Being pleased with her 
 also, he bid her ask whatever she pleased as a reward for her 
 favours, adding, that she should have whatever she asked. 
 Upon this invitation (for it was destined" that misfortunes 
 should befal the whole family of Masistes) she said to Xerxes, 
 Will you then give me whatever I shall ask > He said he 
 would, and affirmed his promise by an oath ; imagining that 
 she would ask for every thing rather than his dress. But he 
 had no sooner sworn, than she boldly demanded the mantle, 
 Xerxes being unwilling to comply, and endeavouring to get 
 off by any contrivance he could invent, lest Amestris should 
 make a plain discovery of an intrigue she only suspected be- 
 fore, offered her immense treasures, with cities, and an army, 
 to be solely at her disposal, which is one of the greatest pre- 
 sents that can be made in Persia. At last, finding she would 
 not be persuaded, he gave her the mantle ; and she, being 
 overjoyed with the present, put it on, and vainly prided her- 
 self upon it : which circumstance soon came to the ears of 
 Amestris. 
 
 CX. When she heard what had been done, she was not 
 angry with Artaynte ; but believing her mother to be the 
 author and contriver of all, determined to destroy the wife of 
 Masistes. To that end she waited till her husband Xerxes 
 should make the royal feast, by the Persians called Tycta*, 
 and in the language of Greece Telion, which is celebrated 
 once every year on the king's birth-day, when he alone anoints y 
 his head, and makes presents to the Persians. Amestris hav- 
 ing waited to that day, asked Xerxes to give her the wife 
 of Masistes for a present. The king considered it a dreadful 
 and cruel thing to give up the wife of his brother, and es- 
 pecially as she was innocent of the charge ; for he was not 
 ignorant of her motive for making that request. 
 
 CXI. At last, however, as she persevered in her request, 
 and as he was constrained by the custom of Persia, which for- 
 bids the denial of any thing during the royal feast, he con- 
 
 tanes, according to Herodotus, vii. 61. that kind of expression. 
 If we are to depend on the vain simi- x Scaliger says this word signifies the 
 
 larity of name, we may as well say that throne. Reland on that account trans- 
 
 Esther is the same as Atossa, the wife lates the preceding line in the original, 
 
 of Darius, for she was also called Ha- the day on which he was made king. 
 
 dassa. But I think we ought not to But the sentence will not admit of that 
 
 conclude that Darius is the same as Aha- interpretation. See the notes of Larcher 
 
 suerus. Larcher. and \Vesseling. 
 
 tt In the original ry 8t KOKW yajO - ? We must doubtless understand by 
 
 Trpof ravra tint is equivalent to r; It (ry this that the kings on this day pay pe- 
 
 yap iraroiiciy iti KCHCM; yiviaOai) Trpof culiar attention to their hair, and perhaps 
 
 ravra eiTrt. Herodotus frequently uses they then perfume the head. Larcher.
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 335 
 
 sented with the utmost reluctancy to the request of Amestris ; 
 and putting the woman into her hands, told her she might do 
 as pleased her best. But immediately after, having sent for 
 his brother, he said to him, " Masistes, you are my brother, 
 " the son of Darius, and, which is yet more, a valiant man. 
 " Be persuaded by me to cohabit no longer with the wife you 
 " now have, and I will give you my own daughter in her 
 " stead. Make her your wife, and dismiss your present one, 
 " since it seems good to me." Masistes, astonished to hear 
 these words, answered, " Sir, what importunate discourse is 
 " this ? You bid me dismiss a woman, who is in every respect 
 " agreeable to me, by whom I have three young sons, be- 
 " sides daughters, of which you have chosen one to be your 
 " son's wife ; and then to marry your daughter. But, O king, 
 " though I set a due value upon the honour of being thought 
 " worthy of your daughter, yet I shall do neither of these 
 " things ; and therefore let not your desire to bring about 
 " this matter put you upon offering violence to my inclina- 
 " tions. Some other person, not inferior to me, will be 
 " found for your daughter. In the mean time permit me to 
 " keep my wife." When he had made this answer, Xerxes 
 in a great rage replied, " You have then brought matters to 
 " this, Masistes ; neither will I offer you my daughter for a 
 " wife, nor shall you any longer live with your present one ; 
 " to the end you may learn to accept what I offer." Masistes 
 having heard these words retired, and as he went out, said, 
 " O king, you have not yet taken away my life." 
 
 CXII. Whilst Xerxes was in conference with his brother, 
 Amestris sent for his guards, and ordered them to mutilate 
 the wife of Masistes. She cut off her breasts, which she threw 
 to the dogs, her nose, ears, and lips, and cut out her tongue ; 
 and in that mangled condition sent her home. 
 
 CXIII. Masistes had not yet heard any thing of this ; but 
 suspecting some injury was intended him, he returned to his 
 house with great haste ; where finding his wife so barbarously 
 mutilated, he immediately consulted with his sons ; and ac- 
 companied by them and others, departed for Bactria ; de- 
 signing to induce the satrapy of Bactria to revolt, and to an- 
 noy the king as much as he could : in which design, as I con- 
 jecture, he must have succeeded, had he been able to arrive 
 among the Bactrians and Saces ; for he was governor of Bac- 
 tria, and much beloved by both those nations. But Xerxes, 
 being informed of his intentions, sent some troops after him, 
 who killed him and his sons upon the way, and cut his forces 
 in pieces. Such were the circumstances which attended the 
 amour of Xerxes and the death of Masistes. 
 
 CXIV. The Greeks who sailed from Mycale towards the
 
 336 HERODOTUS. 
 
 Hellespont, being overtaken by tempestuous weather, put in 
 about Lecton 2 ; and from thence arriving- at Abydos, they 
 found the bridges broken in pieces, which they thought to 
 have found entire, and which were the principal motive for 
 their sailing to the Hellespont. In these circumstances Leo- 
 tychides with the Peloponnesians determined to return to 
 Greece ; but the Athenians with their captain Xanthippus re- 
 solved to stay, and to make an attempt upon Chersonesus. 
 Accordingly, after the Peloponnesians were withdrawn, the 
 Athenians crossed over from Abydos, and landing in Cherso- 
 nesus, besieged Sestos. 
 
 CXV. To that place, as to the strongest fortress in the 
 neighbourhood, great numbers came from the adjacent coun- 
 try, when they heard that the Greeks were arrived in the Hel- 
 lespont ; and among others, CEobazus a Persian from Cardia, 
 who had already caused all the materials of the bridges to be 
 brought thither. The inhabitants were ^Eolians ; but a great 
 multitude of Persians and their confederates had collected 
 there. 
 
