The Histories

Book 5 Notes



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Notes To Book V


1 (return)
[ {ie paion} (or {paian}), as the burden of a song of triumph.]

2 (return)
[ {eggenetai}: many MSS. and some Editors read {en genetai}, "and the race can never become united."]

3 (return)
[ iv. 93.]

301 (return)
[ Or "from the time that he was born."]

4 (return)
[ {to astikton} is probably for {to me estikhthai}: but possibly the meaning may be, "those who are not so marked are of low birth."]

5 (return)
[ "the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat in proportion" (as it is more difficult).]

6 (return)
[ Or "Siriopaionians."]

7 (return)
[ The words "and about the Doberians and Agrianians and Odomantians" are marked by Stein as an interpolation, on the ground that the two tribes first mentioned are themselves Paionian; but Doberians are distinguished from Paionians in vii. 113.]

8 (return)
[ {theres katarraktes}: the MSS. have {thures katapaktes} (which can hardly be right, since the Ionic form would be {katapektes}), meaning "fastened down." Stein suggests {thures katepaktes} (from {katepago}), which might mean "a door closed downwards," but the word is not found. (The Medicean MS. has {e} written over the last {a} of {katapaktes}.)]

9 (return)
[ {diapinontes}: or perhaps, "drinking against one another."]

10 (return)
[ See viii. 137.]

11 (return)
[ i.e. "he was drawn to run in the first pair."]

12 (return)
[ The best MSS. give this form throughout, which is also used by Æschylus: cp. iii. 70, note 60.]

13 (return)
[ {ekakothesan}.]

14 (return)
[ {toutou}: it is doubtful whether this means his power or his death. Perhaps something has dropped out after {teleuta}.]

15 (return)
[ {anesis}: a conjectural emendation of {aneos}. (Perhaps however, the word was rather {ananeosis}, "after a short time there was a renewal of evils"). Grote wishes to translate this clause, "after a short time there was an abatement of evils," being of opinion that the {anesis kakon} lasted about eight years. However the expression {ou pollon khronon} is so loose that it might well cover the required period of time.]

16 (return)
[ {praskhema}.]

17 (return)
[ i.e. Miletos and Naxos.]

18 (return)
[ {ton pakheon}.]

1801 (return)
[ {umin}: omitted in some MSS. and editions.]

19 (return)
[ Lit. "dividing him in such a manner."]

20 (return)
[ {kai to teikhos esaxanto}: {esaxanto} from {satto}, which generally means "load." Various conjectures have been made, e.g. {kai to teikhos ephraxanto}, or {kata takhos esaxanto}, the comma after {pota} being removed.]

2001 (return)
[ {me de neoteron ti poieuses tes Miletou}, "if Miletos made no change (i.e. rebellion)."]

21 (return)
[ {katairetheie}, "taken down" from their place (cp. {anetheke} below).]

22 (return)
[ {en to peoto ton logon}. The reference is to i. 92.]

23 (return)
[ {isonomien}: cp. iii. 80.]

24 (return)
[ {akromantes}: cp. {akrakholos}. It may mean "somewhat mad," so {akrozumos}, "slightly leavened," and other words.]

25 (return)
[ {Kinupa}: for this Stein reads by conjecture {Aibuen} and afterwards {para Kinupa potamon} for {para potamon}: but Kinyps was the name of the district about the river (iv. 198), and the name of the river is easily supplied from this.]

26 (return)
[ {Makeon te kai Libuon}. The Macai were of course Libyans, therefore perhaps we should read (with Niebuhr) {Makeon te Libuon}: or {Makeon te kai allon Libuon}.]

27 (return)
[ Stein thinks that Heracleia Minoa on the S. coast of Sicily cannot be meant, because too distant to be considered part of the "land of Eryx." Evidently however this expression is very vague, and there seems no need to correct the text as he proposes.]

28 (return)
[ {para ten Italion}: the name applied anciently only to the South-West of the peninsula.]

29 (return)
[ {Krathin}, the MSS. give {krastin} here, and {krastie} below for {Krathie}. Sybaris was situated between the rivers Crathis and Sybaris.]

30 (return)
[ i.e. "of the Market-place."]

31 (return)
[ {periodos}.]

