The Histories

Book 3 Notes



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Notes To Book Iii


1 (return)
[ See ii. 1.]

2 (return)
[ {'Amasin}. This accusative must be taken with {eprexe}. Some Editors adopt the conjecture {'Amasi}, to be taken with {memphomenos} as in ch. 4, "did this because he had a quarrel with Amasis."]

3 (return)
[ See ii. 152, 154.]

4 (return)
[ {Suron}: see ii. 104.]

5 (return)
[ {keinon}: most MSS. and many editions have {keimenon}, "laid up."]

6 (return)
[ {demarkhon}.]

7 (return)
[ {exaireomenos}: explained by some "disembarked" or "unloaded."]

8 (return)
[ Or "Orotal."]

9 (return)
[ {dia de touton}.]

10 (return)
[ {trion}: omitted by some good MSS.]

11 (return)
[ See ii. 169.]

12 (return)
[ {alla kai tote uathesan ai Thebai psakadi}.]

13 (return)
[ The so-called {Leukon teikhon} on the south side of Memphis: cp. ch. 91.]

14 (return)
[ {omoios kai} omitting {a}.]

15 (return)
[ {pentakosias mneas}.]

16 (return)
[ {aneklaion}: perhaps {anteklaion}, which has most MS. authority, may be right, "answer their lamentations."]

17 (return)
[ See ch. 31.]

18 (return)
[ {egeomenon}: some Editors adopt the conjecture {agomenon}, "was being led."]

19 (return)
[ {sphi}: so in the MSS.: some editions (following the Aldine) have {oi}.]

20 (return)
[ {to te}: a correction for {tode}: some Editors read {tode, to}, "by this, namely by the case of," etc.]

21 (return)
[ "gypsum."]

22 (return)
[ {epi}, lit. "after."]

23 (return)
[ {leukon tetragonon}: so the MSS. Some Editors, in order to bring the statement of Herodotus into agreement with the fact, read {leukon ti trigonon}, "a kind of white triangle": so Stein.]

24 (return)
[ {epi}: this is altered unnecessarily by most recent Editors to {upo}, on the authority of Eusebius and Pliny, who say that the mark was under the tongue.]

25 (return)
[ {ekeino}: some understand this to refer to Cambyses, "that there was no one now who would come to the assistance of Cambyses, if he were in trouble," an office which would properly have belonged to Smerdis, cp. ch. 65: but the other reference seems more natural.]

26 (return)
[ Epilepsy or something similar.]

2601 (return)
[ Cp. note on i. 114.]

27 (return)
[ {pros ton patera [telesai] Kuron}: the word {telesai} seems to be corrupt. Stein suggests {eikasai}, "as compared with." Some Editors omit the word.]

28 (return)
[ {nomon panton basilea pheras einai}: but {nomos} in this fragment of Pindar is rather the natural law by which the strong prevail over the weak.]

29 (return)
[ {iakhon}: Stein reads by conjecture {skhon}, "having obtained possession."]

30 (return)
[ {mede}: Abicht reads {meden} by conjecture.]

31 (return)
[ {alla}, under the influence of the preceding negative.]

32 (return)
[ {prosson} refers grammatically only to {autos}, and marks the reference as being chiefly to himself throughout the sentence.]

33 (return)
[ {prorrizos}, "by the roots."]

34 (return)
[ {toi tesi pathesi}: the MSS. mostly have {toi autaisi} or {toiautaisi}.]

35 (return)
[ See i. 51.]

36 (return)
[ {es Aigupton epetheke}, "delivered it (to a messenger to convey) to Egypt."]

37 (return)
[ The island of Carpathos, the modern Scarpanto.]

38 (return)
[ {to thulako periergasthai}: which is susceptible of a variety of meanings. In a similar story told of the Chians the Spartans are made to say that it would have been enough to show the empty bag without saying anything. (Sext. Empir. ii. 23.) Probably the meaning here is that if they were going to say so much, they need not have shown the bag, for the words were enough without the sight of the bag: or it may be only that the words {o thulakos} were unnecessary in the sentence {o thulakos alphiton deitai}.]