 CVI. The government of the whole province was in the 
 hands of Artayctes, a Persian, of a detestable and impious 
 character, who had been placed in that station by Xerxes ; he 
 had even deceived the king, as he marched to Athens, when 
 he asked for the treasures of Protesilaus a the son of Iphicles, 
 which were at Elaeus. For in the city of Elaeus in Chersone- 
 sus, the sepulchre of Protesilaus was erected in the midst of 
 a sacred inclosure ; and a great sum of money, with gold and 
 silver vessels, robes, brass, and other offerings which were 
 there, were taken from thence by Artayctes since the king 
 had given them to him. He deceived Xerxes by these words: 
 " O king, there is here the habitation of a certain Grecian, 
 " who having entered your territories with an army, met with 
 " a just punishment and perished. Give me the house of this 
 " man, that for the future none may dare to invade any part 
 " of your dominions." By this representation he would easily 
 persuade Xerxes to grant it, as he had no suspicion of his in- 
 tentions. He told him Protesilaus had invaded the royal do- 
 minions, because the Persians imagine that all Asia belongs to 
 them b and the reigning monarch. When the treasures had 
 been granted he carried them away to Sestos ; and sowed part 
 
 * This was a promontory at the western the troops of Phylace, Pyrrhasus, Iton, 
 extremity of Ida, and formed the northern &c. He was killed by a Trojan while 
 boundary of the gulph of Adramythium. disembarking. Some say this Trojan was 
 It is now called Cape Baba, according to ^Eneas, others Euphorbus, others Hector 
 D'Anville. The Turks call it Mpampa and Achates. Larcher. 
 
 Mpornou. Lurcher's Table. b This was before mentioned at the 
 
 Protesilaus was a Thessalian. He end of ch. iv. book ]. See also vii. 11. 
 went to the siege of Troy at the head of
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 337 
 
 of the inclosure, and turned cattle into the other ; and whenever 
 he went to Elaeus, he used to lie with women c in the sanctuary. 
 This man being now besieged by the Athenians, was utterly 
 unprepared to defend himself, as he never expected the 
 Greeks; so that they fell upon him, in some way, when he was 
 unprovided. 
 
 CXVII. But while they were engaged in this enterprise, 
 autumn came on, and the Athenians growing uneasy to be so 
 far from home, and at being unable to take the city, besought 
 their leaders to conduct them back to their own country. This, 
 the generals said, they would not do, till either they should 
 take the place, or be recalled by the people of Athens: so that 
 they then acquiesced in their present condition. 
 
 CXVIII. In the mean time those who were with Artayctes 
 in the city, being reduced to the last extremity, boiled and ate 
 the cords of their beds ; and when that food likewise failed, 
 Artayctes and QEobazus, with the rest of the Persians, made 
 their escape under cover of night, out of the back part of the 
 town, which was least frequented by the enemy. In the 
 morning, the Chersonesites from their towers having first given 
 notice to the Athenians of what had passed, opened their 
 gates; and some of the Athenian forces took possession of the 
 city, whilst the greater part went in pursuit of the enemy. 
 
 CXIX. The Thracians of Apsynthus seizing upon CEobazus 
 as he fled through Thrace, sacrificed him to Plistorus d , a God 
 of the country, according to their custom, and killed all his 
 companions in another manner. But Artayctes and his com- 
 pany, who had fled out of the city after the others were over- 
 taken a little above ^Egos-Potami, where, after they had de- 
 fended themselves a considerable time, some were killed upon 
 the place, and the rest, with Artayctes and his son, were made 
 prisoners, and carried back to Sestos. 
 
 CXX. The Chersonesites say, that one of his guards saw a 
 thing prodigious, as he stood broiling salted fish ; the pieces 
 which lay upon the fire lept and quivered like fish newly taken 
 out of the water; and that, when divers persons crowded about 
 the place and wondered at the sight, Artayctes observing the 
 miracle, called the man who broiled the fish, and said to him, 
 " Athenian friend, be not afraid; you are not at all concerned 
 " in this prodigy. Protesilaus, though dead and embalmed at 
 " Elaeus, admonishes me by this sign that the Gods have given 
 " him power to revenge himself upon the person who has in- 
 " jured him. Resolving therefore to make him reparation, I 
 " will consecrate a hundred talents to his divinity, instead of 
 " the riches I took out of his temple ; and I will give two 
 
 c See vii. 33, This deity i^ quite unknown. 
 VOL. II. X X
 
 338 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " hundred talents to the Athenians, if they will spare my life, 
 " and the life of my son." But their general Xanthippus 
 would not be persuaded by these promises; partly because he 
 himself was averse to the thing, and partly because the people 
 of Elasus, to avenge the injury done to Protesilaus, earnestly 
 solicited him that Artayctes might be put to death. Having 
 therefore conducted him to that part of the shore where the 
 bridges of Xerxes terminated ; or, as others say, to an emi- 
 nence above the city of Madytus, they caused him to be im- 
 paled ; and at the same time stoned his son before his eyes. 
 
 CXXI. When the Athenians had done these things, they 
 returned with their fleet to Greece ; carrying, besides other 
 riches, all the materials of the bridges, in order to consecrate 
 them in their temples ; and nothing more was done that year. 
 
 CXXII. This Artayctes, thiis impaled by the Greeks, was 
 descended by the male line from Artembares, who in his time 
 framed a proposal for the Persians, which they adopted and 
 addressed to Cyrus in these terms: " Since Jupiter has given 
 " the superiority to the Persians, and among men, to thee, O 
 " Cyrus, as you have overthrown Astyages, and since we pos- 
 " sess a narrow, and that a barren, country, let us remove from 
 " this, and take possession of a better. Many such are near 
 " our confines, and many at a greater distance. The posses- 
 " sion of one of these will render us more reverenced by most 
 " men ; and this conduct becomes a people, who have the 
 " power in their hands. In a word, what opportunity can 
 " ever be more favourable to us than the present, when we 
 " have the command of so many nations, and the dominion of 
 "all Asia?" Cyrus heard these words without wonder, and 
 bid them do as they desired ; but withal admonished them to 
 prepare for the future to obey, and not to command, as in 
 time past : because nature has so ordered things, that delicate 
 countries* produce a delicate race, for the same land is not 
 
 * The Father of Medicine confirms empire. The Franks vanquished the 
 what Herodotus says. After having de- Gauls, the Lombards seized Italy, and the 
 scribed the advantages, which the tern- Visigoths Spain. In a word, we always 
 perate parts of Asia possess over Greece, see that the people of the north prevail 
 he adds, (de^Erit. et Locis, xxxiii.) that over these of the south. See also the notes 
 the men of those countries are not natu- of Wesseling and V 7 alckenaer, and espe- 
 rally courageous, that they do not wil- cially Gataker on Marc. Antonin. iv. 39. 
 lingly support fatigues and hardships. who, among other passages, quotes one 
 This sentiment is still farther confirmed from Polybius, iv. 31. which wonderfully 
 by experience. Greece subdued Asia, confirms this observation. Montesquieu 
 the Romans conquered both Greece and hasdedicated several books of hisL'Esprit 
 Asia, and if they also subjected the des Loix, to prove the truth of this prin- 
 Gauls, the Germans and other people of ciple. It is strange however that this in- 
 die north, it was because these nations genious and profound writer has not ob- 
 were ignorant of the art of war and were served that the Christian religion, which 
 not disciplined. When they became so, adapts itself to all climates, has very 
 they vanquished in their turn the mas- much modified this influence. Lurcher. 
 tew of the world, and dismembered their
 
 CALLIOPE. IX. 339 
 
 wont to produce admirable fruits and men excellent in war. 
 The Persians, perceiving their error, receded from their pur- 
 pose, and yielded to the opinion of Cyrus ; so they choose ra- 
 ther to live in a barren country, and to command, than to cul- 
 tivate the richest plains, and be subject to others. 
 
