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希罗多德
希罗多德的历史
由GC Macaulay翻译成英文
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前言 GC 麦考利 •1,200字

如果希罗多德的新译本不能自圆其说,那么它在序言中就很难自圆其说。因此,是否需要的问题可以留在这里,不予讨论。译者的首要目标是忠实——忠实于表达方式、句子结构以及作者的意思。与此同时,人们认为,希罗多德的自由和多样性并不总是能通过如此严格的一致的翻译来最好地再现,而这对于他之前的史诗作家和之后的哲学作家来说也许是可取的:他的简单性也不能再得到最好的再现。思想和偶尔的奇特事物以古式语言的形式再现;这不仅是因为古式风格的矫揉造作必然会冒犯读者,而且还因为希罗多德的语言并不古式。他的风格是“爱奥尼亚语语言的最佳经典”,但其特点与其说是原始的纯粹性,不如说是折衷的多样性。同时,它的特点主要是史诗和悲剧作家的诗意措辞。尽管译者可以自由地运用现代英语的所有资源,但只要他能掌握这些资源,他就必须小心翼翼地保留这种诗意色彩,并无论如何避免使用希罗多德风格经常被使用的宫廷用语。变得“更加高贵”。[331][参见 P.-L 的评论。信使(拉彻的版本)在他的希罗多德新译本样本的序言中(P.-L 作品集。导游,布鲁塞尔,1828 年)。]

至于本译本的文本,它是基于斯坦因的批评版(柏林,1869-1871)的文本,也就是说,那里对权威的比较价值的估计已被总体接受。作为一个公正的,而不是贬低 Medicean MS 的价值。以及它所属的类。另一方面,斯坦因提出的推测性修正很少被采纳,而且他的文本在许多其他情况下也有所偏离,这些情况大部分都记录在注释中。

看来即使在斯坦因重新整理美第奇 MS 之后。一些学者提出质疑[332][先生。例如,伍兹在他的第一本书版本(1873 年出版)中列出了第一本书和第二本书的阅读清单,其中他几乎总是更喜欢格罗诺维乌斯的权威而不是斯坦因的权威,因为他们的报告有所不同。在这样做时,他在所有情况下都是错误的(我认为),除了一种情况,即我。 134 {到 degomeno}。经检查,他在 i 中是错误的。 189、MS所在。有{touto},i。 196 {an agesthai},i。 199 {odon},二。 15 {te de},二。 95 {向上自动},ii。 103 {kai protata},二。 124 {to addo}(没有 {dao}),ii. 181 {否}。 Abicht 还做出了一些不准确的陈述,例如 185,其中 MS.有{es to Euphreten},和vii。 133 {薛西斯}。] 至于这本MS的某些地方的真实阅读,这是普遍认为是最重要的,我认为在所有那些出现与译者有关的文本问题的段落中亲自检查它是正确的,即几乎在总共五百个地方;当结果值得观察时,会记录在笔记中。同时,在Stein博士的建议下,我重新整理了MS中第三本书的很大一部分。通常称为F(即Florentinus),由Stein C命名,我检查了这个MS。也有一些其他地方。应该理解的是,我在笔记中的任何地方都提到了任何特定 MS 的阅读。名义上,我是凭自己的权力这样做的。

这些笔记被限制在一个相当小的圆规内。其目的是,首先,在文本有疑问的情况下,表明译者采用的阅读方式以及任何其他看似具有合理可能性的阅读方式,但未经权威机构讨论;其次,在翻译不完全字面意思的情况下(以及在其他情况下似乎需要的情况),引用原文或给出更字面的版本;第三,在对真实含义有疑问的情况下添加替代版本;最后,偶尔给出一个简短的解释,或者从作者的一段话到另一段话的引用。

对于专有名称的正字法,可以参考索引前缀的注释。没有采用一致的制度,因此结果在许多细节上会受到批评;但其目的一方面是为了避免迂腐地严重改变那些在英语文学语言中相当确立的名称形式,以区别于学术名称,另一方面是为了避免寻求拉丁语的荒谬性。而不是用希腊语来拼写那些尚未确定的名称。无意提出任何关于发音的理论。

希望专有名称索引比迄今为止发布的索引更加完整和准确。我发现我所熟悉的最好的作品有很多错误和遗漏[333][例如,在斯坦因注释版(柏林,1882年)所附的专有名称索引中,我有义务对此进行检查,并通过它检查了我自己的版本,我发现我已经标记了超过两百个错误或疏忽:毫无疑问我被它从至少同样多的人手中救了出来。] 我被迫从头开始做这项工作。在一万多篇参考文献中,很可能会有错误,但我相信错误会很少。

我首先要感谢斯坦因博士,感谢他的批判性工作,也感谢他最出色的评论,这些评论一直在我身边。此后,我大部分使用了 Krüger、Bähr、Abicht 和(前两本书)Mr. Woods 的版本。至于翻译,我在修改自己的作品时,已经看过罗林森的译本,我也偶尔参考利特伯里的译本(就风格而言,也许是最好的英文版本,但充满了严重的错误)、泰勒和拉彻的译本。在第二本书中我也使用了朗先生重印的BR版本:这个译本的第一本书我只能看到几年前写的一个片段,当时大英博物馆就在我的触手可及的地方。其他特殊义务在注释中得到确认。

前言注释 •200字
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[331] [参见 P.-L 的评论。信使(拉彻的版本)在他的希罗多德新译本样本的序言中(P.-L 作品集。导游,布鲁塞尔,1828 年)。]

[332] [先生。例如,伍兹在他的第一本书版本(1873 年出版)中列出了第一本书和第二本书的阅读清单,其中他几乎总是更喜欢格罗诺维乌斯的权威而不是斯坦因的权威,因为他们的报告有所不同。在这样做时,他在所有情况下都是错误的(我认为),除了一种情况,即我。 134 {到 degomeno}。经检查,他在 i 中是错误的。 189、MS所在。有{touto},i。 196 {an agesthai},i。 199 {odon},二。 15 {te de},二。 95 {向上自动},ii。 103 {kai protata},二。 124 {to addo}(没有 {dao}),ii. 181 {否}。 Abicht 还做出了一些不准确的陈述,例如 185,其中 MS.有{es to Euphreten},和vii。 133 {薛西斯}。]

[333] [例如,在斯坦因注释版(柏林,1882年)所附的专有名称索引中,我有义务对此进行检查,并通过它检查了我自己的版本,我发现我已经标记了超过两百个错误或疏忽:毫无疑问我被它从至少同样多的人手中救了出来。]

第一卷

第一卷 • 第一部历史书,名为《克利奥》 •47,800字

这是希罗多德对哈利卡纳索斯的探究的展示,其目的是[1][{'Erodotou 'Alikarnesseos istories apodexis ede, os ktl} {istorie} 这个词的含义逐渐从“研究”或“探究”转变为“叙述”、“历史”; cp。七. 96. 亚里士多德在引用这些话时将 {Thouriou} 写为 {'Alikarnesseos}(“Thurii 的希罗多德”),我们从普鲁塔克那里得知,这种解读在他的时代作为一种变体存在。 人的行为不会随着时间的流逝而被遗忘,作品也不会被遗忘。[2][可能{erga}在这里可能意味着像金字塔和萨摩斯岛的作品这样不朽的纪念碑,cp。我。 93,二。 35等;在这种情况下,{ta te alla} 又指的是 {ta Genomena},尽管动词 {epolemesan} 的主语源自前一条款中提到的希腊人和野蛮人。] 伟大而奇妙的作品,有些是由希腊人创作的,有些是由野蛮人创作的,可能会失去声誉。尤其是要记住这些人相互发动战争的原因。

1. 那些了解历史的波斯人宣称,腓尼基人首先挑起了这场争吵。他们说,这些东西是从所谓的厄立特里亚海来到我们这里的。他们在现在仍然居住的土地上定居下来后,立即开始了海上长途航行。他们运送埃及和亚述的货物到达其他地方,也到达阿尔戈斯。那时,阿尔戈斯在所有方面都是现在称为希腊的那片土地上的第一个国家;腓尼基人当时到达了阿尔戈斯这片土地,并开始处理他们船上的货物:第五天或第六天他们到达后,当他们的货物几乎全部卖完时,有一大群妇女来到海边,其中有国王的女儿。正如希腊人也同意的那样,她的名字是伊那科斯的女儿伊俄。这些站在船尾附近的人正在购买他们最喜欢的商品,突然,腓尼基人互相传递消息,冲向他们。大部分妇女逃跑了,但艾欧和其他一些人被带走了。于是他们把他们送上船,立即起程前往埃及。

2. 波斯人以这种方式报告伊娥来到了埃及,但与希腊人的观点不同,[3][许多编辑都“与腓尼基人”有关,一些下级MSS的权威。和阿尔丁版本。] 他们说这是错误的开始。然后,他们说,此后,某些希腊人(但他们无法报告这些人的名字)进入腓尼基的提尔城,并带走了国王的女儿欧罗巴;——这些人无疑是克里特岛人;——所以他们因之前的伤病而退出。然而,在此之后,他们说,希腊人是第二个错误的制造者。他们乘一艘战船航行到科尔基斯的艾亚和法西斯河,在完成了他们来此的其他任务之后,他们掳走了国王的女儿美狄亚:科尔基斯国王派了一个传令官前往希腊,要求赔偿强奸罪并归还他的女儿;但他们回答说,由于野蛮人没有因强奸阿尔戈斯人艾欧而满足他们的要求,因此他们也不会为此满足野蛮人的要求。

3. 他们说,在这之后的下一代,普里阿摩斯的儿子亚历山大听到这些事情后,想通过暴力为自己娶一个妻子[4][{arpages}。] 来自希腊的人,完全确信他不会被迫为这一错误做出任何补偿,因为希腊人没有为他们的错误做出任何补偿。于是他掳走了海伦,希腊人决定首先派出使者,要求她归还,并为强奸行为感到满意。当他们提出这一要求时,其他人向他们声称美狄亚被强奸了,说希腊人现在希望得到别人的满足,尽管他们自己没有给予任何满足,也没有在提出要求时交出这个人。

4. 他们说,到目前为止,除了双方妇女被带走之外,没有发生任何其他事情;但此后,希腊人就受到了极大的谴责。因为他们树立了战争的第一个榜样,在野蛮人入侵欧洲之前远征亚洲。现在他们说,根据他们的判断,强行掳走妇女虽然是错误的行为,但一心要报复被强奸的妇女则是愚蠢的行为,明智的做法是当她们被强行带走时不予理睬。被带走;因为很明显,如果他们自己不愿意去的话,他们永远不会被带走。波斯人说,他们,即亚洲人,当他们的妇女被武力掳走时,已经把这件事当作无关紧要的事情了,但希腊人却因为拉栖代梦的一个女人聚集了一支强大的武器,然后来了前往亚洲并摧毁了普里阿摩斯的统治;从那时起,他们一直认为希腊人是他们的敌人:波斯人声称亚洲和居住在那里的野蛮人属于他们。但他们认为欧洲和希腊种族与他们分离。

5. 波斯人则说事情是这样发生的;他们得出的结论是,他们与希腊人的争吵是因为夺取了伊利昂而开始的:但就伊利昂而言,腓尼基人并不同意波斯人这样讲述这个故事;因为他们否认他们用暴力手段把她带到了埃及,另一方面他们又说,当他们在阿尔戈斯时,她与船长关系密切,并意识到她怀有身孕,她羞于承认她把这件事告诉了她的父母,因此她自愿与腓尼基人一起航行,以免被发现。这些是波斯人和腓尼基人分别讲述的故事:关于这些事情,我不会说它们是这样或这样发生的,[401][“因此或以其他特定方式。”] 但是,当我指出了据我所知首先开始对希腊人犯下错误的人时,我将进一步讲述这个故事,对人类的城市进行描述,无论大小:对于那些在过去伟大的时代大部分都变得渺小,而那些在我那个时代伟大的时代在过去却变得渺小:所以,既然我知道人类的繁荣永远不会持续稳定,我将漠不关心地提及两者。

6. 克洛伊索斯是吕底亚人,是阿利亚特斯的儿子,也是居住在哈利斯河这一边的民族的统治者。哪条河从南方流过叙利亚人之间[5][{Surion},参见第 72 章。 104. 希罗多德也许是为了区分 {Surioi} 和 {Suroi},并使用第一个名称来表示卡帕多克人,第二个名称来表示巴勒斯坦人民,cp。二. XNUMX;但他们在MSS中自然会感到困惑。] 帕夫拉戈尼亚人则迎着北风进入那片被称为黑海的海。这个克洛伊索斯,首先是我们所了解的野蛮人,他征服了某些希腊人并强迫他们纳贡,同时他又征服了其他人并与他们成为朋友。他所征服的有爱奥尼亚人、艾奥利亚人以及居住在亚洲的多利安人。他的朋友是拉栖代梦人。但在克洛伊索斯统治之前,所有希腊人都是自由的。因为在克洛伊索斯时代之前,基莫里安人的远征就来到了爱奥尼亚,这并不是对城市的征服,而只是一次掠夺入侵。[6][{ex epidromes arpage}.]

7. 现在,属于赫拉克勒斯家族的至高无上的权力以下列方式落到了克罗伊索斯家族,即梅尔纳代:——坎道莱斯,希腊人称之为米尔西洛斯,是萨迪斯的统治者,是赫拉克勒斯之子阿尔卡俄斯的后裔:阿格隆是赫拉克勒代家族中第一位成为萨迪斯国王的人,尼诺斯是尼诺斯的儿子,尼诺斯是贝洛斯的儿子,阿尔卡奥斯是阿尔卡奥斯的儿子。但在阿格隆德之前统治这片土地的国王都是阿提斯之子吕多斯的后裔,因此整个国家被称为吕底亚人,之前被称为梅奥尼亚人。赫拉克勒斯是赫拉克勒斯和伊阿达诺斯女仆的后裔,他们凭借神谕获得了政府。他们统治了两二十代人,五百零五年,权力从父亲传给儿子,直到米尔索斯的儿子克兰道尔斯时代。

8. 当时我所说的坎道莱斯已经深深地爱上了他自己的妻子。变得如此后,他认为他的妻子比所有其他女人都美丽得多。因此,我认为,对于达斯凯罗斯的儿子盖格斯(因为他是所有长枪手中最令他满意的),我说,他过去常常向这个盖格斯传授他的事务中更重要的部分,也传授他的美丽。妻子对它赞不绝口:不久之后,由于坎道莱斯注定要遭受不幸,他对盖格斯说道:“盖格斯,我想当我告诉你坎道莱斯的美丽时,你不会相信我。”我的妻子,因为男人的耳朵不像他们的眼睛那样容易相信:因此,想办法让你可以看到她的裸体。但他大声喊道:“主人,你说这是什么愚昧的话,叫我看我情妇的裸体?当一个女人脱掉外衣时,她也脱掉了她的谦虚。此外,自古以来,人们就发现了那些美丽的格言,我们应该从中学习智慧。其中之一是,每个男人都应该自己看:但我确实相信她是所有女人中最美丽的,我恳求你不要向我要求我做不合法的事情。

9. 他拒绝说出这些话,担心这会带来一些祸害。但国王这样回答他:“古吉斯,你要鼓起勇气,不要害怕我,因为我说这些话是为了考验你,也不要害怕我的妻子,以免她对你造成任何伤害。因为我会从一开始就设法让她甚至不会意识到她已经被你看到了。我会把你安置在我们睡觉的房间里,在开着的门后面;[7][{tes anoigomenes thures},“门打开了。”] 我进去之后,我的妻子也会来躺下。现在靠近房间入口处有一个座位,她将衣服一件一件脱下来放在上面。这样你就可以从容地凝视她了。当她从椅子上走到床上时,你就在她背后,那么你就得小心,当你进门时,不要让她看到你。”

10. 然后,他因为无法回避,就同意了:当坎道莱斯认为该休息的时候,他把吉吉斯带到了房间。紧接着,那个女人也出现了。她进来后,当她放下衣服时,盖吉斯看着她。当她背对着他,走到床边时,他就从藏身之处溜走了,向前走去。当他出去的时候,女人看见了他,看出她丈夫所做的事,虽然感到羞愧,却没有喊叫,[8][或者“因为她感到羞耻。”] 但她装作没有意识到这件事,意在向坎道莱斯报仇:因为在吕底亚人和大多数其他野蛮人中,即使是男人赤身裸体也是一种耻辱。

11. 正如我所说,当时她保持沉默,没有做出任何外在的迹象。天一亮,她就准备好她认为最亲近的仆人,然后派人去召见盖吉斯。然后,他没想到她已经知道所做的一切,就应她的召唤前来了。因为他以前已经习惯了去[9][{佛坦}。] 每当女王召唤他时。当盖吉斯到来时,女人对他说了这些话:“盖吉斯,现在有两条路可供你选择,我让你选择两条路中的哪一条。要么你必须杀死坎道勒斯并拥有我和吕底亚王国,要么你自己必须当场被杀,这样你将来就不会因在所有事情上服从坎道勒斯而看到你不应该看到的东西。要么制定这个计划的人必须死,要么你这个赤身裸体地看着我并做出不合法的事情的人。”有一段时间,盖吉斯对这些话感到惊讶,后来他开始恳求她不要强迫他做出这样的选择:然而,他无法说服她,但看到事实确实如此。在他面前,要么杀死他的主人,要么被别人杀死,他选择了自己活下去。他进一步询问道:“既然你强迫我违背自己的意愿取走我主人的性命,那么请让我听听你的意见,我们应该采取什么方式对他下手。”她回答说:“尝试就是从他展示我裸体的地方开始的;我们会趁他睡着的时候按手在他身上。”

12. 因此,在他们准备好阴谋之后,当夜幕降临时(因为盖格斯没有被释放,他也没有任何逃脱的办法,但他必须要么自己被杀,要么杀死坎道莱斯),他跟随女人到了卧室;她给了他一把匕首,并把他藏在同一扇门后面。后来,当坎道莱斯正在睡觉时,吉吉斯偷偷走到他身边[10][{upeisdus}:斯坦因采用了猜想{upekdus},“从他的藏身处溜出来了。”] 并杀死了他,他获得了他的妻子和王国。此外,生活在当时的帕里斯人阿基洛科斯在一首三步抑扬格诗中提到了他。[11][这最后一句话被许多人视为插值。所提及的线路是 {Ou moi ta Gugeo tou polukhrosou melei}。]

13. 然而,他获得了王国,并通过德尔菲的神谕得到了加强。因为当吕底亚人因坎道莱斯的命运而愤怒并武装起来时,吉吉斯的追随者和其他吕底亚人为此签订了一项条约,如果神谕给出答复,他将成为吕底亚人的国王。吕底亚人,他应该成为国王,如果不是,他应该将权力归还给赫拉克勒斯的儿子们。于是神谕给出了答案,古吉斯相应地成为了国王。然而皮提亚女先知也说了这样的话,对赫拉克勒代人的复仇应该降临到古吉斯第五代的后裔身上。在这个神谕真正实现之前,吕底亚人和他们的国王并没有考虑到这一神谕。

14. 因此,梅尔纳代人驱逐了赫拉克勒代人,获得了政府:盖吉斯当他成为统治者时,向德尔斐送去了不少还愿祭品,因为在德尔斐的所有银祭品中,他的数量比任何其他人都多。 ;除了白银之外,他还献上了大量的黄金,尤其是一件比其他的更值得一提的祭品,即六个金搅拌碗,作为他的礼物奉献在那里:其中的重量为三十他连得,它们位于科林斯人的国库中(尽管事实上这个国库并不属于科林斯人的国家,而是属于埃提翁之子基普塞洛斯的国库)。[12][见第 92 节。] 据我们所知,这个吉吉斯是第一个在德尔斐献祭的野蛮人,只有弗里吉亚国王戈尔迪亚斯的儿子迈达斯献祭,他坐在王位上,在所有人面前决定事情;这个宝座非常值得一看,它与古吉斯的碗放在同一个地方。吉吉斯奉献的这些金银被德尔菲人称为“吉吉安”,以提供它的人的名字命名。

现在吉吉斯也,[13][即像他之后的其他吕底亚国王一样。] 他一登基,就率军进攻米利托斯和士麦那,并占领了下城科洛丰:[14][{Kolophonos to astu},显然与卫城相反,cp。八. 51.] 但他在长达八年三十年的统治期间没有做出任何其他伟大的事迹,因此我们将略过他,不再提及其他内容,

15,我现在要讲的是盖格斯的儿子阿迪斯,他继盖格斯之后成为国王。他占领了普里埃内并入侵了米利托斯。当他统治萨迪斯时,基米里亚人被游牧的斯基泰人驱逐出他们的住所,来到亚洲,占领了萨迪斯,除了城堡之外。

16. 当阿迪斯当国王九四十年时,他的儿子萨迪亚特斯继承了他的王国,统治了十二年。在他之后是阿利亚特斯。这最后一次对德伊奥克斯的后裔基亚克萨雷斯和米底人发动了战争,[15][参见第 73 章。 XNUMX.] 他把基米利安人赶出了亚洲,夺取了从科洛丰建立起来的士麦那,并入侵了克拉佐梅奈。从此之后,他并没有如愿归来,而是带着巨大的损失:然而,在他的统治期间,他还做了其他一些非常值得一提的事迹,如下:

17. 他与米利托斯的人进行了战争,因为他从父亲那里继承了这场战争:因为他过去常常以下列方式入侵他们的土地并围攻米利托斯:每当土地上有成熟的庄稼时,他就率领一支军队当他到达米利都土地时,他既没有拆毁田野里的房屋,也没有放火焚烧它们。也不拆毁他们的门,让他们保持原样。然而,他摧毁了土地上的树木和庄稼,然后从他来的路上离开了:因为米利托斯人掌握了海洋,所以他的军队封锁他们是没有用的:他他放弃了拆除房屋,以便米利都人在播种和耕种土地时可以有地方居住,并在入侵时通过他们的劳动来破坏一些东西。

18. 就这样,他继续与他们交战十一年。在这些年里,米利都人遭受了两次巨大的失败,一次是在他们自己的土地上的利梅尼翁地区的一场战斗中,另一次是在迈安德平原上。现在,阿迪斯的儿子萨迪亚特斯在这十一年中有六年仍然是吕底亚人的统治者,他在上述时期经常入侵米利托斯的土地。[16][{o kai esballon tenikauta es ten Milesien ten stratien}:显然是指在收获季节对米利都土地的入侵,如上所述。上一章中提到的所有操作都已向阿利亚特斯进行了粗略的描述,这里添加了更正,以告知读者它们同样属于他的父亲。如果我们在第 17 章中采用 {o Audos},这几乎不会解决问题。 XNUMX 包括父亲和儿子。] 因为萨迪亚特斯是首先发动战争的人:但是在最初的六年之后的五年里,战争是由萨迪亚特斯的儿子阿利亚特斯进行的,他从他父亲那里继承了战争(正如我已经说过的)并认真地投入其中。除了希俄斯人之外,没有一个爱奥尼亚人帮助米利托斯人承担这场战争的负担。这些人前来援助是为了报答,因为米利都人以前在奇亚人与厄里斯莱人民的战争中曾帮助过他们。

19. 然后在战争的第十二年,当吕底亚人的军队焚烧未收割的玉米时,发生了这样的事情:——玉米一点燃,就被狂风吹动,烧毁了土地。姓阿塞索斯的雅典娜神庙;圣殿被人放火,被烧毁了。当时并没有对此作出任何说明。但后来,当军队返回萨迪斯时,阿利亚特斯病了,由于他的病持续了很长时间,他派使者去德尔菲询问神谕,要么是有人建议这样做,要么是因为他自己认为最好派人去向神询问他的病情。但当他们到达德尔斐时,皮提亚女先知说,除非他们重新修建在米利托斯地区的阿塞索斯烧毁的雅典娜神庙,否则她不会给他们答复。

20. 根据德尔菲人民的报告,我知道了这么多。但米利都人还补充说,基普塞洛斯的儿子佩里安德是当时米利托斯专制君主色拉西布洛斯的特邀嘉宾朋友,他听说了阿利亚特斯得到的神谕,并派了一名使者告诉色拉西布洛斯,以便他可以事先了解情况并根据情况需要听取此类建议。这是米利都人讲述的故事。

21. 当阿利亚特斯得到这个答复后,立即派了一名使者前往米利托斯,希望与色拉西布洛斯和米利都人达成休战协议,期限为他建造圣殿的时间。随后他被派往米利托斯担任特使。色拉西布洛斯在事先获悉整个事件并知道阿利亚特斯打算做什么的同时,设计了这个策略:——他在市场上收集了城里所有的粮食储备,包括他自己的和属于私人的;他向米利都人宣布,只要他发出信号,他们就应该开始互相饮酒和欢乐。

22. 这个特拉西布洛斯这样做了,并最终宣布,来自萨迪斯的使者,看到大量的粮食不小心堆积起来,人们正在盛宴,可能会向阿利亚特斯报告这一情况:事实就这样发生了;因为当传令官看到这一情况后返回萨迪斯,并将吕底亚国王交给他的命令交给色拉西布洛斯时,据我所知,和平的达成仅仅是因为这一点。阿利亚特斯认为米利托斯发生了大饥荒,人民已经疲惫不堪,当他从米利托斯回来时,从传令官那里听到的消息与他自己的想法相反。此后,他们以互为宾客朋友和盟友的条件达成了和平,阿利亚特斯在阿塞索斯为雅典娜建造了两座神庙代替一座神庙,而他自己也从疾病中康复了。关于阿利亚特人与米利都人和色拉西布洛斯人发动的战争,事情是这样的。

23. 至于佩里安德(Periander),他向色拉西布洛斯(Thrasybulos)提供了有关神谕的信息,他是基普塞洛斯(Kypselos)的儿子,也是科林斯的暴君。科林斯人说(女同性恋者也同意他们的观点),在他的一生中,发生了一件非常伟大的奇迹,即梅西姆纳的阿里昂被一只海豚背在泰纳隆岸上。这个人是当时在世的竖琴手,无人能出其右,而且据我们所知,他是第一个创作了酒神颂歌、如此命名并将其教给合唱团的竖琴手。[17][{迪达克桑塔}。] 在科林斯。

24. 他们说,这个阿里昂大部分时间都和佩里安德待在一起,他萌生了航行到意大利的愿望[18][希罗多德仅将这个名称用于半岛南部。] 和西西里岛;当他在那里获得大笔金钱后,他希望再次返回科林斯。因此他从塔拉斯出发,[19][塔伦图姆。] 由于他对科林蒂安人的信心超过对其他人的信心,他租了一艘船,船上的船员都是科林蒂安人。故事称,这些人在公海上密谋将阿里昂扔下海,从而占有他的财富。他得知此事后,向他们恳求,向他们提供自己的财富,并请求他们饶恕他的生命。然而,他并没有说服他们,但运送他的人要求他要么在那里自杀,以便在陆地上接受埋葬,要么直接跳进海里。因此,被赶到海峡的阿里昂恳求他们,既然他们这么想,就允许他穿着全套吟游诗人的服装站在甲板上。[20][{en toisi edolioisi}:正确的“长凳”,但这里可能是船尾的凸起甲板。] 船上并唱歌;他发誓唱完歌后就会自杀。然后,他们很高兴地认为自己应该听到世界上最好的吟游诗人的声音,从船尾退到船的中部;他穿上全套吟游诗人的服装,拿起竖琴,站在甲板上演奏奥尔斯安的小曲。然后,当小节结束时,他穿着全套吟游诗人的服装,像原来一样跳进了海里。他们继续航行到科林斯,但他们说,他是一只海豚支撑在背上,把他带到了泰纳隆岸边。当他上岸后,他穿着吟游诗人的服装前往科林斯。到达那里后,他讲述了所发生的一切。佩里安德对他的故事表示怀疑,因此对阿里昂保持警惕,不让他去任何地方,同时他也小心翼翼地监视着那些送他来的人。当他们到达时,他打电话给他们,询问他们是否有关于阿里昂的任何报告。当他们说他在意大利很安全并且他们把他留在塔拉斯时一切都很好时,阿里昂突然出现在他们面前,就像他从船上跳下来时一样。当他们被问到时,他们感到惊讶,无法再否认。这是科林斯人和女同性恋者所讲述的故事,在泰纳隆有一个规模不大的阿里昂的还愿祭品,[21][{ou mega}:很多MSS。有{兆}。] 即一个骑在海豚背上的青铜人像。

25. 吕底亚人阿利亚特(Alyattes)在与米利都人发动战争后去世,统治了七年五十年。这位国王病愈后,在德尔斐奉献了一件还愿祭品(他是他家族中第二个这样做的人),即一个巨大的银制搅拌碗,上面有一个焊接在一起的铁架,最后一个是比德尔菲的所有祭品和奇安人格劳科斯(Glaucos the Chian)的作品更值得一看的景象,他是所有人中第一个发现焊铁艺术的人。

26. 阿利亚特斯死后,阿利亚特斯的儿子克罗伊斯继承了王位,当时他五岁三十岁。他(正如我所说)与希腊人作战,其中他首先攻击以弗所人。当时,被他围困的以弗所人将他们的城市奉献给阿尔忒弥斯,并在圣殿和城墙上绑了一根绳子:现在,当时被围困的古城与圣殿之间的距离是七弗隆。[22][{stadioi}:约 606 英英尺的弗隆。] 我说的是,克洛伊索斯首先对这些城市下手,但后来他对其他爱奥尼亚和艾奥利的城市一一做了同样的事情,对他们提出各种投诉,并对那些他可以处理的人提出严厉指控。他找到了严重的理由,而对其他人却只指控了一些微不足道的罪行。

27. 当亚洲的希腊人被征服并被迫纳贡时,他接下来计划为自己建造船只,并对岛上的居民下手。当一切都准备好建造船只时,他们说普里埃内的比亚斯(或者,根据另一个说法,米蒂利尼的皮塔科斯)来到萨迪斯,克洛伊索斯询问希腊是否有任何新的事情发生,带他到萨迪斯。他在建造船只时这样说道:“国王啊,”他说道,“岛上的人们正在雇佣一支一万骑兵的军队,他们打算借此向萨迪斯进军,与您作战。”克洛伊索斯以为他所说的是真的,便说道:“愿众神让岛上居民意识到,他们会骑马前来攻击吕底亚人的子孙!”他回答说:“国王啊,我看出您热切地想抓住大陆上骑马的岛屿人;你的这个愿望并不是没有道理的:但是,自从岛上的人们听说你要建造船只来攻击他们以来,你认为除了让他们能够抓住他们以来,他们还渴望并一直在祈祷什么?海上的吕底亚人,以便为居住在大陆上、被你奴役的希腊人向你报仇?”他们说,克洛伊索斯对这个结论非常满意,[23][{到结语}。] 他听从了他的建议,认为他说得合适,于是停止了造船工作。从此他与居住在岛上的爱奥尼亚人建立了友谊。

28.随着时间的推移,几乎所有居住在哈利斯河沿岸的人都被征服了(因为除了基利基亚人和吕基亚人外,克罗伊索斯征服了所有民族,并将其置于他的统治之下,也就是说,吕底亚人、弗里吉亚人、密西亚人、马里安迪诺伊人、查里比亚人、帕夫拉贡人、提尼安和比提尼安的色雷斯人、卡里安人、爱奥尼亚人、多里安人、艾奥利安人和潘菲利安人),[24][一些人怀疑这份国家名单是插值的;参见斯坦因在该段落中的注释。]

29,我说,当这些人被征服时,当他仍在扩大他的吕底亚领土时,所有的智者都来到了萨迪斯,当时正值其财富的鼎盛时期[25][{sophistai}:cp。二. 49、四. 95.] 当时碰巧还活着的希腊人,通过不同的场合分别被带到了这里。其中一位是雅典人梭伦,他在按照雅典人的要求为雅典人制定了法律之后,离开了自己的祖国十年,扬帆远航,说他希望访问各个国家,以免被迫废除他提议的任何法律。[26][{乙醚}。] 因为雅典人本身没有能力做到这一点,他们已经庄严宣誓,十年内服从梭伦为他们提出的法律。

30.梭伦因此离开了自己的祖国,也为了游览各地,来到了埃及的阿马西斯,又来到了萨迪斯的克罗伊斯。到达那里后,他在王宫受到克洛伊索斯的招待。随后,到了第三天或第四天,按照克洛伊索斯的吩咐,他的仆人们带着梭伦参观了他的宝库。他们向他展示了一切,它们是多么伟大和壮丽:当他看完所有这些并在有机会时检查它们之后,克洛伊索斯问他如下:“雅典客人,我们收到了很多关于你的报道,无论是关于你的智慧和你的流浪,在你寻找智慧的过程中,你是如何穿越许多土地来看到它们的?因此,现在我想问你是否见过你认为最幸福的人。”[27][{olbiotaton}。] 他问这个问题时以为自己是最幸福的人。梭伦没有奉承,只说实话,说道:“是的,国王啊,雅典人特洛斯。”克洛伊索斯对他所说的话感到惊奇,并恳切地问他:“你认为特洛斯在哪方面是最幸福的?”他说:“首先,特洛斯生活在他的祖国繁荣的时期,他的儿子们又漂亮又善良,并且看到他们的孩子都出生并长大成人;其次,他拥有我们所认为的财富,并且在他死后获得了最光荣的结局:当雅典人在埃莱夫西斯与邻近的人民进行战斗时,他提供了支持并击溃了敌人,并在那里以最伟大的人的身份死去。公平的死亡;雅典人公开把他埋葬在他倒下的地方,并极大地尊敬了他。”

31. 因此,当梭伦让克洛伊索斯通过特洛斯的故事进一步询问,讲述他有多少幸福点时,国王再次询问他认为最适合放置在这个人之后的是谁,假设他自己肯定会获得至少第二名;但他回答道:“克莱奥比斯和比顿:因为他们是阿尔戈斯人,拥有足够的财富,除此之外,还有我将要讲述的身体力量。两人都在比赛中获得了同等的奖品,而且还流传着这样的故事:阿尔戈斯人正在举行赫拉的盛宴,无论如何,他们的母亲必须用车送去神庙。但是,由于他们的牛没有及时从田野里运来,年轻人因时间不够而无法做任何其他事情,他们自己屈服于轭并拉车,他们的母亲由他们抬着。于是他们就带着它走了五四十弗隆,[28][{稳定}。] 并来到了寺庙。当他们做完这件事并被聚集的人群看到后,他们的生活就迎来了一个最完美的结局。神在这句话中宣称,人宁可死去,也不要继续活着。因为阿尔戈斯人正站在周围颂扬力量[29][{romen}:很多MSS。有{gnomen},“良好的性格。”] 阿尔戈斯妇女们则在颂扬那些拥有这样儿子的母亲。母亲对这件事本身和有关此事的报道感到非常高兴,她站在女神像前,祈祷她能把她的儿子们赐给克莱奥比斯和比顿,因为他们曾尊敬过她。[30][即他们的母亲:但有些人将其理解为女神。] 伟大的是,这是人类最好接受的礼物:在这个祈祷之后,当他们献祭和宴会时,年轻人在圣殿内躺下睡觉,再也没有站起来,但在这最后的结局中被束缚了。[31][{en telei touto eskhonto}。] 阿尔戈斯人按照他们的样子制作了雕像,并将它们奉献给德尔菲,认为他们已经证明了自己是最优秀的。”

32. 因此,梭伦将幸福放在第二位:克罗伊索斯勃然大怒,说道:“雅典客人,你竟然如此抛弃我们的繁荣状态,视之为一文不值,甚至连我们这些人都比你更喜欢。”私人电台?”他说:“克洛伊索斯,你正在询问一个人的命运,他深知神是完全嫉妒的,并且很容易扰乱我们的命运。因为人在长久的时间里,可能会看到许多他不愿意看到的事情,也会遭受许多他不愿意遭受的事情。我把人的寿命定为七十岁,这七十年就是两万五千二百日,还不算闰月。若每隔一年加长一个月,使季节按一年中的适当时间轮转,则除七十年外,闰月还有五三十岁。这几个月的天数将是一千五十天。在所有这些日子里,总共有二万六千二百五十个日子,一直到七十年,有一天所产生的一切与另一天所带来的毫无相似之处。因此,克罗伊索斯啊,人完全是偶然的产物。至于你,我认为你既富有又是许多人的国王,但你问我的问题我还不能打电话给你,直到我得知你已经给你的生命带来了一个公平的结局:因为富人根本不被认为比那些日复一日只维持生计的人更幸福,除非他的运气也很好,在结束生命时拥有一切美好的东西。因为许多非常富有的人并不快乐,[32][{醇生物}。] 而许多过着中等生活的人却是幸运的;[33][{eutukhees}。] 事实上,不快乐的富人与幸运的穷人相比,只有两个优点,而与不快乐的富人相比,后者则有许多优点。富人能够更好地实现自己的愿望,并且能够承受大灾难的发生。而另一个人在以下几件事上比他有优势:——他确实不能与富人同等地忍受灾难或实现他的愿望,但他的好运气远离他,而他的肢体健全,[34][{aperos}:MSS。有{apeiros}。] 没有疾病,没有受苦,是美丽孩子的父亲,而且他本人身材也很俊美;除此之外,如果他能很好地结束自己的生命,那么他就配得上你所寻求的那样的称号,即一个幸福的人。但在他走向终结之前,最好还是忍住,不要称他为“幸福”,而只是“幸运”。现在,一个人不可能同时拥有所有这些东西,就像没有一块土地足以为自己提供所有东西一样,它有一种东西,又缺乏另一种东西,拥有最多东西的土地是最好的:对于一个人来说也是如此,没有一个人本身是完整的,因为他拥有一件事而缺乏另一件事。国王啊,无论谁一直拥有最多的这些东西,然后拥有一个优雅的生命结局,我认为他配得上这个名字。但我们必须在每一件事上审视结局,以及最终结果如何,因为上帝对许多人来说只是瞥见了幸福,然后就把他们连根拔起并推翻了。”

33.如此说,他拒绝满足克洛伊索斯的要求,克洛伊索斯把他从他面前赶走,不尊重他,认为他完全没有意义,因为他忽略了眼前的美好事物,并吩咐人们凡事都要看到最后。

34. 梭伦离开后,上帝对克洛伊索斯给予了巨大的报应,可能是因为他认为自己是所有人中最幸福的人。首先,他身边出现了一个梦,梦向他展示了即将发生在他儿子身上的邪恶的真相。克洛伊索斯有两个儿子,其中一个儿子又聋又哑,所以有缺陷;另一个儿子在各方面都远远超过了同龄的同伴,最后一个儿子的名字叫阿提斯。至于这个阿提斯,这个梦对克洛伊索斯来说意味着他会被铁矛尖的打击而失去他:[35][{aikhme sideree blethenta}。] 当他从睡梦中醒来,仔细思考这件事时,他因这个梦而感到恐惧。他首先为他的儿子娶了一个妻子。尽管他的儿子曾经领导过吕底亚人的军队,但现在他不再派他去任何地方处理此类事务。标枪、长矛以及所有人们用来战斗的东西,他都从男人的公寓里运出来,堆放在里面的卧室里,以免挂起来的东西掉下来砸到他的儿子。

35. 当他为儿子订婚时,有一个不幸的人来到萨迪斯,他的手不干净,他是出生在王室的弗里吉亚人。这个人来到克洛伊索斯的家中,按照当地的风俗要求他可以洁净。克洛伊索斯给了他洁净:现在吕底亚人的洁净方式几乎与希腊人所用的一样。因此,当克洛伊索斯按照惯例做了之后,他问他从哪里来,他是谁,说道:“伙计,你是谁,你从弗里吉亚的哪个地区来到我的壁炉旁?你杀了谁?他回答说:“国王啊,我是戈迪亚斯的儿子,迈达斯的儿子,我叫阿德拉斯托斯;我违背自己的意愿杀死了自己的兄弟,因此我被父亲驱逐并剥夺了我所拥有的一切,所以我才来到这里。”克洛伊索斯回答道:“你很可能是我们朋友的后裔,你已经成为朋友了,只要你留在我们的土地上,你就不会缺少任何东西:你会找到它的。”尽可能轻松地承受这种不幸,对你来说是最有利的。”所以他和克洛伊索斯住在一起。[36][“在克洛伊索斯的房子里。”]

36. 在此期间,密西亚奥林匹斯地区诞生了一头体型巨大的野猪。这股从山上下来的力量,蹂躏了密西亚人的田地,密西亚人虽然经常出击,但他们却无能为力,反而自己受到伤害。最后,密西亚人的使者来到克洛伊索斯那里说:“国王啊,我们的土地上出现了一头体型巨大的野猪,它蹂躏了我们的田地;我们急切地想夺取它,却无法做到。因此,现在我们请你派你的儿子和一批精选的带着狗的年轻人和我们一起去,以便我们把它从我们的土地上消灭掉。”于是他们提出了要求,克洛伊索斯想起了梦中的话,对他们说道:因为我不会派他和你一起去,因为他刚刚结婚,现在正在处理他的婚姻事务。但我会派出吕底亚人的精挑细选的人和我的全部猎犬和你一起去,我会把请吩咐那些去的人,要竭尽全力帮助你们从你们的土地上消灭野兽。”

37. 他这样回答,当密西亚人对这个答复感到满意时,克洛伊索斯的儿子也进来了,他听到了密西亚人的请求:当克洛伊索斯说他不会派他的儿子和他们一起去时”,年轻人说道:“我的父亲,在过去,最公平、最高贵的部分被分配给了我们,让我们不断地去打仗和狩猎,从而获得良好的声誉;但现在你却禁止我从事这两件事,尽管你没有在我身上发现任何胆怯或胆怯的精神。现在,当我往返于城市的市场时,我必须以什么面孔出现呢?我该是一个怎样的男人,才能被国民所尊敬,我又该是一个怎样的男人,才能被我的新婚妻子所尊敬呢?她认为自己会嫁给一个什么样的丈夫?因此,要么让我去打猎,要么用理由说服我,像现在这样做对我来说更好。”

38. 克洛伊索斯回答道:“我的孩子,我这样做并不是因为我在你身上发现了任何怯懦的精神或任何其他不道德的行为;但梦中的异象出现在我的睡梦中,告诉我你的寿命会很短,你会死于铁矛之下。因此,想到这一愿景,我都极力主张为你举行这桩婚事,但我现在拒绝派你去处理正在处理的事情,因为我会照顾你,以便至少在这段时间内将你从你的命运中偷走。如果我可以的话,我自己的生活。因为你很可能是我唯一的儿子:另一个我不认为是一个儿子,因为他有听力障碍。”

39. 年轻人回答道:“我的父亲啊,在看到这样的异象后,你应该照顾我,这是可以原谅的;但对于你不明白的事情,以及你无法理解梦的意义的事情,我应该向你解释。你说梦宣告我要用铁矛结束自己的生命:但是什么手上有一只野猪,或者什么铁矛,你害怕吗?如果梦告诉你我应该用一根象牙或任何其他类似的东西结束我的生命,那么你无疑应该像你现在所做的那样做;但上面写着“用矛尖”。既然我们不会与人战斗,那么现在就让我走吧。”

40. 克洛伊索斯回答说:“我的孩子,你宣布了你对梦的判断,这在一定程度上说服了我。因此,在你的说服下,我改变了我的决定,允许你去追捕。”

41. 话虽如此,克洛伊索斯去召唤弗里吉亚人阿德拉斯托斯。当他来的时候,他这样对他说:“阿德拉斯托斯,当你遭受严重的不幸时(我并没有以此来责备你),我洁净了你,我把你接纳到我的家里,并支付你所有的费用。现在,既然你首先接受了我的仁慈,你就必须以仁慈回报我,我请求你保护我的儿子,他将出去追捕,以免任何邪恶的强盗沿途袭击你。伤害;除此之外,你也应该去你可能因你的事迹而出名的地方,因为它属于你,是你祖先的遗产,所以这样做,而且你有力量去做。

42.阿德拉斯托斯回答说:“国王啊,如果不是为了这个,我就不应该参加任何这样的英勇比赛;首先,像我这样遭受如此巨大不幸的人寻求与那些富裕的同胞为伴是不合适的,其次我也不想这样做;其次,我也不想这样做。由于很多原因,我应该远离它。但现在,既然你对我很着急,我应该满足你(因为我有义务以仁慈报答你),我准备这样做:因此,期待你命令我保护的你的儿子会回来只要他的保护者能够保护他的安全,你就可以回家了。”

43.当他对克洛伊索斯说了这些话后,他们就带着选定的年轻人和狗出发了。当他们到达奥林匹斯山时,他们追踪了这只动物。他们找到了它,围成一圈,向它投掷长矛。然后,这位被洗清了过失杀人罪的客人,名叫阿德拉斯托斯,向野猪投掷长矛,没有击中野猪,击中了克洛伊索斯的儿子。所以他被矛尖击中,就应验了梦中所说的。有人跑去向克洛伊索斯报告所发生的事情,来到萨迪斯后,克洛伊索斯向克洛伊索斯通报了这场战斗和他儿子的命运。克洛伊索斯对他儿子的死感到非常不安,并且更加感动地抱怨他的儿子是被他自己洗清过失杀人罪的那个人杀死的。他因不幸而深感不安,他向净化者宙斯求助,向他抗议他从客人那里所遭受的痛苦,此外,他还向祈求者的保护者求助。[37][{'外显}。] 和友谊的守护者,[38][{'Etaireion}。] 仍然命名同一个神,并称他为祈求者的保护者,因为当他接待客人进入他的房子时,他一直在无知地抚养杀害他儿子的凶手,而称他为友谊的守护者,因为派他作为保护者,他已经发现他是最坏的敌人。

45.此后,吕底亚人抬着尸体而来,凶手跟在尸体后面:他站在尸体前,向克洛伊索斯投降,举起双手,命令国王在尸体上杀死他,并讲述了他的前任。不幸的是,除此之外,他现在还毁灭了那个净化了他的人;那样的生活对他来说不再值得过。克洛伊索斯听了阿德拉斯托斯的这番可怜的话,虽然他自己也遭受了如此大的不幸,但他对他说:“客人,我已经从你那里得到了应有的满足,因为你判了自己死刑。 ;并不是你一个人造成了这种邪恶,除非你违背自己的意愿成为了这种邪恶的工具,而且据我推测,还有一位众神,他也很久以前向我表示了有关这一切的事情。成为。”于是克洛伊索斯按照合适的方式埋葬了他的儿子,但阿德拉斯托斯是戈迪亚斯的儿子,迈达斯的儿子,他杀了自己的兄弟,也杀了净化他的人,当时周围的人都鸦雀无声。关于坟墓,他认识到自己比他所认识的所有人都承受着更严重的不幸,于是在坟墓上自杀了。

46. 克洛伊索斯在哀悼中保持沉默了两年,因为他失去了儿子:但在此之后,冈比西斯的儿子居鲁士推翻了基亚克萨雷斯的儿子阿斯提亚格斯的统治,冈比西斯的儿子居鲁士也日益强大。波斯人让克洛伊索斯停止了哀悼,并引导他在波斯人的力量还在增长、尚未变得强大之前,尽可能地削弱波斯人的力量。

因此,在制定了这一计划后,他立即开始试验神谕,包括希腊人和利比亚的神谕,派遣使者一些到一个地方,一些到另一个地方,一些去德尔菲,另一些去福基亚人的阿拜,其他人到多多纳;有些被送到安菲亚罗斯和特罗弗尼奥斯的神殿,还有一些被送到米利托斯地区的布兰奇代:这些是希腊人的神谕,克洛伊索斯派使者去那里寻求占卜。他派了其他人到利比亚的阿蒙圣地去询问。现在他派使者到国外去,目的是要尝试神谕,看看他们有什么知识,这样,如果发现他们有真理的知识,他就可以派人去询问他们是否应该尝试向波斯人进军。

47. 对于他派去审判神谕的吕底亚人,他嘱咐如下:从他们从萨迪斯出发之日起,他们应计算接下来的天数,并在第一百天计算他们应计算的天数。咨询神谕,询问吕底亚国王阿利亚特斯的儿子克洛伊索斯当时正在做什么:以及神谕各自应该预言的内容,他们应该将其记录下来[39][{suggrapsamenous},即由 {propsetes} 写下(见 vii. 111 和 viii. 37),他们解释了女先知 {promantis} 的灵感话语并将其写入常规诗句。] 并把它带回给他。现在,其他神谕者的预言并没有被任何报道,而是在德尔菲,当吕底亚人进入圣殿的避难所时[40][{es 为 megaron}。] 为了向神请教并询问他们被命令要问的问题,皮提亚女先知用六步小节这样说道:

“但是我知道的沙子数量,[41][{oida d' ego}:神谕的开头通常有一个连接词,例如 {de} 或 {alla}(cp. ch. 55、174 等),这可能表明它们是更大的一部分连接的话语。] 以及海洋中水滴的大小;
我理解哑巴,我听到无言者的言语:
我的灵魂里弥漫着一种硬壳乌龟的气味
在铜锅中煮沸,并与羊肉混合;
其下铺有铜,其上有铜为衣。”

48.当皮提亚女先知说出这个神谕后,吕底亚人就把预言写下来,然后立即前往萨迪斯。当其他被派去的人也带着神谕的答案到达那里时,克洛伊索斯将这些文字逐一展开并看着它们:起初没有一个令他满意,但是当他从德尔斐那里听到这一点时,他立即向神明敬拜并接受了答案,[42][Cp。七. 178 和九。 91(“我接受这个预兆。”)] 判断德尔斐的神谕是唯一真实的,因为它发现了他本人所做的事情。因为当他派出他的使者去向诸神咨询时,他牢牢记住了指定的日子,他设计了以下装置,——他想到了一些不可能发现或想象的东西,并剪下了一个他亲自将乌龟和羔羊放入青铜锅中煮沸,并在上面盖上青铜盖。

49. 这就是德尔斐给克洛伊索斯的答复。至于安菲亚罗斯的回答,我无法说出在吕底亚人完成了他神庙中的惯例之后他对他们的回答是什么,[43][参见第八。 134.] 因为除了克洛伊索斯认为他也[44][{kai touton},即 Amphiaraos:许多编辑保留了阿尔丁版的读物,{kai touto},“他也在此找到了真正的神谕。”] 拥有真正的神谕。

50.此后,他以巨大的牺牲努力赢得特尔斐神的青睐:在所有适合献祭的动物中,他每种献上三千只,并堆起铺有金和银的床榻,还有金杯、紫色长袍和束腰外衣,用它们做成了一个大柴堆,他把它们烧了,希望通过这些手段更多地赢得神到吕底亚人一边:他向所有的人宣告吕底亚人要求他们每个人都应该用每个人拥有的东西来做出牺牲。当他完成献祭后,他熔化了大量的黄金,并用它制作了半基座[45][{emiplinthia},底座应该是方形的。] 使它们成为六个手掌[46][{exapalaiota},手掌约三寸,cp。二. 149.] 长、宽三、高一巴掌;他们的数目是一百一十七。其中四件是纯金的[47][{apephthou khrusou},“精炼金。”] 重二塔兰半[48][{triton emitalanton}:MSS。有 {tria emitalanta},已根据 Valla 翻译的权威部分进行了修正。] 每个和其他金银合金[49][“白金。”] 衡量两个人才。他又用精金造了一尊狮子像,重十他连得。当德尔斐神庙被烧毁时,那只狮子从半基座上掉下来,因为它被放置在这些基座上,[50][显然是分阶段排列的,其中最高的由 4 个纯金半基座组成,第二个由 15 个半基座组成,第三个由 35 个半基座组成,第四个由 63 个组成,总共 117 个:参见斯坦因的注释。] 现在放在科林斯人的宝库中,重六他连得半,因为三他连得半已被熔化。

51. 克洛伊索斯完成了所有这些事情后,派他们去德尔斐,此外还有:两个巨大的搅拌碗,一个是金的,另一个是银的,其中金碗放在右手上,作为一个碗。进入圣殿,左边是银器,但圣殿被烧毁后,这些东西的位置也发生了变化,金碗现在放在克拉佐梅奈人民的国库中,重八塔兰半,十二塔兰特。磅超过,[51][{elkon stathmon einaton emitalanton kai eti duodeka mneas}。 {mnea} (mina) 为 15.2 盎司,其中 60 个为天赋。] 而银色的则放在前厅的角落里[52][{epi tou proneiou tes gonies},cp。八. 122:{epi} 的使用似乎暗示着供奉祭品的某种凸起的基石。] 并可容纳六百安培[53][{amphoreus} 大约有 9 加仑。] (德尔斐人在狄奥法尼亚节上盛满了酒):德尔斐人说这是萨米亚人狄奥多罗斯的作品,[54][Cp。三. 41.] 而且,正如我所认为的,正确的,因为对我来说,很明显,这种工艺是不寻常的:此外,克洛伊索斯送来了四个银酒罐,它们位于科林斯人的宝库中,还有两个盛装水的器皿,[55][{perirranteria}。] 一个是金的,另一个是银的,其中金的一个刻有“来自拉栖梦人”的字样,他们说这是他们的祭品:然而,他们在其中说的并不正确;因为这也是来自克罗伊索斯,但其中一位德尔斐人在其上写下了铭文,希望取悦拉栖梦人。我知道他的名字,但不会提及。用手流水的男孩来自拉栖代梦人,但他们都不是盛水的器皿。克洛伊索斯还送了许多其他的还愿祭品,没有特别区分,其中有一些铸件[56][{kheumata},有些人翻译为“壶”或“碗”。] 圆形的银制雕像,还有一个三肘高的金色女人像,德尔菲人说这是克罗伊索斯面包师的雕像。此外,克洛伊索斯还奉献了他妻子脖子上和腰带上的装饰品。

52.这些是他寄给德尔斐的东西;听说安菲亚罗斯的英勇和不幸的命运后,他向安菲亚罗斯奉献了一把全金打造的盾牌,一把全金打造的长矛,矛杆和两支矛尖也是金的,这些祭品都是金的。甚至直到我在底比斯的伊斯美尼亚阿波罗神庙的时候。

53.对于将这些礼物带到神庙的吕底亚人,克洛伊索斯吩咐他们也应该问神谕这个问题:克洛伊索斯是否应该向波斯人进军,如果是的话,他是否应该加入任何一支军队作为他的朋友。当吕底亚人到达他们被派往的地方并奉献了还愿祭品时,他们询问神谕并说:“克罗伊索斯,吕底亚人和其他国家的国王,考虑到这些是唯一真正的神谕男人之间,给你的礼物[57][{umin},就好像两个神谕一起被寻址。] 你的启示值得你的礼物,现在再次问你他是否会向波斯人进军,如果是的话,他是否会与自己结成任何一支军队作为盟友。”他们这样询问,两位神谕的答案一致,向克洛伊索斯宣称,如果他向波斯人进军,他将摧毁一个伟大的帝国:他们建议他找出希腊人中最强大的人,并与他们联合起来。自己当朋友。

54. 因此,当克洛伊索斯听到答案后,他对神谕感到高兴,并期望他一定会摧毁居鲁士王国,于是他再次派人去见皮托,[58][即德尔福。] 并在确定了德尔斐人的人数后,向每人赠送了两斯塔特金子:作为回报,德尔斐人给予克洛伊索斯和吕底亚人在咨询神谕方面的优先权,并免于一切付款,并且坐在比赛前排的权利,并且永远享有这一特权,任何愿意的人都可以成为德尔斐公民。

55.克洛伊索斯向德尔斐人献上礼物后,第三次向神谕询问。因为自从他得知神谕的真相后,他就充分利用了它。[59][{enephoreeto},“他充满了它。”] 他向神谕询问他的君主制是否会持续很长时间。皮提亚女先知这样回答他:

“但是当米底人的一头骡子成为君主时
然后经过卵石铺成的赫莫斯,啊,吕底亚人的脚娇嫩,
不要逃跑,不要留下来,也不要因为被称为胆小鬼而感到羞耻。”

56.当他们来到克洛伊索斯面前时,克洛伊索斯比其他人更高兴,因为他认为骡子永远不会代替人成为米底人的统治者,因此他本人和他的继承人永远不会停止对米底人的统治。他们的规则。此后,他考虑询问他应该尊重希腊人中哪些人最有权势,并与他结为朋友。经过询问,他发现拉栖代梦人和雅典人占优势,多利安人居首位,爱奥尼亚人居其他。因为这些是古代最杰出的种族,第二个是佩拉斯吉亚人,第一个是希腊人:其中一个从未从其所在的地方向任何方向迁移,而另一个则非常热衷于流浪。因为在丢卡利翁统治时期,这个种族居住在普西奥蒂斯,而在海伦之子多罗斯统治时期,居住在奥萨和奥林波斯下方的土地上,这片土地被称为希斯蒂艾奥蒂斯。当它被卡德摩斯的儿子们从希斯蒂艾奥蒂斯赶走时,它就定居在品多斯,被称为马德尼安。后来它又从那里迁往德律俄皮斯,又从德律俄皮斯最终到达伯罗奔尼撒,并开始被称为多利安。

57. 然而,佩拉斯吉人使用什么语言,我无法确定地说。但如果必须根据那些仍然居住在克雷斯顿城的佩拉斯吉人来判断的话[60][{Krestona}:尼布尔会读{Krotona}(伊特鲁里亚的克罗顿或科尔托纳),部分是根据狄奥尼修斯的权威:参见斯坦因的注释。两个最好的MSS。本书这一部分有缺陷。] 他们曾经是现在被称为多里安人的种族的邻居,当时居住在现在被称为塞萨利奥蒂斯的土地上,还有那些定居在赫勒斯滂地区的普拉基亚和斯凯莱克的佩拉斯吉人的幸存者,他们在此之前曾是雅典人的定居者,[61][参见二。 51和六。 137.] 还有其他各个城镇的当地人,虽然他们已经失去了名字,但他们确实是佩拉斯吉人——如果必须根据这些来判断的话,佩拉斯吉人过去讲的是一种野蛮语言。因此,如果所有佩拉斯吉人都是这样,那么阿提卡人,作为佩拉斯吉人,在转变成为希腊人的同时,也忘记了自己的语言。因为克雷斯顿人与居住在他们周围的任何人都没有说同一种语言,法基亚人也没有,但他们彼此说着同一种语言:由此证明,他们仍然保持不变他们迁移到这些地方时带来的语言形式。

58. 至于希腊人种,正如我清楚地看到的那样,自从它第一次兴起以来,它就一直使用相同的语言。但自从它最初与佩拉斯吉亚种族微弱地分开以来,从一个很小的开始,它已经增加到我们所看到的数量众多的种族,[62][{auxetai es plethos ton ethneon pollon}:“已经增加了许多种族,数量很多。”斯坦因和阿比希特都冒险采用了 {pollon} 的猜想 {Pelasgon},“尤其是佩拉斯吉人被添加到其中,还有许多其他野蛮民族。”] 主要是因为此外还添加了许多野蛮种族。而且,正如我所想,这是真的, [6201][{pros de on emoige dokeei}:MSS。有{emoi te}。一些编辑为 {pros de on} 阅读了 {os de on} (Stein {prosthe de on})。整段文字可能在某种程度上是错误的,但很难成功修改。] 佩拉斯吉亚人种,[63][即,在与佩拉斯吉亚人分离并不再是野蛮人之前,它是希腊人种。] 就其仍处于野蛮状态而言,它从未有过任何大的增长。

59. 在这些种族中,克洛伊索斯获悉雅典人受到佩西斯特拉托斯的控制并陷入派系分裂[64][{katekhomenon te kai diespasmenon…upo Peisistratou}。佩西斯特拉托斯至少在一定程度上是造成分裂的原因。] 希波克拉底的儿子,当时是雅典人的暴君。对于希波克拉底来说,当他作为一个普通公民去观看奥运会时,发生了一个伟大的奇迹。他献完祭后,炉边的大锅里盛满了肉和水,锅底下没有火,沸腾了,滚了过去。拉栖代梦人奇隆恰好在场并目睹了这一奇迹,他建议希波克拉底首先不要娶妻子为他生孩子,其次,如果他碰巧已经有孩子了,就解雇她,然后如果他有一个儿子,就与他断绝关系。他们说,当希隆提出这样的建议时,希波克拉底不愿意被说服,所以后来他就诞生了佩西斯特拉托。谁,当岸边的雅典人[65][{段落}。] 他们与平原派不和,阿尔克迈翁的儿子麦加克勒斯是第一派的领袖,而平原派的阿里斯托莱德斯的儿子莱库戈斯则为了自己的专制而聚集了第三派。于是,在聚集了支持者并自称为山区人民的领袖之后,[66][{uperakrion}。] 他设计了一个如下的装置:他对自己和骡子造成伤害,然后开着他的车进入市场,就好像他刚刚从对手那里逃脱一样,正如他所说,对手想要杀死他当他开车进入乡村时:他请求下议院为他提供一些保护,因为在此之前,他在对抗麦加拉人的指挥中赢得了声誉,在此期间,他占领了尼塞亚并执行了其他重要任务。被欺骗的雅典人的平民给了他那些[67][{toutous}:有些人猜测{triekosious},“三百”,这是根据波利安努斯的说法,他实际拥有的数字,i。 21.] 从城里的居民中选出的人,他们并不是真正的矛兵[68][{doruphoroi},保镖的常用词。] 佩西斯特拉托斯,但他的俱乐部成员;因为他们拿着木棍跟在他后面。这些人与佩西斯特拉托一起起义,并获得了卫城的所有权。彼西斯特拉托斯当时是雅典人的统治者,他没有扰乱现有的行政官,也没有改变古代的法律。但他根据既定的宪法来管理国家,并公平而良好地管理国家。

60. 然而,不久之后,麦加克勒斯的追随者和来库戈斯的追随者联合起来,把他赶了出去。这样,佩西斯特拉托斯第一次获得了雅典的占有,但在他尚未牢固地扎根之前就失去了权力。但那些驱逐了佩西斯特拉托斯的人后来又彼此不和。还有受到党派纷争困扰的巨星,[69][{perielaunomenos de te stasi}:斯坦因说“受到他自己政党的攻击的骚扰”,但他在第 61 章中提到的段落。 XNUMX,{katallasseto ten ekhthren toisi stasiotesi},可以在梅加克莱斯加入佩西斯特拉托斯时与他的政党发生的争吵中提到。] 给佩西斯特拉托斯发了一条消息,询问他是否愿意以成为暴君为条件娶自己的女儿为妻。佩西斯特拉托斯接受了这项提议并就这些条款达成协议,他们设计了一种装置,以期让他归还一种迄今为止最简单的装置,我认为,这是迄今为止所实践过的,至少考虑到它是在一个时代被设计出来的。长期以来,希腊人种与野蛮人种有着明显的区别,因为他们更熟练,更远离愚蠢的简单性,而且在雅典人中,雅典人被认为是希腊人中能力最强的人。[70][更字面地说,“自古以来,希腊人就被认为比野蛮人更有技巧,更摆脱愚蠢的简单性,(并且)从那时起,在雅典人中,他们被认为是希腊人中的第一人”。能力,这些人设计了如下的伎俩。”] 在派阿尼亚的部落里,有一个女人,名叫菲亚,身高四肘,只剩下三指,[71][肘尺被认为是 24 指宽,即大约 18 英寸。] 而且形式也很公平。他们给这个女人穿上全套盔甲,让她登上战车,并向她展示最适合她的角色的举止,[72][所以罗林森。] 于是他们驱车进城,派了传令官在他们前面跑,当他们到达城市时,传令官说出了所命令的内容,如下:“雅典人啊,请好好接待庇西斯特拉托,雅典娜本人就是他。”向他致敬,将他带回她的雅典卫城。”于是,传令官们四处传播着这样的消息,雅典娜正把佩西斯特拉托斯带回来的消息立刻就传到了乡村的各个部落,而与此同时,城里的男人们都相信这个女人就是女神。她自己,正在向人类致敬并接待佩西斯特拉托斯。

61. 因此,在以上述方式恢复专制之后,佩西斯特拉托斯根据与麦加克勒斯达成的协议,娶了麦加克勒斯的女儿为妻。但由于他已经有了一些年轻的儿子,而且据说阿尔克迈恩的后裔受到了诅咒,[73][见第 70 节。] 因此,他不希望新婚的妻子给他生孩子,所以他不以惯常的方式与她进行交易。起初,那个女人保守了这个秘密,但后来她告诉了她的母亲,我不知道她是否回答了她的询问。母亲告诉了她的丈夫麦格克斯。他对佩西斯特拉托的羞辱感到非常愤慨。他一怒之下,立即开始平息与自己派别的争吵。当佩西斯特拉托听说了针对他自己的事情时,他完全离开了这片土地,来到了埃雷特里亚,在那里他与他的儿子们一起商议:希皮亚斯的建议占了上风,他们应该努力赢回专制主义,他们开始从那些欠他们恩惠的国家那里收取金钱礼物:许多人捐献了大量资金,但底比斯人在金钱方面超过了其他国家。然后,为了不让故事太长,时间过去了,终于一切都准备好了,等待他们的归来。因为某些阿尔戈斯人是从伯罗奔尼撒半岛来的雇佣兵,有一个纳克索斯人自愿来到他们这里,他的名字叫吕格达米斯,他在提供金钱和人力方面表现出了极大的热情。

62. 所以时隔十年之后从埃雷特里亚开始[74][{dia endekatou eteos}。与 {dia evdeka eteon}(“十一年后”)不太一样;而是“第十一年”(即“十年之后”)。] 他们回来了;在阿提卡,他们首先占领的地方是马拉松。当他们在这里扎营的时候,城里的游击队来到了他们身边,还有其他人从各个部落涌来,对他们来说,专制统治比自由更受欢迎。于是这些人聚集在一起;但是,只要佩西斯特拉托斯一直在收钱,后来他占领了马拉松,城里的雅典人就没有把这笔钱记在心里。但当他们听说他正从马拉松向城市进军时,他们就前去救援。彼时,佩西斯特拉托斯的军队从马拉松出发向城市进发,在他们来到雅典娜·帕勒尼斯神庙时与他们会合,并在他们对面扎营。然后被神的引导所感动[75][{thein pompe khreomenos}。] 阿卡纳尼亚人佩西斯特拉托斯·安菲利托斯出现了,[76][对于{'Akarnan},建议阅读{'Akharneus},因为这个人被不同的作家称为雅典人。然而,阿卡纳尼亚人因其预言能力而闻名,他可能被称为雅典人,因为他与佩西斯特拉托一起居住在雅典。] 一位占卜师走近他,用六步诗发出了神谕,说道:

“但现在已经抛下,网已经广泛展开,
到了晚上,金枪鱼会在月光照亮的水域中飞快地游来游去。”

63. 他在神圣的默示下向他说出了这个神谕,佩西斯特拉托斯在理解了神谕后表示他接受了所发出的预言,带领他的军队对抗敌人。城里的雅典人此时正忙着吃早饭,饭后有些人玩骰子或睡觉。佩西斯特拉托斯的军队袭击了雅典人,将他们打得四散奔逃。然后,当他们逃跑时,佩西斯特拉托想出了一个非常巧妙的计谋,目的是让雅典人不再聚集在一起,而是分散在各地。他让儿子们骑在马背上,让他们走在前面。他们追上逃亡者,说了佩西斯特拉托斯的命令,吩咐他们放心,各人各回自己的家去。

64. 于是雅典人就这样做了,因此佩西斯特拉托斯第三次获得了雅典的占有,他通过许多外国雇佣兵和大量的金钱收入牢固地扎根了他的专制制度,这些收入部分来自土地本身,部分来自斯特里蒙河附近并把那些留在当地但没有立即逃走的雅典人的儿子扣为人质,并将他们置于纳克索斯手中;为此,佩西斯特拉托斯也被战争征服并交付给吕格达米斯(Lygdamis)。除此之外,他遵照神谕净化了提洛岛。他的洁净是这样的:——就圣殿的视野而言[77][或者“可以看到圣殿的那部分土地”,但是 cp。 Thuc。三. 104. 无论哪种情况,含义都是相同的。] 他把埋在这个地方的所有尸体都挖出来,运到提洛岛的另一个地方。因此,佩西斯特拉托斯是雅典人的暴君。但雅典人中,有些人在战斗中阵亡,其他人则与阿尔克迈翁的儿子们一起被流放出祖国。

65. 这就是克罗伊索斯听说的当时雅典人普遍存在的情况。但至于拉栖梦人,他听说他们已经摆脱了巨大的灾难,现在在战争中战胜了泰吉亚人。当莱昂和赫格斯克勒斯担任斯巴达国王时,拉栖代梦人虽然在所有其他战争中都取得了巨大的成功,但仅在对泰该亚人发动的战争中就遭受了灾难。此外,在此之前的时代,他们的法律几乎是所有希腊人中最糟糕的,无论是在只涉及他们自己的事情上,还是在他们不与陌生人打交道的方面。他们这样修改了一部良好的法律宪法:——斯巴达人中享有盛誉的莱库戈斯来到德尔菲的神谕处,当他进入神庙的圣所时,皮提亚女先知立即说:如下:

“瞧,莱库戈斯啊,你来到了我神庙这座富丽堂皇的神殿,
宙斯和所有拥有奥林匹斯住所的人都爱你。
是否称你为神,我怀疑,在我的预言声音中,
上帝或人,但我认为更确切地说是一个神,莱克戈斯啊。”

66.除此之外,有人说,皮提亚女先知还向他阐明了现在为斯巴达人制定的事物秩序。但拉栖代梦人自己说,莱库戈斯成为了他兄弟的儿子、斯巴达国王莱奥博特斯的监护人,从克里特岛带来了这些东西。因为他一成为监护人,就改变了所有现行法律,并采取措施,使这些法律不得违反他的制度:此后,莱库戈斯制定了与战争有关的法律,即 埃诺莫蒂斯特里卡德 和普通膳食, [7701][{enomotias kai triekadas kai sussitia}。 {enomotia} 是斯巴达军队的主要师:{triekas} 没有什么是确定的。] 除此之外还有总统和元老院。经过这样的改变,斯巴达人有了良好的法律。在莱库戈斯死后,他们为他建立了一座神庙,并对他表示极大的崇拜。于是,正如人们所想象的那样,他们有了肥沃的土地,又有不少的人口居住在其中,他们立刻就繁荣起来了,他们已经不再满足于保持静止了,他们必须继续努力。但他们假定自己的力量比阿卡迪亚人强,因此就征服整个阿卡迪亚事宜向德尔菲的神谕进行了咨询。皮提亚女先知给出了这样的回答:

“你问的是阿卡迪亚的土地;你对我的要求很多;我拒绝;
阿卡迪亚土地上有许多人,都是粗壮的人,吃着橡子。
这些都会阻止你这样做:但我对你并不吝惜;
泰吉亚用响亮的脚步敲打,我会让你跳舞,
我会给你一块公平的平原,让你用线测量并划分它。”

当拉栖代梦人听到这个消息后,他们与其他阿卡迪亚人保持着距离,手上戴着脚镣,向泰吉亚人进军,相信了一个欺骗性的人。[78][{kibdelo},正确的“伪造”:cp。 ch. 75.] 神谕并期望他们会成为泰吉亚人的奴隶。但在战斗中被击败后,那些被活捉的人戴着他们自己带来的脚镣,“用线测量并分开”。[79][{skhoino diametresamenoi}:实际上是为了在他们之间分配工作,还是因为将他们固定在一起的绳子像卷尺一样放在地上,目前还不确定。] 泰吉亚平原这些束缚他们的脚镣甚至一直保存到我在泰吉亚的时候,挂在雅典娜阿利亚神庙周围。[80][Cp。九. 70.]

67. 在之前的战争中,我说他们不断地与泰吉亚人作战,但没有取得成功。但在克洛伊索斯时代以及阿那克桑德里德斯和阿里斯顿在拉栖代梦的统治时期,斯巴达人最终成为了战争的胜利者。他们是这样变成这样的:——由于他们在战争中总是被泰该亚人打败,他们派使者去德尔菲咨询神谕,询问他们应该向哪位神祈求安抚,以便更好地战胜泰格亚人。特该亚的人在战争中:皮提亚女先知回答他们说,他们应该把阿伽门农儿子俄瑞斯忒斯的骸骨带回他们的土地。由于找不到奥瑞斯忒斯的坟墓,他们又派人去见神,询问奥瑞斯忒斯埋葬的地方。当派来的使者询问此事时,女先知说道:

当拉栖代梦人听到这个消息时,尽管他们找遍了所有地方,但他们仍然距离找到答案还很遥远。直到被称为“好人”的斯巴达人之一利卡斯(Lichas)[82][{agathoergon}。] 发现它。现在,“好人”是每年五年从“骑士”行列中脱颖而出的最年长的公民;这些人在离开“骑士”的那一年里,必须被斯巴达国家不断地派遣到各地。

68. Lichas 作为其中之一,凭借财富和能力在 Tegea 发现了它。因为当时与泰该亚人有休战协议,他来到了那里的一个锻造厂,正在观看炼铁的过程。当他看到正在做的事情时,他感到很惊讶。因此,铁匠察觉到他对此感到惊讶,就停止了工作,说道:“当然,你这个拉栖代梦的陌生人,如果你看到了我曾经看到过的东西,你一定会感到非常惊讶,因为现在看来,你确实惊叹于这块铁的工作原理;因为我想在这个围场里挖一口井,在挖掘七肘长的棺材时点燃了;我不相信曾经有过比现在更大的人,我打开它,看到尸体和棺材一样长,然后我测量了它,然后在上面填了土。再次。”然后他将所见所闻告诉了他。另一个人思考了所讲述的内容后,根据神谕的说法推测这是奥瑞斯忒斯,他的推测如下:——当他看到铁匠有两对风箱时,他得出结论,这些风箱提到的是风,铁砧和锤子是打击和反击,正在锻造的铁是麻烦上加麻烦,通过认为铁已被发现用于邪恶的想法进行比较人类的。做出这样的推测后,他回到斯巴达,并向拉栖梦人宣布了整个事情。他们以捏造的借口对他提出指控,并将他驱逐出境。[83][这是为了让他能够更好地在泰赫亚实现他的目标。] 因此,来到特赫亚后,他向铁匠讲述了自己的厄运,并试图向铁匠租用围栏,但一开始铁匠不允许他拥有它:最后,利卡斯说服了他,他在那里住了下来。他挖了坟墓,把骨头收集起来,带着他们去了斯巴达。从那时起,每当他们互相较量时,拉栖代梦人就在战争中占据了很大的优势。现在他们已经征服了伯罗奔尼撒半岛的大部分地区。

69. 因此,克洛伊索斯得知所有这些事情后,派遣使者前往斯巴达,手里拿着礼物,要求结盟,并命令他们应该说什么:他们来时说:“吕底亚人的国王克洛伊索斯,还有吕底亚人的国王克洛伊索斯。”其他国家的人派我们到这里来,并说道:哦,拉栖梦人,上帝通过神谕命令我与希腊人成为朋友,因此,既然我得知你们是希腊的酋长,我按照神谕,渴望成为你的朋友和盟友,远离一切诡计和欺骗。”克洛伊索斯就这样通过他的使者向拉栖梦人宣布了这一消息。拉栖代梦人自己也听说了克洛伊索斯的神谕,他们对吕底亚人的到来感到高兴,并交换了友谊和联盟的誓言,因为他们甚至在这之前就已经向克洛伊索斯提供了一些服务,因此与克洛伊索斯结下了不解之缘。因为拉栖代梦人派人前往萨迪斯并在那里购买黄金,目的是将其用于阿波罗的雕像,该雕像现在矗立在拉栖代梦人土地上的索纳克斯山上;当他们想要购买它时,克洛伊索斯就把它作为礼物送给了他们。

70. 因此,拉栖代梦人接受了联盟,也因为他选择他们作为朋友,比所有其他希腊人更喜欢他们。当他提出报价时,他们不仅自己准备好了,而且还用青铜制成了一个搅拌碗,外面的边缘覆盖着人物,其大小足以容纳三百安弗,[84][Cp。 ch. 51,注。] 他们表达了这一点,希望将其作为礼物送给克洛伊索斯。这个碗从未到达萨迪斯,原因有以下两个记载:——拉栖梦人说,当这个碗在前往萨迪斯的途中,来到萨摩斯岛对面时,萨摩斯人听说了它,就带着它航行了出去。战船把它带走;但萨摩斯人自己说,运送这只碗的拉栖梦人发现为时已晚,并听说萨迪斯已被占领,克罗伊索斯被俘,于是在萨摩斯卖掉了这只碗,某些私人买下了它,并将其奉献为圣物。赫拉神庙的还愿祭;那些卖掉它的人可能会说,当他们回到斯巴达时,它已被萨米亚人从他们手中夺走了。

71. 因此,关于搅拌碗的事情就发生了:但与此同时,克洛伊索斯误解了神谕的含义,正在向卡帕多基亚进军,期望推翻居鲁士和波斯人的权力:而当克洛伊索斯准备向波斯人进军时波斯人是吕底亚人之一,甚至在此之前就被认为是一个智者,但由于这种观点,他在吕底亚人中获得了非常伟大的智慧名声,他向克罗伊索斯提出了如下建议(这个人的名字是桑达尼斯) :——“国王啊,您正准备向穿着皮裤的人进军,他们的其余衣服也是皮革的;他们住在崎岖不平的土地上,吃的不是他们想要的食物,而是他们能获得的食物。而且他们不喝酒,只喝水。他们没有无花果作为甜点,也没有任何其他好东西。一方面,如果你要战胜他们,你会从他们那里拿走什么,因为他们一无所有?另一方面,如果你被打败了,想想你会失去多少美好的东西;因为一旦尝到了我们的好东西,他们就会牢牢地抓住它们,再也无法把它们赶走。就我个人而言,我对诸神表示感谢,因为他们没有让波斯人向吕底亚人进军。”他这样说并不是为了说服克洛伊索斯:因为波斯人在征服吕底亚人之前确实没有奢侈,也没有任何好东西。

72. 现在卡帕多克人被希腊人称为叙利亚人。[85][参见第 6 章。 XNUMX.] 这些叙利亚人在波斯人统治之前是米底人的臣民,但此时他们是居鲁士的臣民。哈利斯河是米底亚帝国和吕底亚帝国的分界线。这条河从亚美尼亚山区流经基利基亚人,然后,当它流动时,它的右边是马蒂尼亚人,另一边是弗里吉亚人;然后流过这些地区,向北风流动,一侧是卡帕多克叙利亚人,左手是帕夫拉戈尼亚人。因此,哈利斯河通过一条从塞浦路斯对面的海域延伸至黑海的线,将亚洲几乎所有低地地区与其他地区隔开。这条路是整个半岛的脖子,路程的距离足以让一个人在没有任何负担的情况下在路上度过五天。[86][{euzono 安德里}:cp。 ch. 104 和二. 34. {euzonos}一词用于轻武装部队;赫西丘斯说,{euzonos, me ekhon phortion}。]

73.克洛伊索斯进军卡帕多基亚的原因如下:首先是因为他除了自己的财产之外还想获得这片土地,其次特别是因为他对神谕有信心,并希望为阿斯提阿格斯向居鲁士报仇。冈比西斯之子居鲁士征服了阿斯提阿格斯,并将他囚禁起来,阿斯提亚格斯是米底人克洛伊索斯的姻亲兄弟:他也以这样的方式成为了克洛伊索斯的姻亲兄弟:——一群游牧的斯基泰人由于与其他人不和,他们撤退并在米底人的土地上寻求庇护:此时米底人的统治者是迪奥克斯的儿子弗劳尔特斯的儿子基亚克萨雷斯,他起初善待这些斯基泰人,恳求他的统治。保护;他非常尊重他们,并把男孩交给他们学习他们的语言和弓射艺术。随着时间的流逝,斯基泰人常常不断地外出狩猎,并且总能带回来一些东西。直到有一次,他们什么也没拿走,当他们空手而归时,基亚萨雷斯(正如他在这次场合所表现的那样,他的性情并不好)[87][{orgen ouk akros}:这是对所有最好的 MSS 的解读。第 124 节的平行部分 {psukhen ouk akros} 充分支持了这一点。然而,大多数编辑都采用了读法 {orgen akros},相当于 {akrakholos},“脾气暴躁。”])非常严厉地对待他们并侮辱他们。当他们受到凯亚萨雷斯的这种待遇时,考虑到自己受到了侮辱,他们计划杀死并砍掉其中一个正在接受教育的男孩,并按照他们习惯的方式来处理他的肉体。野生动物,把它带到凯亚萨雷斯那里,假装这是打猎时捕获的猎物,交给他;当他们给了它之后,他们的计划是尽快前往萨迪斯的萨迪亚特斯的儿子阿利亚特斯。然后这件事就完成了;基亚克萨雷斯和在他餐桌上用餐的客人品尝了这种肉,而斯基泰人这样做后,就恳求阿利亚特斯的保护。

74.此后,由于阿利亚特斯在基亚萨雷斯的要求下不愿放弃斯基泰人,吕底亚人和米底人之间爆发了持续五年的战争。在那些年里,米底人经常击败吕底亚人,而吕底亚人也经常击败米底人(其中,他们还进行夜间战斗):[88][有人认为该条款并不真实。然而,它不应该被认为是指被日食打断的战斗,因为(1)这里所说的时期没有发生; (2) 下一个子句由 {de} 引入(这里很难代表 {gar}); (3) 当日食发生时,战斗停止了,因此,这并不比任何其他被黑暗降临而打断的战斗更好。] 由于他们仍然以同样的命运进行战争,第六年发生了一场战斗,当战斗开始时,白天突然变成了夜晚。米利都人泰勒斯曾向爱奥尼亚人预言这一天的变化,并在这一变化发生的那一年制定了限制。然而,吕底亚人和米底人看到白天已经变成黑夜,就停止了战斗,并且更加渴望彼此之间实现和平。促成他们之间和平的是基利肯人西尼尼西斯和巴比伦人拉比内托斯:[89][参见第 188 章。 XNUMX. 纳布尼塔 是他的真名。] 正是这些人敦促他们宣誓,并促成了交换婚姻。因为他们决定,阿利亚特斯应该将他的女儿阿耶尼斯嫁给凯亚克萨雷斯的儿子阿斯提亚格斯,因为他们发现,如果没有强有力的联系,协议往往不会牢固地结合在一起。现在,这些民族遵守与希腊人相同的宣誓仪式,除此之外,他们还在手臂的皮肤上切开一个口子,然后互相舔掉对方的血。

75. 这位阿斯提亚格斯,作为他的母亲的父亲,居鲁士征服了他,并把他囚禁起来,其原因我将在以后的历史中宣布。[90][参见第 107 章。 XNUMX 及以下] 这就是克洛伊索斯向居鲁士发出的抱怨,当时他派人去向神谕者询问他是否应该向波斯人进军。当他收到一个欺骗性的答复时,他以为答复对他有利,就进军波斯人的领土。当克洛伊索斯来到哈利斯河时,根据我的叙述,他让他的军队通过那里的桥梁渡过河。但是,根据希腊人中流行的说法,米利都人泰勒斯使他能够让他的军队渡河。他们说,当克洛伊索斯不知道他的军队该如何渡河时(因为他们补充说,当时还没有现在有的桥梁),泰利斯在军队中导致了河流的形成,当时,它流向军队的左翼,部分也流向右翼。他这样做了:从营地上方开始,他开始挖一条很深的河道,以新月的形式引导它,这样河流就可以冲过营地后面的营地,偏离了原来的河道。沿着通道沿着这条路走,然后经过营地,可能会再次回到原来的路线。因此,一旦河流一分为二,两条支流就可以涉水而过:甚至有人说,这条河的古老河道已经完全干涸了。但我不承认这个故事是真的,因为他们回去时是如何过河的呢?