32 (return)
[ {kurbasias}: see vii. 64.]

33 (return)
[ {poluargurotatoi}: this seems to include gold also, for which Lydia was famous.]

34 (return)
[ {poluprobatotatoi}.]

35 (return)
[ {tende}, pointing to it in the map.]

36 (return)
[ If {anaballesthai} is the true reading here, it cannot mean, "put off to another time," as Stein translates it; for the form of the sentence proves that it is to be taken as a question, co-ordinate with that which follows: {peri men khores ara ou polles khreon esti umeas makhas anaballesthai, parekhon de tes Asies arkhein allo ti airesesthe}; the first clause being in sense subordinate to the second.]

37 (return)
[ {es triten emeren}.]

38 (return)
[ {diaphthereei se}. It is impossible to reproduce the double meaning of {diaphtheirein}, "to destroy," and "to corrupt with bribes." The child was apparently alarmed by the vehement gestures of Aristagoras and supposed that he was going to kill her father. Cleomenes accepts the omen.]

39 (return)
[ {stathmoi}: "stations," the distance between them averaging here about 120 stades.]

40 (return)
[ {parasaggai}: the "parasang," as estimated at 30 stades, would be nearly 3½ English miles.]

4001 (return)
[ i.e. a narrow pass; so also below in speaking of the passes into Kilikia.]

41 (return)
[ In the MSS. this clause follows the account of the four rivers, and the distance through Matiene is given as "four stages" with no number of leagues added. By transposing the clause we avoid placing the rivers in Armenia instead of Matiene; and by making the number of stages thirty-four, with a corresponding number of leagues, we make the total right at the end and give the proper extension to Matiene.]

42 (return)
[ i.e. Zabatos: the name has perhaps fallen out of the text.]

43 (return)
[ {o d' usteron}: "the one mentioned afterwards." Stein reads {o d' usteros}.]

44 (return)
[ See i. 189.]

45 (return)
[ {parasagges}.]

46 (return)
[ {stadia}: the stade being equal to 606¾ English feet.]

47 (return)
[ Reckoned for the march of an army.]

48 (return)
[ Omitting {to eoutou pathei} which stands in the MSS. before {enargestaten}. If the words are retained, we must translate "which clearly pointed to his fate."]

49 (return)
[ {apeipamenos ten opsin}, which some translate "he made offerings to avert the dream."]

4901 (return)
[ {tisi}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {trisi}, three.]

50 (return)
[ {anetheken eon}: various conjectures have been made here, e.g. {anetheken elon}, {anetheken ion}, {anetheke theo}, {anetheken eont}, {anetheke neon}: the last, which is Bentley's, is perhaps the best; but it is doubtful whether the active form of the verb is admissible.]

51 (return)
[ {autos}: the MSS. have {auton}. If {autos} is right, the meaning is "from his own property."]

52 (return)
[ The expression {Peisistratidai} is used loosely for the family in general.]

53 (return)
[ {porinou lithou}, "tufa."]

5301 (return)
[ Or "of God."]

54 (return)
[ {Koniaion}. There is no such place as Conion known in Thessaly, but we cannot correct the text with any certainty.]

55 (return)
[ There is perhaps a play of words in {basileus} and {leuster}.]

56 (return)
[ {prutaneio}.]

57 (return)
[ "Rulers of the people."]

58 (return)
[ "Swine-ites."]

59 (return)
[ "Ass-ites."]

60 (return)
[ "Pig-ites."]

61 (return)
[ {proteron aposmenon, tote panta}: most of the MSS. read {panton} for {panta}. The Editors propose various corrections, e.g. {proteron apospenon panton, tote k.t.l.}, "which before were excluded from everything," or {proteron apospenon, tote panton metadidous}, "giving the people, which before he had despised, a share of all rights": or {panton} is corrected to {epanion}, "on his return from exile," temporary exile being supposed as the result of the defeat mentioned in ch. 66.]

62 (return)
[ {tous enageas}.]

63 (return)
[ i.e. of Athene Polias in the Erechtheion.]

64 (return)
[ Cp. iv. 145.]

6401 (return)
[ {tous boethous}: most of the MSS. have {tous Boiotous}.]

65 (return)
[ {ippobotai}.]