 
 THE KNI). 
 
 fit gfi
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 THEOCRACY established in Egypt. B. c. 
 
 The High Priests of the eight most ancient Deities go- 
 vern the country. It is unknown when they began to reign. 
 The High Priests of the twelve succeeding Deities pos- 
 sess themselves of the chief power (Herodotus, ii. 43.) about 17570 
 
 The High Priests of the Deities of the third order suc- 
 ceed them. That of Osiris begins to reign about 15570 
 
 That of Orus dispossesses him. Time unknown. 
 Theocracy abolished. Menas, 1st King of Egypt, reigns 62 
 years, according to Eratosthenes, (Syncelli Chronographia, 
 
 p.91.) 12356 
 
 His son Maneros dies young 12340 
 
 Three hundred and twenty-nine kings succeed Menas. 
 
 The last was Mceris. They begin to reign 12294 
 
 Foundation of Tyre, according to the Tyrians. Herodotus, 
 
 ii. 44 2760 
 
 All these events being necessarily posterior to the deluge, 
 which happened 2328 B. C. we must conclude that the Egyp- 
 tian priests related to Herodotus fables concerning the anti- 
 quity of their nation.. 
 
 The deluge 2328 
 
 Commencement of the Assyrian Empire, according to 
 
 Ctesias. Diodor. Sic. ii. 21 2107 
 
 According to Diodorus Sic. ii. 28. and ./Emilius Sura. 
 
 Veil. Paterculus, vi 2057 
 
 According to Castor. Syncell. Chronograph, p. 205 2027 
 
 Earthquake which separated Ossa from Olympus, which by 
 making a passage for the waters, rendered Thessaly habitable. 1885 
 Pelasgus, king of the country, afterwards called Arcadia, 
 
 passes into Thessaly 1884 
 
 Rape of lo by the Phoenicians. Herodotus, i. 1 1745 
 
 Pelasgus, son of Neptune and Sarissa, passes into Thessaly 
 with his brothers Achseus and Phthius, and expels the in- 
 habitants, six generations after Pelasgus king of Arcadia 1727 
 
 Birth of Moses 1611 
 
 The daughters of Danaus institute the Thesmophoria 1568 
 
 Rape of Europa 1552 
 
 Birth of Minos I. king of Crete 1548 
 
 Deucalion passes into Thessaly, with the Leleges and 
 Curetes, afterwards called Locrians and ^F.toliaus, and expels 
 the Pelasgians. Dionys. Halicarn. i. 1 7 1541
 
 312 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B. C 
 The greater part of the Pelasgians retire to Dodonu. Id. 
 
 ib. 18 1540 
 
 Some Pelasgians go to Crete, others to Lesbos 1 540 
 
 The Pelasgians who had retired to Dodona rinding them- 
 selves a burden to the natives, settle in the country afterwards 
 
 called Tyrrhenia. Id. ib. 19 1539 
 
 The Boeotians settle in Thessaly, near Arne and lolcos. 
 
 Strabo, ix. p. 616 '. 1535 
 
 Origin of the Scythians, according to their own account. 
 
 Herodotus, iv. 7 1508 
 
 Mceris, the last of the 330 kings of Egypt, according to 
 
 Vecchieti. Herodotus, ii. 101 ." 1424 
 
 Institution of the Eleusinian mysteries 1404 
 
 Ion goes into Asia and makes some weak settlements 1391 
 
 Ion returns into ^Egialea 1388 
 
 Archander and Architeles, sons of Achaeus, leave Phthiotis, 
 go to Argos, and each marries a daughter of Danaus. Hero- 
 dotus, ii. 98 T 13/4 
 
 Foundation of Zancle, by the Siculi 1369 
 
 Pelops arrives in Greece and gets possession of Pisa and Elis. 1362 
 
 Sesostris, king of Egypt 1356 
 
 CEdipus ascends the throne of Thebes 1354 
 
 Origin of the Scythians, according to the Greeks of Pon- 
 
 tus. Herodotus, iv."8 1354 
 
 The Cretans, under Minos II. lay siege to Camicos in Sicily. 
 
 Herodotus, vii. 170 1351 
 
 Expedition of the Argonauts ; Rape of Medea 1350 
 
 Tyrrhenus, son of Atys, settles in Italy, and gives his name 
 
 to the country. Herodotus, i. 94 1344 
 
 The Heraclidee put themselves under the protection of 
 
 Theseus 4 1321 
 
 Pheron, king of Egypt 1312 
 
 Theseus marches against Eurystheus with Hyllus, son of 
 
 Hercules. Eurystheus is defeated and slain by Hyllus 1311 
 
 Hyllus quits the Peloponnese on account of a pestilence 1310 
 
 Theseus carries off Helen. Herodotus, ix. 72 1296 
 
 Proteus, king of Egypt 1294 
 
 Hyllus killed by Echemus of Tegea. Herodotus, ix. 26 ... 1290 
 
 Rape of Helen by Paris ." 1290 
 
 Siege of Troy formed by the Greeks 1280 
 
 Taking of Troy 23d of May 1270 
 
 The Assyrians masters of Higher Asia. Herodotus, i. 95... 1267 
 
 Birth of Pan. Herodotus, ii. 145 1260 
 
 The third attempt of the Heraclidae to recover the Pelo- 
 ponnese, under Cleodeeus, son of Hyllus 1 245 
 
 Rhampsinitus, king of Egypt 1 244 
 
 End of the dynasty of the Atyadae, kings of Lydia : the 
 commencement is unknown. Commencement of the dynasty 
 of the Heraclidae. Agron the first of that dynasty- Herodotus, 
 
 i. 7. ." 1220 
 
 Birth of Theras, son of Autesion : he was the tenth de- 
 scendant from Cadmus... 1214
 
 CHRONOLOGICAJN TABLE. 343 
 
 B.C. 
 