76. 克罗伊索斯带着他的军队过去后,来到了卡帕多基亚的一个叫佩特里亚的地方(现在佩特里亚是这个国家最坚固的地方,位于与锡诺普城一条直线的某个地方)[91][不是“锡诺普市附近的某个地方”,因为它一定距离相当远,而且可能很远内陆。锡诺普本身位于哈利斯以西至少五十英里处。我认为它的意思是,Pteria 几乎位于锡诺普的正南方,即从 Pteria 到海边最近的道路通向锡诺普。毫无疑问,Pteria 既是一个地区的名称,也是一个城市的名称。] 在黑星上)。他在这里扎营并蹂躏叙利亚人的田野。此外,他还占领了佩特里亚人的城市,将人民卖为奴隶,并占领了周围的所有城镇。而那些没有犯过任何错误的叙利亚人,他却强迫他们离开家园。[92][{anastatous epoese}。]与此同时,居鲁士集结了自己的军队,并召集了所有居住在这片地区之间的人,准备迎战克洛伊索斯。然而,在他开始率领军队之前,他已向爱奥尼亚人派遣了使者,试图诱使他们反抗克洛伊索斯。但爱奥尼亚人不会照他说的去做。然后,当居鲁士来了,在克罗伊索斯对面安营扎寨时,他们在佩特里亚地区用武力互相试探:经过一番激烈的战斗,当双方都有许多人倒下时,最后,夜幕降临了,他们双方分道扬镳,双方都没有取得胜利。

77. 因此,两军互相争斗:克洛伊索斯对自己的军队在数量上不满意(因为他作战时所拥有的军队远小于居鲁士的军队),我对此不满意,我说由于居鲁士第二天没有试图进攻他,因此他返回萨迪斯,并打算根据他们所发的誓言呼吁埃及人帮助他(因为他已经与埃及结盟)埃及国王阿马西斯(Amasis)在与拉栖代梦人结盟之前),并召集巴比伦人(因为他也与这些人缔结了联盟,Labynetos)[93][这是第 74 章中提到的那个人的儿子。 XNUMX.] 他当时是巴比伦人的统治者),此外还向拉栖梦人发出消息,要求他们在固定的时间出现:然后在他把所有这些都聚集在一起并聚集了自己的军队之后,他的计划是让冬天过去春天来临之际,前往讨伐波斯人。因此,带着这些想法,他一到达萨迪斯,就开始向他的几个盟友派遣使者,通知他们从那时起的第五个月,他们应该在萨迪斯集结:但是他所率领的军队曾与波斯人作战,一支由雇佣兵组成的军队,[94][{us en autou xeinikos}。斯坦因将其翻译为“so much of it as was雇佣兵”,但这是否可能可能值得怀疑。伍兹先生,“他的哪支军队是外国军队。”] 他放手并彻底解散,没想到居鲁士在与他进行了如此势均力敌的对抗之后,最终还是向萨迪斯进军。

78. 当克洛伊索斯心中有了这些计划时,城郊突然布满了蛇。当这些东西出现时,离开牧场去吃草的马匹就不断地来到那里,把它们吃掉。当克洛伊索斯看到这一情况时,他认为这是一个预兆,事实也确实如此。他立即派遣使者前往泰尔梅西人的住所,他们解释预兆:被派去咨询的使者到达那里,从泰尔梅西人那里得知了预兆的意思是,但他们没有成功地将答案报告给克洛伊索斯,因为在他们乘船返回萨迪斯之前,克洛伊索斯已经被俘虏了。然而,泰尔梅西斯人做出了这样的决定:克洛伊索斯将寻找一支讲外语的军队入侵他的土地,当这支军队到来时,他们将征服当地居民;因为他们说蛇是从泥土中诞生的,而马是敌人和陌生人。泰尔梅索斯的人在克罗伊索斯被俘后向他作出了答复,但他们还不知道发生在萨迪斯和克罗伊索斯本人身上的事情。

79.然而,当克洛伊苏斯在佩特里亚打完仗后出发后,居鲁士得知克洛伊苏斯的意思是在他离开后解散军队,他自己商量了一下,得出结论认为,这样做对他有好处。在吕底亚人的力量再次集结之前,尽快向萨迪斯进军。因此,当他下定决心后,他立即行动起来:他以如此之快的速度将军队进军吕底亚,以至于他自己是第一个宣布将前往克罗伊索斯的人。克洛伊索斯虽然陷入了困境,而且事情的进展完全出乎他的意料,但他仍然继续率领吕底亚人投入战斗。此时,亚洲没有哪个国家比吕底亚人更勇敢、更顽强。他们骑马作战,手持长矛,马术精良。

80. 因此,当两军在萨迪斯城前的平原上会师时,这是一片宽阔开阔的平原,河流(特别是希洛斯河)都从这里流过,汇入最大的一条叫做赫尔莫斯的河流。从圣山流向名为“Dindymos”的母亲[95][{Metros Dindumenes},即 Kybele:这座山是弗里吉亚的 Dindymos。] 然后,居鲁士看到吕底亚人列队作战,害怕他们的骑兵,就按照米底人哈帕戈斯的建议,做了如下的事:——所有在骆驼中的骆驼他把携带粮食和辎重的军队聚集在一起,卸下他们的负担,让配备了骑兵装备的人骑在他们身上。这样把他们提供完毕后,他就任命他们在其余军队的前面前往。克洛伊索斯的骑兵;他命令步兵跟在骆驼队后面。他将全部骑兵部队部署在步兵后面。然后,当他的所有部下都就位后,他命令他们不要放过任何其他吕底亚人,杀死所有可能阻挡他们的人,但克洛伊索斯本人却不能被杀死,即使他在抵抗时也不能杀死。他被俘虏了。这就是他的职责:他把骆驼放在骑兵对面,因为这个原因——因为马害怕骆驼,既不能忍受看它的形状,也不能闻到它的气味:因此,这个诡计就被设计出来了。为了让克洛伊索斯的骑兵变得毫无用处,吕底亚国王最希望的就是这支部队。当他们聚集在一起参加战斗时,马匹一闻到骆驼的气味并看到它们,就掉头回去,克洛伊索斯的希望立刻落空了。然而,吕底亚人并没有因此而表现得像懦夫,而是当他们意识到即将发生的事情时,他们跳下马背,徒步与波斯人作战。然而,最终,当双方都有许多人倒下时,吕底亚人开始逃跑。他们被赶到了堡垒的墙内,并被波斯人围困。

81.那时,围困已经形成:但是克洛伊索斯认为围困会持续很长时间,于是从要塞派遣了其他使者去见他的盟友。因为以前的使者被派去通知他们应该在第五个月之前在萨迪斯集合,但他派出这些使者是为了要求他们尽快来帮助他,因为克洛伊索斯正被围困。

82. 因此,在向其他盟友发送信息时,他也向拉塞德蒙发送信息。但这些人,我指的是斯巴达人,也在此时(因此事情已经破裂)与阿尔戈斯人就称为蒂雷亚的地区发生了争吵。对于这个作为阿尔戈斯属地一部分的蒂里亚,拉栖代梦人已经切断并据为己有。现在整个地区向西延伸至马来亚[96][即阿尔戈利斯半岛以西的整片领土,其中包括蒂雷亚并向南延伸至马利亚:“向西直至马利亚”是荒谬的。] 然后被阿尔戈斯人占领,包括位于大陆的部分以及基西拉岛和其他岛屿。当阿尔戈斯人前来救援,以挽救他们的领土免于被切断时,双方进行了谈判,同意双方各出兵三百人,以战斗力强者为准。国家应该拥有有争议的土地:他们还同意,每支军队的主力都应该撤回自己的国家,在争夺战时不要袖手旁观,以免如果军队在场,一方会看到自己的同胞受苦失败应该得到他们的支持。达成协议后,他们退出了;双方选出的人都被留下来互相厮杀。于是他们战斗并证明了自己是势均力敌的;六百人中,最后还剩下三人,分别是阿尔戈斯人阿尔克诺和克罗米奥斯一方,以及拉栖代梦人奥特里阿德斯一方:夜幕降临时,这些人都还活着。于是,两个阿尔戈斯人以为自己是胜利者,就出发前往阿尔戈斯,但拉栖代梦尼亚人奥特里阿德斯在剥去了阿尔戈斯人的尸体并将他们的武器运回自己的营地后,留在了自己的位置上。第二天,双方都来询问结果。一段时间以来,双方都声称自己取得了胜利,一方说,他们中还有更多人活着,而另一方则宣称,这些人已经逃走了,而他们自己的人却坚守阵地,剥去了对方的尸体。最后,由于这场争执,他们互相争斗并开始打斗。在双方都有许多人倒下之后,拉栖代梦人成为了胜利者。随后,阿尔戈斯人剪短了头发,而以前,法律强迫他们留长发,他们制定了一条带有诅咒的法律,从那时起,阿尔戈斯人的男人和女人都不得留长发。佩戴金饰,直到他们赢回泰瑞亚为止。然而,拉栖代梦人为自己制定了与此相反的法律,即从那时起他们应该留长发,而在此之前他们不留长发。他们说,三百人中幸存的一个人,即奥特里阿德斯,当他的所有战友都被杀后,他羞于返回斯巴达,于是在蒂里亚自杀了。

83. 当来自萨迪斯的使者到来,请求他们援助被围困的克罗伊索斯时,斯巴达的情况就是这样。他们不顾自己的困难,一听到传令官的消息,就热切地向他伸出援手。但当他们完成准备工作、船只准备就绪后,又有消息传来,说吕底亚人的堡垒已被占领,克罗伊索斯已被俘。然后(而不是之前)他们停止了努力,对这一事件感到悲伤,就像对一场巨大的灾难一样。

84. 现在,萨迪斯的占领是这样发生的:当克洛伊索斯开始被围困后的第十四天,居鲁士向他的军队发出公告,派遣骑兵到该地区的各个地方,他将向克洛伊索斯赠送礼物谁应该先翻墙。此后,军队进行了尝试;当它失败时,在所有其他人都停止攻击之后,一个名叫希罗亚德斯的马尔迪亚人试图接近城堡没有设置警卫的一侧;因为他们不担心它会从那边被夺走,因为这里的城堡险峻而无懈可击。仅在城墙的这一部分,前萨迪斯国王梅勒斯也没有携带他的妃子给他生的狮子,泰尔梅西亚人已经决定,如果将狮子带到城墙上,萨迪斯应该是安全的梅莱斯把它带到了城墙的其余部分,也就是说,城堡中那些容易受到攻击的部分,因为它是无懈可击且险峻的,所以越过了这部分:现在这是城市的一部分转向特莫洛斯。那么这个[97][{outos}:对 {autos} 的推测修正。] 前一天,马尔迪安·希罗亚德斯看到一名吕底亚人如何下到城堡的一侧去取回从上面滚下来的头盔,并把它捡起来,他想了想,把这件事在自己的脑海中思考了一番。 。然后他自己[98][{autos}:一些MSS。读{o autos},“同一个人。”] 波斯人先上来,随后又上来了其他波斯人,许多人就这样逼近了,萨迪斯最终被占领,整个城市都被交给了掠夺。

85. 与此同时,克洛伊索斯本人也经历了这样的事情:——他有一个儿子,我之前提到过,他性情很好,但不能说话。克洛伊索斯在他以前的繁荣时期已经做了他所能做的一切,除了他所设计的其他事情之外,他还派使者到德尔菲询问他的情况。皮提亚女先知这样对他说道:

“吕底亚人,许多人的主人,对命运视而不见,克洛伊索斯,
不要渴望在你的殿堂里听到祈祷的声音,
你儿子的声音;如果把这个从你身上去掉就更好了,
因为他将在不幸的邪恶日子里首先发表讲话。”

当要塞被攻克时,一名波斯人正要杀死克洛伊索斯,却把他当作了另一个波斯人。克洛伊索斯则看到他来了,并不在乎,因为他遭遇了不幸,对他来说,中风而死也无关紧要。但是这个无声的儿子,当他看到波斯人迎面而来时,由于恐惧和痛苦,他挣脱了言语的束缚,说道:“伙计,不要杀死克洛伊索斯。”我说,这个儿子首先发出声音,但此后他一生都继续使用言语。

86. 当时,波斯人占领了萨迪斯,并俘虏了克洛伊索斯本人。克洛伊索斯统治了十四年,被围困了十四天,实现了他结束自己伟大帝国的神谕。于是,波斯人抓住了他,把他带到了居鲁士面前。居鲁士堆起了一个大柴堆,让克洛伊索斯带着脚镣登上了柴堆,两个吕底亚人的七个儿子也跟着他上去,无论他是不是有意要这样做。将此祭物作为他胜利的初果献给某个神,或者他是否想履行一个誓言,或者听说克洛伊索斯是一个敬畏神的人,所以让他上了柴堆,因为他想知道如果有任何一种神力能够拯救他,那么他就不会被活活烧死。他们说,他做到了这一点;然而,当克洛伊索斯站在火葬堆上时,尽管他处境如此糟糕,他还是想起了梭伦的名言,他是如何以神圣的灵感说,活着的人都不能被称为幸福。当他想到这个想法时,据说他深深地叹了口气[99][{aneneikamenon},几乎等同于 {anastemaxanta}(cp.Hom.Il.xix.314),{mnesamenos d'adinos aneneikatophonesen te}。有些人在这里翻译为“他恢复了自己”,cp。 ch. 116,{aneneikhtheis}。] 他沉默了许久,大声呻吟起来,连叫了三遍梭伦的名字。听到这话,居鲁士吩咐翻译询问克洛伊索斯,他所召唤的这个人是谁?他们走近询问。据说,当克洛伊索斯被问到这个问题时,他一度保持沉默,但后来迫于压力,他说:“我本来希望与所有君主交谈,他拥有更多的财富。”然后,由于他的话的重要性值得怀疑,他们再次询问他所说的内容。由于他们对他很紧急,没有给他任何安宁,他讲述了一次雅典人梭伦来了,在检查了他所有的财富后,他对此事轻描淡写,并说了这样那样的话。正如梭伦所说,一切的结果对他来说都是如此,他所说的并不是特别针对克洛伊索斯本人,而是着眼于整个人类,尤其是那些自认为是幸福的人。当克洛伊索斯讲述这些事情时,柴堆已经点燃,周围的边缘正在燃烧。然后他们说,居鲁士听了翻译们所说的话,改变了他的目的,认为他自己也不过是一个人,他正在拯救另一个人,这个人在幸福上并不逊色于他,活到了上帝的身边。火;此外,他还害怕得到报应,并反思说,人类所拥有的一切都没有什么是安全的。因此,他们说,他命令他们尽快扑灭正在燃烧的大火,并将克洛伊索斯和他的追随者从柴堆上拉下来。他们现在再怎么努力也无法掌控火焰。

87. 据吕底亚人记载,克洛伊索斯在得知居鲁士如何改变主意后,看到每个人都在试图扑灭大火,但他们已无法阻止火势,于是大声呼求阿波罗,如果凡是他送过的任何一件神能接受的礼物,他都会来帮助他,把他从现在降临在他身上的邪恶中拯救出来。于是他流着泪向神祈求,据他们说,突然间,在晴朗的天空和平静的天气之后,乌云聚集,暴风雨爆发,下起了倾盆大雨,柴堆被扑灭了。居鲁士见克洛伊索斯是一位热爱众神的人,也是一个好人,便将他从火葬堆上拉了下来,并问他如下问题:“克洛伊索斯,告诉我,是谁说服你向他进军的?”我的土地,因此成为我的敌人而不是朋友?”他说:“国王啊,我这样做是为了你的幸福,也是为了我自己的不幸,造成这一切的是希腊人的神,他煽动我率军出征。因为没有人会愚蠢到按照自己的意愿选择战争而不是和平,因为在和平中,儿子埋葬了他们的父亲,而在战争中,父亲埋葬了他们的儿子。但我想,这些事情如此发生,会令神圣力量感到高兴。”

88.他说完,居鲁士松开了束缚,让他坐在自己身边,对他给予了极大的尊重,他自己和周围的人在看到克洛伊索斯时都感到惊讶。克洛伊索斯陷入沉思,沉默不语;但过了一会儿,他转过身来,看到波斯人正在掠夺吕底亚人的城市,他说:“国王啊,我是否必须告诉你我偶然想到的事情,或者我必须对我目前的命运保持沉默?” ?”然后居鲁士让他大胆地说出他想要的一切。他问他:“这么多人如此热心地做什么?”他说:“他们正在掠夺你的城市,抢走你的财富。”克洛伊索斯回答说:“他们掠夺的既不是我的城市,也不是我的财富;因为我不再拥有这些东西的任何财产:但他们所带走和带走的却是你的财富。”

89.居鲁士对克洛伊索斯所说的话感到担忧,他让其余的人都撤退,并问克洛伊索斯他认为所做的事情对他有利。他说:“既然众神把我作为奴隶赐给你,我认为我比其他人更能辨别出什么东西可以向你表明这一点,这是正确的。波斯人生性不守规矩,[100][{乌布里斯泰}。] 没有财富:因此,如果你允许他们掠夺大量财富并占有它,那么你就应该期待你会经历这个结果,你必须预期,无论谁获得最大份额会发动叛乱反对你。现在,如果你喜欢我所说的,就这样做吧:派你的卫兵把守所有的城门,让他们把东西拿走,然后告诉那些把它们抬出城的人。他们必须首先为宙斯缴纳什一税:这样一来,你一方面不会因为强行夺走东西而被他们憎恨,另一方面他们也会心甘情愿地放走东西,[101][{proesousi}:对{poiesousi}的推测修正,被大多数现代版本采用。] 他们内心承认你正在做正义的事。”

90.听到这话,居鲁士非常高兴,因为他认为克洛伊索斯的建议很好。他对克洛伊索斯大加赞扬,并吩咐卫兵的矛兵执行克洛伊索斯所建议的事情。之后,他对克洛伊索斯这样说道:“克洛伊索斯,既然你已经准备好,像国王一样,做好事,讲好话。”好话,所以,无论你想要什么,都可以向我要一份礼物。”他说:“主人,如果您允许我把这些脚镣送给我最尊敬的希腊诸神,我将非常高兴,并询问他是否认为这是正确的。”欺骗那些对他好的人。”然后居鲁士问他对神提出了什么指控,他如此要求。克洛伊索斯向他复述了他心中所想的一切,以及神谕的答案,特别是还愿祭品,以及预言如何煽动他向波斯人进军:这样说着,他又回到了请求允许他做出这种责备[102][{touto oneidisai}:或 {touton oneidisai},“用这些东西来羞辱神。”最好的MSS。有{touto}。] 反对神。居鲁士笑着说道:“克洛伊索斯,你不仅可以从我这里得到这个,还可以随时从我这里得到你想要的任何东西。”听到这个消息,克洛伊索斯派了一些吕底亚人到德尔菲,命令他们把脚镣放在神庙的门槛上,并询问神是否因为他的预言煽动克洛伊索斯向波斯人进军而感到羞耻,说服他他应该结束居鲁士帝国,因为这些是他从帝国中夺取的最初的战利品,同时展示了束缚。他们要问这个问题,此外还要问希腊诸神是否认为忘恩负义是正确的。

91. 当吕底亚人到来并重复他们被吩咐说的话时,据说皮提亚女先知说了如下的话:“命运的命运即使是神也无法逃脱。克洛伊索斯为他的第五位祖先所犯下的罪孽偿还了债务,他是赫拉克勒斯的枪手之一,遵循了一个女人的诡计,杀死了他的主人,夺取了他原本不属于他的王室尊严。 。尽管洛希亚斯热切地希望萨迪斯的灾难降临到克洛伊索斯的儿子们身上,而不是克洛伊索斯本人,但他不可能让命运偏离他们的轨道。但他所许诺的一切都实现了,并将其作为礼物送给了克洛伊索斯:因为他把夺取萨迪斯的时间推迟了三年。让克洛伊索斯放心,他被俘虏的时间比预定的时间要晚一些:此外,第二,当他即将被烧死时,他帮助了他。至于所给予的神谕,克洛伊索斯有充分的理由提出错误:因为洛希阿斯事先告诉他,如果他向波斯人进军,他将摧毁一个伟大的帝国。应该派人进一步询问上帝是指他自己的帝国还是居鲁士的帝国:但由于他不理解所说的内容并且没有再问,让他宣布自己是随后发生的事情的原因。对他也[103][{to kai...eipe ta eipe Loxias ktl}:已经提出了各种修正。如果要收养任何一个,最大胆的也许是最好的,{to de kai…eipe Loxias}。] 当他最后一次咨询神谕时,洛希亚斯说出了他所说的有关骡子的事情;但他也未能理解这一点:因为居鲁士实际上就是这头骡子,因为他的父母是两个不同的种族,他的母亲具有较高的血统,而他的父亲则不太高贵:因为她是米底女人,阿斯提阿格斯的女儿,米底人的国王,但他是波斯人,属于米底人的一个种族,在各方面都比他低一等,但他的丈夫却是他的王室情妇。”皮提亚女先知就这样回答了吕底亚人,他们把答案带回萨迪斯,并向克罗伊索斯重复了一遍。当他听到这件事时,他承认错误是他自己的,而不是神的错误。克洛伊索斯帝国和对爱奥尼亚的第一次征服,就是这样发生的。

92. 克罗伊索斯在希腊还有许多其他的还愿祭品,而不仅仅是上面提到的那些:首先,在维奥提亚人的底比斯,有一个金三脚架,他把它献给了伊斯美尼亚阿波罗;然后在以弗所有金牛和更多的圣殿柱子。德尔菲的雅典娜·普罗纳亚神庙里有一面巨大的金色盾牌。这些直到我的时代仍然保留着,但他的其他还愿祭品已经消失了:据我所知,克洛伊索斯在米利都人布兰吉代的还愿祭品的重量与德尔斐的祭品相同,相似。现在,他把那些送到德尔斐和安菲亚罗斯神庙的东西献给了他自己的财产,并作为从他父亲继承的财富的初熟成果;但其他的祭品是用他的敌人的物质制成的,这个敌人在克洛伊索斯成为国王之前就一直反对他,并参与了让潘塔莱昂成为吕底亚人统治者的努力。潘塔莱昂是阿利亚特斯的儿子,也是克罗伊索斯的兄弟,但不是同一个母亲所生,因为克罗伊索斯是卡里亚女人阿利亚特斯所生,而潘塔莱昂是爱奥尼亚女人所生。当克洛伊索斯通过他父亲的礼物获得王国时,他处死了反对他的人,把他拉到梳理梳子上。他的财产,甚至在那之前他就发誓要奉献,然后他以提到的方式向那些已命名的神殿供奉。关于他的还愿品,已经说了这么多了。

93. 与其他土地相比,吕底亚土地上没有太多值得记录的奇迹,[104][{oia te kai alle khore},“就像其他国家一样。”] 从特莫洛斯带下来的金粉除外;但它必须展示一件作品,它比除了埃及和巴比伦的作品之外的任何其他作品都要大得多:因为那里有克洛伊索斯之父阿利亚特斯的坟墓纪念碑,其基座是用较大的石头和其余的石头制成的。纪念碑是用土堆起来的。这是由那些从事贸易的人、工匠以及在那里做生意的女孩们的贡献建造的。直到我这个时代,上面的纪念碑上还竖立着五块界石,上面刻着铭文,告诉人们每个阶级完成了多少工作;经过测量发​​现,女孩子的工作量是最多的。因为吕底亚平民的女儿们都从事卖淫活动,为自己收集嫁妆,一直持续到她们出嫁的时候。女孩们在婚姻中放弃了自己。现在纪念碑的周长是六弗隆两百英尺,[105][{stadioi ex kai duo plethra}。] 宽一千三百英尺。[106][{plethra tria kai deka}。] 纪念碑旁边有一个大湖,吕底亚人说那里有源源不断的水源,它被称为吉吉斯湖。[107][{古盖伊}。] 这就是这座纪念碑的本质。

94. 现在,吕底亚人的习俗与希腊人几乎相同,除了他们卖淫女童。据我们所知,他们是第一批铸造和使用金银硬币的人。他们也是第一批零售商人。吕底亚人自己也说,他们和希腊人现在使用的游戏也是他们的发明。他们说这些是他们在殖民蒂尔森尼亚的同时发明的,[108][或“第勒尼亚”。] 以下是他们对他们的描述:——在他们的国王马尼斯的儿子阿提斯统治时期,整个吕底亚都遭遇了严重的饥荒。吕底亚人一度继续忍受这种痛苦,但后来这种痛苦并没有停止,他们开始寻求补救办法。一个人设计了一种东西,另一个人设计了另一种东西。他们说,后来人们发现了玩骰子、指节骨和球的方法,以及除跳棋之外的所有其他游戏(因为吕底亚人并没有声称发现了最后一项游戏)。他们发明这些游戏是为了对抗饥荒,因此他们过去常常这样做:——有一天他们会一直玩游戏,这样他们就不会感到缺乏食物,第二天他们就不再玩游戏了。他们玩游戏,吃东西:就这样他们持续了十八年。然而,邪恶并没有减弱,反而越来越强地压在他们身上,因此他们的国王将整个吕底亚人分成两部分,并通过抽签指定一部分留下来,另一部分离开这片土地。国王指定自己管理那些有抽签留在这片土地的部分,并任命他的儿子管理离开的部分。他儿子的名字叫提塞诺斯。于是,他们一行人得到了离开陆地的抽签,就下到士每拿的海边,为自己建造了船只,把所有的动产都装在里面,然后扬帆出海去寻找谋生手段。和可居住的土地;直到经过许多国家之后,他们终于来到了翁布里肯人的土地,[109][或“翁布里亚人”。] 他们在那里建立了城市并居住至今。他们改变了自己的名字,以带领他们离开家乡的国王儿子的名字命名,不是吕底亚人,而是提尔西尼亚人,这个名字是从他那里得来的。

正如我所说,吕底亚人当时已经臣服于波斯人:

95.在此之后,我们的历史继续询问居鲁士,他是谁摧毁了克洛伊索斯帝国,以及波斯人,他们以什么方式取得了亚洲的领先地位。然后,根据一些波斯人的报告——我指的是那些不想美化居鲁士的历史,而是说出事实真相的人——根据他们的报告,我说,我要写;但我也可以通过三种方式阐述这个故事的其他形式。

亚述人统治上亚洲[110][{tes ano 'Asies},即从地中海移走的部分。] 五百二十年来,米底人是他们中最先反抗的人。这些人与亚述人一起为自由而战,证明了自己是好人,因此他们摆脱了奴隶制的枷锁,获得了自由。在他们之后,其他民族也做了与米底人相同的事:当整个大陆都独立后,他们又回到了专制统治,如下:

96. 米底人中出现了一位才华横溢的人,他的名字叫德约克斯,他是弗拉奥尔特斯的儿子。这个德伊奥克斯对专制权力产生了渴望,他这样做了:——米底人居住在不同的村庄,而他甚至在那之前就在自己的村庄里享有很高的声誉,他开始以更大的热情去实践更多的事情比以前;尽管整个米底亚存在着许多无法无天的现象,尽管他知道不公正永远与正义不和,但他还是这么做了。同村的米底人看到他的举止,就选他为审判官。因此,他既然以权力为目标,就为人正直、公正,因此得到了同胞们的不小的称赞,以至于其他村子的人都知道德约克斯是一个比其他人更能做出正确决策的人。在此之前,他们已经习惯了遭受不公正的判决,而当他们听到这件事时,他们自己也很高兴地来到戴奥克斯那里,让他们的事业得到确定,最后他们不再把这件事托付给其他人。

97. 然后,随着越来越多的人不断地来到他身边,因为人们了解到他的决定被证明是符合事实的,戴奥克斯意识到一切都指向他自己,他将不再坐在他以前坐过的地方并说他不会再判案了,因为整天忽略自己的事情并为邻居判案对他来说是没有好处的。因此,由于村庄里的抢劫和无法无天现象比以前更加普遍,米底人聚集在一个地方,互相考虑并谈论他们所处的状态:我想德约克斯的朋友们说了很多。大意是这样的:“既然我们在目前的情况下不能在这片土地上居住,那么让我们在我们中间立一个国王,这样这片土地就会得到很好的治理,我们自己就可以去劳动,不因不法之事而毁坏。”他们用这样的话说服自己有一个国王。

98. 当他们立即提出应该立谁为国王的问题时,戴奥克斯受到了大家的大力推荐和赞扬,直到最后他们同意他应该是他们的国王。他命令他们为他建造一座配得上皇家尊严的宫殿,并用矛兵护卫加强他的力量。玛代人照做了,因为他们在他告诉他们的那片土地上为他建造了一座又大又坚固的宫殿,并允许他从所有玛代人中挑选矛兵。当他取得对米底人的统治后,他强迫米底人建造一座坚固的城池,并重点关注这一城池,而很少考虑其他城池。正如米底人在这方面也服从他一样,他建造了又大又坚固的城墙,这些城墙现在被称为阿格巴塔纳,一圈一圈地矗立着。这堵墙设计得很巧妙,仅靠城垛的高度,一圈就比另一圈高。我想,在某种程度上,地面的性质,因为它位于一座小山上,有助于实现这一目标。但它更多的是由艺术产生的,因为圆圈的数量全部是七个。[111][即大自然不可能提供如此多的定期上升的圆圈。斯坦因改变了文本,使句子这样运行,“虽然总共有七个圆圈,但最后一个是皇宫,”等等。] 最后一圈内是皇宫和宝库。其中最大的城墙的大小大约等于雅典城墙的周长。第一个圆圈的城垛是白色的,第二个是黑色的,第三个是深红色的,第四个是蓝色的,第五个是红色的:因此,所有圆圈的城垛都涂有不同的色调,最后两个圆圈有自己的城垛其中一个包着银,另一个包着金。

99. 德约克斯为自己建造了这些围墙,围绕着他自己的宫殿,并命令人民住在围墙周围。一切建成后,戴奥克斯制定了他是第一个制定的规则,规定任何人都不得进入国王的面前,但他们总是通过使者与他打交道;国王不应该被任何人看见;此外,当面大笑或吐口水都是不体面的,这对每个人来说都是如此,无一例外。[112][即“对于那些在国王面前的人来说,大笑或吐口水都是不体面的,这对所有人来说都是最后的,无论是否在国王面前。” CP。克森。赛罗普。我。 2. 16, {aiskhron men gar eti kai nun esti Persais kai to apoptuein kai to apomuttesthai},(引自斯坦因,但他给出了不同的解释)。] 现在他被这样的状态包围着[113][{tauta de peri eouton esemnune}:给出的翻译是伍兹先生的翻译。] 目的是让那些与他一起长大、出身不卑不亢、男子气概落后于他的同胞们,不会因为看到他而感到悲伤,而密谋反对他,但如果他们没有看到他,可能会被认为是他。是不同的模具。

100. 他把这些事情安排妥当,加强了自己的专制,他严厉地维护正义。人们常常写下他们的理由,然后把它们送到他面前,他决定向他提出的问题,然后再把它们发出来。他过去常常这样对待原因的判断。他还为此下令,也就是说,如果他听到有人有不守规矩的行为,他就会派人把他叫来,并根据每一个错误的行为应有的惩罚他,并且他在所有的事情上都有监视者和听众。他统治的土地。

101. Deïokes 随后单独统一了米底种族,并且是这个种族的统治者:米底人的部落如下,即布塞人、帕拉塔肯尼亚人、斯特鲁卡特斯人、阿里赞特人、布迪安人、马吉安人:米底人的部落如此之多在数量上。

102. 德约克斯的儿子是弗劳特斯,当德约克斯死后,弗劳特斯在位已三五十年,继承了权力。得到它后,他不满足于独自统治米底人,而是向波斯人进军。他首先攻击他们,使他们首先臣服于米底人。此后,作为这两个国家的统治者,他们都强大,他开始征服亚洲,从一个国家到另一个国家,直到最后他向亚述人进军,我指的是那些居住在尼尼微的亚述人,他们以前曾是尼尼微的亚述人。整个国家的统治者,但当时他们没有得到盟友的支持,因为他们的盟友背叛了他们,尽管他们在国内已经足够繁荣了。[114][{allos mentoi eouton eu ekontes}:翻译部分归功于伍兹先生。] 我说,弗劳特斯向这些人进军,在他统治两年二十年后,他自己也被杀了,他的大部分军队都被摧毁了。

103. 当弗劳尔特斯结束生命时,迪奥克斯的儿子弗劳尔特斯的儿子基亚克萨雷斯继承了权力。据说这位国王比他的祖先更加好战。他首先将亚洲人分成不同的部队,也就是说,他首先将矛兵、弓箭手和骑兵分开排列,因为在此之前他们都是毫无区别地混合在一起的。他在白天与夜晚的吕底亚人战斗中与他们作战,并在他的统治下统一了哈利斯河上方的整个亚洲。[115][即哈利斯以东:参见第 95 章注释。 XNUMX.] 他聚集了所有的臣民,向尼尼微进军,为他的父亲报仇,同时也因为他渴望征服这座城市。当他与亚述人交战并击败他们时,当他坐在尼尼微城前时,一支斯基泰大军向他袭来,[116][见四。 12.] 他们的首领是斯基泰人国王普罗托希亚斯的儿子马迪亚斯。这些人在将基米利安人赶出欧洲后入侵了亚洲,并在他们逃亡时追击他们,来到了米底亚之地。

104. 现在,从麦奥蒂安湖到法西斯河,再到科尔基斯人的土地,一个人需要三十天的旅程,没有任何负担;[117][Cp。 ch. 72.] 从科尔基斯到米底亚并不远,因为他们之间只有一个民族,即萨斯佩里安人,经过这个民族,你就到了米底亚。然而斯基泰人并没有通过这条路入侵,而是绕道而行。[118][{ten katuperthe odon},即距离黑海向东更远。] 它更长,使高加索山保持在他们的右手边。后来米底人与斯基泰人交战,战败后失去了势力,斯基泰人获得了整个亚洲的统治权。

105. 从那里他们继续入侵埃及。当他们在叙利亚,也就是巴勒斯坦的时候,埃及王萨美提科斯遇见了他们。他通过礼物和恳求使他们偏离了他们的目的,使他们不再前进:当他们撤退时,当他们到达叙利亚的阿斯卡隆城时,大多数斯基泰人通过了,没有造成任何损害,但留下来的人中很少有人洗劫了阿佛洛狄忒·乌拉尼亚的神庙。现在,据我调查发现,这座寺庙是属于这位女神的所有寺庙中最古老的一座。正如塞浦路斯人民自己所报道的那样,塞浦路斯的圣殿就是由此建立的,而来自叙利亚这片土地的腓尼基人在基西拉建立了圣殿。因此,这些掠夺了阿斯卡隆神庙的斯基泰人,以及他们的后代,都被神灵所震撼。[119][{o theos}。] 患有一种疾病,使她们成为女人而不是男人:斯基泰人说,正是由于这个原因,他们才患病,因此,现在访问斯基泰的旅行者,在他们中间看到了那些被斯基泰人称为“人”的人的感情。 埃纳瑞斯.

106. 斯基泰人统治亚洲八年二十年,由于他们的不守规矩和鲁莽行为,一切都被毁了。因为一方面他们向每个民族征收他们所征收的贡品,[120][{khoris men gar phoron}:许多编辑用 {phoron} 代替 {phoron},但如果不与 {khoris} 一起使用,而是与 {to ekastoisi epeballon} 一起使用,则 {phoron} 可能成立。] 除了贡品之外,他们还骑着马到处强行掠夺各部落的财产。那时,基亚克萨雷斯和米底人一起,邀请了更多的米底人参加宴会,让他们喝醉了,然后杀了他们。就这样,米底人恢复了权力,并像以前一样统治着同样的国家。他们还占领了尼尼微——我将在另一部历史中阐述如何占领尼尼微,[121][Cp。 ch. 184,“亚述历史。”]——除了巴比伦以外,亚述人都臣服于他们。

107. 此后,凯亚萨雷斯去世,在位四十年,其中包括斯基泰人统治的那些年,凯亚萨雷斯的儿子阿斯提亚格斯从他那里继承了王国。他生了一个女儿,给她起名叫曼丹(Mandane)。在他的睡梦中,他觉得从她那里流出的水如此之多,以至于充满了他的城市,也淹没了整个亚洲。这个梦想他实现了[122][{upothemenos},对{upothemenos}的推测修正,cp。 ch. 108 MSS所在。给出 {uperthemenos},(上面写有 {upo} 的美第奇人作为更正)。] 当他从他们那里听到每一个点的真相时,他变得害怕。后来,当这个曼达人到了结婚的年龄时,他没有把她嫁给任何一个与他同辈的米底人,因为他害怕这个异象。但他把她嫁给了一个名叫冈比西斯的波斯人,他发现他出身良好,性情安静,认为他的地位远低于中等地位的米德人。

108.当曼达内与冈比西斯结婚的第一年,阿斯提阿格斯看到了另一个异象。在他看来,从这个女儿的子宫里就长出了一株藤蔓,而这株藤蔓遍布整个亚洲。在看到这个异象并将其传达给解梦者之后,他派人将当时怀有身孕的女儿从波斯人的土地上接来。当她到来时,他就监视着她,想要毁掉她所生的孩子。因为魔术师的解梦对他来说意味着他女儿的后代应该成为他房间里的国王。当居鲁士出生时,阿斯提阿格斯想要防止这种情况发生,他被称为哈帕戈斯,他是他的近亲,他比所有其他米底人更信任他,并让他管理他的所有事务。他对他说道:“哈帕戈斯,无论如何都不要忽视我交给你去做的事情,并且要小心,以免你把我抛在一边,[123][或者“让我面临风险”、“赌上我的安全。”] 反而选择别人的优点,最终导致自己的灭亡。把曼丹所生的孩子带到你家并杀掉;然后以你想要的任何方式埋葬它。”对此,他回答道:“国王啊,您从未在我身上发现过对您的冒犯,我也时刻警惕自己,以免我犯下任何错误。”向着你。如果您确实愿意这样做,那么我至少必须适当地提供服务。”

109.他就这样回答了,当孩子被装扮得像要死一样被交付给他时,哈帕戈斯哭着向他的妻子讲述了阿斯提亚格斯所说的一切。她对他说:“那么,现在你想做什么呢?”他回答说:“不是按照阿斯提阿格斯的吩咐,因为即使他变得比现在更疯狂,我也不会同意他的意愿或为他服务于这样的谋杀案。” 。出于多种原因,我不会杀死这个孩子;首先是因为他是我的亲戚,其次是因为阿斯提阿格斯年事已高,没有男性后裔,如果他死后权力会通过我而来,那不是最大的危险在等待着我吗?为了保护我,这个孩子必须死;但杀死它的一定是阿斯提阿格斯的一位仆人,而不是我的一位。”

110.他如此说道,并立即派了一名使者去见一位他认识的阿斯提阿格斯牧民,他在最适合他目的的牧场和野兽最常出没的山上喂养他的牛群。这个人的名字叫米特拉达梯斯(Mitradates),他娶了一位同为奴隶的人为妻。他所娶的女人的名字在希腊语和米底语中叫“基诺”(Kyno),希腊人称之为“斯帕科”(Spaco)。 凯纳 (母狗)米底人的呼唤 斯帕卡。现在,这个牧民的牧场就在山脚上,从阿巴塔那到北风,再到黑海。因为在萨斯皮里亚人的方向上,米底地区多山、高耸,森林覆盖茂密。但米底亚的其他地方都是平原。因此,当这个牧人被紧急召唤过来时,哈帕格斯说了这样的话:“阿斯提阿格斯请你把这个孩子带到山上最荒凉的地方,让他尽快死去。他吩咐我说,如果你不杀死它,但以任何方式保护它免于死亡,他就会以最邪恶的破坏方式杀死你:[124][或者“你将遭受最邪恶的死亡”:cp。 ch. 167.] 我被指派去照顾孩子的出生。”

111. 牧人听了这话,抱起了孩子,就原路返回,回到了自己的住处。而他的妻子,似乎每天都快要生孩子了,碰巧在牧民进城的时候生下了孩子。两人都为对方感到焦虑,男人担心妻子的生育,女人则担心哈帕戈斯派人去召见她丈夫的原因,因为以前不习惯这样做。所以当他回来站在她面前时,那个女人意外地再次见到他,第一个开口了,并询问哈帕格斯如此紧急地找他有什么目的。他说:“妻子,当我来到这座城市时,我看到和听到了我希望没有看到的东西,我希望这些东西从来没有发生在我们所服务的人身上。因为哈帕戈斯的房子里充满了哀悼,我进去时感到惊讶:我一进去就看到一个婴儿在喘气和尖叫,他身上装饰着金饰和绣花衣服:当哈帕戈斯看到我时,他立即吩咐我把孩子抱起来,把它放在野兽最常出没的山上,他说是阿斯提阿格斯把这个任务交给我的,并用如果我不这样做的话,我会受到很多威胁。我把它抱起来,带走了,以为它是家里某个仆人的孩子,因为我永远无法想象它到底是从哪里来的。但我惊讶地看到它装饰着黄金和衣服,我也感到惊讶,因为在哈帕戈斯的家里公开为它哀悼。当我们走在路上时,我从与我一起出城并将婴儿放在我手中的仆人那里得知了整个事情,也就是说,这实际上是阿斯提阿格斯的女儿曼达尼的儿子,还有居鲁士之子冈比西斯,阿斯提阿格斯命令杀死它。现在它就在这里。”

112.当他说这话时,牧人揭开了它并向她展示。她见孩子又大又漂亮,就哭着跪在丈夫的膝上,求他不要生下孩子。但他说他只能这样做,因为哈帕戈斯会派出守卫来来回回地监视这件事的完成,如果他不这样做,他就会悲惨地死去。由于她根本无法说服丈夫,妻子接下来说道:“从那时起,我无法说服你不要把它提出来,如果确实需要让别人看到,你就按照我告诉你的去做吧。”向前。我也生过孩子,但生下来却死了。把这个揭露出来,让我们像抚养自己的孩子一样抚养阿斯提阿格斯女儿的孩子。这样,您就不会被发现对我们所服务的人做了错事,我们也不会为自己采取恶意的建议;因为死去的孩子将得到皇家葬礼,而幸存的孩子也不会失去生命。”

113. 在牧民看来,从目前的情况来看,他的妻子说得很好,他立即就这样做了。他把要处死的孩子交给了他的妻子,而他自己的孩子已经死了,他把孩子放在他生下另一个孩子的箱子里。他用另一个孩子的所有装饰品来装饰它,然后把它带到山上最荒凉的地方,并将它放在那里。当孩子出生后第三天,牧民就进城了,留下一名手下牧民在那里看守,当他来到哈帕戈斯家时,他说他已经准备好展示孩子了。孩子的尸体;哈帕戈斯派出了他最信任的矛兵,通过他们,他看到并埋葬了牧民的孩子。然后这个人就被埋葬了,但后来被称为居鲁士的牧人妻子收到了他,并抚养他长大,毫无疑问给了他另一个名字,而不是居鲁士。

114.当这个男孩十岁的时候,发生了如下的事情,这让他知道了。他当时正在村子里玩耍,那里有牛栏,我说,他正在那里玩耍,和其他同龄的男孩在路上玩耍。孩子们在玩耍中选择了这个被称为牧民儿子的人作为他们的国王:他派他们中的一些人建造宫殿,另一些人担任他的卫兵,毫无疑问,他任命其中一位为国王的眼睛,他赋予其中一人传达信息的职责, [12401][{tas aggelias pherein},即拥有 {aggeliephoros}(第 120 章)或 {esaggeleus}(iii.84)的办公室,内务大臣通过其进行通信。] 为每人分别指定一部作品。与其他孩子一起玩耍的男孩中有一个,他是米底人中颇有声望的阿尔滕巴雷斯的儿子,他没有做居鲁士指定他做的事;因此居鲁士命令其他男孩抓住他的手脚,[125][{dialabein}。伍兹先生如此翻译。] 当他们服从他的命令时,他就非常粗暴地对待这个男孩,鞭打他。但他一被释放,就更加愤怒,因为他认为自己受到了侮辱,他下城去城里向他的父亲抱怨居鲁士对他的待遇,称他为不是居鲁士,因为这还不是他的名字,而是阿斯提阿格斯牧民的儿子。阿尔滕巴列斯一怒之下,立刻带着孩子去找阿斯提阿格斯,他宣称自己遭受了不适当的事情,并说道:“国王啊,通过你的奴隶,一个牧民的儿子,我们如此愤怒,”向他展示了儿子的肩膀。

115.阿斯提亚格斯听到并看到这一切,希望惩罚这个男孩,为阿尔滕巴雷斯的荣誉报仇,于是派人去叫牧人和他的儿子。当两人都在场时,阿斯泰阿格斯看着居鲁士说道:“作为一个如此卑鄙父亲的儿子,你竟敢以如此不体面的侮辱对待这个最受我宠爱的人的儿子?”他回答说:“师父,我对他这样做是正当的。对于村里的男孩们来说,他也是其中之一,在他们的游戏中,我被视为他们的国王,因为在他们看来,我最适合这个地方。现在其他男孩都按照我的吩咐去做了,但这个男孩却不听从,也不理睬,直到最后他受到了应有的惩罚。因此,如果为此我值得遭受任何邪恶,那么我就站在你面前。”

116. 当男孩这样说话时,阿斯提阿格斯感到一种认出他的感觉,他脸上的轮廓在他看来与他自己的相似,他的回答似乎对他的地位来说有点过于自由,而时间躺着的样子似乎与男孩的年龄相符。他被这些惊呆了,一时说不出话来。终于,他好不容易才恢复过来,他说,想要打发阿尔滕巴雷斯,以便他可以单独找到牧人并检查他:“阿尔滕巴雷斯,我将如此命令这些事情,让你和你的儿子没有理由找茬”;于是他遣散了阿尔滕巴雷斯,仆人们按照阿斯提阿格斯的命令把居鲁士带了进去。当牧人独自留在国王身边时,阿斯泰阿格斯单独和他在一起,询问他从哪里收到了这个男孩,是谁把这个男孩交给了他。牧民说,他是他的亲生儿子,母亲仍然作为他的妻子和他住在一起。但阿斯提亚格斯说,他想要被带到极端危急的境地是不明智的,当他说这句话的时候,他向他的卫队的矛兵做了一个手势,要求抓住他。所以当他被带去受酷刑时,[126][{es tas anagkas},“必要时”,上面提到过。] 然后宣布这个故事的真实情况;他从头开始讲述了整个过程,说出了真相,最后以恳求结束,请求他宽恕。

117. 因此,当牧人知道真相后,阿斯提阿格斯现在不再关心他了,但对哈帕戈斯却非常不满,并命令他的矛兵召唤他。当哈帕戈斯到来时,阿斯泰阿格斯这样问他:“哈帕戈斯,你是用什么死法杀死了我为你生下的、我女儿所生的孩子?”哈帕戈斯见牧人在王宫里,就没有说任何虚假的话,以免他被定罪并被发现,而是说道:“国王啊,我一收到孩子,就带着孩子去了。”并考虑我应该如何按照您的想法行事,以及如何在不冒犯您的命令的情况下,不犯谋杀您女儿和您自己的罪。因此,我这样做了:——我叫来了这个牧人,把孩子交给了他,首先说你就是命令他杀掉孩子的人——至少在这一点上我没有说谎,因为你是这么命令的。我说,我把它交给了这个人,命令他把它放在一座荒山上,并留在它旁边看管它直到它死去,并威胁他如果他不完成​​这一任务,将受到各种惩罚。当他完成了命令,孩子死了后,我派了我最信任的太监,通过他们我看到并埋葬了孩子。因此,国王啊,这件事发生了,孩子就死了,正如我所说的那样。”

118.于是哈帕戈斯说出了真相,阿斯提亚格斯隐藏了他因所发生的事情而对他怀有的愤怒,首先他按照牧人告诉他的那样,将此事再次向哈帕戈斯讲述了,然后,当他这样重复一遍时,他最后说,孩子还活着,所发生的一切都很好,“因为,”他继续说,“我对这个孩子所遭受的一切感到非常不安。” ,我认为我与女儿的不和并不是一件小事。因此,请考虑这是一次幸福的命运转变,首先将您的儿子送到新来的男孩身边,然后,我打算为保护这个男孩向那些神灵做出感恩的牺牲。这是你的荣幸,你亲自来和我一起吃饭吧。”

119.当哈帕戈斯听到这句话时,他肃然起敬,并认为他的冒犯最终为他带来了利益,而且他被邀请参加晚宴,这真是一件大事。[127][或“庆祝好运。”] 于是他就回家了。他一进去,就派出他的儿子,因为他只有一个大约十三岁的儿子,吩咐他去阿斯提阿格斯的宫殿,做国王所吩咐的一切事情。他自己也欣喜若狂,把发生在他身上的事告诉了他的妻子。但是,当哈帕戈斯的儿子到达时,阿斯提阿格斯割断了他的喉咙,把他的肢体分开,烤了一些肉,煮了另一些肉,然后把它们穿好准备吃。当晚餐时间到了,其他客人和哈帕戈斯都在场时,其他客人和阿斯提亚格斯本人面前都摆上了铺满羊肉的桌子;但在哈帕戈斯被放置在他自己儿子的肉之前,除了头、手和脚之外,[128][{akreon kheiron te kai podon}:cp。二. 121(e),{apotamonta en to omo ten kheira}。] 这些东西都被放在篮子里。然后,当哈帕戈斯似乎对食物感到满意时,阿斯泰亚格斯问他对宴会是否满意;当哈帕戈斯说他非常高兴时,受命这样做的人把他儿子的头蒙起来,连同手和脚带到了他面前。他们站在附近,命令哈帕戈斯揭开并拿走他想要的东西。因此,当哈帕戈斯服从并揭开盖子时,他看到了儿子的遗骸。看到他们,他并没有被惊讶所征服,而是克制住了自己。阿斯泰阿格斯问他是否意识到他正在吃的是什么动物的肉:他说他意识到了,无论国王做什么,他都会感到高兴。他回答完后,拿起剩下的肉,就回家去了。我想,在那之后,他会把所有的部件收集起来,然后埋掉。

120. 阿斯提阿格斯对哈帕戈斯施加了这一惩罚;他想到了居鲁士,并召集了那些曾以上述方式对他的梦作出判断的马吉斯人。当他们到来时,阿斯泰阿格斯问他们如何对他的异象做出判断;他们也用同样的方式说话,说如果这个孩子还活着并且之前没有死的话,他一定已经成为国王了。他这样回答他们:“孩子还活着,没有死:[129][{esti te o pais kai periesti}。伍兹先生如此翻译。] 当他住在乡下时,村里的孩子们拥立他为王。他完全履行了真正的国王所做的一切事情。因为他行使统治权,[130][{erkhe}:一些劣质的MSS。有 {eikhe},被几位编辑采用。] 任命了守卫长矛手、看门人、传递信息的人以及其他人员担任他们的职务。那么,现在你觉得这些事情会带来什么后果呢?”魔法师们说:“如果这个孩子还活着,并且没有任何安排就成为了国王,那么你要对他充满信心,要有足够的勇气,因为他不会再次成为统治者;”因为我们的一些预言甚至只产生了很小的结果,[131][{para smikra…kekhoreke},“结果平平无奇。”] 至少与梦想有关的事情往往最终会取得微弱的成就。”阿斯提亚格斯这样回答道:“魔术师们啊,我本人也最愿意相信事实是这样的,即自从这个男孩被任命为国王以来,他的梦想就已经实现了,这个男孩不再是危险的来源。大部头书。尽管如此,请给我提供建议,仔细考虑什么对我的房子和你来说可能是最安全的。”魔法师们对此回应道:“国王啊,您的统治的稳固对我们来说也具有重大意义;因为在另一种情况下,它被转移到陌生人身上,来到这个波斯男孩身上,而我们米底人则成为奴隶,在波斯人眼中变得毫无意义,因为我们是不同的种族;但是,当您被确立为我们的国王,您是我们自己国家的一员时,我们都拥有自己的统治权,并从您那里获得了巨大的荣誉。因此,我们必须尽一切努力照顾你和你的统治。现在,如果我们在这件事上看到任何令人恐惧的事情,我们会事先向你宣布一切:但由于梦的问题是微不足道的,我们自己都感到高兴,并劝告你也这样做:至于这个男孩,请把他从你眼前送到波斯人和他的父母那里去。”

121.当他听到这句话时,阿斯提亚格斯很高兴,并召唤居鲁士对他这样说:“我的孩子,我因为一个尚未实现的梦想而冤枉了你,但你仍然按照自己的命运活着;现在你可以安心地前往波斯人的土地,我会派人带你去。当你到达那里时,你会发现你的父亲和母亲,而不是像牧民米特拉达梯斯和他的妻子那样。 ”

122. 阿斯提亚格斯说完,就打发居鲁士离开了。当他回到冈比西斯家时,他的父母接待了他。此后,当他们知道他是谁时,他们对他非常欢迎,因为他们毫无疑问地认为他们的儿子出生后立即就死了。他们询问他是怎样活下来的。他告诉他们,说在此之前他并不知道,但他完全错了。然而,在路上,他了解到了自己的全部命运:因为他毫无疑问地认为自己是阿斯提阿格斯牧民的儿子,但自从他从城里出发后,他就从引导他的人那里了解到了整个故事。 。他说自己是由牧民的妻子带大的,并自始至终都在称赞她,所以基诺就是他故事中的主角。他的父母从他那里继承了这个名字,为了让波斯人认为他们的儿子以一种更超自然的方式保存下来,他们开始报告居鲁士被揭露时是由一个母狗抚养长大的。 :[132][{kuon}:cp。 ch. 110.] 这份报告就是从这个来源而来的。

123. 当居鲁士长大成人,成为同龄人中最勇敢、最受爱戴的人时,哈帕戈斯试图成为他的朋友,并向他送礼物,因为他想向阿斯提阿格斯报仇。因为他不知道身在私人职位的他自己会受到怎样的惩罚。但当他看到居鲁士长大后,他努力让他成为盟友,并在居鲁士的命运和他自己的命运之间找到了相似之处。甚至在此之前,他就已经做出了一些事情:由于阿斯提阿格斯对米底人很严厉,哈帕戈斯分别与米底人的首领进行了沟通,并说服他们必须任命居鲁士为他们的领袖,并让阿斯提阿格斯不再担任国王。当他完成这项工作并且一切准备就绪后,哈帕戈斯希望将他的设计告诉居住在波斯人中间的居鲁士,因为看到道路受到监视,所以没有其他办法,但设计了一个计划如下:他准备了一只野兔,剖开它的肚子,但没有剥掉任何毛皮,而是将一张纸原样放入其中,并在上面写下了他认为好的内容。然后他又把野兔的肚子缝起来,像猎人一样给他最信任的仆人撒下网,把他打发到波斯人的土地上,并口头嘱咐他:将兔子交给赛勒斯,同时告诉他亲手打开它,并且这样做时不要让其他人在场。

124. 这一切就完成了,居鲁士从他那里接过兔子,把它切开。他在里面找到了那张纸,拿过来读了一遍。上面写道:“冈比西斯之子,众神守护着你,否则你永远不会有如此好运。因此,你这样做吗?[133][{su nun},回答{se gar theoi eporeousi}:MSS。一些编辑读到了{su nun}。] 向杀害你的阿斯提阿格斯报仇,因为就他的意愿而言,你已经死了,但在诸神和我的照顾下,你还活着;我想你早就从头到尾知道了这一点,包括你自己的遭遇,以及我从阿斯提亚格斯身上所遭受的苦难,因为我没有杀你,而是把你交给了牧人。因此,如果你愿意接受我的指导,你将成为阿斯提亚格斯现在统治的所有土地的统治者。说服波斯人起义,派军队进攻米底人:无论我被任命为对抗你的军队的首领,还是任何其他有名望的米底人,你都可以得到你想要的;因为这些人将是第一个试图消灭阿斯提阿格斯的人,他们会反抗他并加入你的党派。那么考虑一下,这里至少一切都准备好了,因此,要快点做这件事。”

125. 居鲁士听到这句话后,开始考虑以什么方式最巧妙地说服波斯人起义,经过考虑,他发现这是最方便的方式,事实上他这样做了:——他首先在一张纸上写道:他想要写这本书,并召开了波斯人的会议。然后他展开报纸,上面写着阿斯提亚格斯任命他为波斯人的指挥官。 “现在,波斯人啊,”他继续说道,“我命令你们每个人都拿着收割钩到我这里来。”居鲁士随后宣布了这一命令。 (现在波斯人有许多部落,其中一些居鲁士聚集在一起并说服他们反抗米底人,即所有其他波斯人所依赖的帕萨尔加代人、马拉斐人和马斯皮亚人,其中帕萨尔加代人是最高贵的,其中阿柴门尼代也是一个氏族,英仙座就是从那里诞生的[134][即珀尔西斯种族:见七。 61.] 国王。但还有其他波斯部落,如下:——潘塔利亚人、德鲁西亚人和日耳曼人,这些都是耕种土地的人;其余的是游牧部落,即道伊人、马尔迪亚人、德罗皮坎人和萨加尔人。)

126. 波斯土地上有一个地区长满荆棘,向各个方向延伸约十八或二十弗隆。当所有的人都带着他们之前被命令带来的东西都来了之后,居鲁士命令他们在一天之内清理这个地区进行耕种:当波斯人完成了提议的任务后,他命令他们第二天来见他沐浴。和干净。与此同时,居鲁士将他父亲所有的山羊、绵羊和牛群聚集在一处,宰杀了它们,并用它们准备好招待波斯人的大军,此外还准备了酒和其他最珍贵的食物。令人愉快的种类。因此,当波斯人第二天到来时,他让他们躺在草地上并宴请他们。当他们吃完晚饭后,赛勒斯问他们是否觉得前一天吃的更好,或者现在吃的更好。他们说,他们之间的差别很大,因为过去的日子对他们来说只有邪恶,而现在的日子对他们来说只有美好。居鲁士接过这句话,开始揭露他的整个计划,说道:“波斯人啊,你们也是如此。如果你们按照我说的去做,你们就可以拥有这些以及一万件其他的好东西,而不需要任何奴性的劳动;但如果你们不照我说的去做,你们就会像昨天一样付出无数的努力。因此,现在就按照我说的去做,让你们自己获得自由:因为我自己觉得,我似乎是天生就有幸接手这些事情;我认为你们并不比米底人差,无论是在其他方面还是在与战争有关的方面。既然如此,就立即向阿斯提阿格斯发起叛乱吧。”

127. 因此,波斯人在找到一位领袖后,心甘情愿地试图解放自己,因为他们长期以来一直对米底人的统治感到愤慨:但当阿斯提阿格斯听说居鲁士这样做时,他派了一名使者去召见他。 ;居鲁士命令使者向阿斯提亚格斯报告,他会比他自己希望的更早到达。阿斯提阿格斯听到这消息后,武装了所有米底人,并被神圣的天意所蒙蔽,他任命哈帕戈斯为军队的领袖,忘记了哈帕戈斯对他所做的一切。当米底人出兵与波斯人交战时,他们中的一些人,即那些没有参与计划的人,继续战斗,而另一些人则投向了波斯人。但更多的人故意懈怠并逃跑。

128. 因此,当米底军队可耻地被驱散时,阿斯提阿格斯一听说此事,就威胁居鲁士说:“但即使如此,居鲁士至少也不能逃脱惩罚。”说完,他首先刺穿了劝他放走居鲁士的玛吉解梦者,然后他武装了那些留在城里的米底人,无论是年轻人还是老人。他率领这些人与波斯人交战,结果被打败,阿斯提阿格斯本人也被活捉,他还失去了他所率领的米底人。

129. 当阿斯提阿格斯被俘时,哈帕格斯来到他身边,为他高兴,并侮辱他。除了他所说的让他伤心的其他事情之外,他还特别问他,作为一个奴隶而不是国王,他有多高兴,并提到了阿斯提阿格斯用自己儿子的肉招待他的那次晚餐。[135][“与那场盛宴等相比,他从王位到奴隶制的转变如何”,即他认为这是一种报应。] 他看着他,问他是否将居鲁士的作品视为他自己的行为:哈帕戈斯说,既然他写了这封信,那么该行为就属于他。然后阿斯泰阿格斯宣称他同时是最不熟练和最不公正的人。最不熟练的是,当他有权成为国王时(事实上,如果现在所做的事情确实是他造成的),他将主要权力授予了另一个人;最不公正的是,因为他把主要权力授予了另一个人。由于那次晚餐,他使米底人沦为奴隶。因为如果他必须将王国授予其他人而不是自己保留的话,那么把这个好东西给一个米底人比给一个波斯人更公正。而现在,本来没有罪责的米底人却从主人变成了奴隶,而以前是米底人奴隶的波斯人现在也变成了米底人的主人。

130. 阿斯提亚格斯当时已经当了五年又三十年的国王,因此不再担任国王。米底人在波斯人统治哈利斯河以北的亚洲一百二十八年之后,由于波斯人的残暴,屈服于波斯人的枷锁之下,除了斯基泰人统治的那段时期。[136][参见第 106 章。 XNUMX. 因此,中位至高无上的实际持续时间将是一百年。] 然而事后,他们后悔了自己的所作所为,他们从达雷奥斯那里叛离了,叛乱后,他们再次被制服,在一场战斗中被征服。我说,此时,在阿斯提阿格斯的统治下,波斯人与居鲁士一起起来反抗米底人,从那时起,他们就成为了亚洲的统治者。自己直到去世。居鲁士就是这样出生和长大的,他成为了国王。此后,他制服了克洛伊索斯,正如我之前所说,克洛伊索斯是第一个开始争吵的人。征服了他之后,他成为了整个亚洲的统治者。

131. 据我所知,波斯人实行的习俗如下:——他们不认为建造偶像、寺庙和祭坛是合法的,甚至指责那些做这些事的人是愚蠢的;在我看来,这是因为他们不像希腊人那样认为诸神具有人类的形象。但他们习惯于登上最高的山峰和他们称之为宙斯的整个天空,向宙斯献祭:他们向太阳、月亮、大地、火、水和太阳献祭。向风:这些是他们从一开始就祭祀的唯一神祇;但他们也学会了向阿佛洛狄忒乌拉尼亚献祭,这是从亚述人和阿拉伯人那里学到的。亚述人称阿佛洛狄忒为米莉塔,阿拉伯人称阿丽塔, [13601][与 iii 相比,这被一些人改为“Alilat”。 8.] 和波斯人米特拉。

132.这是波斯人所制定的祭祀诸神的方式:他们不筑坛,也不点火;当他们打算献祭时,他们不使用奠酒、管乐或串经[137][{stemmasi},即用羊毛缠绕的花冠,在希腊祭祀时佩戴。] 也没有撒饭;[138][{欧勒西}。] 但是,当一个人想要祭祀任何一位神祇时,他会将祭祀的动物带到一个没有污染的地方,并祈求神明, 头饰 [13801][Cp。七. 61.] 通常用香桃木树枝缠绕。单独为自己献祭的人可能不会在祈祷中祈求美好的事物,但他祈祷所有波斯人和国王都平安。因为他本人当然也属于波斯人的整体。当他把受害者切成碎片并煮沸肉时,他会铺上一层最新鲜的草,尤其是三叶草,然后立即将所有肉块放在上面;当他把它们排列好后,一个魔法师站在他们旁边,为他们吟唱神谱(因为他们说他们的咒语就是这种性质),因为没有魔法师,他们做出牺牲是不合法的。然后,在等待一小段时间后,献祭者就会带走肉,并将其用于他喜欢的任何目的。

133. 在所有的日子里,他们最习惯的是尊重他们出生的每一个人:在这一天,他们认为摆设比其他日子更丰盛的盛宴是正确的。在这场盛宴中,较富有的人会在餐桌上摆上一头牛、一匹马、一头骆驼或一头驴,在烤箱中烤熟,而穷人中的穷人也会以同样的方式摆上小动物。他们的固体菜肴很少,[139][{sitoisi}:也许是“普通菜肴。”] 但很多都是在饭后作为甜点上桌的,而且这些都不是在一道菜中;因此,波斯人说希腊人在晚餐时饿着肚子,因为晚餐后他们没有什么值得一提的甜点,而如果有好的甜点,他们就不会这么快停止进食。他们非常喜欢喝酒,并且不允许一个人在另一个人面前呕吐或喝水。他们就是这样预防这些事情的。他们习惯于在喝得酩酊大醉时深思熟虑自己最重要的事情,无论他们在深思熟虑中得到什么满意的结论,第二天,当他们清醒的时候,他们碰巧所在的房子的主人他们深思熟虑后摆在他们面前进行讨论:如果他们在清醒时也感到高兴,他们就会采纳它,但如果他们不高兴,他们就会放弃它:以及他们清醒时首先考虑的事情,他们喝酒的时候再考虑一下。

134.当他们在路上相遇时,由此你可以看出相遇的人是否平等,因为他们不以言语问候,而是亲吻彼此的嘴;但如果其中一人比另一人地位低一点,他们就会互相亲吻对方的脸颊;如果其中一人的地位比另一人低得多,他们就会跪倒在他面前,向他顶礼膜拜。[140][{proskuneei},即亲吻他的脚或地面。] 他们最尊敬那些居住在离他们最近的国家之后的所有国家,其次是那些居住得最近的国家,因此他们继续按照距离的远近给予荣誉。他们最不尊重那些距离自己最远的人,认为自己在各方面都是人类中最优秀的,并认为其他人按照此处所述的比例拥有优点,[141][{ton Legomeno},对 {to Legomeno} 的更正。 (美第奇 MS. 像其他人一样有 {toi Legomenoi},而不是斯坦因所说的 {toi Legomeno}。)] 那些住得离自己最远的人是最糟糕的。在米底人的统治下,各个民族也习惯于按照波斯人给予荣誉的相同规则来相互统治,[142][{ekhomenon, kata ton auton de logon}:MSS。大多数编辑都有{ekhomenon}。 {自动登录}; “波斯人在给予荣誉时也遵守同样的规则。”然而,这使得在下一个子句中很难(尽管并非不可能)提及米底人,也很难提及波斯人,因为他们当然没有相同的政府体系。也许无论我们如何翻译,“对于每个种族来说,他们的统治或代表的权威都向前延伸。”] 米底人统治着整个国家,特别是那些居住在离他们最近的地方,这些人统治着与他们接壤的国家,并再次统治着与他们相邻的国家:因为这个民族就这样从他们自己的政府发展到了政府通过他人。

135. 波斯人比任何其他人都更承认外来用法。因为他们都穿着米底的衣服,认为它比他们自己的更漂亮,而且也是为了对抗埃及的紧身胸衣:此外,当他们听说这些奢侈品时,他们就采用了各种奢侈品,特别是他们从希腊人那里学会了商业和男孩们。他们每人娶了几个合法妻子,并且还娶了更多的妾。

136. 男子气概的标志仅次于战斗的卓越,即能生下许多儿子。国王每年都会向那些拥有最多的人赠送礼物:因为他们认为数量是力量的源泉。他们教育自己的孩子,从五岁开始一直到二十岁,只在三件事上进行教育:骑马、射击和说真话:但在男孩五岁之前,他不会出现在他们面前。他的父亲,但与女人住在一起;这样做的原因是,如果孩子在抚养过程中去世,他可能不会引起父亲的悲伤。

137. 我赞扬他们的这一习俗,以及接下来要提到的习俗,即国王本人不得仅因一个原因而处死任何人,任何其他波斯人也不得仅因一个原因而伤害任何人。对他自己的仆人来说是无可救药的;但如果在计算之后发现所犯的错误比所提供的服务更多、更多,[143][Cp。七. 194.] 然后只有他发泄他的愤怒。此外,他们还说,没有人杀过自己的父亲或母亲,但凡是看起来具有这种性质的行为,如果经过审查,他们说,必然会发现是由换生灵或通奸所生的孩子造成的。 ;他们说,因为认为真正的父母会被自己的儿子杀死是不合理的。

138.凡是他们做不合法的事情,他们连谈论这些事都是不合法的:在他们看来,最可耻的事情就是说谎,其次是欠钱,最后是欠钱。还有许多其他原因,但特别是因为,他们说,对于欠钱的人来说,有时也有必要说谎:城里的人中,凡是患有麻风病或皮肤变白的人,他都不会进入城市,也不会与人交往。和其他波斯人一起;他们说他患有这些疾病是因为他以某种方式冒犯了太阳:但在许多地区,一个患有这些疾病的陌生人[144][{polloi}:被编辑省略或以各种方式更正。也许下一个条款的文本也有问题,因为波斯人似乎并不反对白鸽子。参见斯坦因的注释。] 他们把白鸽子一起赶出了这个国家,并以同样的理由指控他们。他们既不向河里造水,也不向河里吐口水,也不在河里洗手,也不允许其他人做这些事,但他们非常敬畏河流。

139.此外,波斯人自己没有注意到这一点,但我却没有这样做:——他们的名字是根据他们的身体形状或地位的宏伟而形成的,最后都以同一个字母,多利安人所说的那个字母 和爱奥尼亚人 西格玛;如果你仔细研究一下这个问题,你就会发现,所有的波斯名字都以这个字母结尾,而不是有些以这个字母结尾,另一些以其他字母结尾,而是都是相似的。

140. 根据我自己对他们的了解,我可以肯定地说这么多:但接下来关于他们的死者的报道是一个秘密的谜团,并不明确,即波斯人的尸体在被埋葬之前不会被埋葬。被鸟或狗撕裂。 (我所认识的魔法师肯定有这种做法,因为他们公开这样做。) 不管怎样,波斯人都会用蜡覆盖尸体,然后将其埋在地下。玛吉安人在很多方面与其他人不同,也与埃及的祭司不同:因为后者认为除了他们祭祀的动物外,不杀死任何活物是纯洁的问题。但魔法师亲手杀死了除了狗和人之外的所有生物,他们甚至以此为目标,杀死蚂蚁和蛇以及所有其他爬行和飞行的生物。关于这个习俗,那就从最初建立起就这样吧;现在我回到前面的叙述。[145][参见第 95 章。 XNUMX.]

141. 吕底亚人被波斯人征服后,爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人立即派使者去见萨迪斯的居鲁士,希望以与克罗伊索斯臣民相同的条件成为他的臣民。当他听到他们向他提出的建议时,他给他们讲了一个寓言,说有一个吹笛子的人看到海里有鱼,就吹奏他的笛子,以为它们会上岸。但他的期望被欺骗了,他用一张撒网,圈住了一大群鱼,把它们从水中拉了上来。当他看到它们在跳来跳去时,他对鱼们说:“我请求你们现在停止跳舞。”以前我吹笛子的时候你们都不出来跳舞。”居鲁士出于这个原因向爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人讲了这个寓言,因为以前当居鲁士亲自派使者要求他们反抗克洛伊索斯时,爱奥尼亚人拒绝服从,而现在当征服完成后,他们准备臣服于居鲁士。他愤怒地对他们如此说道,而爱奥尼亚人,当他们听到这个答案时,他们被带回了他们的城市,在他们周围分别筑起城墙,并聚集到潘尼翁尼翁,除了米利托斯的人之外,所有的人都聚集在一起,因为居鲁士仅凭这些人就宣誓就与吕底亚人所同意的相同条件达成协议。其余的爱奥尼亚人一致决定派遣使者前往斯巴达,请求斯巴达人帮助爱奥尼亚人。

142. 这些属于帕尼翁尼翁的爱奥尼亚人有幸在我们所知道的任何人中最有利于气候和季节的位置建造他们的城市:无论是爱奥尼亚上方的地区还是下方的地区,无论是面向东方还是面向东方的地区。西方,[146][这些词“既不向东也不向西”可能被插入作为对{ta ano}和{ta kato}的解释。作为一种解释,它们很难是正确的,但整个段落表达得很模糊。] 产生与艾欧尼亚本身相同的结果,一个方向的区域受到寒冷和潮湿的压迫,而另一个方向的区域则受到炎热和干旱的压迫。这些语言并不使用相同的语言,而是有四种不同的语言变体。[147][{troous tesseras paragogeon}。] 他们在南部一侧的第一个城市是米利托斯,其次是米尤斯和普里埃内。这些都是在卡里亚建立的定居点,彼此说着同一种语言。以下城市位于吕底亚——以弗索斯、科洛丰、莱贝多斯、泰奥斯、克拉佐梅奈、福凯亚:这些城市与之前在他们使用的语言中提到的城市完全不同,但它们彼此一致。除了三座爱奥尼亚城市外,还剩下三座城市,其中两座建在萨摩斯岛和希俄斯岛上,一座建在大陆上,即埃里斯莱伊:现在希俄斯人和埃里斯莱伊人使用相同的语言,但萨米亚人一个只属于他们自己的。因此就产生了四种不同的语言形式。

143. 在这些爱奥尼亚人中,米利托斯的人免受危险,因为他们宣誓达成协议。那些住在岛屿上的人没有理由害怕,因为腓尼基人还不是波斯人的臣民,而波斯人本身也不是海员。现在这些[148][即亚洲爱奥尼亚人组成了一个单独的联盟。有些人将其理解为米利都派,但这与接下来的内容没有令人满意的联系。] 他们与其他爱奥尼亚人分开的原因无非是这样的:当时整个希腊民族都很弱小,但在所有的种族中,爱奥尼亚人是最弱的,也是最不重要的:事实上,除了雅典之外,它没有相当大的实力。城市。现在其他爱奥尼亚人,其中包括雅典人,回避了这个名字,不希望被称为爱奥尼亚人,甚至现在我发现他们中的大多数人都为这个名字感到羞耻:但这十二座城市不仅以这个名字为荣但他们建立了自己的一座神庙,并将其命名为帕尼翁尼翁(Panionion),并决定不将其份额授予任何其他爱奥尼亚人(事实上,除了士麦那人之外,也没有人要求分享它)。

144,就像现在被称为五城的那个地区的多利安人一样[149][{五角城}。] 但以前被称为六城,[150][{exapolios}.] 注意不要允许任何邻近的多利安人进入特里奥皮翁神庙,甚至排除那些对神庙有任何冒犯的人。例如,在特里奥皮亚阿波罗的比赛中,他们以前曾设置青铜三脚架作为胜利者的奖品,并规定接受者不得将其带出神庙,而应当场献给神。当时有一个哈利卡纳索斯人,名叫阿加西克勒斯,作为胜利者,他不顾这条规则,而是把三脚架搬到自己家里,挂在钉子上。基于此,其他五个城市:林多斯、伊利索斯、卡梅罗斯、科斯和尼多斯,将第六个城市哈利卡纳索斯排除在圣殿之外。

145.他们对这些人施加了这样的惩罚:但至于爱奥尼亚人,我认为他们之所以为自己建造了十二座城市,并且不再接受更多的城市,是因为当他们居住在伯罗奔尼撒时,他们有十二个师,就像现在有十二个亚该亚人的部队驱逐了爱奥尼亚人:首先,(从锡基翁一侧开始)来自佩莱尼,然后是艾盖拉和艾盖,最后是永不停息的克拉西斯河(从那里开始)意大利的同名河因此得名)、布拉河和赫利克河,爱奥尼亚人在战斗中被亚该亚人击败后逃到这里避难,还有艾吉翁河、瑞普斯河、帕特里斯河、法瑞斯河和奥莱诺斯河,这里是大河的所在地佩罗斯、戴姆和特里泰伊斯,其中最后一个拥有内陆位置。[151][{mesogaioi}。其他几个城市距离海岸有一定距离,但在每种情况下都指的是该地区而不是城市(因此形成 {Tritaiees})。] 这些现在组成了亚该亚人的十二个师,以前他们是爱奥尼亚人的师。

146. 为此,爱奥尼亚人也为自己建造了十二座城市。无论如何,说这些人比其他爱奥尼亚人更多的爱奥尼亚人,或者说他们有更高贵的血统,都是愚蠢的,因为考虑到他们中的很大一部分是来自优卑亚的阿班蒂安人,即使以伊波亚人的名义,他们也没有分享。爱奥尼亚人和奥尔霍迈诺斯人明雅人与他们混杂在一起,脱离祖国的卡德米亚人、德里俄皮亚人和福基亚人、阿卡迪亚的莫洛西人和佩拉斯吉人、埃皮道罗斯的多里安人以及许多其他种族也与他们混杂在一起。那些从雅典市政厅出发前往定居点的人,自认为是爱奥尼亚人后裔中最高贵的人,我要说的是,这些人没有带任何妇女来到他们的定居点,而是带走了卡里亚妇女,她们的父母他们杀戮:由于这次屠杀,这些妇女为自己制定了一条规则,互相宣誓,并将其传给了她们的女儿们,即她们永远不能与丈夫一起吃饭,妻子也不能称呼自己的丈夫之所以有这个名字,是因为爱奥尼亚人杀死了他们的父亲、丈夫和孩子,然后又娶了他们为妻。这件事发生在米利托斯。

147.此外,他们中的一些人任命了格劳科斯和希波罗霍斯的后裔吕基亚国王,而另一些人则由梅兰托斯的儿子科德罗斯的后裔、皮洛斯的考科尼亚人统治,还有一些人则由两个种族联合的王子统治。然而,既然这些人比其他爱奥尼亚人更坚持这个名字,如果他们愿意的话,就让他们被称为真正纯正血统的爱奥尼亚人吧。但事实上,所有人都是来自雅典的爱奥尼亚人,他们都遵守阿帕图里亚节。除了以弗索斯和科洛丰的人之外,其他人都保留了这一点:因为在所有爱奥尼亚人中,只有这些人没有保留阿帕图里亚,而且这是因为犯下了一些谋杀罪。

148. 现在,Panionion 是米卡勒北侧的一处圣地,根据爱奥尼亚人的共同协议,为赫里克的波塞冬划定了圣地[152][{'埃利科尼奥}。];米卡勒是大陆向西延伸至萨摩斯岛的一个海角,爱奥尼亚人从他们的城市聚集在一起,常常在那里举办一个他们称之为帕尼奥尼亚的节日。 (不仅是爱奥尼亚人的节日,所有希腊人的节日也同样受到这一规则的约束,他们的名字都以同一个字母结尾,就像波斯人的名字一样。)[153][这被一些编辑谴责为插值。]

这些是爱奥尼亚城市:

149,以及艾奥利亚的如下:-Kyme,称为 Phriconis、Larisai、Neon-teichos、Temnos、Killa、Notion、Aigiroëssa、Pitane、Aigaiai、Myrina、Gryneia;这些是艾奥利亚人的古老城市,共有十一座,因为士麦那一城被爱奥尼亚人从他们手中割断了。因为这些城市,即大陆上的城市,以前也有十二个。这些艾奥利亚人有幸定居在一片比爱奥尼亚人更肥沃但气候较差的土地上。[154][{oreon de ekousan ouk omoios}。]

150. 现在,艾奥利亚人以下列方式失去了士麦那:——某些在党内斗争中被击败并被赶出家乡的科洛丰人被接收到那里避难:此后,科洛丰流放者等待了一段时间当士麦那人在城墙外庆祝狄俄尼索斯节时,他们关闭了城门,占领了这座城市。此后,当艾奥利亚人全体前来救援时,他们达成协议,艾奥尼亚人必须放弃动产,在此条件下,艾奥利亚人必须放弃士麦那。当士每拿人这样做之后,剩下的十一个城市将他们分割开来,并让他们成为自己的公民。

151. 这些就是大陆上的艾欧利亚城市,但位于艾达山上的城市除外,因为这些城市与其他城市是分开的。在这些岛屿上,有五个在莱斯博斯岛,第六个位于莱斯博斯岛,即阿里斯巴,被梅西姆纳人奴役,尽管其公民与他们属于同一种族;在特内多斯岛有一座城市,在所谓的“百岛”中有另一座城市。现在,特尼多斯岛的女同性恋者和男人,就像那些居住在岛上的爱奥尼亚人一样,没有理由害怕;他们没有理由害怕。但其余的城市达成了一项共同协议,无论爱奥尼亚人要去哪里,他们都会跟随他们。

152. 现在,当爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人的使者来到斯巴达时(因为这项工作进行得很快),他们首先选择了福凯亚人为他们说话,他的名字叫皮热莫斯。然后他给他穿上了一件紫色斗篷,以便尽可能多的斯巴达人能够听到这件事并聚集在一起,并被介绍到集会面前[155][{katastas}:cp。三. 46.] 他长篇大论地请求斯巴达人帮助他们。然而,拉栖代梦人不听他的,反而决定不帮助爱奥尼亚人。于是他们就出发了,拉栖代梦人在遣散了爱奥尼亚人的使者后,派人乘坐一艘有五十桨的船,正如我想象的那样,去查明居鲁士和爱奥尼亚的事务。当他们到达福凯亚时,他们派了他们中最有声望的人拉克林斯到萨迪斯,向居鲁士报告拉栖代梦人的言论,命令他不要伤害希腊的任何城市,因为他们不会允许这样做。

153. 据说,当传令官说完这番话后,居鲁士询问了与他同行的希腊人,拉栖代梦人是哪些人,有多少人,他们向他宣布了这一消息。听到他们的回答,他对斯巴达使者说:“我从来没有害怕过这样的人,他们在自己的城市中指定了一个地方,聚集在一起,用虚假的誓言互相欺骗:如果我继续身体健康,对他们来说,谈论的话题不是爱奥尼亚人的不幸,而是他们自己的不幸。”赛勒斯轻蔑地抛出这些话,指的是一般的希腊人,因为他们已经为自己谋取了利益。[156][{ktesamenoi}:斯坦因通过猜想读取{stesamenoi}:cp。六. 58.] 市场并在那里练习买卖;因为波斯人本身不习惯使用市场,也根本没有市场。此后,他将萨迪斯托付给波斯人塔巴洛斯,将克罗伊索斯和其他吕底亚人的黄金交给吕底亚人帕克提亚斯管理,而他本人则带着克罗伊索斯前往阿巴塔纳,暂时不予考虑。爱奥尼亚人的。因为巴比伦仍然挡在他的路上,巴克特里亚民族、萨坎人和埃及人也是如此。他打算亲自远征,同时派遣其他指挥官前往爱奥尼亚人。

154. 但是,当居鲁士离开萨迪斯时,帕克蒂亚斯导致吕底亚人反抗塔巴洛斯和居鲁士。这个人下到了海边,拥有了萨迪斯所有的黄金,他为自己雇佣了雇佣兵,并说服了沿海的人们加入他的远征。于是,他将自己关在城堡里,向萨迪斯进军,围攻塔巴洛斯。

155. 居鲁士在路上听到这件事后,对克洛伊索斯说道:“克洛伊索斯,我对即将发生的这些事情会有什么结局呢?吕底亚人似乎不会停止给我制造麻烦,而且他们自己也不会停止制造麻烦。我怀疑我是否这不是最好的[157][{phrontizo me ariston e}。译文是罗林森的。] 将他们全部卖为奴隶;事实上,我发现我所做的就像一个人应该杀死父亲然后饶恕他的儿子一样:正如我俘虏并带走你一样,你比吕底亚人的父亲更伟大,而我将他们的城市交给了吕底亚人;在这之后我会因为他们背叛我而感到惊讶吗?他这样说出了自己的想法,但克洛伊索斯担心自己会毁灭萨迪斯,因此回答道:“国王啊,您所说的并非没有道理;但你不要完全发泄你的愤怒,也不要毁灭一座古城,它在以前的事情和现在发生的事情上都没有罪过:因为以前的事情是我做的,我承担后果堆积在我头上;[158][{kephale anamaxas}:cp。坎。奥德。十九。 92.] 至于现在所做的事情,既然作恶者是帕克蒂亚斯,您已将萨迪斯的职责委托给他,那么就让他承担惩罚吧。但我恳求您宽恕吕底亚人,并对他们下达如下命令,以免他们叛乱,也不会给您带来危险:派人去见他们,禁止他们拥有战争武器,但要求他们另一只手在外衣下面穿上束腰外衣,穿上布斯皮鞋,向他们宣称,他们训练自己的儿子弹奏竖琴,成为零售商人;国王啊,很快您就会看到她们已经从男人变成了女人,这样就不用担心她们会反抗您了。”

156.我说,克洛伊索斯向他提出了这一建议,因为他认为这对吕底亚人来说比沦为奴隶并被出售更好。因为他知道,如果他没有提供充分的理由,他就不会说服居鲁士改变主意,他担心在未来的某个时候,如果吕底亚人摆脱了目前的危险,他们可能会反抗波斯人并被消灭。 。居鲁士对这个建议非常满意,他的愤怒也缓和了,说他同意他的建议。然后,他称马萨雷斯为米底人,并责成他向吕底亚人宣扬克洛伊索斯的建议,此外,还将所有与吕底亚人一起远征萨迪斯的其他人都卖为奴隶,最后千方百计把帕克蒂亚斯本人对居鲁士来说还活着。

157. 在路上发出这一命令后,他继续向波斯人的祖国进军。但帕克蒂亚斯听说有一支军队正在逼近与他作战,他感到害怕,立即逃往凯梅。然后米底人马萨雷斯率领居鲁士军队的一部分向萨迪斯进军,由于他在萨迪斯找不到帕克蒂亚斯或他的追随者,他首先迫使吕底亚人执行居鲁士的命令,并根据他的命令,吕底亚人改变了他们的整个生活方式。此后,马萨雷斯继续派信使到凯梅,要求他们放弃帕克蒂亚斯:凯梅的人决定向布兰吉代的神询问他们应该遵循什么建议。因为有一个古老的神谕,所有爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人都习惯查阅它。这个地方位于帕诺尔莫斯港上方的米利托斯境内。

158. 因此,凯梅人派遣使者前往布兰奇代。[159][{es tous Bragkhidas},即神庙的祭司。这个地方的名字{Bragkhidai}是阴性的,cp。 ch. 92.] 他们向神询问,他们应该对帕克提亚斯采取什么行动,才能做令众神满意的事情。当他们这样询问时,得到的答复是,他们应该将帕克提亚斯交给波斯人。凯梅人听到这个答复后,准备放弃他。当广大人民都做出这样的决定时,在公民中享有盛誉的赫拉克勒德之子阿里斯托迪科斯阻止了凯梅人这样做,因为他不相信这个答案,并认为派来询问的人所说的并不是事实。真相;直到最后,其他使者被派往神谕处,第二次询问帕克蒂亚斯的情况,阿里斯托迪科斯就是其中之一。

159. 当这些人来到布兰奇代时,阿里斯托迪科斯从其他人中站出来,咨询神谕,问道:主啊,[160][{onax},向阿波罗讲话。] 一位吕底亚人帕克提亚斯(Pactyas)来到我们这里寻求保护,他从波斯人手中惨遭杀害,他们向我们索要他,并要求凯梅人交出他。但我们虽然害怕波斯人的力量,但到目前为止还没有冒险将恳求者交给他们,直到你的忠告明确地向我们表明,告诉我们我们应该做两件事中的哪一件。”他如此询问,但神再次向他们宣布了同样的答案,命令他们将帕克蒂亚斯交给波斯人。对此,阿里斯托迪科斯故意做了如下事情:——他绕着神庙走遍,摧毁了麻雀的巢穴。[161][{exaipee tous strouthous ktl} 该动词常用于表示城市的破坏和人口减少,cp。 ch. 176.(斯坦因。)]以及在神庙里孵化的所有其他种类的鸟类:据说当他这样做时,有一个声音从内部神殿中传出,指向阿里斯托迪科斯,说道:“你这个最不虔诚的人,为什么要这样做?”你敢这么做吗?难道你用武力把祈求我保护的人从我的神庙里带走吗?”据说,阿里斯托迪科斯对此毫不犹豫地回答说:“主啊,您如此前来援助您的恳求者,却命令凯梅人交出他们的人吗?”神又这样回答他:“是的,我命令你这样做,这样你就会因为你的不敬而更快地灭亡;免得你们今后任何时候都不能来神谕处询问交出恳求者的事。”

160. 当凯梅人听到这句话时,他们既不想因为放弃他而被毁灭,也不想因为把他留在身边而被围困,于是把他送去了米蒂利尼。然而,当马扎雷斯向他们发送信息时,米蒂利尼的那些人正准备以一定的价格交出帕克蒂亚斯,但价格是多少我不能确定,因为交易从未完成;当凯梅人得知这是米提利尼亚人所为时,他们派遣一艘船只前往莱斯博斯岛,并将帕克蒂亚斯运往希俄斯岛。此后,他被奇亚人强行从雅典娜·波留科斯的神庙中拖出来并交出:奇亚人把他交还给阿塔纽斯作为回报,(现在这个阿塔纽斯是密西亚的一个地区)[162][{tou de 'Atarneos toutou esti khoros tes Musies}。] 反对派莱斯博斯岛)。因此,波斯人在接收了帕克蒂亚斯之后就将他看守起来,意在把他带到居鲁士面前。很长一段时间过去了,没有一个中国人使用阿塔纽斯这个地区种植的大麦粉来祭祀任何神灵,也没有烤蛋糕来献祭那里种植的谷物,而是用这个地区的所有产品来祭祀。土地被排除在各种神圣仪式之外。

161. 希俄斯人随后交出了帕克蒂亚斯。此后,马扎雷斯对那些加入围攻塔巴洛斯的人进行了远征:首先他将普里埃内的人沦为奴隶,然后他占领了整个迈安德平原,为他的军队掠夺了它,马格尼西亚也以同样的方式:此后他立即病倒而死。

162. 在他死后,哈帕戈斯继承了他的指挥权,他也是米底人(米底国王阿斯提亚格斯曾为他举办非法宴会,并帮助将王国交给居鲁士) )。这个人,当时被居鲁士任命为指挥官,来到爱奥尼亚,并开始通过筑起土堆来占领城市:因为当他将任何人围在城墙内时,他就会在城墙上筑起土堆,并通过攻占他们的城市。风暴;他尝试的第一个爱奥尼亚城市是福凯亚。

163.这些福凯人是最早进行长途航行的希腊人,他们发现了亚得里亚海、蒂尔塞尼亚、伊比利亚和塔特索斯:他们不是乘坐圆船,而是乘坐有五十桨的船只。这些人来到塔尔特索斯,并与塔尔特西亚国王阿甘托尼奥斯成为朋友:他统治塔尔特西亚八十年,居住了一百二十年。我要说的是,福凯人对这个人变得非常友好,以至于他首先命令他们离开艾奥尼亚,到他自己的土地上任何他们想要的地方居住;然后他们就离开了爱奥尼亚。由于他没有说服福凯人这样做,后来,当他们从米底人那里听说他的势力如何增强时,他给了他们钱,在他们的城市周围修建了城墙。他毫不留情地这样做了,因为墙有很多弗隆[163][{oukoligoistadioi}。] 就范围而言,它是由所有紧密结合在一起的大石头建造的。

164. 福凯人的城墙就是这样建造的:哈帕戈斯率领军队进攻他们,开始围攻他们,同时向他们提出建议,并说如果福凯人愿意的话,这就足以让他满意了。推倒城墙的一座城垛,奉献一所房屋。[164][{katirosai},即献给国王作为臣服的象征。] 但福凯人一想到要屈服,就感到非常悲痛,他们说,他们希望对此事进行一天的讨论,然后再给出答复。当他们商议时,他们要求他从城墙上撤军。哈帕戈斯表示,他很清楚他们的意图,但他愿意让他们深思熟虑。因此,在接下来的一段时间里,当哈帕戈斯从城墙上撤军时,福凯人将他们的五十艘桨战船开到海里,把他们的孩子和妇女以及所有可移动的物品放进去,除此之外还有来自圣像的雕像。神庙和其他还愿祭品,除了青铜、石头或绘画制成的祭品外,其余的,我说,他们都放进船上,登船后驶向希俄斯。波斯人占领了福该亚,这座城市的居民已被遗弃。

165. 至于福凯人,由于希俄斯人不会应他们的要求出售被称为奥伊努赛的岛屿,因为担心这些岛屿可能成为贸易中心而他们的岛屿可能被排除在外,因此他们出发了对于基尔诺斯:[165][即科西嘉岛。] 因为根据神谕,二十年前他们在基尔诺斯建立了一座名为阿拉利亚的城市(现在阿甘托尼奥斯当时已经死了)。当他们出发前往基尔诺斯时,他们首先航行到福凯亚并屠杀了波斯驻军,哈帕戈斯将这座城市交给了他们。然后,在他们实现这一目标后,他们对任何一个在航行中被留下的人做出了庄严的咒语,此外,他们还在海中沉入了一块铁,并发誓直到该块再次出现在水面上。[166][{anaphanenai}:MSS。有{anaphenai},只能通过从{katepontosan}提供{ton ponton}来翻译,“直到大海再次产生它”,但这很难令人满意。] 他们会回到福该亚吗?然而,当他们出发前往基尔诺斯时,超过一半的公民对他们的城市和祖国充满了向往和遗憾,他们违背了自己的誓言,返回了福凯亚。但那些仍然遵守誓言的人从奥伊努赛群岛起锚扬帆起航。

166.当这些人来到基尔诺斯时,他们与以前来过那里的人一起居住了五年,并在那里建立了寺庙。然后,由于他们掠夺了所有邻国的财产,提尔森尼亚人和迦太基人[167][{卡尔赫多尼奥伊}。] 双方协议,各出战船六十艘。福凯亚人也配备了他们的船只,数量为六十艘,来到撒丁岛海与敌人交锋:当他们在海战中相遇时,福凯亚人赢得了一种卡德梅亚式的胜利,四十人他们的船只被摧毁,剩下的二十艘船因船头弯曲而瘫痪。于是他们航行到阿拉利亚,带着他们的孩子、妇女和其他财产,尽可能多地携带他们的船只,然后他们把基尔诺斯抛在身后,航行到雷吉安。

167. 至于被摧毁船只的船员,迦太基人和蒂尔森尼亚人获得的人数要多得多,[168][{elakhon te auton pollo pleious}。一些编辑认为文字已丢失或文本已损坏。我的理解是,落入敌人手中的人比被己方救出的人还要多。有些翻译为“通过抽签划分了大部分”;但这将是{dielakhon},如果立即处决囚犯,诉讼程序就没有任何意义。对于 {pleious} 斯坦因读作 {pleistous}。] 他们把这些人带到陆地上,用石头砸死。此后,阿吉拉人发现,所有经过福凯人被石头砸死的地方的东西,无论是小牛、驮兽还是人类,要么变形,要么残废,要么瘫痪:于是阿吉拉人派了德尔菲希望洗清自己的罪行;皮提亚女先知吩咐他们做阿吉拉人仍在继续做的事情,也就是说,他们为纪念死者做出巨大的牺牲,并在这个地方举行田径和赛马比赛。这些福凯人的命运就是我所说的。但那些在雷吉安避难的人从那里出发,占领了奥伊诺特里亚(Oinotria)地区的这座城市,现在称为海勒(Hyele)。他们从波塞多尼亚的一位男子那里得知,皮提亚女先知的回答意味着他们要为英雄基尔诺斯建立一座神庙,而不是在基尔诺斯岛上建立定居点,因此他们建立了这个基地。[169][{ton Kurnon…ktisai eron eonta, all' ou ten neson}.]