39 (return)
[ See i. 70.]

40 (return)
[ {genee}. To save the chronology some insert {trite} before {genee}, but this will be useless unless the clause {kata de ton auton khronon tou kreteros te arpage} be omitted, as it is also proposed to do. Periander is thought to have died about 585 B.C.; but see v. 95.]

41 (return)
[ The MSS. add {eontes eoutoisi}, and apparently something has been lost. Stein and others follow Valckenär in adding {suggenees}, "are ever at variance with one another in spite of their kinship."]

42 (return)
[ {noo labon}: the MSS. have {now labon kai touto}.]

43 (return)
[ {iren zemien}.]

44 (return)
[ {tauta ta nun ekhon presseis}: the form of sentence is determined by its antithesis to {ta agatha ta nun ego ekho}.]

45 (return)
[ {basileus}, because already destined as his father's successor.]

46 (return)
[ {sphea}: the MSS. have {sphe} here, and in the middle of the next chapter.]

4601 (return)
[ The Lacedemonians who were not Dorians had of course taken part in the Trojan war.]

47 (return)
[ {leuka genetai}.]

48 (return)
[ {prutaneia}.]

49 (return)
[ {lokhon}.]

50 (return)
[ {prosiskhon}: some read {proseskhon}, "had put in."]

51 (return)
[ {kai ton tes Diktunes neon}: omitted by some Editors.]

52 (return)
[ {orguias}.]

53 (return)
[ {stadioi}.]

54 (return)
[ {kai}: the MSS. have {kata}.]

55 (return)
[ {en te gar anthropeie phusi ouk enen ara}.]

56 (return)
[ Or possibly, "the most necessary of those things which remain to be done, is this."]

57 (return)
[ {apistie polle upekekhuto}, cp. ii. 152.]

58 (return)
[ Or perhaps Phaidymia.]

59 (return)
[ {Gobrues} or {Gobrues}.]

60 (return)
[ {'Intaphrenea}: this form, which is given by at least one MS. throughout, seems preferable, as being closer to the Persian name which it represents, "Vindafrana," cp. v. 25. Most of the MSS. have {'Intaphernea}.]

61 (return)
[ {phthas emeu}.]

62 (return)
[ {ti}: some MSS. have {tis}, "in order that persons may trust (themselves) to them more."]

63 (return)
[ i.e. "let him be killed on the spot."]

64 (return)
[ {ta panta muria}, "ten thousand of every possible thing," (or, "of all the usual gifts"; cp. ch. 84 {ten pasan doreen}).]

65 (return)
[ {dethen}.]

66 (return)
[ {oideonton ton pregmaton}: "while things were swelling," cp. ch. 127: perhaps here, "before things came to a head."]

6601 (return)
[ {andreona}, as in ch. 121.]

67 (return)
[ {ana te edramon palin}, i.e. they ran back into the room out of which they had come to see what was the matter; with this communicated a bedchamber which had its light only by the open door of communication.]

6701 (return)
[ {magophonia}.]

68 (return)
[ Or, "after it had lasted more than five days," taking {thorubos} as the subject of {egeneto}. The reason for mentioning the particular number five seems to be contained in the passage quoted by Stein from Sextus Empiricus, {enteuphen kai oi Person kharientes nomon ekhousi, basileos par' autois teleutesantos pente tas ephexes emeras anomian agein}.]

69 (return)
[ See vi. 43.]

70 (return)
[ {isonomie}, "equal distribution," i.e. of civil rights.]

71 (return)
[ {ouden oikeion}: the MSS. have {ouden oud' oikeion}, which might be translated "anything of its own either."]

72 (return)
[ {to lego}: the MSS. have {ton lego}, "each of the things about which I speak being best in its own kind." The reading {to logo}, which certainly gives a more satisfactory meaning, is found in Stobæus, who quotes the passage.]