 The fourth attempt of the Heraclidae under Aristomachus, 
 son of Cleodaeus. Aristomachus is slain, and leaves three sons 
 
 under age, Aristodemus, Temenus and Cresphontes 1210 
 
 .The Boeotians return into Boeotia. Thucyd. i. 12 1210 
 
 The Pelasgians who had settled in Tyrrhenia, are expelled 
 by the natives and go to Attica. Herodotus, vi. 137 1209 
 
 The Pelasgians who had entered Bceotia, join the Pelasgi- 
 Tyrrhenians in Attica 1207 
 
 The Pelasgians build the Pelasgic wall for the Athenians. 
 Herodotus, vi. 137 1192 
 
 Conquest of the Peloponnese by Aristodemus, Cresphontes 
 and Temenus .-. 1 190 
 
 The Achaeans, driven by the Heraclidae, take refuge in JEgia- 
 lea, afterwards called Achaea, then possessed by the lonians.. . . 1 189 
 
 Death of Aristodemus : he leaves the croAvn of Lacedaemon 
 to his two infant sons, Procles and Eurysthenes ; Theras, son 
 of Autesion, their maternal uncle, is their guardian. Herodot. * 
 iv. 147. and vi.52 : .... 1178 
 
 Cheops, king of Egypt. Herodotus, ii. 127 1178 
 
 The Pelasgians are expelled from Attica by the Athenians 
 and conquer Lemnos. Herodotus, vi. 137 1162 
 
 The Minyae, driven from Lemnos by the Pelasgians, fly to 
 Lacedaemon. Herodotus, iv. 145 1160 
 
 The Pelasgians carry off the Athenian women from Brauron. 
 Herodot. vi. 138 ". 1152 
 
 Colonization of the island Callista, afterwards called Thera, 
 by Theras and some of the Minyae. Herodot. iv. 148 1150 
 
 Foundation of Leprium, Macistus, Phrixae, Pyrgus, Epium, 
 and Nudium in Triphylia, by the Minyae. Herodot. iv. 148... 1149 
 
 The Pelasgians of Lemnos put to death the children they 
 had by the Athenian women, and also the mothers themselves. 
 Herodot. vi. 138 1139 
 
 Self-devotion of Codrus, the last king of Athens 1 132 
 
 Ionic migration, according -to Apollodorus and Eratos- 
 thenes. Clement. Alexandr. Stromat. i. p. 388 and 402 1130 
 
 Chephren, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 127 1128 
 
 Birth of the first known ancestor of the historian Hecataeus 
 of Miletus. Herodot. ii. 143 1082 
 
 Mycerinus, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 129 1072 
 
 The Siculi drive the Sicanians from Sicily, three ages be- 
 fore the establishment of the Greeks in Sicily. Thucyd. vi. 2. 1059 
 
 Zancle, afterwards called Messana, founded by the Siculi. 
 
 Thucyd. vi. 4 1058 
 
 Asychis, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 136 1052 
 
 War between the Lacedaemonians and Argives about Cynu- 
 ria. Herodot. i. 82 1032 
 
 Anysis king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 137 1012 
 
 Anysis, driven from his kingdom by an Ethiopian king, 
 takes refuge in the isle of Elbo 1012 
 
 Sisac, who succeeded the Ethiopian usurper in the sovereignty 
 of Egypt, pillages the temple at Jerusalem. 1 Kings, xiv. 25. 970 
 
 Anvsis leaves Elbo after 50 years, and maintains himself
 
 344 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. 
 on the throne till his death. Herodot. ii. 1 40 961 
 
 Anysis dies. Id. ibid 954 
 
 N. B. There is in this part of Herodotus an hiatus of 241 
 years, concerning the history of Egypt. See my Essay on 
 Chronology, ch. i. 12. 
 
 Phidon, king of Argos, invented weights, measures, &c. 
 Herodot. vi. 127 895 
 
 Charillus, son of Polydectes, king of Lacedsemon, of the 
 House of Procles, or the second House : L-ycurgus is his guard- 
 ian. 888 
 
 B. C 
 
 The Olympic games instituted by Hercules, 
 Pelops and Pisus, having been interrupted, are 
 renewed by Lycurgus of Lacedaemon, Iphitus 
 of Elis, and Cleosthenes of Pisa, twenty-seven 
 Olympiads before that in which Coroebus of Elis 
 
 won the prize 
 
 Birth of Homer and Hesiod. Herodot. ii. 53. 884 
 
 Legislation of Lycurgus 86t 
 
 Last year of the Olympiads of Iphitus 777 
 
 B.C. 
 
 The victors at the Olympic games were not 
 up to this time enrolled in the public registers. 
 They were in the following Olympiad. This 
 Olympiad is considered as the first, because it is 
 the one from which the Greeks have always cal- 
 culated. It is called the Olympiad of Coroebus, 
 
 because Corcebus of Elis obtained the prize 776 
 
 Birth of Echecrates, descendant of Elatus, 
 king of the Lapithee, and grandfather of Cyp- 
 
 selus, king of Corinth. Herodot. v. 92 ". . . . 774 
 
 Sabacos, king of Ethiopia, conquers Egypt. 
 
 Herodot. ii. 139 763 
 
 Foundation of Naxos in Sicily. Thucyd. vi. 3. 759 
 Foundation of Rome, according to Varro, in 
 
 the spring. Plutarch in Romulo, p. 24 754 
 
 The Medes shake off the Assyrian yoke 748 
 
 First Messenian war 743 
 
 Birth of Eetion, father of Cypselus, king of 
 
 Corinth 742 
 
 Midas, son of Gordius, king of Phrygia. He- 
 rodot. i. 14. ." 737 
 
 End of the first Messenian war 723 
 
 Death of Candaules, last king of Lydia, of 
 
 the race of the Heraclidae. Herodot. i. 12 715 
 
 Numa Pompilius elected king of Rome 714 
 
 Sethos, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 141 713 
 
 Olymp. of Iphitus. 
 
 1. 1 
 
 1. 1 
 
 V. 3 
 
 XXVII. 4 
 
 Ol. of Coroebus. 
 
 1. 
 
 IV. 
 V. 
 
 VI. 2 
 
 VIII. 1 
 
 IX. 2 
 
 X. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XVI.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 345 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, enters Judaea, 
 sends one of his generals to Jerusalem and passes 
 into Egypt. 2 Kings xviii. 13 713 XVI. 4 
 
 Sennacherib defeated by the Egyptians. He- 
 rodot. ii. 141 712 XVII. 1 
 
 Deioces elected king of the Medes. Herodot. 
 i.98. .. 709 4 
 
 Ameinocles of Corinth builds the four first 
 triremes for the Samians. Thucydid. i. 13 704 XIX. 1 
 
 Birth of Cypselus, king of Corinth. Herodot. 
 v.92 ." 700 XX. 1 
 
 Second Messenian war 682 XXIV. 3 
 
 Foundation of Chalcedon. Herodot. iv. 144... 675 XXVI. 2 
 
 Twelve kings, among whom is Psammeti- 
 chus, govern Egypt fifteen years with equal au- 
 thority. Herodot. ii. 147 671 XXVII. 2 
 
 End of the second Messenian war 668 XXVIII. 1 
 
 Engagement between the Corinthians and 
 Corcyraeans. Thucydid. i. 13 664 XXIX. 1 
 
 Foundation of Byzantium. Herodot. iv. 144. 658 XXX. 3 
 
 Phraortes, king of the Medes. Herodot. i. 
 102... 656 XXXI. 1 
 
 Psammetichus expels his colleagues and be- , 
 
 comes sole king of Egypt. Herodot. ii 152 656 1 
 
 Foundation of Abdera. Herodot. i. 148 655 2 
 
 Orthagoras, tyrant of Sicyon. Herodot. v. 66. 655 2 
 
 Eurycrates II. king of Lacedaemon, of the 
 first family. Herodotus calls him Eurycratides. 
 Herodot. viii. 204 651 XXXII. 2 
 
 A Samian vessel is driven to Tartessus ; the 
 first Greek ship that ever put in there. Herod, 
 iv. 152 640 XXXIV. 4 
 