168.关于爱奥尼亚的福凯亚,事情是这样发生的,泰奥斯人也做了几乎同样的事情:哈尔帕戈斯一拿下他们的土丘城墙,他们就登船直航到色雷斯。他们在那里建立了阿布德拉城,这座城在他们之前由克拉佐梅奈的泰西修斯建立,但没有从中获得任何利益,但被色雷斯人驱逐了。现在,他被阿布德拉的泰伊人尊为英雄。

169. 在所有爱奥尼亚人中,只有这些人离开了自己的家乡,因为他们不愿忍受屈服:但除米利都人外,其他爱奥尼亚人确实像那些离开家园的人一样与哈帕戈斯进行了武装斗争,并证明了自己是勇敢的人,为各自的利益而战。自己的家乡;但是,当他们被击败并被俘虏时,他们仍然留在自己的地方,执行他们所承担的任务:但是,正如我之前所说,米利都人已与居鲁士本人宣誓达成协议,并保持沉默。就这样,艾奥尼亚第二次沦为臣服者。当哈帕戈斯征服了大陆上的爱奥尼亚人后,居住在岛屿上的爱奥尼亚人对此感到恐惧,纷纷投降于居鲁士。

170. 据我所知,当爱奥尼亚人受到如此邪恶的恳求,但仍像以前一样在帕尼尼翁举行集会时,普里埃内人比亚斯向爱奥尼亚人提出了一个最有益的建议,据我所知,他们可以遵循这一建议是所有希腊人中最繁荣的。他敦促爱奥尼亚人共同远征,航行到撒丁岛,然后为所有爱奥尼亚人找到一座城市:这样他们就能摆脱臣服,繁荣昌盛,居住在所有岛屿中最大的岛屿上,并成为统治者。其他的;然而,他说,如果他们留在艾奥尼亚,他就不会意识到他们将不再享有自由。这是普里埃内的比亚斯在爱奥尼亚人灭亡后给出的建议。但是,在爱奥尼亚毁灭之前,来自米利托斯的腓尼基人后裔泰勒斯也提出了很好的建议。他建议爱奥尼亚人只拥有一个政府席位,[170][{bouleuterion}。] 这应该是在泰欧斯(他说,泰欧斯位于爱奥尼亚的中心),而其他城市应该像以前一样有人居住,但就像它们是领地一样。

这些人[171][{outoi}:MSS。有{outo}。] 向他们提出我所说的那种建议:

171.但哈帕戈斯在征服爱奥尼亚后,继续向卡里亚人、考尼亚人和利基亚人进军,并带走了爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人来帮助他。其中卡里亚人从岛屿来到大陆。因为他们是米诺斯古代的臣民,被称为“Leleges”,他们过去常居住在岛屿上,不缴纳任何贡品,据我所知,据传闻,但每当米诺斯需要时,他们就会向他的船只供应海员:由于米诺斯征服了大片土地,并且在战斗中很幸运,卡里亚民族是当时与他一起最有名的民族。他们创造了三项发明,并被希腊人采用;也就是说,卡里安人是第一个在头盔上固定徽章和制作盾牌上装置的人,他们也是第一个为盾牌制作手柄的人,而直到那时,所有习惯使用盾牌的人携带盾牌时没有把手,而是用皮带引导盾牌,将盾牌挂在脖子和左肩上。过了很长一段时间,多里安人和爱奥尼亚人将卡里安人赶出了岛屿,他们就这样来到了大陆。克里特岛人对卡里安人的说法是这样的。然而卡里亚人自己并不同意这种说法,而是假设他们从一开始就是大陆上的居民,[172][{autokhthonas epiirotas}。] 他们一直以现在的名字命名:他们指出,米拉萨的一座古老的卡里亚宙斯神庙就是证据,在这座神庙里,迈西亚人和吕底亚人都是卡里亚人的兄弟种族,因为他们说:吕多斯(Lydos)和迈索斯(Mysos)是卡尔的兄弟。这些人分享它,但是那些来自另一个种族的人已经开始说与卡里亚人相同的语言,他们不分享它。

172. 然而,在我看来,考尼亚人从一开始就是那里的居民,尽管他们自称来自克里特岛:但他们在语言上已被同化为卡里亚人种族,否则卡尼亚人就被同化为考尼亚人种族,我不能确定地确定哪个。然而,他们的习俗与所有其他人以及卡里亚人有很大不同。例如,在他们看来,最公平的事情就是按照年龄或友谊的平等,男女老幼齐聚一堂喝酒;当他们为外国神祇建立神庙后,他们又改变了目的,决定只崇拜自己的本土神祇,考尼亚年轻人全体穿上盔甲,一直追赶到卡林迪亚人的边境,用长矛击打空气;他们说他们要把外邦神赶出这片土地。这就是这些人的习俗。

173.然而,吕基亚人最初是从克里特岛兴起的(因为在古代,整个克里特岛都被野蛮人占领了):当欧罗巴、萨尔珀冬和米诺斯的儿子们在克里特岛就王国问题产生分歧时,米诺斯得到了在党派冲突中,较好的一方驱逐了萨尔珀冬本人和他的党派:他们被驱逐后来到了亚洲的米利亚斯之地,因为现在吕基亚人居住的土地古代称为米利亚斯,而米利亚斯人当时是称为索利莫伊。当萨尔珀冬统治他们时,他们以他们来到这里时的名字来称呼,甚至现在邻近的部落也用这个名字来称呼吕基亚人,即特尔米莱。但当潘迪翁的儿子莱科斯从雅典来到特尔米莱和萨尔珀冬时,他也被他的兄弟埃杰斯驱逐,然后他们就被称为莱科斯人,这个名字取自莱科斯。这些人的习俗部分是克里特岛的,部分是卡里安的。但他们有一个独特的习俗,并且与其他民族不认同,那就是他们以母亲而不是父亲来称呼自己。如果一个人问他的邻居他是谁,他会说出他母亲的出身,并列举他母亲的女性长辈。如果一个公民妇女与一个奴隶结婚,孩子们被认为是出身高贵;但是,如果一个公民的男子,尽管他是其中的第一个男子,却娶了一个奴隶为妻或妾,那么他的孩子就没有公民权利。

174. 现在,卡里亚人被哈帕戈斯征服,而卡里亚人本身或居住在这片土地上的希腊人却没有表现出任何辉煌的业绩。在最后这些人中,除了其他人之外,还有克尼多斯人,他们是来自拉栖代梦的定居者,他们的土地一直延伸到大海,[173][许多编辑在 {tes khores tes spheteres} 之前插入 {oi} 并相应地更改标点符号。] 事实上,这个地区被称为特里奥皮翁(Triopion),从比巴索斯(Bybassos)半岛开始:由于克尼多斯(Cnidos)的所有土地,除了一小部分外,都被海水冲刷(因为它朝北的部分以海湾为界)克拉莫斯(Keramos),以及从赛姆(Syme)和罗德岛(Rhodes)向南看海的地方),因此,克尼多斯(Cnidos)人开始挖掘这片大约五弗隆宽的小部分,而哈帕戈斯(Harpagos)正在征服艾奥尼亚(Ionia),希望将他们的土地变成岛屿:地峡内的一切都是他们的,[174][或者“他们所有的土地都在地峡之内。”] 因为克尼多斯的领土在大陆方向的尽头就是他们正在挖掘的地峡。虽然克尼迪亚人与大量的人一起工作,但人们认为,工作的人所遭受的伤害比预想的要严重得多,而且是以一种更超自然的方式,无论是在他们身体的其他部位,特别是在他们的身体上。眼睛,当岩石被破碎时;于是他们派人去询问德尔斐的神谕者,困难的原因是什么。据克尼多斯人自己记载,皮提亚女先知用三步诗给了他们这样的答复:

“不要用塔楼围起来,也不要挖开地峡;
如果宙斯愿意的话,他会把你的土地变成一座岛屿。”

当皮提亚女先知发出这个神谕后,克尼多斯的人们不仅停止了挖掘,而且当哈帕戈斯率领军队攻击他们时,他们毫无抵抗地投奔了哈帕戈斯。

175. 还有佩达西亚人,他们居住在哈利卡纳索斯上方的内陆地区。在这些人中,每当有任何伤害自己或邻居的事情即将发生时,雅典娜的女祭司就会留起大胡子:这种情况发生过三次。在卡里亚的所有人中,这些人是唯一能在任何时候抵抗哈帕戈斯的人,他们给他带来的麻烦比任何其他人都多,因为他们在一座名叫利德的山上筑垒了防御工事。

176.过了一段时间,Pedasians被征服了。当哈帕戈斯率领军队进入克桑托斯平原时,吕基亚人出面攻击他[175][{epexiontes}:MSS。有 {upexiontes},伍兹先生解释说这意味着“突然出现。”] 他们以少敌多,表现出英勇的表现。但他们被击败并被限制在他们的城市里,他们将他们的妻子和孩子,他们的财产和仆人聚集到城堡里,然后他们放火烧了这座城堡,以致整个城堡都在火焰中,这样做了,他们彼此发下可怕的誓言,出发去对抗敌人[176][{epexelthontes}:MSS。有{upexelthontes}。] 克桑托斯人中,除了八十户人家外,现在自称吕克人的大部分人都是从国外赶来的。但这八十户人家当时正好远离故乡,所以没有被灭亡。因此,哈帕戈斯获得了考诺斯的占有,因为考诺斯人在大多数方面都模仿了利基亚人的行为。

177. 因此,哈帕戈斯正在征服亚洲沿海地区;与此同时,居鲁士本人也在该地区的上部地区做着同样的事情,征服了每一个国家,并且没有超越任何一个国家。现在,我将默默地忽略这些行动中的大部分,但我将提及那些给他带来更多麻烦且最值得一提的行动。

178. 居鲁士一征服大陆的所有其他地区,就开始攻击亚述人。现在,亚述无疑还有许多其他伟大的城市,但最著名、最强大的、也是尼尼微被毁后建立其君主政体的地方是巴比伦。这就是我要说的一座城市。——它坐落在一片大平原上,其面积每面有一百二十弗隆,[177][{stadion},等等。] 整体形状呈正方形;因此,城市环线总共有四百八十弗隆。这就是巴比伦城的规模,它比我们所知道的所有其他城市都要宏伟。首先,它周围有一条又深又宽、充满水的沟渠;然后是墙,厚五十肘,高二百肘。现在,皇家肘比普通肘大三指。[178][“皇家肘尺”的尺寸似乎约为二十一英寸。]

179. 除此之外,我还必须说明从沟渠中取出的泥土的用途以及墙的建造方式。当他们挖沟渠时,他们把挖出来的泥土制成砖块,并在成型足够的砖块后,将它们放入窑中烘烤。然后,他们使用热沥青作为砂浆,并在每三十层砖砌体中插入芦苇垫,他们首先建造沟槽的边缘,然后以相同的方式建造墙壁本身:在墙壁的顶部,沿着边缘建造一层彼此相对的房间;在成排的房间之间,他们留出空间来驾驶四马战车。城墙四周设有一百扇青铜门,门柱和门楣也同样如此。现在,距巴比伦八天路程的地方,还有一座城,名叫以斯。那里有一条河,规模不大,河的名字也叫伊斯,它的水流注入幼发拉底河。这条河连同水一起涌出大量的沥青块,巴比伦城墙的沥青就是从那里运来的。

180. 当时的巴比伦就是以这种方式筑起城墙的。这座城市有两个分区:因为一条名叫幼发拉底河的河流将它从中间分开。它来自亚美尼亚人的土地,又大又深又急,最终流入厄立特里亚海。然后每一侧的墙都有弯曲[179][{tous agkhonas},城市南北的城墙,因与侧墙成一定角度而得名。] 一直延伸到河边,从这里开始,回程墙以烧砖的壁垒形式沿着溪流的两岸延伸:城市本身充满了三层和四层的房屋,以及通往城市的道路。沿直线行驶,包括通向河流的十字路口;每条道路的对面都在沿河延伸的城墙上设置了门,门的数量与道路一样多,[180][{laurai},“车道。”] 这些也是青铜制成的,并且像道路一样引导[181][{kai autai},但也许文字不健全。] 到河流本身。

181.我提到的这堵墙可以说是胸甲[182][{thorex},与内墙相反,内墙是{kithon}(cp.vii.139)。] 城内还有一堵墙,其防御力并不比第一堵墙弱多少,但封闭的空间较小。[183][{steinoteron}:伍兹先生说“厚度较小”,墙的顶部被视为一条路。] 城市的每个部分的中间都有一座建筑,其中一个是规模宏大、四周戒备森严的王宫,另一个是带有青铜门的宙斯贝洛斯神庙,直到我的时代和现在仍然存在。单向测量两弗隆,[184][{duo stadion pante},即 404 平方码。] 呈方形:在寺庙的中间[185][{tou irou},即神圣区域; cp。 {en to temenei touto}。] 建了一座长宽各一弗隆的实心塔,在这座塔上又建了一座塔,又在上面又建了一座,以此类推,直到八座塔。在所有塔楼周围都建有一条通往这些塔楼的上升通道。当一个人到达上升的中间时,人们会找到一个停止的地方和休息的座位,那些上升的人可以在上面坐下来休息:在最后一个塔的顶部有一个大牢房,[186][{neos},寺庙的内殿。] 牢房里放着一张大沙发,盖得很好,旁边放着一张金桌子:那里没有立任何神像,也没有人在那里过夜,只有一个当地土著的女人,神从所有女人中选择谁,正如这位神的祭司迦勒底人所说的。

182. 这些人还说,但我不相信他们,神本人经常来到牢房并休息在沙发上,根据埃及人的报告,在埃及底比斯也发生了同样的情况,因为那里还有一个女人睡在底比斯宙斯的神庙里(据说这两个女人都禁止与男人做生意),女先知的情况也是如此[187][{普罗曼蒂斯}。] 吕基亚帕塔拉的神灵,只要有一位神谕者,因为那里并不总是有一位神谕者,但只要有一位神谕者,她就会在夜间被关在神庙的牢房里。

183.此外,在巴比伦神庙的下面还有一个小房间,里面有一个巨大的宙斯雕像,是用金制成的,旁边放着一张大金桌,他的脚凳和座位也是金的;据迦勒底人记载,制造这些东西的黄金重量为八百他连得。牢房外面有一座金祭坛;另有一座规模巨大的祭坛,祭坛上供奉着成年动物。[188][{ta telea ton probaton}。] 被献祭,而在金祭坛上,除了幼小的乳制品之外,其他任何祭物都是不合法的:在更大的祭坛上,迦勒底人每年在庆祝纪念这位神的盛宴时都会献上一千他连得的乳香。此外,在居鲁士时代,这些地区仍然存在,[189][“当时。”] 雕像高十二肘,由金质实心制成。我自己没有看到这一点,但是我所提到的迦勒底人却提到了这一点。海斯塔斯皮斯 (Hystaspes) 的儿子达雷奥斯 (Dareios) 针对这座雕像制定了一个设计,但他没有冒险采用:然而,它被达雷奥斯 (Dareios) 的儿子薛西斯 (Xerxes) 采用,他在禁止祭司干涉雕像时还杀死了祭司。这座寺庙因此装饰得富丽堂皇,而且还有许多私人的供奉品。

184. 在这个巴比伦中,除了我将在亚述历史中提到的许多其他统治者以及对城墙和寺庙进行改进的人之外,还有两位女性。其中,第一个统治者塞米拉米斯(Semiramis)比另一位统治者早了五代,他在平原上建造了值得一看的土堤。在此之前,这条河曾像大海一样淹没整个平原。

185. 后世的女王名叫尼托克丽丝,比前任女王更聪明。首先,她留下了我将要讲述的纪念碑。其次,她看到米底人的君主政体强大,难以安于现状,而且除了其他城市之外,连尼尼微也被它占领了,所以她尽其所能地制定了应对措施。首先,关于流经他们城市中部的幼发拉底河,以前它是笔直流动的,但她在上面挖了渠道,使它变得如此蜿蜒,实际上它在途中三次流向亚述的一个村庄;幼发拉底河流入的那个村庄名叫阿德里卡。在这一天,那些从我们的海沿着幼发拉底河航行到巴比伦的人 [18901][{katapleontes ton Euphreten}:MSS。有{katapleontes es ton E}。 (正如阿比希特所说,美第奇 MS. 省略了 {es},这是不正确的。)] 在不同的三天里三次到达同一个村庄。她这样做了;她还在河的两岸堆起了一座土丘,其大小和高度都令人惊叹:在巴比伦上方很远的地方,她挖了一个盆地,建了一个湖,并让湖面以一定的高度延伸。离河边的距离很小,[190][{oligon ti parateinousa apo tou potamou}.] 到处挖掘它的深度,直到有水为止,其范围使其周长四百二十弗隆:从这次挖掘中挖出的土,她通过沿着河岸堆成土堆来用完。当她把这个挖出来后,她带来了石头,把它们放在周围作为一面墙。这两件事她都做了,就是让河水蜿蜒曲折,把挖出来的地方全部变成沼泽,让河水流得更慢,通过绕来绕去,削弱了它的力量。许多弯道,航程可能蜿蜒到巴比伦,航程结束后可能会继续绕一圈水池。她在该国的入口处以及从米底到该国最近的地方进行了这些工作,以便米底人不会与她的王国打交道并了解她的事务。

186.她从深处在她的城市周围筑起了这些防御工事。她根据他们的情况做了以下补充:——这座城市分为两部分,河流占据了两者之间的空间;在以前的统治者时代,当任何人想要从一个部门转到另一个部门时,他必须乘船过去,正如我想象的那样,这很麻烦:然而她也为此做出了规定;因为当她为湖挖盆地时,她留下了她自己的另一座纪念碑,这也是她从同一工作中衍生出来的,也就是说,她把石头切割得很长,当石头为她准备好了,这个地方也已经准备好了。挖完之后,她把整条河都转到了她刚才挖的地方。当这里充满了水,古老的河床同时干涸时,她都用烧砖按照与城墙相同的方式建造了河流流经城市的边缘,从小门户通向河流的下降地点;据我判断,在城市中心附近,她用她挖出来的石头建造了一座桥,用铁和铅将石头绑在一起:在桥顶上她铺上了方木,留在那儿,趁着白天,巴比伦人渡过这一天。但在晚上,他们常常把这些木材拿走,因为这样他们就不会在夜间来回走动,互相偷窃:当挖出来的地方在河边变成了一个充满水的湖时,与此同时,桥梁也已建成,然后她将幼发拉底河从湖中引导回其古老的河道,因此,将挖出的地方变成沼泽被认为达到了良好的目的,并且出现了为城里人搭建的桥梁。

187. 这位王后还设计了一个如下的陷阱:——在人数最多的城门上方,她为自己在城门上方建立了一座坟墓。她在坟墓上刻下了这样的文字:“如果我之后的巴比伦国王缺少财富,就让他打开我的坟墓,拿走他想要的一切;但如果他没有需要的话,不要因为任何其他原因而打开它。因为那样就不太好了。”[191][{ou gar ameinon},史诗短语,cp。三. 71 和 82。] 在达雷奥斯王国到来之前,这座坟墓一直没有受到干扰。但对于达雷奥斯来说,不使用这扇门似乎是一件可怕的事情,而且,当那里有钱时,考虑到钱本身邀请他这样做,而不拿走它,这似乎是一件可怕的事情。现在他之所以不使用这扇门,是因为他开车过去时,尸体就在他的头顶上。然后,我说,他打开坟墓,发现的确实不是钱,而是尸体,上面写着这样的话:“如果你不是贪得无厌、卑鄙贪婪,你就不会打开死者的安息之地。 ”

188.据报道,这位王后就是我所描述的那样:她是这个女人的儿子,与他的父亲拉比内托斯同名,是居鲁士正在进攻的亚述人的统治者。现在伟大的国王不仅装备精良[192][{eskeuasmenos},对{eskeuasmenoisi}的推测性修正,“条款准备充分。”] 他从家里带来了餐桌上的食物和牲畜,而且还从流经苏萨的乔阿斯皮斯河取水,国王只喝这条河,没有其他河流喝过。大量由骡子牵引的四轮马车,用银器载着补给品,无论他何时行军,都伴随着他。

189. 现在,当居鲁士在前往巴比伦的途中到达金德斯河时,这条河的泉水位于马蒂安人的山脉中,它流经达达尼亚人,流入另一条河,即底格里斯河,这条河流经城市奥皮斯的一匹马奔入厄立特里亚海——我说,当居鲁士试图渡过这条可通航的金德斯河时,他的一匹神圣的白马精神抖擞、肆无忌惮地走进河里,试图渡过这条河。但溪流将它冲入水中,并立即将其冲走。居鲁士对这条河的无礼行为感到非常愤怒,他威胁要让这条河变得如此虚弱,以便将来即使是女人也可以轻松地穿过它而不会弄湿膝盖。因此,在这次威胁之后,他停止了对巴比伦的进军,并将他的军队分为两部分。划分完毕后,他拉长了线,划出了笔直的通道,[193][{kateteine skhoinoteneas upodexas diorukhas}。斯坦因理解{kateteine ten stratien}(后来由{diataxas}恢复),“他扩展了他的军队,首先用线划出了笔直的通道。”] 金德斯河两岸各有一百八十人,指挥着四面八方,并沿河布置了军队,命令他们挖掘:因此,当一大群人正在工作时,工作确实完成了,但他们花了整个夏季在这个地方工作。

190. 当居鲁士向金德斯河复仇,将其分成三百六十条河道时,当第二个春天刚刚开始时,他最终继续向巴比伦进军:巴比伦人已经从巴比伦出发了。他们的城市正在等待他。因此,当他前进到靠近城市时,巴比伦人与他交战,在战斗中被击败后,他们被关在城内。但在此之前,他们就很清楚居鲁士不会坐以待毙,看到他平等地对每个国家下手,他们就提前带来了物资[194][{proesaxanto},来自 {proesago}:然而,也可能来自 {prosatto},“他们事先为自己堆好了食物。”] 已经很多年了。因此,尽管这些人没有考虑到围攻,居鲁士却陷入了困境,因为很长一段时间过去了,他的事务没有任何进展。

191. 因此,无论是其他人在他陷入困境时建议他做什么,还是他自己意识到他应该做什么,他都是这样做的:——他的军队主力[195][{十层阿帕桑}。斯坦因认为需要进行一些修正。] 他在河入城的地方布阵,又在城后河水从城中流出的地方布防。他向他的军队宣布,一旦他们看到河流已经通行,就应该从这条路进入城市。就这样把他们安排在各自的位置上,并以这种方式劝告他们,他自己带着那部分不适合战斗的军队出发了:当他来到湖边时,居鲁士也做了巴比伦女王的同样的事情对河流和湖泊做了什么;也就是说,他把河水通过渠道引入当时是沼泽的湖中,从而使原来的河道可以通过溪流的下沉而通行。当这一切都以这种方式完成后,为此目的而被派驻的波斯人从幼发拉底河的河床进入巴比伦,河水已经下沉到了一个人的大腿中部。现在,如果巴比伦人事先知道这件事或意识到居鲁士正在做的事情,他们就会允许[196][{oi d' an perudontes ktl}:MSS。有 {oud' an perudontes},“他们甚至不允许他们进入城市(从河里)”,但否定词很尴尬,仅指分词,以及允许敌人进入河床城市将是该计划的重要组成部分,在描述中不应被省略。] 波斯人进入这座城市,然后惨遭毁灭;因为如果他们关闭所有通向河流的大门,并登上沿河岸运送的城墙,他们就会像鱼团一样抓住他们:但事实上,波斯人出其不意地降临到他们身上;由于这座城市的规模(居住在那里的人是这么说的),在城市四端的人被占领后,居住在中间的巴比伦人并不知道他们已被占领。但当他们碰巧举办节日时,他们在这段时间继续跳舞和欢乐,直到他们清楚地了解了真相。

巴比伦就这样第一次被占领:

192,至于巴比伦人的资源有多么巨大,我将通过许多其他证据来表明,其中也包括这一点:——为了支持伟大的国王和他的军队,除了定期的贡品之外,整个土地他所统治的土地已被分成若干部分。现在,虽然一年有十二个月,但其中四个月他得到了巴比伦领土的支持,剩下的八个月则得到了整个亚洲其他地区的支持。因此,就资源而言,亚述的土地占全亚洲的三分之一:而这片领土的政府,或波斯人所说的总督辖区,是迄今为止所有政府中最好的。当阿尔塔巴索斯的儿子特里坦泰奇梅斯从国王手中夺取这个省份时,每天都有人来到他身边。 阿尔塔布 装满了银币(现在 阿尔塔布 是一种波斯衡量标准,其含义比 梅迪姆诺斯 阿提卡的[197][阁楼 梅迪姆诺斯 (= 48 乔伊尼克斯)远小于 12 加仑。] 由三阁楼 乔伊尼克斯);他在这个省拥有的马匹作为他的私人财产,除了战争中使用的马匹外,还有八百匹公马和一万六千匹母马,每匹公马为二十匹母马服务。此外,印度猎犬的数量如此之多,以至于平原上的四个大村庄没有其他捐助,被指定为猎犬提供食物。

193. 这就是巴比伦统治者的财富。现在亚述人的土地少雨;这一点点就为玉米的根部提供了营养,但庄稼成熟了,穗子在河水的帮助下发芽了,不像在埃及,是河水漫过田野,而是庄稼成熟了。用手或用吊桶浇水。因为巴比伦的整个领土都像埃及一样被分成了几条河道,其中最大的一条河道可供船只通航,沿着冬季日出的方向从幼发拉底河流向另一条河,即底格里斯河,沿着底格里斯河的河岸尼尼微城就在眼前。该地区是迄今为止我们所知最适合生产玉米的地区:[198][{ton tes Demetros karpon}。] 至于树木,[199][斯坦因认为,在{ta gar de alla dendrea}之前,言语已经破裂,主要是因为这里可能会提到棕榈树。] 它甚至不尝试结出无花果、葡萄树或橄榄树,但对于生产玉米来说,它是如此出色,平均回报高达两百倍,而当它结出最好的果实时,它的产量是三倍——百倍。那里的小麦和大麦的叶子长得有四指宽;从小米和芝麻种子中,一棵树能长出多大,我自己知道,但不会记录,因为我很清楚,即使是已经说过的有关所生产的农作物的内容,也足以引起那些没有访问过巴比伦土地的人的怀疑。他们不使用橄榄油,只使用芝麻油。整个平原上都长满了枣椰树,其中大部分都结果子,他们用这些椰枣树制作干粮、酒和蜂蜜。他们以与无花果树相同的方式对待这些树,特别是他们摘下希腊人称为雄性棕榈树的果实,并将它们绑在结有枣子的棕榈树上,以便它们的胆蝇可以飞走。进入枣子,使其成熟,这样棕榈树的果实就不会脱落:因为雄性棕榈树的果实中会生出瘿蝇,就像野无花果一样。

194. 但是,在我看来,除了这座城市本身之外,这片土地上最伟大的奇迹就是我要讲述的这一点:他们的船,我指的是顺流而下到巴比伦的那些船,都是圆形的,全是皮革的。因为他们用在居住在亚述人之上的亚美尼亚人的土地上砍下的柳树为船体制作肋骨,并在这些肋骨周围铺上兽皮,作为船体外部的覆盖物,而不是使船尾变宽,也不聚集在船体中。船头开到一定程度,却像盾牌一样让船转过来。然后,他们用稻草把整条船装好,然后让它满载货物顺流而下。大多数情况下,这些船会运载棕榈木桶[200][{phoinikeious}:一些编辑(继 Valla 之后)已将其更改为 {phoinikeiou}(“棕榈酒桶”),但棕榈酒不太可能因此被进口,请参阅第 193 章。 XNUMX.] 充满了酒。船靠两根舵桨和两个直立的人保持笔直,里面的人拉桨,外面的人推。[201][{kai o men eso elkei to plektron o de exo otheei}。我认为它的意思是每侧都有一个舵桨,“内侧”是靠近河岸的一侧。水流自然会在“外侧”流得更快,因此往往会使船掉头,因此内侧桨手不断地将桨拉向自己,而外侧桨手则将桨推离自己(即背水),以保持船的方向。船直。给出了各种解释。斯坦因将 {eso, exo} 与动词结合起来,“一个人把船拉向自己,另一个人把船推离自己。”伍兹先生明白,一次只能使用一根桨,并且由两个看不同方向的人使用,其中 {o men eso} 是站在船边最近的那个。] 这些船只有的很大,有的很小,最大的载重达五千塔连特;[202][如果所指的人才是优博伊克的话,这大约是170吨。] 每个里面都有一头活驴,体型较大的则有好几头。因此,当他们在航行中到达巴比伦并处理完货物后,他们通过拍卖出售船肋和所有稻草,但他们将兽皮驮在驴上,然后将它们赶到亚美尼亚:因为要逆流而上由于水流湍急,无论如何都无法在这条河上航行。因此,他们不是用木材而是用兽皮来制造船只。然后,当他们赶着驴回到亚美尼亚人的土地上时,他们也以同样的方式制造其他船只。

195. 这就是他们的船;以下是他们所使用的服装方式,即一件长及脚部的亚麻外衣,在上面再穿上另一件羊毛外衣,然后披上一件白色斗篷,而他们的鞋子则是当地时尚的鞋子,就像维奥蒂亚拖鞋。他们留着长发,用鱼片裹着头,[203][{mitresi}:cp。七. 62.] 他们全身都涂上香料。每个人都有一个印章和一根手工雕刻的权杖,每根权杖上都雕刻着一个苹果、一朵玫瑰、一朵百合、一只鹰或其他一些图案,因为他们的习惯是没有一根上面没有图案的权杖。 。

196. 这就是他们的身体装备:他们之间建立的习俗如下,我们认为最明智的是这一点,据我所知,伊利里亚的埃内托伊人也有这种习惯。每个村庄每年都会进行一次这样的活动:——当少女们[204][{os an ai parthenoi ginoiato},相当于 {osai aei parthenoi ginoiato},斯坦因建议将其作为修正。] 到了结婚的年龄,他们把这些东西聚集在一起,带到一个地方,周围站着一群男人。最漂亮的,后来,当她被卖掉并赚了一大笔钱时,他会再娶一个最漂亮的女人:然后他们就被卖了结婚。现在,所有准备结婚的巴比伦富翁都竞相争夺最美丽的少女。然而,那些准备结婚的普通人并不需要华丽的形式,但他们会接受金钱和不太漂亮的少女。因为当喊话人卖完最漂亮的少女后,他就会让那个最不匀称的少女站起来,或者其中任何一个可能有任何残疾的少女,他会宣布询问谁愿意花最少的金子娶她,直到她被分配给愿意接受最少的人:而金子可以通过出售美丽的少女来获得,因此那些美丽的形式提供了嫁妆对于那些身材不匀称或残废的人;但是,不允许将自己的女儿嫁给任何人,也不允许在没有担保人的情况下将少女买走。因为男人在带走她之前必须保证他会娶她。如果他们不能达成一致,法律就规定他必须偿还这笔钱。任何希望从另一个村庄购买的人也可以购买。这在当时是他们最光荣的习俗。然而,它现在已经不存在了,但他们最近找到了另一种方法,以便这些人不会虐待他们或将他们带到另一个城市:[205][斯坦因认为这句话“为了——城市”要么是插值的,要么是放错地方的。] 因为自从被征服以来,他们就受到压迫和毁灭,百姓每一个在缺乏生计的时候都将自己的女儿卖淫。

197. 接下来的智慧是建立的另一个习俗[206][{katestekee}:一些编辑采用更正{katesteke},“已成立。”] 其中:——他们把病人抬到市场上;对于医生来说,他们毫无用处。因此,如果有人自己曾经遭受过与病人相同的情况,或者看到任何其他人遭受过这种情况,人们就会走到病人面前,就他的疾病提出建议。他们走近并提出建议,并推荐他们自己摆脱类似疾病或看到其他人摆脱这种疾病的方法:并且不允许他们默默地从病人身边经过,除非有人询问是什么疾病他有。

198. 他们用蜂蜜埋葬死者,他们的哀悼方式与埃及的哀悼方式相似。每当巴比伦男人与他的妻子发生性关系时,他都会坐在烧香的旁边,他的妻子也会在另一边做同样的事情,到了早晨,他们俩都会洗澡,因为他们不会碰任何器皿,直到他们洗净自己:阿拉伯人在这件事上也这样做。

199. 巴比伦人最可耻的习俗如下:该国的每个妇女都必须坐在区域内[207][{iron},后来称为{temenos}。] 阿佛洛狄忒一生中只有一次,与一个陌生人有过生意往来;许多妇女不愿与其他人交往,因为她们因财富而傲慢,她们驾着两匹马,乘坐有篷马车去寺庙,就这样取代了他们的位置,许多侍从跟随在他们后面。但更多的人这样做——在阿佛洛狄忒的神圣围场里,坐着许多头上戴着绳索的花环的妇女。有人来,有人走;妇女之间的各个方向都有直线通道,[208][{panta tropon odon}:一些 MSS。将 {odon} 替换为 {odon},而 {odon ekhousi} 可能意味着“负担得起一段路程”。 (Medicean MS. 的读法是 {odon}。)] 陌生人经过并做出选择。在这里,当一个女人坐下来时,她不会再离开她的家,直到一个陌生人把一枚银币扔到她的腿上,并在寺庙外与她做生意,扔完银币后,他必须只说这些话:“我以女神米莉塔的名义要求你”:[209][“我呼吁米莉塔反对你”;或者也许,“我呼吁米莉塔对你有利。”] 现在米利塔是亚述人给阿芙罗狄蒂起的名字:银币可以有任何价值;无论是什么,她都不会拒绝,因为这对她来说是不合法的,因为这枚硬币因该行为而变得神圣:她跟随第一个投掷的人,并且不拒绝任何硬币:之后她就离开了她房子,履行了她对女神的职责[210][{aposiosamene te theo}。],从此以后你也无法送出任何大礼来赢得她的青睐。那么,无论多少人都拥有美丽和身材[211][{eideos te epammenai eisi kai megatheos}。]很快就被释放了,但那些身体不正常的人却在那里停留了很长时间,无法履行法律;其中一些甚至长达三四年:在塞浦路斯的某些地区也有类似的习俗。

200. 这些习俗在巴比伦人中确立:他们中有三个部落[212][{帕特里艾}。] 他们只吃鱼:当他们捕获鱼并在阳光下晒干时,他们会这样做——将它们扔进盐水中,然后用杵捣碎,并通过细布过滤。他们根据自己的喜好,将其作为食物,要么揉成软蛋糕,要么像面包一样烘烤。

201. 当这个国家也被居鲁士征服时,他希望使马萨诸塞人屈服于他自己。这个国家被认为既伟大又好战,居住在阿拉克斯河对岸的东方和日出之地。[213][{反对}。] 伊塞顿人:也有人说这个民族是斯基泰人种。

202. 有人说阿拉克斯河比伊斯特河大,有人说阿拉克斯河比伊斯特河小:他们说,其中有许多岛屿,其大小与莱斯博斯岛差不多,居住在这些岛屿上的人们在夏天以食物为食。据说,它们在成熟的季节储存起来,并在冬天以它们为食。此外,据说他们还发现了其他树木,它们结出的果实是这样的:当他们在同一个地方聚集在一起并点燃火时,他们围成一圈,然后将一些果实扔进火里。他们闻到了扔在上面的水果,当它燃烧时,他们被这种气味所陶醉,就像希腊人喝了酒一样,当更多的水果被扔在上面时,他们变得更加陶醉,直到最后他们站起来跳舞并开始唱歌。据说这就是他们的生活方式:至于阿拉克斯河,它发源于马蒂安人的土地,从那里流出的金德斯河被居鲁士分成了三百六十条河道,并通过四十条支流自行排出,除了一端以外,所有这些都以沼泽和浅水池为终点;他们说,其中居住着以生鱼为食的人,习惯于用海豹皮做衣服:但阿拉克斯河仅存的一根支流却畅通无阻地流入里海。

203.现在里海是独立的,与其他海没有联系:因为希腊人航行的所有海,以及柱子之外的海,称为亚特兰蒂斯,以及厄立特里亚海实际上都是一个,但里海是独立的,并且是独立的。如果用桨的话,航行时间是十五天,[214][这也许是,“如果一划和帆一样”,在风向不利时使用桨,cp。二. 11.] 就宽度而言,最宽的地方是八天的航程。在这片海的西边,高加索山脉沿着它延伸,这是所有山脉中范围最大、最高的山脉:高加索地区居住着许多不同种族的人,他们的大部分生活在高加索地区。森林里的野生产物;据说其中有一种树长出这样的叶子,通过捣碎叶子并与水混合,它们可以在衣服上画出图案,这些图案不会被洗掉,而是会随着羊毛材料一起变老,就像它们一样人们说这些人的性交像牛一样开放。

204. 在这片被称为里海的海的西边,高加索地区是边界,而在东边和朝阳的方向,则是一片平原,从视野上看,它的范围是无限的。马萨泰人占据了这片大平原的很大一部分,居鲁士急于向他们进军。因为有许多强有力的理由激励他这样做并敦促他继续前进,首先是他的出生方式,也就是说,人们认为他不仅仅是一个凡人,其次是他所取得的成功。见面[215][{genomene},或 {ginomene},“他遇到的。”] 在他的战争中,无论居鲁士将他的行军引向何处,那个国家都不可能逃脱。

205. 现在马萨诸塞的统治者是一位女性,她的丈夫死后成为王后,她的名字叫托米里斯。居鲁士派人去向她求爱,假装他希望娶她为妻;但托米里斯明白他不是在追求自己,而是在玛萨格泰王国,所以拒绝了他的接近:居鲁士在此之后,因为他没有取得任何进展他乘船进军阿拉克西斯河,公开远征马萨格泰人,在河上架起船桥供军队渡河,并在船上建造塔楼以方便他们过河。

206. 当他忙于这项工作时,托米里斯派了一位使者,说道:“米底之王啊,停止推进你现在正在推进的工作;因为你无法判断这些事情最终是否对你有利。我说,停止这样做,成为你们自己人民的国王,并忍受看到我们统治我们所统治的人民。然而,我知道你不会愿意接受这个忠告,而是选择任何事情而不是休息,因此,如果你非常渴望在战斗中考验马萨诸塞人,那么现在就来吧,放下你的劳作。当我们第一次从河上撤出三天的路程时,将河岸连在一起,然后跨入我们的土地;或者,如果您希望接我们进入您的土地,您自己也可以做同样的事情。居鲁士听到这个消息后,召集了波斯人中的第一批人,将他们聚集在一起,将此事摆在他们面前进行讨论,询问他们应该做两件事中的哪一件:他们的意见一致同意,命令他接待托米丽丝和她的军队进入他的国家。

207. 但是,吕底亚人克罗伊索斯在场,对这一观点提出了错误,发表了与先前提出的观点相反的观点,他说:“国王啊,我以前也告诉过你,自从宙斯给了我为了你,我会根据我的力量避免任何可能发生的坠落事件靠近你的房子:现在我的痛苦,这是痛苦的,[216][{eonta akharita}:大部分 MSS。有{taeontaakharita},用它来读这句话会是,“我所经历的苦难,对我来说是智慧的苦涩教训。”] 事实证明,这对我来说是智慧的教训。如果你认为你是不朽的,并且你指挥的军队也是不朽的,那么我向你宣布我的判断是没有用的;但是,如果你认识到你自己也是一个凡人,并且命令其他同样凡人的人,那么首先要了解这一点,对于人类的事务来说,有一个旋转的轮子,而在其旋转过程中,并不总是同一个人遭受苦难。拥有好运。因此,我现在对摆在我们面前的事情有一个看法,与这些人的看法相反:因为如果我们同意接纳敌人进入我们的土地,那么这样做对你来说就有危险:——如果你如果你被击败,你还将失去你的全部领土,因为很明显,如果马萨格泰人是胜利者,他们将不会回头逃跑,而是会向你领土的省份进军。另一方面,如果你是胜利者,那么你的胜利程度就不会像你在进入马萨泰人的土地后战胜他们,在他们逃跑时追击他们一样。因为与我之前所说的相反,我将在这里再次提出同样的观点,并说,当你征服之后,将直接向托米里斯王国进军。此外,除了已经说过的之外,冈比西斯的儿子居鲁士向一个女人屈服并因此从她的土地上撤退,这是一种耻辱,也是不可忍受的。因此,现在对我来说,我们应该越过他们,并从他们撤退的地方继续前进,并努力通过以下行动来战胜他们:——据我所知,马萨诸塞人是没有体验过波斯的美好事物,也没有享受过任何伟大的奢侈品。因此,你们要毫不吝惜地把牛宰了,把肉切好,然后在我们的营地里为这些人摆设筵席,还要毫不吝惜地供给几碗纯酒和各种食物;这样做之后,留下你军队中最无用的部分,让其余的人开始从营地向河边撤退:因为如果我的判断没有错的话,当他们看到大量的好东西时,他们就会倒下。盛宴结束后,我们就可以展示伟大的事迹了。”

208. 这些是相互矛盾的意见;居鲁士放弃了以前的观点,选择了克洛伊索斯的观点,通知托米里斯退休,因为他打算转向她。然后她开始退休,正如她最初约定的那样,但居鲁士将克洛伊索斯交给了他的儿子冈比西斯,他打算将王国交给他,并认真地嘱咐他要尊重他并善待他,如果渡过,违背了马萨泰,就不应该繁荣。他如此吩咐他,把这些人送到波斯人的土地上,然后他自己和他的军队都渡过了河。

209. 当他越过阿拉克斯山脉时,夜幕降临,他在睡梦中看到了马萨诸塞人的土地上的一个异象,如下:——居鲁士在睡梦中似乎看到了海斯塔斯皮斯的长子。他肩上长着翅膀,凭借这双翅膀,他使亚洲和其他欧洲都黯然失色。阿尔萨姆斯的儿子海斯塔斯皮斯是阿柴美尼德家族的一个人,他的长子是达雷奥斯,我想他当时是一个大约二十岁的年轻人,他被留在了埃及的土地上。波斯人,因为他还没有到上战场的成年年龄。因此,当居鲁士醒来时,他对自己的异象进行了思考:由于这个异象对他来说非常重要,他打电话给海斯塔斯皮斯,并把他单独分开,他说:“海斯塔斯皮斯,你的儿子被发现密谋反对我并反对我的王位:我如何确定地知道这一点,我将向你宣布:诸神关心我,并预先向我展示威胁我的所有邪恶。因此,在前一晚睡觉时,我看到你儿子中最年长的儿子肩上长着翅膀,他用这双翅膀遮盖了亚洲和其他欧洲。那么从这个异象来看,他肯定是在密谋对付我。因此,请您以最快的方式返回波斯,并注意,当我征服这些地区后返回那里时,您将您的儿子放在我面前接受检查。

210.居鲁士如此说道,假设达雷奥斯正在密谋反对他。但事实上,神圣力量事先就向他表明,他注定会在那里找到自己的结局,而他的王国即将降临到达雷奥斯。对此,海斯塔斯皮斯回答如下:“国王啊,愿上帝保佑![217][{我eie}。] 任何波斯人都会密谋反对你,如果有的话,我祈祷他尽快灭亡;你使波斯人成为自由人而不是奴隶,使波斯人统治所有国家而不是被别人统治。如果有任何异象向你宣布我的儿子正在计划背叛你,我就把他交给你,你可以随心所欲地处置他。”

211. 海斯塔斯皮斯回答完这些话后,越过阿拉克斯河,前往波斯土地,为居鲁士看守他的儿子达雷奥斯。与此同时,居鲁士则按照克洛伊索斯的建议,从阿拉克斯出发,进行了一天的行军。此后,赛勒斯和军队中最优秀的部分[218][{tou katharou stratou},也许是“有效部分”,没有负担,cp。四. 135.] 波斯人已经返回阿拉克西斯,那些不适合战斗的人被留下了,然后马萨格泰军队的三分之一来攻击并开始屠杀,并非没有抵抗,[219][{alexomenous}。] 居鲁士军队留下的人;他们看见所摆的筵席,战胜了敌人,就躺下大吃,酒足饭饱,就睡着了。随后,波斯人袭击了他们,杀死了许多人,活活的人比他们杀的人还多,其中包括率领马萨泰军队的王后托米里斯的儿子。他的名字叫斯帕加皮斯。

212. 当她听到有关军队和她儿子的事情时,她派了一位使者去见居鲁士,并说道:“居鲁士,嗜血如命,不要因这件事而骄傲自满。事情已经发生了,也就是说,因为你们用葡萄树的果实填满了自己,变得如此疯狂,以至于当酒落入你们的身体时,邪恶的言语就在其溪流中浮现,——我说,因为设置了一个网罗,你用这样的药物战胜了我的儿子,而不是靠战斗中的英勇。现在,请接受我所说的话,给你一个很好的建议:——把我的儿子归还给我,并不受惩罚地离开这片土地,战胜马萨诸塞泰军队的三分之一:但如果你不这样做,我发誓以太阳之名,玛萨格泰的领主,我一定会给你充满鲜血,就像你一样贪得无厌。”

213. 当这些话被报告给他时,居鲁士没有考虑这些话。王后托米里斯的儿子斯帕加皮塞斯(Sargapises)酒喝完后,得知自己处境多么糟糕,便恳求居鲁士释放他的锁链,并得到了他的请求,当他被释放后,他就得到了他的帮助。他掌握了手中的权力,他自杀了。

214. 然后他以这种方式结束了自己的生命;但托米丽丝却因为居鲁士不听她的话,集结了全部力量,与居鲁士并肩作战。这场战斗,我认为是蛮族所进行的所有战斗中最激烈的一场,据我所知,事情是这样发生的:据说,他们先是站在一起互相射击,然后他们的箭全部射出。离开后,他们互相攻击,用长矛和匕首进行近战。于是,双方长期交锋,谁也不肯逃跑。但最后,马萨格泰人在战斗中取得了胜利:波斯军队的大部分被当场摧毁,居鲁士本人也在那里结束了自己的生命,因为他统治了三十年,没有一个人。然后托米丽丝在一张皮子里装满了人血,并在波斯死者中寻找居鲁士的尸体:当她找到它时,她把他的头埋进皮子里,对尸体表示愤怒,同时她说: “虽然我还活着,并且在战斗中战胜了你,但你却用诡计夺走了我的儿子,毁掉了我:但我将根据我的威胁,让你喝饱你的血。”关于居鲁士生命的终结,有很多故事,但我所讲述的这个在我看来是最值得相信的。

215. 至于马萨格泰人,他们的穿着与斯基泰人相似,生活方式也与斯基泰人相似。他们中有骑兵,也有不骑马的人(因为他们都有两种风格),而且既有弓箭手,也有矛兵,他们的习惯是携带战斧。[220][{sagaris nomizontes ekhein}:cp。四. 5.] 他们使用黄金或青铜制作所有物品,因为所有与矛尖、箭头或战斧有关的物品他们都使用青铜,但头饰、腰带和腋窝周围的腰带除外[221][{maskhalisteras}。] 他们用黄金作为装饰品:同样,他们的马也用青铜制成的胸甲戴在胸前,但在缰绳、马衔扣和颊甲上则用金子。然而,他们根本不使用铁和银,因为他们的土地上没有这些,但金和铜却很丰富。

216. 他们的习俗如下:——每人娶一个妻子,但他们有共同的妻子;因为希腊人所说的斯基泰人所做的事情,实际上不是斯基泰人做的,而是马萨诸塞泰人所做的,也就是说,马萨诸塞泰人的男人想要什么女人,他就把箭袋挂在马车前,与她自由地进行贸易。他们的生命没有明确的年龄限制,但当一个人变得很老时,他最近的亲属就会聚集在一起,庄严地宰杀他[222][{thousi}。] 和他一起的还有牲畜;然后他们将肉煮沸并在其上举行宴会。他们认为这是最幸福的事;但因疾病而结束生命的人,他们不吃,而是将他埋在土里,认为他没有被屠杀是一种不幸。他们不播种庄稼,只靠牛和鱼为生,最后他们从阿拉克斯河获得了丰富的食物。此外,他们还喝牛奶。在诸神之中,他们只崇拜太阳,并为他献祭马匹:而规则[223][{nomos}:许多编辑所采用的猜想{noos},“含义”,可能是正确的;但{nomos}似乎意味着决定这种形式的牺牲的“习惯规则”,即“快者归快者”的规则。] 祭祀的内容是这样的:——他们将所有凡间事物中最快的赐予众神中最快的。

第一册注释 •3,400字

[1] [{'Erodotou 'Alikarnesseos istories apodexis ede, os ktl} {istorie} 这个词的含义逐渐从“研究”或“探究”转变为“叙述”、“历史”; cp。七. 96. 亚里士多德在引用这些话时将 {Thouriou} 写为 {'Alikarnesseos}(“Thurii 的希罗多德”),我们从普鲁塔克那里得知,这种解读在他的时代作为一种变体存在。

[2] [可能{erga}在这里可能意味着像金字塔和萨摩斯岛的作品这样不朽的纪念碑,cp。我。 93,二。 35等;在这种情况下,{ta te alla} 又指的是 {ta Genomena},尽管动词 {epolemesan} 的主语源自前一条款中提到的希腊人和野蛮人。]

[3] [许多编辑都“与腓尼基人”有关,一些下级MSS的权威。和阿尔丁版本。]

[4] [{arpages}。]

[401] [“因此或以其他特定方式。”]

[5] [{Surion},参见第 72 章。 104. 希罗多德也许是为了区分 {Surioi} 和 {Suroi},并使用第一个名称来表示卡帕多克人,第二个名称来表示巴勒斯坦人民,cp。二. XNUMX;但他们在MSS中自然会感到困惑。]

[6] [{ex epidromes arpage}.]

[7] [{tes anoigomenes thures},“门打开了。”]

[8] [或者“因为她感到羞耻。”]

[9] [{佛坦}。]

[10] [{upeisdus}:斯坦因采用了猜想{upekdus},“从他的藏身处溜出来了。”]

[11] [这最后一句话被许多人视为插值。所提及的线路是 {Ou moi ta Gugeo tou polukhrosou melei}。]

[12] [见第 92 节。]

[13] [即像他之后的其他吕底亚国王一样。]

[14] [{Kolophonos to astu},显然与卫城相反,cp。八. 51.]

[15] [参见第 73 章。 XNUMX.]

[16] [{o kai esballon tenikauta es ten Milesien ten stratien}:显然是指在收获季节对米利都土地的入侵,如上所述。上一章中提到的所有操作都已向阿利亚特斯进行了粗略的描述,这里添加了更正,以告知读者它们同样属于他的父亲。如果我们在第 17 章中采用 {o Audos},这几乎不会解决问题。 XNUMX 包括父亲和儿子。]

[17] [{迪达克桑塔}。]

[18] [希罗多德仅将这个名称用于半岛南部。]

[19] [塔伦图姆。]

[20] [{en toisi edolioisi}:正确的“长凳”,但这里可能是船尾的凸起甲板。]

[21] [{ou mega}:很多MSS。有{兆}。]

[22] [{stadioi}:约 606 英英尺的弗隆。]

[23] [{到结语}。]

[24] [一些人怀疑这份国家名单是插值的;参见斯坦因在该段落中的注释。]

[25] [{sophistai}:cp。二. 49、四. 95.]

[26] [{乙醚}。]

[27] [{olbiotaton}。]

[28] [{稳定}。]

[29] [{romen}:很多MSS。有{gnomen},“良好的性格。”]

[30] [即他们的母亲:但有些人将其理解为女神。]

[31] [{en telei touto eskhonto}。]

[32] [{醇生物}。]

[33] [{eutukhees}。]

[34] [{aperos}:MSS。有{apeiros}。]

[35] [{aikhme sideree blethenta}。]

[36] [“在克洛伊索斯的房子里。”]

[37] [{'外显}。]

[38] [{'Etaireion}。]

[39] [{suggrapsamenous},即由 {propsetes} 写下(见 vii. 111 和 viii. 37),他们解释了女先知 {promantis} 的灵感话语并将其写入常规诗句。]

[40] [{es 为 megaron}。]

[41] [{oida d' ego}:神谕的开头通常有一个连接词,例如 {de} 或 {alla}(cp. ch. 55、174 等),这可能表明它们是更大的一部分连接的话语。]

[42] [Cp。七. 178 和九。 91(“我接受这个预兆。”)]

[43] [参见第八。 134.]

[44] [{kai touton},即 Amphiaraos:许多编辑保留了阿尔丁版的读物,{kai touto},“他也在此找到了真正的神谕。”]

[45] [{emiplinthia},底座应该是方形的。]

[46] [{exapalaiota},手掌约三寸,cp。二. 149.]

[47] [{apephthou khrusou},“精炼金。”]

[48] [{triton emitalanton}:MSS。有 {tria emitalanta},已根据 Valla 翻译的权威部分进行了修正。]

[49] [“白金。”]

[50] [显然是分阶段排列的,其中最高的由 4 个纯金半基座组成,第二个由 15 个半基座组成,第三个由 35 个半基座组成,第四个由 63 个组成,总共 117 个:参见斯坦因的注释。]

[51] [{elkon stathmon einaton emitalanton kai eti duodeka mneas}。 {mnea} (mina) 为 15.2 盎司,其中 60 个为天赋。]

[52] [{epi tou proneiou tes gonies},cp。八. 122:{epi} 的使用似乎暗示着供奉祭品的某种凸起的基石。]

[53] [{amphoreus} 大约有 9 加仑。]

[54] [Cp。三. 41.]

[55] [{perirranteria}。]

[56] [{kheumata},有些人翻译为“壶”或“碗”。]

[57] [{umin},就好像两个神谕一起被寻址。]

[58] [即德尔福。]

[59] [{enephoreeto},“他充满了它。”]

[60] [{Krestona}:尼布尔会读{Krotona}(伊特鲁里亚的克罗顿或科尔托纳),部分是根据狄奥尼修斯的权威:参见斯坦因的注释。两个最好的MSS。本书这一部分有缺陷。]

[61] [参见二。 51和六。 137.]

[62] [{auxetai es plethos ton ethneon pollon}:“已经增加了许多种族,数量很多。”斯坦因和阿比希特都冒险采用了 {pollon} 的猜想 {Pelasgon},“尤其是佩拉斯吉人被添加到其中,还有许多其他野蛮民族。”]

[6201] [{pros de on emoige dokeei}:MSS。有{emoi te}。一些编辑为 {pros de on} 阅读了 {os de on} (Stein {prosthe de on})。整段文字可能在某种程度上是错误的,但很难成功修改。]

[63] [即,在与佩拉斯吉亚人分离并不再是野蛮人之前,它是希腊人种。]

[64] [{katekhomenon te kai diespasmenon…upo Peisistratou}。佩西斯特拉托斯至少在一定程度上是造成分裂的原因。]

[65] [{段落}。]

[66] [{uperakrion}。]

[67] [{toutous}:有些人猜测{triekosious},“三百”,这是根据波利安努斯的说法,他实际拥有的数字,i。 21.]

[68] [{doruphoroi},保镖的常用词。]

[69] [{perielaunomenos de te stasi}:斯坦因说“受到他自己政党的攻击的骚扰”,但他在第 61 章中提到的段落。 XNUMX,{katallasseto ten ekhthren toisi stasiotesi},可以在梅加克莱斯加入佩西斯特拉托斯时与他的政党发生的争吵中提到。]

[70] [更字面地说,“自古以来,希腊人就被认为比野蛮人更有技巧,更摆脱愚蠢的简单性,(并且)从那时起,在雅典人中,他们被认为是希腊人中的第一人”。能力,这些人设计了如下的伎俩。”]

[71] [肘尺被认为是 24 指宽,即大约 18 英寸。]

[72] [所以罗林森。]

[73] [见第 70 节。]

[74] [{dia endekatou eteos}。与 {dia evdeka eteon}(“十一年后”)不太一样;而是“第十一年”(即“十年之后”)。]

[75] [{thein pompe khreomenos}。]

[76] [对于{'Akarnan},建议阅读{'Akharneus},因为这个人被不同的作家称为雅典人。然而,阿卡纳尼亚人因其预言能力而闻名,他可能被称为雅典人,因为他与佩西斯特拉托一起居住在雅典。]

[77] [或者“可以看到圣殿的那部分土地”,但是 cp。 Thuc。三. 104. 无论哪种情况,含义都是相同的。]

[7701] [{enomotias kai triekadas kai sussitia}。 {enomotia} 是斯巴达军队的主要师:{triekas} 没有什么是确定的。]

[78] [{kibdelo},正确的“伪造”:cp。 ch. 75.]

[79] [{skhoino diametresamenoi}:实际上是为了在他们之间分配工作,还是因为将他们固定在一起的绳子像卷尺一样放在地上,目前还不确定。]

[80] [Cp。九. 70.]

[81] [{epitarrothos}。在其他地方(即在荷马史诗中),这个词总是意味着“帮助者”,斯坦因在这里将其翻译为“你将成为特该亚的保护者和赞助人”(代替奥瑞斯忒斯)。伍兹先生通过与 {Danaoisi makhes epitarrothoi} 等短语的平行解释来解释它,意思是“在泰吉亚问题上,你将成为(拉栖梦人)的帮助者”,但这可能是一种过于个人化的称呼形式。特使,通常以第二人称称呼,但仅作为派遣他的人的代表。推测性的解读{epitarrothon exeis},“你应该让他作为对抗泰吉亚的助手”,很诱人。]

[82] [{agathoergon}。]

[83] [这是为了让他能够更好地在泰赫亚实现他的目标。]

[84] [Cp。 ch. 51,注。]

[85] [参见第 6 章。 XNUMX.]

[86] [{euzono 安德里}:cp。 ch. 104 和二. 34. {euzonos}一词用于轻武装部队;赫西丘斯说,{euzonos, me ekhon phortion}。]

[87] [{orgen ouk akros}:这是对所有最好的 MSS 的解读。第 124 节的平行部分 {psukhen ouk akros} 充分支持了这一点。然而,大多数编辑都采用了读法 {orgen akros},相当于 {akrakholos},“脾气暴躁。”]

[88] [有人认为该条款并不真实。然而,它不应该被认为是指被日食打断的战斗,因为(1)这里所说的时期没有发生; (2) 下一个子句由 {de} 引入(这里很难代表 {gar}); (3) 当日食发生时,战斗停止了,因此,这并不比任何其他被黑暗降临而打断的战斗更好。]

[89] [参见第 188 章。 XNUMX. 纳布尼塔 是他的真名。]

[90] [参见第 107 章。 XNUMX 及以下]

[91] [不是“锡诺普市附近的某个地方”,因为它一定距离相当远,而且可能很远内陆。锡诺普本身位于哈利斯以西至少五十英里处。我认为它的意思是,Pteria 几乎位于锡诺普的正南方,即从 Pteria 到海边最近的道路通向锡诺普。毫无疑问,Pteria 既是一个地区的名称,也是一个城市的名称。]

[92] [{anastatous epoese}。]

[93] [这是第 74 章中提到的那个人的儿子。 XNUMX.]

[94] [{us en autou xeinikos}。斯坦因将其翻译为“so much of it as was雇佣兵”,但这是否可能可能值得怀疑。伍兹先生,“他的哪支军队是外国军队。”]

[95] [{Metros Dindumenes},即 Kybele:这座山是弗里吉亚的 Dindymos。]

[96] [即阿尔戈利斯半岛以西的整片领土,其中包括蒂雷亚并向南延伸至马利亚:“向西直至马利亚”是荒谬的。]

[97] [{outos}:对 {autos} 的推测修正。]

[98] [{autos}:一些MSS。读{o autos},“同一个人。”]

[99] [{aneneikamenon},几乎等同于 {anastemaxanta}(cp.Hom.Il.xix.314),{mnesamenos d'adinos aneneikatophonesen te}。有些人在这里翻译为“他恢复了自己”,cp。 ch. 116,{aneneikhtheis}。]

[100] [{乌布里斯泰}。]

[101] [{proesousi}:对{poiesousi}的推测修正,被大多数现代版本采用。]

[102] [{touto oneidisai}:或 {touton oneidisai},“用这些东西来羞辱神。”最好的MSS。有{touto}。]

[103] [{to kai...eipe ta eipe Loxias ktl}:已经提出了各种修正。如果要收养任何一个,最大胆的也许是最好的,{to de kai…eipe Loxias}。]

[104] [{oia te kai alle khore},“就像其他国家一样。”]

[105] [{stadioi ex kai duo plethra}。]

[106] [{plethra tria kai deka}。]

[107] [{古盖伊}。]

[108] [或“第勒尼亚”。]

[109] [或“翁布里亚人”。]

[110] [{tes ano 'Asies},即从地中海移走的部分。]

[111] [即大自然不可能提供如此多的定期上升的圆圈。斯坦因改变了文本,使句子这样运行,“虽然总共有七个圆圈,但最后一个是皇宫,”等等。]

[112] [即“对于那些在国王面前的人来说,大笑或吐口水都是不体面的,这对所有人来说都是最后的,无论是否在国王面前。” CP。克森。赛罗普。我。 2. 16, {aiskhron men gar eti kai nun esti Persais kai to apoptuein kai to apomuttesthai},(引自斯坦因,但他给出了不同的解释)。]

[113] [{tauta de peri eouton esemnune}:给出的翻译是伍兹先生的翻译。]

[114] [{allos mentoi eouton eu ekontes}:翻译部分归功于伍兹先生。]

[115] [即哈利斯以东:参见第 95 章注释。 XNUMX.]

[116] [见四。 12.]

[117] [Cp。 ch. 72.]

[118] [{ten katuperthe odon},即距离黑海向东更远。]

[119] [{o theos}。]

[120] [{khoris men gar phoron}:许多编辑用 {phoron} 代替 {phoron},但如果不与 {khoris} 一起使用,而是与 {to ekastoisi epeballon} 一起使用,则 {phoron} 可能成立。]

[121] [Cp。 ch. 184,“亚述历史。”]

[122] [{upothemenos},对{upothemenos}的推测修正,cp。 ch. 108 MSS所在。给出 {uperthemenos},(上面写有 {upo} 的美第奇人作为更正)。]

[123] [或者“让我面临风险”、“赌上我的安全。”]

[124] [或者“你将遭受最邪恶的死亡”:cp。 ch. 167.]

[12401] [{tas aggelias pherein},即拥有 {aggeliephoros}(第 120 章)或 {esaggeleus}(iii.84)的办公室,内务大臣通过其进行通信。]

[125] [{dialabein}。伍兹先生如此翻译。]

[126] [{es tas anagkas},“必要时”,上面提到过。]

[127] [或“庆祝好运。”]

[128] [{akreon kheiron te kai podon}:cp。二. 121(e),{apotamonta en to omo ten kheira}。]

[129] [{esti te o pais kai periesti}。伍兹先生如此翻译。]

[130] [{erkhe}:一些劣质的MSS。有 {eikhe},被几位编辑采用。]

[131] [{para smikra…kekhoreke},“结果平平无奇。”]

[132] [{kuon}:cp。 ch. 110.]

[133] [{su nun},回答{se gar theoi eporeousi}:MSS。一些编辑读到了{su nun}。]

[134] [即珀尔西斯种族:见七。 61.]

[135] [“与那场盛宴等相比,他从王位到奴隶制的转变如何”,即他认为这是一种报应。]

[136] [参见第 106 章。 XNUMX. 因此,中位至高无上的实际持续时间将是一百年。]

[13601] [与 iii 相比,这被一些人改为“Alilat”。 8.]

[137] [{stemmasi},即用羊毛缠绕的花冠,在希腊祭祀时佩戴。]

[138] [{欧勒西}。]

[13801] [Cp。七. 61.]

[139] [{sitoisi}:也许是“普通菜肴。”]

[140] [{proskuneei},即亲吻他的脚或地面。]

[141] [{ton Legomeno},对 {to Legomeno} 的更正。 (美第奇 MS. 像其他人一样有 {toi Legomenoi},而不是斯坦因所说的 {toi Legomeno}。)]

[142] [{ekhomenon, kata ton auton de logon}:MSS。大多数编辑都有{ekhomenon}。 {自动登录}; “波斯人在给予荣誉时也遵守同样的规则。”然而,这使得在下一个子句中很难(尽管并非不可能)提及米底人,也很难提及波斯人,因为他们当然没有相同的政府体系。也许无论我们如何翻译,“对于每个种族来说,他们的统治或代表的权威都向前延伸。”]

[143] [Cp。七. 194.]

[144] [{polloi}:被编辑省略或以各种方式更正。也许下一个条款的文本也有问题,因为波斯人似乎并不反对白鸽子。参见斯坦因的注释。]

[145] [参见第 95 章。 XNUMX.]

[146] [这些词“既不向东也不向西”可能被插入作为对{ta ano}和{ta kato}的解释。作为一种解释,它们很难是正确的,但整个段落表达得很模糊。]

[147] [{troous tesseras paragogeon}。]

[148] [即亚洲爱奥尼亚人组成了一个单独的联盟。有些人将其理解为米利都派,但这与接下来的内容没有令人满意的联系。]

[149] [{五角城}。]

[150] [{exapolios}.]

[151] [{mesogaioi}。其他几个城市距离海岸有一定距离,但在每种情况下都指的是该地区而不是城市(因此形成 {Tritaiees})。]

[152] [{'埃利科尼奥}。]

[153] [这被一些编辑谴责为插值。]

[154] [{oreon de ekousan ouk omoios}。]

[155] [{katastas}:cp。三. 46.]

[156] [{ktesamenoi}:斯坦因通过猜想读取{stesamenoi}:cp。六. 58.]

[157] [{phrontizo me ariston e}。译文是罗林森的。]

[158] [{kephale anamaxas}:cp。坎。奥德。十九。 92.]

[159] [{es tous Bragkhidas},即神庙的祭司。这个地方的名字{Bragkhidai}是阴性的,cp。 ch. 92.]

[160] [{onax},向阿波罗讲话。]

[161] [{exaipee tous strouthous ktl} 该动词常用于表示城市的破坏和人口减少,cp。 ch. 176.(斯坦因。)]

[162] [{tou de 'Atarneos toutou esti khoros tes Musies}。]

[163] [{oukoligoistadioi}。]

[164] [{katirosai},即献给国王作为臣服的象征。]

[165] [即科西嘉岛。]

[166] [{anaphanenai}:MSS。有{anaphenai},只能通过从{katepontosan}提供{ton ponton}来翻译,“直到大海再次产生它”,但这很难令人满意。]

[167] [{卡尔赫多尼奥伊}。]

[168] [{elakhon te auton pollo pleious}。一些编辑认为文字已丢失或文本已损坏。我的理解是,落入敌人手中的人比被己方救出的人还要多。有些翻译为“通过抽签划分了大部分”;但这将是{dielakhon},如果立即处决囚犯,诉讼程序就没有任何意义。对于 {pleious} 斯坦因读作 {pleistous}。]

[169] [{ton Kurnon…ktisai eron eonta, all' ou ten neson}.]

[170] [{bouleuterion}。]

[171] [{outoi}:MSS。有{outo}。]

[172] [{autokhthonas epiirotas}。]

[173] [许多编辑在 {tes khores tes spheteres} 之前插入 {oi} 并相应地更改标点符号。]

[174] [或者“他们所有的土地都在地峡之内。”]

[175] [{epexiontes}:MSS。有 {upexiontes},伍兹先生解释说这意味着“突然出现。”]

[176] [{epexelthontes}:MSS。有{upexelthontes}。]

[177] [{stadion},等等。]

[178] [“皇家肘尺”的尺寸似乎约为二十一英寸。]

[179] [{tous agkhonas},城市南北的城墙,因与侧墙成一定角度而得名。]

[180] [{laurai},“车道。”]

[181] [{kai autai},但也许文字不健全。]

[182] [{thorex},与内墙相反,内墙是{kithon}(cp.vii.139)。]

[183] [{steinoteron}:伍兹先生说“厚度较小”,墙的顶部被视为一条路。]

[184] [{duo stadion pante},即 404 平方码。]

[185] [{tou irou},即神圣区域; cp。 {en to temenei touto}。]

[186] [{neos},寺庙的内殿。]

[187] [{普罗曼蒂斯}。]

[188] [{ta telea ton probaton}。]

[189] [“当时。”]

[18901] [{katapleontes ton Euphreten}:MSS。有{katapleontes es ton E}。 (正如阿比希特所说,美第奇 MS. 省略了 {es},这是不正确的。)]

[190] [{oligon ti parateinousa apo tou potamou}.]

[191] [{ou gar ameinon},史诗短语,cp。三. 71 和 82。]

[192] [{eskeuasmenos},对{eskeuasmenoisi}的推测性修正,“条款准备充分。”]

[193] [{kateteine skhoinoteneas upodexas diorukhas}。斯坦因理解{kateteine ten stratien}(后来由{diataxas}恢复),“他扩展了他的军队,首先用线划出了笔直的通道。”]

[194] [{proesaxanto},来自 {proesago}:然而,也可能来自 {prosatto},“他们事先为自己堆好了食物。”]

[195] [{十层阿帕桑}。斯坦因认为需要进行一些修正。]

[196] [{oi d' an perudontes ktl}:MSS。有 {oud' an perudontes},“他们甚至不允许他们进入城市(从河里)”,但否定词很尴尬,仅指分词,以及允许敌人进入河床城市将是该计划的重要组成部分,在描述中不应被省略。]

[197] [阁楼 梅迪姆诺斯 (= 48 乔伊尼克斯)远小于 12 加仑。]

[198] [{ton tes Demetros karpon}。]

[199] [斯坦因认为,在{ta gar de alla dendrea}之前,言语已经破裂,主要是因为这里可能会提到棕榈树。]

[200] [{phoinikeious}:一些编辑(继 Valla 之后)已将其更改为 {phoinikeiou}(“棕榈酒桶”),但棕榈酒不太可能因此被进口,请参阅第 193 章。 XNUMX.]

[201] [{kai o men eso elkei to plektron o de exo otheei}。我认为它的意思是每侧都有一个舵桨,“内侧”是靠近河岸的一侧。水流自然会在“外侧”流得更快,因此往往会使船掉头,因此内侧桨手不断地将桨拉向自己,而外侧桨手则将桨推离自己(即背水),以保持船的方向。船直。给出了各种解释。斯坦因将 {eso, exo} 与动词结合起来,“一个人把船拉向自己,另一个人把船推离自己。”伍兹先生明白,一次只能使用一根桨,并且由两个看不同方向的人使用,其中 {o men eso} 是站在船边最近的那个。]

[202] [如果所指的人才是优博伊克的话,这大约是170吨。]

[203] [{mitresi}:cp。七. 62.]

[204] [{os an ai parthenoi ginoiato},相当于 {osai aei parthenoi ginoiato},斯坦因建议将其作为修正。]

[205] [斯坦因认为这句话“为了——城市”要么是插值的,要么是放错地方的。]

[206] [{katestekee}:一些编辑采用更正{katesteke},“已成立。”]

[207] [{iron},后来称为{temenos}。]

[208] [{panta tropon odon}:一些 MSS。将 {odon} 替换为 {odon},而 {odon ekhousi} 可能意味着“负担得起一段路程”。 (Medicean MS. 的读法是 {odon}。)]

[209] [“我呼吁米莉塔反对你”;或者也许,“我呼吁米莉塔对你有利。”]

[210] [{aposiosamene te theo}。]

[211] [{eideos te epammenai eisi kai megatheos}。]

[212] [{帕特里艾}。]

[213] [{反对}。]

[214] [这也许是,“如果一划和帆一样”,在风向不利时使用桨,cp。二. 11.]

[215] [{genomene},或 {ginomene},“他遇到的。”]

[216] [{eonta akharita}:大部分 MSS。有{taeontaakharita},用它来读这句话会是,“我所经历的苦难,对我来说是智慧的苦涩教训。”]

[217] [{我eie}。]

[218] [{tou katharou stratou},也许是“有效部分”,没有负担,cp。四. 135.]

[219] [{alexomenous}。]

[220] [{sagaris nomizontes ekhein}:cp。四. 5.]

[221] [{maskhalisteras}。]

[222] [{thousi}。]

[223] [{nomos}:许多编辑所采用的猜想{noos},“含义”,可能是正确的;但{nomos}似乎意味着决定这种形式的牺牲的“习惯规则”,即“快者归快者”的规则。]

第二卷 • 历史的第二本书,称为欧忒耳普 (Euterpe) •40,100字

1. 当居鲁士去世后,冈比西斯继承了王权,他是居鲁士和法纳斯佩斯的女儿卡桑丹的儿子,对于他的死,居鲁士本人也深感哀悼。并且还向所有他所统治的人宣布,他们应该为她哀悼:我说,冈比西斯是这个女人和居鲁士的儿子,他把爱奥尼亚人和艾奥利亚人视为从他父亲那里继承来的奴隶。他开始向埃及进军,不仅带着他所统治的其他国家作为帮助者,而且还带着他有权统治的希腊人作为帮助者。

2. 现在的埃及人,在 Psammetichos 之前[1][有些人写的“Psammitichos”的权威性较低。] 成为他们的国王,习惯于认为他们首先是人类的诞生。但自从普萨梅提科斯成为国王后,他们想知道人类首先诞生的是什么,他们认为弗里吉亚人先于他们诞生,但他们自己先于所有其他人类诞生。现在,普萨美提科斯无法通过探究找出任何方法来了解谁是最先诞生的人类,于是他设计了一个如下的装置:——他取了两个属于普通人的新生儿,把它们交给一个牧羊人,让他在他的羊群所在的地方饲养,按照我将要说的饲养方式,嘱咐他任何人都不能在它们面前说任何话,并且它们应该单独放置在一个没人会来的房间里,在适当的时候,他应该给他们带来母山羊,当他用牛奶满足他们时,他应该为他们做任何其他需要的事情。萨梅梅蒂科斯做了这些事,并给了他这个命令,希望听听孩子们停止毫无意义的哭声后,首先会说出什么话。因此事情就这样发生了;两年过去了,牧羊人继续这样做,最后,当他打开门走进去时,两个孩子都跪倒在他面前恳求并说出了这个词: 贝科斯,伸出双手。听到这话,牧羊人一开始保持沉默。但由于这个词经常被重复,因为他不断地拜访他们并照顾他们,最后他向他的主人宣布了这件事,并在他的命令下将孩子们带到了他的面前。然后,普萨美提科斯自己也听到了,开始询问哪个民族的人给任何东西命名 贝科斯经询问,他发现弗里吉亚人对面包有这个名字。通过这种方式,并在这样的迹象的引导下,埃及人开始承认弗里吉亚人是一个比他们更古老的民族。

3.事情是这样的,我从居住在孟菲斯的赫菲斯托斯的祭司那里听说了;[2][{tou en Memphi}:许多编辑读到{en Memphi},“我在孟菲斯听赫菲斯托斯的祭司们说”,但权威性较低。] 但希腊人除了许多其他荒诞的故事外还提到,普萨美提科斯割掉了某些妇女的舌头,然后让孩子们与这些妇女住在一起。

关于养育孩子,他们所涉及的内容正如我所说的那样:当我在孟菲斯与赫菲斯托斯的祭司们交谈时,我还听到了其他事情。此外,我还参观了底比斯和赫利奥波利斯[3][{'Eliou polin} 或 {'Elioupolin},cp。 {'Elioupolitai} 下面。] 正是因为这个原因,即因为我想知道这些地方的祭司们的说法是否与孟菲斯的祭司们一致。因为据说赫利奥波利斯人是埃及人记录中最有学识的人。我所听到的关于众神的叙述,我并不想完整地讲述,但我只会说出他们的名字,[4][{exo e ta ounamata auton mounon}。有些人将“他们”理解为“众神”;有些人将“他们”理解为“诸神”。更确切地说,其含义可能是对此类事情的记述不会完全相关,而只是触及。] 因为我认为所有人对这些事情都同样无知:[5][{ison peri auton epistasthai}.] 无论我可能记录其中的什么事情,我都会记录下来,只是因为我被故事的进程所吸引。

4. 但至于那些与人类有关的问题,祭司们一致认为,埃及人是地球上最先发现一年中的事物的人,他们将季节分为十二部分,以构成一年中的一年。所有的;他们说他们从星星中发现了这一点:在这一点上,他们比希腊人更明智,在我看来,因为希腊人每隔一年插入一个闰月,以使季节正确,而希腊人则每隔一年插入一个闰月,以使季节正确,而埃及人将十二个月计算为每月三十天,每年还增加五天,这样他们的季节循环就完成了,并回到了出发的同一点。他们还说,埃及人是第一个使用十二神的称谓的人,希腊人继承了他们的使用。他们是第一个为诸神的建造祭坛、图像和神庙,并在石头上雕刻人物的人。至于更多的这些事情,他们用实际的事实向我表明它们确实发生过。他们还说,第一个人[6][{anthropon},强调,因为在他之前的统治者都是神(第 144 章)。] 成为埃及国王的是敏;[7]【{米娜}:别人读的是{米娜},但是MSS的权威。对于 {Mina} 来说,在这里和在 ch 中都很强大。 99.] 在他的时代,除了底比斯地区之外的整个埃及[8][{tou Thebaikou nomou},cp。 ch. 164.] 当时是一片沼泽,当时没有一个地区高于水面,现在位于莫里斯湖下方,从海上沿河逆流而上到该湖需要七天的航程:

5、我认为他们对这片土地说得很好;因为,即使对于一个事先没有听说过、但只是亲眼所见(至少在他了解的情况下)的人来说,这一事实也很明显:希腊人乘船来到的埃及是埃及人作为一个国家而赢得的土地。此外,它是河流的礼物:此外,位于该湖上方的区域也可以航行三天,对此他们没有继续说任何此类内容,但仍然是另一个例子同样的事情:因为埃及土地的性质如下:——首先,当你仍然乘船接近它并且距离陆地还有一天的路程时,如果你放下测深线,你会带上泥土和泥土。你会发现自己身处十一噚之中。到目前为止,这表明土地前方存在淤积。

6. 其次,就埃及本身而言,它沿海的范围是六十 舒伊讷,根据我们对埃及的定义,埃及是从普林辛湾延伸到塞尔维亚湖,卡西翁山沿着该湖延伸;那么从这个湖[9][{tautes on apo}:一些 MSS。省略{apo},“这就是六十个 舒伊讷 都算了。”] 六十 舒伊讷 计算:对于土地贫乏的人,他们的土地用英寻来衡量;较贫穷的人,用弗隆来衡量;那些拥有大量土地的人,用帕拉桑来衡量;那些拥有大量土地的人,用帕拉桑来衡量。 舒伊讷:现在帕拉桑等于三十弗隆,每一个 舒瓦因,这是埃及的度量单位,等于六十弗隆。因此,埃及的沿海地区面积为三千六百弗隆。[10][对于长度 cp 的测量。 ch. 149. 弗隆 ({stadion}) 等于 100 噚 ({orguiai}),即 606 英尺 9 英寸。]

7. 从那里一直到赫利奥波利斯,埃及内陆都是广阔的,土地平坦,没有水源[11][或“没有下雨”:单词 {anudros} 被一些编辑更改为 {enudros} 或 {euudros},“浇水良好。”] 从海上到赫利奥波利斯的内陆道路,与从雅典十二神祭坛到比萨和奥林匹亚宙斯神庙的道路长度大致相同:算一算,你会发现这些道路的长度差异非常小,实际上不超过十五弗隆;因为从雅典到比萨的道路需要1500弗隆,而从海上到赫利奥波利斯的道路则完全达到这个数字。

8. 然而,从赫利奥波利斯往上走,埃及很狭窄;因为在一侧,属于阿拉伯半岛的山脉沿着它的一侧延伸,从北向正午和南风的方向延伸,不间断地向上延伸到被称为厄立特里亚海的地方。范围是用于为孟菲斯金字塔切割石头的采石场。在这一边,山就在我所说的地方结束,然后折返;[12][我跟随斯坦因将 {es ta eiretai} 与 {legon} 结合起来,意思是“在厄立特里亚海”,{taute men} 是上面 {te men} 的重复。向后弯曲将使范围加倍,因此部分地扩大了范围。其他人翻译为:“范围在这里(在采石场)停止,并转向所提到的部分(即厄立特里亚海)。”] 据我所知,在最宽的地方,从东到西需要两个月的路程。据说它的边界向东方出产乳香。这就是这座山脉的本质;在埃及朝向利比亚的一侧,还有另一片山脉延伸,岩石遍布,被沙子包围:其中有金字塔,它的走向与阿拉伯山脉向正午延伸的部分相同。那么,我说,从赫利奥波利斯开始,土地不再有很大的范围,因为它属于埃及,[13][{os einai Aiguptou}:cp。四. 81. 其他人翻译为“考虑到它属于埃及”(一个幅员辽阔的国家),即“埃及采取的措施”。无论如何,下面的 {Aiguptos eousa} 似乎重复了相同的含义。] 大约四个[14][一些编辑将其更改为“十四”。] 沿着所谓的埃及河逆流而上几天的航行是狭窄的:前面提到的山脉之间的空间是平原,但在最狭窄的地方,在我看来,距阿拉伯山脉不超过两百弗隆那些被称为利比亚人的人。此后埃及再次广阔。

9. 这就是这片土地的本质:从赫利奥波利斯到底比斯需要九天的逆流航行,旅程的距离以弗隆为单位是四千八百六十, 舒伊讷 八十一岁了。如果将埃及的这些单位弗隆放在一起,结果如下:——我之前已经表明,沿海的距离为三千六百弗隆,现在我将宣布内陆距海洋的距离是多少到底比斯,即六千一百二十弗隆;从底比斯到名为大象的城市的距离又是一千八百弗隆。

10. 关于我所说的这片土地,我自己也认为,正如祭司们所说,埃及人已经夺取了大部分土地。因为对我来说很明显,位于孟菲斯市上方的上述山脉之间的空间曾经是一个海湾,就像伊利昂、特伊特拉尼亚和以弗索斯周围的地区以及迈安德平原一样,如果它允许将小事与大事进行比较;相比之下,这些河流都显得很小,因为在这些地区堆积土壤的河流中,没有哪一条河流的流量值得与尼罗河的一个河口相比,尼罗河有五个河口。[15][{pentastomou}:一些不太好的MSS。有 {eptastomou},“有七个嘴。”] 此外,还有其他河流,尽管其规模根本不及尼罗河,但也创造了伟大的业绩。其中我可以提到几个名字,特别是阿契鲁斯河,它流经阿卡纳尼亚并流入大海,已经使一半的埃奇那德斯河从岛屿流入大陆。

11. 现在,在离埃及不远的阿拉伯地区,有一个海湾,从所谓的厄立特里亚海流出来,又长又窄,正如我将要讲述的那样。就航程而言,从最里面出发,驶入公海,需要划桨四十天;[16][参见 i 上的注释。 203.] 就宽度而言,海湾最宽的地方,需要半天的航程才能过去;而且那里每天都有潮起潮落。我想埃及就是这样的另一个海湾,一个从北海流向埃塞俄比亚,另一个是我即将谈到的阿拉伯海湾,[17][{ton erkhomai lexon}:这些词被许多编辑标记为虚假的,而且它们在这里似乎不合适。] 海湾从南方向叙利亚延伸,海湾向内延伸,几乎在其两端交汇,彼此擦肩而过,之间只留下一小段空间。如果尼罗河的水流转向阿拉伯海湾,那么在两万年的时间内,什么会阻止该海湾在河流继续流动时被淤泥填满呢?事实上,就我而言,我认为即使在一万年内它也会被填满。那么,如何在[18][{kou ge de}:“那么哪里的鸿沟不可以填平呢?”] 在我诞生之前已经过去了这么久,即使是比这个大得多的海湾,难道不应该被一条如此伟大和如此活跃的河流填满吗?