73 (return)
[ {kakoteta}, as opposed to the {arete} practised by the members of an aristocracy.]

74 (return)
[ {okto kaiebdomekonta mneas}: the MSS. have {ebdomekonta mneas} only, and this reading seems to have existed as early as the second century of our era: nevertheless the correction is required, not only by the facts of the case, but also by comparison with ch. 95.]

75 (return)
[ {nomos}, and so throughout.]

76 (return)
[ or "Hygennians."]

77 (return)
[ i.e. the Cappadokians, see i. 6.]

7701 (return)
[ See ii. 149.]

78 (return)
[ {muriadas}: the MSS. have {muriasi}. With {muriadas} we must supply {medimnon}. The {medimnos} is really about a bushel and a half.]

79 (return)
[ {Pausikai}: some MSS. have {Pausoi}.]

80 (return)
[ {tous anaspastous kaleomenous}.]

81 (return)
[ {Kaspioi}: some read by conjecture {Kaspeiroi}, others {Kasioi}.]

82 (return)
[ {ogdokonta kai oktakosia kai einakiskhilia}: the MSS. have {tesserakonta kai pentakosia kai einakiskhilia} (9540), which is irreconcilable with the total sum given below, and also with the sum obtained by adding up the separate items given in Babylonian talents, whether we reduce them by the proportion 70:60 given by the MSS. in ch. 89, or by the true proportion 78:60. On the other hand the total sum given below is precisely the sum of the separate items (after subtracting the 140 talents used for the defence of Kilikia), reduced in the proportion 78:60; and this proves the necessity of the emendation here ({thop} for {thphm}) as well as supplying a strong confirmation of that adopted in ch. 89.]

83 (return)
[ The reckoning throughout is in round numbers, nothing less than the tens being mentioned.]

84 (return)
[ {oi peri te Nusen}: perhaps this should be corrected to {oi te peri Nusen}, because the {sunamphoteroi} which follows seem to refer to two separate peoples.]

85 (return)
[ The passage "these Ethiopians—dwellings" is marked by Stein as doubtful on internal grounds. The Callantian Indians mentioned seem to be the same as the Callantians mentioned in ch. 38.]

86 (return)
[ {khoinikas}.]

87 (return)
[ {dia penteteridos}.]

88 (return)
[ i.e. the Indus.]

89 (return)
[ Either {auton tekomenon} is to be taken absolutely, equivalent to {autou tekomenou}, and {ta krea} is the subject of {diaphtheiresthai}; or {auton} is the subject and {ta krea} is accusative of definition, "wasting away in his flesh." Some MSS. have {diaphtheirein}, "that he is spoiling his flesh for them."]

90 (return)
[ {gar}: some would read {de}, but the meaning seems to be, "this is done universally, for in the case of weakness arising from old age, the same takes place."]

91 (return)
[ {pros arktou te kai boreo anemou}.]

92 (return)
[ This clause indicates the manner in which the size is so exactly known.]

93 (return)
[ {autoi}, i.e. in themselves as well as in their habits. Some MSS. read {to} for {autoi}, which is adopted by several Editors; others adopt the conjecture {autois}.]

94 (return)
[ i.e. two in each hind-leg.]

95 (return)
[ {kai paraluesthai}: {kai} is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.]

96 (return)
[ {ouk omou}: some Editors omit {ouk}: the meaning seems to be that in case of necessity they are thrown off one after another to delay the pursuing animals.]

97 (return)
[ The meaning of the passage is doubtful: possibly it should be translated (omitting {kai}) "the male camels, being inferior in speed to the females, flag in their course and are dragged along, first one and then the other."]

9701 (return)
[ See ii. 75.]

98 (return)
[ {metri}: the MSS. have {metre}, "womb," but for this Herod. seems to use the plural.]

99 (return)
[ {metera}: most MSS. have {metran}.]