 Cylon obtains the prize in the double stan- 
 dium at the Olympic games. Herodot. v. 61 640 XXXV. 1 
 
 Battus colonizes the island Plataea. Herodot. 
 iv. 157 639 2 
 
 Birthof Solon 638 3 
 
 Cyaxares succeeds Phraortes in the king- ^ 
 dom of Media. Herodot. i. 103 \^ ^04 VYYVT 1 
 
 Taking of Sardis by the Cimmerians. He- i 
 rodot. i. 16 I 
 
 Cyaxares forms the siege of Nineveh ; and j 
 
 is attacked and defeated by the Cimmerians, f /wjo A 
 
 Herodot. i. 103 ( 
 
 Periander succeeds Cypselus of Corinth. ) 
 
 Battus I. founds Cyrene. Herodot. iv. 158... 631 XXXVII. 2 
 
 Sadyattes, king of Lydia. Herodot. i. 16. . . ^ 
 
 The Scythians ravage Judaea and take As- / 
 
 calon: they then proceed towards Egypt, but V 628 XXXVIII. 1 
 are diverted by the presents of Psammetichus. 
 Herodot. i. 105 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Ol. of Coroebus
 
 346 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. Ol. ofCorcebus. 
 
 Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus. Herodot. i. 
 20 625 XXXVIII.4 
 
 Agasicles, king of Lacedsemon, of the second 
 House. Herodot. i. 55 624 XXXIX. 1 
 
 Nabopolassar II. the same as the Nabuchodo- 
 nosor of Scripture, and the Labynetus of Hero- 
 dotus ..." 623 
 
 War between Sadyattes king of Lydia and 
 the Milesians. Herodot. i. 1? 622 
 
 JEsop nourishes 621 
 
 The Lacedaemonians meet with losses in the 
 war with Tegea. Horodot. i. 66 620 XL. 
 
 Necos, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 159 617 
 
 Alyattes, king of Lydia. Herodot. i. 25 616 XLI. 
 
 The Cimmerians driven from Asia Minor. 
 Herodot. i. 16 613 
 
 Conspiracy of Cylon. Herodot. v. 71 612 XLII. 
 
 Necos enters Judaea in his march against the 
 Assyrians. 2 Kings xxiii. 29. Herodot. ii. 159. 611 
 
 End of the war between the Lydians and 
 Milesians. Herodot. i. 18, 19 and 22 610 
 
 Some Phoenicians sail round Africa. Herodot. 
 iv. 42 . 609 
 
 The Scythians driven from Higher Asia. He- 
 rodot. i. 106 605 XLIII. 
 
 Cyaxares takes Nineveh. Herodot. i. 106. ... 603 XLIV. 
 
 War between Cyaxares and Alyattes. Herod, 
 i. 73 602 
 
 Psammis, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 161.... 601 
 
 Eclipse of the sun on the 9th of July, pre- 
 dicted by Thales. Herodot. i. 74 597 XL V. 
 
 Birth of Mandane, daughter of Astyages. . . . 596 XL VI. 
 
 Apries, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 161... 1 
 
 Birth of Croesus, son of Alyattes, king of > 595 
 Lydia J 
 
 Astyages, king of the Medes. Herodot. i. 130. 594 
 
 Legislation of Solon ... 594 
 
 Anacharsis travels through Greece 592 XL VII. 
 
 Arcesilaus I. king of Gyrene. Herodot. iv. 
 159 591 
 
 Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, espouses 
 Cambyses, a Persian of good family. Herod, i. 
 
 107 ; 576 LI. 
 
 Lycophron is banished to Corcyra, by his fa- 
 ther Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Herodot. iii. 
 50 575 
 
 Birth of Cyrus. Herodot. i. 108 1 - 7 - 
 
 Battus II. king of Cyrene. Herod, iv. 159. / ' 
 
 Ariston, king of Lacedaemon, of the second 
 Family, cotemporary with Anaxandrides. Herod, 
 i. 65 574
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 347 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Croesus is associated on the throne of Lydia, 
 by his father Alyattes 574 LI. 3 
 
 Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, obtains the 
 prize at the Olympic games. Herodot. vi. 126. 572 LI I. 1 
 
 The Phocaeans, alarmed at the conquests of 
 Croesus, raise their walls by the liberality of 
 Arganthonius, king of Tartessus. Herod, i. 63. 571 2 
 
 Amasis, king of Egypt. Herodot. ii. 172. -v 
 
 Megacles, son of Alcmaeon, espouses Aga- i 
 
 riste, the daughter of Clisthenes, tyrant of V 570 3 
 
 Sicyon. Herod, vi. 130 i 
 
 Solon visits Sardis. Herodot. i. 30 J 
 
 Rhodopis, the celebrated courtesan, flou- 
 rishes. Herodot. ii. 134 567 LIU. 2 
 
 Periander sends 300 boys of the chief fami- 
 lies of Corcyra to Alyattes to be castrated. He- 
 rodot. iii. 48 565 4 
 
 Periander reconciles Hegesistratus, son of 
 Pisistratus, to the Myteleneans. Herodot. v. 
 94 and 95 564 LIV. 1 
 
 Death of Periander. 563 2 
 
 Alalia founded in Corsica by the Phocaeans. 
 Herodot. i. 165 562 3 
 
 Pisistratus acquires the sovereign power at 
 Athens for the first time ; in January. Mann. 
 Oxon. Epoch. 41 561 3 
 
 Croesus loses his eldest son in the chase. He- 
 rodot. i. 43 560 4 
 
 Croesus ascends the throne of Lydia, on ac- 
 count of the death of his father, about the end 
 of May 559 LV. 1 
 
 Cyrus, king of Persia. Herodot. i. 130 559 2 
 
 Pisistratus driven from Athens. Herodot. i. 
 59 559 2 
 
 The Samians sieze a corselet sent by Amasis 
 to the Lacedaemonians. Herodot. iii. 47 556 L VI. 1 
 
 The Samians sieze a bowl, which the Lace- 
 daemonians had sent to Croesus. Id. ib 555 2 
 
 Lycurgus and Megacles, who had united to 
 expel Pisistratus, disagree : Megacles offers to 
 re-establish Pisistratus, if he would marry his 
 daughter. Herodot. i. 60 555 2 
 
 Arcesilaus II. king of Cyrene ) 
 
 Croesus makes an alliance with the Lace- > 554 3 
 
 dsemonians. Herodot. i. 69 and 70 J 
 
 Pisistratus expelled a second time. Herod. \ 
 i. 61 (^ 5 
 
 Foundation of Barce in Lybia. Herodot. i 
 iv. 140. I 
 
 Apries strangled. Herodot. ii. 169. 1 tc rt T XTTT 
 
 n- *i. f i\ IT i ^ onn /" 550 LVil. 
 
 Birth of Darius. Herodot. i. 209 J 
 
 Yy2 
 
 Ol. of Correbus.
 
 348 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. Ol. of Corcebus. 
 