12. 至于埃及,我既相信那些说事情是这样的人,我自己也强烈认为事情确实如此。因为我观察到埃及比邻近的陆地更延伸到海里,在它的山上发现了贝壳,地表上形成了盐花,以至于连金字塔都被它吞噬了,此外,在埃及所有的山脉中,孟菲斯上方的山脉是唯一有沙子的山脉:除此之外,我注意到埃及既不像与其接壤的阿拉伯土地,也不像利比亚,也不像叙利亚(因为他们是居住在阿拉伯半岛沿海地区的叙利亚人),但那里的土壤是黑色的,很容易破碎,[19][{katarregnumenen}:一些编辑从许多MSS给出的{katerregnumenen}中读取了{katerregmenen}(“被裂缝打破”)。] 事实上,它是从埃塞俄比亚沿河带来的泥土和淤泥:但我们知道,利比亚的土壤颜色呈红色,而且相当沙质,而阿拉伯和叙利亚的土壤则有些粘土和岩石。 [1901][或者可能是“下面有岩石”,在这种情况下,{upopsammoteren} 可能意味着“下面有沙子。”]

13. 祭司们还向我提供了有关这片土地的有力证据,如下:在莫里斯国王统治时期,每当河流达到至少八肘的高度时,[20][我们不知道这些测量值是采用较大的埃及腕尺 21 英寸还是较小的(等于普通希腊腕尺)18 英寸,cp。我。 178.] 它浇灌了孟菲斯以下的埃及;当我从祭司那里听到这些事情时,莫里斯死后还不到九百年:然而,现在除非河水上涨到十六肘,或者至少十五肘,否则它不会流过这片土地。我还认为,那些居住在莫里斯湖下方的埃及人,特别是在那个被称为三角洲的地区,如果那片土地继续按照这个比例增加高度,并以类似的程度增加,[21][{kai to omoion apodido es auxesin},“并在增加程度方面产生类似的回报。” (伍兹先生);但该子句可能只是前一个子句的重复。] 尼罗河不会漫过他们的土地,他们将在剩下的时间里遭受苦难,就像他们自己说的那样,希腊人有时也会遭受苦难:因为听说希腊人的整个土地都下雨,而且没有像他们的土地那样被河流浇灌也就是说,他们说希腊人有时会因伟大的希望而失望,并会遭受饥荒的痛苦。这句话的意思是如果神[22][即宙斯。] 如果不给他们降雨,而让干旱长期存在,希腊人就会被饥饿消灭;因为除了宙斯之外,事实上他们没有其他水源可以拯救他们。

14. 埃及人对希腊人的说法是正确的:但现在让我谈谈埃及人自己的情况如何。如果按照我之前所说,孟菲斯以下的土地(因为这是正在增加的土地)的高度将继续按照与过去相同的比例增加,那么居住在这里的埃及人肯定会遭受饥荒,如果他们的土地不会下雨,河流也不会淹没他们的田地。然而,可以肯定的是,现在他们从地里采集果实的劳动比任何其他人都少,也比其他埃及人少。因为他们不需要犁地、锄地或任何其他人为庄稼所做的劳动。但是,当河水自行上涨,浇灌了他们的田地,而当水又离开他们之后,每个人就在自己的田地里播种,并将其变成猪,当他通过猪将种子踩入地里时,然后他就等待收割;当他用猪打谷时,他就把它收起来。

15. 如果我们想遵循爱奥尼亚人对埃及的看法,他们说只有三角洲才是埃及,认为它的海岸是从珀尔修斯的瞭望塔到佩卢西翁的腌鱼屋,四十的距离 舒伊讷,并计算它向内陆延伸,直到凯尔卡索罗斯市,尼罗河在那里分流并流向佩卢西翁和卡诺博斯,而至于埃及的其他地区,他们将其部分分配给利比亚,部分分配给阿拉伯,如果我说,我们应该按照这个说法,从而宣布,从前埃及人没有土地可以居住;因为,正如我们所看到的,他们的三角洲无论如何都是冲积物,而且是最近才出现的(可以这么说),正如埃及人自己所说的和我的观点一样。如果一开始没有土地可供他们居住,他们为什么要浪费自己的劳动来证明他们比所有其他人都早出现呢?他们不需要对孩子们进行试验,看看他们首先会说哪种语言。然而,我并不认为埃及人与爱奥尼亚人所说的三角洲同时出现,而是认为自从人类诞生以来,他们就一直存在,并且随着他们的土地向前推进,许多人他们中的一些人被留在了最初的住所,许多人逐渐下到了较低的地方。至少可以肯定的是,在古代底比斯有埃及的名字,而这个名字[23][即底比斯地区,Thebaïs。] 周长为六千一百二十弗隆。

16. 如果我们对这些事情的判断是正确的,那么爱奥尼亚人对埃及的看法就不正确:但如果爱奥尼亚人的判断是正确的,我宣布希腊人和爱奥尼亚人自己都不知道如何计算,因为他们说:整个地球由三个部分组成:欧洲、亚洲和利比亚:除此之外还应该算上埃及三角洲,因为它既不属于亚洲,也不属于利比亚;因为至少按照这种计算,它不可能是尼罗河将亚洲与利比亚分开,[24][{te Libu}。] 但是尼罗河在这个三角洲的地方裂开了,以便绕着它流动,结果是这片土地位于亚洲和利比亚之间。[25]【意思似乎是这样的:“爱奥尼亚人说埃及是三角洲,同时他们把世界分为三部分,欧洲、亚洲和利比亚,后两部分被尼罗河分开。因此,他们完全排除了埃及;他们要么必须将三角洲添加为世界的第四部分,要么必须放弃尼罗河作为边界。如果埃及这个名字像其他希腊人一样延伸到尼罗河上游,那么就可以保留尼罗河作为边界,说埃及的一半属于亚洲,一半属于利比亚,并且不考虑三角洲(第 17 章)。这也是一个计算错误,但比把埃及一起忽略掉要轻一些。”推理是晦涩难懂的,因为它暗示了(赫卡泰奥斯和其他作家的)理论,而这些理论被认为是读者已经知道的。]

17. 那么我们驳回爱奥尼亚人的意见,并在这件事上表达我们自己的判断,埃及是埃及人居住的所有土地,就像基利基亚是基利基亚人居住的地方,亚述是亚述人居住的地方一样。居住着亚述人,除了埃及的边界外,我们不知道亚洲和利比亚之间没有任何边界。然而,如果我们采用希腊人普遍持有的观点,我们就会假设整个埃及,从大瀑布开始[26][{Katadoupon},即第一次白内障。] 象城被分为两部分,因此它具有两个名称,因为一侧属于利比亚,另一侧属于亚洲;因为尼罗河从大瀑布开始流向大海,将埃及中部切断。尼罗河一直流到克尔卡索罗斯城,仍汇成一股,但从这座城市开始,尼罗河分成三路;其中一个被称为佩卢西亚口,转向东方。第二条路通向西方,称为卡诺比克河口。但其中一条笔直的道路是这样的——当河流向下流到三角洲的地方时,它就会从中间切开三角洲,然后流入大海。在这方面我们有[27][“它给了我们这里,等等。” ({parekhomenos})。] 河水的一部分,既不是最小的,也不是最不知名的,它被称为塞本尼提克河口。还有另外两个河口从塞本尼提克河口分流入海,一个被称为赛伊克河口,另一个被称为门德斯河口。另一方面,波尔比特河口和田园河口则不是天然的,而是通过挖掘而形成的。

18.此外,阿蒙神谕的回答也证明了我的观点,即埃及属于我所声明的范围。在我对埃及形成了自己的看法之后,我听到了这个答案。对于那些居住在与利比亚接壤的埃及地区的马里亚市和阿皮斯市的人来说,他们自己认为自己是利比亚人而不是埃及人,并且还受到宗教仪式规则的负担,因为他们不想这样做被禁止使用牛的肉,并被派往阿蒙人,说他们与埃及人没有任何共同之处,因为他们居住在三角洲之外,并且在任何方面都与埃及人没有共同之处;他们说,他们希望他们可以合法地不加区别地吃一切东西。然而神不允许他们这样做,而是说那片土地是埃及,尼罗河经过并浇灌,居住在象城下面的埃及人喝的是那条河。因此,甲骨文对此的回答是:

19、尼罗河洪水泛滥时,不仅流过三角洲,而且流过利比亚和阿拉伯的土地,有时两岸的行程长达两天,有时甚至会流过利比亚和阿拉伯的土地。比这个多,有时比这个少。

至于尼罗河的性质,无论是从祭司还是从任何其他人那里,我都无法获得任何知识:我特别想向他们了解这些问题,即为什么尼罗河的水量从河水流下时不断增加。夏至以后百日,到了这日数,又折返,不流了,所以整个冬季,水一直很低,一直到夏至回来。 。当我向埃及人询问尼罗河具有与其他河流相反的性质时,我无法从埃及人那里得到任何关于这些事情的描述。我进行了询问,想要知道我所说的这一点,以及为什么与所有其他河流不同,它不会产生任何微风。

20. 然而,一些希望获得聪明才智的希腊人以三种不同的方式描述了这种水:我认为其中两种方式甚至不值得一提,除非只是为了表明它们的性质;另一种方式是为了说明它们的性质。其中有人说,埃特西亚风是导致尼罗河水位上涨的原因,它阻止了尼罗河流入大海。但埃特西亚风经常失效,但尼罗河却像往常一样发挥着同样的作用。此外,如果这些是原因,那么所有其他流向与埃特西亚风相反的河流也应该受到与尼罗河相同的影响,甚至更多,因为它们较小且存在但这些河流在叙利亚有很多,在利比亚也有很多,它们没有像尼罗河那样受到影响。

21.第二种方式比前面提到的方式更显示出无知,而且说起来更奇妙。[28][{标志 de eipein Thoumasiotere}。或者也许,“可以说,这更奇妙。”] 因为它说河流产生这些影响是因为它来自海洋,而海洋绕着整个地球流动。

22. 第三种方法是最似是而非的,但它也是所有方法中最错误的:因为事实上,这种方法并不比其他方法更真实,声称尼罗河是从融化的雪中流淌出来的。而它则从利比亚流经埃塞俄比亚人,然后流入埃及。那么,当雪从最热的部分流向较冷的部分时,它应该如何从雪中流动呢?事实上,大多数事实都足以让一个人(至少是一个能够推理此类问题的人)相信,它根本不可能是从雪中流出来的。[29][{ton ta polla esti andri ke ktl} 我用 {ton} 来指代国家的性质,如上所述;但 {os} 的使用很难并行,并且该段落可能需要更正。一些编辑读到{ton tekmeria polla esti ktl}“其中有很多证据可以证明,等等。”斯坦因省略了 {ton} 并更改了标点符号,以便从句这样运行:“当它从最热的部分流向大多数较冷的部分时?对于一个能够推理此类问题的人来说,第一个也是最有力的证据可以证明它不可能从雪中流出来,而是由风提供的,等等。”] 第一个也是最有力的证据是从这些地区吹来的热风。二是土地常年不下雨,不结霜,而下雪后,五天内必然下雨,所以那些地方下雪了,那里就会下雨。第三个证据是居住在那里的人提供的,他们因炎热而呈黑色。此外,风筝和燕子终年留在那里,不离开这片土地。斯基泰地区寒冷的天气使鹤飞来,定期到这些地方过冬:如果那时尼罗河流经、发源的那片土地降雪那么少,那么这些事情都不会发生。将会发生,因为必要性迫使我们承认。

23.至于那个谈论海洋的人,他把他的故事带到了未知的领域,所以他不需要被反驳;[30][{ouk ekhei elegkhon},“无法反驳”(因为我们无法与他争论),cp。 Thuc。三. 53、{ta de pseude elegkhon ekhei}。有些翻译为“不能证明他的情况。”] 因为就我而言,不存在海洋河流,但我认为荷马或他之前的一位诗人发明了这个名字并将其引入他的诗句中。

24. 然而,如果在我对所提出的意见提出错误后,我必须对有疑问的事项发表我自己的意见,我将说出我认为尼罗河在夏季上涨的原因。在冬季,太阳被赶离了他原来穿过天堂的道路[31][{tes arkhaies diexodou},“他原来的(正常)路线。”] 乘着暴风雨,来到了利比亚的上部地区。如果有人想以最简短的方式阐述这一问题,那么现在一切都已经说完了。因为无论这位神最接近并站在其正上方的任何地区,都可以合理地认为该地区最缺水,其本土河流也最干涸。

25. 然而,更详细地说,情况是这样的:——太阳在其运行过程中经过利比亚的上部地区时,就是这样,也就是说,因为这些地区的空气在任何时候都是清澈透明的。这个国家很温暖,因为没有寒风,[32][{ouk eonton anemon psukhron}:最好的 MSS。斯坦因保留了{kai anemon psukhron}(“并且有冷风”),解释说寒冷的北风会促进蒸发。] 太阳穿过它的时候,就像夏天穿过天空时惯常做的那样,它把水吸引到自己身边,然后把水驱赶到天空的上部。乡村,风把它卷起来,分散到各处,融化成雨;因此,从该地区吹来的风,即南风和西南风,自然是所有风中降雨最多的。然而,我认为太阳并没有把每年尼罗河的所有水都送走,但他也让一些水留在了自己身边。然后,当冬天变得温和时,太阳又回到天空的中央,从那时起,他平等地从所有河流汲取水;但与此同时,它们的流量很大,因为大量的雨水与它们混合在一起,因为那时他们的国家接受了雨水,充满了急流。然而到了夏天,它们就很弱了,因为那时不仅没有阵雨,而且它们还被太阳吸引。然而,尼罗河是所有河流中唯一的一个,由于没有雨水并且受到太阳的吸引,在冬季的这个时候自然流量远低于其正常流量,即比夏季少得多。[33][{autos eoutou peei pollo upodeesteros e tou thereos}.] 因为那时它与所有其他水域一样受到平等的吸引,但在冬天它独自承受着负担。因此我认为太阳是这些事情的原因。

26. 在我看来,他也是这些地区空气干燥的原因,因为他通过烧焦他在天堂的路径而造成了这种情况:[34][{diakaion ten diexodon auto},即{to reri}。一些编辑阅读 {autou} (MSS 较差。)或将该词更改为 {eoutou}。] 因此,利比亚的上部地区总是盛行夏季。然而,如果季节的位置发生了变化,现在天空中北风和冬天的位置,就有了南风和正午的位置,现在南风所在的位置,就有了北方,如果是这样的话,太阳被冬天从天空中驱走,北风就会去欧洲的上部地区,就像现在他来到利比亚的上部地区一样,经过他的当然,在整个欧洲,我想他也会像现在在尼罗河上所做的那样对待伊斯特河。

27. 至于微风,为什么没有从河里吹来,我的观点是,从非常热的地方吹来任何东西都是不自然的,而微风通常是从寒冷的地方吹来的。

28. 那么就让这些事情保持原样吧,就像它们一开始的样子一样:但是至于尼罗河的源头,没有一个来与我交谈的埃及人、利比亚人或希腊人声称自己是尼罗河的源头。除了埃及萨伊斯城雅典娜神圣宝库的抄写员之外,她什么都不知道。然而,在我看来,当这个人说他对此有一定的了解时,他似乎并没有认真地说;他说,有两座山,山顶很尖,位于底比斯地区的塞耶尼城和埃勒芬蒂尼之间,这两座山的名字是:一个是 Crophi,另一个是 Mophi。他说,从这两座山的中间流淌着深不可测的尼罗河源头,一半的水流向埃及,流向北风,另一半流向埃塞俄比亚,流向南风。至于渊源之深不可测,他说埃及王普萨美提科斯曾对此事进行过审判;因为他有一根缠绕了数千英寻的绳子,把它放在这个地方,却找不到底部。抄写员(如果他告诉我的确实如他所说)让我明白了[35][“据我所知,阐述。”] 那里有一定的强烈漩涡和倒流,而且由于水冲向山脉,因此当放下时,测深线无法到达任何底部。

29. 我无法从其他人那里了解到有关此事的任何信息;但对于其余的事情,我通过最勤奋的探究学到了很多东西。[36][{epi makrotaton},“尽可能进行调查”,cp。 ch. 34.] 因为我亲自作为目击者到达了象城,从那时起,我通过报告收集了知识。从象城(Elephantine)沿河而上,是一片陡峭的乡村。因此,在这里,人们必须像拴牛一样,在船的两侧系上绳索,然后才能前进。如果绳子断了,船就会立刻被水流冲走。穿越这个国家的航程大约需要四天的时间,在这一段尼罗河像迈安德河一样蜿蜒,距离长达十二天 舒伊讷,必须以这种方式遍历。然后您将来到一片平坦的平原,尼罗河在平原上流过一座名叫塔乔普索的岛屿。 (现在,在象岛以上的地区居住着埃塞俄比亚人,他们也占领了该岛的一半,[37][我毫不怀疑这指的是象岛;因为只有在这一点上才会发现这样的种族混合体。对此,作者在括号中回顾了这一点,然后继续叙述从塔乔普索向上的旅程。斯特拉博对象岛上方的菲莱岛也说了同样的事情,这一事​​实证实了这一观点。] 另一半是埃及人。)毗邻这个岛有一个大湖,周围居住着埃塞俄比亚游牧部落。当您航行穿过此地时,您将再次来到流入这个湖的尼罗河。此后,您将下船并进行四十天的陆路旅行;因为尼罗河里尖锐的岩石突出在水面上,而且有许多暗礁,船只无法通过。然后,在我所说的四十天内经过这个国家之后,你将再次乘另一艘船航行十二天。之后,您将到达一座伟大的城市,名叫麦罗埃。据说这座城市是所有其他埃塞俄比亚人的母城:居住在其中的人们只崇敬宙斯神和狄俄尼索斯神,他们非常尊敬这些神。他们设立了宙斯的神谕,每当这位神通过预言命令他们时,他们就会进行战争行军,前往他命令的任何地方。

30. 从这座城​​市出发,您将在另一个时间段内到达“逃兵”,这段时间与您从大象来到埃塞俄比亚人的母城的时间相同。现在这些“逃兵”的名字是 阿斯马赫,这个词翻译成希腊人的语言时,意思是“那些站在国王左边的人”。这些是二十四万埃及武士阶级,他们起义并投奔埃塞俄比亚人,原因如下:——在普萨美提科斯统治时期,驻军驻扎在象城,一支针对埃塞俄比亚人,另一支针对阿拉伯人。甚至在我的时代,波斯人的驻军也按照与萨美提科斯统治时期相同的方式进行指挥,因为无论是在大象还是在达夫奈,波斯人都在有前哨基地。当时我所说的埃及人作为前哨站已经三年了,没有人解除他们的戒备。因此,他们共同商议,并通过了一项共同计划,他们齐心协力反抗普萨梅蒂科斯,前往埃塞俄比亚。听到这个消息,普萨美提科斯出发去追击,当他追上他们时,他恳求他们,并尽力劝说他们不要抛弃他们国家的神以及他们的孩子和妻子:据说,其中一个人指着他的枢密院议员说,无论在哪里,他们都会有孩子和妻子。当他们到达埃塞俄比亚时,他们向埃塞俄比亚人的国王投降。他奖励他们如下:——有些埃塞俄比亚人与他不和;他命令他们把这些人赶出去,住在他们的土地上。因此,自从这些人在埃塞俄比亚人的土地上定居以来,埃塞俄比亚人通过学习埃及人的习俗而变得更加温和。

31. 那么,除了在埃及的那段河道外,尼罗河通过河流和陆地的旅程最长为四个月:因为这是通过计算发现从埃及出发所花费的月数。对于这些“逃兵”来说,大象是大象:河流从西方和日落时流淌。但接下来会发生什么,没人能说得清楚;因为这片土地因炎热而变成沙漠。

32. 然而,我从凯里奈人那里听到了这么多,他们告诉我,他们去过阿蒙神谕,并与阿蒙人的国王埃特阿科斯交谈:碰巧在谈到其他事情后,他们开始交谈关于尼罗河以及如何没有人知道它的源头;埃特阿科斯说,有一次,纳萨莫尼亚人来到他这里(这是一个居住在锡尔蒂斯河的利比亚人种,也居住在锡尔蒂斯河东边不远处的土地上),当纳萨莫尼亚人到来时,当他问他们是否能告诉他关于利比亚沙漠地区的一些超出他所知的事情时,他们说他们中间有一些首领的儿子,性情不羁。这些人长大后设计了各种其他奢侈的东西,他们还抽签告诉自己的五个人去看看利比亚的沙漠地区,看看他们是否能比那些以前探索得最远的人发现更多的东西。 :因为在利比亚北海沿岸的那些地区,从埃及开始,一直到利比亚的极点索洛伊斯海角,利比亚人(以及他们中的许多种族)沿着整个海岸延伸,除了正如希腊人和腓尼基人所持有的那样;但在利比亚的上部地区,即海岸上方和那些陆地延伸至大海的人们的上方,却充满了野兽。野兽之地的上方,全是沙子,极其缺水,完全是沙漠。然后,这些年轻人(他们说)在他们的同伴的带领下出发,带着充足的水和食物,首先经过了有人居住的地区,经过这里之后,他们来到了野兽的国家,然后他们穿过沙漠,向着西风行进;他们走过一大片沙地很多天,终于看到平坦的地方长出了树木。走到他们跟前,他们开始摘树上的果子。但是当他们开始摘果子时,有一些小个子男人向他们走来,他们的身材比普通人要矮,这些人抓住了他们并把他们抓了起来。把他们带走了;纳萨蒙尼亚人既听不懂他们的语言,那些带走他们的人也听不懂纳萨蒙尼亚人的语言:他们带领他们(据说)穿过非常大的沼泽,穿过这些沼泽后,他们来到了这座城市里所有的人都和那些把他们抓走的人一样高大,肤色都是黑色的;城边有一条大河,从西边流向日出的地方,河里有鳄鱼。

33. 关于阿蒙人埃特阿科斯的叙述,这里所说的就足够了,除了凯里奈人告诉我的那样,他声称纳萨蒙人安全返回家园,而他们所到之处的人都是巫师。现在,这条流经城市的河流,埃特阿科斯推测是尼罗河,而且理性迫使我们这么认为;因为尼罗河从利比亚流出,从中间穿过利比亚,据我推测,根据所见所闻所未知的内容来判断,尼罗河的起点距河口的距离等于伊斯特河的距离:伊斯特河发源于凯尔托伊河和比利牛斯城,它的流淌将欧洲从中间一分为二(现在凯尔托伊人位于赫拉克勒斯之柱之外,与凯恩斯人接壤,而凯恩斯人是居住在距离日落最远的人中)居住在欧洲);伊斯特河流经整个欧洲,在米利都人定居伊斯特拉的地方流入黑海。

34. 现在,伊斯特河由于流经有人居住的土地,因此被许多人报道为人所知。但关于尼罗河的源头,没有人能给出解释,因为尼罗河流经的利比亚地区无人居住,一片沙漠。然而,关于它的过程,只要通过最勤奋的探究就可以了解到的,已经被告知了。它流向埃及。现在埃及几乎与基利基亚山区相对。从那里到黑海沿岸的锡诺普,对于一个没有任何负担的人来说,沿着同一条直线需要五天的路程。 [3701][Cp。我。 72,注86。] 锡诺普与伊斯特河入海处相对,因此我认为尼罗河穿过整个利比亚,与伊斯特河的长度相等。

关于尼罗河,我们已经说过了,就足够了。

35. 然而,关于埃及,我将详细地报告,因为它比其他任何地方都拥有更多的奇观,而且它必须展示与任何地方一样多的东西,这是无法形容的伟大:因此,更多的将是就此事而言。

埃及人与他们与众不同的气候以及与其他河流不同的河流相适应,在几乎所有事情上都以与其他人相反的方式为自己建立了风俗习惯:因为在他们中间妇女经常出入市场并从事贸易,而男子则留在家里编织;其他人编织时把纬线向上推,而埃及人则把纬线向下推:男人把重担扛在头上,女人扛在肩上:女人站着取水,男人蹲下:他们在屋子里放松,他们她们在街上不吃饭,声称这样做的理由是,秘密做一些不体面但必要的事情是正确的,但那些在公共场合并不不体面的事情是正确的:没有女人是男性或女性神性的牧师,但男人最重要的是,无论是男性还是女性:为了赡养父母,儿子们决不会被强迫,如果他们不愿意的话,但女儿们则被迫这样做,即使她们不愿意。

36. 在其他国家,神的祭司留着长发,但在埃及,他们剃光头:其他人的习俗是,在哀悼与此事最密切相关的人时,他们的头发被剪短,但埃及人,当死亡时发生了,让他们的头发长长,无论是头上的还是下巴上的,以前都剃得很短:其他人的日常生活与牲畜分开,但埃及人的生活与牲畜在一起:其他人以小麦和牲畜为生。大麦,但对于任何一个以这些为生的埃及人来说,这是极大的羞辱。他们用玉米做面包,[38][{橄榄树}。] 有些人称之为拼写;[39][{泽亚斯}。] 他们用脚揉面团,用手揉泥,还用它们收集粪便。除了那些从埃及人那里学到的人以外,其他人的肢体都是自然形成的,而埃及人则实行割礼:男人每人穿两件,女人只穿一件:其他人在船外将帆的环和绳子系紧,而埃及人在船内这样做:最后是书写字符和用卵石计算,而希腊人则携带手从左到右,埃及人是从右到左。他们说,他们自己是向右写的,而希腊人是向左写的:他们使用两种字符来书写,其中一种被称为神圣字符,另一种被称为普通字符。[40][即僧侣字符和通俗字符。]

37.他们比所有其他人都更加虔诚,对此他们有如下习俗:他们每天用青铜杯喝水并冲洗它们,不仅有些人这样做,而且所有人都这样做:他们穿着亚麻衣服总是新洗过的,他们有一个特殊的做法:他们为了清洁而割礼,宁愿干净,也不愿漂亮。祭司们每隔一天刮一次全身的毛发,这样在侍奉神灵时就不会沾染虱子或任何其他污秽的东西。祭司只穿亚麻布的衣服和纸莎草鞋,以及他们不能穿的任何其他衣服或其他凉鞋。它们白天用冷水洗两次,晚上又洗两次。以及他们进行的(几乎可以说)无数的其他宗教仪式。[41][{murias,os eipein 徽标}。] 他们也享受不少好东西,因为他们不消耗或花费任何自己的物质,但有为他们烤的神圣面包,他们每天都有大量的牛和鹅的肉进入他们身边,并且又赐葡萄酒给他们;但埃及人不许尝鱼的味道。此外,埃及人在他们的土地上根本不播种豆类,对于长出的豆类,他们既不生吃,也不煮煮。不仅如此,祭司们连看他们一眼都不敢看,认为这是一种不洁的脉冲:每个神祇都不是只有一位祭司,而是有许多神,其中有一位是首席祭司,每当一位祭司去世后,他的儿子被任命接替他的位置。

38. 他们认为公牛属于以帕福,并为他以下列方式测试它们:——如果祭司看到牛身上有一根黑毛,他就认为它不干净,不能用于献祭;一位为此目的被指定的祭司要检查这些事情,无论是兽直立还是仰卧,并伸出舌头,看看它在指定的方面是否洁净。我将在历史的另一部分讲述这些迹象:[42][显然指的是iii。 28,其中给出了蜜蜂的标记。也许任何带有这些标记的动物都不能被牺牲。] 他还检查尾巴的毛发,看看它们是否以自然方式生长:如果所有这些方面都干净,他用一张纸莎草纸在上面做标记,将纸莎草纸卷在角上,然后当他在上面涂上密封土后,他在上面盖上了印章戒指的印章,然后他们就把动物带走了。但对于献祭未封印的野兽的人来说,所指定的惩罚就是死亡。

39. 这样,野兽就受到了考验。他们指定的献祭方式如下:——他们把封印的兽带到他们要献祭的祭坛上,然后点燃火:之后,把奠酒倒在祭坛上,让它流到受害者身上他们向神祈求后,割断了它的喉咙,割断了它的喉咙后,他们将头与身体分开。他们剥去野兽的身体,但剥去头部[43][{kephale keine},“那个头”,cp。 {koilien keinen} 在下一章。] 他们首先发出许多咒语,然后那些拥有市场和在他们中间寄居进行贸易的希腊人的人,这些人将其带到市场上出售,而其中没有希腊人的人则将其扔进河里:这这是他们对头颅发出的诅咒,祈祷如果有任何邪恶降临到献祭的人身上,或者整个埃及的土地上,那么它可能会降临到这个头上。至于所献的兽头和在其上浇酒,所有埃及人对他们所有的祭物都有同样的习俗;由于这个习俗,埃及人不吃这种动物的头或任何其他动物的头:

40 但是,对于不同的祭物,剖腹和焚烧的方式是不同的。然而,我要谈论的是对他们认为最伟大的女神的祭祀,他们为她庆祝最盛大的盛宴。——当他们剥了公牛的皮并咒骂时,他们取出了整个下层内脏,但留下了体内的上内脏和脂肪;他们从它身上切下腿、腰部、肩膀和脖子:完成后,他们用神圣的东西填充动物身体的其余部分[44][{卡塔隆}。] 面包、蜂蜜、葡萄干、无花果、乳香、没药和其他各种香料,他们把这些装满,浇上大量的油,供上。他们在禁食后献祭,在焚烧祭品的同时,大家都捶打自己以表示哀悼,当他们捶打完毕后,他们就把未烧掉的祭品摆上筵席。

41. 所有埃及人都将洁净的公牛、成年的牲畜和牛犊作为祭品。然而,女性可能不会牺牲,但这些对伊希斯来说是神圣的;因为伊希斯的形象是一个长着牛角的女人,就像希腊人在图画中描绘的伊俄一样,所有埃及人都毫无区别地尊敬牛,远胜于其他任何种类的牛。因此,埃及人种的男人和女人都不会亲吻希腊人的嘴,也不会使用希腊人的刀、烤肉叉或大锅,甚至不会品尝干净动物的肉。如果它是用希腊人的刀切的。他们以下列方式埋葬这种死去的牛:——将母牛扔进河里,但将公牛埋葬,每个人都在自己城镇的郊区,其中一只角突出,有时两只角都突出。标记该地点;当尸体腐烂并且指定的时间到来时,就会有一艘船到达每个城市[45][{巴里斯},cp。 ch. 96.] 来自被称为普罗索皮蒂斯岛的岛屿(位于三角洲,其环路范围为九 舒伊讷)。在这个普罗索皮蒂斯岛上,除了许多其他城市外,还有一座船只从那里来取牛骨的城市,这座城市的名字叫阿塔贝奇斯,岛上建有一座阿佛洛狄忒圣殿。 。许多人从这座城市到国外,有的到一城,有的到另一城,挖出牛骨后,把它们运走,聚集在一起,埋在一处。他们以与埋葬牛相同的方式,在其他牛死后也埋葬它们。因为对于他们,他们也制定了同样的法律,他们也禁止杀害这些人。

42.现在,所有为底比斯宙斯建立神庙的人,或者底比斯地区的人,我说,这些人都祭祀山羊并戒除绵羊:因为并非所有埃及人都平等地崇拜同一神,除了伊西斯之外和奥西里斯(他们说他是狄俄尼索斯),他们都同样尊敬:但是那些拥有门德斯神庙或属于门德斯地区的人,这些人不吃山羊并以绵羊为祭品。底比斯人以及那些效仿他们而戒除羊的人说,他们之所以制定这一习俗,原因如下:——赫拉克勒斯(他们说)热切地希望见到宙斯,而宙斯并不想成为见过他;最后,当赫拉克勒斯急切地恳求宙斯时,他想出了这个办法,也就是说,他剥了一只公羊的皮,把砍下的公羊头放在自己面前,然后把羊毛披在它身上,然后向他展示了自己。因此,埃及人将宙斯的形象塑造成公羊的脸。阿蒙人也是效仿他们的榜样,他们是埃及人和埃塞俄比亚人的定居者,使用的是两种语言的混合语言:在我看来,阿蒙人正是从这位神那里得到了他们的名字。有,因为埃及人称宙斯 阿蒙。因此,底比斯人并不献祭公羊,而是将它们视为神圣的。然而,在一年中的某一天,在宙斯的盛宴上,他们以同样的方式切开一只公羊,剥去一只公羊的皮,用它的皮覆盖宙斯的图像,然后他们将另一幅赫拉克勒斯的图像带到它面前。完成后,圣殿里的所有人都为这只公羊捶胸哀哭,然后将它埋在一个神圣的坟墓里。

43. 关于赫拉克勒斯,我听说过他是十二神之一。但是,我在埃及的任何地方都听不到希腊人所认识的其他赫拉克勒斯的名字:此外,为了证明埃及人并没有从希腊人那里得到赫拉克勒斯的名字,而是从埃及人那里得到了希腊人的名字,也就是说说到那些给安菲特律翁的儿子起名叫赫拉克勒斯的希腊人,我要说的是,除了许多其他证据外,最主要的是这个赫拉克勒斯的父母,安菲特律翁和阿尔克墨涅,都是埃及人。血统,[46][或者,“艾吉普托斯的后裔。”] 埃及人还说他们不知道波塞冬或迪奥斯库罗伊的名字,他们也没有将这些名字视为其他神祇中的神。然而,如果他们从希腊人那里得到了任何神的名字,他们自然会保留这些神的记忆,假设在那个时代和现在一样,一些希腊人习惯于航行 [4601][或者,“假设当时和现在一样,他们习惯于航行,并且一些希腊人是航海民族。”] 正如我所猜想和我的判断迫使我思考的那样,他们都是航海民族;因此,埃及人对这些神的名字的了解甚至比对赫拉克勒斯的名字还要多。然而事实上,赫拉克勒斯是一位非常古老的埃及神。 (正如他们自己所说)从十二神(他们认为赫拉克勒斯是其中之一)由八神所生的那一刻起,到阿马西斯统治开始已有一万七千年了。

44.此外,我还想尽可能地了解一些事情,因此也航行到了腓尼基的提尔,听说那里有一座赫拉克勒斯的圣殿。我看到里面摆满了许多供奉的祭品,特别是里面有两根柱子,[47][{stelai},“直立块。”] 一块是纯金的,另一块是祖母绿宝石的,其尺寸在夜间会闪闪发光:[48][{lampontos tas nuktas megathos}:一些编辑将 {megathos} 更改为 {megalos} 或 {mega phos}。] 与神的祭司们交谈后,我问他们自从建立神庙以来已经有多久了:我发现这些人也与希腊人不一致,因为他们说,在同一时间,当推罗建立了,神的神庙也建立起来,自从他们的人民开始居住在推罗以来,已经有两千三百年的时间了。我还在提尔看到了另一座赫拉克勒斯神庙,姓萨西安。我也来到了萨索斯,在那里我发现了腓尼基人建立的赫拉克勒斯神庙,他们曾出海寻找欧罗巴,并在萨索斯殖民。在安菲特律翁的儿子赫拉克勒斯在希腊出生之前,这些事情已经发生了整整五代人。因此,我的询问清楚地表明,赫拉克勒斯是一位古老的神,而在我看来,那些希腊人的行为最正确,他们建立了两座赫拉克勒斯神庙,并以不朽的神和奥林匹斯的称号来祭祀其中一个,并祭祀死者[49][{enagizousi}。] 将对方视为英雄。

45.此外,除了希腊人未经充分考虑而讲述的许多其他故事外,他们讲述的关于赫拉克勒斯的这个故事尤其愚蠢,即当他来到埃及时,埃及人给他戴上了花圈,并带领他列队游行以牺牲他宙斯;他沉默了一段时间,但当他们开始在祭坛上献祭他时,他大显身手,把他们都杀了。我个人认为,当希腊人讲述这个故事时,他们完全不了解埃及人的性格和习俗。因为即使是除猪以外的动物献祭也是不合法的,他们该怎么办?[50][{uon}:一些编辑根据一位女士的授权阅读了{oion}“羊”。] 公牛、犊(洁净的)、鹅,怎能祭祀人呢?除此之外,赫拉克勒斯作为一个人,而且还是一个人(正如他们所断言的),在本质上怎么可能杀死无数人呢?说了这么多这些事情,我们祈祷我们的演讲能够得到诸神和英雄的恩典。

46. 我提到的埃及人不献祭山羊,无论雌性还是雄性,原因是:——孟德斯派认为潘是八神之一(他们说这八神是在人类出现之前就已经存在的)。十二位神),画家和图像制作者在绘画和雕塑中表现潘的形象,就像希腊人所做的那样,用山羊的脸和腿,并不是假设他真的是这样,而是假设他与其他神相似;但我不想透露他们以这种形式代表他的原因。门德西亚人尊重所有山羊,而且雄性比雌性更甚(牧羊人也比其他牧民享有更大的荣誉),但其中一只山羊尤其受到尊敬,当它去世时,整个门德西亚地区都会陷入极大的哀悼:埃及语中山羊和潘都被称为“山羊”和“潘” 门德斯。而且在我活着的时候,那个地区还发生过这样的奇事,就是一只公山羊公开与一个女人发生性关系,而且这样做的目的是让所有的男人都有证据。

47.埃及人认为猪是一种可憎的动物。首先,如果他们中的任何一个人路过时碰到了一头猪,他就进入河里,立即将自己和衣服一起浸入水中。还有,猪倌虽然是土生土长的埃及人,但与其他人不同,他们不进入埃及的任何寺庙,也没有人愿意将自己的女儿嫁给他们中的任何一个,或从他们中间娶妻。但猪倌们既相互通婚,又相互索取。现在,埃及人认为向其他神祇献祭猪是不对的。但他们只在同一时间和同一满月向月亮和狄俄尼索斯献祭猪,然后吃它们的肉:至于为什么当他们在所有其他节日中厌恶猪时,他们在这,有一个埃及人讲的故事;这个故事我知道,但不适合我讲。现在,向月亮献祭的猪是这样进行的:祭司宰杀牺牲品后,将猪尾端、脾脏和猪膜放在一起,并用猪的全部脂肪覆盖它们。动物的肚子周围,然后他用火提供它们;剩下的肉他们在举行祭祀的满月那天吃,但在这之后的任何一天他们都不会尝到它的味道:然而,他们中的穷人由于财力匮乏而把它们塑造成猪面团烘烤后,他们将这些作为祭品。

48.然后在狄奥尼索斯节前夕,每个人在自己的门前割断一头猪,然后把猪交给卖给他的猪倌,然后再把猪带走;酒神节的其余部分,埃及人庆祝的方式与希腊人的庆祝方式几乎一样,除了合唱舞蹈之外,但不是 阴茎 他们发明了另一种发明,即由绳子制成的高约一肘的人物,妇女们带着它在村庄里走来走去,枢密院成员被迫移动,其尺寸不比身体其他部分小多少:前面有一支笛子他们跟着歌颂狄俄尼索斯。至于为什么人物的这个部件比实际的大并且可以移动,而身体的其他部分却没有移动,对此有一个神圣的故事。

49.现在我认为,阿米忒翁的儿子梅兰普斯并非不知道这些祭祀仪式,而是熟悉它们:因为梅兰普斯是第一个向希腊人介绍狄俄尼索斯之名、祭祀方式和游行的人。的 阴茎。事实上,严格来说,他在宣布这一点时并没有了解全部内容,但在他之后的那些智者却将其更广泛地公开了。那么,梅兰波斯就是教导 阴茎 这是为狄奥尼索斯游行的,希腊人从他那里学会了做他们所做的事情。那么我说,梅兰波斯是一个有能力的人,他为自己发明了一种占卜的艺术,从埃及学到了很多东西,他教导了希腊人许多东西,其中包括那些与狄俄尼索斯有关的东西,对其中的一些要点进行了改变:因为我将不要说埃及人崇拜神的仪式偶然与希腊人崇拜的仪式相同,因为那样的话,这些仪式就符合希腊崇拜的特征,而不是最近才引入的。我也不能肯定地说,埃及人从希腊人那里继承了这一习俗或任何其他习俗:但我认为,最有可能的是,梅兰波斯从提尔人卡德莫斯以及跟随他从腓尼基来到这片土地的人那里得知了有关狄俄尼索斯的事情。我们现在称为维奥蒂亚。

50.此外,命名[51][{ta ounamata},这里的意思是拟人化形式,而不是实际名称。] 几乎所有的神都是从埃及来到希腊的:因为我通过调查发现它来自野蛮人,这是真的,而且我认为它很可能来自埃及,因为,除了波塞冬和迪奥斯库洛伊(根据我之前所说的),还有赫拉、赫斯提亚、忒弥斯、查理特和涅瑞伊德,埃及人一直拥有他们国家中所有其他神的名字。我在这里说的是埃及人自己的想法:但至于他们自称不知道名字的神,我认为这些神是从佩拉斯吉人那里得到的命名,除了波塞冬之外。但关于这位神,希腊人是从利比亚人那里学来的,因为除了利比亚人之外,没有任何民族从一开始就拥有波塞冬的名字,并且一直尊敬这位神。可以补充的是,埃及人也没有崇拜英雄的习俗。

51. 那么,这些仪式以及除我将提到的其他仪式之外,希腊人从埃及人那里采用了这些仪式。但像他们一样,用 阴茎 他们不是从埃及人那里学来的,而是从佩拉斯吉人那里学来的,雅典人首先接受了希腊人的习俗,然后又被其他希腊人接受。因为就在雅典人开始跻身于希腊人之列的时候,佩拉斯吉人成为他们土地上的居民,也正是因为这个原因,他们开始被算作希腊人。萨莫拉克人从佩拉斯吉人那里接受了卡贝罗伊的奥秘,无论谁已经开始了解卡贝罗伊的奥秘,那个人都知道我讲话的含义;因为这些与雅典人同居的佩拉斯吉人在此之前曾居住在萨莫色拉克,萨莫色拉克人从他们那里获得了他们的奥秘。因此,雅典人是第一个用赫尔墨斯的雕像制作赫尔墨斯雕像的希腊人。 阴茎,向 Pelasgians 学习;佩拉斯吉人讲述了一个关于它的神圣故事,这个故事在萨莫特拉克岛的神秘故事中得到了阐述。

52. 佩拉斯吉人以前习惯于在祈祷中向众神献祭,正如我从多多纳听到的那样,但他们没有给他们任何一个头衔或名字,因为他们还没有听到任何消息。 ,但他们从这样的观念中称他们为神({theous}),即他们安排了({thentes})万物,因此分配了一切。后来,过了很长一段时间,他们从埃及得知了众神的名字,除了狄俄尼索斯之外,因为他的名字是他们很久以后才得知的。一段时间后,佩拉斯吉人就这些名字向多多纳的神谕咨询,因为这个预言座位被认为是希腊人中最古老的神谕,而且是当时唯一的一个。因此,当佩拉斯吉人向多多纳的神谕询问他们是否应该采用来自野蛮人的名字时,神谕回答说他们要使用这些名字。从那时起,他们用神的名字进行祭祀,后来希腊人从佩拉斯吉人那里接受了这些神的名字:

53,但是几个神从何而来,或者它们是否从一开始就全部存在,以及它们是什么形式,直到昨天,或者说前天,他们才知道:因为我认为赫西奥德和荷马是比我的时代早四百年,不更早,正是这些人为希腊人制定了神谱,赋予众神的头衔,向他们分配荣誉和艺术,并阐述了他们的形式:但是据说诗人在我看来,在这些人之前确实是在他们之后。其中,第一件事是多多纳的女祭司们所说的,而后面的事情是我本人所说的,即那些与赫西奥德和荷马有关的事情。

54. 关于希腊人和利比亚的神谕,埃及人讲述了以下故事。底比斯宙斯的祭司告诉我,有两名为神庙服务的妇女被腓尼基人从底比斯带走,他们听说其中一名被卖到利比亚,另一名被卖到希腊人。他们说,这些妇女是最早在被命名的国家中建立预言席位的人:当我询问她们从何而来时,她们如此清楚地知道她们所讲述的这个故事,她们回答说,已经进行了大规模的搜索祭司们追捕这些妇女,他们没能找到她们,但后来他们听到了他们讲述的这个关于她们的故事。

55.这是我从底比斯的祭司那里听到的,接下来是女先知们所说的[52][{艾·普拉曼提斯}。] 多多纳.据说有两只黑鸽子从底比斯飞到了埃及,其中一只飞到了利比亚,另一只飞回了他们的土地。后者定居在一棵橡树上[53][{菲根}。]并以人声说话,说有必要在那个地方建立宙斯的预言之座。他们认为那是向他们宣布的众神,并据此制作了一个。他们说,那只飞到利比亚人那里的鸽子吩咐利比亚人制作了一份阿蒙神谕。这也是宙斯的。多多纳的女祭司告诉我这些事情,其中​​最大的名叫普罗梅尼娅,第二个名叫蒂马雷特,最小的名叫尼坎德拉。其他参与圣殿事务的多多纳人也给出了与他们一致的说法。

56. 然而,我对此事有如下看法:——如果腓尼基人确实带走了献身的妇女,并将其中一个卖到利比亚,另一个卖到希腊,我想,在现在称为希腊的国家,这是这个女人以前叫佩拉斯吉亚(Pelasgia),后来被卖到塞斯普罗提安人(Thesprotians)的土地上。然后,作为奴隶,她在一棵真正的橡树下建立了宙斯的圣所。[54][{upo phego pephukuie},即传说中的橡树是一棵真正生长的树,尽管鸽子只是象征性的。] 事实上,作为底比斯宙斯圣殿的侍从,她理应在她所到之处对宙斯产生记忆,这是理所当然的。此后,当她了解希腊语时,她建立了一个神谕,我想她报告说,她的妹妹在利比亚被腓尼基人卖了,而她自己也被卖给了腓尼基人。

57. 此外,我认为这些妇女被多多纳人称为“鸽子”,因为她们是野蛮人,而且在她们看来,她们发出的声音像鸟儿一样。但过了一段时间(他们说)鸽子开始用人的声音说话,也就是当女人开始说话以便他们能够理解的时候;但只要她说的是野蛮人的语言,他们就觉得她发出的声音就像一只鸟:因为如果它真的是一只鸽子,它怎么能用人类的声音说话呢?当他们说鸽子是黑色时,他们表明这个女人是埃及人。埃及的底比斯和多多纳传递神谕的方式也非常相似,而且受害者占卜的方法也来自埃及。

58. 此外,埃及人确实是最先举行庄严集会的人。[55][{panegurias}。] 以及前往寺庙的游行和道路,[56][{prosagogas},带有献祭或介绍人的意思。] 希腊人从他们那里学到了这些,我的证据是,埃及人从很远古时代就开始举行这些庆祝活动,而希腊人则是被引入的[57][{epoiethesan},“首次庆祝。”] 但最近。

59. 埃及人每年举行一次庄严的集会,但经常举行,尤其是以最大的热情和奉献精神[58][所以BR] 阿尔忒弥斯 (Artemis) 前往布巴斯提斯 (Bubastis),伊希斯 (Isis) 前往布西里斯 (Busiris);因为在这个最后提到的城市里有一座非常伟大的伊希斯神庙,而这座城市坐落在埃及三角洲的中部。现在,伊希斯在希腊人得墨忒尔的口中:第三,他们在萨伊斯城为雅典娜举行庄严集会,第四次在赫利奥波利斯为太阳神(赫利俄斯)举行,第五次在布托城为纪念莱托,第六次在阿瑞斯的帕普雷米斯城。

60.现在,当他们来到布巴斯提斯市时,他们做了以下事情:——他们男人和女人一起航行,每条船上都有大量的男女;一些女人用它们拨浪鼓、拨浪鼓,而一些男人则在整个航行过程中吹笛子,其余的,无论男女,都唱歌、拍手;当他们航行时,他们在把船靠岸的路上遇到任何一个城市,有些妇女继续按照我所说的做,其他妇女大声哭泣,嘲笑那个城市的妇女,有些跳舞,有些人站起来,拉起衣服。他们在河岸边的每个城市都这样做;当他们来到布巴斯提斯时,他们会举行庆祝伟大祭祀的节日,在这个节日里消耗的葡萄酒比一年中其他时间都多。他们年复一年地聚集到这个地方(当地人这么说)[59][{sumphoiteousi}。] 乃至七十万 [5901][即700,000。] 男人和女人,除了孩子。

61. 事情就这样完成了;我之前已经告诉过他们如何在布西里斯市庆祝伊希斯节:[60][参见第 40 章。 XNUMX.] 因为,正如我所说,祭祀后,他们都在哀悼之中,无论男女,人数众多。但是,宗教不允许我说他们为谁而打自己:居住在埃及的许多卡里亚人甚至比埃及人自己还这样做,因为他们也用刀割伤自己的额头。由此可见他们是外邦人而不是埃及人。

62. 当他们聚集在萨伊斯城进行祭祀时,在某个夜晚[61][{tesi suchiesi, en tini nukti}:一些 MSS。 Give {en te nukti}:因此,几位编辑读到了 {tes Suchies en te nukti},“在牺牲之夜。”] 他们都在房屋周围的露天点燃了许多灯。现在,灯是盛满盐和油混合的碟子,灯芯自己浮在表面上,整个晚上都在燃烧。这个节日被命名为 利奇诺卡亚 (灯的照明)。此外,那些没有参加这个庄严集会的埃及人也庆祝节日之夜,他们自己也点燃了所有的灯,因此,它们不仅在萨伊斯被点燃,而且在整个埃及都被点燃:至于为什么点燃灯的原因和荣誉被分配给这个夜晚,[62][或者,“为了什么目的,今晚要通过点灯来庄严地举行”(BR),使 {phos kai timen} 成为一个想法。] 关于这一点,有一个神圣的故事。

63. 他们年复一年地去赫利奥波利斯和布托,只做祭祀:但在帕普雷米斯,他们像其他地方一样进行祭祀和崇拜,除此之外,当太阳开始落山时,少数祭司正忙着祭祀神像。为数较多的人手持木棍站在神庙门口,还有千余人持木棍立誓。在与那些相反的身体中:以及在一个覆盖着黄金的木头小神殿中的图像,他们在前一天被带到另一座神圣的建筑。留在神像周围的少数人拉着一辆有四个轮子的马车,车上载着神殿和神殿内的神像,站在门口的其他祭司试图阻止它进入,而那些人则试图阻止它进入。他们发誓要寻求神的帮助并攻击他们,而其他人则保卫自己。[63][{alexomenous}:这是大多数编辑所采用的,是对一些不太好的MSS的阅读。;其余的有{alexomenoi},“打击他们并保卫自己。”] 然后,他们会用棍棒进行一场艰苦的战斗,他们互相敲碎对方的头,我认为许多人甚至因受伤而死;然而埃及人告诉我没有人死亡。这个地方的人们说,他们建立这个庄严的集会是出于以下原因:——他们说,阿瑞斯的母亲曾经住在这座神庙里,阿瑞斯从小就离开了她,长大后来到了这里他想要去看望他的母亲,而他母亲庙里的侍从们以前没有见过他,所以不让他进去,而是把他拒之门外。他从另一个城市带人来帮助他,粗暴地对待寺庙的侍从,然后进去看望他的母亲。因此,他们说,这种互相击打已成为阿瑞斯节日期间纪念他的习俗。

64. 埃及人是第一个将不得在寺庙中与妇女同寝,或在离开妇女后未先沐浴就进入寺庙作为宗教要点的人:因为除了埃及人和希腊人之外,几乎所有其他男人都与妇女同寝在寺庙里,离开妇女后不洗澡就进入寺庙,因为他们认为在这方面男人和野兽没有区别:因为他们说他们看到野兽和各种鸟类在寺庙里结合在一起以及众神的神圣围场;如果这不讨神喜悦,野兽就不会这么做。

65. 因此,这些人为他们所做的事辩护,而这是我所不允许的:但是埃及人在遵守这些规定时过于谨慎,无论是在涉及神圣仪式的其他事项上,还是在以下事项上:——埃及,尽管它与埃及接壤。利比亚, [6301][{eousa e Aiguptos ktl}:MSS。有 {eousa de Aiguptos}:斯坦因读到 {eousa gar Aiguptos}。]野生动物并不多,但它们所拥有的都是神圣的,其中一些与人类生活在一起,另一些则不。但是,如果我要说出于什么原因,如此奉献这些神圣的动物,我就会陷入与诸神的问题有关的话题,而我最不想谈论的话题;我实际上所说的内容稍微涉及到它们,我这么说是因为我受到了必要的限制。关于这些动物,有这样一种习俗:——埃及人指定了男人和女人,分别为每种动物提供食物,他们的职责从父亲到儿子;居住在各个城市的人们向这些动物所发的誓言是这样的,即当他们向动物所属的神许愿时,他们会剃掉孩子的整个或一半或三分之一的头。 ,然后将头发放在银的天平上,无论重量如何,男人都会将其交给饲养动物的人,而她则将同等价值的鱼切碎,并将其作为动物的食物。因此,他们的供养食物已被指定:如果任何人杀死这些动物中的任何一只,如果他自愿这样做,惩罚就是死亡,如果违反他的意愿,则受到祭司所指定的惩罚:但无论是谁杀死朱鹭或鹰的人,无论是自愿的还是违背他的意愿的,都必须死。

66. 与人类生活在一起的动物有很多,如果没有发生在猫身上的事故,数量还会更多。因为当雌性产下幼崽后,它们就不再有去找雄性的习惯,而那些想要与它们结合的雄性却无法做到。为了达到这个目的,它们会想出如下办法——它们要么用武力夺走幼崽,要么秘密地从雌性身上夺走幼崽并杀死它们(但杀死后它们并不吃它们),而雌性则被剥夺了它们的幼崽并渴望更多,因此,请转向雄性,因为它是一种喜欢幼崽的生物。而且,当发生火灾时,猫们就像着了魔一样;[64][{theia pregmata katalambanei tous aielourous},可能只意味着“猫身上发生了奇妙的事情。”] 因为当埃及人每隔一段时间站起来看护猫时,并不注意扑灭火,猫就会从人身上溜走或跳过,跳进火里。当这种情况发生时,埃及人就会陷入极大的哀悼。凡是有猫自然死亡的家庭,所有住在这所房子的人都只剃眉毛,但家里有狗死的人则剃掉全身和头部。

67. 猫死后会被带到布巴斯蒂斯市的神圣建筑,经过防腐处理后被埋葬;但他们把狗埋葬在各自城市的神圣坟墓中。姬蜂的埋葬方式与狗的埋葬方式相同。然而,鼩鼠和鹰却被带到了布托市,朱鹮则被带到了赫尔莫波利斯。[65][{es 'Ermeo polin}。] 熊(不常见)和狼的体型比狐狸大不了多少,它们就埋在被发现的地方。

68. 鳄鱼的本性如下:——在最寒冷的四个月里,这种生物不吃任何东西:她有四只脚,是一种既属于陆地又属于水的动物;因为她在陆地上生产和孵化鸡蛋,白天的大部分时间她都呆在干燥的土地上,但整个晚上都在河里,因为水实际上比晴朗的露天空气和露水更温暖。在我们所了解的所有会死的生物中,这种生物是从最小的开始成长为最大的。因为她产下的蛋并不比鹅大多少,而刚孵出的小蛋与蛋的比例也相当,但随着年龄的增长,他会长到十七肘,有时甚至更大。他有猪一样的眼睛,牙齿又大又像獠牙,与他的身体大小成比例。但与所有其他野兽不同的是,他没有舌头,也不会移动下颌,而是将上颌移向下颌,这一点也与所有其他野兽不同。此外,他还有强大的爪子和背上的鳞片,无法刺穿;他在水里是瞎子,但在空中他的视力却很敏锐。因为他在水里生活,所以他的嘴里就充满了水蛭。所有其他鸟类和野兽都从他身边飞走,而特罗奇洛斯却是一种与他和平相处的生物,因为他从她那里得到了好处。因为鳄鱼从水里来到陆地上,然后张开嘴(他通常对着西风这样做),此时的trochilus进入他的嘴里,吞下水蛭,他受益匪浅。很高兴并且不会伤害trochilus。

69. 现在,对一些埃及人来说,鳄鱼是神圣的动物,对另一些人来说则不然,但他们相反地将它们视为敌人:然而,那些居住在底比斯和莫里斯湖周围的人认为它们是最神圣的,并且这两个民族各自养一只从全部鳄鱼中挑选出来的鳄鱼,经过训练可以驯服,他们把熔石和金制成的挂饰挂在鳄鱼的耳朵上,在前脚上戴上脚镯,并给它们指定的食物。他们死后将他们埋葬在神圣的坟墓中,对他们进行防腐处理:但居住在象城周围的人甚至吃掉他们,并不认为他们是神圣的。它们不被称为鳄鱼,而是 占赛,爱奥尼亚人给它们起了鳄鱼的名字,将它们的形状与出现在他们国家的石墙上的鳄鱼(蜥蜴)进行比较。

70. 捕捉它们的方法有很多种,而且种类繁多:我将描述我认为最值得讲述的内容。一个人把猪背挂在钩子上作为诱饵,把它放入河中央,而他自己在河岸上养了一头小活猪,他把它打了。鳄鱼听到它的叫声,就向声音的方向走去,当它找到猪的背时,就把它吞了下去:然后它们拉扯,当它被拉到陆地上时,猎人首先立即用膏药蒙住它的眼睛。泥,一旦这样做了,他就很容易掌握他,但如果他不这样做,他就会遇到很多麻烦。

71. 河马在帕普雷米斯地区是神圣的,但对于其他埃及人来说,它并不神圣。这就是他所呈现的样子:他有四足,偶蹄如牛,[66][{dikhelon, oplai boos},“他是偶蹄的,他的脚是牛的。”单词 {oplai boos} 被 Stein 标记为虚假。] 扁鼻,鬃如马,齿如獠牙,尾声如马,体大如牛。他的皮非常厚,干燥后可以制成标枪杆。

72. 河里还有水獭,他们认为河是神圣的。对于鱼,他们也尊重被称为“鱼”的东西。 鳞类 为圣,亦鳝;他们说这些是尼罗河的圣物:而鸟类中的狐雁。

73. 还有另一种神圣的鸟,叫做凤凰,除了在绘画中,我自己没有见过它,因为事实上,它很少来到它们身边,正如赫利奥波利斯人所说,每隔五百年;这些人说,当他父亲去世时,他会定期来。如果他像画上的那样,那么他就是这样的大小和性质,也就是说,他的羽毛有些是金色的,有些是红色的,从轮廓和大小上来说,他尽可能地像一只鹰。他们说这只鸟(但我无法相信这个故事)的诡计如下:——他们说,他从阿拉伯出发,将他的父亲带到涂有没药的太阳神庙(赫利俄斯),并将他埋葬在太阳神庙中。太阳;他这样传达他:——他首先用没药制成一个鸡蛋,其大小与他能够携带的一样大,然后他尝试携带它,当他进行了充分的尝试后,他将鸡蛋挖空并放置他的父亲他把鸡蛋挖空,把父亲放进去,然后在里面涂上其他没药,当他的父亲被放在里面时,(他们说)证明鸡蛋的重量与原来一样重。当他把它涂上灰泥后,他把整个东西运到埃及的太阳神庙。因此他们说这只鸟确实如此。

74. 底比斯还有一些圣蛇,对人类没有任何害处,它们体型很小,头顶上长着两个角:它们死后埋葬在宙斯的神庙里,因为对这位神来说他们说他们是神圣的。

75. There is a region moreover in Arabia, situated nearly over against the city of Buto, to which place I came to inquire about the winged serpents: and when I came thither I saw bones of serpents and spines in quantity so great that it is impossible to make report of the number, and there were heaps of spines, some heaps large and others less large and others smaller still than these, and these heaps were many in number. This region in which the spines are scattered upon the ground is of the nature of an entrance from a narrow mountain pass to a great plain, which plain adjoins the plain of Egypt; and the story goes that at the beginning of spring winged serpents from Arabia fly towards Egypt, and the birds called ibises meet them at the entrance to this country and do not suffer the serpents to go by but kill them. On account of this deed it is (say the Arabians) that the ibis has come to be greatly honoured by the Egyptians, and the Egyptians also agree that it is for this reason that they honour these birds.

76. The outward form of the ibis is this:—it is a deep black all over, and has legs like those of a crane and a very curved beak, and in size it is about equal to a rail: this is the appearance of the black kind which fight with the serpents, but of those which most crowd round men’s feet (for there are two several kinds of ibises) the head is bare and also the whole of the throat, and it is white in feathering except the head and neck and the extremities of the wings and the rump (in all these parts of which I have spoken it is a deep black), while in legs and in the form of the head it resembles the other. As for the serpent its form is like that of the watersnake; and it has wings not feathered but most nearly resembling the wings of the bat. Let so much suffice as has been said now concerning sacred animals.

77. Of the Egyptians themselves, those who dwell in the part of Egypt which is sown for crops[67][i.e. above the marshes, cp. ch. 92.] practise memory more than any other men and are the most learned in history by far of all those of whom I have had experience: and their manner of life is as follows:—For three successive days in each month they purge, hunting after health with emetics and clysters, and they think that all the diseases which exist are produced in men by the food on which they live; for the Egyptians are from other causes also the most healthy of all men next after the Libyans (in my opinion on account of the seasons, because the seasons do not change, for by the changes of things generally, and especially of the seasons, diseases are most apt to be produced in men), and as to their diet, it is as follows:—they eat bread, making loaves of maize, which they call kyllestis, and they use habitually a wine made out of barley, for vines they have not in their land. Of their fish some they dry in the sun and then eat them without cooking, others they eat cured in brine. Of birds they eat quails and ducks and small birds without cooking, after first curing them; and everything else which they have belonging to the class of birds or fishes, except such as have been set apart by them as sacred, they eat roasted or boiled.

78. In the entertainments of the rich among them, when they have finished eating, a man bears round a wooden figure of a dead body in a coffin, made as like the reality as may be both by painting and carving, and measuring about a cubit or two cubits each way;[68][{pante}, which by some is translated “taken all together,” “at most.” Perhaps there is some corruption of text, and the writer meant to say that it measured two cubits by one cubit.] and this he shows to each of those who are drinking together, saying: “When thou lookest upon this, drink and be merry, for thou shalt be such as this when thou art dead.” Thus they do at their carousals.

79. The customs which they practise are derived from their fathers and they do not acquire others in addition; but besides other customary things among them which are worthy of mention, they have one song, [6801][The reading of the Medicean MS. is {en esti}, not {enesti} as hitherto reported.] that of Linos, the same who is sung of both in Phenicia and in Cyprus and elsewhere, having however a name different according to the various nations. This song agrees exactly with that which the Hellenes sing calling on the name of Linos,[69][Or, “calling the song Linos.”] so that besides many other things about which I wonder among those matters which concern Egypt, I wonder especially about this, namely whence they got the song of Linos.[70][{ton Linon okothen elabon}: the MSS. have {to ounoma} after {elabon}, but this is omitted by almost all Editors except Stein, who justifies it by a reference to ch. 50, and understands it to mean “the person of Linos.” No doubt the song and the person are here spoken off indiscriminately, but this explanation would require the reading {tou Linou}, as indeed Stein partly admits by suggesting the alteration.] It is evident however that they have sung this song from immemorial time, and in the Egyptian tongue Linos is called Maneros. The Egyptians told me that he was the only son of him who first became king of Egypt, and that he died before his time and was honoured with these lamentations by the Egyptians, and that this was their first and only song.

80. In another respect the Egyptians are in agreement with some of the Hellenes, namely with the Lacedemonians, but not with the rest, that is to say, the younger of them when they meet the elder give way and move out of the path, and when their elders approach they rise out of their seat. In this which follows however they are not in agreement with any of the Hellenes,—instead of addressing one another in the roads they do reverence, lowering their hand down to their knee.

81. They wear tunics of linen about their legs with fringes, which they call calasiris; above these they have garments of white wool thrown over: woollen garments however are not taken into the temples, nor are they buried with them, for this is not permitted by religion. In these points they are in agreement with the observances called Orphic and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian),[71][The words “and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian),” are omitted by several of the best MSS.] and also with those of the Pythagoreans, for one who takes part in these mysteries is also forbidden by religious rule to be buried in woollen garments; and about this there is a sacred story told.

82. Besides these things the Egyptians have found out also to what god each month and each day belongs, and what fortunes a man will meet with who is born on any particular day, and how he will die, and what kind of a man he will be: and these inventions were taken up by those of the Hellenes who occupied themselves about poesy. Portents too have been found out by them more than by all other men besides; for when a portent has happened, they observe and write down the event which comes of it, and if ever afterwards anything resembling this happens, they believe that the event which comes of it will be similar.

83. Their divination is ordered thus:—the art is assigned not to any man, but to certain of the gods, for there are in their land Oracles of Heracles, of Apollo, of Athene, of Artemis, of Ares, and of Zeus, and moreover that which they hold most in honour of all, namely the Oracle of Leto which is in the city of Buto. The manner of divination however is not yet established among them according to the same fashion everywhere, but is different in different places.

84. The art of medicine among them is distributed thus:—each physician is a physician of one disease and of no more; and the whole country is full of physicians, for some profess themselves to be physicians of the eyes, others of the head, others of the teeth, others of the affections of the stomach, and others of the more obscure ailments.

85. Their fashions of mourning and of burial are these:—Whenever any household has lost a man who is of any regard amongst them, the whole number of women of that house forthwith plaster over their heads or even their faces with mud. Then leaving the corpse within the house they go themselves to and fro about the city and beat themselves, with their garments bound up by a girdle[72][{epezosmenai}.] and their breasts exposed, and with them go all the women who are related to the dead man, and on the other side the men beat themselves, they too having their garments bound up by a girdle; and when they have done this, they then convey the body to the embalming.

86. In this occupation certain persons employ themselves regularly and inherit this as a craft. These, whenever a corpse is conveyed to them, show to those who brought it wooden models of corpses made like reality by painting, and the best of the ways of embalming they say is that of him whose name I think it impiety to mention when speaking of a matter of such a kind;[73][In connexion with death apparently, cp. ch. 132, 170. Osiris is meant.] the second which they show is less good than this and also less expensive; and the third is the least expensive of all. Having told them about this, they inquire of them in which way they desire the corpse of their friend to be prepared. Then they after they have agreed for a certain price depart out of the way, and the others being left behind in the buildings embalm according to the best of these ways thus:—First with a crooked iron tool they draw out the brain through the nostrils, extracting it partly thus and partly by pouring in drugs; and after this with a sharp stone of Ethiopia they make a cut along the side and take out the whole contents of the belly, and when they have cleared out the cavity and cleansed it with palm-wine they cleanse it again with spices pounded up: then they fill the belly with pure myrrh pounded up and with cassia and other spices except frankincense, and sew it together again. Having so done they keep it for embalming covered up in natron for seventy days, but for a longer time than this it is not permitted to embalm it; and when the seventy days are past, they wash the corpse and roll its whole body up in fine linen[74][{sindonos bussines}.] cut into bands, smearing these beneath with gum,[75][{to kommi}.]which the Egyptians use generally instead of glue. Then the kinsfolk receive it from them and have a wooden figure made in the shape of a man, and when they have had this made they enclose the corpse, and having shut it up within, they store it then in a sepulchral chamber, setting it to stand upright against the wall.

87. Thus they deal with the corpses which are prepared in the most costly way; but for those who desire the middle way and wish to avoid great cost they prepare the corpse as follows:—having filled their syringes with the oil which is got from cedar-wood, with this they forthwith fill the belly of the corpse, and this they do without having either cut it open or taken out the bowels, but they inject the oil by the breech, and having stopped the drench from returning back they keep it then the appointed number of days for embalming, and on the last of the days they let the cedar oil come out from the belly, which they before put in; and it has such power that it brings out with it the bowels and interior organs of the body dissolved; and the natron dissolves the flesh, so that there is left of the corpse only the skin and the bones. When they have done this they give back the corpse at once in that condition without working upon it any more.

88. The third kind of embalming, by which are prepared the bodies of those who have less means, is as follows:—they cleanse out the belly with a purge and then keep the body for embalming during the seventy days, and at once after that they give it back to the bringers to carry away.

89. The wives of men of rank when they die are not given at once to be embalmed, nor such women as are very beautiful or of greater regard than others, but on the third or fourth day after their death (and not before) they are delivered to the embalmers. They do so about this matter in order that the embalmers may not abuse their women, for they say that one of them was taken once doing so to the corpse of a woman lately dead, and his fellow-craftsman gave information.

90. Whenever any one, either of the Egyptians themselves or of strangers, is found to have been carried off by a crocodile or brought to his death by the river itself, the people of any city by which he may have been cast up on land must embalm him and lay him out in the fairest way they can and bury him in a sacred burial-place, nor may any of his relations or friends besides touch him, but the priests of the Nile themselves handle the corpse and bury it as that of one who was something more than man.

91. Hellenic usages they will by no means follow, and to speak generally they follow those of no other men whatever. This rule is observed by most of the Egyptians; but there is a large city named Chemmis in the Theban district near Neapolis, and in this city there is a temple of Perseus the son of Danae which is of a square shape, and round it grow date-palms: the gateway of the temple is built of stone and of very great size, and at the entrance of it stand two great statues of stone. Within this enclosure is a temple-house[76][{nros}.] and in it stands an image of Perseus. These people of Chemmis say that Perseus is wont often to appear in their land and often within the temple, and that a sandal which has been worn by him is found sometimes, being in length two cubits, and whenever this appears all Egypt prospers. This they say, and they do in honour of Perseus after Hellenic fashion thus,—they hold an athletic contest, which includes the whole list of games, and they offer in prizes cattle and cloaks and skins: and when I inquired why to them alone Perseus was wont to appear, and wherefore they were separated from all the other Egyptians in that they held an athletic contest, they said that Perseus had been born of their city, for Danaos and Lynkeus were men of Chemmis and had sailed to Hellas, and from them they traced a descent and came down to Perseus: and they told me that he had come to Egypt for the reason which the Hellenes also say, namely to bring from Libya the Gorgon’s head, and had then visited them also and recognised all his kinsfolk, and they said that he had well learnt the name of Chemmis before he came to Egypt, since he had heard it from his mother, and that they celebrated an athletic contest for him by his own command.

92. All these are customs practised by the Egyptians who dwell above the fens: and those who are settled in the fen-land have the same customs for the most part as the other Egyptians, both in other matters and also in that they live each with one wife only, as do the Hellenes; but for economy in respect of food they have invented these things besides:—when the river has become full and the plains have been flooded, there grow in the water great numbers of lilies, which the Egyptians call LOTOS; these they cut with a sickle and dry in the sun, and then they pound that which grows in the middle of the lotos and which is like the head of a poppy, and they make of it loaves baked with fire. The root also of this lotos is edible and has a rather sweet taste:[77][Or, “a pleasant sweet taste.”] it is round in shape and about the size of an apple. There are other lilies too, in flower resembling roses, which also grow in the river, and from them the fruit is produced in a separate vessel springing from the root by the side of the plant itself, and very nearly resembles a wasp’s comb: in this there grow edible seeds in great numbers of the size of an olive-stone, and they are eaten either fresh[78][{apala}, “soft.”] or dried. Besides this they pull up from the fens the papyrus which grows every year, and the upper parts of it they cut off and turn to other uses, but that which is left below for about a cubit in length they eat or sell: and those who desire to have the papyrus at its very best bake it in an oven heated red-hot, and then eat it. Some too of these people live on fish alone, which they dry in the sun after having caught them and taken out the entrails, and then when they are dry, they use them for food.

93. Fish which swim in shoals are not much produced in the rivers, but are bred in the lakes, and they do as follows:—When there comes upon them the desire to breed, they swim out in shoals towards the sea; and the males lead the way shedding forth their milt as they go, while the females, coming after and swallowing it up, from it become impregnated: and when they have become full of young in the sea they swim up back again, each shoal to its own haunts. The same however no longer lead the way as before, but the lead comes now to the females, and they leading the way in shoals do just as the males did, that is to say they shed forth their eggs by a few grains at a time,[79][{kat oligous ton kegkhron}.] and the males coming after swallow them up. Now these grains are fish, and from the grains which survive and are not swallowed, the fish grow which afterwards are bred up. Now those of the fish which are caught as they swim out to sea are found to be rubbed on the left side of the head, but those which are caught as they swim up again are rubbed on the right side. This happens to them because as they swim down to the sea they keep close to the land on the left side of the river, and again as they swim up they keep to the same side, approaching and touching the bank as much as they can, for fear doubtless of straying from their course by reason of the stream. When the Nile begins to swell, the hollow places of the land and the depressions by the side of the river first begin to fill, as the water soaks through from the river, and so soon as they become full of water, at once they are all filled with little fishes; and whence these are in all likelihood produced, I think that I perceive. In the preceding year, when the Nile goes down, the fish first lay eggs in the mud and then retire with the last of the retreating waters; and when the time comes round again, and the water once more comes over the land, from these eggs forthwith are produced the fishes of which I speak.

94. Thus it is as regards the fish. And for anointing those of the Egyptians who dwell in the fens use oil from the castor-berry,[80][{apo ton sillikuprion tou karpou}.] which oil the Egyptians call 奇奇, and thus they do:—they sow along the banks of the rivers and pools these plants, which in a wild form grow of themselves in the land of the Hellenes; these are sown in Egypt and produce berries in great quantity but of an evil smell; and when they have gathered these, some cut them up and press the oil from them, others again roast them first and then boil them down and collect that which runs away from them. The oil is fat and not less suitable for burning than olive-oil, but it gives forth a disagreeable smell.

95. Against the gnats, which are very abundant, they have contrived as follows:—those who dwell above the fen-land are helped by the towers, to which they ascend when they go to rest; for the gnats by reason of the winds are not able to fly up high: but those who dwell in the fen-land have contrived another way instead of the towers, and this is it:—every man of them has got a casting net, with which by day he catches fish, but in the night he uses it for this purpose, that is to say he puts the casting-net round about the bed in which he sleeps, and then creeps in under it and goes to sleep: and the gnats, if he sleeps rolled up in a garment or a linen sheet, bite through these, but through the net they do not even attempt to bite.

96. Their boats with which they carry cargoes are made of the thorny acacia, of which the form is very like that of the Kyrenian lotos, and that which exudes from it is gum. From this tree they cut pieces of wood about two cubits in length and arrange them like bricks, fastening the boat together by running a great number of long bolts through the two-cubit pieces; and when they have thus fastened the boat together, they lay cross-pieces[81][{zuga}, to tie the sides and serve as a partial deck.] over the top, using no ribs for the sides; and within they caulk the seams with papyrus. They make one steering-oar for it, which is passed through the bottom of the boat; and they have a mast of acacia and sails of papyrus. These boats cannot sail up the river unless there be a very fresh wind blowing, but are towed from the shore: down-stream however they travel as follows:—they have a door-shaped crate made of tamarisk wood and reed mats sewn together, and also a stone of about two talents weight bored with a hole; and of these the boatman lets the crate float on in front of the boat, fastened with a rope, and the stone drag behind by another rope. The crate then, as the force of the stream presses upon it, goes on swiftly and draws on the 巴里斯 (for so these boats are called), while the stone dragging after it behind and sunk deep in the water keeps its course straight. These boats they have in great numbers and some of them carry many thousands of talents’ burden.

97. When the Nile comes over the land, the cities alone are seen rising above the water, resembling more nearly than anything else the islands in the Egean sea; for the rest of Egypt becomes a sea and the cities alone rise above water. Accordingly, whenever this happens, they pass by water not now by the channels of the river but over the midst of the plain: for example, as one sails up from Naucratis to Memphis the passage is then close by the pyramids, whereas the usual passage is not the same even here,[82][{esti de oud’ outos}: a few MSS. have {ouk} instead of {oud’}, and most Editors follow them. The meaning however seems to be that even here the course in time of flood is different, and much more in the lower parts.] but goes by the point of the Delta and the city of Kercasoros; while if you sail over the plain to Naucratis from the sea and from Canobos, you will go by Anthylla and the city called after Archander.

98. Of these Anthylla is a city of note and is especially assigned to the wife of him who reigns over Egypt, to supply her with sandals, (this is the case since the time when Egypt came to be under the Persians): the other city seems to me to have its name from Archander the son-in-law of Danaos, who was the son of Phthios, the son of Achaios; for it is called the City of Archander. There might indeed be another Archander, but in any case the name is not Egyptian.

99. Hitherto my own observation and judgment and inquiry are the vouchers for that which I have said; but from this point onwards I am about to tell the history of Egypt according to that which I heard, to which will be added also something of that which I have myself seen.

Of Min, who first became king of Egypt, the priests said that on the one hand he banked off the site of Memphis from the river: for the whole stream of the river used to flow along by the sandy mountain-range on the side of Libya, but Min formed by embankments that bend of the river which lies to the South about a hundred furlongs above Memphis, and thus he dried up the old stream and conducted the river so that it flowed in the middle between the mountains: and even now this bend of the Nile is by the Persians kept under very careful watch, that it may flow in the channel to which it is confined,[83][{os apergmenos ree}: the MSS. mostly have {os apergmenos reei}, in place of which I have adopted the correction of Stein. Most other Editors read {os apergmenos peei} (following a few inferior MSS.), “the bend of the Nile which flows thus confined.”] and the bank is repaired every year; for if the river should break through and overflow in this direction, Memphis would be in danger of being overwhelmed by flood. When this Min, who first became king, had made into dry land the part which was dammed off, on the one hand, I say, he founded in it that city which is now called Memphis; for Memphis too is in the narrow part of Egypt;[84][Not therefore in the Delta, to which in ch. 15 was assigned a later origin than this.] and outside the city he dug round it on the North and West a lake communicating with the river, for the side towards the East is barred by the Nile itself. Then secondly he established in the city the temple of Hephaistos a great work and most worthy of mention.

100. After this man the priests enumerated to me from a papyrus roll the names of other kings, three hundred and thirty in number; and in all these generations of men eighteen were Ethiopians, one was a woman, a native Egyptian, and the rest were men and of Egyptian race: and the name of the woman who reigned was the same as that of the Babylonian queen, namely Nitocris. Of her they said that desiring to take vengeance for her brother, whom the Egyptians had slain when he was their king and then, after having slain him, had given his kingdom to her,—desiring, I say, to take vengeance for him, she destroyed by craft many of the Egyptians. For she caused to be constructed a very large chamber under ground, and making as though she would handsel it but in her mind devising other things, she invited those of the Egyptians whom she knew to have had most part in the murder, and gave a great banquet. Then while they were feasting, she let in the river upon them by a secret conduit of large size. Of her they told no more than this, except that, when this had been accomplished, she threw herself into a room full of embers, in order that she might escape vengeance.

101. As for the other kings, they could tell me of no great works which had been produced by them, and they said that they had no renown[85][{kat’ ouden einai lamprotetos}: Stein reads {kai} for {kat’}, thus making the whole chapter parenthetical, with {ou gar elegon} answered by {parameipsamenos on}, a conjecture which is ingenious but not quite convincing.] except only the last of them, Moris: he (they said) produced as a memorial of himself the gateway of the temple of Hephaistos which is turned towards the North Wind, and dug a lake, about which I shall set forth afterwards how many furlongs of circuit it has, and in it built pyramids of the size which I shall mention at the same time when I speak of the lake itself. He, they said, produced these works, but of the rest none produced any.

102. Therefore passing these by I shall make mention of the king who came after these, whose name was Sesostris. He (the priests said) first of all set out with ships of war from the Arabian gulf and subdued those who dwelt by the shores of the Erythraian Sea, until as he sailed he came to a sea which could no further be navigated by reason of shoals: then secondly, after he had returned to Egypt, according to the report of the priests he took a great army[86][{stratien pollen labon}: most of the MSS. have {ton} after {pollen}, which perhaps indicates that some words are lost.] and marched over the continent, subduing every nation which stood in his way: and those of them whom he found valiant and fighting desperately for their freedom, in their lands he set up pillars which told by inscriptions his own name and the name of his country, and how he had subdued them by his power; but as to those of whose cities he obtained possession without fighting or with ease, on their pillars he inscribed words after the same tenor as he did for the nations which had shown themselves courageous, and in addition he drew upon them the hidden parts of a woman, desiring to signify by this that the people were cowards and effeminate.

103. Thus doing he traversed the continent, until at last he passed over to Europe from Asia and subdued the Scythians and also the Thracians. These, I am of opinion, were the furthest[87][{kai prosotata}: many MSS. have {kai ou prosotata}, which is defended by some Editors in the sense of a comparative, “and not further.”] people to which the Egyptian army came, for in their country the pillars are found to have been set up, but in the land beyond this they are no longer found. From this point he turned and began to go back; and when he came to the river Phasis, what happened then I cannot say for certain, whether the king Sesostris himself divided off a certain portion of his army and left the men there as settlers in the land, or whether some of his soldiers were wearied by his distant marches and remained by the river Phasis.

104. For the people of Colchis are evidently Egyptian, and this I perceived for myself before I heard it from others. So when I had come to consider the matter I asked them both; and the Colchians had remembrance of the Egyptians more than the Egyptians of the Colchians; but the Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a portion of the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of itself amounts to nothing, for there are other races which are so), but also still more because the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have practised circumcision from the first. The Phenicians and the Syrians[88][{Suroi} in the better MSS.; see note in i.6.] who dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the Egyptians, and the Syrians[89][{Surioi}.] about the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their neighbours, say that they have learnt it lately from the Colchians. These are the only races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the same manner as the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the Ethiopians, I am not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly it is a most ancient custom; but that the other nations learnt it by intercourse with the Egyptians, this among others is to me a strong proof, namely that those of the Phenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to follow the example of the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their children.

105. Now let me tell another thing about the Colchians to show how they resemble the Egyptians:—they alone work flax in the same fashion as the Egyptians,[90][{kata tauta}: the better MSS. have {kai kata tauta}, which might be taken with what follows, punctuating after {ergazontai} (as in the Medicean MS.): “they and the Egyptians alone of all nations work flax; and so likewise they resemble one another in their whole manner of living.”] and the two nations are like one another in their whole manner of living and also in their language: now the linen of Colchis is called by the Hellenes Sardonic, whereas that from Egypt is called Egyptian.

106. The pillars which Sesostris of Egypt set up in the various countries are for the most part no longer to be seen extant; but in Syria Palestine I myself saw them existing with the inscription upon them which I have mentioned and the emblem. Moreover in Ionia there are two figures of this man carved upon rocks, one on the road by which one goes from the land of Ephesos to Phocaia, and the other on the road from Sardis to Smyrna. In each place there is a figure of a man cut in the rock, of four cubits and a span in height, holding in his right hand a spear and in his left a bow and arrows, and the other equipment which he has is similar to this, for it is both Egyptian and Ethiopian: and from the one shoulder to the other across the breast runs an inscription carved in sacred Egyptian characters, saying thus, “This land with my shoulders I won for myself.” But who he is and from whence, he does not declare in these places, though in other places he has declared this. Some of those who have seen these carvings conjecture that the figure is that of Memnon, but herein they are very far from the truth.

107. As this Egyptian Sesostris was returning and bringing back many men of the nations whose lands he had subdued, when he came (said the priests) to Daphnai in the district of Pelusion on his journey home, his brother to whom Sesostris had entrusted the charge of Egypt invited him and with him his sons to a feast; and then he piled the house round with brushwood and set it on fire: and Sesostris when he discovered this forthwith took counsel with his wife, for he was bringing with him (they said) his wife also; and she counselled him to lay out upon the pyre two of his sons, which were six in number, and so to make a bridge over the burning mass, and that they passing over their bodies should thus escape. This, they said, Sesostris did, and two of his sons were burnt to death in this manner, but the rest got away safe with their father.

108. Then Sesostris, having returned to Egypt and having taken vengeance on his brother, employed the multitude which he had brought in of those whose lands he had subdued, as follows:—these were they who drew the stones which in the reign of this king were brought to the temple of Hephaistos, being of very great size; and also these were compelled to dig all the channels which now are in Egypt; and thus (having no such purpose) they caused Egypt, which before was all fit for riding and driving, to be no longer fit for this from thenceforth: for from that time forward Egypt, though it is plain land, has become all unfit for riding and driving, and the cause has been these channels, which are many and run in all directions. But the reason why the king cut up the land was this, namely because those of the Egyptians who had their cities not on the river but in the middle of the country, being in want of water when the river went down from them, found their drink brackish because they had it from wells.

109. For this reason Egypt was cut up; and they said that this king distributed the land to all the Egyptians, giving an equal square portion to each man, and from this he made his revenue, having appointed them to pay a certain rent every year: and if the river should take away anything from any man’s portion, he would come to the king and declare that which had happened, and the king used to send men to examine and to find out by measurement how much less the piece of land had become, in order that for the future the man might pay less, in proportion to the rent appointed: and I think that thus the art of geometry was found out and afterwards came into Hellas also. For as touching the sun-dial[91][{polon}, i.e. the concave sun-dial, in shape like the vault of heaven.] and the gnomon[92][The gnomon would be an upright staff or an obelisk for observation of the length of the shadow.] and the twelve divisions of the day, they were learnt by the Hellenes from the Babylonians.

110. He moreover alone of all the Egyptian kings had rule over Ethiopia; and he left as memorials of himself in front of the temple of Hephaistos two stone statues of thirty cubits each, representing himself and his wife, and others of twenty cubits each representing his four sons: and long afterwards the priest of Hephaistos refused to permit Dareios the Persian to set up a statue of himself in front of them, saying that deeds had not been done by him equal to those which were done by Sesostris the Egyptian; for Sesostris had subdued other nations besides, not fewer than he, and also the Scythians; but Dareios had not been able to conquer the Scythians: wherefore it was not just that he should set up a statue in front of those which Sesostris had dedicated, if he did not surpass him in his deeds. Which speech, they say, Dareios took in good part.

111. Now after Sesostris had brought his life to an end, his son Pheros, they told me, received in succession the kingdom, and he made no warlike expedition, and moreover it chanced to him to become blind by reason of the following accident:—when the river had come down in flood rising to a height of eighteen cubits, higher than ever before that time, and had gone over the fields, a wind fell upon it and the river became agitated by waves: and this king (they say) moved by presumptuous folly took a spear and cast it into the midst of the eddies of the stream; and immediately upon this he had a disease of the eyes and was by it made blind. For ten years then he was blind, and in the eleventh year there came to him an oracle from the city of Buto saying that the time of his punishment had expired, and that he should see again if he washed his eyes with the water of a woman who had accompanied with her own husband only and had not knowledge of other men: and first he made trial of his own wife, and then, as he continued blind, he went on to try all the women in turn; and when he had at last regained his sight he gathered together all the women of whom he had made trial, excepting her by whose means he had regained his sight, to one city which now is named Erythrabolos,[93][i.e. Red Clod.] and having gathered them to this he consumed them all by fire, as well as the city itself; but as for her by whose means he had regained his sight, he had her himself to wife. Then after he had escaped the malady of his eyes he dedicated offerings at each one of the temples which were of renown, and especially (to mention only that which is most worthy of mention) he dedicated at the temple of the Sun works which are worth seeing, namely two obelisks of stone, each of a single block, measuring in length a hundred cubits each one and in breadth eight cubits.

112. After him, they said, there succeeded to the throne a man of Memphis, whose name in the tongue of the Hellenes was Proteus; for whom there is now a sacred enclosure at Memphis, very fair and well ordered, lying on that side of the temple of Hephaistos which faces the North Wind. Round about this enclosure dwell Phenicians of Tyre, and this whole region is called the Camp of the Tyrians.[94][{Turion stratopedon}, i.e. “the Tyrian quarter” of the town: cp. ch. 154.] Within the enclosure of Proteus there is a temple called the temple of the “foreign Aphrodite,” which temple I conjecture to be one of Helen the daughter of Tyndareus, not only because I have heard the tale how Helen dwelt with Proteus, but also especially because it is called by the name of the “foreign Aphrodite,” for the other temples of Aphrodite which there are have none of them the addition of the word “foreign” to the name.

113. And the priests told me, when I inquired, that the things concerning Helen happened thus:—Alexander having carried off Helen was sailing away from Sparta to his own land, and when he had come to the Egean Sea contrary winds drove him from his course to the Sea of Egypt; and after that, since the blasts did not cease to blow, he came to Egypt itself, and in Egypt to that which is now named the Canobic mouth of the Nile and to Taricheiai. Now there was upon the shore, as still there is now, a temple of Heracles, in which if any man’s slave take refuge and have the sacred marks set upon him, giving himself over to the god, it is not lawful to lay hands upon him; and this custom has continued still unchanged from the beginning down to my own time. Accordingly the attendants of Alexander, having heard of the custom which existed about the temple, ran away from him, and sitting down as suppliants of the god, accused Alexander, because they desired to do him hurt, telling the whole tale how things were about Helen and about the wrong done to Menelaos; and this accusation they made not only to the priests but also to the warden of this river-mouth, whose name was Thonis.

114. Thonis then having heard their tale sent forthwith a message to Proteus at Memphis, which said as follows: “There hath come a stranger, a Teucrian by race, who hath done in Hellas an unholy deed; for he hath deceived the wife of his own host, and is come hither bringing with him this woman herself and very much wealth, having been carried out of his way by winds to thy land.[95][{ten sen}, or {tauten}, “this land.”] Shall we then allow him to sail out unharmed, or shall we first take away from him that which he brought with him?” In reply to this Proteus sent back a messenger who said thus: “Seize this man, whosoever he may be, who has done impiety to his own host, and bring him away into my presence, that I may know what he will find to say.”

115. Hearing this, Thonis seized Alexander and detained his ships, and after that he brought the man himself up to Memphis and with him Helen and the wealth he had, and also in addition to them the suppliants. So when all had been conveyed up thither, Proteus began to ask Alexander who he was and from whence he was voyaging; and he both recounted to him his descent and told him the name of his native land, and moreover related of his voyage, from whence he was sailing. After this Proteus asked him whence he had taken Helen; and when Alexander went astray in his account and did not speak the truth, those who had become suppliants convicted him of falsehood, relating in full the whole tale of the wrong done. At length Proteus declared to them this sentence, saying, “Were it not that I count it a matter of great moment not to slay any of those strangers who being driven from their course by winds have come to my land hitherto, I should have taken vengeance on thee on behalf of the man of Hellas, seeing that thou, most base of men, having received from him hospitality, didst work against him a most impious deed. For thou didst go in to the wife of thine own host; and even this was not enough for thee, but thou didst stir her up with desire and hast gone away with her like a thief. Moreover not even this by itself was enough for thee, but thou art come hither with plunder taken from the house of thy host. Now therefore depart, seeing that I have counted it of great moment not to be a slayer of strangers. This woman indeed and the wealth which thou hast I will not allow thee to carry away, but I shall keep them safe for the Hellene who was thy host, until he come himself and desire to carry them off to his home; to thyself however and thy fellow-voyagers I proclaim that ye depart from your anchoring within three days and go from my land to some other; and if not, that ye will be dealt with as enemies.”

116. This the priests said was the manner of Helen’s coming to Proteus; and I suppose that Homer also had heard this story, but since it was not so suitable to the composition of his poem as the other which he followed, he dismissed it finally,[96][{es o meteke auton}, “until at last he dismissed it”; but the construction is very irregular, and there is probably some corruption of text. Stein reads {ekon} by conjecture for {es o}.] making it clear at the same time that he was acquainted with that story also: and according to the manner in which he described[97][{delon de kata per epoiese}: a conjectural emendation of {delon de’ kata gar epoiese}, which some editors retain, translating thus, “and this is clear; for according to the manner in which Homer described the wanderings of Alexander, etc., it is clear how, etc.”] the wanderings of Alexander in the Iliad (nor did he elsewhere retract that which he had said) it is clear that when he brought Helen he was carried out of his course, wandering to various lands, and that he came among other places to Sidon in Phenicia. Of this the poet has made mention in the “prowess of Diomede,” and the verses run this:[98][Il. vi. 289. The sixth book is not ordinarily included in the {Diomedeos aristeia}.]

“There she had robes many-coloured, the works of women of Sidon,
Those whom her son himself the god-like of form Alexander
Carried from Sidon, what time the broad sea-path he sailed over
Bringing back Helene home, of a noble father begotten.”

And in the Odyssey also he has made mention of it in these verses:[99][Od. iv. 227. These references to the Odyssey are by some thought to be interpolations, because they refer only to the visit of Menelaos to Egypt after the fall of Troy; but Herodotus is arguing that Homer, while rejecting the legend of Helen’s stay in Egypt during the war, yet has traces of it left in this later visit to Egypt of Menelaos and Helen, as well as in the visit of Paris and Helen to Sidon.]

“Such had the daughter of Zeus, such drugs of exquisite cunning,
Good, which to her the wife of Thon, Polydamna, had given,
Dwelling in Egypt, the land where the bountiful meadow produces
Drugs more than all lands else, many good being mixed, many evil.”

And thus too Menelaos says to Telemachos:[100][Od. iv. 351.]

“Still the gods stayed me in Egypt, to come back hither desiring,
Stayed me from voyaging home, since sacrifice was due I performed not.”

In these lines he makes it clear that he knew of the wandering of Alexander to Egypt, for Syria borders upon Egypt and the Phenicians, of whom is Sidon, dwell in Syria.

117. By these lines and by this passage[101][{kai tode to khorion}: probably {to khorion} ought to be struck out: “this also is evident.”] it is also most clearly shown that the “Cyprian Epic” was not written by Homer but by some other man: for in this it is said that on the third day after leaving Sparta Alexander came to Ilion bringing with him Helen, having had a “gently-blowing wind and a smooth sea,” whereas in the Iliad it says that he wandered from his course when he brought her.

118. Let us now leave Homer and the “Cyprian” Epic; but this I will say, namely that I asked the priests whether it is but an idle tale which the Hellenes tell of that which they say happened about Ilion; and they answered me thus, saying that they had their knowledge by inquiries from Menelaos himself. After the rape of Helen there came indeed, they said, to the Teucrian land a large army of Hellenes to help Menelaos; and when the army had come out of the ships to land and had pitched its camp there, they sent messengers to Ilion, with whom went also Menelaos himself; and when these entered within the wall they demanded back Helen and the wealth which Alexander had stolen from Menelaos and had taken away; and moreover they demanded satisfaction for the wrongs done: and the Teucrians told the same tale then and afterwards, both with oath and without oath, namely that in deed and in truth they had not Helen nor the wealth for which demand was made, but that both were in Egypt; and that they could not justly be compelled to give satisfaction for that which Proteus the king of Egypt had. The Hellenes however thought that they were being mocked by them and besieged the city, until at last they took it; and when they had taken the wall and did not find Helen, but heard the same tale as before, then they believed the former tale and sent Menelaos himself to Proteus.

119. And Menelaos having come to Egypt and having sailed up to Memphis, told the truth of these matters, and not only found great entertainment, but also received Helen unhurt, and all his own wealth besides. Then however, after he had been thus dealt with, Menelaos showed himself ungrateful to the Egyptians; for when he set forth to sail away, contrary winds detained him, and as this condition of things lasted long, he devised an impious deed; for he took two children of natives and made sacrifice of them. After this, when it was known that he had done so, he became abhorred, and being pursued he escaped and got away in his ships to Libya; but whither he went besides after this, the Egyptians were not able to tell. Of these things they said that they found out part by inquiries, and the rest, namely that which happened in their own land, they related from sure and certain knowledge.

120. Thus the priests of the Egyptians told me; and I myself also agree with the story which was told of Helen, adding this consideration, namely that if Helen had been in Ilion she would have been given up to the Hellenes, whether Alexander consented or no; for Priam assuredly was not so mad, nor yet the others of his house, that they were desirous to run risk of ruin for themselves and their children and their city, in order that Alexander might have Helen as his wife: and even supposing that during the first part of the time they had been so inclined, yet when many others of the Trojans besides were losing their lives as often as they fought with the Hellenes, and of the sons of Priam himself always two or three or even more were slain when a battle took place (if one may trust at all to the Epic poets),—when, I say, things were coming thus to pass, I consider that even if Priam himself had had Helen as his wife, he would have given her back to the Achaians, if at least by so doing he might be freed from the evils which oppressed him. Nor even was the kingdom coming to Alexander next, so that when Priam was old the government was in his hands; but Hector, who was both older and more of a man than he, would have received it after the death of Priam; and him it behoved not to allow his brother to go on with his wrong-doing, considering that great evils were coming to pass on his account both to himself privately and in general to the other Trojans. In truth however they lacked the power to give Helen back; and the Hellenes did not believe them, though they spoke the truth; because, as I declare my opinion, the divine power was purposing to cause them utterly to perish, and so make it evident to men that for great wrongs great also are the chastisements which come from the gods. And thus have I delivered my opinion concerning these matters.

121. After Proteus, they told me, Rhampsinitos received in succession the kingdom, who left as a memorial of himself that gateway to the temple of Hephaistos which is turned towards the West, and in front of the gateway he set up two statues, in height five-and-twenty cubits, of which the one which stands on the North side is called by the Egyptians Summer and the one on the South side Winter; and to that one which they call Summer they do reverence and make offerings, while to the other which is called Winter they do the opposite of these things. (a) This king, they said, got great wealth of silver, which none of the kings born after him could surpass or even come near to; and wishing to store his wealth in safety he caused to be built a chamber of stone, one of the walls whereof was towards the outside of his palace: and the builder of this, having a design against it, contrived as follows, that is, he disposed one of the stones in such a manner that it could be taken out easily from the wall either by two men or even by one. So when the chamber was finished, the king stored his money in it, and after some time the builder, being near the end of his life, called to him his sons (for he had two) and to them he related how he had contrived in building the treasury of the king, and all in forethought for them, that they might have ample means of living. And when he had clearly set forth to them everything concerning the taking out of the stone, he gave them the measurements, saying that if they paid heed to this matter they would be stewards of the king’s treasury. So he ended his life, and his sons made no long delay in setting to work, but went to the palace by night, and having found the stone in the wall of the chamber they dealt with it easily and carried forth for themselves great quantity of the wealth within. (b) And the king happening to open the chamber, he marvelled when he saw the vessels falling short of the full amount, and he did not know on whom he should lay the blame, since the seals were unbroken and the chamber had been close shut; but when upon his opening the chamber a second and a third time the money was each time seen to be diminished, for the thieves did not slacken in their assaults upon it, he did as follows:—having ordered traps to be made he set these round about the vessels in which the money was; and when the thieves had come as at former times and one of them had entered, then so soon as he came near to one of the vessels he was straightway caught in the trap: and when he perceived in what evil case he was, straightway calling his brother he showed him what the matter was, and bade him enter as quickly as possible and cut off his head, for fear lest being seen and known he might bring about the destruction of his brother also. And to the other it seemed that he spoke well, and he was persuaded and did so; and fitting the stone into its place he departed home bearing with him the head of his brother. (c) Now when it became day, the king entered into the chamber and was very greatly amazed, seeing the body of the thief held in the trap without his head, and the chamber unbroken, with no way to come in or go out: and being at a loss he hung up the dead body of the thief upon the wall and set guards there, with charge if they saw any one weeping or bewailing himself to seize him and bring him before the king. And when the dead body had been hung up, the mother was greatly grieved, and speaking with the son who survived she enjoined him, in whatever way he could, to contrive means by which he might take down and bring home the body of his dead brother; and if he should neglect to do this, she earnestly threatened that she would go and give information to the king that he had the money. [102][{podeonas}, being the feet of the animals whose skins they were.] of the skins and loosened the cords with which they were tied. Then when the wine was running out, he began to beat his head and cry out loudly, as if he did not know to which of the asses he should first turn; and when the guards saw the wine flowing out in streams, they ran together to the road with drinking vessels in their hands and collected the wine that was poured out, counting it so much gain; and he abused them all violently, making as if he were angry, but when the guards tried to appease him, after a time he feigned to be pacified and to abate his anger, and at length he drove his asses out of the road and began to set their loads right. Then more talk arose among them, and one or two of them made jests at him and brought him to laugh with them; and in the end he made them a present of one of the skins in addition to what they had. Upon that they lay down there without more ado, being minded to drink, and they took him into their company and invited him to remain with them and join them in their drinking: so he (as may be supposed) was persuaded and stayed. Then as they in their drinking bade him welcome in a friendly manner, he made a present to them also of another of the skins; and so at length having drunk liberally the guards became completely intoxicated; and being overcome by sleep they went to bed on the spot where they had been drinking. He then, as it was now far on in the night, first took down the body of his brother, and then in mockery shaved the right cheeks of all the guards; and after that he put the dead body upon the asses and drove them away home, having accomplished that which was enjoined him by his mother. (e) Upon this the king, when it was reported to him that the dead body of the thief had been stolen away, displayed great anger; and desiring by all means that it should be found out who it might be who devised these things, did this (so at least they said, but I do not believe the account),—he caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and enjoined her to receive all equally, and before having commerce with any one to compel him to tell her what was the most cunning and what the most unholy deed which had been done by him in all his life-time; and whosoever should relate that which had happened about the thief, him she must seize and not let him go out. Then as she was doing that which was enjoined by her father, the thief, hearing for what purpose this was done and having a desire to get the better of the king in resource, did thus:—from the body of one lately dead he cut off the arm at the shoulder and went with it under his mantle: and having gone in to the daughter of the king, and being asked that which the others also were asked, he related that he had done the most unholy deed when he cut off the head of his brother, who had been caught in a trap in the king’s treasure-chamber, and the most cunning deed in that he made drunk the guards and took down the dead body of his brother hanging up; and she when she heard it tried to take hold of him, but the thief held out to her in the darkness the arm of the corpse, which she grasped and held, thinking that she was holding the arm of the man himself; but the thief left it in her hands and departed, escaping through the door. (f) Now when this also was reported to the king, he was at first amazed at the ready invention and daring of the fellow, and then afterwards he sent round to all the cities and made proclamation granting a free pardon to the thief, and also promising a great reward if he would come into his presence.

122. After these things they said this king went down alive to that place which by the Hellenes is called Hades, and there played at dice with Demeter, and in some throws he overcame her and in others he was overcome by her; and he came back again having as a gift from her a handkerchief of gold: and they told me that because of the going down of Rhampsinitos the Egyptians after he came back celebrated a feast, which I know of my own knowledge also that they still observe even to my time; but whether it is for this cause that they keep the feast or for some other, I am not able to say. However, the priests weave a robe completely on the very day of the feast, and forthwith they bind up the eyes of one of them with a fillet, and having led him with the robe to the way by which one goes to the temple of Demeter, they depart back again themselves. This priest, they say, with his eyes bound up is led by two wolves to the temple of Demeter, which is distant from the city twenty furlongs, and then afterwards the wolves lead him back again from the temple to the same spot.

123. Now as to the tales told by the Egyptians, any man may accept them to whom such things appear credible; as for me, it is to be understood throughout the whole of the history[103][Cp。七. 152.] that I write by hearsay that which is reported by the people in each place. The Egyptians say that Demeter and Dionysos are rulers of the world below; and the Egyptians are also the first who reported the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal, and that when the body dies, the soul enters into another creature which chances then to be coming to the birth, and when it has gone the round of all the creatures of land and sea and of the air, it enters again into a human body as it comes to the birth; and that it makes this round in a period of three thousand years. This doctrine certain Hellenes adopted, some earlier and some later, as if it were of their own invention, and of these men I know the names but I abstain from recording them.

124. Down to the time when Rhampsinitos was king, they told me there was in Egypt nothing but orderly rule, and Egypt prospered greatly; but after him Cheops became king over them and brought them[104][{elasai}, which may be intransitive, “rushed into every kind of evil.”] to every kind of evil: for he shut up all the temples, and having first kept them from sacrificing there, he then bade all the Egyptians work for him. So some were appointed to draw stones from the stone-quarries in the Arabian mountains to the Nile, and others he ordered to receive the stones after they had been carried over the river in boats, and to draw them to those which are called the Libyan mountains; and they worked by a hundred thousand men at a time, for each three months continually. Of this oppression there passed ten years while the causeway was made by which they drew the stones, which causeway they built, and it is a work not much less, as it appears to me, than the pyramid; for the length of it is five furlongs[105][{stadioi}.] and the breadth ten fathoms and the height, where it is highest, eight fathoms, and it is made of stone smoothed and with figures carved upon it. For this, they said, the ten years were spent, and for the underground chambers on the hill upon which the pyramids stand, which he caused to be made as sepulchral chambers for himself in an island, having conducted thither a channel from the Nile. For the making of the pyramid itself there passed a period of twenty years; and the pyramid is square, each side measuring eight hundred feet, and the height of it is the same. It is built of stone smoothed and fitted together in the most perfect manner, not one of the stones being less than thirty feet in length.

125. This pyramid was made after the manner of steps, which some call “rows”[106][{krossas}.] and others “bases”:[107][{bomidas}.] and when they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with machines made of short pieces of timber, raising them first from the ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage, and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine; for as many as were the courses of the steps, so many machines there were also, or perhaps they transferred one and the same machine, made so as easily to be carried, to each stage successively, in order that they might take up the stones; for let it be told in both ways, according as it is reported. However that may be, the highest parts of it were finished first, and afterwards they proceeded to finish that which came next to them, and lastly they finished the parts of it near the ground and the lowest ranges. On the pyramid it is declared in Egyptian writing how much was spent on radishes and onions and leeks for the workmen, and if I rightly remember that which the interpreter said in reading to me this inscription, a sum of one thousand six hundred talents of silver was spent; and if this is so, how much besides is likely to have been expended upon the iron with which they worked, and upon bread and clothing for the workmen, seeing that they were building the works for the time which has been mentioned and were occupied for no small time besides, as I suppose, in the cutting and bringing of the stones and in working at the excavation under the ground?