100 (return)
[ Most of the MSS. have {auton} before {ta melea}, which by some Editors is omitted, and by others altered to {autika}. If {auton} is to stand it must be taken with {katapetomenas}, "flying down upon them," and so it is punctuated in the Medicean MS.]

101 (return)
[ {elkea}. There is a play upon the words {epelkein} and {elkea} which can hardly be reproduced in translation.]

102 (return)
[ {Kassiteridas}.]

103 (return)
[ {o kassiteros}.]

104 (return)
[ cp. iv. 13.]

105 (return)
[ {akinakea}.]

106 (return)
[ This is the second of the satrapies mentioned in the list, see ch. 90, named from its chief town. Oroites also possessed himself of the first satrapy, of which the chief town was Magnesia (ch. 122), and then of the third (see ch. 127).]

107 (return)
[ The satrapy of Daskyleion is the third in the list, see ch. 90.]

108 (return)
[ {su gar en andron logo}.]

109 (return)
[ Or, "banqueting hall," cp. iv. 95.]

110 (return)
[ {apestrammenon}: most of the MSS. have {epestrammenon}, "turned towards (the wall)."]

11001 (return)
[ "whenever he (i.e. Zeus) rained."]

111 (return)
[ This clause, "as Amasis the king of Egypt had foretold to him," is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.]

112 (return)
[ {oideonton eti ton pregmaton}: cp. ch. 76.]

113 (return)
[ i.e. satrapies: see ch. 89, 90.]

114 (return)
[ {apikomenon kai anakomisthenton}: the first perhaps referring to the slaves and the other to the rest of the property.]

115 (return)
[ i.e. the art of evasion.]

116 (return)
[ {es tou khrosou ten theken}: {es} is not in the MSS., which have generally {tou khrusou sun theke}: one only has {tou khrusou ten theken}.]

117 (return)
[ {stateras}: i.e. the {stater Dareikos} "Daric," worth about £1; cp. note on vii. 28.]

118 (return)
[ {ekaton mneon}, "a hundred minae," of which sixty go to the talent.]

119 (return)
[ This passage, from "for this event happened" to the end of the chapter, is suspected as an interpolation by some Editors, on internal grounds.]

120 (return)
[ Tarentum. Italy means for Herodotus the southern part of the peninsula only.]

121 (return)
[ {restones}: so one inferior MS., probably by conjectural emendation: the rest have {krestones}. The Ionic form however of {rastone} would be {reistone}. Some would read {khrestones}, a word which is not found, but might mean the same as {kresmosunes} (ix. 33), "in consequence of the request of Demokedes."]

122 (return)
[ {kat' emporien strateuomenoi}: some MSS. read {kat' emporien, oi de strateuomenoi}, "some for trade, others serving in the army."]

123 (return)
[ {prothura}.]

124 (return)
[ {e tis e oudeis}.]

125 (return)
[ {isonomien}: see ch. 80, note.]

126 (return)
[ {all' oud' axios eis su ge}. Maiandrios can claim no credit or reward for giving up that of which by his own unworthiness he would in any case have been deprived.]

127 (return)
[ {ou de ti}: some read {oud' eti} or {ou de eti}, "no longer kept the purpose."]

128 (return)
[ {en gorgure}: the word also means a "sewer" or "conduit."]

129 (return)
[ {prosempikraneesthai emellon toisi Samioisi}.]

130 (return)
[ {tous diphrophoreumenous}: a doubtful word: it seems to be a sort of title belonging to Persians of a certain rank, perhaps those who were accompanied by men to carry seats for them, the same as the {thronoi} mentioned in ch. 144; or, "those who were borne in litters."]

131 (return)
[ {sageneusantes}: see vi. 31. The word is thought by Stein to have been interpolated here.]

132 (return)
[ Or, "are very highly accounted and tend to advancement."]

133 (return)
[ "opposite to."]

134 (return)
[ The words "and to the Persians" are omitted in some MSS.]











The Histories of Herodotus