 Death of Arganthonius, king of Tartessus. 1 
 
 Birth of the historian Hecatams of Mile- > 549 LVII. 4 
 tus j 
 
 Conflagration of the temple of Delphi. He- 
 rodot. i. 50. and ii. 180 548 LVI1I. 1 
 
 The Lacedaemonians recommence war with 
 the Tegeatae with greater success, and take Te- 
 gea. Herodot. i. 48 546 3 
 
 War between the Spartans and Argives, 
 about Thyrea, in the spring. Herodot. i. 82. ... 545 3 
 
 Croesus dethroned by Cyrus. Herod, i. 84. &c. 545 4 
 
 Engagement between 300 Argives and 300^. 
 Spartans, &c. Herodot. i. 82 M 
 
 Arcesilaus II. king of Gyrene, is poisoned, j 
 
 Plutarch de Virt. Mul. p. 260. Battus III. V 544 LIX. 1 
 
 succeeds him. Herodot. iv. 161 L 
 
 The Newri settle in the country of the A 
 Budini. Herodot. iv. 105 -/ 
 
 Advice of Thales to the lonians. Herodot. i. 
 171. He died the same year at the age of ninety. 
 Diogen. Laert. i. 37 543 2 
 
 The wife of Anaxandrides being barren,^, 
 he takes a second by the advice of the Ephori. M 
 Herodot. v. 40 f 
 
 Pisistratus a third time established in the - 542 3 
 
 sovereignty of Athens. Herodot. i. 61 
 
 Taking of Phocaea by Harpagus, one of the 
 generals of Cyrus. Herodot. i. 164 - 
 
 Cimon, son of Stesagoras, victorious in the 
 Olympic games in a four-horsed chariot, 
 causes his brother Miltiades to be proclaimed . t^ f Y 
 as victor. Herodot. vi. 103 
 
 Advice of Bios to the lonians. Herodot. i. 
 
 171 
 
 Cyrus takes Babylon. Herodot. i. 191. 538 3 
 
 The Phocaeans defeat the Carthaginians 
 and Tyrrhenians. Herodot. i. 166 
 
 Cimon obtains a second victory at the top T v T 
 Olympic games, and causes Pisistratus to be | 
 proclaimed in his stead. Herodot. vi. 103 
 
 Birth of Themistocles 
 
 Hyela in OZnotria founded by the Phocaeans. 
 Herodot. i. 167 535 2 
 
 Cimon obtains a third victory. Id. vi. 103... 533 LXII. 1 
 
 Polycrates usurps the tyranny of Samos. Id. 
 iii. 120 532 2 
 
 Stesagoras, son of Cimon, succeeds his uncle 
 Miltiades in the Chersonese. Id. vi. 38 531 2 
 
 Death of Cyrus. Id. i. 214 ] 
 
 Anacreon arrives at the court of Polycrates. > 530 3 
 
 Id. iii. 121 |
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 349 
 
 B.C. Ol. ofCoroebus. 
 
 Cambyses, king of Persia. Id. ii. 1 \ roo TVTT 
 
 Arcesilaus III. king of Cyrene. Id. vi. 162. X 
 
 Nitetis, daughter of Apries, sent to Cam- 
 byses. Id. iii. 1. V 528 LXIJ 
 
 Death of Pisistratus, who is succeeded by ' 
 his eldest son Hippias. Id. v. 55 , 
 
 Euelthon, king of Salamis in Cyprus. Id. 
 iv. 162 
 
 Cimon assassinated by the sons of Pisistra- 
 tus. Id. vi. 103 
 
 Psammenitus, king of Egypt. Id. iii. 10....'.. 526 3 
 
 Conquest of Egypt by Cambyses. Id. iii. 
 10, &c J 
 
 The Spartans send troops against Polycra- f roc 
 tes. Id. iii. 39 > 
 
 Birth of ^Eschylus. Marm. Oxon. Epoch. V 
 
 4 . '. S 
 
 Foundation of Cydonia in Crete. Id. iii. 44 
 and49 524 LXIV. 1 
 
 Death of Polycrates. Id. iii. 125 523 2 
 
 Death of Cambyses. Id. iii. 46 and 47 522 2 
 
 The Magus Smerdis usurps the throne. Id. 
 iii. 47 522 3 
 
 Darius, son of Hystaspes, elected king of Per- 
 sia. Id. iii. 88 521 3 
 
 Siromus, son of Euelthon, king of Salamis in 
 Cyprus. Id. v. 104 521 4 
 
 Demaratus, son of Ariston, king of Sparta of 
 the second House. Id. vi. 64 520 LXV. 1 
 
 The Plataeans put themselves under the pro- 
 tection of Athens. Id. vi. 108. Thucyd. iii. 68. 519 1 
 
 The Samian exiles, who founded Cydonia,^ 
 are enslaved by ^Eginetae. Herod, iii. 59 ... ' 
 
 Battus IV. king of Cyrene 
 
 Miltiades, son of Cimon and brother of 
 Stesagoras, retires to the Chersonese ^ 518 3 
 
 The Barcseans besieged by the Persians in j 
 compliance with the request of Pheretime, I 
 widow of Battus III. and mother of Arcesi- { 
 laus the III. Herodot. iv. 203 and 204 J 
 
 Birth of Pindar in April 517 3 
 
 Baby Ion revolts against Darius. Herod, iii. 150. 516 LXVI 
 
 Cleomenes, son of Anaxandrides, king of- 
 Sparta. Id. v. 42 
 
 Dorieus, his brother, leads a colony into 
 Lybia. Id. ibid 
 
 Chersis, son of Siromus, king of Salamis V 515 2 
 
 in Cyprus ] 
 
 Stesagoras, prince of the Chersonesuskilled. I 
 His brother Miltiades is sent by the Pisistra- : 
 tidae to govern that country. Herodot. vi. 39.-'
 
 350 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B. C. Ol. of Cornebus. 
 
 Cleomenes defeats the Argives and violates ~} 
 the sanctity of the grove of Argos. Id. vi. 75. f_ ci 44 T WT ^ 
 
 Hipparchus killed. Hippias succeeds him. i 
 
 Id. v.55 3 
 
 Darius takes Babylon. Id. iii. 158, &c 513 4 
 
 Syloson obtains from Darius the tyranny ^ 
 of Samos. Id. iii. 140, 141 and 149..." / 
 
 The Alcmaeonidae engage to rebuild theV. 512 LXVII. 1 
 temple of Delphi. Id. ii. 190, and v. 62.1 
 Spintharus was the architect. Pausan. x. 5. j 
 
 Otanes subdues Lemnos and Imbros. Hero- 
 dot, v. 26 511 2 
 
 Hippias expelled from Athens. Id. v. 65.... 510 2 
 
 Miltiades sails from the Chersonese and takes 
 Lemnos. Id. vi. 189 510 3 
 
 Athens split into factions ; that of Clis- ^ 
 thenes superior. He establishes ten tribes in- * r A( > 
 stead of four. Id. v. 66 i 
 
 Kingly power abolished at Rome ) 
 
 Euryleon, the companion of Dorieus, gets 
 possession of Minoa in Sicily, and gives it the 
 name of Heraclea. Herod, v. 46 508 4 
 