126. Cheops moreover came, they said, to such a pitch of wickedness, that being in want of money he caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and ordered her to obtain from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did not tell me); but she not only obtained the sum appointed by her father, but also she formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her a memorial, and she requested each man who came in to her to give her one stone upon her building: and of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the three,[108][i.e. the three small pyramids just to the East of the great pyramid.] each side being one hundred and fifty feet in length.

127. This Cheops, the Egyptians said, reigned fifty years; and after he was dead his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom. This king followed the same manner as the other, both in all the rest and also in that he made a pyramid, not indeed attaining to the measurements of that which was built by the former (this I know, having myself also measured it), and moreover[109][{oute gar k.t.l.}, “for there are no underground chambers,” etc. Something which was in the mind of the writer has been omitted either by himself or his copyists, “and inferior to it also in other respects, for,” etc. unless, as Stein supposes, we have here a later addition thrown in without regard to the connexion.] there are no underground chambers beneath nor does a channel come from the Nile flowing to this one as to the other, in which the water coming through a conduit built for it flows round an island within, where they say that Cheops himself is laid: but for a basement he built the first course of Ethiopian stone of divers colours; and this pyramid he made forty feet lower than the other as regards size,[110][{touto megathos}, “as regards attaining the same size,” but probably the text is corrupt. Stein reads {to megathos} in his later editions.]building it close to the great pyramid. These stand both upon the same hill, which is about a hundred feet high. And Chephren they said reigned fifty and six years.

128. Here then they reckon one hundred and six years, during which they say that there was nothing but evil for the Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed and not opened during all that time. These kings the Egyptians by reason of their hatred of them are not very willing to name; nay, they even call the pyramids after the name of Philitis[111][Or, “Philition.”] the shepherd, who at that time pastured flocks in those regions.

129. After him, they said, Mykerinos became king over Egypt, who was the son of Cheops; and to him his father’s deeds were displeasing, and he both opened the temples and gave liberty to the people, who were ground down to the last extremity of evil, to return to their own business and to their sacrifices;: also he gave decisions of their causes juster than those of all the other kings besides. In regard to this then they commend this king more than all the other kings who had arisen in Egypt before him; for he not only gave good decisions, but also when a man complained of the decision, he gave him recompense from his own goods and thus satisfied his desire. But while Mykerinos was acting mercifully to his subjects and practising this conduct which has been said, calamities befell him, of which the first was this, namely that his daughter died, the only child whom he had in his house: and being above measure grieved by that which had befallen him, and desiring to bury his daughter in a manner more remarkable than others, he made a cow of wood, which he covered over with gold, and then within it he buried this daughter who, as I said, had died.

130. This cow was not covered up in the ground, but it might be seen even down to my own time in the city of Saïs, placed within the royal palace in a chamber which was greatly adorned; and they offer incense of all kinds before it every day, and each night a lamp burns beside it all through the night. Near this cow in another chamber stand images of the concubines of Mykerinos, as the priests at Saïs told me; for there are in fact colossal wooden statues, in number about twenty, made with naked bodies; but who they are I am not able to say, except only that which is reported.

131. Some however tell about this cow and the colossal statues the following tale, namely that Mykerinos was enamoured of his own daughter and afterwards ravished her; and upon this they say that the girl strangled herself for grief, and he buried her in this cow; and her mother cut off the hands of the maids who had betrayed the daughter to her father; wherefore now the images of them have suffered that which the maids suffered in their life. In thus saying they speak idly, as it seems to me, especially in what they say about the hands of the statues; for as to this, even we ourselves saw that their hands had dropped off from lapse of time, and they were to be seen still lying at their feet even down to my time.

132. The cow is covered up with a crimson robe, except only the head and the neck, which are seen, overlaid with gold very thickly; and between the horns there is the disc of the sun figured in gold. The cow is not standing up but kneeling, and in size it is equal to a large living cow. Every year it is carried forth from the chamber, at those times, I say, the Egyptians beat themselves for that god whom I will not name upon occasion of such a matter; at these times, I say, they also carry forth the cow to the light of day, for they say that she asked of her father Mykerinos, when she was dying, that she might look upon the sun once in the year.

133. After the misfortune of his daughter it happened, they said, secondly to this king as follows:—An oracle came to him from the city of Buto, saying that he was destined to live but six years more, in the seventh year to end his life: and he being indignant at it sent to the Oracle a reproach against the god,[112][{to theo}, the goddess Leto, cp. i. 105.] making complaint in reply that whereas his father and uncle, who had shut up the temples and had not only not remembered the gods, but also had been destroyers of men, had lived for a long time, he himself, who practised piety, was destined to end his life so soon: and from the Oracle there came a second message, which said that it was for this very cause that he was bringing his life to a swift close;[113][{suntakhunein auton ton bion}: some MSS. and Editors read {auto} for {auton}, “that heaven was shortening his life.”] for he had not done that which it was appointed for him to do, since it was destined that Egypt should suffer evils for a hundred and fifty years, and the two kings who had risen before him had perceived this, but he had not. Mykerinos having heard this, and considering that this sentence had been passed upon him beyond recall, procured many lamps, and whenever night came on he lighted these and began to drink and take his pleasure, ceasing neither by day nor by night; and he went about to the fen-country and to the woods and wherever he heard there were the most suitable places for enjoyment. This he devised (having a mind to prove that the Oracle spoke falsely) in order that he might have twelve years of life instead of six, the nights being turned into days.

134. This king also left behind him a pyramid, much smaller than that of his father, of a square shape and measuring on each side three hundred feet lacking twenty, built moreover of Ethiopian stone up to half the height. This pyramid some of the Hellenes say was built by the courtesan Rhodopis, not therein speaking rightly: and besides this it is evident to me that they who speak thus do not even know who Rhodopis was, for otherwise they would not have attributed to her the building of a pyramid like this, on which have been spent (so to speak) innumerable thousands of talents: moreover they do not know that Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, and not in this king’s reign; for Rhodopis lived very many years later than the kings who left behind the pyramids. By descent she was of Thrace, and she was a slave of Iadmon the son of Hephaistopolis a Samian, and a fellow-slave of Esop the maker of fables; for he too was once the slave of Iadmon, as was proved especially in this fact, namely that when the people of Delphi repeatedly made proclamation in accordance with an oracle, to find some one who would take up[114][More literally, “bidding him take up the blood-money, who would.” The people of Delphi are said to have put Esop to death and to have been ordered by the Oracle to make compensation.] the blood-money for the death of Esop, no one else appeared, but at length the grandson of Iadmon, called Iadmon also, took it up; and thus it is shown that Esop too was the slave of Iadmon.

135. As for Rhodopis, she came to Egypt brought by Xanthes the Samian, and having come thither to exercise her calling she was redeemed from slavery for a great sum by a man of Mytilene, Charaxos son of Scamandronymos and brother of Sappho the lyric poet. Thus was Rhodopis set free, and she remained in Egypt and by her beauty won so much liking that she made great gain of money for one like Rhodopis,[115][{os an einai ‘Podopin}: so the MSS. Some Editors read {‘Podopios}, others {‘Podopi}.] though not enough to suffice for the cost of such a pyramid as this. In truth there is no need to ascribe to her very great riches, considering that the tithe of her wealth may still be seen even to this time by any one who desires it: for Rhodopis wished to leave behind her a memorial of herself in Hellas, namely to cause a thing to be made such as happens not to have been thought of or dedicated in a temple by any besides, and to dedicate this at Delphi as a memorial of herself. Accordingly with the tithe of her wealth she caused to be made spits of iron of size large enough to pierce a whole ox, and many in number, going as far therein as her tithe allowed her, and she sent them to Delphi: these are even at the present time lying there, heaped all together behind the altar which the Chians dedicated, and just opposite to the cell of the temple.[116][{antion de autout tou neou}.] Now at Naucratis, as it happens, the courtesans are rather apt to win credit;[117][{epaphroditoi ginesthai}.] for this woman first, about whom the story to which I refer is told, became so famous that all the Hellenes without exception come to know the name of Rhodopis, and then after her one whose name was Archidiche became a subject of song over all Hellas, though she was less talked of than the other. As for Charaxos, when after redeeming Rhodopis he returned back to Mytilene, Sappho in an ode violently abused him.[118][{katekertomese min}: Athenæus says that Sappho attacked the mistress of Charaxos; but here {min} can hardly refer to any one but Charaxos himself, who doubtless would be included in the same condemnation.] Of Rhodopis then I shall say no more.

136. After Mykerinos the priests said Asychis became king of Egypt, and he made for Hephaistos the temple gateway[119][{propulaia}.] which is towards the sunrising, by far the most beautiful and the largest of the gateways; for while they all have figures carved upon them and innumerable ornaments of building[120][“innumerable sights of buildings.”] besides, this has them very much more than the rest. In this king’s reign they told me that, as the circulation of money was very slow, a law was made for the Egyptians that a man might have that money lent to him which he needed, by offering as security the dead body of his father; and there was added moreover to this law another, namely that he who lent the money should have a claim also to the whole sepulchral chamber belonging to him who received it, and that the man who offered that security should be subject to this penalty, if he refused to pay back the debt, namely that neither the man himself should be allowed to have burial when he died, either in that family burial-place or in any other, nor should he be allowed to bury any one of his kinsmen whom he lost by death. This king desiring to surpass the kings of Egypt who had arisen before him left as a memorial of himself a pyramid which he made of bricks, and on it there is an inscription carved in stone and saying thus: “Despise not me in comparison with the pyramids of stone, seeing that I excel them as much as Zeus excels the other gods; for with a pole they struck into the lake, and whatever of the mud attached itself to the pole, this they gathered up and made bricks, and in such manner they finished me.”

Such were the deeds which this king performed;

137, and after him reigned a blind man of the city of Anysis, whose name was Anysis. In his reign the Ethiopians and Sabacos the king of the Ethiopians marched upon Egypt with a great host of men; so this blind man departed, flying to the fen-country, and the Ethiopian was king over Egypt for fifty years, during which he performed deeds as follows:—whenever any man of the Egyptians committed any transgression, he would never put him to death, but he gave sentence upon each man according to the greatness of the wrong-doing, appointing them work at throwing up an embankment before that city from whence each man came of those who committed wrong. Thus the cities were made higher still than before; for they were embanked first by those who dug the channels in the reign of Sesostris, and then secondly in the reign of the Ethiopian, and thus they were made very high: and while other cities in Egypt also stood[121][{tassomenon}, “posted,” like an army; but the text is probably unsound: so also in the next line, where the better MSS. have {men Boubasti poli}, others {e en Boubasti polis}. Stein reads {e en Boubasti poli}, “the earth at the city of Bubastis.” Perhaps {e en Boubasti polis} might mean the town as opposed to the temple, as Mr. Woods suggests.] high, I think in the town at Bubastis especially the earth was piled up. In this city there is a temple very well worthy of mention, for though there are other temples which are larger and built with more cost, none more than this is a pleasure to the eyes. Now Bubastis in the Hellenic tongue is Artemis,

138, and her temple is ordered thus:—Except the entrance it is completely surrounded by water; for channels come in from the Nile, not joining one another, but each extending as far as the entrance of the temple, one flowing round on the one side and the other on the other side, each a hundred feet broad and shaded over with trees; and the gateway has a height of ten fathoms, and it is adorned with figures six cubits high, very noteworthy. This temple is in the middle of the city and is looked down upon from all sides as one goes round, for since the city has been banked up to a height, while the temple has not been moved from the place where it was at the first built, it is possible to look down into it: and round it runs a stone wall with figures carved upon it, while within it there is a grove of very large trees planted round a large temple-house, within which is the image of the goddess: and the breadth and length of the temple is a furlong every way. Opposite the entrance there is a road paved with stone for about three furlongs, which leads through the market-place towards the East, with a breadth of about four hundred feet; and on this side and on that grow trees of height reaching to heaven: and the road leads to the temple of Hermes. This temple then is thus ordered.

139. The final deliverance from the Ethiopian came about (they said) as follows:—he fled away because he had seen in his sleep a vision, in which it seemed to him that a man came and stood by him and counselled him to gather together all the priests of Egypt and cut them asunder in the midst. Having seen this dream, he said that it seemed to him that the gods were foreshowing him this to furnish an occasion against him,[122][Cp. ch. 161, {egeneto apo prophasios, ton k.t.l.} Perhaps however {prophasin} is here from {prophaino} (cp. Soph. Trach. 662), and it means merely “that the gods were foreshowing him this in order that,” etc. So Stein.] in order that he might do an impious deed with respect to religion, and so receive some evil either from the gods or from men: he would not however do so, but in truth (he said) the time had expired, during which it had been prophesied to him that he should rule Egypt before he departed thence. For when he was in Ethiopia the Oracles which the Ethiopians consult had told him that it was fated for him to rule Egypt fifty years: since then this time was now expiring, and the vision of the dream also disturbed him, Sabacos departed out of Egypt of his own free will.

140. Then when the Ethiopian had gone away out of Egypt, the blind man came back from the fen-country and began to rule again, having lived there during fifty years upon an island which he had made by heaping up ashes and earth: for whenever any of the Egyptians visited him bringing food, according as it had been appointed to them severally to do without the knowledge of the Ethiopian, he bade them bring also some ashes for their gift.[123][i.e. for their customary gift or tribute to him as king.] This island none was able to find before Amyrtaios; that is, for more than seven hundred years[124][The chronology is inconsistent, and some propose, without authority, to read “three hundred years.”] the kings who arose before Amyrtaios were not able to find it. Now the name of this island is Elbo, and its size is ten furlongs each way.

141. After him there came to the throne the priest of Hephaistos, whose name was Sethos. This man, they said, neglected and held in no regard the warrior class of the Egyptians, considering that he would have no need of them; and besides other slights which he put upon them, he also took from them the yokes of corn-land[125][{tas arouras}, cp. ch. 168, where the {aroura} is defined as a hundred Egyptian units square, about three-quarters of an acre.] which had been given to them as a special gift in the reigns of the former kings, twelve yokes to each man. After this, Sanacharib king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians marched a great host against Egypt. Then the warriors of the Egyptians refused to come to the rescue, and the priest, being driven into a strait, entered into the sanctuary of the temple[126][{es 为 megaron}。] and bewailed to the image of the god the danger which was impending over him; and as he was thus lamenting, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision that the god came and stood by him and encouraged him, saying that he should suffer no evil if he went forth to meet the army of the Arabians; for he himself would send him helpers. Trusting in these things seen in sleep, he took with him, they said, those of the Egyptians who were willing to follow him, and encamped in Pelusion, for by this way the invasion came: and not one of the warrior class followed him, but shop-keepers and artisans and men of the market. Then after they came, there swarmed by night upon their enemies mice of the fields, and ate up their quivers and their bows, and moreover the handles of their shields, so that on the next day they fled, and being without defence of arms great numbers fell. And at the present time this king stands in the temple of Hephaistos in stone, holding upon his hand a mouse, and by letters inscribed he says these words: “Let him who looks upon me learn to fear the gods.”

142. So far in the story the Egyptians and the priests were they who made the report, declaring that from the first king down to this priest of Hephaistos who reigned last, there had been three hundred and forty-one generations of men, and that in them there had been the same number of chief-priests and of kings: but three hundred generations of men are equal to ten thousand years, for a hundred years is three generations of men; and in the one-and-forty generations which remain, those I mean which were added to the three hundred, there are one thousand three hundred and forty years. Thus in the period of eleven thousand three hundred and forty years they said that there had arisen no god in human form; nor even before that time or afterwards among the remaining kings who arose in Egypt, did they report that anything of that kind had come to pass. In this time they said that the sun had moved four times from his accustomed place of rising, and where he now sets he had thence twice had his rising, and in the place from whence he now rises he had twice had his setting;[127][Not on two single occasions, but for two separate periods of time it was stated that the sun had risen in the West and set in the East; i.e. from East to West, then from West to East, then again from East to West, and finally back to East again. This seems to be the meaning attached by Herodotus to something which he was told about astronomical cycles.] and in the meantime nothing in Egypt had been changed from its usual state, neither that which comes from the earth nor that which comes to them from the river nor that which concerns diseases or deaths.

143. And formerly when Hecataios the historian was in Thebes, and had traced his descent and connected his family with a god in the sixteenth generation before, the priests of Zeus did for him much the same as they did for me (though I had not traced my descent). They led me into the sanctuary of the temple, which is of great size, and they counted up the number, showing colossal wooden statues in number the same as they said; for each chief-priest there sets up in his lifetime an image of himself: accordingly the priests, counting and showing me these, declared to me that each one of them was a son succeeding his own father, and they went up through the series of images from the image of the one who had died last, until they had declared this of the whole number. And when Hecataios had traced his descent and connected his family with a god in the sixteenth generation, they traced a descent in opposition to this, besides their numbering, not accepting it from him that a man had been born from a god; and they traced their counter-descent thus, saying that each one of the statues had been piromis 它的 piromis, until they had declared this of the whole three hundred and forty-five statues, each one being surnamed piromis; and neither with a god nor a hero did they connect their descent. Now piromismeans in the tongue of Hellas “honourable and good man.”

144. From their declaration then it followed, that they of whom the images were had been of form like this, and far removed from being gods: but in the time before these men they said that gods were the rulers in Egypt, not mingling[128][{ouk eontas}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and also fits in best with the argument, which was that in Egypt gods were quite distinct from men. Most Editors however read {oikeontas} on the authority of a few MSS., “dwelling with men.” (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {ouk eontas}, not {oukeontas} as stated by Stein.)] with men, and that of these always one had power at a time; and the last of them who was king over Egypt was Oros the son of Osiris, whom the Hellenes call Apollo: he was king over Egypt last, having deposed Typhon. Now Osiris in the tongue of Hellas is Dionysos.

145. Among the Hellenes Heracles and Dionysos and Pan are accounted the latest-born of the gods; but with the Egyptians Pan is a very ancient god, and he is one of those which are called the eight gods, while Heracles is of the second rank, who are called the twelve gods, and Dionysos is of the third rank, namely of those who were born of the twelve gods. Now as to Heracles I have shown already how many years old he is according to the Egyptians themselves, reckoning down to the reign of Amasis, and Pan is said to have existed for yet more years than these, and Dionysos for the smallest number of years as compared with the others; and even for this last they reckon down to the reign of Amasis fifteen thousand years. This the Egyptians say that they know for a certainty, since they always kept a reckoning and wrote down the years as they came. Now the Dionysos who is said to have been born of Semele the daughter of Cadmos, was born about sixteen hundred years before my time, and Heracles who was the son of Alcmene, about nine hundred years, and that Pan who was born of Penelope, for of her and of Hermes Pan is said by the Hellenes to have been born, came into being later than the wars of Troy, about eight hundred years before my time.

146. Of these two accounts every man may adopt that one which he shall find the more credible when he hears it. I however, for my part, have already declared my opinion about them.[129][i.e. that the Hellenes borrowed these divinities from Egypt, see ch. 43 ff. This refers to all the three gods above mentioned and not (as Stein contended) to Pan and Dionysos only.] For if these also, like Heracles the son of Amphitryon, had appeared before all men’s eyes and had lived their lives to old age in Hellas, I mean Dionysos the son of Semele and Pan the son of Penelope, then one would have said that these also[130][{kai toutous allous}, i.e. as well as Heracles; but it may mean “that these also, distinct from the gods, had been born,” etc. The connexion seems to be this: “I expressed my opinion on all these cases when I spoke of the case of Heracles; for though the statement there about Heracles was in one respect inapplicable to the rest, yet in the main conclusion that gods are not born of men it applies to all.”] had been born mere men, having the names of those gods who had come into being long before: but as it is, with regard to Dionysos the Hellenes say that as soon as he was born Zeus sewed him up in his thigh and carried him to Nysa, which is above Egypt in the land of Ethiopia; and as to Pan, they cannot say whither he went after he was born. Hence it has become clear to me that the Hellenes learnt the names of these gods later than those of the other gods, and trace their descent as if their birth occurred at the time when they first learnt their names.

Thus far then the history is told by the Egyptians themselves;

147, but I will now recount that which other nations also tell, and the Egyptians in agreement with the others, of that which happened in this land: and there will be added to this also something of that which I have myself seen.

Being set free after the reign of the priest of Hephaistos, the Egyptians, since they could not live any time without a king, set up over them twelve kings, having divided all Egypt into twelve parts. These made intermarriages with one another and reigned, making agreement that they would not put down one another by force, nor seek to get an advantage over one another, but would live in perfect friendship: and the reason why they made these agreements, guarding them very strongly from violation, was this, namely that an oracle had been given to them at first when they began to exercise their rule, that he of them who should pour a libation with a bronze cup in the temple of Hephaistos, should be king of all Egypt (for they used to assemble together in all the temples).

148. Moreover they resolved to join all together and leave a memorial of themselves; and having so resolved they caused to be made a labyrinth, situated a little above the lake of Moiris and nearly opposite to that which is called the City of Crocodiles. This I saw myself, and I found it greater than words can say. For if one should put together and reckon up all the buildings and all the great works produced by the Hellenes, they would prove to be inferior in labour and expense to this labyrinth, though it is true that both the temple at Ephesos and that at Samos are works worthy of note. The pyramids also were greater than words can say, and each one of them is equal to many works of the Hellenes, great as they may be; but the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. It has twelve courts covered in, with gates facing one another, six upon the North side and six upon the South, joining on one to another, and the same wall surrounds them all outside; and there are in it two kinds of chambers, the one kind below the ground and the other above upon these, three thousand in number, of each kind fifteen hundred. The upper set of chambers we ourselves saw, going through them, and we tell of them having looked upon them with our own eyes; but the chambers under ground we heard about only; for the Egyptians who had charge of them were not willing on any account to show them, saying that here were the sepulchres of the kings who had first built this labyrinth and of the sacred crocodiles. Accordingly we speak of the chambers below by what we received from hearsay, while those above we saw ourselves and found them to be works of more than human greatness. For the passages through the chambers, and the goings this way and that way through the courts, which were admirably adorned, afforded endless matter for marvel, as we went through from a court to the chambers beyond it, and from the chambers to colonnades, and from the colonnades to other rooms, and then from the chambers again to other courts. Over the whole of these is a roof made of stone like the walls; and the walls are covered with figures carved upon them, each court being surrounded with pillars of white stone fitted together most perfectly; and at the end of the labyrinth, by the corner of it, there is a pyramid of forty fathoms, upon which large figures are carved, and to this there is a way made under ground.

149. Such is this labyrinth; but a cause for marvel even greater than this is afforded by the lake, which is called the lake of Moiris, along the side of which this labyrinth is built. The measure of its circuit is three thousand six hundred furlongs[131][{stadioi}.] (being sixty 舒伊讷), and this is the same number of furlongs as the extent of Egypt itself along the sea. The lake lies extended lengthwise from North to South, and in depth where it is deepest it is fifty fathoms. That this lake is artificial and formed by digging is self-evident, for about in the middle of the lake stand two pyramids, each rising above the water to a height of fifty fathoms, the part which is built below the water being of just the same height; and upon each is placed a colossal statue of stone sitting upon a chair. Thus the pyramids are a hundred fathoms high; and these hundred fathoms are equal to a furlong of six hundred feet, the fathom being measured as six feet or four cubits, the feet being four palms each, and the cubits six. The water in the lake does not come from the place where it is, for the country there is very deficient in water, but it has been brought thither from the Nile by a canal: and for six months the water flows into the lake, and for six months out into the Nile again; and whenever it flows out, then for the six months it brings into the royal treasury a talent of silver a day from the fish which are caught, and twenty pounds[132][{mneas}, of which 60 go to the talent.] when the water comes in.

150. The natives of the place moreover said that this lake had an outlet under ground to the Syrtis which is in Libya, turning towards the interior of the continent upon the Western side and running along by the mountain which is above Memphis. Now since I did not see anywhere existing the earth dug out of this excavation (for that was a matter which drew my attention), I asked those who dwelt nearest to the lake where the earth was which had been dug out. These told me to what place it had been carried away; and I readily believed them, for I knew by report that a similar thing had been done at Nineveh, the city of the Assyrians. There certain thieves formed a design once to carry away the wealth of Sardanapallos son of Ninos, the king, which wealth was very great and was kept in treasure-houses under the earth. Accordingly they began from their own dwelling, and making estimate of their direction they dug under ground towards the king’s palace; and the earth which was brought out of the excavation they used to carry away, when night came on, to the river Tigris which flows by the city of Nineveh, until at last they accomplished that which they desired. Similarly, as I heard, the digging of the lake in Egypt was effected, except that it was done not by night but during the day; for as they dug the Egyptians carried to the Nile the earth which was dug out; and the river, when it received it, would naturally bear it away and disperse it. Thus is this lake said to have been dug out.

151. Now the twelve kings continued to rule justly, but in course of time it happened thus:—After sacrifice in the temple of Hephaistos they were about to make libation on the last day of the feast, and the chief-priest, in bringing out for them the golden cups with which they had been wont to pour libations, missed his reckoning and brought eleven only for the twelve kings. Then that one of them who was standing last in order, namely Psammetichos, since he had no cup took off from his head his helmet, which was of bronze, and having held it out to receive the wine he proceeded to make libation: likewise all the other kings were wont to wear helmets and they happened to have them then. Now Psammetichos held out his helmet with no treacherous meaning; but they taking note of that which had been done by Psammetichos and of the oracle, namely how it had been declared to them that whosoever of them should make libation with a bronze cup should be sole king of Egypt, recollecting, I say, the saying of the Oracle, they did not indeed deem it right to slay Psammetichos, since they found by examination that he had not done it with any forethought, but they determined to strip him of almost all his power and to drive him away into the fen-country, and that from the fen-country he should not hold any dealings with the rest of Egypt.

152. This Psammetichos had formerly been a fugitive from the Ethiopian Sabacos who had killed his father Necos, from him, I say, he had then been a fugitive in Syria; and when the Ethiopian had departed in consequence of the vision of the dream, the Egyptians who were of the district of Saïs brought him back to his own country. Then afterwards, when he was king, it was his fate to be a fugitive a second time on account of the helmet, being driven by the eleven kings into the fen-country. So then holding that he had been grievously wronged by them, he thought how he might take vengeance on those who had driven him out: and when he had sent to the Oracle of Leto in the city of Buto, where the Egyptians have their most truthful Oracle, there was given to him the reply that vengeance would come when men of bronze appeared from the sea. And he was strongly disposed not to believe that bronze men would come to help him; but after no long time had passed, certain Ionians and Carians who had sailed forth for plunder were compelled to come to shore in Egypt, and they having landed and being clad in bronze armour, one of the Egyptians, not having before seen men clad in bronze armour, came to the fen-land and brought a report to Psammetichos that bronze men had come from the sea and were plundering the plain. So he, perceiving that the saying of the Oracle was coming to pass, dealt in a friendly manner with the Ionians and Carians, and with large promises he persuaded them to take his part. Then when he had persuaded them, with the help of those Egyptians who favoured his cause and of these foreign mercenaries he overthrew the kings.

153. Having thus got power over all Egypt, Psammetichos made for Hephaistos that gateway of the temple at Memphis which is turned towards the South Wind; and he built a court for Apis, in which Apis is kept when he appears, opposite to the gateway of the temple, surrounded all with pillars and covered with figures; and instead of columns there stand to support the roof of the court colossal statues twelve cubits high. Now Apis is in the tongue of the Hellenes Epaphos.

154. To the Ionians and to the Carians who had helped him Psammetichos granted portions of land to dwell in, opposite to one another with the river Nile between, and these were called “Encampments”:[133][Cp。 ch. 112.] these portions of land he gave them, and he paid them besides all that he had promised: moreover he placed with them Egyptian boys to have them taught the Hellenic tongue; and from these, who learnt the language thoroughly, are descended the present class of interpreters in Egypt. Now the Ionians and Carians occupied these portions of land for a long time, and they are towards the sea a little below the city of Bubastis, on that which is called the Pelusian mouth of the Nile. These men king Amasis afterwards removed from thence and established them at Memphis, making them into a guard for himself against the Egyptians: and they being settled in Egypt, we who are Hellenes know by intercourse with them the certainty of all that which happened in Egypt beginning from king Psammetichos and afterwards; for these were the first men of foreign tongue who settled in Egypt: and in the land from which they were removed there still remained down to my time the sheds where their ships were drawn up and the ruins of their houses.

Thus then Psammetichos obtained Egypt:

155, and of the Oracle which is in Egypt I have made mention often before this, and now I will give an account of it, seeing that it is worthy to be described. This Oracle which is in Egypt is sacred to Leto, and it is established in a great city near that mouth of the Nile which is called Sebennytic, as one sails up the river from the sea; and the name of this city where the Oracle is found is Buto, as I have said before in mentioning it. In this Buto there is a temple of Apollo and Artemis; and the temple-house[134][{neos}.] of Leto, in which the Oracle is, is both great in itself and has a gateway of the height of ten fathoms: but that which caused me most to marvel of the things to be seen there, I will now tell. There is in this sacred enclosure a house of Leto made of one single stone as regards both height and length, and of which all the walls are in these two directions equal, each being forty cubits; and for the covering in of the roof there lies another stone upon the top, the cornice measuring four cubits.[135][I understand that each wall consisted of a single stone, which gave the dimensions each way: “as regards height and length” therefore it was made of a single stone. That it should have been a monolith, except the roof, is almost impossible, not only because of the size mentioned (which in any case is suspicious), but because no one would so hollow out a monolith that it would be necessary afterwards to put on another stone for the roof. The monolith chamber mentioned in ch. 175, which it took three years to convey from Elephantine, measured only 21 cubits by 14 by 8. The {parorophis} or “cornice” is not an “eave projecting four cubits,” but (as the word is explained by Pollux) a cornice between ceiling and roof, measuring in this instance four cubits in height and formed by the thickness of the single stone: see Letronne, Recherches pour servir, etc. p. 80 (quoted by Bähr).]

156. This house then of all the things that were to be seen by me in that temple is the most marvellous, and among those which come next is the island called Chemmis. This is situated in a deep and broad lake by the side of the temple at Buto, and it is said by the Egyptians that this island is a floating island. I myself did not see it either floating about or moved from its place, and I feel surprise at hearing of it, wondering if it be indeed a floating island. In this island of which I speak there is a great temple-house of Apollo, and three several altars are set up within, and there are planted in the island many palm-trees and other trees, both bearing fruit and not bearing fruit. And the Egyptians, when they say that it is floating, add this story, namely that in this island, which formerly was not floating, Leto, being one of the eight gods who came into existence first, and dwelling in the city of Buto where she has this Oracle, received Apollo from Isis as a charge and preserved him, concealing him in the island which is said now to be a floating island, at that time when Typhon came after him seeking everywhere and desiring to find the son of Osiris. Now they say that Apollo and Artemis are children of Dionysos and of Isis, and that Leto became their nurse and preserver; and in the Egyptian tongue Apollo is Oros, Demeter is Isis, and Artemis is Bubastis. From this story and from no other Æschylus the son of Euphorion took[136][{erpase}, “took as plunder.”] this which I shall say, wherein he differs from all the preceding poets; he represented namely that Artemis was the daughter of Demeter. For this reason then, they say, it became a floating island.

Such is the story which they tell;

157, but as for Psammetichos, he was king over Egypt for four-and-fifty years, of which for thirty years save one he was sitting before Azotos, a great city of Syria, besieging it, until at last he took it: and this Azotos of all cities about which we have knowledge held out for the longest time under a siege.

158. The son of Psammetichos was Necos, and he became king of Egypt. This man was the first who attempted the channel leading to the Erythraian Sea, which Dareios the Persian afterwards completed: the length of this is a voyage of four days, and in breadth it was so dug that two triremes could go side by side driven by oars; and the water is brought into it from the Nile. The channel is conducted a little above the city of Bubastis by Patumos the Arabian city, and runs into the Erythraian Sea: and it is dug first along those parts of the plain of Egypt which lie towards Arabia, just above which run the mountains which extend opposite Memphis, where are the stone-quarries,—along the base of these mountains the channel is conducted from West to East for a great way; and after that it is directed towards a break in the hills and tends from these mountains towards the noon-day and the South Wind to the Arabian gulf. Now in the place where the journey is least and shortest from the Northern to the Southern Sea (which is also called Erythraian), that is from Mount Casion, which is the boundary between Egypt and Syria, the distance is exactly[137][{aparti}: this word is not found in any MS. but was read here by the Greek grammarians.] a thousand furlongs to the Arabian gulf; but the channel is much longer, since it is more winding; and in the reign of Necos there perished while digging it twelve myriads [13701][即120,000。] of the Egyptians. Now Necos ceased in the midst of his digging, because the utterance of an Oracle impeded him, which was to the effect that he was working for the Barbarian: and the Egyptians call all men Barbarians who do not agree with them in speech.

159. Thus having ceased from the work of the channel, Necos betook himself to waging wars, and triremes were built by him, some for the Northern Sea and others in the Arabian gulf for the Erythraian Sea; and of these the sheds are still to be seen. These ships he used when he needed them; and also on land Necos engaged battle at Magdolos with the Syrians, and conquered them; and after this he took Cadytis, which is a great city of Syria: and the dress which he wore when he made these conquests he dedicated to Apollo, sending it to Branchidai of the Milesians. After this, having reigned in all sixteen years, he brought his life to an end, and handed on the kingdom to Psammis his son.

160. While this Psammis was king of Egypt, there came to him men sent by the Eleians, who boasted that they ordered the contest at Olympia in the most just and honourable manner possible and thought that not even the Egyptians, the wisest of men, could find out anything besides, to be added to their rules. Now when the Eleians came to Egypt and said that for which they had come, then this king called together those of the Egyptians who were reputed the wisest, and when the Egyptians had come together they heard the Eleians tell of all that which it was their part to do in regard to the contest; and when they had related everything, they said that they had come to learn in addition anything which the Egyptians might be able to find out besides, which was juster than this. They then having consulted together asked the Eleians whether their own citizens took part in the contest; and they said that it was permitted to any one who desired it, both of their own people and of the other Hellenes equally, to take part in the contest: upon which the Egyptians said that in so ordering the games they had wholly missed the mark of justice; for it could not be but that they would take part with the man of their own State, if he was contending, and so act unfairly to the stranger: but if they really desired, as they said, to order the games justly, and if this was the cause for which they had come to Egypt, they advised them to order the contest so as to be for strangers alone to contend in, and that no Eleian should be permitted to contend. Such was the suggestion made by the Egyptians to the Eleians.

161. When Psammis had been king of Egypt for only six years and had made an expedition to Ethiopia and immediately afterwards had ended his life, Apries the son of Psammis received the kingdom in succession. This man came to be the most prosperous of all the kings up to that time except only his forefather Psammetichos; and he reigned five-and-twenty years, during which he led an army against Sidon and fought a sea-fight with the king of Tyre. Since however it was fated that evil should come upon him, it came by occasion of a matter which I shall relate at greater length in the Libyan history,[138][Cp. iv. 159.] and at present but shortly. Apries having sent a great expedition against the Kyrenians, met with correspondingly great disaster; and the Egyptians considering him to blame for this revolted from him, supposing that Apries had with forethought sent them out to evident calamity, in order (as they said) that there might be a slaughter of them, and he might the more securely rule over the other Egyptians. Being indignant at this, both these men who had returned from the expedition and also the friends of those who had perished made revolt openly.

162. Hearing this Apries sent to them Amasis, to cause them to cease by persuasion; and when he had come and was seeking to restrain the Egyptians, as he was speaking and telling them not to do so, one of the Egyptians stood up behind him and put a helmet[139][{kuneen}, perhaps the royal helmet or 普先特, cp. ch. 151.]upon his head, saying as he did so that he put it on to crown him king. And to him this that was done was in some degree not unwelcome, as he proved by his behaviour; for as soon as the revolted Egyptians had set him up as king, he prepared to march against Apries: and Apries hearing this sent to Amasis one of the Egyptians who were about his own person, a man of reputation, whose name was Patarbemis, enjoining him to bring Amasis alive into his presence. When this Patarbemis came and summoned Amasis, the latter, who happened to be sitting on horseback, lifted up his leg and behaved in an unseemly manner,[140][{apemataise}, euphemism for breaking wind.] bidding him take that back to Apries. Nevertheless, they say, Patarbemis made demand of him that he should go to the king, seeing that the king had sent to summon him; and he answered him that he had for some time past been preparing to do so, and that Apries would have no occasion to find fault with him. Then Patarbemis both perceiving his intention from that which he said, and also seeing his preparations, departed in haste, desiring to make known as quickly as possible to the king the things which were being done: and when he came back to Apries not bringing Amasis, the king paying no regard to that which he said,[141][{oudena logon auto donta}: many Editors change {auto} to {eouto}, in which case it means “taking no time to consider the matter,” as elsewhere in Herodotus; but cp. iii. 50 {istoreonti logon audena edidou}.] but being moved by violent anger, ordered his ears and his nose to be cut off. And the rest of the Egyptians who still remained on his side, when they saw the man of most repute among them thus suffering shameful outrage, waited no longer but joined the others in revolt, and delivered themselves over to Amasis.

163. Then Apries having heard this also, armed his foreign mercenaries and marched against the Egyptians: now he had about him Carian and Ionian mercenaries to the number of thirty thousand; and his royal palace was in the city of Saïs, of great size and worthy to be seen. So Apries and his army were going against the Egyptians, and Amasis and those with him were going against the mercenaries; and both sides came to the city of Momemphis and were about to make trial of one another in fight.

164. Now of the Egyptians there are seven classes, and of these one class is called that of the priests, and another that of the warriors, while the others are the cowherds, swineherds, shopkeepers, interpreters, and boatmen. This is the number of the classes of the Egyptians, and their names are given them from the occupations which they follow. Of them the warriors are called Calasirians and Hermotybians, and they are of the following districts,[142][{nomon}, and so throughout the passage.]—for all Egypt is divided into districts.

165. The districts of the Hermotybians are those of Busiris, Saïs, Chemmis, Papremis, the island called Prosopitis, and the half of Natho,—of these districts are the Hermotybians, who reached when most numerous the number of sixteen myriads. [14201][即160,000。] Of these not one has learnt anything of handicraft, but they are given up to war entirely.

166. Again the districts of the Calasirians are those of Thebes, Bubastis, Aphthis, Tanis, Mendes, Sebennytos, Athribis, Pharbaithos, Thmuïs Onuphis, Anytis, Myecphoris,—this last is on an island opposite to the city of Bubastis. These are the districts of the Calasirians; and they reached, when most numerous, to the number of five-and-twenty myriads [14202][即250,000。] of men; nor is it lawful for these, any more than for the others, to practise any craft; but they practise that which has to do with war only, handing down the tradition from father to son.

167. Now whether the Hellenes have learnt this also from the Egyptians, I am not able to say for certain, since I see that the Thracians also and Scythians and Persians and Lydians and almost all the Barbarians esteem those of their citizens who learn the arts, and the descendants of them, as less honourable than the rest; while those who have got free from all practice of manual arts are accounted noble, and especially those who are devoted to war: however that may be, the Hellenes have all learnt this, and especially the Lacedemonians; but the Corinthians least of all cast slight upon those who practise handicrafts.

168. The following privilege was specially granted to this class and to none others of the Egyptians except the priests, that is to say, each man had twelve yokes[143][{arourai}, cp. ch. 141.] of land specially granted to him free from imposts: now the yoke of land measures a hundred Egyptian cubits every way, and the Egyptian cubit is, as it happens, equal to that of Samos. This, I say, was a special privilege granted to all, and they also had certain advantages in turn and not the same men twice; that is to say, a thousand of the Calasirians and a thousand of the Hermotybians acted as body-guard to the king during each year;[144][{ekaston}: if {ekastoi} be read (for which there is more MS. authority) the meaning will be that “a thousand Calasirians and a thousand Hermotybians acted as guards alternately, each for a year,” the number at a time being 1000 not 2000.] and these had besides their yokes of land an allowance given them for each day of five pounds weight [14401][{pente mneai}.] of bread to each man, and two pounds of beef, and four half-pints[145][{arusteres},={kotulai}.] of wine. This was the allowance given to those who were serving as the king’s bodyguard for the time being.

169. So when Apries leading his foreign mercenaries, and Amasis at the head of the whole body of the Egyptians, in their approach to one another had come to the city of Momemphis, they engaged battle: and although the foreign troops fought well, yet being much inferior in number they were worsted by reason of this. But Apries is said to have supposed that not even a god would be able to cause him to cease from his rule, so firmly did he think that it was established. In that battle then, I say, he was worsted, and being taken alive was brought away to the city of Saïs, to that which had formerly been his own dwelling but from thenceforth was the palace of Amasis. There for some time he was kept in the palace, and Amasis dealt well with him; but at last, since the Egyptians blamed him, saying that he acted not rightly in keeping alive him who was the greatest foe both to themselves and to him, therefore he delivered Apries over to the Egyptians; and they strangled him, and after that buried him in the burial-place of his fathers: this is in the temple of Athene, close to the sanctuary, on the left hand as you enter. Now the men of Saïs buried all those of this district who had been kings, within the temple; for the tomb of Amasis also, though it is further from the sanctuary than that of Apries and his forefathers, yet this too is within the court of the temple, and it consists of a colonnade of stone of great size, with pillars carved to imitate date-palms, and otherwise sumptuously adorned; and within the colonnade are double-doors, and inside the doors a sepulchral chamber.

170. Also at Saïs there is the burial-place of him whom I account it not pious to name in connexion with such a matter, which is in the temple of Athene behind the house of the goddess,[146][{tou neou}.] stretching along the whole wall of it; and in the sacred enclosure stand great obelisks of stone, and near them is a lake adorned with an edging of stone and fairly made in a circle, being in size, as it seemed to me, equal to that which is called the “Round Pool”[147][{e trokhoiedes kaleomene}, “the Wheel.”] in Delos.

171. On this lake they perform by night the show of his sufferings, and this the Egyptians call Mysteries. Of these things I know more fully in detail how they take place, but I shall leave this unspoken; and of the mystic rites of Demeter, which the Hellenes call thesmophoria, of these also, although I know, I shall leave unspoken all except so much as piety permits me to tell. The daughters of Danaos were they who brought this rite out of Egypt and taught it to the women of the Pelasgians; then afterwards when all the inhabitants of Peloponnese were driven out by the Dorians, the rite was lost, and only those who were left behind of the Peloponnesians and not driven out, that is to say the Arcadians, preserved it.

172. Apries having thus been overthrown, Amasis became king, being of the district of Saïs, and the name of the city whence he was is Siuph. Now at the first the Egyptians despised Amasis and held him in no great regard, because he had been a man of the people and was of no distinguished family; but afterwards Amasis won them over to himself by wisdom and not wilfulness. Among innumerable other things of price which he had, there was a foot-basin of gold in which both Amasis himself and all his guests were wont always to wash their feet. This he broke up, and of it he caused to be made the image of a god, and set it up in the city, where it was most convenient; and the Egyptians went continually to visit the image and did great reverence to it. Then Amasis, having learnt that which was done by the men of the city, called together the Egyptians and made known to them the matter, saying that the image had been produced from the foot-basin, into which formerly the Egyptians used to vomit and make water, and in which they washed their feet, whereas now they did to it great reverence; and just so, he continued, had he himself now fared, as the foot-basin; for though formerly he was a man of the people, yet now he was their king, and he bade them accordingly honour him and have regard for him.

173. In such manner he won the Egyptians to himself, so that they consented to be his subjects; and his ordering of affairs was thus:—In the early morning, and until the time of the filling of the market he did with a good will the business which was brought before him; but after this he passed the time in drinking and in jesting at his boon-companions, and was frivolous and playful. And his friends being troubled at it admonished him in some such words as these: “O king, thou dost not rightly govern thyself in thus letting thyself descend to behaviour so trifling; for thou oughtest rather to have been sitting throughout the day stately upon a stately throne and administering thy business; and so the Egyptians would have been assured that they were ruled by a great man, and thou wouldest have had a better report: but as it is, thou art acting by no means in a kingly fashion.” And he answered them thus: “They who have bows stretch them at such time as they wish to use them, and when they have finished using them they loose them again;[148][The last words, “and when—again,” are not found in the best MSS., and are omitted by Stein. However their meaning, if not expressed, is implied.] for if they were stretched tight always they would break, so that the men would not be able to use them when they needed them. So also is the state of man: if he should always be in earnest and not relax himself for sport at the due time, he would either go mad or be struck with stupor before he was aware; and knowing this well, I distribute a portion of the time to each of the two ways of living.” Thus he replied to his friends.

174. It is said however that Amasis, even when he was in a private station, was a lover of drinking and of jesting, and not at all seriously disposed; and whenever his means of livelihood failed him through his drinking and luxurious living, he would go about and steal; and they from whom he stole would charge him with having their property, and when he denied it would bring him before the judgment of an Oracle, whenever there was one in their place; and many times he was convicted by the Oracles and many times he was absolved: and then when finally he became king he did as follows:—as many of the gods as had absolved him and pronounced him not to be a thief, to their temples he paid no regard, nor gave anything for the further adornment of them, nor even visited them to offer sacrifice, considering them to be worth nothing and to possess lying Oracles; but as many as had convicted him of being a thief, to these he paid very great regard, considering them to be truly gods, and to present Oracles which did not lie.

175. First in Saïs he built and completed for Athene a temple-gateway which is a great marvel, and he far surpassed herein all who had done the like before, both in regard to height and greatness, so large are the stones and of such quality. Then secondly he dedicated great colossal statues and man-headed sphinxes very large, and for restoration he brought other stones of monstrous size. Some of these he caused to be brought from the stone-quarries which are opposite Memphis, others of very great size from the city of Elephantine, distant a voyage of not less than twenty days from Saïs: and of them all I marvel most at this, namely a monolith chamber which he brought from the city of Elephantine; and they were three years engaged in bringing this, and two thousand men were appointed to convey it, who all were of the class of boatmen. Of this house the length outside is one-and-twenty cubits, the breadth is fourteen cubits, and the height eight. These are the measures of the monolith house outside; but the length inside is eighteen cubits and five-sixths of a cubit,[149][{pugonos}.] the breadth twelve cubits, and the height five cubits. This lies by the side of the entrance to the temple; for within the temple they did not draw it, because, as it said, while the house was being drawn along, the chief artificer of it groaned aloud, seeing that much time had been spent and he was wearied by the work; and Amasis took it to heart as a warning and did not allow them to draw it further onwards. Some say on the other hand that a man was killed by it, of those who were heaving it with levers, and that it was not drawn in for that reason.

176. Amasis also dedicated in all the other temples which were of repute, works which are worth seeing for their size, and among them also at Memphis the colossal statue which lies on its back in front of the temple of Hephaistos, whose length is five-and-seventy feet; and on the same base made of the same stone[150][{tou autou eontes lithou}: some MSS. and many Editors have {Aithiopikou} for {tou autou}, “of Ethiopian stone.” For {eontes} the MSS. have {eontos}, which may be right, referring to {tou bathrou} understood, “the base being made of,” etc.] are set two colossal statues, each of twenty feet in length, one on this side and the other on that side of the large statue.[151][{tou megalou}, a conjecture founded upon Valla’s version, which has been confirmed by a MS. The other MSS. have {tou megarou}, which is retained by some Editors, “on each side of the sanctuary.”] There is also another of stone of the same size in Saïs, lying in the same manner as that at Memphis. Moreover Amasis was he who built and finished for Isis her temple at Memphis, which is of great size and very worthy to be seen.

177. In the reign of Amasis it is said that Egypt became more prosperous than at any other time before, both in regard to that which comes to the land from the river and in regard to that which comes from the land to its inhabitants, and that at this time the inhabited towns in it numbered in all twenty thousand. It was Amasis too who established the law that every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death. Now Solon the Athenian received from Egypt this law and had it enacted for the Athenians, and they have continued to observe it, since it is a law with which none can find fault.

178. Moreover Amasis became a lover of the Hellenes; and besides other proofs of friendship which he gave to several among them, he also granted the city of Naucratis for those of them who came to Egypt to dwell in; and to those who did not desire to stay, but who made voyages thither, he granted portions of land to set up altars and make sacred enclosures for their gods. Their greatest enclosure and that one which has most name and is most frequented is called the Hellenion, and this was established by the following cities in common:—of the Ionians Chios, Teos, Phocaia, Clazomenai, of the Dorians Rhodes, Cnidos, Halicarnassos, Phaselis, and of the Aiolians Mytilene alone. To these belongs this enclosure and these are the cities which appoint superintendents of the port; and all other cities which claim a share in it, are making a claim without any right.[152][“are claiming a share when no part in it belongs to them.”] Besides this the Eginetans established on their own account a sacred enclosure dedicated to Zeus, the Samians one to Hera, and the Milesians one to Apollo.

179. Now in old times Naucratis alone was an open trading-place, and no other place in Egypt: and if any one came to any other of the Nile mouths, he was compelled to swear that he came not thither of his own will, and when he had thus sworn his innocence he had to sail with his ship to the Canobic mouth, or if it were not possible to sail by reason of contrary winds, then he had to carry his cargo round the head of the Delta in boats to Naucratis: thus highly was Naucratis privileged.

180. Moreover when the Amphictyons had let out the contract for building the temple which now exists at Delphi, agreeing to pay a sum of three hundred talents, (for the temple which formerly stood there had been burnt down of itself), it fell to the share of the people of Delphi to provide the fourth part of the payment; and accordingly the Delphians went about to various cities and collected contributions. And when they did this they got from Egypt as much as from any place, for Amasis gave them a thousand talents’ weight of alum, while the Hellenes who dwelt in Egypt gave them twenty pounds of silver.[153][Or possibly of alum: but the gift seems a very small one in any case. Some propose to read {eikosi mneas khrusou}.]

181. Also with the people of Kyrene Amasis made an agreement for friendship and alliance; and he resolved too to marry a wife from thence, whether because he desired to have a wife of Hellenic race, or apart from that, on account of friendship for the people of Kyrene: however that may be, he married, some say the daughter of Battos, others of Arkesilaos,[154][Or, according to a few MSS., “Battos the son of Arkesilaos.”] and others of Critobulos, a man of repute among the citizens; and her name was Ladike. Now whenever Amasis lay with her he found himself unable to have intercourse, but with his other wives he associated as he was wont; and as this happened repeatedly, Amasis said to his wife, whose name was Ladike: “Woman, thou hast given me drugs, and thou shalt surely perish[155][“thou hast surely perished.”] more miserably than any other woman.” Then Ladike, when by her denials Amasis was not at all appeased in his anger against her, made a vow in her soul to Aphrodite, that if Amasis on that night had intercourse with her (seeing that this was the remedy for her danger), she would send an image to be dedicated to her at Kyrene; and after the vow immediately Amasis had intercourse, and from thenceforth whenever Amasis came in to her he had intercourse with her; and after this he became very greatly attached to her. And Ladike paid the vow that she had made to the goddess; for she had an image made and sent it to Kyrene, and it was still preserved even to my own time, standing with its face turned away from the city of the Kyrenians. This Ladike Cambyses, having conquered Egypt and heard from her who she was, sent back unharmed to Kyrene.

182. Amasis also dedicated offerings in Hellas, first at Kyrene an image of Athene covered over with gold and a figure of himself made like by painting; then in the temple of Athene at Lindson two images of stone and a corslet of linen worthy to be seen; and also at Samos two wooden figures of himself dedicated to Hera, which were standing even to my own time in the great temple, behind the doors. Now at Samos he dedicated offerings because of the guest-friendship between himself and Polycrates the son of Aiakes; at Lindos for no guest-friendship but because the temple of Athene at Lindos is said to have been founded by the daughters of Danaos, who had touched land there at the time when they were fleeing from the sons of Aigyptos. These offerings were dedicated by Amasis; and he was the first of men who conquered Cyprus and subdued it so that it paid him tribute.

第二册注释 •2,900字

[1] [有些人写的“Psammitichos”的权威性较低。]

[2] [{tou en Memphi}:许多编辑读到{en Memphi},“我在孟菲斯听赫菲斯托斯的祭司们说”,但权威性较低。]

[3] [{'Eliou polin} 或 {'Elioupolin},cp。 {'Elioupolitai} 下面。]

[4] [{exo e ta ounamata auton mounon}。有些人将“他们”理解为“众神”;有些人将“他们”理解为“诸神”。更确切地说,其含义可能是对此类事情的记述不会完全相关,而只是触及。]

[5] [{ison peri auton epistasthai}.]

[6] [{anthropon},强调,因为在他之前的统治者都是神(第 144 章)。]

[7] 【{米娜}:别人读的是{米娜},但是MSS的权威。对于 {Mina} 来说,在这里和在 ch 中都很强大。 99.]

[8] [{tou Thebaikou nomou},cp。 ch. 164.]

[9] [{tautes on apo}:一些 MSS。省略{apo},“这就是六十个 舒伊讷 都算了。”]

[10] [对于长度 cp 的测量。 ch. 149. 弗隆 ({stadion}) 等于 100 噚 ({orguiai}),即 606 英尺 9 英寸。]

[11] [或“没有下雨”:单词 {anudros} 被一些编辑更改为 {enudros} 或 {euudros},“浇水良好。”]

[12] [我跟随斯坦因将 {es ta eiretai} 与 {legon} 结合起来,意思是“在厄立特里亚海”,{taute men} 是上面 {te men} 的重复。向后弯曲将使范围加倍,因此部分地扩大了范围。其他人翻译为:“范围在这里(在采石场)停止,并转向所提到的部分(即厄立特里亚海)。”]

[13] [{os einai Aiguptou}:cp。四. 81. 其他人翻译为“考虑到它属于埃及”(一个幅员辽阔的国家),即“埃及采取的措施”。无论如何,下面的 {Aiguptos eousa} 似乎重复了相同的含义。]

[14] [一些编辑将其更改为“十四”。]

[15] [{pentastomou}:一些不太好的MSS。有 {eptastomou},“有七个嘴。”]

[16] [参见 i 上的注释。 203.]

[17] [{ton erkhomai lexon}:这些词被许多编辑标记为虚假的,而且它们在这里似乎不合适。]

[18] [{kou ge de}:“那么哪里的鸿沟不可以填平呢?”]

[19] [{katarregnumenen}:一些编辑从许多MSS给出的{katerregnumenen}中读取了{katerregmenen}(“被裂缝打破”)。]

[1901] [或者可能是“下面有岩石”,在这种情况下,{upopsammoteren} 可能意味着“下面有沙子。”]

[20] [我们不知道这些测量值是采用较大的埃及腕尺 21 英寸还是较小的(等于普通希腊腕尺)18 英寸,cp。我。 178.]

[21] [{kai to omoion apodido es auxesin},“并在增加程度方面产生类似的回报。” (伍兹先生);但该子句可能只是前一个子句的重复。]

[22] [即宙斯。]

[23] [即底比斯地区,Thebaïs。]

[24] [{te Libu}。]

[25] 【意思似乎是这样的:“爱奥尼亚人说埃及是三角洲,同时他们把世界分为三部分,欧洲、亚洲和利比亚,后两部分被尼罗河分开。因此,他们完全排除了埃及;他们要么必须将三角洲添加为世界的第四部分,要么必须放弃尼罗河作为边界。如果埃及这个名字像其他希腊人一样延伸到尼罗河上游,那么就可以保留尼罗河作为边界,说埃及的一半属于亚洲,一半属于利比亚,并且不考虑三角洲(第 17 章)。这也是一个计算错误,但比把埃及一起忽略掉要轻一些。”推理是晦涩难懂的,因为它暗示了(赫卡泰奥斯和其他作家的)理论,而这些理论被认为是读者已经知道的。]

[26] [{Katadoupon},即第一次白内障。]

[27] [“它给了我们这里,等等。” ({parekhomenos})。]

[28] [{标志 de eipein Thoumasiotere}。或者也许,“可以说,这更奇妙。”]

[29] [{ton ta polla esti andri ke ktl} 我用 {ton} 来指代国家的性质,如上所述;但 {os} 的使用很难并行,并且该段落可能需要更正。一些编辑读到{ton tekmeria polla esti ktl}“其中有很多证据可以证明,等等。”斯坦因省略了 {ton} 并更改了标点符号,以便从句这样运行:“当它从最热的部分流向大多数较冷的部分时?对于一个能够推理此类问题的人来说,第一个也是最有力的证据可以证明它不可能从雪中流出来,而是由风提供的,等等。”]

[30] [{ouk ekhei elegkhon},“无法反驳”(因为我们无法与他争论),cp。 Thuc。三. 53、{ta de pseude elegkhon ekhei}。有些翻译为“不能证明他的情况。”]

[31] [{tes arkhaies diexodou},“他原来的(正常)路线。”]

[32] [{ouk eonton anemon psukhron}:最好的 MSS。斯坦因保留了{kai anemon psukhron}(“并且有冷风”),解释说寒冷的北风会促进蒸发。]

[33] [{autos eoutou peei pollo upodeesteros e tou thereos}.]

[34] [{diakaion ten diexodon auto},即{to reri}。一些编辑阅读 {autou} (MSS 较差。)或将该词更改为 {eoutou}。]

[35] [“据我所知,阐述。”]

[36] [{epi makrotaton},“尽可能进行调查”,cp。 ch. 34.]

[37] [我毫不怀疑这指的是象岛;因为只有在这一点上才会发现这样的种族混合体。对此,作者在括号中回顾了这一点,然后继续叙述从塔乔普索向上的旅程。斯特拉博对象岛上方的菲莱岛也说了同样的事情,这一事​​实证实了这一观点。]

[3701] [Cp。我。 72,注86。]

[38] [{橄榄树}。]

[39] [{泽亚斯}。]

[40] [即僧侣字符和通俗字符。]

[41] [{murias,os eipein 徽标}。]

[42] [显然指的是iii。 28,其中给出了蜜蜂的标记。也许任何带有这些标记的动物都不能被牺牲。]

[43] [{kephale keine},“那个头”,cp。 {koilien keinen} 在下一章。]

[44] [{卡塔隆}。]

[45] [{巴里斯},cp。 ch. 96.]

[46] [或者,“艾吉普托斯的后裔。”]

[4601] [或者,“假设当时和现在一样,他们习惯于航行,并且一些希腊人是航海民族。”]

[47] [{stelai},“直立块。”]

[48] [{lampontos tas nuktas megathos}:一些编辑将 {megathos} 更改为 {megalos} 或 {mega phos}。]

[49] [{enagizousi}。]

[50] [{uon}:一些编辑根据一位女士的授权阅读了{oion}“羊”。]

[51] [{ta ounamata},这里的意思是拟人化形式,而不是实际名称。]

[52] [{艾·普拉曼提斯}。]

[53] [{菲根}。]

[54] [{upo phego pephukuie},即传说中的橡树是一棵真正生长的树,尽管鸽子只是象征性的。]

[55] [{panegurias}。]

[56] [{prosagogas},带有献祭或介绍人的意思。]

[57] [{epoiethesan},“首次庆祝。”]

[58] [所以BR]

[59] [{sumphoiteousi}。]

[5901] [即700,000。]

[60] [参见第 40 章。 XNUMX.]

[61] [{tesi suchiesi, en tini nukti}:一些 MSS。 Give {en te nukti}:因此,几位编辑读到了 {tes Suchies en te nukti},“在牺牲之夜。”]

[62] [或者,“为了什么目的,今晚要通过点灯来庄严地举行”(BR),使 {phos kai timen} 成为一个想法。]

[63] [{alexomenous}:这是大多数编辑所采用的,是对一些不太好的MSS的阅读。;其余的有{alexomenoi},“打击他们并保卫自己。”]

[6301] [{eousa e Aiguptos ktl}:MSS。有 {eousa de Aiguptos}:斯坦因读到 {eousa gar Aiguptos}。]

[64] [{theia pregmata katalambanei tous aielourous},可能只意味着“猫身上发生了奇妙的事情。”]

[65] [{es 'Ermeo polin}。]

[66] [{dikhelon, oplai boos},“他是偶蹄的,他的脚是牛的。”单词 {oplai boos} 被 Stein 标记为虚假。]

[67] [i.e. above the marshes, cp. ch. 92.]

[68] [{pante}, which by some is translated “taken all together,” “at most.” Perhaps there is some corruption of text, and the writer meant to say that it measured two cubits by one cubit.]

[6801] [The reading of the Medicean MS. is {en esti}, not {enesti} as hitherto reported.]

[69] [Or, “calling the song Linos.”]

[70] [{ton Linon okothen elabon}: the MSS. have {to ounoma} after {elabon}, but this is omitted by almost all Editors except Stein, who justifies it by a reference to ch. 50, and understands it to mean “the person of Linos.” No doubt the song and the person are here spoken off indiscriminately, but this explanation would require the reading {tou Linou}, as indeed Stein partly admits by suggesting the alteration.]

[71] [The words “and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian),” are omitted by several of the best MSS.]

[72] [{epezosmenai}.]

[73] [In connexion with death apparently, cp. ch. 132, 170. Osiris is meant.]

[74] [{sindonos bussines}.]

[75] [{to kommi}.]

[76] [{nros}.]

[77] [Or, “a pleasant sweet taste.”]

[78] [{apala}, “soft.”]

[79] [{kat oligous ton kegkhron}.]

[80] [{apo ton sillikuprion tou karpou}.]

[81] [{zuga}, to tie the sides and serve as a partial deck.]

[82] [{esti de oud’ outos}: a few MSS. have {ouk} instead of {oud’}, and most Editors follow them. The meaning however seems to be that even here the course in time of flood is different, and much more in the lower parts.]

[83] [{os apergmenos ree}: the MSS. mostly have {os apergmenos reei}, in place of which I have adopted the correction of Stein. Most other Editors read {os apergmenos peei} (following a few inferior MSS.), “the bend of the Nile which flows thus confined.”]

[84] [Not therefore in the Delta, to which in ch. 15 was assigned a later origin than this.]

[85] [{kat’ ouden einai lamprotetos}: Stein reads {kai} for {kat’}, thus making the whole chapter parenthetical, with {ou gar elegon} answered by {parameipsamenos on}, a conjecture which is ingenious but not quite convincing.]

[86] [{stratien pollen labon}: most of the MSS. have {ton} after {pollen}, which perhaps indicates that some words are lost.]

[87] [{kai prosotata}: many MSS. have {kai ou prosotata}, which is defended by some Editors in the sense of a comparative, “and not further.”]

[88] [{Suroi} in the better MSS.; see note in i.6.]

[89] [{Surioi}.]

[90] [{kata tauta}: the better MSS. have {kai kata tauta}, which might be taken with what follows, punctuating after {ergazontai} (as in the Medicean MS.): “they and the Egyptians alone of all nations work flax; and so likewise they resemble one another in their whole manner of living.”]

[91] [{polon}, i.e. the concave sun-dial, in shape like the vault of heaven.]

[92] [The gnomon would be an upright staff or an obelisk for observation of the length of the shadow.]

[93] [i.e. Red Clod.]

[94] [{Turion stratopedon}, i.e. “the Tyrian quarter” of the town: cp. ch. 154.]

[95] [{ten sen}, or {tauten}, “this land.”]

[96] [{es o meteke auton}, “until at last he dismissed it”; but the construction is very irregular, and there is probably some corruption of text. Stein reads {ekon} by conjecture for {es o}.]

[97] [{delon de kata per epoiese}: a conjectural emendation of {delon de’ kata gar epoiese}, which some editors retain, translating thus, “and this is clear; for according to the manner in which Homer described the wanderings of Alexander, etc., it is clear how, etc.”]

[98] [Il. vi. 289. The sixth book is not ordinarily included in the {Diomedeos aristeia}.]

[99] [Od. iv. 227. These references to the Odyssey are by some thought to be interpolations, because they refer only to the visit of Menelaos to Egypt after the fall of Troy; but Herodotus is arguing that Homer, while rejecting the legend of Helen’s stay in Egypt during the war, yet has traces of it left in this later visit to Egypt of Menelaos and Helen, as well as in the visit of Paris and Helen to Sidon.]

[100] [Od. iv. 351.]

[101] [{kai tode to khorion}: probably {to khorion} ought to be struck out: “this also is evident.”]

[102] [{podeonas}, being the feet of the animals whose skins they were.]

[103] [Cp。七. 152.]

[104] [{elasai}, which may be intransitive, “rushed into every kind of evil.”]

[105] [{stadioi}.]

[106] [{krossas}.]

[107] [{bomidas}.]

[108] [i.e. the three small pyramids just to the East of the great pyramid.]

[109] [{oute gar k.t.l.}, “for there are no underground chambers,” etc. Something which was in the mind of the writer has been omitted either by himself or his copyists, “and inferior to it also in other respects, for,” etc. unless, as Stein supposes, we have here a later addition thrown in without regard to the connexion.]

[110] [{touto megathos}, “as regards attaining the same size,” but probably the text is corrupt. Stein reads {to megathos} in his later editions.]

[111] [Or, “Philition.”]

[112] [{to theo}, the goddess Leto, cp. i. 105.]

[113] [{suntakhunein auton ton bion}: some MSS. and Editors read {auto} for {auton}, “that heaven was shortening his life.”]

[114] [More literally, “bidding him take up the blood-money, who would.” The people of Delphi are said to have put Esop to death and to have been ordered by the Oracle to make compensation.]

[115] [{os an einai ‘Podopin}: so the MSS. Some Editors read {‘Podopios}, others {‘Podopi}.]

[116] [{antion de autout tou neou}.]

[117] [{epaphroditoi ginesthai}.]

[118] [{katekertomese min}: Athenæus says that Sappho attacked the mistress of Charaxos; but here {min} can hardly refer to any one but Charaxos himself, who doubtless would be included in the same condemnation.]

[119] [{propulaia}.]

[120] [“innumerable sights of buildings.”]

[121] [{tassomenon}, “posted,” like an army; but the text is probably unsound: so also in the next line, where the better MSS. have {men Boubasti poli}, others {e en Boubasti polis}. Stein reads {e en Boubasti poli}, “the earth at the city of Bubastis.” Perhaps {e en Boubasti polis} might mean the town as opposed to the temple, as Mr. Woods suggests.]

[122] [Cp. ch. 161, {egeneto apo prophasios, ton k.t.l.} Perhaps however {prophasin} is here from {prophaino} (cp. Soph. Trach. 662), and it means merely “that the gods were foreshowing him this in order that,” etc. So Stein.]

[123] [i.e. for their customary gift or tribute to him as king.]

[124] [The chronology is inconsistent, and some propose, without authority, to read “three hundred years.”]

[125] [{tas arouras}, cp. ch. 168, where the {aroura} is defined as a hundred Egyptian units square, about three-quarters of an acre.]

[126] [{es 为 megaron}。]

[127] [Not on two single occasions, but for two separate periods of time it was stated that the sun had risen in the West and set in the East; i.e. from East to West, then from West to East, then again from East to West, and finally back to East again. This seems to be the meaning attached by Herodotus to something which he was told about astronomical cycles.]

[128] [{ouk eontas}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and also fits in best with the argument, which was that in Egypt gods were quite distinct from men. Most Editors however read {oikeontas} on the authority of a few MSS., “dwelling with men.” (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {ouk eontas}, not {oukeontas} as stated by Stein.)]

[129] [i.e. that the Hellenes borrowed these divinities from Egypt, see ch. 43 ff. This refers to all the three gods above mentioned and not (as Stein contended) to Pan and Dionysos only.]

[130] [{kai toutous allous}, i.e. as well as Heracles; but it may mean “that these also, distinct from the gods, had been born,” etc. The connexion seems to be this: “I expressed my opinion on all these cases when I spoke of the case of Heracles; for though the statement there about Heracles was in one respect inapplicable to the rest, yet in the main conclusion that gods are not born of men it applies to all.”]

[131] [{stadioi}.]

[132] [{mneas}, of which 60 go to the talent.]

[133] [Cp。 ch. 112.]

[134] [{neos}.]

[135] [I understand that each wall consisted of a single stone, which gave the dimensions each way: “as regards height and length” therefore it was made of a single stone. That it should have been a monolith, except the roof, is almost impossible, not only because of the size mentioned (which in any case is suspicious), but because no one would so hollow out a monolith that it would be necessary afterwards to put on another stone for the roof. The monolith chamber mentioned in ch. 175, which it took three years to convey from Elephantine, measured only 21 cubits by 14 by 8. The {parorophis} or “cornice” is not an “eave projecting four cubits,” but (as the word is explained by Pollux) a cornice between ceiling and roof, measuring in this instance four cubits in height and formed by the thickness of the single stone: see Letronne, Recherches pour servir, etc. p. 80 (quoted by Bähr).]

[136] [{erpase}, “took as plunder.”]

[137] [{aparti}: this word is not found in any MS. but was read here by the Greek grammarians.]

[13701] [即120,000。]

[138] [Cp. iv. 159.]

[139] [{kuneen}, perhaps the royal helmet or 普先特, cp. ch. 151.]

[140] [{apemataise}, euphemism for breaking wind.]

[141] [{oudena logon auto donta}: many Editors change {auto} to {eouto}, in which case it means “taking no time to consider the matter,” as elsewhere in Herodotus; but cp. iii. 50 {istoreonti logon audena edidou}.]

[142] [{nomon}, and so throughout the passage.]

[14201] [即160,000。]

[14202] [即250,000。]

[143] [{arourai}, cp. ch. 141.]

[144] [{ekaston}: if {ekastoi} be read (for which there is more MS. authority) the meaning will be that “a thousand Calasirians and a thousand Hermotybians acted as guards alternately, each for a year,” the number at a time being 1000 not 2000.]

[14401] [{pente mneai}.]

[145] [{arusteres},={kotulai}.]

[146] [{tou neou}.]

[147] [{e trokhoiedes kaleomene}, “the Wheel.”]

[148] [The last words, “and when—again,” are not found in the best MSS., and are omitted by Stein. However their meaning, if not expressed, is implied.]

[149] [{pugonos}.]

[150] [{tou autou eontes lithou}: some MSS. and many Editors have {Aithiopikou} for {tou autou}, “of Ethiopian stone.” For {eontes} the MSS. have {eontos}, which may be right, referring to {tou bathrou} understood, “the base being made of,” etc.]

[151] [{tou megalou}, a conjecture founded upon Valla’s version, which has been confirmed by a MS. The other MSS. have {tou megarou}, which is retained by some Editors, “on each side of the sanctuary.”]

[152] [“are claiming a share when no part in it belongs to them.”]

[153] [Or possibly of alum: but the gift seems a very small one in any case. Some propose to read {eikosi mneas khrusou}.]

[154] [Or, according to a few MSS., “Battos the son of Arkesilaos.”]

[155] [“thou hast surely perished.”]

第三册 • 历史的第三本书,称为塔雷亚 (Thaleia) •35,000字

1. Against this Amasis then Cambyses the son of Cyrus was making his march, taking with him not only other nations of which he was ruler, but also Hellenes, both Ionians and Aiolians:[1][See ii. 1.] and the cause of the expedition was as follows:—Cambyses sent an envoy to Egypt and asked Amasis to give him his daughter; and he made the request by counsel of an Egyptian, who brought this upon Amasis[2][{‘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.”] having a quarrel with him for the following reason:—at the time when Cyrus sent to Amasis and asked him for a physician of the eyes, whosoever was the best of those in Egypt, Amasis had selected him from all the physicians in Egypt and had torn him away from his wife and children and delivered him up to Persia. Having, I say, this cause of quarrel, the Egyptian urged Cambyses on by his counsel bidding him ask Amasis for his daughter, in order that he might either be grieved if he gave her, or if he refused to give her, might offend Cambyses. So Amasis, who was vexed by the power of the Persians and afraid of it, knew neither how to give nor how to refuse: for he was well assured that Cambyses did not intend to have her as his wife but as a concubine. So making account of the matter thus, he did as follows:—there was a daughter of Apries the former king, very tall and comely of form and the only person left of his house, and her name was Nitetis. This girl Amasis adorned with raiment and with gold, and sent her away to Persia as his own daughter: but after a time, when Cambyses saluted her calling her by the name of her father, the girl said to him: “O king, thou dost not perceive how thou hast been deceived by Amasis; for he adorned me with ornaments and sent me away giving me to thee as his own daughter, whereas in truth I am the daughter of Apries against whom Amasis rose up with the Egyptians and murdered him, who was his lord and master.” These words uttered and this occasion having arisen, led Cambyses the son of Cyrus against Egypt, moved to very great anger.

2. Such is the report made by the Persians; but as for the Egyptians they claim Cambyses as one of themselves, saying that he was born of this very daughter of Apries; for they say that Cyrus was he who sent to Amasis for his daughter, and not Cambyses. In saying this however they say not rightly; nor can they have failed to observe (for the Egyptians fully as well as any other people are acquainted with the laws and customs of the Persians), first that it is not customary among them for a bastard to become king, when there is a son born of a true marriage, and secondly that Cambyses was the son of Cassandane the daughter of Pharnaspes, a man of the Achaimenid family, and not the son of the Egyptian woman: but they pervert the truth of history, claiming to be kindred with the house of Cyrus. Thus it is with these matters;

3, and the following story is also told, which for my part I do not believe, namely that one of the Persian women came in to the wives of Cyrus, and when she saw standing by the side of Cassandane children comely of form and tall, she was loud in her praises of them, expressing great admiration; and Cassandane, who was the wife of Cyrus, spoke as follows: “Nevertheless, though I am the mother of such children of these, Cyrus treats me with dishonour and holds in honour her whom he has brought in from Egypt.” Thus she spoke, they say, being vexed by Nitetis, and upon that Cambyses the elder of her sons said: “For this cause, mother, when I am grown to be a man, I will make that which is above in Egypt to be below, and that which is below above.” This he is reported to have said when he was perhaps about ten years old, and the women were astonished by it: and he, they say, kept it ever in mind, and so at last when he had become a man and had obtained the royal power, he made the expedition against Egypt.

4. Another thing also contributed to this expedition, which was as follows:—There was among the foreign mercenaries[3][See ii. 152, 154.] of Amasis a man who was by race of Halicarnassos, and his name was Phanes, one who was both capable in judgment and valiant in that which pertained to war. This Phanes, having (as we may suppose) some quarrel with Amasis, fled away from Egypt in a ship, desiring to come to speech with Cambyses: and as he was of no small repute among the mercenaries and was very closely acquainted with all the affairs of Egypt, Amasis pursued him and considered it a matter of some moment to capture him: and he pursued by sending after him the most trusted of his eunuchs with a trireme, who captured him in Lykia; but having captured him he did not bring him back to Egypt, since Phanes got the better of him by cunning; for he made his guards drunk and escaped to Persia. So when Cambyses had made his resolve to march upon Egypt, and was in difficulty about the march, as to how he should get safely through the waterless region, this man came to him and besides informing of the other matters of Amasis, he instructed him also as to the march, advising him to send to the king of the Arabians and ask that he would give him safety of passage through this region.

5. Now by this way only is there a known entrance to Egypt: for from Phenicia to the borders of the city of Cadytis belongs to the Syrians[4][{Suron}: see ii. 104.] who are called of Palestine, and from Cadytis, which is a city I suppose not much less than Sardis, from this city the trading stations on the sea-coast as far as the city of Ienysos belong to the king of Arabia, and then from Ienysos again the country belongs to the Syrians as far as the Serbonian lake, along the side of which Mount Casion extends towards the Sea. After that, from the Serbonian lake, in which the story goes that Typhon is concealed, from this point onwards the land is Egypt. Now the region which lies between the city of Ienysos on the one hand and Mount Casion and the Serbonian lake on the other, which is of no small extent but as much as a three days’ journey, is grievously destitute of water.

6. And one thing I shall tell of, which few of those who go in ships to Egypt have observed, and it is this:—into Egypt from all parts of Hellas and also from Phenicia are brought twice every year earthenware jars full of wine, and yet it may almost be said that you cannot see there one single empty[5][{keinon}: most MSS. and many editions have {keimenon}, “laid up.”] wine-jar.

7. In what manner, then, it will be asked, are they used up? This also I will tell. The head-man[6][{demarkhon}.] of each place must collect all the earthenware jars from his own town and convey them to Memphis, and those at Memphis must fill them with water and convey them to these same waterless regions of Syria: this the jars which come regularly to Egypt and are emptied[7][{exaireomenos}: explained by some “disembarked” or “unloaded.”] there, are carried to Syria to be added to that which has come before. It was the Persians who thus prepared this approach to Egypt, furnishing it with water in the manner which has been said, from the time when they first took possession of Egypt: but at the time of which I speak, seeing that water was not yet provided, Cambyses, in accordance with what he was told by his Halicarnassian guest, sent envoys to the Arabian king and from him asked and obtained the safe passage, having given him pledges of friendship and received them from him in return.

8. Now the Arabians have respect for pledges of friendship as much as those men in all the world who regard them most; and they give them in the following manner:—A man different from those who desire to give the pledges to one another, standing in the midst between the two, cuts with a sharp stone the inner parts of the hands, along by the thumbs, of those who are giving the pledges to one another, and then he takes a thread from the cloak of each one and smears with the blood seven stones laid in the midst between them; and as he does this he calls upon Dionysos and Urania. When the man has completed these ceremonies, he who has given the pledges commends to the care of his friends the stranger (or the fellow-tribesman, if he is giving the pledges to one who is a member of his tribe), and the friends think it right that they also should have regard for the pledges given. Of gods they believe in Dionysos and Urania alone: moreover they say that the cutting of their hair is done after the same fashion as that of Dionysos himself; and they cut their hair in a circle round, shaving away the hair of the temples. Now they call Dionysos Orotalt[8][Or “Orotal.”] and Urania they call Alilat.

9. So then when the Arabian king had given the pledge of friendship to the men who had come to him from Cambyses, he contrived as follows:—he took skins of camels and filled them with water and loaded them upon the backs of all the living camels that he had; and having so done he drove them to the waterless region and there awaited the army of Cambyses. This which has been related is the more credible of the accounts given, but the less credible must also be related, since it is a current account. There is a great river in Arabia called Corys, and this runs out into the Sea which is called Erythraian. From this river then it is said that the king of the Arabians, having got a conduit pipe made by sewing together raw ox-hides and other skins, of such a length as to reach to the waterless region, conducted the water through these forsooth,[9][{dia de touton}.] and had great cisterns dug in the waterless region, that they might receive the water and preserve it. Now it is a journey of twelve days from the river to this waterless region; and moreover the story says that he conducted the water by three[10][{trion}: omitted by some good MSS.] conduit-pipes to three different parts of it.

10. Meanwhile Psammenitos the son of Amasis was encamped at the Pelusian mouth of the Nile waiting for the coming of Cambyses: for Cambyses did not find Amasis yet living when he marched upon Egypt, but Amasis had died after having reigned forty and four years during which no great misfortune had befallen him: and when he had died and had been embalmed he was buried in the burial-place in the temple, which he had built for himself.[11][See ii. 169.] Now when Psammenitos son of Amasis was reigning as king, there happened to the Egyptians a prodigy, the greatest that had ever happened: for rain fell at Thebes in Egypt, where never before had rain fallen nor afterwards down to my time, as the Thebans themselves say; for in the upper parts of Egypt no rain falls at all: but at the time of which I speak rain fell at Thebes in a drizzling shower.[12][{alla kai tote uathesan ai Thebai psakadi}.]

11. Now when the Persians had marched quite through the waterless region and were encamped near the Egyptians with design to engage battle, then the foreign mercenaries of the Egyptian king, who were Hellenes and Carians, having a quarrel with Phanes because he had brought against Egypt an army of foreign speech, contrived against him as follows:—Phanes had children whom he had left behind in Egypt: these they brought to their camp and into the sight of their father, and they set up a mixing-bowl between the two camps, and after that they brought up the children one by one and cut their throats so that the blood ran into the bowl. Then when they had gone through the whole number of the children, they brought and poured into the bowl both wine and water, and not until the mercenaries had all drunk of the blood, did they engage battle. Then after a battle had been fought with great stubbornness, and very many had fallen of both the armies, the Egyptians at length turned to flight.

12. I was witness moreover of a great marvel, being informed of it by the natives of the place; for of the bones scattered about of those who fell in this fight, each side separately, since the bones of the Persians were lying apart on one side according as they were divided at first, and those of the Egyptians on the other, the skulls of the Persians are so weak that if you shall hit them only with a pebble you will make a hole in them, while those of the Egyptians are so exceedingly strong that you would hardly break them if you struck them with a large stone. The cause of it, they say, was this, and I for my part readily believe them, namely that the Egyptians beginning from their early childhood shave their heads, and the bone is thickened by exposure to the sun: and this is also the cause of their not becoming bald-headed; for among the Egyptians you see fewer bald-headed men than among any other race. This then is the reason why these have their skulls strong; and the reason why the Persians have theirs weak is that they keep them delicately in the shade from the first by wearing 头饰, that is felt caps. So far of this: and I saw also a similar thing to this at Papremis, in the case of those who were slain together with Achaimenes the son of Dareios, by Inaros the Libyan.

13. The Egyptians when they turned to flight from the battle fled in disorder: and they being shut up in Memphis, Cambyses sent a ship of Mytilene up the river bearing a Persian herald, to summon the Egyptians to make terms of surrender; but they, when they saw the ship had entered into Memphis, pouring forth in a body from the fortress[13][The so-called {Leukon teikhon} on the south side of Memphis: cp. ch. 91.] both destroyed the ship and also tore the men in it limb from limb, and so bore them into the fortress. After this the Egyptians being besieged, in course of time surrendered themselves; and the Libyans who dwell on the borders of Egypt, being struck with terror by that which had happened to Egypt, delivered themselves up without resistance, and they both laid on themselves a tribute and sent presents: likewise also those of Kyrene and Barca, being struck with terror equally with[14][{omoios kai} omitting {a}.] the Libyans, acted in a similar manner: and Cambyses accepted graciously the gifts which came from the Libyans, but as for those which came from the men of Kyrene, finding fault with them, as I suppose, because they were too small in amount (for the Kyrenians sent in fact five hundred pounds’ weight[15][{pentakosias mneas}.] of silver), he took the silver by handfuls and scattered it with his own hand among his soldiers.

14. On the tenth day after that on which he received the surrender of the fortress of Memphis, Cambyses set the king of the Egyptians Psammenitos, who had been king for six months, to sit in the suburb of the city, to do him dishonour,—him I say with other Egyptians he set there, and he proceeded to make trial of his spirit as follows:—having arrayed his daughter in the clothing of a slave, he sent her forth with a pitcher to fetch water, and with her he sent also other maidens chosen from the daughters of the chief men, arrayed as was the daughter of the king: and as the maidens were passing by their fathers with cries and lamentation, the other men all began to cry out and lament aloud,[16][{aneklaion}: perhaps {anteklaion}, which has most MS. authority, may be right, “answer their lamentations.”] seeing that their children had been evilly entreated, but Psammenitos when he saw it before his eyes and perceived it bent himself down to the earth. Then when the water-bearers had passed by, next Cambyses sent his son with two thousand Egyptians besides who were of the same age, with ropes bound round their necks and bits placed in their mouths; and these were being led away to execution to avenge the death of the Mytilenians who had been destroyed at Memphis with their ship: for the Royal Judges[17][参见第 31 章。 XNUMX.] had decided that for each man ten of the noblest Egyptians should lose their lives in retaliation. He then, when he saw them passing out by him and perceived that his son was leading the way[18][{egeomenon}: some Editors adopt the conjecture {agomenon}, “was being led.”] to die, did the same as he had done with respect to his daughter, while the other Egyptians who sat round him were lamenting and showing signs of grief. When these also had passed by, it chanced that a man of his table companions, advanced in years, who had been deprived of all his possessions and had nothing except such things as a beggar possesses, and was asking alms from the soldiers, passed by Psammenitos the son of Amasis and the Egyptians who were sitting in the suburb of the city: and when Psammenitos saw him he uttered a great cry of lamentation, and he called his companion by name and beat himself upon the head. Now there was, it seems, men set to watch him, who made known to Cambyses all that he did on the occasion of each going forth: and Cambyses marvelled at that which he did, and he sent a messenger and asked him thus: “Psammenitos, thy master Cambyses asks thee for what reason, when thou sawest thy daughter evilly entreated and thy son going to death, thou didst not cry aloud nor lament for them, whereas thou didst honour with these signs of grief the beggar who, as he hears from others, is not in any way related to thee?” Thus he asked, and the other answered as follows: “O son of Cyrus, my own troubles were too great for me to lament them aloud, but the trouble of my companion was such as called for tears, seeing that he has been deprived of great wealth, and has come to beggary upon the threshold of old age.” When this saying was reported by the messenger, it seemed to them[19][{sphi}: so in the MSS.: some editions (following the Aldine) have {oi}.] that it was well spoken; and, as is reported by the Egyptians, Croesus shed tears (for he also, as fortune would have it, had accompanied Cambyses to Egypt) and the Persians who were present shed tears also; and there entered some pity into Cambyses himself, and forthwith he bade them save the life of the son of Psammenitos from among those who were being put to death, and also he bade them raise Psammenitos himself from his place in the suburb of the city and bring him into his own presence.

15. As for the son, those who went for him found that he was no longer alive, but had been cut down first of all, but Psammenitos himself they raised from his place and brought him into the presence of Cambyses, with whom he continued to live for the rest of his time without suffering any violence; and if he had known how to keep himself from meddling with mischief, he would have received Egypt so as to be ruler of it, since the Persians are wont to honour the sons of kings, and even if the kings have revolted from them, they give back the power into the hands of their sons. Of this, namely that it is their established rule to act so, one may judge by many instances besides and especially[20][{to te}: a correction for {tode}: some Editors read {tode, to}, “by this, namely by the case of,” etc.] by the case of Thannyras the son of Inaros, who received back the power which his father had, and by that of Pausiris the son of Amyrtaios, for he too received back the power of his father: yet it is certain that no men ever up to this time did more evil to the Persians than Inaros and Amyrtaios. As it was, however, Psammenitos devised evil and received the due reward: for he was found to be inciting the Egyptians to revolt; and when this became known to Cambyses, Psammenitos drank bull’s blood and died forthwith. Thus he came to his end.

16. From Memphis Cambyses came to the city of Saïs with the purpose of doing that which in fact he did: for when he had entered into the palace of Amasis, he forthwith gave command to bring the corpse of Amasis forth out of his burial-place; and when this had been accomplished, he gave command to scourge it and pluck out the hair and stab it, and to do to it dishonour in every possible way besides: and when they had done this too until they were wearied out, for the corpse being embalmed held out against the violence and did not fall to pieces in any part, Cambyses gave command to consume it with fire, enjoining thereby a thing which was not permitted by religion: for the Persians hold fire to be a god. To consume corpses with fire then is by no means according to the custom of either people, of the Persians for the reason which has been mentioned, since they say that it is not right to give the dead body of a man to a god; while the Egyptians have the belief established that fire is a living wild beast, and that it devours everything which it catches, and when it is satiated with the food it dies itself together with that which it devours: but it is by no means their custom to give the corpse of a man to wild beasts, for which reason they embalm it, that it may not be eaten by worms as it lies in the tomb. Thus then Cambyses was enjoining them to do that which is not permitted by the customs of either people. However, the Egyptians say that it was not Amasis who suffered this outrage, but another of the Egyptians who was of the same stature of body as Amasis; and that to him the Persians did outrage, thinking that they were doing it to Amasis: for they say that Amasis learnt from an Oracle that which was about to happen with regard to himself after his death; and accordingly, to avert the evil which threatened to come upon him, he buried the dead body of this man who was scourged within his own sepulchral chamber near the doors, and enjoined his son to lay his own body as much as possible in the inner recess of the chamber. These injunctions, said to have been given by Amasis with regard to his burial and with regard to the man mentioned, were not in my opinion really given at all, but I think that the Egyptians make pretence of it from pride and with no good ground.

17. After this Cambyses planned three several expeditions, one against the Carthaginians, another against the Ammonians, and a third against the “Long-lived” Ethiopians, who dwell in that part of Libya which is by the Southern Sea: and in forming these designs he resolved to send his naval force against the Carthaginians, and a body chosen from his land-army against the Ammonians; and to the Ethiopians to send spies first, both to see whether the table of the Sun existed really, which is said to exist among these Ethiopians, and in addition to this to spy out all else, but pretending to be bearers of gifts for their king.

18. Now the table of the Sun is said to be as follows:—there is a meadow in the suburb of their city full of flesh-meat boiled of all four-footed creatures; and in this, it is said, those of the citizens who are in authority at the time place the flesh by night, managing the matter carefully, and by day any man who wishes comes there and feasts himself; and the natives (it is reported) say that the earth of herself produces these things continually.

19. Of such nature is the so-called table of the Sun said to be. So when Cambyses had resolved to send the spies, forthwith he sent for those men of the Ichthyophagoi who understood the Ethiopian tongue, to come from the city of Elephantine: and while they were going to fetch these men, he gave command to the fleet to sail against Carthage: but the Phenicians said that they would not do so, for they were bound not to do so by solemn vows, and they would not be acting piously if they made expedition against their own sons: and as the Phenicians were not willing, the rest were rendered unequal to the attempt. Thus then the Carthaginians escaped being enslaved by the Persians; for Cambyses did not think it right to apply force to compel the Phenicians, both because they had delivered themselves over to the Persians of their own accord and because the whole naval force was dependent upon the Phenicians. Now the men of Cyprus also had delivered themselves over to the Persians, and were joining in the expedition against Egypt.

20. Then as soon as the Ichthyophagoi came to Cambyses from Elephantine, he sent them to the Ethiopians, enjoining them what they should say and giving them gifts to bear with them, that is to say a purple garment, and a collar of twisted gold with bracelets, and an alabaster box of perfumed ointment, and a jar of palm-wine. Now these Ethiopians to whom Cambyses was sending are said to be the tallest and the most beautiful of all men; and besides other customs which they are reported to have different from other men, there is especially this, it is said, with regard to their regal power,—whomsoever of the men of their nation they judge to be the tallest and to have strength in proportion to his stature, this man they appoint to reign over them.

21. So when the Ichthyophagoi had come to this people they presented their gifts to the king who ruled over them, and at the same time they said as follows: “The king of the Persians Cambyses, desiring to become a friend and guest to thee, sent us with command to come to speech with thee, and he gives thee for gifts these things which he himself most delights to use.” The Ethiopian however, perceiving that they had come as spies, spoke to them as follows: “Neither did the king of the Persians send you bearing gifts because he thought it a matter of great moment to become my guest-friend, nor do ye speak true things (for ye have come as spies of my kingdom), nor again is he a righteous man; for if he had been righteous he would not have coveted a land other than his own, nor would he be leading away into slavery men at whose hands he has received no wrong. Now however give him this bow and speak to him these words: The king of the Ethiopians gives this counsel to the king of the Persians, that when the Persians draw their bows (of equal size to mine) as easily as I do this, then he should march against the Long-lived Ethiopians, provided that he be superior in numbers; but until that time he should feel gratitude to the gods that they do not put it into the mind of the sons of the Ethiopians to acquire another land in addition to their own.”

22. Having thus said and having unbent the bow, he delivered it to those who had come. Then he took the garment of purple and asked what it was and how it had been made: and when the Ichthyophagoi had told him the truth about the purple-fish and the dyeing of the tissue, he said that the men were deceitful and deceitful also were their garments. Then secondly he asked concerning the twisted gold of the collar and the bracelets; and when the Ichthyophagoi were setting forth to him the manner in which it was fashioned, the king broke into a laugh and said, supposing them to be fetters, that they had stronger fetters than those in their country. Thirdly he asked about the perfumed ointment, and when they had told him of the manner of its making and of the anointing with it, he said the same as he had said before about the garment. Then when he came to the wine, and had learned about the manner of its making, being exceedingly delighted with the taste of the drink he asked besides what food the king ate, and what was the longest time that a Persian man lived. They told him that he ate bread, explaining to him first the manner of growing the wheat, and they said that eighty years was the longest term of life appointed for a Persian man. In answer to this the Ethiopian said that he did not wonder that they lived but a few years, when they fed upon dung; for indeed they would not be able to live even so many years as this, if they did not renew their vigour with the drink, indicating to the Ichthyophagoi the wine; for in regard to this, he said, his people were much behind the Persians.