66 (return)
[ {dimneos apotimesamenoi}.]

67 (return)
[ See viii. 53.]

68 (return)
[ {isegorin}: probably not "equal freedom of speech," but practically the same as {isonomie}, ch. 37.]

69 (return)
[ Lit. "penetrated the Athenian greatly": most MSS. and Editors read {esineonto} (or {esinonto}) for {esikneonto}, which is given by the first hand in at least two good MSS.]

70 (return)
[ i.e. "Athene (protectress) of the city," who shared with Erechtheus the temple on the Acropolis called the "Erechtheion"; see viii. 55.]

71 (return)
[ More lit. "to give and receive from one another satisfaction."]

72 (return)
[ {eti tode poiesai nomon einai, para sphisi ekateroisi k.t.l.} The Editors punctuate variously, and alterations have been proposed in the text.]

73 (return)
[ i.e. Damia and Auxesia.]

74 (return)
[ {ginoito}: some MSS. read {an ginoito}, "would become": so Stein and many other Editors.]

75 (return)
[ Some Editors omit this clause, "whither—refuge."]

76 (return)
[ "having grown a good opinion of itself."]

7601 (return)
[ Or, altering {oste} to {os ge} or {osper}, "as the neighbours of these men first of all, that is the Boeotians and Chalkidians, have already learnt, and perhaps some others will afterwards learn that they have committed an error." The word {amarton} would thus be added as an afterthought, with reference primarily to the Corinthians, see ch. 75.]

77 (return)
[ {peiresometha spheas ama umin apikomenoi tisasthai}: some MSS. read {akeomenoi} and omit {tisasthai}. Hence it has been proposed to read {peisesometha sphea ama umin akeomenoi}, "we will endeavour to remedy this with your help," which may be right.]

78 (return)
[ So the name is given by the better class of MSS. Others, followed by most Editors, make it "Sosicles."]

79 (return)
[ {isokratias}.]

80 (return)
[ Lit. "gave and took (in marriage) from one another."]

81 (return)
[ {Eetion, outis se tiei polutiton eonta}: the play upon {Eetion} and {tio} can hardly be rendered. The "rolling rock" in the next line is an allusion to Petra, the name of the deme.]

82 (return)
[ {aietos en petresi kuei}, with a play upon the names {Eetion} ({Aeton}) and {Petre} again.]

83 (return)
[ {ophruoenta}, "situated on a brow or edge," the regular descriptive epithet of Corinth.]

84 (return)
[ {kupselen}: cp. Aristoph. Pax, 631.]

85 (return)
[ {amphidexion}: commonly translated "ambiguous," but in fact the oracle is of the clearest, so much so that Abicht cuts the knot by inserting {ouk}. Stein explains it to mean "doubly favourable," {amphoterothen dexion}. I understand it to mean "two-edged" (cp. {amphekes}), in the sense that while promising success to Kypselos and his sons, it prophesies also the deposition of the family in the generation after, and so acts (or cuts) both ways.]

86 (return)
[ {anapodizon}, "calling him back over the same ground again."]

87 (return)
[ Evidently the war must be dated earlier than the time of Peisistratos.]

8701 (return)
[ Or (according to some MSS.), "another of the citizens, named Hermophantos."]

88 (return)
[ {tes sulloges oste tauta sunuphanthenai}, "the assembling together so that these things were woven."]

89 (return)
[ {kai allos lematos pleos}.]

90 (return)
[ {plospheresteron}, or perhaps {plopheresteron}, "to be preferred"; so one MS.: {plospheres} ordinarily means "like."]

91 (return)
[ {drepano}, cp. vii. 93.]

92 (return)
[ {delade}, ironical.]

93 (return)
[ Or, "Labranda."]

94 (return)
[ i.e. Carians, Persians, and Ionians.]

95 (return)
[ {en Pedaso}: the MSS. vary between {en Pidaso, epi daso}, and {epi lasoisi}, and Valla's translation has "in viam quae in Mylassa fert." Some Editors read {epi Mulasoisi}, others {epi Pedaso}.]

96 (return)
[ {egkerasamenos pregmata megala}.]

97 (return)
[ {andros logopoiou}.]











The Histories of Herodotus