 Cleomenes expels Clisthenes from Athens, 
 but attempting to dissolve the council, he is i 
 compelled to evacuate Attica by the indig-^ ^ n o T VVTTT 1 
 nant people. Id. v. 72 ( 
 
 Expedition of Darius against the Scythi- V 
 ans. Id. iv. 1 -^ 
 
 Cleomenes enters Attica with large forces^ 
 to re-establish Hippias, but being abandoned j 
 by the Corinthians, and his colleague Dema-/ 
 ratus, retires. Id. v. 75 V 507 2 
 
 Invasion of the Chersonese by the Scythi- L 
 ans. Id. vi. 40 \ 
 
 Miltiades returns to the Chersonese ' 
 
 The Athenians defeat the Bceotians, invade 
 Euboea and conquer the Chalcidians. Herod.v. 77- 506 3 
 
 Cleander reigns at Gela. Id. vii. 154 505 4 
 
 Commencement of disturbances in Ionia. Id. 
 v. 28 504 LXIX. 1 
 
 Ionia rises up against Darius. Burning of 
 Sardis. Id. v. 100, &c 503 2 
 
 Gorgus, son of Chersis, king of Salamis in \ 
 Cyprus. Id. v. 104 V 502 3 
 
 The Cyprians revolt against the Persians. ) 
 
 The Cyprians again brought under the yoke. 
 Id. v. 116 501 4 
 
 Cleander, tyrant of Gela, killed by Sa- \ 
 byllus: Hippocrates succeeds him. Id. vii. ( ...o T vv 
 154,155 f ' LXX - 
 
 Miletus taken by the Persians. Id. vi. 18. j
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 351 
 
 B.C. Ol.ofCorcebus. 
 
 Anstagoras, who stirred up Ionia to revolt, 
 is slain by the Thrucians, while besieging 
 Novem-Viae. Id. vi. 126. and Thucyd. iv. , QQ T 
 102 L.XX. 
 
 Birth of Sophocles. Marm. Oxon. Epoch. 
 
 57 
 
 Representation of the drama of Phryni-~ 
 chus, entitled the taking of Miletus. Herod. 
 vi.21 
 
 The Samians get possession of Zancle, af- 
 terwards called Messana. Id. vi. 23 
 
 Chios, Tenedos, &c. taken by the Persians, f- 497 
 Metiochus, the eldest sou of Miltiades, made 
 prisoner with 'his vessel by the Persians. 
 Miltiades reaches Imbros with four other ves- 
 sels in safety. Pacification of Ionia. Id. vi. 
 41,42 
 
 Preparations of Darius for a war against "\ 
 Greece / 
 
 Scythes, tyrant of Zancle, who had beenV 496 LXXI. 1 
 made prisoner by Hippocrates, escapes tol 
 Persia. Herodot. vi. 24. j 
 
 Mardonius sets out for Greece in the spring. 495 1 
 
 Part of the fleet of Mardonius wrecked \ 
 
 near Mount Athos. Return of that general (_ ^g- 
 
 into Asia. Herodot. vi. 44, 45 i 
 
 Birth of Sophocles. Auctor Vit. Sophoclis. ) 
 
 The Thasians pull down their walls in>. 
 obedience to the orders of Darius. Herodot. M 
 vi. 48 f 
 
 The heralds of Darius go to Greece andV 493 4 
 
 demand earth and water. Id. ibid L 
 
 The ^Rginetae give earth and water. Id. \ 
 ibid. 49 -/ 
 
 Cleomenes crosses over to ^Egina to seize^ 
 those ^Eginetae who were accused of favour- 
 ing the Persians, but is baffled by the sug- 
 gestions of Demaratus and forced to depart. 
 At his return to Sparta he procures the ba- \ A^n T VYTT 
 nishment of Demaratus. Leotychides, king 
 of Lacedaemon, of the second House. Id. vi. 
 50, 65, &c 
 
 Fresh preparations of the Persians against 
 Greece. Id. vi. 94 J 
 
 Cleomenes returns to ^Egina accompanied^, 
 by Leotychides and seizes the guilty. Id. vi. m 
 73 f 
 
 Demaratus goes to the court of Persia. Id. > 491 2 
 
 vi. 70 
 
 Gelon gets possession of Gela. Id. vii. 154, 
 155. Dionys. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. vii.
 
 352 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Cleomenes, finding his intrigues against De- 
 maratus discovered, goes into Thrace, and from 
 thence into Arcadia, where he endeavours to stir 
 up the people against the Lacedaemonians. He- 
 rodot. vi. 74 490 3 
 
 He is recalled to Sparta, through fear of. 
 his intrigues. Id. ibid. 75 
 
 The Persians plunder Naxos and take the 
 towns of Carystus and Eretria. Id. ibid. 96, 
 99,101 >- 490 3 
 
 Battle of Marathon gained by Miltiades 
 about the 17th of August. Memoires de 
 1'Acad. des Belles-Lettres, tom.xviii. Hist. p. 
 149, &c " 
 
 Cleomenes kills himself in a fit of mad-"^ 
 ness. Leonidas, his brother, succeeds him at 
 the age of 50 years. Herodot. vi. 75 
 
 Miltiades not being successful in the siege y 400 
 of Paros, is brought to a trial and dies in pri- F 
 son. Id. ibid. 132, 136 
 
 Darius makes fresh preparations against 
 Greece. Id. viii. 1 J 
 
 Zeuxidamus the son of Leotychides dies of a 
 disease. Id. vi. 71 488 LXXIII. 1 
 
 Leotychides marries a second wife, Eury- 
 dame, by whom he has a daughter named Lam- 
 pito. Id. ibid 487 
 
 Egypt revolts against the Persians. Id. vii. 1. 486 3 
 
 Birth of Euripides. Marm. Oxon. Epoch. "^ 
 
 51 \ AQK 
 
 Death of Darius. Xerxes, king of Persia, i 
 Herodot. vii. 4, 5 J 
 
 Xerxes subdues Egypt. Id. ibid. 7 \ 
 
 Achaemenes, a younger brother of Xerxes, / 
 is appointed governor. Id. ibid V AQA r v Y TV 
 
 Birth of Herodotus. Aul. Gell. xv. 23. ... 
 
 Gelon makes himself master of Syracuse. \ 
 Herodot. vii. 156 ' 
 
 Gelon destroys Camarina and transports the 
 inhabitants to Syracuse. Id. ibid 483 2 
 
 Gelon transports to Syracuse half the in-~ 
 habitants of Gela. Id. ibid 
 
 Victory obtained by the Phocaeans over the 
 Thessalians. Id. viii. 27, 28 i ^OQ o 
 
 Aristides, surnamed the Just, banished by ' 
 Ostracism 
 
 Plutarch, in Aristide, p. 322. Corn. Nepos, 
 in Aristide, cap. 1 J 
 
 Demaratus gives the Lacedaemonians infor- 
 mation concerning the armament of Xerxes. 
 Herodot. vii. 239. .. .482 3 
 
 Ol. of Coroebus.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 353 
 
 B.C. 01. ofCoroebus. 
 