23. Then when the Ichthyophagoi asked the king in return about the length of days and the manner of life of his people, he answered that the greater number of them reached the age of a hundred and twenty years, and some surpassed even this; and their food was boiled flesh and their drink was milk. And when the spies marvelled at the number of years, he conducted them to a certain spring, in the water of which they washed and became more sleek of skin, as if it were a spring of oil; and from it there came a scent as it were of violets: and the water of this spring, said the spies, was so exceedingly weak that it was not possible for anything to float upon it, either wood or any of those things which are lighter than wood, but they all went to the bottom. If this water which they have be really such as it is said to be, it would doubtless be the cause why the people are long-lived, as making use of it for all the purposes of life. Then when they departed from this spring, he led them to a prison-house for men, and there all were bound in fetters of gold. Now among these Ethiopians bronze is the rarest and most precious of all things. Then when they had seen the prison-house they saw also the so-called table of the Sun:

24, and after this they saw last of all their receptacles of dead bodies, which are said to be made of crystal in the following manner:—when they have dried the corpse, whether it be after the Egyptian fashion or in some other way, they cover it over completely with plaster[21][“gypsum.”] and then adorn it with painting, making the figure as far as possible like the living man. After this they put about it a block of crystal hollowed out; for this they dig up in great quantity and it is very easy to work: and the dead body being in the middle of the block is visible through it, but produces no unpleasant smell nor any other effect which is unseemly, and it has all its parts visible like the dead body itself. For a year then they who are most nearly related to the man keep the block in their house, giving to the dead man the first share of everything and offering to him sacrifices: and after this period they carry it out and set it up round about the city.

25. After they had seen all, the spies departed to go back; and when they reported these things, forthwith Cambyses was enraged and proceeded to march his army against the Ethiopians, not having ordered any provision of food nor considered with himself that he was intending to march an army to the furthest extremities of the earth; but as one who is mad and not in his right senses, when he heard the report of the Ichthyophagoi he began the march, ordering those of the Hellenes who were present to remain behind in Egypt, and taking with him his whole land force: and when in the course of his march he had arrived at Thebes, he divided off about fifty thousand of his army, and these he enjoined to make slaves of the Ammonians and to set fire to the seat of the Oracle of Zeus, but he himself with the remainder of his army went on against the Ethiopians. But before the army had passed over the fifth part of the way, all that they had of provisions came to an end completely; and then after the provisions the beasts of burden also were eaten up and came to an end. Now if Cambyses when he perceived this had changed his plan and led his army back, he would have been a wise man in spite of[22][{epi}, lit. “after.”] his first mistake; as it was, however, he paid no regard, but went on forward without stopping. The soldiers accordingly, so long as they were able to get anything from the ground, prolonged their lives by eating grass; but when they came to the sand, some did a fearful deed, that is to say, out of each company of ten they selected by lot one of themselves and devoured him: and Cambyses, when he heard it, being alarmed by this eating of one another gave up the expedition against the Ethiopians and set forth to go back again; and he arrived at Thebes having suffered loss of a great number of his army. Then from Thebes he came down to Memphis and allowed the Hellenes to sail away home.

26. Thus fared the expedition against the Ethiopians: and those of the Persians who had been sent to march against the Ammonians set forth from Thebes and went on their way with guides; and it is known that they arrived at the city of Oasis, which is inhabited by Samians said to be of the Aischrionian tribe, and is distant seven days’ journey from Thebes over sandy desert: now this place is called in the speech of the Hellenes the “Isle of the Blessed.” It is said that the army reached this place, but from that point onwards, except the Ammonians themselves and those who have heard the account from them, no man is able to say anything about them; for they neither reached the Ammonians nor returned back. This however is added to the story by the Ammonians themselves:—they say that as the army was going from this Oasis through the sandy desert to attack them, and had got to a point about mid-way between them and the Oasis, while they were taking their morning meal a violent South Wind blew upon them, and bearing with it heaps of the desert sand it buried them under it, and so they disappeared and were seen no more. Thus the Ammonians say that it came to pass with regard to this army.

27. When Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis appeared to the Egyptians, whom the Hellenes call Epaphos: and when he had appeared, forthwith the Egyptians began to wear their fairest garments and to have festivities. Cambyses accordingly seeing the Egyptians doing thus, and supposing that they were certainly acting so by way of rejoicing because he had fared ill, called for the officers who had charge of Memphis; and when they had come into his presence, he asked them why when he was at Memphis on the former occasion, the Egyptians were doing nothing of this kind, but only now, when he came there after losing a large part of his army. They said that a god had appeared to them, who was wont to appear at intervals of long time, and that whenever he appeared, then all the Egyptians rejoiced and kept festival. Hearing this Cambyses said that they were lying, and as liars he condemned them to death.

28. Having put these to death, next he called the priests into his presence; and when the priests answered him after the same manner, he said that it should not be without his knowledge if a tame god had come to the Egyptians; and having so said he bade the priests bring Apis away into his presence: so they went to bring him. Now this Apis-Epaphos is a calf born of a cow who after this is not permitted to conceive any other offspring; and the Egyptians say that a flash of light comes down from heaven upon this cow, and of this she produces Apis. This calf which is called Apis is black and has the following signs, namely a white square[23][{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.] upon the forehead, and on the back the likeness of an eagle, and in the tail the hairs are double, and on[24][{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.] the tongue there is a mark like a beetle.

29. When the priests had brought Apis, Cambyses being somewhat affected with madness drew his dagger, and aiming at the belly of Apis, struck his thigh: then he laughed and said to the priests: “O ye wretched creatures, are gods born such as this, with blood and flesh, and sensible of the stroke of iron weapons? Worthy indeed of Egyptians is such a god as this. Ye however at least shall not escape without punishment for making a mock of me.” Having thus spoken he ordered those whose duty it was to do such things, to scourge the priests without mercy, and to put to death any one of the other Egyptians whom they should find keeping the festival. Thus the festival of the Egyptians had been brought to an end, and the priests were being chastised, and Apis wounded by the stroke in his thigh lay dying in the temple.

30. Him, when he had brought his life to an end by reason of the wound, the priests buried without the knowledge of Cambyses: but Cambyses, as the Egyptians say, immediately after this evil deed became absolutely mad, not having been really in his right senses even before that time: and the first of his evil deeds was that he put to death his brother Smerdis, who was of the same father and the same mother as himself. This brother he had sent away from Egypt to Persia in envy, because alone of all the Persians he had been able to draw the bow which the Ichthyophagoi brought from the Ethiopian king, to an extent of about two finger-breadths; while of the other Persians not one had proved able to do this. Then when Smerdis had gone away to Persia, Cambyses saw a vision in his sleep of this kind:—it seemed to him that a messenger came from Persia and reported that Smerdis sitting upon the royal throne had touched the heaven with his head. Fearing therefore with regard to this lest his brother might slay him and reign in his stead, he sent Prexaspes to Persia, the man whom of all the Persians he trusted most, with command to slay him. He accordingly went up to Susa and slew Smerdis; and some say that he took him out of the chase and so slew him, others that he brought him to the Erythraian Sea and drowned him.

31. This they say was the first beginning of the evil deeds of Cambyses; and next after this he put to death his sister, who had accompanied him to Egypt, to whom also he was married, she being his sister by both parents. Now he took her to wife in the following manner (for before this the Persians had not been wont at all to marry their sisters):—Cambyses fell in love with one of his sisters, and desired to take her to wife; so since he had it in mind to do that which was not customary, he called the Royal Judges and asked them whether there existed any law which permitted him who desired it to marry his sister. Now the Royal Judges are men chosen out from among the Persians, and hold their office until they die or until some injustice is found in them, so long and no longer. These pronounce decisions for the Persians and are the expounders of the ordinances of their fathers, and all matters are referred to them. So when Cambyses asked them, they gave him an answer which was both upright and safe, saying that they found no law which permitted a brother to marry his sister, but apart from that they had found a law to the effect that the king of the Persians might do whatsoever he desired. Thus on the one hand they did not tamper with the law for fear of Cambyses, and at the same time, that they might not perish themselves in maintaining the law, they found another law beside that which was asked for, which was in favour of him who wished to marry his sisters. So Cambyses at that time took to wife her with whom he was in love, but after no long time he took another sister. Of these it was the younger whom he put to death, she having accompanied him to Egypt.

32. About her death, as about the death of Smerdis, two different stories are told. The Hellenes say that Cambyses had matched a lion’s cub in fight with a dog’s whelp, and this wife of his was also a spectator of it; and when the whelp was being overcome, another whelp, its brother, broke its chain and came to help it; and having become two instead of one, the whelps then got the better of the cub: and Cambyses was pleased at the sight, but she sitting by him began to weep; and Cambyses perceived it and asked wherefore she wept; and she said that she had wept when she saw that the whelp had come to the assistance of its brother, because she remembered Smerdis and perceived that there was no one who would come to his[25][{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.] assistance. The Hellenes say that it was for this saying that she was killed by Cambyses: but the Egyptians say that as they were sitting round at table, the wife took a lettuce and pulled off the leaves all round, and then asked her husband whether the lettuce was fairer when thus plucked round or when covered with leaves, and he said “when covered with leaves”: she then spoke thus: “Nevertheless thou didst once produce the likeness of this lettuce, when thou didst strip bare the house of Cyrus.” And he moved to anger leapt upon her, being with child, and she miscarried and died.

33. These were the acts of madness done by Cambyses towards those of his own family, whether the madness was produced really on account of Apis or from some other cause, as many ills are wont to seize upon men; for it is said moreover that Cambyses had from his birth a certain grievous malady, that which is called by some the “sacred” disease:[26][Epilepsy or something similar.] and it was certainly nothing strange that when the body was suffering from a grievous malady, the mind should not be sound either.

34. The following also are acts of madness which he did to the other Persians:—To Prexaspes, the man whom he honoured most and who used to bear his messages [2601][Cp. note on i. 114.] (his son also was cup-bearer to Cambyses, and this too was no small honour),—to him it is said that he spoke as follows: “Prexaspes, what kind of a man do the Persians esteem me to be, and what speech do they hold concerning me?” and he said: “Master, in all other respects thou art greatly commended, but they say that thou art overmuch given to love of wine.” Thus he spoke concerning the Persians; and upon that Cambyses was roused to anger, and answered thus: “It appears then that the Persians say I am given to wine, and that therefore I am beside myself and not in my right mind; and their former speech then was not sincere.” For before this time, it seems, when the Persians and Croesus were sitting with him in council, Cambyses asked what kind of a man they thought he was as compared with his father Cyrus;[27][{pros ton patera [telesai] Kuron}: the word {telesai} seems to be corrupt. Stein suggests {eikasai}, “as compared with.” Some Editors omit the word.] and they answered that he was better than his father, for he not only possessed all that his father had possessed, but also in addition to this had acquired Egypt and the Sea. Thus the Persians spoke; but Croesus, who was present and was not satisfied with their judgment, spoke thus to Cambyses: “To me, O son of Cyrus, thou dost not appear to be equal to thy father, for not yet hast thou a son such as he left behind him in you.” Hearing this Cambyses was pleased, and commended the judgment of Croesus.

35. So calling to mind this, he said in anger to Prexaspes: “Learn then now for thyself whether the Persians speak truly, or whether when they say this they are themselves out of their senses: for if I, shooting at thy son there standing before the entrance of the chamber, hit him in the very middle of the heart, the Persians will be proved to be speaking falsely, but if I miss, then thou mayest say that the Persians are speaking the truth and that I am not in my right mind.” Having thus said he drew his bow and hit the boy; and when the boy had fallen down, it is said that he ordered them to cut open his body and examine the place where he was hit; and as the arrow was found to be sticking in the heart, he laughed and was delighted, and said to the father of the boy: “Prexaspes, it has now been made evident, as thou seest, that I am not mad, but that it is the Persians who are out of their senses; and now tell me, whom of all men didst thou ever see before this time hit the mark so well in shooting?” Then Prexaspes, seeing that the man was not in his right senses and fearing for himself, said: “Master, I think that not even God himself could have hit the mark so fairly.” Thus he did at that time: and at another time he condemned twelve of the Persians, men equal to the best, on a charge of no moment, and buried them alive with the head downwards.

36. When he was doing these things, Croesus the Lydian judged it right to admonish him in the following words: “O king, do not thou indulge the heat of thy youth and passion in all things, but retain and hold thyself back: it is a good thing to be prudent, and forethought is wise. Thou however are putting to death men who are of thine own people, condemning them on charges of no moment, and thou art putting to death men’s sons also. If thou do many such things, beware lest the Persians make revolt from thee. As for me, thy father Cyrus gave me charge, earnestly bidding me to admonish thee, and suggest to thee that which I should find to be good.” Thus he counselled him, manifesting goodwill towards him; but Cambyses answered: “Dost venture to counsel me, who excellently well didst rule thine own country, and well didst counsel my father, bidding him pass over the river Araxes and go against the Massagetai, when they were willing to pass over into our land, and so didst utterly ruin thyself by ill government of thine own land, and didst utterly ruin Cyrus, who followed thy counsel. However thou shalt not escape punishment now, for know that before this I had very long been desiring to find some occasion against thee.” Thus having said he took his bow meaning to shoot him, but Croesus started up and ran out: and so since he could not shoot him, he gave orders to his attendants to take and slay him. The attendants however, knowing his moods, concealed Croesus, with the intention that if Cambyses should change his mind and seek to have Croesus again, they might produce him and receive gifts as the price of saving his life; but if he did not change his mind nor feel desire to have him back, then they might kill him. Not long afterwards Cambyses did in fact desire to have Croesus again, and the attendants perceiving this reported to him that he was still alive: and Cambyses said that he rejoiced with Croesus that he was still alive, but that they who had preserved him should not get off free, but he would put them to death: and thus he did.

37. Many such acts of madness did he both to Persians and allies, remaining at Memphis and opening ancient tombs and examining the dead bodies. Likewise also he entered into the temple of Hephaistos and very much derided the image of the god: for the image of Hephaistos very nearly resembles the Phenician Pataicoi, which the Phenicians carry about on the prows of their triremes; and for him who has not seen these, I will indicate its nature,—it is the likeness of a dwarfish man. He entered also into the temple of the Cabeiroi, into which it is not lawful for any one to enter except the priest only, and the images there he even set on fire, after much mockery of them. Now these also are like the images of Hephaistos, and it is said that they are the children of that god.

38. It is clear to me therefore by every kind of proof that Cambyses was mad exceedingly; for otherwise he would not have attempted to deride religious rites and customary observances. For if one should propose to all men a choice, bidding them select the best customs from all the customs that there are, each race of men, after examining them all, would select those of his own people; thus all think that their own customs are by far the best: and so it is not likely that any but a madman would make a jest of such things. Now of the fact that all men are thus wont to think about their customs, we may judge by many other proofs and more specially by this which follows:—Dareios in the course of his reign summoned those of the Hellenes who were present in his land, and asked them for what price they would consent to eat up their fathers when they died; and they answered that for no price would they do so. After this Dareios summoned those Indians who are called Callatians, who eat their parents, and asked them in presence of the Hellenes, who understood what they said by help of an interpreter, for what payment they would consent to consume with fire the bodies of their fathers when they died; and they cried out aloud and bade him keep silence from such words. Thus then these things are established by usage, and I think that Pindar spoke rightly in his verse, when he said that “of all things law is king.”[28][{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.]

39. Now while Cambyses was marching upon Egypt, the Lacedemonians also had made an expedition against Samos and against Polycrates the son of Aiakes, who had risen against the government and obtained rule over Samos. At first he had divided the State into three parts and had given a share to his brothers Pantagnotos and Syloson; but afterwards he put to death one of these, and the younger, namely Syloson, he drove out, and so obtained possession of the whole of Samos. Then, being in possession,[29][{iakhon}: Stein reads by conjecture {skhon}, “having obtained possession.”] he made a guest-friendship with Amasis the king of Egypt, sending him gifts and receiving gifts in return from him. After this straightway within a short period of time the power of Polycrates increased rapidly, and there was much fame of it not only in Ionia, but also over the rest of Hellas: for to whatever part he directed his forces, everything went fortunately for him: and he had got for himself a hundred fifty-oared galleys and a thousand archers, and he plundered from all, making no distinction of any; for it was his wont to say that he would win more gratitude from his friend by giving back to him that which he had taken, than by not taking at all.[30][{mede}: Abicht reads {meden} by conjecture.] So he had conquered many of the islands and also many cities of the continent, and besides other things he gained the victory in a sea-fight over the Lesbians, as they were coming to help the Milesians with their forces, and conquered them: these men dug the whole trench round the wall of the city of Samos working in chains.

40. Now Amasis, as may be supposed, did not fail to perceive that Polycrates was very greatly fortunate, and[31][{alla}, under the influence of the preceding negative.] it was to him an object of concern; and as much more good fortune yet continued to come to Polycrates, he wrote upon a paper these words and sent them to Samos: “Amasis to Polycrates thus saith:—It is a pleasant thing indeed to hear that one who is a friend and guest is faring well; yet to me thy great good fortune is not pleasing, since I know that the Divinity is jealous; and I think that I desire, both for myself and for those about whom I have care, that in some of our affairs we should be prosperous and in others should fail, and thus go through life alternately faring[32][{prosson} refers grammatically only to {autos}, and marks the reference as being chiefly to himself throughout the sentence.] well and ill, rather than that we should be prosperous in all things: for never yet did I hear tell of any one who was prosperous in all things and did not come to an utterly[33][{prorrizos}, “by the roots.”] evil end at the last. Now therefore do thou follow my counsel and act as I shall say with respect to thy prosperous fortunes. Take thought and consider, and that which thou findest to be the most valued by thee, and for the loss of which thou wilt most be vexed in thy soul, that take and cast away in such a manner that it shall never again come to the sight of men; and if in future from that time forward good fortune does not befall thee in alternation with calamities,[34][{toi tesi pathesi}: the MSS. mostly have {toi autaisi} or {toiautaisi}.]apply remedies in the manner by me suggested.”

41. Polycrates, having read this and having perceived by reflection that Amasis suggested to him good counsel, sought to find which one of his treasures he would be most afflicted in his soul to lose; and seeking he found this which I shall say:—he had a signet which he used to wear, enchased in gold and made of an emerald stone; and it was the work of Theodoros the son of Telecles of Samos.[35][See i. 51.] Seeing then that he thought it good to cast this away, he did thus:—he manned a fifty-oared galley with sailors and went on board of it himself; and then he bade them put out into the deep sea. And when he had got to a distance from the island, he took off the signet-ring, and in the sight of all who were with him in the ship he threw it into the sea. Thus having done he sailed home; and when he came to his house he mourned for his loss.

42. But on the fifth or sixth day after these things it happened to him as follows:—a fisherman having caught a large and beautiful fish, thought it right that this should be given as a gift to Polycrates. He bore it therefore to the door of the palace and said that he desired to come into the presence of Polycrates, and when he had obtained this he gave him the fish, saying: “O king, having taken this fish I did not think fit to bear it to the market, although I am one who lives by the labour of his hands; but it seemed to me that it was worthy of thee and of thy monarchy: therefore I bring it and present it to thee.” He then, being pleased at the words spoken, answered thus: “Thou didst exceedingly well, and double thanks are due to thee, for thy words and also for thy gift; and we invite thee to come to dinner.” The fisherman then, thinking this a great thing, went away to this house; and the servants as they were cutting up the fish found in its belly the signet-ring of Polycrates. Then as soon as they had seen it and taken it up, they bore it rejoicing to Polycrates, and giving him the signet-ring they told him in what manner it had been found: and he perceiving that the matter was of God, wrote upon paper all that he had done and all that had happened to him, and having written he despatched it to Egypt.[36][{es Aigupton epetheke}, “delivered it (to a messenger to convey) to Egypt.”]

43. Then Amasis, when he had read the paper which had come from Polycrates, perceived that it was impossible for man to rescue man from the event which was to come to pass, and that Polycrates was destined not to have a good end, being prosperous in all things, seeing that he found again even that which he cast away. Therefore he sent an envoy to him in Samos and said that he broke off the guest-friendship; and this he did lest when a fearful and great mishap befell Polycrates, he might himself be grieved in his soul as for a man who was his guest.

44. It was this Polycrates then, prosperous in all things, against whom the Lacedemonians were making an expedition, being invited by those Samians who afterwards settled at Kydonia in Crete, to come to their assistance. Now Polycrates had sent an envoy to Cambyses the son of Cyrus without the knowledge of the Samians, as he was gathering an army to go against Egypt, and had asked him to send to him in Samos and to ask for an armed force. So Cambyses hearing this very readily sent to Samos to ask Polycrates to send a naval force with him against Egypt: and Polycrates selected of the citizens those whom he most suspected of desiring to rise against him and sent them away in forty triremes, charging Cambyses not to send them back.

45. Now some say that those of the Samians who were sent away by Polycrates never reached Egypt, but when they arrived on their voyage at Carpathos,[37][The island of Carpathos, the modern Scarpanto.] they considered with themselves, and resolved not to sail on any further: others say that they reached Egypt and being kept under guard there, they made their escape from thence. Then, as they were sailing in to Samos, Polycrates encountered them with ships and engaged battle with them; and those who were returning home had the better and landed in the island; but having fought a land-battle in the island, they were worsted, and so sailed to Lacedemon. Some however say that those from Egypt defeated Polycrates in the battle; but this in my opinion is not correct, for there would have been no need for them to invite the assistance of the Lacedemonians if they had been able by themselves to bring Polycrates to terms. Moreover, it is not reasonable either, seeing that he had foreign mercenaries and native archers very many in number, to suppose that he was worsted by the returning Samians, who were but few. Then Polycrates gathered together the children and wives of his subjects and confined them in the ship-sheds, keeping them ready so that, if it should prove that his subjects deserted to the side of the returning exiles, he might burn them with the sheds.

46. When those of the Samians who had been driven out by Polycrates reached Sparta, they were introduced before the magistrates and spoke at length, being urgent in their request. The magistrates however at the first introduction replied that they had forgotten the things which had been spoken at the beginning, and did not understand those which were spoken at the end. After this they were introduced a second time, and bringing with them a bag they said nothing else but this, namely that the bag was in want of meal; to which the others replied that they had overdone it with the bag.[38][{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 {o thulakos} were unnecessary in the sentence {o thulakos alphiton deitai}.] However, they resolved to help them.

47. Then the Lacedemonians prepared a force and made expedition to Samos, in repayment of former services, as the Samians say, because the Samians had first helped them with ships against the Messenians; but the Lacedemonians say that they made the expedition not so much from desire to help the Samians at their request, as to take vengeance on their own behalf for the robbery of the mixing-bowl which they had been bearing as a gift to Croesus,[39][See i. 70.] and of the corslet which Amasis the king of Egypt had sent as a gift to them; for the Samians had carried off the corslet also in the year before they took the bowl; and it was of linen with many figures woven into it and embroidered with gold and with cotton; and each thread of this corslet is worthy of admiration, for that being itself fine it has in it three hundred and sixty fibres, all plain to view. Such another as this moreover is that which Amasis dedicated as an offering to Athene at Lindos.

48. The Corinthians also took part with zeal in this expedition against Samos, that it might be carried out; for there had been an offence perpetrated against them also by the Samians a generation before[40][{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.] the time of this expedition and about the same time as the robbery of the bowl. Periander the son of Kypselos had despatched three hundred sons of the chief men of Corcyra to Alyattes at Sardis to be made eunuchs; and when the Corinthians who were conducting the boys had put in to Samos, the Samians, being informed of the story and for what purpose they were being conducted to Sardis, first instructed the boys to lay hold of the temple of Artemis, and then they refused to permit the Corinthians to drag the suppliants away from the temple: and as the Corinthians cut the boys off from supplies of food, the Samians made a festival, which they celebrate even to the present time in the same manner: for when night came on, as long as the boys were suppliants they arranged dances of maidens and youths, and in arranging the dances they made it a rule of the festival that sweet cakes of sesame and honey should be carried, in order that the Corcyrean boys might snatch them and so have support; and this went on so long that at last the Corinthians who had charge of the boys departed and went away; and as for the boys, the Samians carried them back to Corcyra.

49. Now, if after the death of Periander the Corinthians had been on friendly terms with the Corcyreans, they would not have joined in the expedition against Samos for the cause which has been mentioned; but as it is, they have been ever at variance with one another since they first colonised the island.[41][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.”] This then was the cause why the Corinthians had a grudge against the Samians.

50. Now Periander had chosen out the sons of the chief men of Corcyra and was sending them to Sardis to be made eunuchs, in order that he might have revenge; since the Corcyreans had first begun the offence and had done to him a deed of reckless wrong. For after Periander had killed his wife Melissa, it chanced to him to experience another misfortune in addition to that which had happened to him already, and this was as follows:—He had by Melissa two sons, the one of seventeen and the other of eighteen years. These sons their mother’s father Procles, who was despot of Epidauros, sent for to himself and kindly entertained, as was to be expected seeing that they were the sons of his own daughter; and when he was sending them back, he said in taking leave of them: “Do ye know, boys, who it was that killed your mother?” Of this saying the elder of them took no account, but the younger, whose name was Lycophron, was grieved so greatly at hearing it, that when he reached Corinth again he would neither address his father, nor speak to him when his father would have conversed with him, nor give any reply when he asked questions, regarding him as the murderer of his mother. At length Periander being enraged with his son drove him forth out of his house.

51. And having driven him forth, he asked of the elder son what his mother’s father had said to them in his conversation. He then related how Procles had received them in a kindly manner, but of the saying which he had uttered when he parted from them he had no remembrance, since he had taken no note of it. So Periander said that it could not be but that he had suggested to them something, and urged him further with questions; and he after that remembered, and told of this also. Then Periander taking note of it[42][{noo labon}: the MSS. have {now labon kai touto}.] and not desiring to show any indulgence, sent a messenger to those with whom the son who had been driven forth was living at that time, and forbade them to receive him into their houses; and whenever having been driven away from one house he came to another, he was driven away also from this, since Periander threatened those who received him, and commanded them to exclude him; and so being driven away again he would go to another house, where persons lived who were his friends, and they perhaps received him because he was the son of Periander, notwithstanding that they feared.

52. At last Periander made a proclamation that whosoever should either receive him into their houses or converse with him should be bound to pay a fine[43][{iren zemien}.] to Apollo, stating the amount that it should be. Accordingly, by reason of this proclamation no one was willing either to converse with him or to receive him into their house; and moreover even he himself did not think it fit to attempt it, since it had been forbidden, but he lay about in the porticoes enduring exposure: and on the fourth day after this, Periander seeing him fallen into squalid misery and starvation felt pity for him; and abating his anger he approached him and began to say: “Son, which of these two is to be preferred, the fortune which thou dost now experience and possess,[44][{tauta ta nun ekhon presseis}: the form of sentence is determined by its antithesis to {ta agatha ta nun ego ekho}.] or to inherit the power and wealth which I possess now, by being submissive to thy father’s will? Thou however, being my son and the prince[45][{basileus}, because already destined as his father’s successor.] of wealthy Corinth, didst choose nevertheless the life of a vagabond by making opposition and displaying anger against him with whom it behoved thee least to deal so; for if any misfortune happened in those matters, for which cause thou hast suspicion against me, this has happened to me first, and I am sharer in the misfortune more than others, inasmuch as I did the deed[46][{sphea}: the MSS. have {sphe} here, and in the middle of the next chapter.] myself. Do thou however, having learnt by how much to be envied is better than to be pitied, and at the same time what a grievous thing it is to be angry against thy parents and against those who are stronger than thou, come back now to the house.” Periander with these words endeavoured to restrain him; but he answered nothing else to his father, but said only that he ought to pay a fine to the god for having come to speech with him. Then Periander, perceiving that the malady of his son was hopeless and could not be overcome, despatched a ship to Corcyra, and so sent him away out of his sight, for he was ruler also of that island; and having sent him away, Periander proceeded to make war against his father-in-law Procles, esteeming him most to blame for the condition in which he was; and he took Epidauros and took also Procles himself and made him a prisoner.

53. When however, as time went on, Periander had passed his prime and perceived within himself that he was no longer able to overlook and manage the government of the State, he sent to Corcyra and summoned Lycophron to come back and take the supreme power; for in the elder of his sons he did not see the required capacity, but perceived clearly that he was of wits too dull. Lycophron however did not deign even to give an answer to the bearer of his message. Then Periander, clinging still in affection to the youth, sent to him next his own daughter, the sister of Lycophron, supposing that he would yield to her persuasion more than to that of others; and she arrived there and spoke to him thus: “Boy, dost thou desire that both the despotism should fall to others, and also the substance of thy father, carried off as plunder, rather than that thou shouldest return back and possess them? Come back to thy home: cease to torment thyself. Pride is a mischievous possession. Heal not evil with evil. Many prefer that which is reasonable to that which is strictly just; and many ere now in seeking the things of their mother have lost the things of their father. Despotism is an insecure thing, and many desire it: moreover he is now an old man and past his prime. Give not thy good things unto others.” She thus said to him the most persuasive things, having been before instructed by her father: but he in answer said, that he would never come to Corinth so long as he heard that his father was yet alive. When she had reported this, Periander the third time sent an envoy, and said that he desired himself to come to Corcyra, exhorting Lycophron at the same time to come back to Corinth and to be his successor on the throne. The son having agreed to return on these terms, Periander was preparing to sail to Corcyra and his son to Corinth; but the Corcyreans, having learnt all that had taken place, put the young man to death, in order that Periander might not come to their land. For this cause it was that Periander took vengeance on those of Corcyra.

54. The Lacedemonians then had come with a great armament and were besieging Samos; and having made an attack upon the wall, they occupied the tower which stands by the sea in the suburb of the city, but afterwards when Polycrates came up to the rescue with a large body they were driven away from it. Meanwhile by the upper tower which is upon the ridge of the mountain there had come out to the fight the foreign mercenaries and many of the Samians themselves, and these stood their ground against the Lacedemonians for a short while and then began to fly backwards; and the Lacedemonians followed and were slaying them.

55. Now if the Lacedemonians there present had all been equal on that day to Archias and Lycopas, Samos would have been captured; for Archias and Lycopas alone rushed within the wall together with the flying Samians, and being shut off from retreat were slain within the city of the Samians. I myself moreover had converse in Pitane (for to that deme he belonged) with the third in descent from this Archias, another Archias the son of Samios the son of Archias, who honoured the Samians of all strangers most; and not only so, but he said that his own father had been called Samios because 他的 father Archias had died by a glorious death in Samos; and he said that he honoured Samians because his grandfather had been granted a public funeral by the Samians.

56. The Lacedemonians then, when they had been besieging Samos for forty days and their affairs made no progress, set forth to return to Peloponnesus. But according to the less credible account which has been put abroad of these matters Polycrates struck in lead a quantity of a certain native coin, and having gilded the coins over, gave them to the Lacedemonians, and they received them and upon that set forth to depart. This was the first expedition which the Lacedemonians (being Dorians) [4601][The Lacedemonians who were not Dorians had of course taken part in the Trojan war.] made into Asia.

57. Those of the Samians who had made the expedition against Polycrates themselves also sailed away, when the Lacedemonians were about to desert them, and came to Siphnos: for they were in want of money, and the people of Siphnos were then at their greatest height of prosperity and possessed wealth more than all the other islanders, since they had in their island mines of gold and silver, so that there is a treasury dedicated at Delphi with the tithe of the money which came in from these mines, and furnished in a manner equal to the wealthiest of these treasuries: and the people used to divide among themselves the money which came in from the mines every year. So when they were establishing the treasury, they consulted the Oracle as to whether their present prosperity was capable of remaining with them for a long time, and the Pythian prophetess gave them this reply:

“But when with white shall be shining[47][{leuka genetai}.] the hall of the city[48][{prutaneia}.]
in Siphnos,
And when the market is white of brow, one wary is needed
Then, to beware of an army[49][{lokhon}.] of wood and a red-coloured herald.”

Now just at that time the market-place and city hall of the Siphnians had been decorated with Parian marble.

58. This oracle they were not able to understand either then at first or when the Samians had arrived: for as soon as the Samians were putting in[50][{prosiskhon}: some read {proseskhon}, “had put in.”] to Siphnos they sent one of their ships to bear envoys to the city: now in old times all ships were painted with red, and this was that which the Pythian prophetess was declaring beforehand to the Siphnians, bidding them guard against the “army of wood” and the “red-coloured herald.” The messengers accordingly came and asked the Siphnians to lend them ten talents; and as they refused to lend to them, the Samians began to lay waste their lands: so when they were informed of it, forthwith the Siphnians came to the rescue, and having engaged battle with them were defeated, and many of them were cut off by the Samians and shut out of the city; and the Samians after this imposed upon them a payment of a hundred talents.

59. Then from the men of Hermion they received by payment of money the island of Hydrea, which is near the coast of Peloponnese, and they gave it in charge to the Troizenians, but they themselves settled at Kydonia which is in Crete, not sailing thither for that purpose but in order to drive the Zakynthians out of the island. Here they remained and were prosperous for five years, so much so that they were the builders of the temples which are now existing in Kydonia, and also of the house of Dictyna.[51][{kai ton tes Diktunes neon}: omitted by some Editors.] In the sixth year however the Eginetans together with the Cretans conquered them in a sea-fight and brought them to slavery; and they cut off the prows of their ships, which were shaped like boars, and dedicated them in the temple of Athene in Egina. This the Eginetans did because they had a grudge against the Samians; for the Samians had first made expedition against Egina, when Amphicrates was king in Samos, and had done much hurt to the Eginetans and suffered much hurt also from them. Such was the cause of this event:

60, and about the Samians I have spoken at greater length, because they have three works which are greater than any others that have been made by Hellenes: first a passage beginning from below and open at both ends, dug through a mountain not less than a hundred and fifty fathoms[52][{orguias}.] in height; the length of the passage is seven furlongs[53][{stadioi}.] and the height and breadth each eight feet, and throughout the whole of it another passage has been dug twenty cubits in depth and three feet in breadth, through which the water is conducted and comes by the pipes to the city, brought from an abundant spring: and the designer of this work was a Megarian, Eupalinos the son of Naustrophos. This is one of the three; and the second is a mole in the sea about the harbour, going down to a depth of as much as[54][{kai}: the MSS. have {kata}.] twenty fathoms; and the length of the mole is more than two furlongs. The third work which they have executed is a temple larger than all the other temples of which we know. Of this the first designer was Rhoicos the son of Philes, a native of Samos. For this reason I have spoken at greater length of the Samians.

61. Now while Cambyses the son of Cyrus was spending a long time in Egypt and had gone out of his right mind, there rose up against him two brothers, Magians, of whom the one had been left behind by Cambyses as caretaker of his household. This man, I say, rose up against him perceiving that the occurrence of the death of Smerdis was being kept secret, and that there were but few of the Persians who were aware of it, while the greater number believed without doubt that he was still alive. Therefore he endeavoured to obtain the kingdom, and he formed his plan as follows:—he had a brother (that one who, as I said, rose up with him against Cambyses), and this man in form very closely resembled Smerdis the son of Cyrus, whom Cambyses had slain, being his own brother. He was like Smerdis, I say, in form, and not only so but he had the same name, Smerdis. Having persuaded this man that he would manage everything for him, the Magian Patizeithes brought him and seated him upon the royal throne: and having so done he sent heralds about to the various provinces, and among others one to the army in Egypt, to proclaim to them that they must obey Smerdis the son of Cyrus for the future instead of Cambyses.

62. So then the other heralds made this proclamation, and also the one who was appointed to go to Egypt, finding Cambyses and his army at Agbatana in Syria, stood in the midst and began to proclaim that which had been commanded to him by the Magian. Hearing this from the herald, and supposing that the herald was speaking the truth and that he had himself been betrayed by Prexaspes, that is to say, that when Prexaspes was sent to kill Smerdis he had not done so, Cambyses looked upon Prexaspes and said: “Prexaspes, was it thus that thou didst perform for me the thing which I gave over to thee to do?” and he said: “Master, the saying is not true that Smerdis thy brother has risen up against thee, nor that thou wilt have any contention arising from him, either great or small: for I myself, having done that which thou didst command me to do, buried him with my own hands. If therefore the dead have risen again to life, then thou mayest expect that Astyages also the Mede will rise up against thee; but if it is as it was beforetime, there is no fear now that any trouble shall spring up for you, at least from him. Now therefore I think it well that some should pursue after the herald and examine him, asking from whom he has come to proclaim to us that we are to obey Smerdis as king.”

63. When Prexaspes had thus spoken, Cambyses was pleased with the advice, and accordingly the herald was pursued forthwith and returned. Then when he had come back, Prexaspes asked him as follows: “Man, thou sayest that thou art come as a messenger from Smerdis the son of Cyrus: now therefore speak the truth and go away in peace. I ask thee whether Smerdis himself appeared before thine eyes and charged thee to say this, or some one of those who serve him.” He said: “Smerdis the son of Cyrus I have never yet seen, since the day that king Cambyses marched to Egypt: but the Magian whom Cambyses appointed to be guardian of his household, he, I say, gave me this charge, saying that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was he who laid the command upon me to speak these things to you.” Thus he spoke to them, adding no falsehoods to the first, and Cambyses said: “Prexaspes, thou hast done that which was commanded thee like an honest man, and hast escaped censure; but who of the Persians may this be who has risen up against me and usurped the name of Smerdis?” He said: “I seem to myself, O king, to have understanding of this which has come to pass: the Magians have risen against thee, Patizeithes namely, whom thou didst leave as caretaker of thy household, and his brother Smerdis.”

64. Then Cambyses, when he heard the name of Smerdis, perceived at once the true meaning of this report and of the dream, for he thought in his sleep that some one had reported to him that Smerdis was sitting upon the royal throne and had touched the heaven with his head: and perceiving that he had slain his brother without need, he began to lament for Smerdis; and having lamented for him and sorrowed greatly for the whole mishap, he was leaping upon his horse, meaning as quickly as possible to march his army to Susa against the Magian; and as he leapt upon his horse, the cap of his sword-sheath fell off, and the sword being left bare struck his thigh. Having been wounded then in the same part where he had formerly struck Apis the god of the Egyptians, and believing that he had been struck with a mortal blow, Cambyses asked what was the name of that town, and they said “Agbatana.” Now even before this he had been informed by the Oracle at the city of Buto that in Agbatana he should bring his life to an end: and he supposed that he should die of old age in Agbatana in Media, where was his chief seat of power; but the oracle, it appeared, meant in Agbatana of Syria. So when by questioning now he learnt the name of the town, being struck with fear both by the calamity caused by the Magian and at the same time by the wound, he came to his right mind, and understanding the meaning of the oracle he said: “Here it is fated that Cambyses the son of Cyrus shall end his life.”

65. So much only he said at that time; but about twenty days afterwards he sent for the most honourable of the Persians who were with him, and said to them as follows: “Persians, it has become necessary for me to make known to you the thing which I was wont to keep concealed beyond all other things. Being in Egypt I saw a vision in my sleep, which I would I had never seen, and it seemed to me that a messenger came from home and reported to me that Smerdis was sitting upon the royal throne and had touched the heaven with his head. Fearing then lest I should be deprived of my power by my brother, I acted quickly rather than wisely; for it seems that it is not possible for man[55][{en te gar anthropeie phusi ouk enen ara}.] to avert that which is destined to come to pass. I therefore, fool that I was, sent away Prexaspes to Susa to kill Smerdis; and when this great evil had been done, I lived in security, never considering the danger that some other man might at some time rise up against me, now that Smerdis had been removed: and altogether missing the mark of that which was about to happen, I have both made myself the murderer of my brother, when there was no need, and I have been deprived none the less of the kingdom; for it was in fact Smerdis the Magian of whom the divine power declared to me beforehand in the vision that he should rise up against me. So then, as I say, this deed has been done by me, and ye must imagine that ye no longer have Smerdis the son of Cyrus alive: but it is in truth the Magians who are masters of your kingdom, he whom I left as guardian of my household and his brother Smerdis. The man then who ought above all others to have taken vengeance on my behalf for the dishonour which I have suffered from the Magians, has ended his life by an unholy death received from the hands of those who were his nearest of kin; and since he is no more, it becomes most needful for me, as the thing next best of those which remain,[56][Or possibly, “the most necessary of those things which remain to be done, is this.”] to charge you, O Persians, with that which dying I desire should be done for me. This then I lay upon you, calling upon the gods of the royal house to witness it,—upon you and most of all upon those of the Achaemenidai who are present here,—that ye do not permit the return of the chief power to the Medes, but that if they have acquired it by craft, by craft they be deprived of it by you, or if they have conquered it by any kind of force, by force and by a strong hand ye recover it. And if ye do this, may the earth bring forth her produce and may your wives and your cattle be fruitful, while ye remain free for ever; but if ye do not recover the power nor attempt to recover it, I pray that curses the contrary of these blessings may come upon you, and moreover that each man of the Persians may have an end to his life like that which has come upon me.” Then as soon as he had finished speaking these things, Cambyses began to bewail and make lamentation for all his fortunes.

66. And the Persians, when they saw that the king had begun to bewail himself, both rent the garments which they wore and made lamentation without stint. After this, when the bone had become diseased and the thigh had mortified, Cambyses the son of Cyrus was carried off by the wound, having reigned in all seven years and five months, and being absolutely childless both of male and female offspring. The Persians meanwhile who were present there were very little disposed to believe[57][{apistie polle upekekhuto}, cp. ii. 152.] that the power was in the hands of the Magians: on the contrary, they were surely convinced that Cambyses had said that which he said about the death of Smerdis to deceive them, in order that all the Persians might be moved to war against him. These then were surely convinced that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was established to be king; for Prexaspes also very strongly denied that he had slain Smerdis, since it was not safe, now that Cambyses was dead, for him to say that he had destroyed with his own hand the son of Cyrus.

67. Thus when Cambyses had brought his life to an end, the Magian became king without disturbance, usurping the place of his namesake Smerdis the son of Cyrus; and he reigned during the seven months which were wanting yet to Cambyses for the completion of the eight years: and during them he performed acts of great benefit to all his subjects, so that after his death all those in Asia except the Persians themselves mourned for his loss: for the Magian sent messengers abroad to every nation over which he ruled, and proclaimed freedom from military service and from tribute for three years.

68. This proclamation, I say, he made at once when he established himself upon the throne: but in the eighth month it was discovered who he was in the following manner:—There was one Otanes the son of Pharnaspes, in birth and in wealth not inferior to any of the Persians. This Otanes was the first who had had suspicion of the Magian, that he was not Smerdis the son of Cyrus but the person that he really was, drawing his inference from these facts, namely that he never went abroad out of the fortress, and that he did not summon into his presence any of the honourable men among the Persians: and having formed a suspicion of him, he proceeded to do as follows:—Cambyses had taken to wife his daughter, whose name was Phaidyme;[58][Or perhaps Phaidymia.] and this same daughter the Magian at that time was keeping as his wife and living with her as with all the rest also of the wives of Cambyses. Otanes therefore sent a message to this daughter and asked her who the man was by whose side she slept, whether Smerdis the son of Cyrus or some other. She sent back word to him saying that she did not know, for she had never seen Smerdis the son of Cyrus, nor did she know otherwise who he was who lived with her. Otanes then sent a second time and said: “If thou dost not thyself know Smerdis the son of Cyrus, then do thou ask of Atossa who this man is, with whom both she and thou live as wives; for assuredly it must be that she knows her own brother.”

69. To this the daughter sent back word: “I am not able either to come to speech with Atossa or to see any other of the women who live here with me; for as soon as this man, whosoever he may be, succeeded to the kingdom, he separated us and placed us in different apartments by ourselves.” When Otanes heard this, the matter became more and more clear to him, and he sent another message in to her, which said: “Daughter, it is right for thee, nobly born as thou art, to undertake any risk which thy father bids thee take upon thee: for if in truth this is not Smerdis the son of Cyrus but the man whom I suppose, he ought not to escape with impunity either for taking thee to his bed or for holding the dominion of Persians, but he must pay the penalty. Now therefore do as I say. When he sleeps by thee and thou perceivest that he is sound asleep, feel his ears; and if it prove that he has ears, then believe that thou art living with Smerdis the son of Cyrus, but if not, believe that it is with the Magian Smerdis.” To this Phaidyme sent an answer saying that, if she should do so, she would run a great risk; for supposing that he should chance not to have his ears, and she were detected feeling for them, she was well assured that he would put her to death; but nevertheless she would do this. So she undertook to do this for her father: but as for this Magian Smerdis, he had had his ears cut off by Cyrus the son of Cambyses when he was king, for some grave offence. This Phaidyme then, the daughter of Otanes, proceeding to perform all that she had undertaken for her father, when her turn came to go to the Magian (for the wives of the Persians go in to them regularly each in her turn), came and lay down beside him: and when the Magian was in deep sleep, she felt his ears; and perceiving not with difficulty but easily that her husband had no ears, so soon as it became day she sent and informed her father of that which had taken place.

70. Then Otanes took to him Aspathines and Gobryas,[59][{Gobrues} or {Gobrues}.] who were leading men among the Persians and also his own most trusted friends, and related to them the whole matter: and they, as it then appeared, had suspicions also themselves that it was so; and when Otanes reported this to them, they readily accepted his proposals. Then it was resolved by them that each one should associate with himself that man of the Persians whom he trusted most; so Otanes brought in Intaphrenes,[60][{‘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}.] Gobryas brought in Megabyzos, and Aspathines brought in Hydarnes. When they had thus become six, Dareios the son of Hystaspes arrived at Susa, having come from the land of Persia, for of this his father was governor. Accordingly when he came, the six men of the Persians resolved to associate Dareios also with themselves.

71. These then having come together, being seven in number, gave pledges of faith to one another and deliberated together; and when it came to Dareios to declare his opinion, he spoke to them as follows: “I thought that I alone knew this, namely that it was the Magian who was reigning as king and that Smerdis the son of Cyrus had brought his life to an end; and for this very reason I am come with earnest purpose to contrive death for the Magian. Since however it has come to pass that ye also know and not I alone, I think it well to act at once and not to put the matter off, for that is not the better way.” To this replied Otanes: “Son of Hystaspes, thou art the scion of a noble stock, and thou art showing thyself, as it seems, in no way inferior to thy father: do not however hasten this enterprise so much without consideration, but take it up more prudently; for we must first become more in numbers, and then undertake the matter.” In answer to this Dareios said: “Men who are here present, if ye shall follow the way suggested by Otanes, know that ye will perish miserably; for some one will carry word to the Magian, getting gain thereby privately for himself. Your best way would have been to do this action upon your own risk alone; but since it seemed good to you to refer the matter to a greater number, and ye communicated it to me, either let us do the deed to-day, or be ye assured that if this present day shall pass by, none other shall prevent me[61][{phthas emeu}.] as your accuser, but I will myself tell these things to the Magian.”

72. To this Otanes, when he saw Dareios in violent haste, replied: “Since thou dost compel us to hasten the matter and dost not permit us to delay, come expound to us thyself in what manner we shall pass into the palace and lay hands upon them: for that there are guards set in various parts, thou knowest probably thyself as well as we, if not from sight at least from hearsay; and in what manner shall we pass through these?” Dareios made reply with these words: “Otanes, there are many things in sooth which it is not possible to set forth in speech, but only in deed; and other things there are which in speech can be set forth, but from them comes no famous deed. Know ye however that the guards which are set are not difficult to pass: for in the first place, we being what we are, there is no one who will not let us go by, partly, as may be supposed, from having respect for us, and partly also perhaps from fear; and secondly I have myself a most specious pretext by means of which we may pass by; for I shall say that I am just now come from the Persian land and desire to declare to the king a certain message from my father: for where it is necessary that a lie be spoken, let it be spoken; seeing that we all aim at the same object, both they who lie and they who always speak the truth; those lie whenever they are likely to gain anything by persuading with their lies, and these tell the truth in order that they may draw to themselves gain by the truth, and that things[62][{ti}: some MSS. have {tis}, “in order that persons may trust (themselves) to them more.”] may be entrusted to them more readily. Thus, while practising different ways, we aim all at the same thing. If however they were not likely to make any gain by it, the truth-teller would lie and the liar would speak the truth, with indifference. Whosoever then of the door-keepers shall let us pass by of his own free will, for him it shall be the better afterwards; but whosoever shall endeavour to oppose our passage, let him then and there be marked as our enemy,[63][i.e. “let him be killed on the spot.”] and after that let us push in and set about our work.”

73. Then said Gobryas: “Friends, at what time will there be a fairer opportunity for us either to recover our rule, or, if we are not able to get it again, to die? seeing that we being Persians on the one hand lie under the rule of a Mede, a Magian, and that too a man whose ears have been cut off. Moreover all those of you who stood by the side of Cambyses when he was sick remember assuredly what he laid upon the Persians as he was bringing his life to an end, if they should not attempt to win back the power; and this we did not accept then, but supposed that Cambyses had spoken in order to deceive us. Now therefore I give my vote that we follow the opinion of Dareios, and that we do not depart from this assembly to go anywhither else but straight to attack the Magian.” Thus spoke Gobryas, and they all approved of this proposal.

74. Now while these were thus taking counsel together, it was coming to pass by coincidence as follows:—The Magians taking counsel together had resolved to join Prexaspes with themselves as a friend, both because he had suffered grievous wrong from Cambyses, who had killed his son by shooting him, and because he alone knew for a certainty of the death of Smerdis the son of Cyrus, having killed him with his own hands, and finally because Prexaspes was in very great repute among the Persians. For these reasons they summoned him and endeavoured to win him to be their friend, engaging him by pledge and with oaths, that he would assuredly keep to himself and not reveal to any man the deception which had been practised by them upon the Persians, and promising to give him things innumerable[64][{ta panta muria}, “ten thousand of every possible thing,” (or, “of all the usual gifts”; cp. ch. 84 {ten pasan doreen}).] in return. After Prexaspes had promised to do this, the Magians, having persuaded him so far, proposed to him a second thing, and said that they would call together all the Persians to come up to the wall of the palace, and bade him go up upon a tower and address them, saying that they were living under the rule of Smerdis the son of Cyrus and no other. This they so enjoined because they supposed[65][{dethen}.] that he had the greatest credit among the Persians, and because he had frequently declared the opinion that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was still alive, and had denied that he had slain him.

75. When Prexaspes said that he was ready to do this also, the Magians having called together the Persians caused him to go up upon a tower and bade him address them. Then he chose to forget those things which they asked of him, and beginning with Achaimenes he traced the descent of Cyrus on the father’s side, and then, when he came down to Cyrus, he related at last what great benefits he had conferred upon the Persians; and having gone through this recital he proceeded to declare the truth, saying that formerly he kept it secret, since it was not safe for him to tell of that which had been done, but at the present time he was compelled to make it known. He proceeded to say how he had himself slain Smerdis the son of Cyrus, being compelled by Cambyses, and that it was the Magians who were now ruling. Then he made imprecation of many evils on the Persians, if they did not win back again the power and take vengeance upon the Magians, and upon that he let himself fall down from the tower head foremost. Thus Prexaspes ended his life, having been throughout his time a man of repute.

76. Now the seven of the Persians, when they had resolved forthwith to lay hands upon the Magians and not to delay, made prayer to the gods and went, knowing nothing of that which had been done with regard to Prexaspes: and as they were going and were in the middle of their course, they heard that which had happened about Prexaspes. Upon that they retired out of the way and again considered with themselves, Otanes and his supporters strongly urging that they should delay and not set to the work when things were thus disturbed,[66][{oideonton ton pregmaton}: “while things were swelling,” cp. ch. 127: perhaps here, “before things came to a head.”] while Dareios and those of his party urged that they should go forthwith and do that which had been resolved, and not delay. Then while they were contending, there appeared seven pairs of hawks pursuing two pairs of vultures, plucking out their feathers and tearing them. Seeing this the seven all approved the opinion of Dareios and thereupon they went to the king’s palace, encouraged by the sight of the birds.

77. When they appeared at the gates, it happened nearly as Dareios supposed, for the guards, having respect for men who were chief among the Persians, and not suspecting that anything would be done by them of the kind proposed, allowed them to pass in under the guiding of heaven, and none asked them any question. Then when they had passed into the court, they met the eunuchs who bore in the messages to the king; and these inquired of them for what purpose they had come, and at the same time they threatened with punishment the keepers of the gates for having let them pass in, and tried to stop the seven when they attempted to go forward. Then they gave the word to one another and drawing their daggers stabbed these men there upon the spot, who tried to stop them, and themselves went running on towards the chamber of the men. [6601][{andreona}, as in ch. 121.]

78. Now the Magians happened both of them to be there within, consulting about that which had been done by Prexaspes. So when they saw that the eunuchs had been attacked and were crying aloud, they ran back[67][{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.] both of them, and perceiving that which was being done they turned to self-defence: and one of them got down his bow and arrows before he was attacked, while the other had recourse to his spear. Then they engaged in combat with one another; and that one of them who had taken up his bow and arrows found them of no use, since his enemies were close at hand and pressed hard upon him, but the other defended himself with his spear, and first he struck Aspathines in the thigh, and then Intaphrenes in the eye; and Intaphrenes lost his eye by reason of the wound, but his life he did not lose. These then were wounded by one of the Magians, but the other, when his bow and arrows proved useless to him, fled into a bedchamber which opened into the chamber of the men, intending to close the door; and with him there rushed in two of the seven, Dareios and Gobryas. And when Gobryas was locked together in combat with the Magian, Dareios stood by and was at a loss what to do, because it was dark, and he was afraid lest he should strike Gobryas. Then seeing him standing by idle, Gobryas asked why he did not use his hands, and he said: “Because I am afraid lest I may strike thee”: and Gobryas answered: “Thrust with thy sword even though it stab through us both.” So Dareios was persuaded, and he thrust with his danger and happened to hit the Magian.

79. So when they had slain the Magians and cut off their heads, they left behind those of their number who were wounded, both because they were unable to go, and also in order that they might take charge of the fortress, and the five others taking with them the heads of the Magians ran with shouting and clashing of arms and called upon the other Persians to join them, telling them of that which had been done and showing the heads, and at the same time they proceeded to slay every one of the Magians who crossed their path. So the Persians when they heard of that which had been brought to pass by the seven and of the deceit of the Magians, thought good themselves also to do the same, and drawing their daggers they killed the Magians wherever they found one; so that if night had not come on and stopped them, they would not have left a single Magian alive. This day the Persians celebrate in common more than all other days, and upon it they keep a great festival which is called by the Persians the festival of the slaughter of the Magians, [6701][{magophonia}.]on which no Magian is permitted to appear abroad, but the Magians keep themselves within their houses throughout that day.

80. When the tumult had subsided and more than five days had elapsed,[68][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}.] those who had risen against the Magians began to take counsel about the general state, and there were spoken speeches which some of the Hellenes do not believe were really uttered, but spoken they were nevertheless.[69][See vi. 43.] On the one hand Otanes urged that they should resign the government into the hands of the whole body of the Persians, and his words were as follows: “To me it seems best that no single one of us should henceforth be ruler, for that is neither pleasant nor profitable. Ye saw the insolent temper of Cambyses, to what lengths it went, and ye have had experience also of the insolence of the Magian: and how should the rule of one alone be a well-ordered thing, seeing that the monarch may do what he desires without rendering any account of his acts? Even the best of all men, if he were placed in this disposition, would be caused by it to change from his wonted disposition: for insolence is engendered in him by the good things which he possesses, and envy is implanted in man from the beginning; and having these two things, he has all vice: for he does many deeds of reckless wrong, partly moved by insolence proceeding from satiety, and partly by envy. And yet a despot at least ought to have been free from envy, seeing that he has all manner of good things. He is however naturally in just the opposite temper towards his subjects; for he grudges to the nobles that they should survive and live, but delights in the basest of citizens, and he is more ready than any other man to receive calumnies. Then of all things he is the most inconsistent; for if you express admiration of him moderately, he is offended that no very great court is paid to him, whereas if you pay court to him extravagantly, he is offended with you for being a flatterer. And the most important matter of all is that which I am about to say:—he disturbs the customs handed down from our fathers, he is a ravisher of women, and he puts men to death without trial. On the other hand the rule of many has first a name attaching to it which is the fairest of all names, that is to say ‘Equality’;[70][{isonomie}, “equal distribution,” i.e. of civil rights.] next, the multitude does none of those things which the monarch does: offices of state are exercised by lot, and the magistrates are compelled to render account of their action: and finally all matters of deliberation are referred to the public assembly. I therefore give as my opinion that we let monarchy go and increase the power of the multitude; for in the many is contained everything.”

81. This was the opinion expressed by Otanes; but Megabyzos urged that they should entrust matters to the rule of a few, saying these words: “That which Otanes said in opposition to a tyranny, let it be counted as said for me also, but in that which he said urging that we should make over the power to the multitude, he has missed the best counsel: for nothing is more senseless or insolent than a worthless crowd; and for men flying from the insolence of a despot to fall into that of unrestrained popular power, is by no means to be endured: for he, if he does anything, does it knowing what he does, but the people cannot even know; for how can that know which has neither been taught anything noble by others nor perceived anything of itself,[71][{ouden oikeion}: the MSS. have {ouden oud’ oikeion}, which might be translated “anything of its own either.”] but pushes on matters with violent impulse and without understanding, like a torrent stream? Rule of the people then let them adopt who are foes to the Persians; but let us choose a company of the best men, and to them attach the chief power; for in the number of these we shall ourselves also be, and it is likely that the resolutions taken by the best men will be the best.”

82. This was the opinion expressed by Megabyzos; and thirdly Dareios proceeded to declare his opinion, saying: “To me it seems that in those things which Megabyzos said with regard to the multitude he spoke rightly, but in those which he said with regard to the rule of a few, not rightly: for whereas there are three things set before us, and each is supposed[72][{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.] to be the best in its own kind, that is to say a good popular government, and the rule of a few, and thirdly the rule of one, I say that this last is by far superior to the others; for nothing better can be found than the rule of an individual man of the best kind; seeing that using the best judgment he would be guardian of the multitude without reproach; and resolutions directed against enemies would so best be kept secret. In an oligarchy however it happens often that many, while practising virtue with regard to the commonwealth, have strong private enmities arising among themselves; for as each man desires to be himself the leader and to prevail in counsels, they come to great enmities with one another, whence arise factions among them, and out of the factions comes murder, and from murder results the rule of one man; and thus it is shown in this instance by how much that is the best. Again, when the people rules, it is impossible that corruption[73][{kakoteta}, as opposed to the {arete} practised by the members of an aristocracy.] should not arise, and when corruption arises in the commonwealth, there arise among the corrupt men not enmities but strong ties of friendship: for they who are acting corruptly to the injury of the commonwealth put their heads together secretly to do so. And this continues so until at last some one takes the leadership of the people and stops the course of such men. By reason of this the man of whom I speak is admired by the people, and being so admired he suddenly appears as monarch. Thus he too furnishes herein an example to prove that the rule of one is the best thing. Finally, to sum up all in a single word, whence arose the liberty which we possess, and who gave it to us? Was it a gift of the people or of an oligarchy or of a monarch? I therefore am of opinion that we, having been set free by one man, should preserve that form of rule, and in other respects also that we should not annul the customs of our fathers which are ordered well; for that is not the better way.”

83. These three opinions then had been proposed, and the other four men of the seven gave their assent to the last. So when Otanes, who was desirous to give equality to the Persians, found his opinion defeated, he spoke to those assembled thus: “Partisans, it is clear that some one of us must become king, selected either by casting lots, or by entrusting the decision to the multitude of the Persians and taking him whom it shall choose, or by some other means. I therefore shall not be a competitor with you, for I do not desire either to rule or to be ruled; and on this condition I withdraw from my claim to rule, namely that I shall not be ruled by any of you, either I myself or my descendants in future time.” When he had said this, the six made agreement with him on those terms, and he was no longer a competitor with them, but withdrew from the assembly; and at the present time this house remains free alone of all the Persian houses, and submits to rule only so far as it wills to do so itself, not transgressing the laws of the Persians.

84. The rest however of the seven continued to deliberate how they should establish a king in the most just manner; and it was resolved by them that to Otanes and his descendants in succession, if the kingdom should come to any other of the seven, there should be given as special gifts a Median dress every year and all those presents which are esteemed among the Persians to be the most valuable: and the reason why they determined that these things should be given to him, was because he first suggested to them the matter and combined them together. These were special gifts for Otanes; and this they also determined for all in common, namely that any one of the seven who wished might pass in to the royal palaces without any to bear in a message, unless the king happened to be sleeping with his wife; and that it should not be lawful for the king to marry from any other family, but only from those of the men who had made insurrection with him: and about the kingdom they determined this, namely that the man whose horse should first neigh at sunrise in the suburb of the city when they were mounted upon their horses, he should have the kingdom.

85. Now Dareios had a clever horse-keeper, whose name was Oibares. To this man, when they had left their assembly, Dareios spoke these words: “Oibares, we have resolved to do about the kingdom thus, namely that the man whose horse first neighs at sunrise, when we are mounted upon our horses he shall be king. Now therefore, if thou hast any cleverness, contrive that we may obtain this prize, and not any other man.” Oibares replied thus: “If, my master, it depends in truth upon this whether thou be king or no, have confidence so far as concerns this and keep a good heart, for none other shall be king before thee; such charms have I at my command.” Then Dareios said: “If then thou hast any such trick, it is time to devise it and not to put things off, for our trial is to-morrow.” Oibares therefore hearing this did as follows:—when night was coming on he took one of the mares, namely that one which the horse of Dareios preferred, and this he led into the suburb of the city and tied her up: then he brought to her the horse of Dareios, and having for some time led him round her, making him go so close by so as to touch the mare, at last he let the horse mount.

86. Now at dawn of day the six came to the place as they had agreed, riding upon their horses; and as they rode through by the suburb of the city, when they came near the place where the mare had been tied up on the former night, the horse of Dareios ran up to the place and neighed; and just when the horse had done this, there came lightning and thunder from a clear sky: and the happening of these things to Dareios consummated his claim, for they seemed to have come to pass by some design, and the others leapt down from their horses and did obeisance to Dareios.

87. Some say that the contrivance of Oibares was this, but others say as follows (for the story is told by the Persians in both ways), namely that he touched with his hands the parts of this mare and kept his hand hidden in his trousers; and when at sunrise they were about to let the horses go, this Oibares pulled out his hand and applied it to the nostrils of the horse of Dareios; and the horse, perceiving the smell, snorted and neighed.

88. So Dareios the son of Hystaspes had been declared king; and in Asia all except the Arabians were his subjects, having been subdued by Cyrus and again afterwards by Cambyses. The Arabians however were never obedient to the Persians under conditions of subjection, but had become guest-friends when they let Cambyses pass by to Egypt: for against the will of the Arabians the Persians would not be able to invade Egypt. Moreover Dareios made the most noble marriages possible in the estimation of the Persians; for he married two daughters of Cyrus, Atossa and Artystone, of whom the one, Arossa, had before been the wife of Cambyses her brother and then afterwards of the Magian, while Artystone was a virgin; and besides them he married the daughter of Smerdis the son of Cyrus, whose name was Parmys; and he also took to wife the daughter of Otanes, he who had discovered the Magian; and all things became filled with his power. And first he caused to be a carving in stone, and set it up; and in it there was the figure of a man on horseback, and he wrote upon it writing to this effect: “Dareios son of Hystaspes by the excellence of his horse,” mentioning the name of it, “and of his horse-keeper Oibares obtained the kingdom of the Persians.”

89. Having so done in Persia, he established twenty provinces, which the Persians themselves call 总督; and having established the provinces and set over them rulers, he appointed tribute to come to him from them according to races, joining also to the chief races those who dwelt on their borders, or passing beyond the immediate neighbours and assigning to various races those which lay more distant. He divided the provinces and the yearly payment of tribute as follows: and those of them who brought in silver were commanded to pay by the standard of the Babylonian talent, but those who brought in gold by the Euboïc talent; now the Babylonian talent is equal to eight-and-seventy Euboïc pounds.[74][{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.] For in the reign of Cyrus, and again of Cambyses, nothing was fixed about tribute, but they used to bring gifts: and on account of this appointing of tribute and other things like this, the Persians say that Dareios was a shopkeeper, Cambyses a master, and Cyrus a father; the one because he dealt with all his affairs like a shopkeeper, the second because he was harsh and had little regard for any one, and the other because he was gentle and contrived for them all things good.

90. From the Ionians and the Magnesians who dwell in Asia and the Aiolians, Carians, Lykians, Milyans and Pamphylians (for one single sum was appointed by him as tribute for all these) there came in four hundred talents of silver. This was appointed by him to be the first division.[75][{nomos}, and so throughout.] From the Mysians and Lydians and Lasonians and Cabalians and Hytennians[76][or “Hygennians.”] there came in five hundred talents: this is the second division. From the Hellespontians who dwell on the right as one sails in and the Phrygians and the Thracians who dwell in Asia and the Paphlagonians and Mariandynoi and Syrians[77][i.e. the Cappadokians, see i. 6.] the tribute was three hundred and sixty talents: this is the third division. From the Kilikians, besides three hundred and sixty white horses, one for every day in the year, there came also five hundred talents of silver; of these one hundred and forty talents were spent upon the horsemen which served as a guard to the Kilikian land, and the remaining three hundred and sixty came in year by year to Dareios: this is the fourth division.

91. From that division which begins with the city of Posideion, founded by Amphilochos the son of Amphiaraos on the borders of the Kilikians and the Syrians, and extends as far as Egypt, not including the territory of the Arabians (for this was free from payment), the amount was three hundred and fifty talents; and in this division are the whole of Phenicia and Syria which is called Palestine and Cyprus: this is the fifth division. From Egypt and the Libyans bordering upon Egypt, and from Kyrene and Barca, for these were so ordered as to belong to the Egyptian division, there came in seven hundred talents, without reckoning the money produced by the lake of Moiris, that is to say from the fish; [7701][See ii. 149.] without reckoning this, I say, or the corn which was contributed in addition by measure, there came in seven hundred talents; for as regards the corn, they contribute by measure one hundred and twenty thousand[78][{muriadas}: the MSS. have {muriasi}. With {muriadas} we must supply {medimnon}. The {medimnos} is really about a bushel and a half.] bushels for the use of those Persians who are established in the “White Fortress” at Memphis, and for their foreign mercenaries: this is the sixth division. The Sattagydai and Gandarians and Dadicans and Aparytai, being joined together, brought in one hundred and seventy talents: this is the seventh division. From Susa and the rest of the land of the Kissians there came in three hundred: this is the eighth division.

92. From Babylon and from the rest of Assyria there came in to him a thousand talents of silver and five hundred boys for eunuchs: this is the ninth division. From Agbatana and from the rest of Media and the Paricanians and Orthocorybantians, four hundred and fifty talents: this is the tenth division. The Caspians and Pausicans[79][{Pausikai}: some MSS. have {Pausoi}.] and Pantimathoi and Dareitai, contributing together, brought in two hundred talents: this is the eleventh division. From the Bactrians as far as the Aigloi the tribute was three hundred and sixty talents: this is the twelfth division.

93. From Pactyïke and the Armenians and the people bordering upon them as far as the Euxine, four hundred talents: this is the thirteenth division. From the Sagartians and Sarangians and Thamanaians and Utians and Mycans and those who dwell in the islands of the Erythraian Sea, where the king settles those who are called the “Removed,”[80][{tous anaspastous kaleomenous}.] from all these together a tribute was produced of six hundred talents: this is the fourteenth division. The Sacans and the Caspians[81][{Kaspioi}: some read by conjecture {Kaspeiroi}, others {Kasioi}.] brought in two hundred and fifty talents: this is the fifteenth division. The Parthians and Chorasmians and Sogdians and Areians three hundred talents: this is the sixteenth division.

94. The Paricanians and Ethiopians in Asia brought in four hundred talents: this is the seventeenth division. To the Matienians and Saspeirians and Alarodians was appointed a tribute of two hundred talents: this is the eighteenth division. To the Moschoi and Tibarenians and Macronians and Mossynoicoi and Mares three hundred talents were ordered: this is the nineteenth division. Of the Indians the number is far greater than that of any other race of men of whom we know; and they brought in a tribute larger than all the rest, that is to say three hundred and sixty talents of gold-dust: this is the twentieth division.

95. Now if we compare Babylonian with Euboïc talents, the silver is found to amount to nine thousand eight hundred and eighty[82][{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.] talents; and if we reckon the gold at thirteen times the value of silver, weight for weight, the gold-dust is found to amount to four thousand six hundred and eighty Euboïc talents. These being all added together, the total which was collected as yearly tribute for Dareios amounts to fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty Euboïc talents: the sums which are less than these[83][The reckoning throughout is in round numbers, nothing less than the tens being mentioned.] I pass over and do not mention.

96. This was the tribute which came in to Dareios from Asia and from a small part of Libya: but as time went on, other tribute came in also from the islands and from those who dwell in Europe as far as Thessaly. This tribute the king stores up in his treasury in the following manner:—he melts it down and pours it into jars of earthenware, and when he has filled the jars he takes off the earthenware jar from the metal; and when he wants money he cuts off so much as he needs on each occasion.

97. These were the provinces and the assessments of tribute: and the Persian land alone has not been mentioned by me as paying a contribution, for the Persians have their land to dwell in free from payment. The following moreover had no tribute fixed for them to pay, but brought gifts, namely the Ethiopians who border upon Egypt, whom Cambyses subdued as he marched against the Long-lived Ethiopians, those[84][{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.] who dwell about Nysa, which is called “sacred,” and who celebrate the festivals in honour of Dionysos: these Ethiopians and those who dwell near them have the same kind of seed as the Callantian Indians, and they have underground dwellings.[85][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.] These both together brought every other year, and continue to bring even to my own time, two quart measures[86][{khoinikas}.] of unmelted gold and two hundred blocks of ebony and five Ethiopian boys and twenty large elephant tusks. The Colchians also had set themselves among those who brought gifts, and with them those who border upon them extending as far as the range of the Caucasus (for the Persian rule extends as far as these mountains, but those who dwell in the parts beyond Caucasus toward the North Wind regard the Persians no longer),—these, I say, continued to bring the gifts which they had fixed for themselves every four years[87][{dia penteteridos}.] even down to my own time, that is to say, a hundred boys and a hundred maidens. Finally, the Arabians brought a thousand talents of frankincense every year. Such were the gifts which these brought to the king apart from the tribute.

98. Now this great quantity of gold, out of which the Indians bring in to the king the gold-dust which has been mentioned, is obtained by them in a manner which I shall tell:—That part of the Indian land which is towards the rising sun is sand; for of all the peoples in Asia of which we know or about which any certain report is given, the Indians dwell furthest away towards the East and the sunrising; seeing that the country to the East of the Indians is desert on account of the sand. Now there are many tribes of Indians, and they do not agree with one another in language; and some of them are pastoral and others not so, and some dwell in the swamps of the river[88][i.e. the Indus.] and feed upon raw fish, which they catch by fishing from boats made of cane; and each boat is made of one joint of cane. These Indians of which I speak wear clothing made of rushes: they gather and cut the rushes from the river and then weave them together into a kind of mat and put it on like a corslet.

99. Others of the Indians, dwelling to the East of these, are pastoral and eat raw flesh: these are called Padaians, and they practise the following customs:—whenever any of their tribe falls ill, whether it be a woman or a man, if a man then the men who are his nearest associates put him to death, saying that he is wasting away with the disease and his flesh is being spoilt for them:[89][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.”] and meanwhile he denies stoutly and says that he is not ill, but they do not agree with him; and after they have killed him they feast upon his flesh: but if it be a woman who falls ill, the women who are her greatest intimates do to her in the same manner as the men do in the other case. For[90][{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.”] in fact even if a man has come to old age they slay him and feast upon him; but very few of them come to be reckoned as old, for they kill every one who falls into sickness, before he reaches old age.

100. Other Indians have on the contrary a manner of life as follows:—they neither kill any living thing nor do they sow any crops nor is it their custom to possess houses; but they feed on herbs, and they have a grain of the size of millet, in a sheath, which grows of itself from the ground; this they gather and boil with the sheath, and make it their food: and whenever any of them falls into sickness, he goes to the desert country and lies there, and none of them pay any attention either to one who is dead or to one who is sick.

101. The sexual intercourse of all these Indians of whom I have spoken is open like that of cattle, and they have all one colour of skin, resembling that of the Ethiopians: moreover the seed which they emit is not white like that of other races, but black like their skin; and the Ethiopians also are similar in this respect. These tribes of Indians dwell further off than the Persian power extends, and towards the South Wind, and they never became subjects of Dareios.

102. Others however of the Indians are on the borders of the city of Caspatyros and the country of Pactyïke, dwelling towards the North[91][{pros arktou te kai boreo anemou}.] of the other Indians; and they have a manner of living nearly the same as that of the Bactrians: these are the most warlike of the Indians, and these are they who make expeditions for the gold. For in the parts where they live it is desert on account of the sand; and in this desert and sandy tract are produced ants, which are in size smaller than dogs but larger than foxes, for[92][This clause indicates the manner in which the size is so exactly known.] there are some of them kept at the residence of the king of Persia, which are caught here. These ants then make their dwelling under ground and carry up the sand just in the same manner as the ants found in the land of the Hellenes, which they themselves[93][{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}.] also very much resemble in form; and the sand which is brought up contains gold. To obtain this sand the Indians make expeditions into the desert, each one having yoked together three camels, placing a female in the middle and a male like a trace-horse to draw by each side. On this female he mounts himself, having arranged carefully that she shall be taken to be yoked from young ones, the more lately born the better. For their female camels are not inferior to horses in speed, and moreover they are much more capable of bearing weights.

103. As to the form of the camel, I do not here describe it, since the Hellenes for whom I write are already acquainted with it, but I shall tell that which is not commonly known about it, which is this:—the camel has in the hind legs four thighs and four knees,[94][i.e. two in each hind-leg.]and its organs of generation are between the hind legs, turned towards the tail.

104. The Indians, I say, ride out to get the gold in the manner and with the kind of yoking which I have described, making calculations so that they may be engaged in carrying it off at the time when the greatest heat prevails; for the heat causes the ants to disappear underground. Now among these nations the sun is hottest in the morning hours, not at midday as with others, but from sunrise to the time of closing the market: and during this time it produces much greater heat than at midday in Hellas, so that it is said that then they drench themselves with water. Midday however has about equal degree of heat with the Indians as with other men, while after midday their sun becomes like the morning sun with other men, and after this, as it goes further away, it produces still greater coolness, until at last at sunset it makes the air very cool indeed.

105. When the Indians have come to the place with bags, they fill them with the sand and ride away back as quickly as they can, for forthwith the ants, perceiving, as the Persians allege, by the smell, begin to pursue them: and this animal, they say, is superior to every other creature in swiftness, so that unless the Indians got a start in their course, while the ants were gathering together, not one of them would escape. So then the male camels, for they are inferior in speed of running to the females, if they drag behind are even let loose[95][{kai paraluesthai}: {kai} is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.] from the side of the female, one after the other;[96][{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.] the females however, remembering the young which they left behind, do not show any slackness in their course.[97][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.”] Thus it is that the Indians get most part of the gold, as the Persians say; there is however other gold also in their land obtained by digging, but in smaller quantities.

106. It seems indeed that the extremities of the inhabited world had allotted to them by nature the fairest things, just as it was the lot of Hellas to have its seasons far more fairly tempered than other lands: for first, India is the most distant of inhabited lands towards the East, as I have said a little above, and in this land not only the animals, birds as well as four-footed beasts, are much larger than in other places (except the horses, which are surpassed by those of Media called Nessaian), but also there is gold in abundance there, some got by digging, some brought down by rivers, and some carried off as I explained just now: and there also the trees which grow wild produce wool which surpasses in beauty and excellence that from sheep, and the Indians wear clothing obtained from these trees.

107. Then again Arabia is the furthest of inhabited lands in the direction of the midday, and in it alone of all lands grow frankincense and myrrh and cassia and cinnamon and gum-mastich. All these except myrrh are got with difficulty by the Arabians. Frankincense they collect by burning the storax, which is brought thence to the Hellenes by the Phenicians, by burning this, I say, so as to produce smoke they take it; for these trees which produce frankincense are guarded by winged serpents, small in size and of various colours, which watch in great numbers about each tree, of the same kind as those which attempt to invade Egypt: [9701][See ii. 75.] and they cannot be driven away from the trees by any other thing but only the smoke of storax.

108. The Arabians say also that all the world would have been by this time filled with these serpents, if that did not happen with regard to them which I knew happened with regard to vipers: and it seems that the Divine Providence, as indeed was to be expected, seeing that it is wise, has made all those animals prolific which are of cowardly spirit and good for food, in order that they may not be all eaten up and their race fail, whereas it has made those which are bold and noxious to have small progeny. For example, because the hare is hunted by every beast and bird as well as by man, therefore it is so very prolific as it is: and this is the only one of all beasts which becomes pregnant again before the former young are born, and has in its womb some of its young covered with fur and others bare; and while one is just being shaped in the matrix, another is being conceived. Thus it is in this case; whereas the lioness, which is the strongest and most courageous of creatures, produces one cub once only in her life; for when she produces young she casts out her womb together with her young; and the cause of it is this:—when the cub being within the mother[98][{metri}: the MSS. have {metre}, “womb,” but for this Herod. seems to use the plural.] begins to move about, then having claws by far sharper than those of any other beast he tears the womb, and as he grows larger he proceeds much further in his scratching: at last the time of birth approaches and there is now nothing at all left of it in a sound condition.

109. Just so also, if vipers and the winged serpents of the Arabians were produced in the ordinary course of their nature, man would not be able to live upon the earth; but as it is, when they couple with one another and the male is in the act of generation, as he lets go from him the seed, the female seizes hold of his neck, and fastening on to it does not relax her hold till she has eaten it through. The male then dies in the manner which I have said, but the female pays the penalty of retribution for the male in this manner:—the young while they are still in the womb take vengeance for their father by eating through their mother,[99][{metera}: most MSS. have {metran}.] and having eaten through her belly they thus make their way out for themselves. Other serpents however, which are not hurtful to man, produce eggs and hatch from them a very large number of offspring. Now vipers are distributed over all the earth; but the others, which are winged, are found in great numbers together in Arabia and in no other land: therefore it is that they appear to be numerous.

110. This frankincense then is obtained thus by the Arabians; and cassia is obtained as follows:—they bind up in cows’-hide and other kinds of skins all their body and their face except only the eyes, and then go to get the cassia. This grows in a pool not very deep, and round the pool and in it lodge, it seems, winged beasts nearly resembling bats, and they squeak horribly and are courageous in fight. These they must keep off from their eyes, and so cut the cassia.

111. Cinnamon they collect in a yet more marvellous manner than this: for where it grows and what land produces it they are not able to tell, except only that some say (and it is a probable account) that it grows in those regions where Dionysos was brought up; and they say that large birds carry those dried sticks which we have learnt from the Phenicians to call cinnamon, carry them, I say, to nests which are made of clay and stuck on to precipitous sides of mountains, which man can find no means of scaling. With regard to this then the Arabians practise the following contrivance:—they divide up the limbs of the oxen and asses that die and of their other beasts of burden, into pieces as large as convenient, and convey them to these places, and when they have laid them down not far from the nests, they withdraw to a distance from them: and the birds fly down and carry the limbs[100][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.] of the beasts of burden off to their nests; and these are not able to bear them, but break down and fall to the earth; and the men come up to them and collect the cinnamon. Thus cinnamon is collected and comes from this nation to the other countries of the world.

112. Gum-mastich however, which the Arabians call ladanon, comes in a still more extraordinary manner; for though it is the most sweet-scented of all things, it comes in the most evil-scented thing, since it is found in the beards of he-goats, produced there like resin from wood: this is of use for the making of many perfumes, and the Arabians use it more than anything else as incense.

113. Let what we have said suffice with regard to spices; and from the land of Arabia there blows a scent of them most marvellously sweet. They have also two kinds of sheep which are worthy of admiration and are not found in any other land: the one kind has the tail long, not less than three cubits in length; and if one should allow these to drag these after them, they would have sores[101][{elkea}. There is a play upon the words {epelkein} and {elkea} which can hardly be reproduced in translation.] from their tails being worn away against the ground; but as it is, every one of the shepherds knows enough of carpentering to make little cars, which they tie under the tails, fastening the tail of each animal to a separate little car. The other kind of sheep has the tail broad, even as much as a cubit in breadth.

114. As one passes beyond the place of the midday, the Ethiopian land is that which extends furthest of all inhabited lands towards the sunset. This produces both gold in abundance and huge elephants and trees of all kinds growing wild and ebony, and men who are of all men the tallest, the most beautiful and the most long-lived.

115. These are the extremities in Asia and in Libya; but as to the extremities of Europe towards the West, I am not able to speak with certainty: for neither do I accept the tale that there is a river called in Barbarian tongue Eridanos, flowing into the sea which lies towards the North Wind, whence it is said that amber comes; nor do I know of the real existence of “Tin Islands”[102][{Kassiteridas}.] from which tin[103][{o kassiteros}.] comes to us: for first the name Eridanos itself declares that it is Hellenic and that it does not belong to a Barbarian speech, but was invented by some poet; and secondly I am not able to hear from any one who has been an eye-witness, though I took pains to discover this, that there is a sea on the other side of Europe. However that may be, tin and amber certainly come to us from the extremity of Europe.

116. Then again towards the North of Europe, there is evidently a quantity of gold by far larger than in any other land: as to how it is got, here again I am not able to say for certain, but it is said to be carried off from the griffins by Arimaspians, a one-eyed race of men.[104][cp. iv. 13.] But I do not believe this tale either, that nature produces one-eyed men which in all other respects are like other men. However, it would seem that the extremities which bound the rest of the world on every side and enclose it in the midst, possess the things which by us are thought to be the most beautiful and the most rare.

117. Now there is a plain in Asia bounded by mountains on all sides, and through the mountains there are five clefts. This plain belonged once to the Chorasmians, and it lies on the borders of the Chorasmians themselves, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanaians; but from the time that the Persians began to bear rule it belongs to the king. From this enclosing mountain of which I speak there flows a great river, and its name is Akes. This formerly watered the lands of these nations which have been mentioned, being divided into five streams and conducted through a separate cleft in the mountains to each separate nation; but from the time that they have come to be under the Persians they have suffered as follows:—the king built up the clefts in the mountains and set gates at each cleft; and so, since the water has been shut off from its outlet, the plain within the mountains is made into a sea, because the river runs into it and has no way out in any direction. Those therefore who in former times had been wont to make use of the water, not being able now to make use of it are in great trouble: for during the winter they have rain from heaven, as also other men have, but in the summer they desire to use the water when they sow millet and sesame seed. So then, the water not being granted to them, they come to the Persians both themselves and their wives, and standing at the gates of the king’s court they cry and howl; and the king orders that for those who need it most, the gates which lead to their land shall be opened; and when their land has become satiated with drinking in the water, these gates are closed, and he orders the gates to be opened for others, that is to say those most needing it of the rest who remain: and, as I have heard, he exacts large sums of money for opening them, besides the regular tribute.

118. Thus it is with these matters: but of the seven men who had risen against the Magian, it happened to one, namely Intaphrenes, to be put to death immediately after their insurrection for an outrage which I shall relate. He desired to enter into the king’s palace and confer with the king; for the law was in fact so, that those who had risen up against the Magian were permitted to go in to the king’s presence without any one to announce them, unless the king happened to be lying with his wife. Accordingly Intaphrenes did not think it fit that any one should announce his coming; but as he was one of the seven, he desired to enter. The gatekeeper however and the bearer of messages endeavoured to prevent him, saying that the king was lying with his wife: but Intaphrenes believing that they were not speaking the truth, drew his sword[105][{akinakea}.] and cut off their ears and their noses, and stringing these upon his horse’s bridle he tied them round their necks and so let them go.

119. Upon this they showed themselves to the king and told the cause for which they had suffered this; and Dareios, fearing that the six might have done this by common design, sent for each one separately and made trial of his inclinations, as to whether he approved of that which had been done: and when he was fully assured that Intaphrenes had not done this in combination with them, he took both Intaphrenes himself and his sons and all his kinsmen, being much disposed to believe that he was plotting insurrection against him with the help of his relations; and having seized them he put them in bonds as for execution. Then the wife of Intaphrenes, coming constantly to the doors of the king’s court, wept and bewailed herself; and by doing this continually after the same manner she moved Dareios to pity her. Accordingly he sent a messenger and said to her: “Woman, king Dareios grants to thee to save from death one of thy kinsmen who are lying in bonds, whomsoever thou desirest of them all.” She then, having considered with herself, answered thus: “If in truth the king grants me the life of one, I choose of them all my brother.” Dareios being informed of this, and marvelling at her speech, sent and addressed her thus: “Woman, the king asks thee what was in thy mind, that thou didst leave thy husband and thy children to die, and didst choose thy brother to survive, seeing that he is surely less near to thee in blood than thy children, and less dear to thee than thy husband.” She made answer: “O king, I might, if heaven willed, have another husband and other children, if I should lose these; but another brother I could by no means have, seeing that my father and my mother are no longer alive. This was in my mind when I said those words.” To Dareios then it seemed that the woman had spoken well, and he let go not only him for whose life she asked, but also the eldest of her sons because he was pleased with her: but all the others he slew. One therefore of the seven had perished immediately in the manner which has been related.

120. Now about the time of the sickness of Cambyses it had come to pass as follows:—There was one Oroites, a Persian, who had been appointed by Cyrus to be governor of the province of Sardis.[106][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).] This man had set his desire upon an unholy thing; for though from Polycrates the Samian he had never suffered anything nor heard any offensive word nor even seen him before that time, he desired to take him and put him to death for a reason of this kind, as most who report the matter say:—while Oroites and another Persian whose name was Mitrobates, ruler of the province of Daskyleion,[107][The satrapy of Daskyleion is the third in the list, see ch. 90.] were sitting at the door of the king’s court, they came from words to strife with one another; and as they debated their several claims to excellence, Mitrobates taunting Oroites said: “Dost [108][{su gar en andron logo}.]count thyself a man, who didst never yet win for the king the island of Samos, which lies close to thy province, when it is so exceedingly easy of conquest that one of the natives of it rose up against the government with fifteen men-at-arms and got possession of the island, and is now despot of it?” Some say that because he heard this and was stung by the reproach, he formed the desire, not so much to take vengeance on him who said this, as to bring Polycrates to destruction at all costs, since by reason of him he was ill spoken of:

121, the lesser number however of those who tell the tale say that Oroites sent a herald to Samos to ask for something or other, but what it was is not mentioned; and Polycrates happened to be lying down in the men’s chamber[109][Or, “banqueting hall,” cp. iv. 95.] of his palace, and Anacreon also of Teos was present with him: and somehow, whether it was by intention and because he made no account of the business of Oroites, or whether some chance occurred to bring it about, it happened that the envoy of Oroites came into his presence and spoke with him, and Polycrates, who chanced to be turned away[110][{apestrammenon}: most of the MSS. have {epestrammenon}, “turned towards (the wall).”] towards the wall, neither turned round at all nor made any answer.

122. The cause then of the death of Polycrates is reported in these two different ways, and we may believe whichever of them we please. Oroites however, having his residence at that Magnesia which is situated upon the river Maiander, sent Myrsos the son of Gyges, a Lydian, to Samos bearing a message, since he had perceived the designs of Polycrates. For Polycrates was the first of the Hellenes of whom we have any knowledge, who set his mind upon having command of the sea, excepting Minos the Cnossian and any other who may have had command of the sea before his time. Of that which we call mortal race Polycrates was the first; and he had great expectation of becoming ruler of Ionia and of the islands. Oroites accordingly, having perceived that he had this design, sent a message to him and said thus: “Oroites to Polycrates saith as follows: I hear that thou art making plans to get great power, and that thou hast not wealth according to thy high thoughts. Now therefore if thou shalt do as I shall say, thou wilt do well for thyself on the one hand, and also save me from destruction: for king Cambyses is planning death for me, and this is reported to me so that I cannot doubt it. Do thou then carry away out of danger both myself and with me my wealth; and of this keep a part for thyself and a part let me keep, and then so far as wealth may bring it about, thou shalt be ruler of all Hellas. And if thou dost not believe that which I say about the money, send some one, whosoever happens to be most trusted by thee, and to him I will show it.”

123. Polycrates having heard this rejoiced, and was disposed to agree; and as he had a great desire, it seems, for wealth, he first sent Maiandrios the son of Maiandrios, a native of Samos who was his secretary, to see it: this man was the same who not long after these events dedicated all the ornaments of the men’s chamber in the palace of Polycrates, ornaments well worth seeing, as an offering to the temple of Hera. Oroites accordingly, having heard that the person sent to examine might be expected soon to come, did as follows, that is to say, he filled eight chests with stones except a small depth at the very top of each, and laid gold above upon the stones; then he tied up the chests and kept them in readiness. So Maiandrios came and looked at them and brought back word to Polycrates:

124, and he upon that prepared to set out thither, although the diviners and also his friends strongly dissuaded him from it, and in spite moreover of a vision which his daughter had seen in sleep of this kind,—it seemed to her that her father was raised up on high and was bathed by Zeus and anointed by the Sun. Having seen this vision, she used every kind of endeavour to dissuade Polycrates from leaving his land to go to Oroites, and besides that, as he was going to his fifty-oared galley she accompanied his departure with prophetic words: and he threatened her that if he should return safe, she should remain unmarried for long; but she prayed that this might come to pass, for she desired rather, she said, to be unmarried for long than to be an orphan, having lost her father.

125. Polycrates however neglected every counsel and set sail to go to Oroites, taking with him, besides many others of his friends, Demokedes also the son of Calliphon, a man of Croton, who was a physician and practised his art better than any other man of his time. Then when he arrived at Magnesia, Polycrates was miserably put to death in a manner unworthy both of himself and of his high ambition: for excepting those who become despots of the Syracusans, not one besides of the Hellenic despots is worthy to be compared with Polycrates in magnificence. And when he had killed him in a manner not fit to be told, Oroites impaled his body: and of those who accompanied him, as many as were Samians he released, bidding them be grateful to him that they were free men; but all those of his company who were either allies or servants, he held in the estimation of slaves and kept them. Polycrates then being hung up accomplished wholly the vision of his daughter, for he was bathed by Zeus whenever it rained, [11001][“whenever he (i.e. Zeus) rained.”] and anointed by the Sun, giving forth moisture himself from his body.

126. To this end came the great prosperity of Polycrates, as Amasis the king of Egypt had foretold to him:[111][This clause, “as Amasis the king of Egypt had foretold to him,” is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.] but not long afterwards retribution overtook Oroites in his turn for the murder of Polycrates. For after the death of Cambyses and the reign of the Magians Oroites remained at Sardis and did no service to the Persians, when they had been deprived of their empire by the Medes; moreover during this time of disturbance he slew Mitrobates the governor in Daskyleion, who had brought up against him the matter of Polycrates as a reproach; and he slew also Cranaspes the son of Mitrobates, both men of repute among the Persians: and besides other various deeds of insolence, once when a bearer of messages had come to him from Dareios, not being pleased with the message which he brought he slew him as he was returning, having set men to lie in wait for him by the way; and having slain him he made away with the bodies both of the man and of his horse.

127. Dareios accordingly, when he had come to the throne, was desirous of taking vengeance upon Oroites for all his wrongdoings and especially for the murder of Mitrobates and his son. However he did not think it good to act openly and to send an army against him, since his own affairs were still in a disturbed state[112][{oideonton eti ton pregmaton}: cp. ch. 76.] and he had only lately come to the throne, while he heard that the strength of Oroites was great, seeing that he had a bodyguard of a thousand Persian spearmen and was in possession of the divisions[113][i.e. satrapies: see ch. 89, 90.] of Phrygia and Lydia and Ionia. Therefore Dareios contrived as follows:—having called together those of the Persians who were of most repute, he said to them: “Persians, which of you all will undertake to perform this matter for me with wisdom, and not by force or with tumult? for where wisdom is wanted, there is no need of force. Which of you, I say, will either bring Oroites alive to me or slay him? for he never yet did any service to the Persians, and on the other hand he has done to them great evil. First he destroyed two of us, Mitrobates and his son; then he slays the men who go to summon him, sent by me, displaying insolence not to be endured. Before therefore he shall accomplish any other evil against the Persians, we must check his course by death.”

128. Thus Dareios asked, and thirty men undertook the matter, each one separately desiring to do it himself; and Dareios stopped their contention and bade them cast lots: so when they cast lots, Bagaios the son of Artontes obtained the lot from among them all. Bagaios accordingly, having obtained the lot, did thus:—he wrote many papers dealing with various matters and on them set the seal of Dareios, and with them he went to Sardis. When he arrived there and came into the presence of Oroites, he took the covers off the papers one after another and gave them to the Royal Secretary to read; for all the governors of provinces have Royal Secretaries. Now Bagaios thus gave the papers in order to make trial of the spearmen of the guard, whether they would accept the motion to revolt from Oroites; and seeing that they paid great reverence to the papers and still more to the words which were recited from them, he gave another paper in which were contained these words: “Persians, king Dareios forbids you to serve as guards to Oroites”: and they hearing this lowered to him the points of their spears. Then Bagaios, seeing that in this they were obedient to the paper, took courage upon that and gave the last of the papers to the secretary; and in it was written: “King Dareios commands the Persians who are in Sardis to slay Oroites.” So the spearmen of the guard, when they heard this, drew their swords and slew him forthwith. Thus did retribution for the murder of Polycrates the Samian overtake Oroites.

129. When the wealth of Oroites had come or had been carried[114][{apikomenon kai anakomisthenton}: the first perhaps referring to the slaves and the other to the rest of the property.] up to Susa, it happened not long after, that king Dareios while engaged in hunting wild beasts twisted his foot in leaping off his horse, and it was twisted, as it seems, rather violently, for the ball of his ankle-joint was put out of the socket. Now he had been accustomed to keep about him those of the Egyptians who were accounted the first in the art of medicine, and he made use of their assistance then: but these by wrenching and forcing the foot made the evil continually greater. For seven days then and seven nights Dareios was sleepless owing to the pain which he suffered; and at last on the eighth day, when he was in a wretched state, some one who had heard talk before while yet at Sardis of the skill of Demokedes of Croton, reported this to Dareios; and he bade them bring him forthwith into his presence. So having found him somewhere unnoticed among the slaves of Oroites, they brought him forth into the midst dragging fetters after him and clothed in rags.

130. When he had been placed in the midst of them, Dareios asked him whether he understood the art; but he would not admit it, fearing lest, if he declared himself to be what he was, he might lose for ever the hope of returning to Hellas: and it was clear to Dareios that he understood that art but was practising another,[115][i.e. the art of evasion.] and he commanded those who had brought him thither to produce scourges and pricks. Accordingly upon that he spoke out, saying that he did not understand it precisely, but that he had kept company with a physician and had some poor knowledge of the art. Then after this, when Dareios had committed the case to him, by using Hellenic drugs and applying mild remedies after the former violent means, he caused him to get sleep, and in a short time made him perfectly well, though he had never hoped to be sound of foot again. Upon this Dareios presented him with two pairs of golden fetters; and he asked him whether it was by design that he had given to him a double share of his suffering, because he had made him well. Being pleased by this saying, Dareios sent him to visit his wives, and the eunuchs in bringing him in said to the women that this was he who had restored to the king his life. Then each one of them plunged a cup into the gold-chest[116][{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}.] and presented Demokedes with so abundant a gift that his servant, whose name was Skiton, following and gathering up the coins[117][{stateras}: i.e. the {stater Dareikos} “Daric,” worth about £1; cp. note on vii. 28.] which fell from the cups, collected for himself a very large sum of gold.

131. This Demokedes came from Croton, and became the associate of Polycrates in the following manner:—at Croton he lived in strife with his father, who was of a harsh temper, and when he could no longer endure him, he departed and came to Egina. Being established there he surpassed in the first year all the other physicians, although he was without appliances and had none of the instruments which are used in the art. In the next year the Eginetan State engaged him for a payment of one talent, in the third year he was engaged by the Athenians for a hundred pounds weight of silver,[118][{ekaton mneon}, “a hundred minae,” of which sixty go to the talent.] and in the fourth by Polycrates for two talents. Thus he arrived in Samos; and it was by reason of this man more than anything else that the physicians of Croton got their reputation: for this event happened at the time when the physicians of Croton began to be spoken of as the first in Hellas, while the Kyrenians were reputed to have the second place. About this same time also the Argives had the reputation of being the first musicians in Hellas.[119][This passage, from “for this event happened” to the end of the chapter, is suspected as an interpolation by some Editors, on internal grounds.]

132. Then Demokedes having healed king Dareios had a very great house in Susa, and had been made a table-companion of the king; and except the one thing of returning to the land of the Hellenes, he had everything. And first as regards the Egyptian physicians who tried to heal the king before him, when they were about to be impaled because they had proved inferior to a physician who was a Hellene, he asked their lives of the king and rescued them from death: then secondly, he rescued an Eleian prophet, who had accompanied Polycrates and had remained unnoticed among the slaves. In short Demokedes was very great in the favour of the king.

133. Not long time after this another thing came to pass which was this:—Atossa the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Dareios had a tumour upon her breast, which afterwards burst and then was spreading further: and so long as it was not large, she concealed it and said nothing to anybody, because she was ashamed; but afterwards when she was in evil case, she sent for Demokedes and showed it to him: and he said that he would make her well, and caused her to swear that she would surely do for him in return that which he should ask of her; and he would ask, he said, none of such things as are shameful.

134. So when after this by his treatment he had made her well, then Atossa instructed by Demokedes uttered to Dareios in his bedchamber some such words as these: “O king, though thou hast such great power, thou dost sit still, and dost not win in addition any nation or power for the Persians: and yet it is reasonable that a man who is both young and master of much wealth should be seen to perform some great deed, in order that the Persians may know surely that he is a man by whom they are ruled. It is expedient indeed in two ways that thou shouldest do so, both in order that the Persians may know that their ruler is a man, and in order that they may be worn down by war and not have leisure to plot against thee. For now thou mightest display some great deed, while thou art still young; seeing that as the body grows the spirit grows old also with it, and is blunted for every kind of action.” Thus she spoke according to instructions received, and he answered thus: “Woman, thou hast said all the things which I myself have in mind to do; for I have made the plan to yoke together a bridge from this continent to the other and to make expedition against the Scythians, and these designs will be by way of being fulfilled within a little time.” Then Atossa said: “Look now,—forbear to go first against the Scythians, for these will be in thy power whenever thou desirest: but do thou, I pray thee, make an expedition against Hellas; for I am desirous to have Lacedemonian women and Argive and Athenian and Corinthian, for attendants, because I hear of them by report: and thou hast the man who of all men is most fitted to show thee all things which relate to Hellas and to be thy guide, that man, I mean, who healed thy foot.” Dareios made answer: “Woman, since it seems good to thee that we should first make trial of Hellas, I think it better to send first to them men of the Persians together with him of whom thou speakest, to make investigation, that when these have learnt and seen, they may report each several thing to us; and then I shall go to attack them with full knowledge of all.”

135. Thus he said, and he proceeded to do the deed as he spoke the word: for as soon as day dawned, he summoned fifteen Persians, men of repute, and bade them pass through the coasts of Hellas in company with Demokedes, and take care not to let Demokedes escape from them, but bring him back at all costs. Having thus commanded them, next he summoned Demokedes himself and asked him to act as a guide for the whole of Hellas and show it to the Persians, and then return back: and he bade him take all his movable goods and carry them as gifts to his father and his brothers, saying that he would give him in their place many times as much; and besides this, he said, he would contribute to the gifts a merchant ship filled with all manner of goods, which should sail with him. Dareios, as it seems to me, promised him these things with no crafty design; but Demokedes was afraid that Dareios was making trial of him, and did not make haste to accept all that was offered, but said that he would leave his own things where they were, so that he might have them when he came back; he said however that he accepted the merchant ship which Dareios promised him for the presents to his brothers. Dareios then, having thus given command to him also, sent them away to the sea.

136. So these, when they had gone down to Phenicia and in Phenicia to the city of Sidon, forthwith manned two triremes, and besides them they also filled a large ship of burden with all manner of goods. Then when they had made all things ready they set sail for Hellas, and touching at various places they saw the coast regions of it and wrote down a description, until at last, when they had seen the greater number of the famous places, they came to Taras[120][Tarentum. Italy means for Herodotus the southern part of the peninsula only.] in Italy. There from complaisance[121][{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 请求 of Demokedes.”] to Demokedes Aristophilides the king of the Tarentines unfastened and removed the steering-oars of the Median ships, and also confined the Persians in prison, because, as he alleged, they came as spies. While they were being thus dealt with, Demokedes went away and reached Croton; and when he had now reached his own native place, Aristophilides set the Persians free and gave back to them those parts of their ships which he had taken away.

137. The Persians then sailing thence and pursuing Demokedes reached Croton, and finding him in the market-place they laid hands upon him; and some of the men of Croton fearing the Persian power were willing to let him go, but others took hold of him and struck with their staves at the Persians, who pleaded for themselves in these words: “Men of Croton, take care what ye are about: ye are rescuing a man who was a slave of king Dareios and who ran away from him. How, think you, will king Dareios be content to receive such an insult; and how shall this which ye do be well for you, if ye take him away from us? Against what city, think you, shall we make expedition sooner than against this, and what city before this shall we endeavour to reduce to slavery?” Thus saying they did not however persuade the men of Croton, but having had Demokedes rescued from them and the ship of burden which they were bringing with them taken away, they set sail to go back to Asia, and did not endeavour to visit any more parts of Hellas or to find out about them, being now deprived of their guide. This much however Demokedes gave them as a charge when they were putting forth to sea, bidding them say to Dareios that Demokedes was betrothed to the daughter of Milon: for the wrestler Milon had a great name at the king’s court; and I suppose that Demokedes was urgent for this marriage, spending much money to further it, in order that Dareios might see that he was held in honour also in his own country.

138. The Persians however, after they had put out from Croton, were cast away with their ships in Iapygia; and as they were remaining there as slaves, Gillos a Tarentine exile rescued them and brought them back to king Dareios. In return for this Dareios offered to give him whatsoever thing he should desire; and Gillos chose that he might have the power of returning to Taras, narrating first the story of his misfortune: and in order that he might not disturb all Hellas, as would be the case if on his account a great armament should sail to invade Italy, he said it was enough for him that the men of Cnidos should be those who brought him back, without any others; because he supposed that by these, who were friends with the Tarentines, his return from exile would most easily be effected. Dareios accordingly having promised proceeded to perform; for he sent a message to Cnidos and bade them being back Gillos to Taras: and the men of Cnidos obeyed Dareios, but nevertheless they did not persuade the Tarentines, and they were not strong enough to apply force. Thus then it happened with regard to these things; and these were the first Persians who came from Asia to Hellas, and for the reason which has been mentioned these were sent as spies.

139. After this king Dareios took Samos before all other cities, whether of Hellenes or Barbarians, and for a cause which was as follows:—When Cambyses the son of Cyrus was marching upon Egypt, many Hellenes arrived in Egypt, some, as might be expected, joining in the campaign to make profit,[122][{kat’ emporien strateuomenoi}: some MSS. read {kat’ emporien, oi de strateuomenoi}, “some for trade, others serving in the army.”] and some also coming to see the land itself; and among these was Syoloson the son of Aiakes and brother of Polycrates, an exile from Samos. To this Syloson a fortunate chance occurred, which was this:—he had taken and put upon him a flame-coloured mantle, and was about the market-place in Memphis; and Dareios, who was then one of the spearmen of Cambyses and not yet held in any great estimation, seeing him had a desire for the mantle, and going up to him offered to buy it. Then Syloson, seeing that Dareios very greatly desired the mantle, by some divine inspiration said: “I will not sell this for any sum, but I will give it thee for nothing, if, as it appears, it must be thine at all costs.” To this Dareios agreed and received from him the garment.

140. Now Syloson supposed without any doubt that he had altogether lost this by easy simplicity; but when in course of time Cambyses was dead, and the seven Persians had risen up against the Magian, and of the seven Dareios had obtained the kingdom, Syloson heard that the kingdom had come about to that man to whom once in Egypt he had given the garment at his request: accordingly he went up to Susa and sat down at the entrance[123][{prothura}.] of the king’s palace, and said that he was a benefactor of Dareios. The keeper of the door hearing this reported it to the king; and he marvelled at it and said to him: “Who then of the Hellenes is my benefactor, to whom I am bound by gratitude? seeing that it is now but a short time that I possess the kingdom, and as yet scarcely one[124][{e tis e oudeis}.] of them has come up to our court; and I may almost say that I have no debt owing to a Hellene. Nevertheless bring him in before me, that I may know what he means when he says these things.” Then the keeper of the door brought Syloson before him, and when he had been set in the midst, the interpreters asked him who he was and what he had done, that he called himself the benefactor of the king. Syloson accordingly told all that had happened about the mantle, and how he was the man who had given it; to which Dareios made answer: “O most noble of men, thou art he who when as yet I had no power gavest me a gift, small it may be, but nevertheless the kindness is counted with me to be as great as if I should now receive some great thing from some one. Therefore I will give thee in return gold and silver in abundance, that thou mayest not ever repent that thou didst render a service to Dareios the son of Hystaspes.” To this Syloson replied: “To me, O king, give neither gold nor silver, but recover and give to me my fatherland Samos, which now that my brother Polycrates has been slain by Oroites is possessed by our slave. This give to me without bloodshed or selling into slavery.”

141. Dareios having heard this prepared to send an expedition with Otanes as commander of it, who had been one of the seven, charging him to accomplish for Syloson all that which he had requested. Otanes then went down to the sea-coast and was preparing the expedition.

142. Now Maiandrios the son of Maiandrios was holding the rule over Samos, having received the government as a trust from Polycrates; and he, though desiring to show himself the most righteous of men, did not succeed in so doing: for when the death of Polycrates was reported to him, he did as follows:—first he founded an altar to Zeus the Liberator and marked out a sacred enclosure round it, namely that which exists still in the suburb of the city: then after he had done this he gathered together an assembly of all the citizens and spoke these words: “To me, as ye know as well as I, has been entrusted the sceptre of Polycrates and all his power; and now it is open to me to be your ruler; but that for the doing of which I find fault with my neighbour, I will myself refrain from doing, so far as I may: for as I did not approve of Polycrates acting as master of men who were not inferior to himself, so neither do I approve of any other who does such things. Now Polycrates for his part fulfilled his own appointed destiny, and I now give the power into the hands of the people, and proclaim to you equality.[125][{isonomien}: see ch. 80, note.] These privileges however I think it right to have assigned to me, namely that from the wealth of Polycrates six talents should be taken out and given to me as a special gift; and in addition to this I choose for myself and for my descendants in succession the priesthood of Zeus the Liberator, to whom I myself founded a temple, while I bestow liberty upon you.” He, as I say, made these offers to the Samians; but one of them rose up and said: “Nay, but unworthy too art [126][{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.] to be our ruler, seeing that thou art of mean birth and a pestilent fellow besides. Rather take care that thou give an account of the money which thou hadst to deal with.”

143. Thus said one who was a man of repute among the citizens, whose name was Telesarchos; and Maiandrios perceiving that if he resigned the power, some other would be set up as despot instead of himself, did not keep the purpose at all[127][{ou de ti}: some read {oud’ eti} or {ou de eti}, “no longer kept the purpose.”] of resigning it; but having retired to the fortress he sent for each man separately, pretending that he was going to give an account of the money, and so seized them and put them in bonds. These then had been put in bonds; but Maiandrios after this was overtaken by sickness, and his brother, whose name was Lycaretos, expecting that he would die, put all the prisoners to death, in order that he might himself more easily get possession of the power over Samos: and all this happened because, as it appears, they did not choose to be free.

144. So when the Persians arrived at Samos bringing Syloson home from exile, no one raised a hand against them, and moreover the party of Maiandrios and Maiandrios himself said that they were ready to retire out of the island under a truce. Otanes therefore having agreed on these terms and having made a treaty, the most honourable of the Persians had seats placed for them in front of the fortress and were sitting there.

145. Now the despot Maiandrios had a brother who was somewhat mad, and his name was Charilaos. This man for some offence which he had been committed had been confined in an underground dungeon,[128][{en gorgure}: the word also means a “sewer” or “conduit.”] and at this time of which I speak, having heard what was being done and having put his head through out of the dungeon, when he saw the Persians peacefully sitting there he began to cry out and said that he desired to come to speech with Maiandrios. So Maiandrios hearing his voice bade them loose him and bring him into his presence; and as soon as he was brought he began to abuse and revile him, trying to persuade him to attack the Persians, and saying thus: “Thou basest of men, didst thou put me in bonds and judge me worthy of the dungeon under ground, who am thine own brother and did no wrong worthy of bonds, and when thou seest the Persians casting thee forth from the land and making thee homeless, dost thou not dare to take any revenge, though they are so exceedingly easy to be overcome? Nay, but if in truth thou art afraid of them, give me thy mercenaries and I will take vengeance on them for their coming here; and thyself I am willing to let go out of the island.”

146. Thus spoke Charilaos, and Maiandrios accepted that which he said, not, as I think, because he had reached such a height of folly as to suppose that his own power would overcome that of the king, but rather because he grudged Syloson that he should receive from him the State without trouble, and with no injury inflicted upon it. Therefore he desired to provoke the Persians to anger and make the Samian power as feeble as possible before he gave it up to him, being well assured that the Persians, when they had suffered evil, would be likely to be as bitter against the Samians as well as against those who did the wrong,[129][{prosempikraneesthai emellon toisi Samioisi}.] and knowing also that he had a safe way of escape from the island whenever he desired: for he had had a secret passage made under ground, leading from the fortress to the sea. Maiandrios then himself sailed out from Samos; but Charilaos armed all the mercenaries, and opening wide the gates sent them out upon the Persians, who were not expecting any such thing, but supposed that all had been arranged: and the mercenaries falling upon them began to slay those of the Persians who had seats carried for them[130][{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.”] and were of most account. While these were thus engaged, the rest of the Persian force came to the rescue, and the mercenaries were hard pressed and forced to retire to the fortress.

147. Then Otanes the Persian commander, seeing that the Persians had suffered greatly, purposely forgot the commands which Dareios gave him when he sent him forth, not to kill any one of the Samians nor to sell any into slavery, but to restore the island to Syloson free from all suffering of calamity,—these commands, I say, he purposely forgot, and gave the word to his army to slay every one whom they should take, man or boy, without distinction. So while some of the army were besieging the fortress, others were slaying every one who came in their way, in sanctuary or out of sanctuary equally.

148. Meanwhile Maiandrios had escaped from Samos and was sailing to Lacedemon; and having come thither and caused to be brought up to the city the things which he had taken with him when he departed, he did as follows:—first, he would set out his cups of silver and of gold, and then while the servants were cleaning them, he would be engaged in conversation with Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides, then king of Sparta, and would bring him on to his house; and when Cleomenes saw the cups he marvelled and was astonished at them, and Maiandrios would bid him take away with him as many of them as he pleased. Maiandrios said this twice or three times, but Cleomenes herein showed himself the most upright of men; for he not only did not think fit to take that which was offered, but perceiving that Maiandrios would make presents to others of the citizens, and so obtain assistance for himself, he went to the Ephors and said that it was better for Sparta that the stranger of Samos should depart from Peloponnesus, lest he might persuade either himself or some other man of the Spartans to act basely. They accordingly accepted his counsel, and expelled Maiandrios by proclamation.

149. As to Samos, the Persians, after sweeping the population off it,[131][{sageneusantes}: see vi. 31. The word is thought by Stein to have been interpolated here.] delivered it to Syloson stripped of men. Afterwards however the commander Otanes even joined in settling people there, moved by a vision of a dream and by a disease which seized him, so that he was diseased in the genital organs.

150. After a naval force had thus gone against Samos, the Babylonians made revolt, being for this exceedingly well prepared; for during all the time of the reign of the Magian and of the insurrection of the seven, during all this time and the attendant confusion they were preparing themselves for the siege of their city: and it chanced by some means that they were not observed to be doing this. Then when they made open revolt, they did as follows:—after setting apart their mothers first, each man set apart also for himself one woman, whosoever he wished of his own household, and all the remainder they gathered together and killed by suffocation. Each man set apart the one who has been mentioned to serve as a maker of bread, and they suffocated the rest in order that they might not consume their provisions.

151. Dareios being informed of this and having gathered together all his power, made expedition against them, and when he had marched his army up to Babylon he began to besiege them; but they cared nothing about the siege, for the Babylonians used to go up to the battlements of the wall and show contempt of Dareios and of his army by gestures and by words; and one of them uttered this saying: “Why, O Persians, do ye remain sitting here, and not depart? For then only shall ye capture us, when mules shall bring forth young.” This was said by one of the Babylonians, not supposing that a mule would ever bring forth young.

152. So when a year and seven months had now passed by, Dareios began to be vexed and his whole army with him, not being able to conquer the Babylonians. And yet Dareios had used against them every kind of device and every possible means, but not even so could he conquer them, though besides other devices he had attempted it by that also with which Cyrus conquered them; but the Babylonians were terribly on their guard and he was not able to conquer them.

153. Then in the twentieth month there happened to Zopyros the son of that Megabyzos who had been of the seven men who slew the Magian, to this Zopyros, I say, son of Megabyzos there happened a prodigy,—one of the mules which served as bearers of provisions for him produced young: and when this was reported to him, and Zopyros had himself seen the foal, because he did not believe the report, he charged those who had seen it not to tell that which had happened to any one, and he considered with himself what to do. And having regard to the words spoken by the Babylonian, who had said at first that when mules should produce young, then the wall would be taken, having regard (I say) to this ominous saying, it seemed to Zopyros that Babylon could be taken: for he thought that both the man had spoken and his mule had produced young by divine dispensation.

154. Since then it seemed to him that it was now fated that Babylon should be captured, he went to Dareios and inquired of him whether he thought it a matter of very great moment to conquer Babylon; and hearing in answer that he thought it of great consequence, he considered again how he might be the man to take it and how the work might be his own: for among the Persians benefits are accounted worthy of a very high degree of honour.[132][Or, “are very highly accounted and tend to advancement.”] He considered accordingly that he was not able to make conquest of it by any other means, but only if he should maltreat himself and desert to their side. So, making light esteem of himself, he maltreated his own body in a manner which could not be cured; for he cut off his nose and his ears, and shaved his hair round in an unseemly way, and scourged himself, and so went into the presence of Dareios.

155. And Dareios was exceedingly troubled when he saw the man of most repute with him thus maltreated; and leaping up from his seat he cried aloud and asked him who was the person who had maltreated him, and for what deed. He replied: “That man does not exist, excepting thee, who has so great power as to bring me into this condition; and not any stranger, O king, has done this, but I myself to myself, accounting it a very grievous thing that the Assyrians should make a mock of the Persians.” He made answer: “Thou most reckless of men, thou didst set the fairest name to the foulest deed when thou saidest that on account of those who are besieged thou didst bring thyself into a condition which cannot be cured. How, O thou senseless one, will the enemy surrender to us more quickly, because thou hast maltreated thyself? Surely thou didst wander out of thy senses in thus destroying thyself.” And he said, “If I had communicated to thee that which I was about to do, thou wouldst not have permitted me to do it; but as it was, I did it on my own account. Now therefore, unless something is wanting on thy part, we shall conquer Babylon: for I shall go straightway as a deserter to the wall; and I shall say to them that I suffered this treatment at thy hands: and I think that when I have convinced them that this is so, I shall obtain the command of a part of their forces. Do thou then on the tenth day from that on which I shall enter within the wall take of those troops about which thou wilt have no concern if they be destroyed,—of these, I say, get a thousand by[133][“opposite to.”] the gate of the city which is called the gate of Semiramis; and after this again on the seventh day after the tenth set, I pray thee, two thousand by the gate which is called the gate of the Ninevites; and after this seventh day let twenty days elapse, and then lead other four thousand and place them by the gate called the gate of the Chaldeans: and let neither the former men nor these have any weapons to defend them except daggers, but this weapon let them have. Then after the twentieth day at once bid the rest of the army make an attack on the wall all round, and set the Persians, I pray thee, by those gates which are called the gate of Belos and the gate of Kissia: for, as I think, when I have displayed great deeds of prowess, the Babylonians will entrust to me, besides their other things, also the keys which draw the bolts of the gates. Then after that it shall be the care of myself and the Persians to do that which ought to be done.”

156. Having thus enjoined he proceeded to go to the gate of the city, turning to look behind him as he went, as if he were in truth a deserter; and those who were set in that part of the wall, seeing him from the towers ran down, and slightly opening one wing of the gate asked who he was, and for what purpose he had come. And he addressed them and said that he was Zopyros, and that he came as a deserter to them. The gate-keepers accordingly when they heard this led him to the public assembly of the Babylonians; and being introduced before it he began to lament his fortunes, saying that he had in fact suffered at his own hands, and that he had suffered this because he had counselled the king to withdraw his army, since in truth there seemed to be no means of taking the town: “And now,” he went on to say, “I am come for very great good to you, O Babylonians, but for very great evil to Dareios and his army, and to the Persians,[134][The words “and to the Persians” are omitted in some MSS.] for he shall surely not escape with impunity for having thus maltreated me; and I know all the courses of his counsels.”

157. Thus he spoke, and the Babylonians, when they saw the man of most reputation among the Persians deprived of nose and ears and smeared over with blood from scourging, supposing assuredly that he was speaking the truth and had come to be their helper, were ready to put in his power that for which he asked them, and he asked them that he might command a certain force. Then when he had obtained this from them, he did that which he had agreed with Dareios that he would do; for he led out on the tenth day the army of the Babylonians, and having surrounded the thousand men whom he had enjoined Dareios first to set there, he slew them. The Babylonians accordingly, perceiving that the deeds which he displayed were in accordance with his words, were very greatly rejoiced and were ready to serve him in all things: and after the lapse of the days which had been agreed upon, he again chose men of the Babylonians and led them out and slew the two thousand men of the troops of Dareios. Seeing this deed also, the Babylonians all had the name of Zopyros upon their tongues, and were loud in his praise. He then again, after the lapse of the days which had been agreed upon, led them out to the place appointed, and surrounded the four thousand and slew them. When this also had been done, Zopyros was everything among the Babylonians, and he was appointed both commander of their army and guardian of their walls.

158. But when Dareios made an attack according to the agreement on every side of the wall, then Zopyros discovered all his craft: for while the Babylonians, having gone up on the wall, were defending themselves against the attacks of the army of Dareios, Zopyros opened the gates called the gates of Kissia and of Belos, and let in the Persians within the wall. And of the Babylonians those who saw that which was done fled to the temple of Zeus Belos, but those who did not see remained each in his own appointed place, until at last they also learnt that they had been betrayed.

159. Thus was Babylon conquered for the second time: and Dareios when he had overcome the Babylonians, first took away the wall from round their city and pulled down all the gates; for when Cyrus took Babylon before him, he did neither of these things: and secondly Dareios impaled the leading men to the number of about three thousand, but to the rest of the Babylonians he gave back their city to dwell in: and to provide that the Babylonians should have wives, in order that their race might be propagated, Dareios did as follows (for their own wives, as has been declared at the beginning, the Babylonians had suffocated, in provident care for their store of food):—he ordered the nations who dwelt round to bring women to Babylon, fixing a certain number for each nation, so that the sum total of fifty thousand women was brought together, and from these women the present Babylonians are descended.

160. As for Zopyros, in the judgment of Dareios no one of the Persians surpassed him in good service, either of those who came after or of those who had gone before, excepting Cyrus alone; for to Cyrus no man of the Persians ever yet ventured to compare himself: and Dareios is said to have declared often that he would rather that Zopyros were free from the injury than that he should have twenty Babylons added to his possession in addition to that one which he had. Moreover he gave him great honours; for not only did he give him every year those things which by the Persians are accounted the most honourable, but also he granted him Babylon to rule free from tribute, so long as he should live; and he added many other gifts. The son of this Zopyros was Megabyzos, who was made commander in Egypt against the Athenians and their allies; and the son of this Megabyzos was Zopyros, who went over to Athens as a deserter from the Persians.

第三册注释 •2,000字

[1] [See ii. 1.]

[2] [{‘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] [See ii. 152, 154.]

[4] [{Suron}: see ii. 104.]

[5] [{keinon}: most MSS. and many editions have {keimenon}, “laid up.”]

[6] [{demarkhon}.]

[7] [{exaireomenos}: explained by some “disembarked” or “unloaded.”]

[8] [Or “Orotal.”]

[9] [{dia de touton}.]

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

[11] [See ii. 169.]

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

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

[14] [{omoios kai} omitting {a}.]

[15] [{pentakosias mneas}.]

[16] [{aneklaion}: perhaps {anteklaion}, which has most MS. authority, may be right, “answer their lamentations.”]

[17] [参见第 31 章。 XNUMX.]

[18] [{egeomenon}: some Editors adopt the conjecture {agomenon}, “was being led.”]

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

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

[21] [“gypsum.”]

[22] [{epi}, lit. “after.”]

[23] [{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] [{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] [{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] [Epilepsy or something similar.]

[2601] [Cp. note on i. 114.]

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

[28] [{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] [{iakhon}: Stein reads by conjecture {skhon}, “having obtained possession.”]

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

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

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

[33] [{prorrizos}, “by the roots.”]

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

[35] [See i. 51.]

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

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

[38] [{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 {o thulakos} were unnecessary in the sentence {o thulakos alphiton deitai}.]

[39] [See i. 70.]

[40] [{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] [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] [{noo labon}: the MSS. have {now labon kai touto}.]

[43] [{iren zemien}.]

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

[45] [{basileus}, because already destined as his father’s successor.]

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

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

[47] [{leuka genetai}.]

[48] [{prutaneia}.]

[49] [{lokhon}.]

[50] [{prosiskhon}: some read {proseskhon}, “had put in.”]

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

[52] [{orguias}.]

[53] [{stadioi}.]

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

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

[56] [Or possibly, “the most necessary of those things which remain to be done, is this.”]

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

[58] [Or perhaps Phaidymia.]

[59] [{Gobrues} or {Gobrues}.]

[60] [{‘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] [{phthas emeu}.]

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

[63] [i.e. “let him be killed on the spot.”]

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

[65] [{dethen}.]

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

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

[67] [{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] [{magophonia}.]

[68] [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] [See vi. 43.]

[70] [{isonomie}, “equal distribution,” i.e. of civil rights.]

[71] [{ouden oikeion}: the MSS. have {ouden oud’ oikeion}, which might be translated “anything of its own either.”]

[72] [{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] [{kakoteta}, as opposed to the {arete} practised by the members of an aristocracy.]

[74] [{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] [{nomos}, and so throughout.]

[76] [or “Hygennians.”]

[77] [i.e. the Cappadokians, see i. 6.]

[7701] [See ii. 149.]

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

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

[80] [{tous anaspastous kaleomenous}.]

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

[82] [{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] [The reckoning throughout is in round numbers, nothing less than the tens being mentioned.]

[84] [{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] [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] [{khoinikas}.]

[87] [{dia penteteridos}.]

[88] [i.e. the Indus.]

[89] [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] [{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] [{pros arktou te kai boreo anemou}.]

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

[93] [{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] [i.e. two in each hind-leg.]

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

[96] [{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] [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] [See ii. 75.]

[98] [{metri}: the MSS. have {metre}, “womb,” but for this Herod. seems to use the plural.]

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

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

[102] [{Kassiteridas}.]

[103] [{o kassiteros}.]

[104] [cp. iv. 13.]

[105] [{akinakea}.]

[106] [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] [The satrapy of Daskyleion is the third in the list, see ch. 90.]

[108] [{su gar en andron logo}.]

[109] [Or, “banqueting hall,” cp. iv. 95.]

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

[11001] [“whenever he (i.e. Zeus) rained.”]

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

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

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

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

[115] [i.e. the art of evasion.]

[116] [{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] [{stateras}: i.e. the {stater Dareikos} “Daric,” worth about £1; cp. note on vii. 28.]

[118] [{ekaton mneon}, “a hundred minae,” of which sixty go to the talent.]

[119] [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] [Tarentum. Italy means for Herodotus the southern part of the peninsula only.]

[121] [{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 请求 of Demokedes.”]

[122] [{kat’ emporien strateuomenoi}: some MSS. read {kat’ emporien, oi de strateuomenoi}, “some for trade, others serving in the army.”]

[123] [{prothura}.]

[124] [{e tis e oudeis}.]

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

[126] [{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] [{ou de ti}: some read {oud’ eti} or {ou de eti}, “no longer kept the purpose.”]

[128] [{en gorgure}: the word also means a “sewer” or “conduit.”]

[129] [{prosempikraneesthai emellon toisi Samioisi}.]

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

[132] [Or, “are very highly accounted and tend to advancement.”]

[133] [“opposite to.”]

[134] [The words “and to the Persians” are omitted in some MSS.]

第四卷 • 历史的第四本书,称为墨尔波墨涅 •35,700字

1. After Babylon had been taken, the march of Dareios himself[1][Some enterprises had been entrusted to others, e.g. the attack on Samos; but this had not been the case with the capture of Babylon, therefore some Editors have proposed corrections, e.g. {au tou} (Schweighäuser), and {autika} (Stein).] against the Scythians took place: for now that Asia was flourishing in respect of population, and large sums were being gathered in as revenue, Dareios formed the desire to take vengeance upon the Scythians, because they had first invaded the Median land and had overcome in fight those who opposed them; and thus they had been the beginners of wrong. The Scythians in truth, as I have before said,[2][See i. 106.] had ruled over Upper Asia[3][{tes ano ‘Asies}: this means Eastern Asia as distinguished from the coasts of Asia Minor; see i. 103 and 177.] for eight-and-twenty years; for they had invaded Asia in their pursuit of the Kimmerians, and they had deposed[4][{katapausantes}: the expression is awkward if meant to be equivalent to {kai katepausan}, but it is hardly improved by the alteration to {katapausontes}. Perhaps the clause is out of place.] the Medes from their rule, who had rule over Asia before the Scythians came. Now when the Scythians had been absent from their own land for eight-and-twenty years, as they were returning to it after that interval of time, they were met by a contest[5][{ponos}.] not less severe than that which they had had with the Medes, since they found an army of no mean size opposing them. For the wives of the Scythians, because their husbands were absent from them for a long time, had associated with the slaves.

2. Now the Scythians put out the eyes of all their slaves because of the milk which they drink; and they do as follows:—they take blow-pipes of bone just like flutes, and these they insert into the vagina of the mare and blow with their mouths, and others milk while they blow: and they say that they do this because the veins of the mare are thus filled, being blown out, and so the udder is let down. When they had drawn the milk they pour it into wooden vessels hollowed out, and they set the blind slaves in order about[6][{peristixantes}: so the two best MSS.; others have {peristesantes} or {peristexantes}. The word {peristixantes} would be from {peristikho}, equivalent to {peristikhizo}, and is acknowledged in this sense by Hesychius.] the vessels and agitate the milk. Then that which comes to the top they skim off, considering it the more valuable part, whereas they esteem that which settles down to be less good than the other. For this reason[7][The connexion is not clear either at the beginning of the chapter or here. This clause would seem to be a repetition of that at the beginning of the chapter, and that which comes between should be an explanation of the reason why the slaves are blinded. As it stands, however, we can only refer it to the clause which follows, {ou gar arotai eisi alla nomades}, and even so there is no real solution of the difficulty, for it is not explained why nomads should have blinded slaves. Perhaps the best resource is to suppose that some part of the explanation, in connexion with the manner of dealing with the milk, has been lost.] the Scythians put out the eyes of all whom they catch; for they are not tillers of the soil but nomads.

3. From these their slaves then, I say, and from their wives had been born and bred up a generation of young men, who having learnt the manner of their birth set themselves to oppose the Scythians as they were returning from the Medes. And first they cut off their land by digging a broad trench extending from the Tauric mountains to the Maiotian lake, at the point where[8][{te per}: a conjectural emendation for {e per}, “which is a very great lake”.] this is broadest; then afterwards when the Scythians attempted to invade the land, they took up a position against them and fought; and as they fought many times, and the Scythians were not able to get any advantage in the fighting, one of them said: “What a thing is this that we are doing, Scythians! We are fighting against our own slaves, and we are not only becoming fewer in number ourselves by being slain in battle, but also we are killing them, and so we shall have fewer to rule over in future. Now therefore to me it seems good that we leave spears and bows and that each one take his horse-whip and so go up close to them: for so long as they saw us with arms in our hands, they thought themselves equal to us and of equal birth; but when they shall see that we have whips instead of arms, they will perceive that they are our slaves, and having acknowledged this they will not await our onset.”

4. When they heard this, the Scythians proceeded to do that which he said, and the others being panic-stricken by that which was done forgot their fighting and fled. Thus the Scythians had ruled over Asia; and in such manner, when they were driven out again by the Medes, they had returned to their own land. For this Dareios wished to take vengeance upon them, and was gathering together an army to go against them.

5. Now the Scythians say that their nation is the youngest of all nations, and that this came to pass as follows:—The first man who ever existed in this region, which then was desert, was one named Targitaos: and of this Targitaos they say, though I do not believe it for my part, however they say the parents were Zeus and the daughter of the river Borysthenes. Targitaos, they report, was produced from some such origin as this, and of him were begotten three sons, Lipoxaïs and Arpoxaïs and the youngest Colaxaïs. In the reign of these[9][{epi touton arkhonton}: the word {arkhonton} is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.] there came down from heaven certain things wrought of gold, a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe,[10][{sagarin}.] and a cup, and fell in the Scythian land: and first the eldest saw and came near them, desiring to take them, but the gold blazed with fire when he approached it: then when he had gone away from it, the second approached, and again it did the same thing. These then the gold repelled by blazing with fire; but when the third and youngest came up to it, the flame was quenched, and he carried them to his own house. The elder brothers then, acknowledging the significance of this thing, delivered the whole of the kingly power to the youngest.

6. From Lixopaïs, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called the race of the Auchatai; from the middle brother Arpoxaïs those who are called Catiaroi and Traspians, and from the youngest of them the “Royal” tribe,[11][{tous basileious}: so Wesseling. The MSS. have {tous basileas}, “the kings,” which may perhaps be used here as equivalent to {tous basileious}: some Editors, including Stein, adopt the conjecture {tou basileos}, “from the youngest of them who, was king, those who,” etc.] who are called Paralatai: and the whole together are called, they say, Scolotoi, after the name of their king;[12][{tou basileos}: some Editors read by conjecture {Skolotou basileos}, “after their king Scolotos”.] but the Hellenes gave them the name of Scythians.

7. Thus the Scythians say they were produced; and from the time of their origin, that is to say from the first king Targitaos, to the passing over of Dareios against them, they say that there is a period of a thousand years and no more. Now this sacred gold is guarded by the kings with the utmost care, and they visit it every year with solemn sacrifices of propitiation: moreover if any one goes to sleep while watching in the open air over this gold during the festival, the Scythians say that he does not live out the year; and there is given him for this so much land as he shall ride round himself on his horse in one day. Now as the land was large, Colaxaïs, they say, established three kingdoms for his sons; and of these he made one larger than the rest, and in this the gold is kept. But as to the upper parts which lie on the North side of those who dwell above this land, they say one can neither see nor pass through any further by reason of feathers which are poured down; for both the earth and the air are full of feathers, and this is that which shuts off the view.

8. Thus say the Scythians about themselves and about the region above them; but the Hellenes who dwell about the Pontus say as follows:—Heracles driving the cattle of Geryones came to this land, then desert, which the Scythians now inhabit; and Geryones, says the tale, dwelt away from the region of the Pontus, living in the island called by the Hellenes Erytheia, near Gadeira which is outside the Pillars of Heracles by the Ocean.—As to the Ocean, they say indeed that it flows round the whole earth beginning from the place of the sunrising, but they do not prove this by facts.—From thence Heracles came to the land now called Scythia; and as a storm came upon him together with icy cold, he drew over him his lion’s skin and went to sleep. Meanwhile the mares harnessed in his chariot disappeared by a miraculous chance, as they were feeding.

9. Then when Heracles woke he sought for them; and having gone over the whole land, at last he came to the region which is called Hylaia; and there he found in a cave a kind of twofold creature formed by the union of a maiden and a serpent, whose upper parts from the buttocks upwards were those of a woman, but her lower parts were those of a snake. Having seen her and marvelled at her, he asked her then whether she had seen any mares straying anywhere; and she said that she had them herself and would not give them up until he lay with her; and Heracles lay with her on condition of receiving them. She then tried to put off the giving back of the mares, desiring to have Heracles with her as long as possible, while he on the other hand desired to get the mares and depart; and at last she gave them back and said: “These mares when they came hither I saved for thee, and thou didst give me reward for saving them; for I have by thee three sons. Tell me then, what must I do with these when they shall be grown to manhood, whether I shall settle them here, for over this land I have power alone, or send them away to thee?” She thus asked of him, and he, they say, replied: “When thou seest that the boys are grown to men, do this and thou shalt not fail of doing right:—whichsoever of them thou seest able to stretch this bow as I do now, and to be girded [1201][{katazonnumenon}: or {kata tade zonnumenon}, “girded in this manner”.] with this girdle, him cause to be the settler of this land; but whosoever of them fails in the deeds which I enjoin, send him forth out of the land: and if thou shalt do thus, thou wilt both have delight thyself and perform that which has been enjoined to thee.”

10. Upon this he drew one of his bows (for up to that time Heracles, they say, was wont to carry two) and showed her the girdle, and then he delivered to her both the bow and the girdle, which had at the end of its clasp a golden cup; and having given them he departed. She then, when her sons had been born and had grown to be men, gave them names first, calling one of them Agathyrsos and the next Gelonos and the youngest Skythes; then bearing in mind the charge given to her, she did that which was enjoined. And two of her sons, Agathyrsos and Gelonos, not having proved themselves able to attain to the task set before them, departed from the land, being cast out by her who bore them; but Skythes the youngest of them performed the task and remained in the land: and from Skythes the son of Heracles were descended, they say, the succeeding kings of the Scythians (Skythians): and they say moreover that it is by reason of the cup that the Scythians still even to this day wear cups attached to their girdles: and this alone his mother contrived for Skythes.[13][{mekhanesasthai ten metera Skuthe}: the better MSS. read {mekhanasthai} and {Skuthen}: the meaning seems doubtful, and some Editors would omit the clause as an interpolation.] Such is the story told by the Hellenes who dwell about the Pontus.

11. There is however also another story, which is as follows, and to this I am most inclined myself. It is to the effect that the nomad Scythians dwelling in Asia, being hard pressed in war by the Massagetai, left their abode and crossing the river Araxes came towards the Kimmerian land (for the land which now is occupied by the Scythians is said to have been in former times the land of the Kimmerians); and the Kimmerians, when the Scythians were coming against them, took counsel together, seeing that a great host was coming to fight against them; and it proved that their opinions were divided, both opinions being vehemently maintained, but the better being that of their kings: for the opinion of the people was that it was necessary to depart and that they ought not to run the risk of fighting against so many,[14][{pros pollous deomenon}: the better MSS. read {pro pollou deomena}. The passage has been emended in various ways, e.g. {pros pollous deoi menontas} (Buttmann), {pros pollous menontas} (Bredow), {pro spodou deomenon} (Stein).] but that of the kings was to fight for their land with those who came against them: and as neither the people were willing by means to agree to the counsel of the kings nor the kings to that of the people, the people planned to depart without fighting and to deliver up the land to the invaders, while the kings resolved to die and to be laid in their own land, and not to flee with the mass of the people, considering the many goods of fortune which they had enjoyed, and the many evils which it might be supposed would come upon them, if they fled from their native land. Having resolved upon this, they parted into two bodies, and making their numbers equal they fought with one another: and when these had all been killed by one another’s hands, then the people of the Kimmerians buried them by the bank of the river Tyras (where their burial-place is still to be seen), and having buried them, then they made their way out from the land, and the Scythians when they came upon it found the land deserted of its inhabitants.

12. And there are at the present time in the land of Scythia Kimmerian walls, and a Kimmerian ferry; and there is also a region which is called Kimmeria, and the so-called Kimmerian Bosphorus. It is known moreover that the Kimmerians, in their flight to Asia from the Scythians, also made a settlement on that peninsula on which now stands the Hellenic city of Sinope; and it is known too that the Scythians pursued them and invaded the land of Media, having missed their way; for while the Kimmerians kept ever along by the sea in their flight, the Scythians pursued them keeping Caucasus on their right hand, until at last they invaded Media, directing their course inland. This then which has been told is another story, and it is common both to Hellenes and Barbarians.

13. Aristeas however the son of Caÿstrobios, a man of Proconnesos, said in the verses which he composed, that he came to the land of the Issedonians being possessed by Phoebus, and that beyond the Issedonians dwelt Arimaspians, a one-eyed race, and beyond these the gold-guarding griffins, and beyond them the Hyperboreans extending as far as the sea: and all these except the Hyperboreans, beginning with the Arimaspians, were continually making war on their neighbours, and the Issedonians were gradually driven out of their country by the Arimaspians and the Scythians by the Issedonians, and so the Kimmerians, who dwelt on the Southern Sea, being pressed by the Scythians left their land. Thus neither does he agree in regard to this land with the report of the Scythians.

14. As to Aristeas who composed[15][{poiesas}: some authorities have {eipas}.] this, I have said already whence he was; and I will tell also the tale which I heard about him in Proconnesos and Kyzicos. They say that Aristeas, who was in birth inferior to none of the citizens, entered into a fuller’s shop in Proconnesos and there died; and the fuller closed his workshop and went away to report the matter to those who were related to the dead man. And when the news had been spread abroad about the city that Aristeas was dead, a man of Kyzicos who had come from the town of Artake entered into controversy with those who said so, and declared that he had met him going towards Kyzicos and had spoken with him: and while he was vehement in dispute, those who were related to the dead man came to the fuller’s shop with the things proper in order to take up the corpse for burial; and when the house was opened, Aristeas was not found there either dead or alive. In the seventh year after this he appeared at Proconnesos and composed those verses which are now called by the Hellenes the Arimaspeia, and having composed them he disappeared the second time.

15. So much is told by these cities; and what follows I know happened to the people of Metapontion in Italy[16][Italy means for Herodotus only the Southern part of the peninsula.] 二百[17][{diekosioisi}: so the best authorities; others have {priekosioisi}.] and forty years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I found by putting together the evidence at Proconnesos and Metapontion. The people of Metapontion say that Aristeas himself appeared in their land and bade them set up an altar of Apollo and place by its side a statue bearing the name of Aristeas of Proconnesos; for he told them that to their land alone of all the Italiotes[18][{‘Italioteon}, i.e. Hellenic settlers in Italy.] Apollo had come, and he, who now was Aristeas, was accompanying him, being then a raven when he accompanied the god. Having said this he disappeared; and the Metapontines say that they sent to Delphi and asked the god what the apparition of the man meant: and the Pythian prophetess bade them obey the command of the apparition, and told them that if they obeyed, it would be the better for them. They therefore accepted this answer and performed the commands; and there stands a statue now bearing the name of Aristeas close by the side of the altar dedicated to Apollo,[19][{to agalmati to ‘Apollonos}: {agalma} is used for anything dedicated to a god, most commonly the sacred image.] and round it stand laurel trees; and the altar is set up in the market-place. Let this suffice which has been said about Aristeas.

16. Now of the land about which this account has been begun, no one knows precisely what lies beyond it:[20][{katuperthe}: “above,” i.e. beyond them towards the North. Similarly when dealing with Libya the writer uses the same word of those further from the coast towards the South; see ch. 174.] for I am not able to hear of any one who alleges that he knows as an eye-witness; and even Aristeas, the man of whom I was making mention just now, even he, I say, did not allege, although he was composing verse,[21][{en autoisi toisi epesi poieon}: “even in the verses which he composed,” in which he might be expected as a poet to go somewhat beyond the literal truth.] that he went further than the Issedonians; but that which is beyond them he spoke of by hearsay, and reported that it was the Issedonians who said these things. So far however as we were able to arrive at certainty by hearsay, carrying inquiries as far as possible, all this shall be told.

17. Beginning with the trading station of the Borysthenites,—for of the parts along the sea this is the central point of all Scythia,—beginning with this, the first regions are occupied by the Callipidai, who are Hellenic Scythians; and above these is another race, who are called Alazonians.[22][Or, “Alizonians”.] These last and the Callipidai in all other respects have the same customs as the Scythians, but they both sow corn and use it as food, and also onions, leeks, lentils and millet. Above the Alazonians dwell Scythians who till the ground, and these sow their corn not for food but to sell.

18.Beyond them dwell the Neuroi; and beyond the Neuroi towards the North Wind is a region without inhabitants, as far as we know. These races are along the river Hypanis to the West of the Borysthenes; but after crossing the Borysthenes, first from the sea-coast is Hylaia, and beyond this as one goes up the river dwell agricultural Scythians, whom the Hellenes who live upon the river Hypanis call Borysthenites, calling themselves at the same time citizens of Olbia.[23][{‘Olbiopolitas}.] These agricultural Scythians occupy the region which extends Eastwards for a distance of three days’ journey,[24][See ch. 101, where the day’s journey is reckoned at 200 stades (23 English miles).] reaching to a river which is called Panticapes, and Northwards for a distance of eleven days’ sail up the Borysthenes. Then immediately beyond these begins the desert[25][The meaning of {eremos} here is not waste and barren land, but land without settled inhabitants.] and extends for a great distance; and on the other side of the desert dwell the Androphagoi,[26][i.e. “Man-eaters”.] a race apart by themselves and having no connection with the Scythians. Beyond them begins a region which is really desert and has no race of men in it, as far as we know.

19. The region which lies to the East of these agricultural Scythians, after one has crossed the river Panticapes, is occupied by nomad Scythians, who neither sow anything nor plough the earth; and this whole region is bare of trees except Hylaia. These nomads occupy a country which extends to the river Gerros, a distance of fourteen[27][This is the reading of the MSS., but it is not consistent with the distance given in ch. 101, nor with the actual facts: some Editors therefore read “four” instead of “fourteen”.] days’ journey Eastwards.

20. Then on the other side of the Gerros we have those parts which are called the “Royal” lands and those Scythians who are the bravest and most numerous and who esteem the other Scythians their slaves. These reach Southwards to the Tauric land, and Eastwards to the trench which those who were begotten of the blind slaves dug, and to the trading station which is called Cremnoi[28][i.e. “Cliffs”.] upon the Maiotian lake; and some parts of their country reach to the river Tanaïs. Beyond the Royal Scythians towards the North Wind dwell the Melanchlainoi,[29][i.e. “Black-cloaks”.] of a different race and not Scythian. The region beyond the Melanchlainoi is marshy and not inhabited by any, so far as we know.

21. After one has crossed the river Tanaïs the country is no longer Scythia, but the first of the divisions belongs to the Sauromatai, who beginning at the corner of the Maiotian lake occupy land extending towards the North Wind fifteen days’ journey, and wholly bare of trees both cultivated and wild. Above these, holding the next division of land, dwell the Budinoi, who occupy a land wholly overgrown with forest consisting of all kinds of trees.

22. Then beyond the Budinoi towards the North, first there is desert for seven days’ journey; and after the desert turning aside somewhat more towards the East Wind we come to land occupied by the Thyssagetai, a numerous people and of separate race from the others. These live by hunting; and bordering upon them there are settled also in these same regions men who are called Irycai, who also live by hunting, which they practise in the following manner:—the hunter climbs up a tree and lies in wait there for his game (now trees are abundant in all this country), and each has a horse at hand, which has been taught to lie down upon its belly in order that it may make itself low, and also a dog: and when he sees the wild animal from the tree, he first shoots his arrow and then mounts upon his horse and pursues it, and the dog seizes hold of it. Above these in a direction towards the East dwell other Scythians, who have revolted from the Royal Scythians and so have come to this region.

23. As far as the country of these Scythians the whole land which has been described is level plain and has a deep soil; but after this point it is stony and rugged. Then when one has passed through a great extent of this rugged country, there dwell in the skirts of lofty mountains men who are said to be all bald-headed from their birth, male and female equally, and who have flat noses and large chins and speak a language of their own, using the Scythian manner of dress, and living on the produce of trees. The tree on the fruit of which they live is called the Pontic tree, and it is about the size of a fig-tree: this bears a fruit the size of a bean, containing a stone. When the fruit has ripened, they strain it through cloths and there flows from it a thick black juice, and this juice which flows from it is called as-chy. This they either lick up or drink mixed with milk, and from its lees, that is the solid part, they make cakes and use them for food; for they have not many cattle, since the pastures there are by no means good. Each man has his dwelling under a tree, in winter covering the tree all round with close white felt-cloth, and in summer without it. These are injured by no men, for they are said to be sacred, and they possess no weapon of war. These are they also who decide the disputes rising among their neighbours; and besides this, whatever fugitive takes refuge with them is injured by no one: and they are called Argippaians.[30][{‘Argippaioi}: it is not certain that this is the form which ought to be read here: Latin writers make the name “Arimphaei,” and in some MSS. it is given here as {‘Orgempaioi}.]

24. Now as far as these bald-headed men there is abundantly clear information about the land and about the nations on this side of them; for not only do certain of the Scythians go to them, from whom it is not difficult to get information, but also some of the Hellenes who are at the trading-station of the Borysthenes and the other trading-places of the Pontic coast: and those of the Scythians who go to them transact their business through seven interpreters and in seven different languages.

25. So far as these, I say, the land is known; but concerning the region to the North of the bald-headed men no one can speak with certainty, for lofty and impassable mountains divide it off, and no one passes over them. However these bald-headed men say (though I do not believe it) that the mountains are inhabited by men with goats’ feet; and that after one has passed beyond these, others are found who sleep through six months of the year. This I do not admit at all as true. However, the country to the East of the bald-headed men is known with certainty, being inhabited by the Issedonians, but that which lies beyond both the bald-headed men and the Issedonians towards the North Wind is unknown, except so far as we know it from the accounts given by these nations which have just been mentioned.

26. The Issedonians are said to have these customs:—when a man’s father is dead, all the relations bring cattle to the house, and then having slain them and cut up the flesh, they cut up also the dead body of the father of their entertainer, and mixing all the flesh together they set forth a banquet. His skull however they strip of the flesh and clean it out and then gild it over, and after that they deal with it as a sacred thing[31][{agalmati}.] and perform for the dead man great sacrifices every year. This each son does for his father, just as the Hellenes keep the day of memorial for the dead.[32][{ta genesia}.] In other respects however this race also is said to live righteously, and their women have equal rights with the men.

27. These then also are known; but as to the region beyond them, it is the Issedonians who report that there are there one-eyed men and gold-guarding griffins; and the Scythians report this having received it from them, and from the Scythians we, that is the rest of mankind, have got our belief; and we call them in Scythian language Arimaspians, for the Scythians call the number one 华宇 and the eye 斯普.

28. This whole land which has been described is so exceedingly severe in climate, that for eight months of the year there is frost so hard as to be intolerable; and during these if you pour out water you will not be able to make mud, but only if you kindle a fire can you make it; and the sea is frozen and the whole of the Kimmerian Bosphorus, so that the Scythians who are settled within the trench make expeditions and drive their waggons over into the country of the Sindians. Thus it continues to be winter for eight months, and even for the remaining four it is cold in those parts. This winter is distinguished in its character from all the winters which come in other parts of the world; for in it there is no rain to speak of at the usual season for rain, whereas in summer it rains continually; and thunder does not come at the time when it comes in other countries, but is very frequent,[33][Or, “violent”.] in the summer; and if thunder comes in winter, it is marvelled at as a prodigy: just so, if an earthquake happens, whether in summer or in winter, it is accounted a prodigy in Scythia. Horses are able to endure this winter, but neither mules nor asses can endure it at all, whereas in other countries horses if they stand in frost lose their limbs by mortification, while asses and mules endure it.

29. I think also that it is for this reason that the hornless breed of oxen in that country have no horns growing; and there is a verse of Homer in the Odyssey[34][Od. iv. 85.] supporting my opinion, which runs this:—

“Also the Libyan land, where the sheep very quickly grow hornèd,”

for it is rightly said that in hot regions the horns come quickly, whereas in extreme cold the animals either have no horns growing at all, or hardly any.[35][{e phuonta phuein mogis}.]

30. In that land then this takes place on account of the cold; but (since my history proceeded from the first seeking occasions for digression)[36][{prosthekas}, “additions”.] I feel wonder that in the whole land of Elis mules cannot be bred, though that region is not cold, nor is there any other evident cause. The Eleians themselves say that in consequence of some curse mules are not begotten in their land; but when the time approaches for the mares to conceive, they drive them out into the neighbouring lands and there in the land of their neighbours they admit to them the he-asses until the mares are pregnant, and then they drive them back.

31. As to the feathers of which the Scythians say that the air is full, and that by reason of them they are not able either to see or to pass through the further parts of the continent, the opinion which I have is this:—in the parts beyond this land it snows continually, though less in summer than in winter, as might be supposed. Now whomsoever has seen close at hand snow falling thickly, knows what I mean without further explanation, for the snow is like feathers: and on account of this wintry weather, being such as I have said, the Northern parts of this continent are uninhabitable. I think therefore that by the feathers the Scythians and those who dwell near them mean symbolically the snow. This then which has been said goes to the furthest extent of the accounts given.

32. About a Hyperborean people the Scythians report nothing, nor do any of those who dwell in this region, unless it be the Issedonians: but in my opinion neither do these report anything; for if they did the Scythians also would report it, as they do about the one-eyed people. Hesiod however has spoken of Hyperboreans, and so also has Homer in the poem of the “Epigonoi,” at least if Homer was really the composer of that Epic.

33. But much more about them is reported by the people of Delos than by any others. For these say that sacred offerings bound up in wheat straw are carried from the land of the Hyperboreans and come to the Scythians, and then from the Scythians the neighbouring nations in succession receive them and convey them Westwards, finally as far as the Adriatic: thence they are sent forward towards the South, and the people of Dodona receive them first of all the Hellenes, and from these they come down to the Malian gulf and are passed over to Euboea, where city sends them on to city till they come to Carystos. After this Andros is left out, for the Carystians are those who bring them to Tenos, and the Tenians to Delos. Thus they say that these sacred offerings come to Delos; but at first, they say, the Hyperboreans sent two maidens bearing the sacred offerings, whose names, say the Delians, were Hyperoche and Laodike, and with them for their protection the Hyperboreans sent five men of their nation to attend them, those namely who are now called Perphereës and have great honours paid to them in Delos. Since however the Hyperboreans found that those who were sent away did not return back, they were troubled to think that it would always befall them to send out and not to receive back; and so they bore the offerings to the borders of their land bound up in wheat straw, and laid a charge upon their neighbours, bidding them send these forward from themselves to another nation. These things then, they say, come to Delos being thus sent forward; and I know of my own knowledge that a thing is done which has resemblance to these offerings, namely that the women of Thrace and Paionia, when they sacrifice to Artemis “the Queen,” do not make their offerings without wheat straw.

34. These I know do as I have said; and for those maidens from the Hyperboreans, who died in Delos, both the girls and the boys of the Delians cut off their hair: the former before marriage cut off a lock and having wound it round a spindle lay it upon the tomb (now the tomb is on the left hand as one goes into the temple of Artemis, and over it grows an olive-tree), and all the boys of the Delians wind some of their hair about a green shoot of some tree, and they also place it upon the tomb.

35. The maidens, I say, have this honour paid them by the dwellers in Delos: and the same people say that Arge and Opis also, being maidens, came to Delos, passing from the Hyperboreans by the same nations which have been mentioned, even before Hyperoche and Laodike. These last, they say, came bearing for Eileithuia the tribute which they had laid upon themselves for the speedy birth,[37][i.e. of Apollo and Artemis.] but Arge and Opis came with the divinities themselves, and other honours have been assigned to them by the people of Delos: for the women, they say, collect for them, naming them by their names in the hymn which Olen a man of Lykia composed in their honour; and both the natives of the other islands and the Ionians have learnt from them to sing hymns naming Opis and Arge and collecting:—now this Olen came from Lukia and composed also the other ancient hymns which are sung in Delos:—and moreover they say that when the thighs of the victim are consumed upon the altar, the ashes of them are used to cast upon the grave of Opis and Arge. Now their grave is behind the temple of Artemis, turned towards the East, close to the banqueting hall of the Keïeans.

36. Let this suffice which has been said of the Hyperboreans; for the tale of Abaris, who is reported to have been a Hyperborean, I do not tell, namely [3701][Omitting {legon}.] how he carried the arrow about all over the earth, eating no food. If however there are any Hyperboreans, it follows that there are also Hypernotians; and I laugh when I see that, though many before this have drawn maps of the Earth, yet no one has set the matter forth in an intelligent way; seeing that they draw Ocean flowing round the Earth, which is circular exactly as if drawn with compasses, and they make Asia equal in size to Europe. In a few words I shall declare the size of each division and of what nature it is as regards outline.

37. The Persians inhabit Asia[38][The word “Asia” is not contained in the MSS. and need not be inserted in the text, but it is implied, if not expressed; see chap. 41.] extending to the Southern Sea, which is called the Erythraian; and above these towards the North Wind dwell the Medes, and above the Medes the Saspeirians, and above the Saspeirians the Colchians, extending to the Northern Sea, into which the river Phasis runs. These four nations inhabit from sea to sea.

38. From them Westwards two peninsulas[39][{aktai}.] stretch out from Asia into the sea, and these I will describe. The first peninsula on the one of its sides, that is the Northern, stretches along beginning from the Phasis and extending to the sea, going along the Pontus and the Hellespont as far as Sigeion in the land of Troy; and on the Southern side the same peninsula stretches from the Myriandrian gulf, which lies near Phenicia, in the direction of the sea as far as the headland Triopion; and in this peninsula dwell thirty races of men.

39. This then is one of the peninsulas, and the other beginning from the land of the Persians stretches along to the Erythraian Sea, including Persia and next after it Assyria, and Arabia after Assyria: and this ends, or rather is commonly supposed to end,[40][{ou legousa ei me nomo}.] at the Arabian gulf, into which Dareios conducted a channel from the Nile. Now in the line stretching to Phenicia from the land of the Persians the land is broad and the space abundant, but after Phenicia this peninsula goes by the shore of our Sea along Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, where it ends; and in it there are three nations only.

40. These are the parts of Asia which tend towards the West from the Persian land; but as to those which lie beyond the Persians and Medes and Saspeirians and Colchians towards the East and the sunrising, on one side the Erythraian Sea runs along by them, and on the North both the Caspian Sea and the river Araxes, which flows towards the rising sun: and Asia is inhabited as far as the Indian land; but from this onwards towards the East it becomes desert, nor can any one say what manner of land it is.

41. Such and so large is Asia: and Libya is included in the second peninsula; for after Egypt Libya succeeds at once. Now about Egypt this peninsula is narrow, for from our Sea to the Erythraian Sea is a distance there of ten myriads of fathoms,[41][i.e. 100,000 fathoms, equivalent to 1000 stades; see ii. 6, note 10.] which would amount to a thousand furlongs; but after this narrow part, the portion of the peninsula which is called Libya is, as it chances, extremely broad.

42. I wonder then at those who have parted off and divided the world into Libya, Asia, and Europe, since the difference between these is not small; for in length Europe extends along by both, while in breadth it is clear to me that it is beyond comparison larger;[42][{oude sumballein axie}.]for Libya furnishes proofs about itself that it is surrounded by sea, except so much of it as borders upon Asia; and this fact was shown by Necos king of the Egyptians first of all those about whom we have knowledge. He when he had ceased digging the channel[43][ii. 158.]which goes through from the Nile to the Arabian gulf, sent Phenicians with ships, bidding them sail and come back through the Pillars of Heracles to the Northern Sea and so to Egypt. The Phenicians therefore set forth from the Erythraian Sea and sailed through the Southern Sea; and when autumn came, they would put to shore and sow the land, wherever in Libya they might happen to be as they sailed, and then they waited for the harvest: and having reaped the corn they would sail on, so that after two years had elapsed, in the third year they turned through the Pillars of Heracles and arrived again in Egypt. And they reported a thing which I cannot believe, but another man may, namely that in sailing round Libya they had the sun on their right hand.

43. Thus was this country first known to be what it is, and after this it is the Carthaginians who make report of it; for as to Sataspes the son of Teaspis the Achaimenid, he did not sail round Libya, though he was sent for this very purpose, but was struck with fear by the length of the voyage and the desolate nature of the land, and so returned back and did not accomplish the task which his mother laid upon him. For this man had outraged a daughter of Zopyros the son of Megabyzos, a virgin; and then when he was about to be impaled by order of king Xerxes for this offence, the mother of Sataspes, who was a sister of Dareios, entreated for his life, saying that she would herself lay upon him a greater penalty than Xerxes; for he should be compelled (she said) to sail round Libya, until in sailing round it he came to the Arabian gulf. So then Xerxes having agreed upon these terms, Sataspes went to Egypt, and obtaining a ship and sailors from the Egyptians, he sailed to the Pillars of Heracles; and having sailed through them and turned the point of Libya which is called the promontory of Soloeis, he sailed on towards the South. Then after he had passed over much sea in many months, as there was needed ever more and more voyaging, he turned about and sailed back again to Egypt: and having come from thence into the presence of king Xerxes, he reported saying that at the furthest point which he reached he was sailing by dwarfish people, who used clothing made from the palm-tree, and who, whenever they came to land with their ship, left their towns and fled away to the mountains: and they, he said, did no injury when they entered into the towns, but took food [4301][{brota}: some MSS. have {probata} “cattle”.] from them only. And the cause, he said, why he had not completely sailed round Libya was that the ship could not advance any further but stuck fast. Xerxes however did not believe that he was speaking the truth, and since he had not performed the appointed task, he impaled him, inflicting upon him the penalty pronounced before. A eunuch belonging to this Sataspes ran away to Samos as soon as he heard that his master was dead, carrying with him large sums of money; and of this a man of Samos took possession, whose name I know, but I purposely pass it over without mention.

44. Of Asia the greater part was explored by Dareios, who desiring to know of the river Indus, which is a second river producing crocodiles of all the rivers in the world,—to know, I say, of this river where it runs out into the sea, sent with ships, besides others whom he trusted to speak the truth, Skylax also, a man of Caryanda. These starting from the city of Caspatyros and the land of Pactyïke, sailed down the river towards the East and the sunrising to the sea; and then sailing over the sea Westwards they came in the thirtieth month to that place from whence the king of the Egyptians had sent out the Phenicians of whom I spoke before, to sail round Libya. After these had made their voyage round the coast, Dareios both subdued the Indians and made use of this sea. Thus Asia also, excepting the parts of it which are towards the rising sun, has been found to be similar[44][{omoia parekhomene}: the construction is confused, but the meaning is that all but the Eastern parts are known to be surrounded by sea.] to Libya.

45. As to Europe, however, it is clearly not known by any, either as regards the parts which are towards the rising sun or those towards the North, whether it be surrounded by sea: but in length it is known to stretch along by both the other divisions. And I am not able to understand for what reason it is that to the Earth, which is one, three different names are given derived from women, and why there were set as boundaries to divide it the river Nile of Egypt and the Phasis in Colchis (or as some say the Maiotian river Tanaïs and the Kimmerian ferry); nor can I learn who those persons were who made the boundaries, or for what reason they gave the names. Libya indeed is said by most of the Hellenes to have its name from Libya a woman of that country, and Asia from the wife of Prometheus: but this last name is claimed by the Lydians, who say that Asia has been called after Asias the son of Cotys the son of Manes, and not from Asia the wife of Prometheus; and from him too they say the Asian tribe in Sardis has its name. As to Europe however, it is neither known by any man whether it is surrounded by sea, nor does it appear whence it got this name or who he was who gave it, unless we shall say that the land received its name from Europa the Tyrian; and if so, it would appear that before this it was nameless like the rest. She however evidently belongs to Asia and did not come to this land which is now called by the Hellenes Europe, but only from Phenicia to Crete, and from Crete to Lykia. Let this suffice now which has been said about these matters; for we will adopt those which are commonly accepted of the accounts.

46. Now the region of the Euxine upon which Dareios was preparing to march has, apart from the Scythian race, the most ignorant nations within it of all lands: for we can neither put forward any nation of those who dwell within the region of Pontus as eminent in ability, nor do we know of any man of learning[45][{logion}: some MSS. have {logimon}, “of reputation”.] having arisen there, apart from the Scythian nation and Anacharsis. By the Scythian race one thing which is the most important of all human things has been found out more cleverly than by any other men of whom we know; but in other respects I have no great admiration for them: and that most important thing which they have discovered is such that none can escape again who has come to attack them, and if they do not desire to be found, it is not possible to catch them: for they who have neither cities founded nor walls built, but all carry their houses with them and are mounted archers, living not by the plough but by cattle, and whose dwellings are upon cars, these assuredly are invincible and impossible to approach.

47. This they have found out, seeing that their land is suitable to it and at the same time the rivers are their allies: for first this land is plain land and is grassy and well watered, and then there are rivers flowing through it not much less in number than the channels in Egypt. Of these as many as are noteworthy and also can be navigated from the sea, I will name: there is Ister with five mouths, and after this Tyras, Hypanis, Borysthenes, Panticapes, Kypakyris, Gerros and Tanaïs. These flow as I shall now describe.

48. The Ister, which is the greatest of all the rivers which we know, flows always with equal volume in summer and winter alike. It is the first towards the West of all the Scythian rivers, and it has become the greatest of all rivers because other rivers flow into it. And these are they which make it great:[46][Stein reads {eisi de} for {eisi de}, and punctuates so that the meaning is, “it has become the greatest of all rivers in the following manner:—besides other rivers which flow into it, those which especially make it great are as follows”.]—five in number are those[47][{pente men oi}: this perhaps requires emendation, but the corrections proposed are hardly satisfactory, e.g. {pente megaloi} or {pente monoi}.] which flow through the Scythian land, namely that which the Scythians call Porata and the Hellenes Pyretos, and besides this, Tiarantos and Araros and Naparis and Ordessos. The first-mentioned of these is a great river lying towards the East, and there it joins waters with the Ister, the second Tiarantos is more to the West and smaller, and the Araros and Naparis and Ordessos flow into the Ister going between these two.

49. These are the native Scythian rivers which join to swell its stream, while from the Agathyrsians flows the Maris and joins the Ister, and from the summits of Haimos flow three other great rivers towards the North Wind and fall into it, namely Atlas and Auras and Tibisis. Through Thrace and the Thracian Crobyzians flow the rivers Athrys and Noes and Artanes, running into the Ister; and from the Paionians and Mount Rhodope the river Kios,[48][Or “Skios”: called by Thucydides “Oskios” (ii. 96).] cutting through Haimos in the midst, runs into it also. From the Illyrians the river Angros flows Northwards and runs out into the Triballian plain and into the river Brongos, and the Brongos flows into the Ister; thus the Ister receives both these, being great rivers. From the region which is above the Ombricans, the river Carpis and another river, the Alpis, flow also towards the North Wind and run into it; for the Ister flows in fact through the whole of Europe, beginning in the land of the Keltoi, who after the Kynesians dwell furthest towards the sun-setting of all the peoples of Europe; and thus flowing through all Europe it falls into the sea by the side of Scythia.

50. So then it is because these which have been named and many others join their waters together, that Ister becomes the greatest of rivers; since if we compare the single streams, the Nile is superior in volume of water; for into this no river or spring flows, to contribute to its volume. And the Ister flows at an equal level always both in summer and in winter for some such cause as this, as I suppose:—in winter it is of the natural size, or becomes only a little larger than its nature, seeing that this land receives very little rain in winter, but constantly has snow; whereas in summer the snow which fell in the winter, in quantity abundant, melts and runs from all parts into the Ister. This snow of which I speak, running into the river helps to swell its volume, and with it also many and violent showers of rain, for it rains during the summer: and thus the waters which mingle with the Ister are more copious in summer than they are in winter by about as much as the water which the Sun draws to himself in summer exceeds that which he draws in winter; and by the setting of these things against one another there is produced a balance; so that the river is seen to be of equal volume always.

51. One, I say, of the rivers which the Scythians have is the Ister; and after it the Tyras, which starts from the North and begins its course from a large lake which is the boundary between the land of the Scythians and that of the Neuroi. At its mouth are settled those Hellenes who are called Tyritai.

52. The third river is the Hypanis, which starts from Scythia and flows from a great lake round which feed white wild horses; and this lake is rightly called “Mother of Hypanis.” From this then the river Hypanis takes its rise and for a distance of five days’ sail it flows shallow and with sweet water still;[49][{eti}: most of the MSS. give {esti}, which is adopted by some Editors.] but from this point on towards the sea for four days’ sail it is very bitter, for there flows into it the water of a bitter spring, which is so exceedingly bitter that, small as it is, it changes the water of the Hypanis by mingling with it, though that is a river to which few are equal in greatness. This spring is on the border between the lands of the agricultural Scythians and of the Alazonians, and the name of the spring and of the place from which it flows is in Scythian Exampaios, and in the Hellenic tongue Hierai Hodoi.[50][“Sacred Ways”.] Now the Tyras and the Hypanis approach one another in their windings in the land of the Alazonians, but after this each turns off and widens the space between them as they flow.

53. Fourth is the river Borysthenes, which is both the largest of these after the Ister, and also in our opinion the most serviceable not only of the Scythian rivers but also of all the rivers of the world besides, excepting only the Nile of Egypt, for to this it is not possible to compare any other river: of the rest however the Borysthenes is the most serviceable, seeing that it provides both pastures which are the fairest and the richest for cattle, and fish which are better by far and more numerous than those of any other river, and also it is the sweetest water to drink, and flows with clear stream, though others beside it are turbid, and along its banks crops are produced better than elsewhere, while in parts where it is not sown, grass grows deeper. Moreover at its mouth salt forms of itself in abundance, and it produces also huge fish without spines, which they call antacaioi, to be used for salting, and many other things also worthy of wonder. Now as far as the region of the Gerrians,[51][{Gerreon}: in some MSS. {Gerrou}, “the region called Gerros”.] to which it is a voyage of forty[52][{tesserakonta}: some Editors have altered this number, but without authority or sufficient reason.] days, the Borysthenes is known as flowing from the North Wind; but above this none can tell through what nations it flows: it is certain however that it runs through desert[53][{di eremou}: see note 25 on ch. 18. The region here spoken of is that between the Gerrians and the agricultural Scythians.] to the land of the agricultural Scythians; for these Scythians dwell along its banks for a distance of ten days’ sail. Of this river alone and of the Nile I cannot tell where the sources are, nor, I think, can any of the Hellenes. When the Borysthenes comes near the sea in its course, the Hypanis mingles with it, running out into the same marsh; [5301][{es touto elos}: i.e. the Dneiper-Liman. (The Medicean and Florentine MSS. read {es to elos}, not {es to telos}, as hitherto reported.)] and the space between these two rivers, which is as it were a beak of land,[54][{eon embolon tes khores}.] is called the point of Hippoles, and in it is placed a temple of the Mother,[55][{Metros}: i.e. the Mother of the gods, Kybele, cp. ch. 76; some less good authorities have {Demetros}.] and opposite the temple upon the river Hypanis are settled the Borysthenites.

54. This is that which has to do with these rivers; and after these there is a fifth river besides, called Panticapes. This also flows[56][{reei de}: most MSS. have {reei men gar}.] both from the North and from a lake, and in the space between this river and the Borysthenes dwell the agricultural Scythians: it runs out into the region of Hylaia, and having passed by this it mingles with the Borysthenes.

55. Sixth comes the river Hypakyris, which starts from a lake, and flowing through the midst of the nomad Scythians runs out into the sea by the city of Carkinitis, skirting on its right bank the region of Hylaia and the so-called racecourse of Achilles.

56. Seventh is the Gerros, which parts off from the Borysthenes near about that part of the country where the Borysthenes ceases to be known,—it parts off, I say, in this region and has the same name which this region itself has, namely Gerros; and as it flows to the sea it borders the country of the nomad and that of the Royal Scythians, and runs out into the Hypakyris.

57. The eighth is the river Tanaïs, which starts in its flow at first from a large lake, and runs out into a still larger lake called Maiotis, which is the boundary between the Royal Scythians and the Sauromatai. Into this Tanaïs falls another river, whose name is Hyrgis.

58. So many are the rivers of note with which the Scythians are provided: and for cattle the grass which comes up in the land of Scythia is the most productive of bile of any grass which we know; and that this is so you may judge when you open the bodies of the cattle.

59. Thus abundant supply have they of that which is most important; and as for the rest their customs are as follows. The gods whom they propitiate by worship are these only:—Hestia most of all, then Zeus and the Earth, supposing that Earth is the wife of Zeus, and after these Apollo, and Aphrodite Urania, and Heracles, and Ares. Of these all the Scythians have the worship established, and the so-called Royal Scythians sacrifice also to Poseidon. Now Hestia is called in Scythian Tabiti, and Zeus, being most rightly named in my opinion, is called Papaios, and Earth Api,[57][Or, “Apia”.] and Apollo Oitosyros,[58][Or, “Goitosyros”.] and Aphrodite Urania is called Argimpasa,[59][The MSS. have also “Arippasa” and “Artimpasa”.] and Poseidon Thagimasidas.[60][The authorities have also “Thagimasa” and “Thamimasidas”.] It is not their custom however to make images, altars or temples to any except Ares, but to him it is their custom to make them.

60. They have all the same manner of sacrifice established for all their religious rites equally, and it is thus performed:—the victim stands with its fore-feet tied, and the sacrificing priest stands behind the victim, and by pulling the end of the cord he throws the beast down; and as the victim falls, he calls upon the god to whom he is sacrificing, and then at once throws a noose round its neck, and putting a small stick into it he turns it round and so strangles the animal, without either lighting a fire or making any first offering from the victim or pouring any libation over it: and when he has strangled it and flayed off the skin, he proceeds to boil it.

61. Now as the land of Scythia is exceedingly ill wooded, this contrivance has been invented for the boiling of the flesh:—having flayed the victims, they strip the flesh off the bones and then put it into caldrons, if they happen to have any, of native make, which very much resemble Lesbian mixing-bowls except that they are much larger,—into these they put the flesh and boil it by lighting under it the bones of the victim: if however thy have not at hand the caldron, they put all the flesh into the stomachs of the victims and adding water they light the bones under them; and these blaze up beautifully, and the stomachs easily hold the flesh when it has been stripped off the bones: thus an ox is made to boil itself, and the other kinds of victims each boil themselves also. Then when the flesh is boiled, the sacrificer takes a first offering of the flesh and of the vital organs and casts it in front of him. And they sacrifice various kinds of cattle, but especially horses.

62. To the others of the gods they sacrifice thus and these kinds of beasts, but to Ares as follows:—In each district of the several governments[61][{ton arkheion}: some read by conjecture {en to arkheio}, “at the seat of government,” or “in the public place”.] they have a temple of Ares set up in this way:—bundles of brushwood are heaped up for about three furlongs[62][{eson t’ epi stadious treis}.] in length and in breadth, but less in height; and on the top of this there is a level square made, and three of the sides rise sheer but by the remaining one side the pile may be ascended. Every year they pile on a hundred and fifty waggon-loads of brushwood, for it is constantly settling down by reason of the weather.[63][{upo ton kheimonon}.] Upon this pile of which I speak each people has an ancient iron sword[64][{akinakes}.] set up, and this is the sacred symbol[65][{agalma}: see note 19 on ch. 15.] of Ares. To this sword they bring yearly offerings of cattle and of horses; and they have the following sacrifice in addition, beyond what they make to the other gods, that is to say, of all the enemies whom they take captive in war they sacrifice one man in every hundred, not in the same manner as they sacrifice cattle, but in a different manner: for they first pour wine over their heads, and after that they cut the throats of the men, so that the blood runs into a bowl; and then they carry this up to the top of the pile of brushwood and pour the blood over the sword. This, I say, they carry up; and meanwhile below by the side of the temple they are doing thus:—they cut off all the right arms of the slaughtered men with the hands and throw them up into the air, and then when they have finished offering the other victims, they go away; and the arm lies wheresoever it has chanced to fall, and the corpse apart from it.

63. Such are the sacrifices which are established among them; but of swine these make no use, nor indeed are they wont to keep them at all in their land.

64. That which relates to war is thus ordered with them:—When a Scythian has slain his first man, he drinks some of his blood: and of all those whom he slays in the battle he bears the heads to the king; for if he has brought a head he shares in the spoil which they have taken, but otherwise not. And he takes off the skin of the head by cutting it round about the ears and then taking hold of the scalp and shaking it off; afterwards he scrapes off the flesh with the rib of an ox, and works the skin about with his hands; and when he has thus tempered it, he keeps it as a napkin to wipe the hands upon, and hangs it from the bridle of the horse on which he himself rides, and takes pride in it; for whosoever has the greatest number of skins to wipe the hands upon, he is judged to be the bravest man. Many also make cloaks to wear of the skins stripped off, sewing them together like shepherds’ cloaks of skins;[66][{kata per baitas}.] and many take the skin together with the finger-nails off the right hands of their enemies when they are dead, and make them into covers for their quivers: now human skin it seems is both thick and glossy in appearance, more brilliantly white than any other skin. Many also take the skins off the whole bodies of men and stretch them on pieces of wood and carry them about on their horses.

65. Such are their established customs about these things; and to the skulls themselves, not of all but of their greatest enemies, they do thus:—the man saws off all below the eyebrows and clears out the inside; and if he is a poor man he only stretches ox-hide round it and then makes use of it; but if he be rich, besides stretching the ox-hide he gilds it over within, and makes use of it as a drinking-cup. They do this also if any of their own family have been at variance with them and the man gets the better of his adversary in trial before the king; and when strangers come to him whom he highly esteems, he sets these skulls before them, and adds the comment that they being of his own family had made war against him, and that he had got the better of them; and this they hold to be a proof of manly virtue.

66. Once every year each ruler of a district mixes in his own district a bowl of wine, from which those of the Scythians drink by whom enemies have been slain; but those by whom this has not been done do not taste of the wine, but sit apart dishonoured; and this is the greatest of all disgraces among them: but those of them who have slain a very great number of men, drink with two cups together at the same time.

67. Diviners there are many among the Scythians, and they divine with a number of willow rods in the following manner:—they bring large bundles of rods, and having laid them on the ground they unroll them, and setting each rod by itself apart they prophesy; and while speaking thus, they roll the rods together again, and after that they place them in order a second time one by one.[67][Or, “and put them together in one bundle”.] This manner of divination they have from their fathers: but the Enareës or “man-women”[68][See i. 105.] say that Aphrodite gave them the gift of divination, and they divine accordingly with the bark of the linden-tree. Having divided the linden-bark into three strips, the man twists them together in his fingers and untwists them again, and as he does this he utters the oracle.

68. When the king of the Scythians is sick, he sends for three of the diviners, namely those who are most in repute, who divine in the manner which has been said: and these say for the most part something like this, namely that so and so has sworn falsely by the hearth of the king, and they name one of the citizens, whosoever it may happen to be: now it is the prevailing custom of the Scythians to swear by the hearth of the king at the times when they desire to swear the most solemn oath. He then who they say has sworn falsely, is brought forthwith held fast on both sides; and when he has come the diviners charge him with this, that he is shown by their divination to have sworn falsely by the hearth of the king, and that for this reason the king is suffering pain: and he denies and says that he did not swear falsely, and complains indignantly: and when he denies it, the king sends for other diviners twice as many in number, and if these also by looking into their divination pronounce him guilty of having sworn falsely, at once they cut off the man’s head, and the diviners who came first part his goods among them by lot; but if the diviners who came in afterwards acquit him, other diviners come in, and again others after them. If then the greater number acquit the man, the sentence is that the first diviners shall themselves be put to death.

69. They put them to death accordingly in the following manner:—first they fill a waggon with brushwood and yoke oxen to it; then having bound the feet of the diviners and tied their hands behind them and stopped their mouths with gags, they fasten them down in the middle of the brushwood, and having set fire to it they scare the oxen and let them go: and often the oxen are burnt to death together with the diviners, and often they escape after being scorched, when the pole to which they are fastened has been burnt: and they burn the diviners in the manner described for other causes also, calling them false prophets. Now when the king puts any to death, he does not leave alive their sons either, but he puts to death all the males, not doing any hurt to the females.

70. In the following manner the Scythians make oaths to whomsoever they make them:—they pour wine into a great earthenware cup and mingle with it blood of those who are taking the oath to one another, either making a prick with an awl or cutting with a dagger a little way into their body, and then they dip into the cup a sword and arrows and a battle-axe and a javelin; and having done this, they invoke many curses on the breaker of the oath, and afterwards they drink it off, both they who are making the oath and the most honourable of their company.

71. The burial-place of the kings is in the land of the Gerrians, the place up to which the Borysthenes is navigable. In this place, when their king has died, they make a large square excavation in the earth; and when they have made this ready, they take up the corpse (the body being covered over with wax and the belly ripped up and cleansed, and then sewn together again, after it has been filled with kyperos[69][{kuperou}: it is not clear what plant is meant.] cut up and spices and parsley-seed and anise), and they convey it in a waggon to another nation. Then those who receive the corpse thus conveyed to them do the same as the Royal Scythians, that is they cut off a part of their ear and shave their hair round about and cut themselves all over the arms and tear their forehead and nose and pass arrows through their left hand. Thence they convey in the waggon the corpse of the king to another of the nations over whom they rule; and they to whom they came before accompany them: and when they have gone round to all conveying the corpse, then they are in the land of the Gerrians, who have their settlements furthest away of all the nations over whom they rule, and they have reached the spot where the burial place is. After that, having placed the corpse in the tomb upon a bed of leaves, they stick spears along on this side and that of the corpse and stretch pieces of wood over them, and then they cover the place in with matting. Then they strangle and bury in the remaining space of the tomb one of the king’s mistresses, his cup-bearer, his cook, his horse-keeper, his attendant, and his bearer of messages, and also horses, and a first portion of all things else, and cups of gold; for silver they do not use at all, nor yet bronze.[70][i.e. for this purpose. The general use of bronze is attested by ch. 81.] Having thus done they all join together to pile up a great mound, vying with one another and zealously endeavouring to make it as large as possible.

72. Afterwards, when the year comes round again, they do as follows:—they take the most capable of the remaining servants,—and these are native Scythians, for those serve him whom the king himself commands to do so, and his servants are not bought for money,—of these attendants then they strangle fifty and also fifty of the finest horses; and when they have taken out their bowels and cleansed the belly, they fill it with chaff and sew it together again. Then they set the half of a wheel upon two stakes with the hollow side upwards, and the other half of the wheel upon other two stakes, and in this manner they fix a number of these; and after this they run thick stakes through the length of the horses as far as the necks, and they mount them upon the wheels; and the front pieces of wheel support the shoulders of the horses, while those behind bear up their bellies, going by the side of the thighs; and both front and hind legs hang in the air. On the horses they put bridles and bits, and stretch the bridles tight in front of them and then tie them up to pegs: and of the fifty young men who have been strangled they mount each one upon his horse, having first[71][{ode anabibazontes, epean k.t.l}: the reference of {ode} is directly to the clause {epean——trakhelou}, though in sense it refers equally to the following, {katothen de k.t.l}. Some Editors punctuate thus, {ode anabibazontes epean} and omit {de} after {katothen}, making the reference of {ode} to the latter clause alone.] run a straight stake through each body along by the spine up to the neck; and a part of this stake projects below, which they fasten into a socket made in the other stake that runs through the horse. Having set horsemen such as I have described in a circle round the tomb, they then ride away.

73. Thus they bury their kings; but as for the other Scythians, when they die their nearest relations carry them round laid in waggons to their friends in succession; and of them each one when he receives the body entertains those who accompany it, and before the corpse they serve up of all things about the same quantity as before the others. Thus private persons are carried about for forty days, and then they are buried: and after burying them the Scythians cleanse themselves in the following way:—they soap their heads and wash them well, and then, for their body, they set up three stakes leaning towards one another and about them they stretch woollen felt coverings, and when they have closed them as much as possible they throw stones heated red-hot into a basin placed in the middle of the stakes and the felt coverings.

74. Now they have hemp growing in their land, which is very like flax except in thickness and in height, for in these respects the hemp is much superior. This grows both of itself and with cultivation; and of it the Thracians even make garments, which are very like those made of flaxen thread, so that he who was not specially conversant with it would not be able to decide whether the garments were of flax or of hemp; and he who had not before seen stuff woven of hemp would suppose that the garment was made of flax.

75. The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and creep under the felt coverings, and then they throw the seed upon the stones which have been heated red-hot: and it burns like incense and produces a vapour so thick that no vapour-bath in Hellas would surpass it: and the Scythians being delighted with the vapour-bath howl like wolves.[72][{oruontai}, as in iii. 117, but here they howl for pleasure.] This is to them instead of washing, for in fact they do not wash their bodies at all in water. Their women however pound with a rough stone the wood of the cypress and cedar and frankincense tree, pouring in water with it, and then with this pounded stuff, which is thick, they plaster over all their body and also their face; and not only does a sweet smell attach to them by reason of this, but also when they take off the plaster on the next day, their skin is clean and shining.

76. This nation also[73][Like the Egyptians for example, cp. ii. 91.] is very averse to adopting strange customs, rejecting even those of other tribes among themselves,[74][{mete ge on allelon}: the MSS. have {me ti ge on allelon}. Most Editors read {allon} for {allelon} and alter the other words in various ways ({me toi ge on, me toigaron} etc.), taking {me} as in {me oti} (ne dicam aliorum). The reading which I have adopted is based on that of Stein, who reads {mete teon allon} and quotes vii. 142, {oute ge alloisi ‘Ellenon oudamoisi, umin de de kai dia panton ekista}. With {allon} the meaning is, “rejecting those of other nations and especially those of the Hellenes”. For the use of {me} after {pheugein} cp. ii. 91.] but especially those of the Hellenes, as the history of Anacharsis and also afterwards of Skyles proved.[75][Or, according to some MSS., “as they proved in the case of Anacharsis and afterwards of Skyles”.] For as to Anacharsis first, when he was returning to the abodes of the Scythians, after having visited many lands[76][{gen pollen}.] and displayed in them much wisdom, as he sailed through the Hellespont he put in to Kyzicos: and since he found the people of Kyzicos celebrating a festival very magnificently in honour of the Mother of the gods, Anacharsis vowed to the Mother that if he should return safe and sound to his own land, he would both sacrifice to her with the same rites as he saw the men of Kyzicos do, and also hold a night festival. So when he came to Scythia he went down into the region called Hylaia (this is along by the side of the racecourse of Achilles and is quite full, as it happens, of trees of all kinds),—into this, I say, Anacharsis went down, and proceeded to perform all the ceremonies of the festival in honour of the goddess, with a kettle-drum and with images hung about himself. And one of the Scythians perceived him doing this and declared it to Saulios the king; and the king came himself also, and when he saw Anacharsis doing this, he shot him with an arrow and killed him. Accordingly at the present time if one asks about Anacharsis, the Scythians say that they do not know him, and for this reason, because he went out of his own country to Hellas and adopted foreign customs. And as I heard from Tymnes the steward[77][{epitropou}.] of Ariapeithes, he was the uncle on the father’s side of Idanthyrsos king of the Scythians, and the son of Gnuros, the son of Lycos, the son of Spargapeithes. If then Anacharsis was of this house, let him know that he died by the hand of his brother, for Idanthyrsos was the son of Saulios, and Saulios was he who killed Anacharsis.