 Gelon destroys Megara in Sicily. Id. vii. 156, 42 LXXIV. 3 
 
 Eclipse of the sun on the 19th of April. -. 
 Id. vii, 37- Pingre, Chronologic des Eclipses, j 
 JVlemoires de 1'Acad. des Belles-Lettres, torn, f ipi 
 
 42. Hist. pag. 123 / 
 
 Xerxes leaves Susa about the end of\ 
 April....... .'. } 
 
 Xerxes reaches Sardis at the beginning of 
 autumn, and passes the winter there. Herodot. 
 vii. 32 481 
 
 Deputation of the Greeks to Gelon, to so- -v 
 licit his assistance, about the spring. Id. vii. I 
 153, 157,&c V 480 
 
 Xerxes leaves Sardis in the spring. Id. ib. \ 
 37 * 
 
 Battle of Thermopylae. Id. ib. 210, &c.. 
 
 Plistarchus, yet a minor, succeeds Leoni- 
 das. Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, is his 
 guardian > 480 LXXV. 1 
 
 Aristides is recalled in the third year of his L 
 banishment. Plutarch, in Arist. p. 323. Cor. ^ 
 Nepos. in Arist. cap. 1. et ibi not. Bosii -' 
 
 Xerxes takes Athens and carries off the-, 
 statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Pau- 
 san. i. 8 
 
 Battle of Salamis on the 20th of Boedro- 
 mion (30th September) 
 
 Gelon defeats the Carthaginians. Herodot. ) 480 1 
 
 vii. 166 
 
 Eclipse of the sun on the 2nd of October. 
 Herodot. ix. 10 
 
 Birth of Euripides. Plutarch, Symp. viii. 1. 
 Diogen. Laert. ii. 45 
 
 Battle of Plataea won by Pausanians, guard- 
 ian of Plistarchus. Herodot. ix. 59, &c 
 
 Victory obtained at Mycale by Leotychi- V 479 2 
 
 des on the same day, the 4th of Boedromion, V 
 (14th of September.) Id. ix. 90, 97, &c ' 
 
 Death of Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse. His j 
 brother Hiero succee'ds him > 478 3 
 
 The Athenians rebuild their walls | 
 
 Pausanias sent to expel the Persians from 
 Cyprus and the cities on the Hellespont, is re- 
 called, tried, and acquitted, but not sent back 
 to the fleet 478 S 
 
 Pausanias put to death. Plistarchus dies -v 
 soon after and is succeeded by PHstoanax. ... i 
 
 Exile of Themistocles V 477 
 
 The command of Greece transferred to the % 
 
 Athenians ' 
 
 VOL. II. Z Z
 
 354 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. 
 471 
 
 Ol. of Coroebuj. 
 
 LXXVII. 1 
 
 467! 2 
 
 465! 4 
 
 464 LXXIX. 1 
 
 463 
 
 Birth of Thucydides, in the spring. Aul. Cell. 
 xv.23 
 
 Leotychides marches into Thessaly to punish 
 the Aleuadse: suffering himself to be bribed, he 
 is deposed. Archidamus II. his grandson, suc- 
 ceeds him. Herodot. vi. 72 : 469 
 
 Archidamus espouses Lampito, daughter of 
 Leotychides by a second marriage. Id. ib. 71--- 468 | LXXVIII. 1 
 
 Hermolycus killed at Cyrnus in the territory 
 of Carystus, in an engagement between the A- 
 thenians and Carystians. Id. ix. 105. The rest 
 of Euboea did not take any share in this war. 
 Thucyd. i.98 
 
 Third Messenian war 
 
 Arcesilaus IV. king of Cyrene 
 
 The Egyptians revolt against the Persians 
 and declare Inarus their king. The Athenians 
 send them assistance 
 
 Achaemenes, son of Darius, marches at the 
 head of a formidable army against Egypt, and 
 is defeated and slain. Diodor. Sic. xi. 74- He- 
 rodot. iii. 12 -. 462 
 
 Herodotus goes to Egypt 460 LXXX. 1 
 
 The Egyptians are subdued : the Athenians 
 make a treaty with the Persians. Inarus is be- 
 trayed and crucified. Amyrtseus flies to the isle 
 of Elbo about the middle of June. Herodot. ii. 
 140. Thucyd. i. 110. Diodor. Sic. xi. 77 458 
 
 The Athenians are defeated at Tanagra by 
 the Lacedaemonians. Herodot. ix. 34. Thucyd. 
 i. 108. Diodorus Siculus says, that the victory 
 was doubtful, xi. 80. 
 
 Herodotus returns to Halicarnassus and ex- 
 pels Lygdamus, prince of that city, who had put 
 to death Panyasis his uncle 457 
 
 Reduction of Ithome, and of the third x 
 Messenian war. Diodor. Sic. xi. 64 ff 
 
 Herodotus reads part of his history at the - 456 LXXXI. 1 
 Olympic games. Dodwell, Apparat. ad An- \ 
 nal. Thucyd. 18 J 
 
 The Romans send three ambassadors to A- 
 thens for the laws of Solon. Tit. Liv. iii. 31 ... 454 
 
 Sophanes and Leagrus, Athenian captains, 
 are killed in Thrace in an engagement with the 
 Edoni. Herod, ix. 74. Pausan. i. 29. Anonym. 
 Manusc. apud Dodwell, de Cyclis, p. 742 453 
 
 Herodotus reads part of his history at Athens 
 during the festival of the Panathenaea, on the 
 12th of Hecatombaeon (25th July.) Euseb. 
 
 Foundation of Thurium by the Athenians
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 B.C. | Ol.ofCoroebus. 
 
 12 years before the Peloponnesian war: Hero- 
 dotus, at the age of 40, and Lysias at the age of 
 15, are among the colony. Plutarch, in Lys. p. 
 835. Dionys. Halicarn. in Lysia, p. 130. Plin. 
 Hist. Nat. xii. 4. Diodor. Sic. places this event 
 
 two years earlier, xii. 9 444 LXXXIV. 1 
 
 The bones of Leonidas carried from Thermo- 
 pylae to Sparta. An oration is appointed to be 
 pronounced every year over the place of burial 
 and games to be celebrated, to which only Spar- 
 tans are admitted. Pausan. iii. 14 440 4 
 
 Zopyrus, son of Megabvzus, flies to Athens. 
 
 Herodot. iii. 160 440 LXXXV. 1 
 
 Commencement of the war between the Co- 
 rinthians and Corcyraeans. Diodor. Sic. xii. 30. 439 2 
 Commencement of the Peloponnesian war in 
 
 the spring 431 LXXXVII.l 
 
 Archidamus ravages Attica : Decelea spared 
 by the Lacedaemonians in return for a service 
 performed by the Deceleans. Herodot. ix. 72. 
 
 Thucydid. ii'. 19 431 2 
 
 Nicolaus, son of Bulis, and Aneristus, son of 
 Sperthies, put to death by the Athenians. He- 
 rodot. vii. 137. Thucyd. ii. 67 430 3 
 
 The Medes revolt against the Persians and 
 
 are subdued. Herodot. i. 130. See note 408 XCIII. 1 
 
 Athens taken by the Peloponnesians in the 
 spring 404 4
 
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