77. However I have heard also another story, told by the Peloponnesians, that Anacharsis was sent out by the king of the Scythians, and so made himself a disciple of Hellas; and that when he returned back he said to him that had sent him forth, that the Hellenes were all busied about every kind of cleverness except the Lacedemonians; but these alone knew how to exchange speech sensibly. This story however has been invented[78][{peplastai}: some authorities give {pepaistai}, “has been invented as a jest”.] without any ground by the Hellenes themselves; and however that may be, the man was slain in the way that was related above.

78. This man then fared thus badly by reason of foreign customs and communication with Hellenes; and very many years afterwards Skyles the son of Ariapeithes suffered nearly the same fate as he. For Ariapeithes the king of the Scythians with other sons had Skyles born to him: and he was born of a woman who was of Istria, and certainly not a native of Scythia; and this mother taught him the language and letters of Hellas. Afterwards in course of time Ariapeithes was brought to his end by treachery at the hands of Spargapeithes the king of the Agathyrsians, and Skyles succeeded to the kingdom; and he took not only that but also the wife of his father, whose name was Opoia: this Opoia was a native Scythian and from her was born Oricos to Ariapeithes. Now when Skyles was king of the Scythians, he was by no means satisfied with the Scythian manner of life, but was much more inclined towards Hellenic ways because of the training with which he had been brought up, and he used to do somewhat as follows:—When he came with the Scythians in arms to the city of the Borysthenites (now these Borysthenites say that they are of Miletos),—when Skyles came to these, he would leave his band in the suburbs of the city and go himself within the walls and close the gates. After that he would lay aside his Scythian equipments and take Hellenic garments, and wearing them he would go about in the market-place with no guards or any other man accompanying him (and they watched the gates meanwhile, that none of the Scythians might see him wearing this dress): and while in other respects too he adopted Hellenic manners of life, he used also to perform worship to the gods according to the customs of the Hellenes. Then having stayed a month or more than that, he would put on the Scythian dress and depart. This he did many times, and he both built for himself a house in Borysthenes and also took to it a woman of the place as his wife.

79. Since however it was fated that evil should happen to him, it happened by an occasion of this kind:—he formed a desire to be initiated in the rites of Bacchus-Dionysos, and as he was just about to receive[79][{es kheiras agesthai}.] the initiation, there happened a very great portent. He had in the city of the Borysthenites a house of great size and built with large expense, of which also I made mention a little before this, and round it were placed sphinxes and griffins of white stone: on this house Zeus [7901][{o theos}。] caused a bolt to fall; and the house was altogether burnt down, but Skyles none the less for this completed his initiation. Now the Scythians make the rites of Bacchus a reproach against the Hellenes, for they say that it is not fitting to invent a god like this, who impels men to frenzy. So when Skyles had been initiated into the rites of Bacchus, one of the Borysthenites went off[80][{diepresteuse}: this or {epresteuse} is the reading of most of the MSS. The meaning is uncertain, since the word does not occur elsewhere. Stein suggests that it may mean “scoffed (at the Scythians)”. Various conjectures have been tried, e.g. {diedresteuse}, {diedrepeteuse}, etc.] to the Scythians and said: “Whereas ye laugh at us, O Scythians, because we perform the rite of Bacchus and because the god seizes us, now this divinity has seized also your king; and he is both joining in the rite of Bacchus and maddened by the influence of the god. And if ye disbelieve me, follow and I will show you.” The chief men of the Scythians followed him, and the Borysthenite led them secretly into the town and set them upon a tower. So when Skyles passed by with the company of revellers, and the Scythians saw him joining in the rite of Bacchus, they were exceedingly grieved at it, and they went out and declared to the whole band that which they had seen.

80. After this when Skyles was riding out again to his own abode, the Scythians took his brother Octamasades for their leader, who was a son of the daughter of Teres, and made insurrection against Skyles. He then when he perceived that which was being done to his hurt and for what reason it was being done, fled for refuge to Thrace; and Octamasades being informed of this, proceeded to march upon Thrace. So when he had arrived at the river Ister, the Thracians met him; and as they were about to engage battle, Sitalkes sent a messenger to Octamasades and said: “Why must we make trial of one another in fight? Thou art my sister’s son and thou hast in thy power my brother. Do thou give him back to me, and I will deliver to thee thy brother Skyles: and let us not either of us set our armies in peril, either thou or I.” Thus Sitalkes proposed to him by a herald; for there was with Octamasades a brother of Sitalkes, who had gone into exile for fear of him. And Octamasades agreed to this, and by giving up his own mother’s brother to Sitalkes he received his brother Skyles in exchange: and Sitalkes when he received his brother led him away as a prisoner, but Octamasades cut off the head of Skyles there upon the spot. Thus do the Scythians carefully guard their own customary observances, and such are the penalties which they inflict upon those who acquire foreign customs besides their own.

81. How many the Scythians are I was not able to ascertain precisely, but I heard various reports of the number: for reports say both that they are very many in number and also that they are few, at least as regards the true Scythians.[81][{os Skuthas einai}: cp. ii. 8. Some (e.g. Dindorf and Bähr) translate “considering that they are Scythians,” i.e. for a nation so famous and so widely extended.] Thus far however they gave me evidence of my own eyesight:—there is between the river Borysthenes and the Hypanis a place called Exampaios, of which also I made mention somewhat before this, saying that there was in it a spring of bitter water, from which the water flows and makes the river Hypanis unfit to drink. In this place there is set a bronze bowl, in size at least six times as large as the mixing-bowl at the entrance of the Pontus, which Pausanias the son of Cleombrotos dedicated: and for him who has never seen that, I will make the matter clear by saying that the bowl in Scythia holds easily six hundred amphors,[82][i.e. about 5300 gallons.] and the thickness of this Scythian bowl is six fingers. This then the natives of the place told me had been made of arrow-heads: for their king, they said, whose name was Ariantas, wishing to know how many the Scythians were, ordered all the Scythians to bring one arrow-head, each from his own arrow, and whosoever should not bring one, he threatened with death. So a great multitude of arrow-heads was brought, and he resolved to make of them a memorial and to leave it behind him: from these then, they said, he made this bronze bowl and dedicated it in this place Exampaios.

82. This is what I heard about the number of the Scythians. Now this land has no marvellous things except that it has rivers which are by far larger and more numerous than those of any other land. One thing however shall be mentioned which it has to show, and which is worthy of wonder even besides the rivers and the greatness of the plain, that is to say, they point out a footprint of Heracles in the rock by the bank of the river Tyras, which in shape is like the mark of a man’s foot but in size is two cubits long. This then is such as I have said; and I will go back now to the history which I was about to tell at first.

83. While Dareios was preparing to go against the Scythians and was sending messengers to appoint to some the furnishing of a land-army, to others that of ships, and to others the bridging over of the Thracian Bosphorus, Artabanos, the son of Hystaspes and brother of Dareios, urged him by no means to make the march against the Scythians, telling him how difficult the Scythians were to deal with. Since however he did not persuade him, though he gave him good counsel, he ceased to urge; and Dareios, when all his preparations had been made, began to march his army forth from Susa.

84. Then one of the Persians, Oiobazos, made request to Dareios that as he had three sons and all were serving in the expedition, one might be left behind for him: and Dareios said that as he was a friend and made a reasonable request, he would leave behind all the sons. So Oiobazos was greatly rejoiced, supposing that his sons had been freed from service, but Dareios commanded those who had the charge of such things to put to death all the sons of Oiobazos.

85. These then were left, having been slain upon the spot where they were: and Dareios meanwhile set forth from Susa and arrived at the place on the Bosphorus where the bridge of ships had been made, in the territory of Chalcedon; and there he embarked in a ship and sailed to the so-called Kyanean rocks, which the Hellenes say formerly moved backwards and forwards; and taking his seat at the temple[83][{epi to iro}: the MSS. mostly have {epi iro}, and Stein adopts the conjecture {epi rio}, “on a projecting point”. The temple would be that of {Zeus ourios} mentioned in ch. 87. (In the Medicean MS. the omitted {i} is inserted above the line beforethe {r}, not directly over it, as represented by Stein, and the accent is not omitted.)] he gazed upon the Pontus, which is a sight well worth seeing. Of all seas indeed it is the most marvellous in its nature. The length of it is eleven thousand one hundred furlongs,[84][{stadioi}, and so throughout.] and the breadth, where it is broadest, three thousand three hundred: and of this great Sea the mouth is but four furlongs broad, and the length of the mouth, that is of the neck of water which is called Bosphorus, where, as I said, the bridge of ships had been made, is not less than a hundred and twenty furlongs. This Bosphorus extends to the Propontis; and the Propontis, being in breadth five hundred furlongs and in length one thousand four hundred, has its outlet into the Hellespont, which is but seven furlongs broad at the narrowest place, though it is four hundred furlongs in length: and the Hellespont runs out into that expanse of sea which is called the Egean.

86. These measurements I have made as follows:—a ship completes on an average in a long day a distance of seventy thousand fathoms, and in a night sixty thousand. Now we know that to the river Phasis from the mouth of the Sea (for it is here that the Pontus is longest) is a voyage of nine days and eight nights, which amounts to one hundred and eleven myriads[85][即1,110,000。] of fathoms; and these fathoms are eleven thousand one hundred furlongs. Then from the land of the Sindians to Themiskyra on the river Thermodon (for here is the broadest part of the Pontus) it is a voyage of three days and two nights, which amounts to thirty-three myriads[86][即330,000。] of fathoms or three thousand three hundred furlongs. This Pontus then and also the Bosphorus and the Hellespont have been measured by me thus, and their nature is such as has been said: and this Pontus also has a lake which has its outlet into it, which lake is not much less in size than the Pontus itself, and it is called Maiotis and “Mother of the Pontus.”

87. Dareios then having gazed upon the Pontus sailed back to the bridge, of which Mandrocles a Samian had been chief constructor; and having gazed upon the Bosphorus also, he set up two pillars [8601][{stelas}, i.e. “square blocks”; so also in ch. 91.] by it of white stone with characters cut upon them, on the one Assyrian and on the other Hellenic, being the names of all the nations which he was leading with him: and he was leading with him all over whom he was ruler. The whole number of them without the naval force was reckoned to be seventy myriads[87][即700,000。] including cavalry, and ships had been gathered together to the number of six hundred. These pillars the Byzantians conveyed to their city after the events of which I speak, and used them for the altar of Artemis Orthosia, excepting one stone, which was left standing by the side of the temple of Dionysos in Byzantion, covered over with Assyrian characters. Now the place on the Bosphorus where Dareios made his bridge is, as I conclude, [8701][{os emoi dokeei sumballomeno}, “putting the evidence together”.] midway between Byzantion and the temple at the mouth of the Pontus.

88. After this Dareios being pleased with the floating bridge rewarded the chief constructor of it, Mandrocles the Samian, with gifts tenfold;[88][{pasi deka}: probably a loose expression like {ta panta muria}, iii. 74.] and as an offering from these Mandrocles had a painting made of figures to present the whole scene of the bridge over the Bosphorus and king Dareios sitting in a prominent seat and his army crossing over; this he caused to be painted and dedicated it as an offering in the temple of Hera, with the following inscription:

“Bosphorus having bridged over, the straits fish-abounding, to Hera
Mandrocleës dedicates this, of his work to record;
A crown on himself he set, and he brought to the Samians glory,
And for Dareios performed everything after his mind.”

89. This memorial was made of him who constructed the bridge: and Dareios, after he had rewarded Mandrocles with gifts, passed over into Europe, having first commanded the Ionians to sail into the Pontus as far as the river Ister, and when they arrived at the Ister, there to wait for him, making a bridge meanwhile over the river; for the chief of his naval force were the Ionians, the Aiolians and the Hellespontians. So the fleet sailed through between the Kyanean rocks and made straight for the Ister; and then they sailed up the river a two days’ voyage from the sea and proceeded to make a bridge across the neck, as it were, of the river, where the mouths of the Ister part off. Dareios meanwhile, having crossed the Bosphorus on the floating bridge, was advancing through Thrace, and when he came to the sources of the river Tearos he encamped for three days.

90. Now the Tearos is said by those who dwell near it to be the best of all rivers, both in other respects which tend to healing and especially for curing diseases of the skin[89][{psoren}, “mange”.] both in men and in horses: and its springs are thirty-eight in number, flowing all from the same rock, of which some are cold and others warm. The way to them is of equal length from the city of Heraion near Perinthos and from Apollonia upon the Euxine Sea, that is to say two days’ journey by each road. This Tearos runs into the river Contadesdos and the Contadesdos into the Agrianes and the Agrianes into the Hebros, which flows into the sea by the city of Ainos.

91. Dareios then, having come to this river and having encamped there, was pleased with the river and set up a pillar there also, with an inscription as follows: “The head-springs of the river Tearos give the best and fairest water of all rivers; and to them came leading an army against the Scythians the best and fairest of all men, Dareios the son of Hystaspes, of the Persians and of all the Continent king.” These were the words which were there written.

92. Dareios then set out from thence and came to another river whose name is Artescos, which flows through the land of the Odrysians. Having come to this river he did as follows:—he appointed a place for his army and bade every man as he passed out by it place one stone in this appointed place: and when the army had performed this, then he marched away his army leaving behind great mounds of these stones.

93. But before he came to the Ister he conquered first the Getai, who believe in immortality: for the Thracians who occupy Salmydessos and are settled above the cities of Apollonian and Mesambria, called the Kyrmianai[90][Or (less probably) “Skyrmiadai”.] and the Nipsaioi, delivered themselves over to Dareios without fighting; but the Getai, who are the bravest and the most upright in their dealings of all the Thracians, having betaken themselves to obstinacy were forthwith subdued.

94. And their belief in immortality is of this kind, that is to say, they hold that they do not die, but that he who is killed goes to Salmoxis,[91][{Salmoxin}: some inferior MSS. have {Zalmoxin}, or {Zamolxin}, and the spelling in other writers varies between these forms.] a divinity,[92][{daimona}, sometimes used for deified men as distinguished from gods, cp. ch. 103.] whom some of them call Gebeleizis; and at intervals of four years[93][{dia penteteridos}.] they send one of themselves, whomsoever the lot may select, as a messenger to Salmoxis, charging him with such requests as they have to make on each occasion; and they send him thus:—certain of them who are appointed for this have three javelins, and others meanwhile take hold on both sides of him who is being sent to Salmoxis, both by his hands and his feet, and first they swing him up, then throw him into the air so as to fall upon the spear-points: and if when he is pierced through he is killed, they think that the god is favourable to them; but if he is not killed, they find fault with the messenger himself, calling him a worthless man, and then having found fault with him they send another: and they give him the charge beforehand, while he is yet alive. These same Thracians also shoot arrows up towards the sky when thunder and lightning come, and use threats to the god, not believing that there exists any other god except their own.

95. This Salmoxis I hear from the Hellenes who dwell about the Hellespont and the Pontus, was a man, and he became a slave in Samos, and was in fact a slave of Pythagoras the son of Mnesarchos. Then having become free he gained great wealth, and afterwards returned to his own land: and as the Thracians both live hardly and are rather simple-minded, this Salmoxis, being acquainted with the Ionian way of living and with manners more cultivated[94][{bathutera}.] than the Thracians were used to see, since he had associated with Hellenes (and not only that but with Pythagoras, not the least able philosopher[95][{ou to asthenestato sophiste}. No depreciation seems to be intended here.] of the Hellenes), prepared a banqueting-hall,[96][{andreona}.] where he received and feasted the chief men of the tribe and instructed them meanwhile that neither he himself nor his guests nor their descendants in succession after them would die; but that they would come to a place where they would live for ever and have all things good. While he was doing that which has been mentioned and was saying these things, he was making for himself meanwhile a chamber under the ground; and when his chamber was finished, he disappeared from among the Thracians and went down into the underground chamber, where he continued to live for three years: and they grieved for his loss and mourned for him as dead. Then in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians, and in this way the things which Salmoxis said became credible to them.

96. Thus they say that he did; but as to this matter and the chamber under ground, I neither disbelieve it nor do I very strongly believe, but I think that this Salmoxis lived many years before Pythagoras. However, whether there ever lived a man Salmoxis, or whether he is simply a native deity of the Getai, let us bid farewell to him now.

97. These, I say, having such manners as I have said, were subdued by the Persians and accompanied the rest of the army: and when Dareios and with him the land-army arrived at the Ister, then after all had passed over, Dareios commanded the Ionians to break up the floating bridge and to accompany him by land, as well as the rest of the troops which were in the ships: and when the Ionians were just about to break it up and to do that which he commanded, Coës the son of Erxander, who was commander of the Mytilenians, said thus to Dareios, having first inquired whether he was disposed to listen to an opinion from one who desired to declare it: “O king, seeing that thou art about to march upon a land where no cultivated ground will be seen nor any inhabited town, do thou therefore let this bridge remain where it is, leaving to guard it those same men who constructed it. Then, if we find the Scythians and fare as we desire, we have a way of return; and also even if we shall not be able to find them, at least our way of return is secured: for that we should be worsted by the Scythians in fight I never feared yet, but rather that we might not be able to find them, and might suffer some disaster in wandering about. Perhaps some one will say that in speaking thus I am speaking for my own advantage, in order that I may remain behind; but in truth I am bringing forward, O king, the opinion which I found best for thee, and I myself will accompany thee and not be left behind.” With this opinion Dareios was very greatly pleased and made answer to him in these words: “Friend from Lesbos, when I have returned safe to my house, be sure that thou appear before me, in order that I may requite thee with good deeds for good counsel.”

98. Having thus said and having tied sixty knots in a thong, he called the despots of the Ionians to speak with him and said as follows: “Men of Ionia, know that I have given up the opinion which I formerly declared with regard to the bridge; and do ye keep this thong and do as I shall say:—so soon as ye shall have seen me go forward against the Scythians, from that time begin, and untie a knot on each day: and if within this time I am not here, and ye find that the days marked by the knots have passed by, then sail away to your own lands. Till then, since our resolve has thus been changed, guard the floating bridge, showing all diligence to keep it safe and to guard it. And thus acting, ye will do for me a very acceptable service.” Thus said Dareios and hastened on his march forwards.

99. Now in front of Scythia in the direction towards the sea[97][i.e. the Mediterranean: or the passage may mean simply, “Thrace runs out further into the sea than Scythia”.] lies Thrace; and where a bay is formed in this land, there begins Scythia, into which the Ister flows out, the mouth of the river being turned towards the South-East Wind. Beginning at the Ister then I am about to describe the coast land of the true Scythia, with regard to measurement. At once from the Ister begins this original land of Scythia, and it lies towards the midday and the South Wind, extending as far as the city called Carkinitis. After this the part which lies on the coast of the same sea still, a country which is mountainous and runs out in the direction of the Pontus, is occupied by the Tauric race, as far as the peninsula which is called the “Rugged Chersonese”; and this extends to the sea which lies towards the East Wind: for two sides of the Scythian boundaries lie along by the sea, one by the sea on the South, and the other by that on the East, just as it is with Attica: and in truth the Tauroi occupy a part of Scythia which has much resemblance to Attica; it is as if in Attica another race and not the Athenians occupied the hill region[98][{gounon}.] of Sunion, supposing it to project more at the point into the sea, that region namely which is cut off by a line from Thoricos to Anaphlystos. Such I say, if we may be allowed to compare small things such as this with great, is the form of the Tauric land.[99][More literally, “I say this, so far as it is allowed to compare, etc. Such is the form of the Tauric land”.] For him however who has not sailed along this part of the coast of Attica I will make it clear by another comparison:—it is as if in Iapygia another race and not the Iapygians had cut off for themselves and were holding that extremity of the land which is bounded by a line beginning at the harbour of Brentesion and running to Taras. And in mentioning these two similar cases I am suggesting many other things also to which the Tauric land has resemblance.

100. After the Tauric land immediately come Scythians again, occupying the parts above the Tauroi and the coasts of the Eastern sea, that is to say the parts to the West of the Kimmerian Bosphorus and of the Maiotian lake, as far as the river Tanaïs, which runs into the corner of this lake. In the upper parts which tend inland Scythia is bounded (as we know)[100][{ede}. The Agathyrsians however have not been mentioned before in this connection.] by the Agathyrsians first, beginning from the Ister, and then by the Neuroi, afterwards by the Androphagoi, and lastly by the Melanchlainoi.

101. Scythia then being looked upon as a four-sided figure with two of its sides bordered by the sea, has its border lines equal to one another in each direction, that which tends inland and that which runs along by the sea: for from Ister to the Borysthenes is ten days’ journey, and from the Borysthenes to the Maiotian lake ten days’ more; and the distance inland to the Melanchlainoi, who are settled above the Scythians, is a journey of twenty days. Now I have reckoned the day’s journey at two hundred furlongs:[101][{stadia}.] and by this reckoning the cross lines of Scythia[102][{tes Skuthikes ta epikarsia}, i.e. the lines running from West to East.] would be four thousand furlongs in length, and the perpendiculars which tend inland would be the same number of furlongs. Such is the size of this land.

102. The Scythians meanwhile having considered with themselves that they were not able to repel the army of Dareios alone by a pitched battle, proceeded to send messengers to those who dwelt near them: and already the kings of these nations had come together and were taking counsel with one another, since so great an army was marching towards them. Now those who had come together were the kings of the Tauroi, Agathyrsians, Neuroi, Androphagoi, Melanchlainoi, Gelonians, Budinoi and Sauromatai.

103. Of these the Tauroi have the following customs:—they sacrifice to the “Maiden” both ship-wrecked persons and also those Hellenes whom they can capture by putting out to sea against them;[103][{epanakhthentes}: so the Medicean MS. and another: the rest have {epanakhthentas}. Some Editors read by conjecture {apeneikhthentas}, “cast away on their coast”.] and their manner of sacrifice is this:—when they have made the first offering from the victim they strike his head with a club: and some say that they push the body down from the top of the cliff (for it is upon a cliff that the temple is placed) and set the head up on a stake; but others, while agreeing as to the heads, say nevertheless that the body is not pushed down from the top of the cliff, but buried in the earth. This divinity to whom they sacrifice, the Tauroi themselves say is Iphigeneia the daughter of Agamemnon. Whatsoever enemies they have conquered they treat in this fashion:—each man cuts off a head and bears it away to his house; then he impales it on a long stake and sets it up above his house raised to a great height, generally above the chimney; and they say that these are suspended above as guards to preserve the whole house. This people has its living by plunder and war.

104. The Agathyrsians are the most luxurious of men and wear gold ornaments for the most part: also they have promiscuous intercourse with their women, in order that they may be brethren to one another and being all nearly related may not feel envy or malice one against another. In their other customs they have come to resemble the Thracians.

105. The Neuroi practise the Scythian customs: and one generation before the expedition of Dareios it so befell them that they were forced to quit their land altogether by reason of serpents: for their land produced serpents in vast numbers, and they fell upon them in still larger numbers from the desert country above their borders; until at last being hard pressed they left their own land and settled among the Budinoi. These men it would seem are wizards; for it is said of them by the Scythians and by the Hellenes who are settled in the Scythian land that once in every year each of the Neuroi becomes a wolf for a few days and then returns again to his original form. For my part I do not believe them when they say this, but they say it nevertheless, and swear it moreover.

106. The Androphagoi have the most savage manners of all human beings, and they neither acknowledge any rule of right nor observe any customary law. They are nomads and wear clothing like that of the Scythians, but have a language of their own; and alone of all these nations they are man-eaters.

107. The Melanchlainoi wear all of them black clothing, whence also they have their name; and they practise the customs of the Scythians.

108. The Budinoi are a very great and numerous race, and are all very blue-eyed and fair of skin: and in their land is built a city of wood, the name of which is Gelonos, and each side of the wall is thirty furlongs in length and lofty at the same time, all being of wood; and the houses are of wood also and the temples; for there are in it temples of Hellenic gods furnished after Hellenic fashion with sacred images and altars and cells,[104][{neoisi}.] all of wood; and they keep festivals every other year[105][{trieteridas}.] to Dionysos and celebrate the rites of Bacchus: for the Gelonians are originally Hellenes, and they removed[106][Or, “were driven out”.] from the trading stations on the coast and settled among the Budinoi; and they use partly the Scythian language and partly the Hellenic. The Budinoi however do not use the same language as the Gelonians, nor is their manner of living the same:

109, for the Budinoi are natives of the soil and a nomad people, and alone of the nations in these parts feed on fir-cones;[107][{phtheirotrageousi}.] but the Gelonians are tillers of the ground and feed on corn and have gardens, and resemble them not at all either in appearance or in complexion of skin. However by the Hellenes the Budinoi also are called Gelonians, not being rightly so called. Their land is all thickly overgrown with forests of all kinds of trees, and in the thickest forest there is a large and deep lake, and round it marshy ground and reeds. In this are caught otters and beavers and certainly other wild animals with square-shaped faces. The fur of these is sewn as a fringe round their coats of skin, and the testicles are made use of by them for curing diseases of the womb.

110. About the Sauromatai the following tale is told:—When the Hellenes had fought with the Amazons,—now the Amazons are called by the Scythians 路径,[108][Or, “Aiorpata,“和”aior” below.] which name means in the Hellenic tongue “slayers of men,” for “man” they call oior爪子means “to slay,”—then, as the story goes, the Hellenes, having conquered them in the battle at the Thermodon, were sailing away and conveying with them in three ships as many Amazons as they were able to take prisoners. These in the open sea set upon the men and cast them out of the ships; but they knew nothing about ships, nor how to use rudders or sails or oars, and after they had cast out the men they were driven about by wave and wind and came to that part of the Maiotian lake where Cremnoi stands; now Cremnoi is in the land of the free Scythians.[109][i.e. the Royal Scythians: see ch. 20.] There the Amazons disembarked from their ships and made their way into the country, and having met first with a troop of horses feeding they seized them, and mounted upon these they plundered the property of the Scythians.

111. The Scythians meanwhile were not able to understand the matter, for they did not know either their speech or their dress or the race to which they belonged, but were in wonder as to whence they had come and thought that they were men, of an age corresponding to their appearance: and finally they fought a battle against them, and after the battle the Scythians got possession of the bodies of the dead, and thus they discovered that they were women. They took counsel therefore and resolved by no means to go on trying to kill them, but to send against them the youngest men from among themselves, making conjecture of the number so as to send just as many men as there were women. These were told to encamp near them, and do whatsoever they should do; if however the women should come after them, they were not to fight but to retire before them, and when the women stopped, they were to approach near and encamp. This plan was adopted by the Scythians because they desired to have children born from them.

112. The young men accordingly were sent out and did that which had been commanded them: and when the Amazons perceived that they had not come to do them any harm, they let them alone; and the two camps approached nearer to one another every day: and the young men, like the Amazons, had nothing except their arms and their horses, and got their living, as the Amazons did, by hunting and by taking booty.

113. Now the Amazons at midday used to scatter abroad either one by one or by two together, dispersing to a distance from one another to ease themselves; and the Scythians also having perceived this did the same thing: and one of the Scythians came near to one of those Amazons who were apart by themselves, and she did not repulse him but allowed him to lie with her: and she could not speak to him, for they did not understand one another’s speech, but she made signs to him with her hand to come on the following day to the same place and to bring another with him, signifying to him that there should be two of them, and that she would bring another with her. The young man therefore, when he returned, reported this to the others; and on the next day he came himself to the place and also brought another, and he found the Amazon awaiting him with another in her company. Then hearing this the rest of the young men also in their turn tamed for themselves the remainder of the Amazons;

114, and after this they joined their camps and lived together, each man having for his wife her with whom he had had dealings at first; and the men were not able to learn the speech of the women, but the women came to comprehend that of the men. So when they understood one another, the men spoke to the Amazons as follows: “We have parents and we have possessions; now therefore let us no longer lead a life of this kind, but let us go away to the main body of our people and dwell with them; and we will have you for wives and no others.” They however spoke thus in reply: “We should not be able to live with your women, for we and they have not the same customs. We shoot with bows and hurl javelins and ride horses, but the works of women we never learnt; whereas your women do none of these things which we said, but stay in the waggons and work at the works of women, neither going out to the chase nor anywhither else. We therefore should not be able to live in agreement with them: but if ye desire to keep us for your wives and to be thought honest men, go to your parents and obtain from them your share of the goods, and then let us go and dwell by ourselves.”

115. The young men agreed and did this; and when they had obtained the share of the goods which belonged to them and had returned back to the Amazons, the women spoke to them as follows: “We are possessed by fear and trembling to think that we must dwell in this place, having not only separated you from your fathers, but also done great damage to your land. Since then ye think it right to have us as your wives, do this together with us,—come and let us remove from this land and pass over the river Tanaïs and there dwell.”

116. The young men agreed to this also, and they crossed over the Tanaïs and made their way towards the rising sun for three days’ journey from Tanaïs, and also towards the North Wind for three days’ journey from the Maiotian lake: and having arrived at the place where they are now settled, they took up their abode there: and from thenceforward the women of the Sauromatai practise their ancient way of living, going out regularly on horseback to the chase both in company with the men and apart from them, and going regularly to war, and wearing the same dress as the men.

117. And the Sauromatai make use of the Scythian tongue, speaking it barbarously however from the first, since the Amazons did not learn it thoroughly well. As regards marriages their rule is this, that no maiden is married until she has slain a man of their enemies; and some of them even grow old and die before they are married, because they are not able to fulfil the requirement of the law.

118. To the kings of these nations then, which have been mentioned in order, the messengers of the Scythians came, finding them gathered together, and spoke declaring to them how the Persian king, after having subdued all things to himself in the other continent, had laid a bridge over the neck of the Bosphorus and had crossed over to that continent, and having crossed over and subdued the Thracians, was making a bridge over the river Ister, desiring to bring under his power all these regions also. “Do ye therefore,” they said, “by no means stand aloof and allow us to be destroyed, but let us become all of one mind and oppose him who is coming against us. If ye shall not do so, we on our part shall either be forced by necessity to leave our land, or we shall stay in it and make a treaty with the invader; for what else can we do if ye are not willing to help us? and for you after this[110][{epi touto}, the reading of the Aldine edition. The MSS. have {epi touto}. Stein suggests {dia touto}.] it will be in no respect easier; for the Persian has come not at all less against you than against us, nor will it content him to subdue us and abstain from you. And of the truth of that which we say we will mention a strong evidence: if the Persian had been making his expedition against us alone, because he desired to take vengeance for the former servitude, he ought to have abstained from all the rest and to have come at once to invade our land, and he would thus have made it clear to all that he was marching to fight against the Scythians and not against the rest. In fact however, ever since he crossed over to this continent, he has compelled all who came in his way to submit to him, and he holds under him now not only the other Thracians but also the Getai, who are our nearest neighbours.”

119. When the Scythians proposed this, the kings who had come from the various nations took counsel together, and their opinions were divided. The kings of the Gelonians, of the Budinoi and of the Sauromatai agreed together and accepted the proposal that they should help the Scythians, but those of the Agathyrsians, Neuroi, Androphagoi, Melanchlainoi and Tauroi returned answer to the Scythians as follows: “If ye had not been the first to do wrong to the Persians and to begin war, then we should have surely thought that ye were speaking justly in asking for those things for which ye now ask, and we should have yielded to your request and shared your fortunes. As it is however, ye on the one hand made invasion without us into their land, and bare rule over the Persians for so long a time as God permitted you; and they in their turn, since the same God stirs them up, are repaying you with the like. As for us however, neither at that time did we do any wrong to these men nor now shall we attempt to do any wrong to them unprovoked: if however the Persians shall come against our land also, and do wrong first to us, we also shall refuse to submit[111][{ou peisometha}: some MSS. read {ouk oisometha}. Editors have emended by conjecture in various ways, e.g. {ou periopsometha}, “we shall not allow it”; {oi epoisometha} or {oi epeisometha}, “we shall go out to attack him”; {aposometha}, “we shall repel him”.]: but until we shall see this, we shall remain by ourselves, for we are of opinion that the Persians have come not against us, but against those who were the authors of the wrong.”

120. When the Scythians heard this answer reported, they planned not to fight a pitched battle openly, since these did not join them as allies, but to retire before the Persians and to drive away their cattle from before them, choking up with earth the wells and the springs of water by which they passed and destroying the grass from off the ground, having parted themselves for this into two bodies; and they resolved that the Sauromatai should be added to one of their divisions, namely that over which Scopasis was king, and that these should move on, if the Persians turned in that direction, straight towards the river Tanaïs, retreating before him by the shore of the Maiotian lake; and when the Persian marched back again, they should come after and pursue him. This was one division of their kingdom, appointed to go by the way which has been said; and the other two of the kingdoms, the large one over which Idanthyrsos was king, and the third of which Taxakis was king, were to join together in one, with the Gelonians and the Budinoi added to them, and they also were to retire before the Persians one day’s march in front of them, going on out of their way and doing that which had been planned. First they were to move on straight for the countries which had refused to give their alliance, in order that they might involve these also in the war, and though these had not voluntarily undertaken the war with the Persians, they were to involve them in it nevertheless against their will; and after that they were to return to their own land and attack the enemy, if it should seem good to them in council so to do.

121. Having formed this plan the Scythians went to meet the army of Dareios, sending off the best of their horsemen before them as scouts; but all[112][{paras}, or {pasai}, belonging to {gunaikes}.] the waggons in which their children and their women lived they sent on, and with them all their cattle (leaving only so much as was sufficient to supply them with food), and charged them that they should proceed continually towards the North Wind. These, I say, were being carried on before:

122, but when the scouts who went in front of the Scythians discovered the Persians distant about three days’ march from Ister, then the Scythians having discovered them continued to pitch their camp one day’s march in front, destroying utterly that which grew from the ground: and when the Persians saw that the horsemen of the Scythians had made their appearance, they came after them following in their track, while the Scythians continually moved on. After this, since they had directed their march towards the first of the divisions, the Persians continued to pursue towards the East and the river Tanaïs; and when the Scythians crossed over the river Tanaïs, the Persians crossed over after them and continued still to pursue, until they had passed quite through the land of the Sauromatai and had come to that of the Budinoi.

123. Now so long as the Persians were passing through Scythia and the land of the Sauromatai, they had nothing to destroy, seeing that the land was bare,[113][{khersou}, “dry”.] but when they invaded the land of the Budinoi, then they fell in with the wooden wall, which had been deserted by the Budinoi and left wholly unoccupied, and this they destroyed by fire. Having done so they continued to follow on further in the tracks of the enemy, until they had passed through the whole of this land and had arrived at the desert. This desert region is occupied by no men, and it lies above the land of the Budinoi, extending for a seven days’ journey; and above this desert dwell the Thyssagetai, and four large rivers flow from them through the land of the Maiotians and run into that which is called the Maiotian lake, their names being as follows,—Lycos, Oaros, Tanaïs, Syrgis.[114][Perhaps the same as the “Hyrgis” mentioned in ch. 57. Some Editors read “Hyrgis” in this passage.]

124. When therefore Dareios came to the desert region, he ceased from his course and halted his army upon the river Oaros. Having so done he began to build eight large fortifications at equal distances from one another, that is to say about sixty furlongs, of which the ruins still existed down to my time; and while he was occupied in this, the Scythians whom he was pursuing came round by the upper parts and returned back to Scythia. Accordingly, since these had altogether disappeared and were no longer seen by the Persians at all, Dareios left those fortifications half finished, and turning back himself began to go towards the West, supposing that these were the whole body of the Scythians and that they were flying towards the West.

125. And marching his army as quickly as possible, when he came to Scythia he met with the two divisions of the Scythians together, and having fallen in with these he continued to pursue them, while they retired out of his way one day’s journey in advance: and as Dareios did not cease to come after them, the Scythians according to the plan which they had made continued to retire before him towards the land of those who had refused to give their alliance, and first towards that of the Melanchlainoi; and when Scythians and Persians both together had invaded and disturbed these, the Scythians led the way to the country of the Androphagoi; and when these had also been disturbed, they proceeded to the land of the Neuroi; and while these too were being disturbed, the Scythians went on retiring before the enemy to the Agathyrsians. The Agathyrsians however, seeing that their next neighbours also were flying from the Scythians and had been disturbed, sent a herald before the Scythians invaded their land and proclaimed to the Scythians not to set foot upon their confines, warning them that if they should attempt to invade the country, they would first have to fight with them. The Agathyrsians then having given this warning came out in arms to their borders, meaning to drive off those who were coming upon them; but the Melanchlainoi and Androphagoi and Neuroi, when the Persians and Scythians together invaded them, did not betake themselves to brave defence but forgot their former threat[115][参见第 119 章。 XNUMX.] and fled in confusion ever further towards the North to the desert region. The Scythians however, when the Agathyrsians had warned them off, did not attempt any more to come to these, but led the Persians from the country of the Neuroi back to their own land.

126. Now as this went on for a long time and did not cease, Dareios sent a horseman to Idanthyrsos king of the Scythians and said as follows: “Thou most wondrous man, why dost thou fly for ever, when thou mightest do of these two things one?—if thou thinkest thyself able to make opposition to my power, stand thou still and cease from wandering abroad, and fight; but if thou dost acknowledge thyself too weak, cease then in that case also from thy course, and come to speech with thy master, bringing to him gifts of earth and water.”

127. To this the king of the Scythians Idanthyrsos made answer thus: “My case, O Persian, stands thus:—Never yet did I fly because I was afraid, either before this time from any other man, or now from thee; nor have I done anything different now from that which I was wont to do also in time of peace: and as to the cause why I do not fight with thee at once, this also I will declare to thee. We have neither cities nor land sown with crops, about which we should fear lest they should be captured or laid waste, and so join battle more speedily with you; but if it be necessary by all means to come to this speedily, know that we have sepulchres in which our fathers are buried; therefore come now, find out these and attempt to destroy them, and ye shall know then whether we shall fight with you for the sepulchres or whether we shall not fight. Before that however, unless the motion comes upon us, we shall not join battle with thee. About fighting let so much as has been said suffice; but as to masters, I acknowledge none over me but Zeus my ancestor and Hestia the queen of the Scythians. To thee then in place of gifts of earth and water I shall send such things as it is fitting that thou shouldest receive; and in return for thy saying that thou art my master, for that I say, woe betide thee.”[116][{klaiein lego}.] This is the proverbial “saying of the Scythians.”[117][{touto esti e apo Skutheon resis}: this refers to the last words, {klaiein lego}. Most Editors have doubts about the genuineness of the sentence, regarding it a marginal gloss which has crept into the text; but perhaps without sufficient reason.]

128. The herald then had departed to report this to Dareios; and the kings of the Scythians, having heard mention of subjection to a master, were filled with wrath. They sent accordingly the division which was appointed to be joined with the Sauromatai, that division of which Scopasis was in command, bidding them come to speech with the Ionians, namely those who were guarding the bridge of the Ister, and meanwhile they who were left behind resolved not to lead the Persians wandering about any more, but to attack them constantly as they were getting provisions. Therefore they observed the soldiers of Dareios as they got provisions, and did that which they had determined: and the cavalry of the Scythians always routed that of the enemy, but the Persian horsemen as they fled fell back upon the men on foot, and these would come up to their assistance; and meanwhile the Scythians when they had driven in the cavalry turned back, fearing the men on foot. Also by night the Scythians used to make similar attacks:

129, and the thing which, strange to say, most helped the Persians and hindered the Scythians in their attacks upon the camp of Dareios, I will mention, namely the voice of the asses and the appearance of the mules; for Scythia produces neither ass nor mule, as I have declared before, nor is there at all in the Scythian country either ass or mule on account of the cold. The asses accordingly by riotously braying used to throw into confusion the cavalry of the Scythians; and often, as they were in the middle of riding against the Persians, when the horses heard the voice of the asses they turned back in confusion and were possessed with wonder, pricking up their ears, because they had never heard such a voice nor seen the form of the creature before.

130. So far then the Persians had the advantage for a small part of the war.[118][Or, “with some slight effect on the course of the war”.] But the Scythians, whenever they saw that the Persians were disquieted, then in order that they might remain a longer time in Scythia and in remaining might suffer by being in want of everything, would leave some of their own cattle behind with the herdsmen, while they themselves rode out of the way to another place, and the Persians would come upon the cattle and take them, and having taken them they were elated at what they had done.

131. As this happened often, at length Dareios began to be in straits; and the kings of the Scythians perceiving this sent a herald bearing as gifts to Dareios a bird and a mouse and a frog and five arrows. The Persians accordingly asked the bearer of the gifts as to the meaning of the gifts which were offered; but he said that nothing more had been commanded to him but to give them and get away as speedily as possible; and he bade the Persians find out for themselves, if they had wisdom, that which the gifts were meant to express.

132. Having heard this the Persians took counsel with one another; and the opinion of Dareios was that the Scythians were giving to him both themselves and also earth and water, making his conjecture by this, namely that a mouse is produced in the earth and feeds on the same produce of the earth as man, and a frog in the water, while a bird has great resemblance to a horse;[119][See i. 216.] and moreover that in giving the arrows they were delivering up their own might in battle. This was the opinion expressed by Dareios; but the opinion of Gobryas, one of the seven men who killed the Magian, was at variance with it, for he conjectured that the gifts expressed this: “Unless ye become birds and fly up into the heaven, O Persians, or become mice and sink down under the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall not return back home, but shall be smitten by these arrows.”

133. The Persians then, I say, were making conjecture of the gifts: and meanwhile the single division of the Scythians, that which had been appointed at first to keep guard along the Maiotian lake and then to go to the Ister and come to speech with the Ionians, when they arrived at the bridge spoke as follows: “Ionians, we have come bringing you freedom, if at least ye are willing to listen to us; for we are informed that Dareios gave you command to guard the bridge for sixty days only, and then, if he had not arrived within that time, to get you away to your own land. Now therefore, if ye do as we say, ye will be without blame from his part and without blame also from ours: stay the appointed days and then after that get you away.” They then, when the Ionians had engaged themselves to do this, hastened back again by the quickest way:

134, and meanwhile, after the coming of the gifts to Dareios, the Scythians who were left had arrayed themselves against the Persians with both foot and horse, meaning to engage battle. Now when the Scythians had been placed in battle-array, a hare darted through them into the space between the two armies, and each company of them, as they saw the hare, began to run after it. When the Scythians were thus thrown into disorder and were raising loud cries, Dareios asked what was this clamour arising from the enemy; and hearing that they were running after the hare, he said to those men to whom he was wont to say things at other times: “These men have very slight regard for us, and I perceive now that Gobryas spoke rightly about the Scythian gifts. Seeing then that now I myself too think that things are so, we have need of good counsel, in order that our retreat homewards may be safely made.” To this replied Gobryas and said: “O king, even by report I was almost assured of the difficulty of dealing with these men; and when I came I learnt it still more thoroughly, since I saw that they were mocking us. Now therefore my opinion is, that as soon as night comes on, we kindle the camp-fires as we are wont to do at other times also, and deceive with a false tale those of our men who are weakest to endure hardships, and tie up all the asses and get us away, before either the Scythians make for the Ister to destroy the bridge or something be resolved by the Ionians which may be our ruin.”

135. Thus Gobryas advised; and after this, when night came on, Dareios acted on this opinion. Those of his men who were weakened by fatigue and whose loss was of least account, these he left behind in the camp, and the asses also tied up: and for the following reasons he left behind the asses and the weaker men of his army,—the asses in order that they might make a noise which should be heard, and the men really because of their weakness, but on a pretence stated openly that he was about to attack the Scythians with the effective part of the army, and that they meanwhile were to be defenders of the camp. Having thus instructed those who were left behind, and having kindled camp-fires, Dareios hastened by the quickest way towards the Ister: and the asses, having no longer about them the usual throng,[120][{eremothentes tou omilou}.] very much more for that reason caused their voice to be heard;[121][{iesan tes phones}.] so the Scythians, hearing the asses, supposed surely that the Persians were remaining in their former place.

136. But when it was day, those who were left behind perceived that they had been betrayed by Dareios, and they held out their hands in submission to the Scythians, telling them what their case was; and the Scythians, when they heard this, joined together as quickly as possible, that is to say the two combined divisions of the Scythians and the single division, and also the Sauromatai,[122][{e mia kai Sauromatai}: some Editors read {e meta Sauromateon}. The MSS. give {e mia Sauromatai} (some {Sauromateon}). Stein inserts {kai}.] Budinoi, and Gelonians, and began to pursue the Persians, making straight for the Ister: but as the Persian army for the most part consisted of men on foot, and was not acquainted with the roads (the roads not being marked with tracks), while the Scythian army consisted of horsemen and was acquainted with the shortest cuts along the way, they missed one another and the Scythians arrived at the bridge much before the Persians. Then having learnt that the Persians had not yet arrived, they said to the Ionians who were in the ships: “Ionians, the days of your number are past, and ye are not acting uprightly in that ye yet remain waiting: but as ye stayed before from fear, so now break up the passage as quickly as ye may, and depart free and unhurt,[123][{khairontes eleutheroi}.] feeling thankfulness both to the gods and to the Scythians: and him who was formerly your master we will so convince, that he shall never again march with an army upon any nation.”

137. Upon this the Ionians took counsel together; and Miltiades the Athenian on the one hand, who was commander and despot of the men of the Chersonese in Hellespont, was of opinion that they should follow the advice of the Scythians and set Ionia free: but Histiaios the Milesian was of the opposite opinion to this; for he said that at the present time it was by means of Dareios that each one of them was ruling as despot over a city; and if the power of Dareios should be destroyed, neither he himself would be able to bear rule over the Milesians, nor would any other of them be able to bear rule over any other city; for each of the cities would choose to have popular rather than despotic rule. When Histiaios declared his opinion thus, forthwith all turned to this opinion, whereas at the first they were adopting that of Miltiades.

138. Now these were they who gave the vote between the two opinions, and were men of consequence in the eyes of the king,[124][The list includes only those who voted in favour of the proposal of Histiaios (i.e. Miltiades is not included in it): hence perhaps Stein is right in suggesting some change in the text, e.g. {oi diapherontes te ten psephon basileos kai eontes logou pleistou}. The absence of the name of Coës is remarked by several commentators, who forget that he had accompanied Dareios: see ch. 97.]—first the despots of the Hellespontians, Daphnis of Abydos, Hippoclos of Lampsacos, Herophantos of Parion, Metrodoros of Proconnesos, Aristagoras of Kyzicos, and Ariston of Byzantion, these were those from the Hellespont; and from Ionia, Strattis of Chios, Aiakes of Samos, Laodamas of Phocaia, and Histiaios of Miletos, whose opinion had been proposed in opposition to that of Miltiades; and of the Aiolians the only man of consequence there present was Aristagoras of Kyme.

139. When these adopted the opinion of Histiaios, they resolved to add to it deeds and words as follows, namely to break up that part of the bridge which was on the side towards the Scythians, to break it up, I say, for a distance equal to the range of an arrow, both in order that they might be thought to be doing something, though in fact they were doing nothing, and for fear that the Scythians might make an attempt using force and desiring to cross the Ister by the bridge: and in breaking up that part of the bridge which was towards Scythia they resolved to say that they would do all that which the Scythians desired. This they added to the opinion proposed, and then Histiaios coming forth from among them made answer to the Scythians as follows: “Scythians, ye are come bringing good news, and it is a timely haste that ye make to bring it; and ye on your part give us good guidance, while we on ours render to you suitable service. For, as ye see, we are breaking up the passage, and we shall show all zeal in our desire to be free: and while we are breaking up the bridge, it is fitting that ye should be seeking for those of whom ye speak, and when ye have found them, that ye should take vengeance on them on behalf of us as well as of yourselves in such manner as they deserve.”

140. The Scythians then, believing for the second time that the Ionians were speaking the truth, turned back to make search for the Persians, but they missed altogether their line of march through the land. Of this the Scythians themselves were the cause, since they had destroyed the pastures for horses in that region and had choked up with earth the springs of water; for if they had not done this, it would have been possible for them easily, if they desired it, to discover the Persians: but as it was, by those things wherein they thought they had taken their measures best, they failed of success. The Scythians then on their part were passing through those regions of their own land where there was grass for the horses and springs of water, and were seeking for the enemy there, thinking that they too were taking a course in their retreat through such country as this; while the Persians in fact marched keeping carefully to the track which they had made before, and so they found the passage of the river, though with difficulty:[125][Or, “and even so they found the passage of the river with difficulty”.] and as they arrived by night and found the bridge broken up, they were brought to the extreme of fear, lest the Ionians should have deserted them.

141. Now there was with Dareios an Egyptian who had a voice louder than that of any other man on earth, and this man Dareios ordered to take his stand upon the bank of the Ister and to call Histiaios of Miletos. He accordingly proceeded to do so; and Histiaios, hearing the first hail, produced all the ships to carry the army over and also put together the bridge.

142. Thus the Persians escaped, and the Scythians in their search missed the Persians the second time also: and their judgment of the Ionians is that on the one hand, if they be regarded as free men, they are the most worthless and cowardly of all men, but on the other hand, if regarded as slaves, they are the most attached to their master and the least disposed to run away of all slaves. This is the reproach which is cast against the Ionians by the Scythians.

143. Dareios then marching through Thrace arrived at Sestos in the Chersonese; and from that place, he passed over himself in his ships to Asia, but to command his army in Europe he left Megabazos a Persian, to whom Dareios once gave honour by uttering in the land of Persia[126][{en Persesi}.] this saying:—Dareios was beginning to eat pomegranates, and at once when he opened the first of them, Artabanos his brother asked him of what he would desire to have as many as there were seeds in the pomegranate: and Dareios said that he would desire to have men like Megabazos as many as that in number, rather than to have Hellas subject to him. In Persia, I say, he honoured him by saying these words, and at this time he left him in command with eight myriads[127][即80,000。] of his army.

144. This Megabazos uttered one saying whereby he left of himself an imperishable memory with the peoples of Hellespont: for being once at Byzantion he heard that the men of Calchedon had settled in that region seventeen years before the Byzantians, and having heard it he said that those of Calchedon at that time chanced to be blind; for assuredly they would not have chosen the worse place, when they might have settled in that which was better, if they had not been blind. This Megabazos it was who was left in command at that time in the land of the Hellespontians, and he proceeded to subdue all who did not take the side of the Medes.

145. He then was doing thus; and at this very same time a great expedition was being made also against Libya, on an occasion which I shall relate when I have first related this which follows.—The children’s children of those who voyaged in the Argo, having been driven forth by those Pelasgians who carried away at Brauron the women of the Athenians,—having been driven forth I say by these from Lemnos, had departed and sailed to Lacedemon, and sitting down on Mount Taÿgetos they kindled a fire. The Lacedemonians seeing this sent a messenger to inquire who they were and from whence; and they answered the question of the messenger saying that they were Minyai and children of heroes who sailed in the Argo, for[128][{gar}: some MSS. read {de}; so Stein and other Editors.] these, they said, had put in to Lemnos and propagated the race of which they sprang. The Lacedemonians having heard the story of the descent of the Minyai, sent a second time and asked for what purpose they had come into the country and were causing a fire to blaze. They said that they had been cast out by the Pelasgians, and were come now to the land of their fathers,[129][i.e. Castor and Polydeukes the sons of Tyndareus, who were among the Argonauts.] for most just it was that this should so be done; and they said that their request was to be permitted to dwell with these, having a share of civil rights and a portion allotted to them of the land. And the Lacedemonians were content to receive the Minyai upon the terms which they themselves desired, being most of all impelled to do this by the fact that the sons of Tyndareus were voyagers in the Argo. So having received the Minyai they gave them a share of land and distributed them in the tribes; and they forthwith made marriages, and gave in marriage to others the women whom they brought with them from Lemnos.

146. However, when no very long time had passed, the Minyai forthwith broke out into insolence, asking for a share of the royal power and also doing other impious things: therefore the Lacedemonians resolved to put them to death; and having seized them they cast them into a prison. Now the Lacedemonians put to death by night all those whom they put to death, but no man by day. When therefore they were just about to kill them, the wives of the Minyai, being native Spartans and daughters of the first citizens of Sparta, entreated to be allowed to enter the prison and come to speech every one with her own husband: and they let them pass in, not supposing that any craft would be practised by them. They however, when they had entered, delivered to their husbands all the garments which they were wearing, and themselves received those of their husbands: thus the Minyai having put on the women’s clothes went forth out of prison as women, and having escaped in this manner they went again to Taÿgetos and sat down there.

147. Now at this very same time Theras the son of Autesion, the son of Tisamenos, the son of Thersander, the son of Polyneikes, was preparing to set forth from Lacedemon to found a settlement. This Theras, who was of the race of Cadmos, was mother’s brother to the sons of Aristodemos, Eurysthenes and Procles; and while these sons were yet children, Theras as their guardian held the royal power in Sparta. When however his nephews were grown and had taken the power into their hands, then Theras, being grieved that he should be ruled by others after he had tasted of rule himself, said that he would not remain in Lacedemon, but would sail away to his kinsmen. Now there were in the island which is now called Thera, but formerly was called Callista, descendants of Membliaros the son of Poikiles, a Phenician: for Cadmos the son of Agenor in his search for Europa put in to land at the island which is now called Thera; and, whether it was that the country pleased him when he had put to land, or whether he chose to do so for any other reason, he left in this island, besides other Phenicians, Membliaros also, of his own kinsmen. These occupied the island called Callista for eight generations of men, before Theras came from Lacedemon.

148. To these then, I say, Theras was preparing to set forth, taking with him people from the tribes, and intending to settle together with those who have been mentioned, not with any design to drive them out, but on the contrary claiming them very strongly as kinfolk. And when the Minyai after having escaped from the prison went and sat down on Taÿgetos, Theras entreated of the Lacedemonians, as they were proposing to put them to death, that no slaughter might take place, and at the same time he engaged himself to take them forth out of the land. The Lacedemonians having agreed to this proposal, he sailed away with three thirty-oared galleys to the descendants of Membliaros, not taking with him by any means all the Minyai, but a few only; for the greater number of them turned towards the land of the Paroreatai and Caucones, and having driven these out of their country, they parted themselves into six divisions and founded in their territory the following towns,—Lepreon, Makistos, Phrixai, Pyrgos, Epion, Nudion; of these the Eleians sacked the greater number within my own lifetime. The island meanwhile got its name of Thera after Theras[130][{Phera} (genitive).] who led the settlement.

149. And since his son said that he would not sail with him, therefore he said that he would leave him behind as a sheep among wolves; and in accordance with that saying this young man got the name of Oiolycos,[131][From {ois} “sheep” and {lukos} “wolf” ({oin en lukoisi}).] and it chanced that this name prevailed over his former name: then from Oiolycos was begotten Aigeus, after whom are called the Aigeidai, a powerful clan[132][{phule}, the word being here apparently used loosely.] in Sparta: and the men of this tribe, since their children did not live to grow up, established by the suggestion of an oracle a temple to the Avenging Deities[133][{‘Erinuon}.] of Laïos and OEdipus, and after this the same thing was continued[134][{meta touto upemeine touto touto}: some Editors mark a lacuna after {upemeine}, or supply some words like {sunebe de}: “after this the children survived, and the same thing happened also in Thera, etc”.] in Thera by the descendants of these men.

150. Up to this point of the story the Lacedemonians agree in their report with the men of Thera; but in what is to come it is those of Thera alone who report that it happened as follows. Grinnos[135][Or, “Grinos”.] the son of Aisanios, a descendant of the Theras who has been mentioned, and king of the island of Thera, came to Delphi bringing the offering of a hecatomb from his State; and there were accompanying him, besides others of the citizens, also Battos the son of Polymnestos, who was by descent of the family of Euphemos[136][{Euphemides}: the MSS. have {Euthumides}: the correction is from Pindar, Pyth. iv. 455.]of the race of the Minyai. Now when Grinnos the king of the Theraians was consulting the Oracle about other matters, the Pythian prophetess gave answer bidding him found a city in Libya; and he made reply saying: “Lord,[137][{onax}, the usual form of address to Apollo; so in ch. 155.] I am by this time somewhat old and heavy to stir, but do thou bid some one of these younger ones do this.” As he thus said he pointed towards Battos. So far at that time: but afterwards when he had come away they were in difficulty about the saying of the Oracle, neither having any knowledge of Libya, in what part of the earth it was, nor venturing to send a colony to the unknown.

151. Then after this for seven years there was no rain in Thera, and in these years all the trees in their island were withered up excepting one: and when the Theraians consulted the Oracle, the Pythian prophetess alleged this matter of colonising Libya to be the cause. As then they had no remedy for their evil, they sent messengers to Crete, to find out whether any of the Cretans or of the sojourners in Crete had ever come to Libya. These as they wandered round about the country came also the city of Itanos, and there they met with a fisher for purple named Corobios, who said that he had been carried away by winds and had come to Libya, and in Libya to the island of Platea. This man they persuaded by payment of money and took him to Thera, and from Thera there set sail men to explore, at first not many in number; and Corobios having guided them to this same island of Platea, they left Corobios there, leaving behind with him provisions for a certain number of months, and sailed themselves as quickly as possible to make report about the island to the men of Thera.

152. Since however these stayed away longer than the time appointed, Corobios found himself destitute; and after this a ship of Samos, of which the master was Colaios, while sailing to Egypt was carried out of its course and came to this island of Platea; and the Samians hearing from Corobios the whole story left him provisions for a year. They themselves then put out to sea from the island and sailed on, endeavouring to reach Egypt but carried away continually by the East Wind; and as the wind did not cease to blow, they passed through the Pillars of Heracles and came to Tartessos, guided by divine providence. Now this trading-place was at that time untouched by any, so that when these returned back home they made profit from their cargo greater than any other Hellenes of whom we have certain knowledge, with the exception at least of Sostratos the son of Laodamas the Eginetan, for with him it is not possible for any other man to contend. And the Samians set apart six talents, the tenth part of their gains, and had a bronze vessel made like an Argolic mixing-bowl with round it heads of griffins projecting in a row; and this they dedicated as an offering in the temple of Hera, setting as supports under it three colossal statues of bronze seven cubits in height, resting upon their knees. By reason first of this deed great friendship was formed by those of Kyrene and Thera with the Samians.

153. The Theraians meanwhile, when they arrived at Thera after having left Corobios in the island, reported that they had colonised an island on the coast of Libya: and the men of Thera resolved to send one of every two brothers selected by lot and men besides taken from all the regions of the island, which are seven in number; and further that Battos should be both their leader and their king. Thus then they sent forth two fifty-oared galleys to Platea.

154. This is the report of the Theraians; and for the remainder of the account from this point onwards the Theraians are in agreement with the men of Kyrene: from this point onwards, I say, since in what concerns Battos the Kyrenians tell by no means the same tale as those of Thera; for their account is this:—There is in Crete a city called Oäxos[138][Or, “Axos”.] in which one Etearchos became king, who when he had a daughter, whose mother was dead, named Phronime, took to wife another woman notwithstanding. She having come in afterwards, thought fit to be a stepmother to Phronime in deed as well as in name, giving her evil treatment and devising everything possible to her hurt; and at last she brings against her a charge of lewdness and persuades her husband that the truth is so. He then being convinced by his wife, devised an unholy deed against the daughter: for there was in Oäxos one Themison, a merchant of Thera, whom Etearchos took to himself as a guest-friend and caused him to swear that he would surely serve him in whatsoever he should require: and when he had caused him to swear this, he brought and delivered to him his daughter and bade him take her away and cast her into the sea. Themison then was very greatly vexed at the deceit practised in the matter of the oath, and he dissolved his guest-friendship and did as follows, that is to say, he received the girl and sailed away, and when he got out into the open sea, to free himself from blame as regards the oath which Etearchos had made him swear, he tied her on each side with ropes and let her down into the sea, and then drew her up and came to Thera.

155. After that, Polymnestos, a man of repute among the Theraians, received Phronime from him and kept her as his concubine; and in course of time there was born to him from her a son with an impediment in his voice and lisping, to whom, as both Theraians and Kyrenians say, was given the name Battos, but I think that some other name was then given,[139][i.e. Aristoteles, Pind. Pyth. v. 87.] and he was named Battos instead of this after he came to Libya, taking for himself this surname from the oracle which was given to him at Delphi and from the rank which he had obtained; for the Libyans call a king battos: and for this reason, I think, the Pythian prophetess in her prophesying called him so, using the Libyan tongue, because she knew that he would be a king in Libya. For when he had grown to be a man, he came to Delphi to inquire about his voice; and when he asked, the prophetess thus answered him:

“For a voice thou camest, O Battos, but thee lord Phoebus Apollo
Sendeth as settler forth to the Libyan land sheep-abounding,”

just as if she should say using the Hellenic tongue, “For a voice thou camest, O king.” He thus made answer: “Lord, I came to thee to inquire concerning my voice, but thou answerest me other things which are not possible, bidding me go as a settler to Libya; but with what power, or with what force of men should I go?” Thus saying he did not at all persuade her to give him any other reply; and as she was prophesying to him again the same things as before, Battos departed while she was yet speaking,[140][{metaxu apolipon}.] and went away to Thera.

156. After this there came evil fortune both to himself and to the other men of Thera;[141][Or, “it happened both to himself and to the other men of Thera according to their former evil fortune”; but this would presuppose the truth of the story told in ch. 151, and {paligkotos} may mean simply “adverse” or “hostile”.] and the Theraians, not understanding that which befell them, sent to Delphi to inquire about the evils which they were suffering: and the Pythian prophetess gave them reply that if they joined with Battos in founding Kyrene in Libya, they would fare the better. After this the Theraians sent Battos with two fifty-oared galleys; and these sailed to Libya, and then came away back to Thera, for they did not know what else to do: and the Theraians pelted them with missiles when they endeavoured to land, and would not allow them to put to shore, but bade them sail back again. They accordingly being compelled sailed away back, and they made a settlement in an island lying near the coast of Libya, called, as was said before, Platea. This island is said to be of the same size as the now existing city of Kyrene.

157. In this they continued to dwell two years; but as they had no prosperity, they left one of their number behind and all the rest sailed away to Delphi, and having come to the Oracle they consulted it, saying that they were dwelling in Libya and that, though they were dwelling there, they fared none the better: and the Pythian prophetess made answer to them thus:

“Better than I if thou knowest the Libyan land sheep-abounding,
Not having been there than I who have been, at thy wisdom I wonder.”

Having heard this Battos and his companions sailed away back again; for in fact the god would not let them off from the task of settlement till they had come to Libya itself: and having arrived at the island and taken up him whom they had left, they made a settlement in Libya itself at a spot opposite the island, called Aziris, which is enclosed by most fair woods on both sides and a river flows by it on one side.

158. In this spot they dwelt for six years; and in the seventh year the Libyans persuaded them to leave it, making request and saying that they would conduct them to a better region. So the Libyans led them from that place making them start towards evening; and in order that the Hellenes might not see the fairest of all the regions as they passed through it, they led them past it by night, having calculated the time of daylight: and this region is called Irasa. Then having conducted them to the so-called spring of Apollo, they said, “Hellenes, here is a fit place for you to dwell, for here the heaven is pierced with holes.”

159. Now during the lifetime of the first settler Battos, who reigned forty years, and of his son Arkesilaos, who reigned sixteen years, the Kyrenians continued to dwell there with the same number as[142][{eontes tosoutoi osoi k.t.l.} They could hardly have failed to increase in number, but no new settlers had been added.] when they first set forth to the colony; but in the time of the third king, called Battos the Prosperous, the Pythian prophetess gave an oracle wherein she urged the Hellenes in general to sail and join with the Kyrenians in colonising Libya. For the Kyrenians invited them, giving promise of a division of land; and the oracle which she uttered was as follows:

“Who to the land much desirèd, to Libya, afterwards cometh,
After the land be divided,[143][{usteron elthe gas anadaiomenes}, “too late for the division of land”.] I say he shall some day repent it.”

Then great numbers were gathered at Kyrene, and the Libyans who dwelt round had much land cut off from their possessions; therefore they with their king whose name was Adicran, as they were not only deprived of their country but also were dealt with very insolently by the Kyrenians, sent to Egypt and delivered themselves over to Apries king of Egypt. He then having gathered a great army of Egyptians, sent it against Kyrene; and the men of Kyrene marched out to the region of Irasa and to the spring Theste,[144][Or, “Thestis”.] and there both joined battle with the Egyptians and defeated them in the battle: for since the Egyptians had not before made trial of the Hellenes in fight and therefore despised them, they were so slaughtered that but few of them returned back to Egypt. In consequence of this and because they laid the blame of it upon Apries, the Egyptians revolted from him.

160. This Battos had a son called Arkesilaos, who first when he became king made a quarrel with his own brothers, until they finally departed to another region of Libya, and making the venture for themselves founded that city which was then and is now called Barca; and at the same time as they founded this, they induced the Libyans to revolt from the Kyrenians. After this, Arkesilaos made an expedition against those Libyans who had received them and who had also revolted from Kyrene, and the Libyans fearing him departed and fled towards the Eastern tribes of Libyans: and Arkesilaos followed after them as they fled, until he arrived in his pursuit at Leucon in Libya, and there the Libyans resolved to attack him. Accordingly they engaged battle and defeated the Kyrenians so utterly that seven thousand hoplites of the Kyrenians fell there. After this disaster Arkesilaos, being sick and having swallowed a potion, was strangled by his brother Haliarchos,[145][The MSS. give also “Aliarchos” and “Learchos”.] and Haliarchos was killed treacherously by the wife of Arkesilaos, whose name was Eryxo.

161. Then Battos the son of Arkesilaos succeeded to the kingdom, who was lame and not sound in his feet: and the Kyrenians with a view to the misfortune which had befallen them sent men to Delphi to ask what form of rule they should adopt, in order to live in the best way possible; and the Pythian prophetess bade them take to themselves a reformer of their State from Mantineia of the Arcadians. The men of Kyrene accordingly made request, and those of Mantineia gave them the man of most repute among their citizens, whose name was Demonax. This man therefore having come to Kyrene and having ascertained all things exactly,[146][{mathon ekasta}.] in the first place caused them to have three tribes, distributing them thus:—one division he made of the Theraians and their dependants,[147][{ton terioikon}: i.e. conquered Libyans.] another of the Peloponnesians and Cretans, and a third of all the islanders.[148][{nesioteon panton}: i.e. the natives of the Cyclades, cp. vi. 99.] Then secondly for the king Battos he set apart domains of land and priesthoods, but all the other powers which the kings used to possess before, he assigned as of public right to the people.

162. During the reign of this Battos things continued to be thus, but in the reign of his son Arkesilaos there arose much disturbance about the offices of the State: for Arkesilaos son of Battos the Lame and of Pheretime said that he would not suffer it to be according as the Mantineian Demonax had arranged, but asked to have back the royal rights of his forefathers. After this, stirring up strife he was worsted and went as an exile to Samos, and his mother to Salamis in Cyprus. Now at that time the ruler of Salamis was Euelthon, the same who dedicated as an offering the censer at Delphi, a work well worth seeing, which is placed in the treasury of the Corinthians. To him having come, Pheretime asked him for an army to restore herself and her son to Kyrene. Euelthon however was ready to give her anything else rather than that; and she when she received that which he gave her said that this too was a fair gift, but fairer still would be that other gift of an army for which she was asking. As she kept saying this to every thing which was given, at last Euelthon sent out to her a present of a golden spindle and distaff, with wool also upon it: and when Pheretime uttered again the same saying about this present, Euelthon said that such things as this were given as gifts to women and not an army.

163. Arkesilaos meanwhile, being in Samos, was gathering every one together by a promise of dividing land; and while a great host was being collected, Arkesilaos set out to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle about returning from exile: and the Pythian prophetess gave him this answer: “For four named Battos and four named Arkesilaos, eight generations of men, Loxias grants to you to be kings of Kyrene, but beyond this he counsels you not even to attempt it. Thou however must keep quiet when thou hast come back to thy land; and if thou findest the furnace full of jars, heat not the jars fiercely, but let them go with a fair wind: if however thou heat the furnace fiercely, enter not thou into the place flowed round by water; for if thou dost thou shalt die, both thou and the bull which is fairer than all the rest.”

164. Thus the Pythian prophetess gave answer to Arkesilaos; and he, having taken to him those in Samos, made his return to Kyrene; and when he had got possession of the power, he did not remember the saying of the Oracle but endeavoured to exact penalties from those of the opposite faction for having driven him out. Of these some escaped out of the country altogether, but some Arkesilaos got into his power and sent them away to Cyprus to be put to death. These were driven out of their course to Cnidos, and the men of Cnidos rescued them and sent them away to Thera. Some others however of the Kyrenians fled to a great tower belonging to Aglomachos a private citizen, and Arkesilaos burnt them by piling up brushwood round. Then after he had done the deed he perceived that the Oracle meant this, in that the Pythian prophetess forbade him, if he found the jars in the furnace, to heat them fiercely; and he voluntarily kept away from the city of the Kyrenians, fearing the death which had been prophesied by the Oracle and supposing that Kyrene was flowed round by water.[149][{amphirruton ten Kurenen einai}: some Editors read by conjecture {ten amphirruton Kurenen einai} (or {Kurenen ten amph, einai}), “that Kyrene was the place flowed round by water”.] Now he had to wife a kinswoman of his own, the daughter of the king of Barca whose name was Alazeir: to him he came, and men of Barca together with certain of the exiles from Kyrene, perceiving him going about in the market-place, killed him, and also besides him his father-in-law Alazeir. Arkesilaos accordingly, having missed the meaning of the oracle, whether with his will or against his will, fulfilled his own destiny.

165. His mother Pheretime meanwhile, so long as Arkesilaos having worked evil for himself dwelt at Barca, herself held the royal power of her son at Kyrene, both exercising his other rights and also sitting in council: but when she heard that her son had been slain in Barca, she departed and fled to Egypt: for she had on her side services done for Cambyses the son of Cyrus by Arkesilaos, since this was the Arkesilaos who had given over Kyrene to Cambyses and had laid a tribute upon himself. Pheretime then having come to Egypt sat down as a suppliant of Aryandes, bidding him help her, and alleging as a reason that it was on account of his inclination to the side of the Medes that her son had been slain. 166. Now this Aryandes had been appointed ruler of the province of Egypt by Cambyses; and after the time of these events he lost his life because he would measure himself with Dareios. For having heard and seen that Dareios desired to leave behind him as a memorial of himself a thing which had not been made by any other king, he imitated him, until at last he received his reward: for whereas Dareios refined gold and made it as pure as possible, and of this caused coins to be struck, Aryandes, being ruler of Egypt, did the same thing with silver; and even now the purest silver is that which is called Aryandic. Dareios then having learnt that he was doing this put him to death, bringing against him another charge of attempting rebellion.

167. Now at the time of which I speak this Aryandes had compassion on Pheretime and gave her all the troops that were in Egypt, both the land and the sea forces, appointing Amasis a Maraphian to command the land-army and Badres, of the race of the Pasargadai, to command the fleet: but before he sent away the army, Aryandes despatched a herald to Barca and asked who it was who had killed Arkesilaos; and the men of Barca all took it upon themselves, for they said they suffered formerly many great evils at his hands. Having heard this, Aryandes at last sent away the army together with Pheretime. This charge then was the pretext alleged; but in fact the army was being sent out (as I believe) for the purpose of subduing Libya: for of the Libyans there are many nations of nations of various kinds, and but few of them are subject to the king, while the greater number paid no regard to Dareios.

168. Now the Libyans have their dwelling as follows:—Beginning from Egypt, first of the Libyans are settled the Adyrmachidai, who practise for the most part the same customs as the Egyptians, but wear clothing similar to that of the other Libyans. Their women wear a bronze ring[150][{pselion}.] upon each leg, and they have long hair on their heads, and when they catch their lice, each one bites her own in retaliation and then throws them away. These are the only people of the Lybians who do this; and they alone display to the king their maidens when they are about to be married, and whosoever of them proves to be pleasing to the king is deflowered by him. These Adyrmachidai extend along the coast from Egypt as far as the port which is called Plynos.

169. Next after these come the Giligamai,[151][Or, “Giligammai”.] occupying the country towards the West as far as the island of Aphrodisias. In the space within this limit lies off the coast the island of Platea, where the Kyrenians made their settlement; and on the coast of the mainland there is Port Menelaos, and Aziris, where the Kyrenians used to dwell. From this point begins the silphion[152][i.e. the plant so called, figured on the coins of Kyrene and Barca.] and it extends along the coast from the island of Platea as far as the entrance of the Syrtis. This nation practises customs nearly resembling those of the rest.

170. Next to the Giligamai on the West are the Asbystai:[153][Or, “Asbytai”.] these dwell above[154][i.e. further from the coast, so {katuperthe}, ch. 174 etc., cp. ch. 16.] Kyrene, and the Asbystai do not reach down the sea, for the region along the sea is occupied by Kyrenians. These most of all the Libyans are drivers of four-horse chariots, and in the greater number of their customs they endeavour to imitate the Kyrenians.

171. Next after the Asbystai on the West come the Auchisai: these dwell above Barca and reach down to the sea by Euesperides: and in the middle of the country of the Auchisai dwell the Bacales,[155][Or “Cabales”.] a small tribe, who reach down to the sea by the city of Taucheira in the territory of Barca: these practise the same customs as those above Kyrene.

172. Next after these Auschisai towards the West come the Nasamonians, a numerous race, who in the summer leave their flocks behind by the sea and go up to the region of Augila to gather the fruit of the date-palms, which grow in great numbers and very large and are all fruit-bearing: these hunt the wingless locusts, and they dry them in the sun and then pound them up, and after that they sprinkle them upon milk and drink them. Their custom is for each man to have many wives, and they make their intercourse with them common in nearly the same manner as the Massagetai,[156][See i. 216.] that is they set up a staff in front of the door and so have intercourse. When a Nasamonian man marries his first wife, the custom is for the bride on the first night to go through the whole number of the guests having intercourse with them, and each man when he has lain with her gives a gift, whatsoever he has brought with him from his house. The forms of oath and of divination which they use are as follows:—they swear by the men among themselves who are reported to have been the most righteous and brave, by these, I say, laying hands upon their tombs; and they divine by visiting the sepulchral mounds of their ancestors and lying down to sleep upon them after having prayed; and whatsoever thing the man sees in his dream, this he accepts. They practise also the exchange of pledges in the following manner, that is to say, one gives the other to drink from his hand, and drinks himself from the hand of the other; and if they have no liquid, they take of the dust from the ground and lick it.

173. Adjoining the Nasamonians is the country of the Psylloi. These have perished utterly in the following manner:—The South Wind blowing upon them dried up all their cisterns of water, and their land was waterless, lying all within the Syrtis. They then having taken a resolve by common consent, marched in arms against the South Wind (I report that which is reported by the Libyans), and when they had arrived at the sandy tract, the South Wind blew and buried them in the sand. These then having utterly perished, the Nasamonians from that time forward possess their land.

174. Above these towards the South Wind in the region of wild beasts dwell the Garamantians,[157][Distinct from the people of the same name mentioned in ch. 183: those here mentioned are called “Gamphasantes” by Pliny.] who fly from every man and avoid the company of all; and they neither possess any weapon of war, nor know how to defend themselves against enemies.

175. These dwell above the Nasamonians; and next to the Nasamonians along the sea coast towards the West come the Macai, who shave their hair so as to leave tufts, letting the middle of their hair grow long, but round this on all sides shaving it close to the skin; and for fighting they carry shields made of ostrich skins. Through their land the river Kinyps runs out into the sea, flowing from a hill called the “Hill of the Charites.” This Hill of the Charites is overgrown thickly with wood, while the rest of Libya which has been spoken of before is bare of trees; and the distance from the sea to this hill is two hundred furlongs.

176. Next to these Macai are the Gindanes, whose women wear each of them a number of anklets made of the skins of animals, for the following reason, as it is said:—for every man who has commerce with her she binds on an anklet, and the woman who has most is esteemed the best, since she has been loved by the greatest number of men.

177. In a peninsula which stands out into the sea from the land of these Gindanes dwell the Lotophagoi, who live by eating the fruit of the LOTOS only. Now the fruit of the lotos is in size like that of the mastich-tree, and in flavour[158][{glukuteta}, “sweetness”.] it resembles that of the date-palm. Of this fruit the Lotophagoi even make for themselves wine.

178. Next after the Lotophagoi along the sea-coast are the Machlyans, who also make use of the lotos, but less than those above mentioned. These extend to a great river named the river Triton, and this runs out into a great lake called Tritonis, in which there is an island named Phla. About this island they say there was an oracle given to the Lacedemonians that they should make a settlement in it.

179. The following moreover is also told, namely that Jason, when the Argo had been completed by him under Mount Pelion, put into it a hecatomb and with it also[159][{allen te ekatomben kai de kai}.] a tripod of bronze, and sailed round Pelopponese, desiring to come to Delphi; and when in sailing he got near Malea, a North Wind seized his ship and carried it off to Libya, and before he caught sight of land he had come to be in the shoals of the lake Tritonis. Then as he was at a loss how he should bring his ship forth, the story goes that Triton appeared to him and bade Jason give him the tripod, saying that he would show them the right course and let them go away without hurt: and when Jason consented to it, then Triton showed them the passage out between the shoals and set the tripod in his own temple, after having first uttered a prophecy over the tripod[160][{epithespisanta to tripodi}, which can hardly mean “prophesied sitting upon the tripod”.] and having declared to Jason and his company the whole matter, namely that whensoever one of the descendants of those who sailed with him in the Argo should carry away this tripod, then it was determined by fate that a hundred cities of Hellenes should be established about the lake Tritonis. Having heard this the native Libyans concealed the tripod.

180. Next to these Machlyans are the Auseans. These and the Machlyans dwell round the lake Tritonis, and the river Triton is the boundary between them: and while the Machlyans grow their hair long at the back of the head, the Auseans do so in front. At a yearly festival of Athene their maidens take their stand in two parties and fight against one another with stones and staves, and they say that in doing so they are fulfilling the rites handed down by their fathers for the divinity who was sprung from that land, whom we call Athene: and those of the maidens who die of the wounds received they call “false-maidens.” But before they let them begin the fight they do this:—all join together and equip the maiden who is judged to be the fairest on each occasion, with a Corinthian helmet and with full Hellenic armour, and then causing her to go up into a chariot they conduct her round the lake. Now I cannot tell with what they equipped the maidens in old time, before the Hellenes were settled near them; but I suppose that they used to be equipped with Egyptian armour, for it is from Egypt that both the shield and the helmet have come to the Hellenes, as I affirm. They say moreover that Athene is the daughter of Poseidon and of the lake Tritonis, and that she had some cause of complaint against her father and therefore gave herself to Zeus, and Zeus made her his own daughter. Such is the story which these tell; and they have their intercourse with women in common, not marrying but having intercourse like cattle: and when the child of any woman has grown big, he is brought before a meeting of the men held within three months of that time,[161][Lit. “the men come together regularly to one place within three months,” which seems to mean that meetings are held every three months, before one of which the child is brought.] and whomsoever of the men the child resembles, his son he is accounted to be.

181. Thus then have been mentioned those nomad Libyans who live along the sea-coast: and above these inland is the region of Libya which has wild beasts; and above the wild-beast region there stretches a raised belt of sand, extending from Thebes of the Egyptians to the Pillars of Heracles. In this belt at intervals of about ten days’ journey there are fragments of salt in great lumps forming hills, and at the top of each hill there shoots up from the middle of the salt a spring of water cold and sweet; and about the spring dwell men, at the furthest limit towards the desert, and above the wild-beast region. First, at a distance of ten days’ journey from Thebes, are the Ammonians, whose temple is derived from that of the Theban Zeus, for the image of Zeus in Thebes also, as I have said before,[162][See ii. 42.] has the head of a ram. These, as it chances, have also other water of a spring, which in the early morning is warm; at the time when the market fills,[163][i.e. in the middle of the morning.] cooler; when midday comes, it is quite cold, and then they water their gardens; but as the day declines, it abates from its coldness, until at last, when the sun sets, the water is warm; and it continues to increase in heat still more until it reaches midnight, when it boils and throws up bubbles; and when midnight passes, it becomes cooler gradually till dawn of day. This spring is called the fountain of the Sun.

182. After the Ammonians, as you go on along the belt of sand, at an interval again of ten days’ journey there is a hill of salt like that of the Ammonians, and a spring of water, with men dwelling about it; and the name of this place is Augila. To this the Nasamonians come year by year to gather the fruit of the date-palms.

183. From Augila at a distance again of ten days’ journey there is another hill of salt and spring of water and a great number of fruit-bearing date-palms, as there are also in the other places: and men dwell here who are called the Garmantians, a very great nation, who carry earth to lay over the salt and then sow crops. From this point is the shortest way to the Lotophagoi, for from these it is a journey of thirty days to the country of the Garmantians. Among them also are produced the cattle which feed backwards; and they feed backwards for this reason, because they have their horns bent down forwards, and therefore they walk backwards as they feed; for forwards they cannot go, because the horns run into the ground in front of them; but in nothing else do they differ from other cattle except in this and in the thickness and firmness to the touch[164][{tripsin}: the “feel” to the touch: hence it might mean either hardness or softness according to the context.] of their hide. These Garamantians of whom I speak hunt the “Cave-dwelling”[165][{troglodutas}: “Troglodytes”.] Ethiopians with their four-horse chariots, for the Cave-dwelling Ethiopians are the swiftest of foot of all men about whom we hear report made: and the Cave-dwellers feed upon serpents and lizards and such creeping things, and they use a language which resembles no other, for in it they squeak just like bats.

184. From the Garmantians at a distance again of ten days’ journey there is another hill of salt and spring of water, and men dwell round it called Atarantians, who alone of all men about whom we know are nameless; for while all taken together have the name Atarantians, each separate man of them has no name given to him. These utter curses against the Sun when he is at his height,[166][{uperballonti}: “when his heat is greatest”.] and moreover revile him with all manner of foul terms, because he oppresses them by his burning heat, both themselves and their land. After this at a distance of ten days’ journey there is another hill of salt and spring of water, and men dwell round it. Near this salt hill is a mountain named Atlas, which is small in circuit and rounded on every side; and so exceedingly lofty is it said to be, that it is not possible to see its summits, for clouds never leave them either in the summer or in the winter. This the natives say is the pillar of the heaven. After this mountain these men got their name, for they are called Atlantians; and it is said that they neither eat anything that has life nor have any dreams.

185. As far as these Atlantians I am able to mention in order the names of those who are settled in the belt of sand; but for the parts beyond these I can do so no more. However, the belt extends as far as the Pillars of Heracles and also in the parts outside them: and there is a mine of salt in it at a distance of ten days’ journey from the Atlantians, and men dwelling there; and these all have their houses built of the lumps of salt, since these parts of Libya which we have now reached[167][{ede}.] are without rain; for if it rained, the walls being made of salt would not be able to last: and the salt is dug up there both white and purple in colour.[168][Or “red”.] Above the sand-belt, in the parts which are in the direction of the South Wind and towards the interior of Libya, the country is uninhabited, without water and without wild beasts, rainless and treeless, and there is no trace of moisture in it.

186. I have said that from Egypt as far as the lake Tritonis Libyans dwell who are nomads, eating flesh and drinking milk; and these do not taste at all of the flesh of cows, for the same reason as the Egyptians also abstain from it, nor do they keep swine. Moreover the women of the Kyrenians too think it not right to eat cows’ flesh, because of the Egyptian Isis, and they even keep fasts and celebrate festivals for her; and the women of Barca, in addition from cows’ flesh, do not taste of swine either.

187. Thus it is with these matters: but in the region to the West of lake Tritonis the Libyans cease to be nomads, and they do not practise the same customs, nor do to their children anything like that which the nomads are wont to do; for the nomad Libyans, whether all of them I cannot say for certain, but many of them, do as follows:—when their children are four years old, they burn with a greasy piece of sheep’s wool the veins in the crowns of their heads, and some of them burn the veins of the temples, so that for all their lives to come the cold humour may not run down from their heads and do them hurt: and for this reason it is (they say) that they are so healthy; for the Libyans are in truth the most healthy of all races concerning which we have knowledge, whether for this reason or not I cannot say for certain, but the most healthy they certainly are: and if, when they burn the children, a convulsion comes on, they have found out a remedy for this; for they pour upon them the water of a he-goat and so save them. I report that which is reported by the Libyans themselves.

188. The following is the manner of sacrifice which the nomads have:—they cut off a part of the animal’s ear as a first offering and throw it over the house,[169][{domon}: Reiske reads {omon} by conjecture, “over his shoulder”.] and having done this they twist its neck. They sacrifice only to the Sun and the Moon; that is to say, to these all the Libyans sacrifice, but those who dwell round the lake Tritonis sacrifice most of all to Athene, and next to Triton and Poseidon.

189. It would appear also that the Hellenes made the dress and the 阿吉斯 of the images of Athene after the model of the Libyan women; for except that the dress of the Libyan women is of leather, and the tassels which hang from their 阿吉斯 are not formed of serpents but of leather thongs, in all other respects Athene is dressed like them. Moreover the name too declares that the dress of the figures of Pallas has come from Libya, for the Libyan women wear over their other garments bare goat-skins (aigeas) with tasselled fringes and coloured over with red madder, and from the name of these goat-skins the Hellenes formed the name 阿吉斯. I think also that in these regions first arose the practice of crying aloud during the performance of sacred rites, for the Libyan women do this very well.[170][Or (according to some MSS.), “practise this much and do it well”.]The Hellenes learnt from the Libyans also the yoking together of four horses.

190. The nomads bury those who die just in the same manner as the Hellenes, except only the Nasamonians: these bury bodies in a sitting posture, taking care at the moment when the man expires to place him sitting and not to let him die lying down on his back. They have dwellings composed of the stems of asphodel entwined with rushes, and so made that they can be carried about. Such are the customs followed by these tribes.

191. On the West of the river Triton next after the Auseans come Libyans who are tillers of the soil, and whose custom it is to possess fixed habitations; and they are called Maxyans. They grow their hair long on the right side of their heads and cut it short upon the left, and smear their bodies over with red ochre. These say that they are of the men who came from Troy.

This country and the rest of Libya which is towards the West is both much more frequented by wild beasts and much more thickly wooded than the country of the nomads: for whereas the part of Libya which is situated towards the East, where the nomads dwell, is low-lying and sandy up to the river Triton, that which succeeds it towards the West, the country of those who till the soil, is exceedingly mountainous and thickly-wooded and full of wild beasts: for in the land of these are found both the monstrous serpent and the lion and the elephant, and bears and venomous snakes and horned asses, besides the dog-headed men, and the headless men with their eyes set in their breasts (at least so say the Libyans about them), and the wild men and wild women, and a great multitude of other beasts which are not fabulous like these.[171][{akatapseusta}. Several Editors have adopted the conjecture {katapseusta}, “other fabulous beasts”.]

192. In the land of the nomads however there exist none of these, but other animals as follows:—white-rump antelopes, gazelles, buffaloes, asses, not the horned kind but others which go without water (for in fact these never drink), oryes,[172][{orues}: perhaps for {oruges} from {orux}, a kind of antelope.] whose horns are made into the sides of the Phenician lyre (this animal is in size about equal to an ox), small foxes, hyenas, porcupines, wild rams, wolves,[173][{diktues}: the meaning is uncertain.] jackals, panthers, boryes, land-crocodiles about three cubits in length and very much resembling lizards, ostriches, and small snakes, each with one horn: these wild animals there are in this country, as well as those which exist elsewhere, except the stag and the wild-boar; but Libya has no stags nor wild boars at all. Also there are in this country three kinds of mice, one is called the “two-legged” mouse, another the zegeris (a name which is Libyan and signifies in the Hellenic tongue a “hill”), and a third the “prickly” mouse.[174][{ekhinees}, “urchins”.] There are also weasels produced in the silphion, which are very like those of Tartessos. Such are the wild animals which the land of the Libyans possesses, so far as we were able to discover by inquiries extended as much as possible.

193. Next to the Maxyan Libyans are the Zauekes,[175][Or “Zabykes”.] whose women drive their chariots for them to war.

194. Next to these are the Gyzantes,[176][Or “Zygantes”.] among whom honey is made in great quantity by bees, but in much greater quantity still it is said to be made by men, who work at it as a trade. However that may be, these all smear themselves over with red ochre and eat monkeys, which are produced in very great numbers upon their mountains.

195. Opposite these, as the Carthaginians say, there lies an island called Kyrauis, two hundred furlongs in length but narrow, to which one may walk over from the mainland; and it is full of olives and vines. In it they say there is a pool, from which the native girls with birds’ feathers smeared over with pitch bring up gold-dust out of the mud. Whether this is really so I do not know, but I write that which is reported; and nothing is impossible,[177][{eie d’ an pan}: cp. v. 9. Some translate, “and this might well be so”.] for even in Zakynthos I saw myself pitch brought up out of a pool of water. There are there several pools, and the largest of them measures seventy feet each way and is two fathoms in depth. Into this they plunge a pole with a myrtle-branch bound to it, and then with the branch of the myrtle they bring up pitch, which has the smell of asphalt, but in other respects it is superior to the pitch of Pieria. This they pour into a pit dug near the pool; and when they have collected a large quantity, then they pour it into the jars from the pit: and whatever thing falls into the pool goes under ground and reappears in the sea, which is distant about four furlongs from the pool. Thus then the report about the island lying near the coast of Libya is also probably enough true.

196. The Carthaginians say also this, namely that there is a place in Libya and men dwelling there, outside the Pillars of Heracles, to whom when they have come and have taken the merchandise forth from their ships, they set it in order along the beach and embark again in their ships, and after that they raise a smoke; and the natives of the country seeing the smoke come to the sea, and then they lay down gold as an equivalent for the merchandise and retire to a distance away from the merchandise. The Carthaginians upon that disembark and examine it, and if the gold is in their opinion sufficient for the value of the merchandise, they take it up and go their way; but if not, they embark again in their ships and sit there; and the others approach and straightway add more gold to the former, until they satisfy them: and they say that neither party wrongs the other; for neither do the Carthaginians lay hands on the gold until it is made equal to the value of their merchandise, nor do the others lay hands on the merchandise until the Carthaginians have taken the gold.

197. These are the Libyan tribes whom we are able to name; and of these the greater number neither now pay any regard to the king of the Medes nor did they then. Thus much also I have to say about this land, namely that it is occupied by four races and no more, so far as we know; and of these races two are natives of the soil and the other two not so; for the Libyans and the Ethiopians are natives, the one race dwelling in the Northern parts of Libya and the other in the Southern, while the Phenicians and the Hellenes are strangers.

198. I think moreover that (besides other things) in goodness of soil Libya does not very greatly excel[178][{oud’ areten einai tis e Libue spoudaie}.] as compared with Asia or Europe, except only the region of Kinyps, for the same name is given to the land as to the river. This region is equal to the best of lands in bringing forth the fruit of Demeter,[179][i.e. corn; cp. i. 193.] nor does it at all resemble the rest of Libya; for it has black soil and is watered by springs, and neither has it fear of drought nor is it hurt by drinking too abundantly of rain; for rain there is in this part of Libya. Of the produce of the crops the same measures hold good here as for the Babylonian land. And that is good land also which the Euesperites occupy, for when it bears best it produces a hundred-fold, but the land in the region of Kinyps produces sometimes as much as three-hundred-fold.

199. Moreover the land of Kyrene, which is the highest land of the part of Libya which is occupied by nomads, has within its confines three seasons of harvest, at which we may marvel: for the parts by the sea-coasts first have their fruits ripe for reaping and for gathering the vintage; and when these have been gathered in, the parts which lie above the sea-side places, those situated in the middle, which they call the hills,[180][{bounous}.] are ripe for the gathering in; and as soon as this middle crop has been gathered in, that in the highest part of the land comes to perfection and is ripe; so that by the time the first crop has been eaten and drunk up, the last is just coming in. Thus the harvest for the Kyrenians lasts eight months. Let so much as has been said suffice for these things.

200. Now when the Persian helpers of Pheretime,[181][参见第 167 章。 XNUMX.] having been sent from Egypt by Aryandes, had arrived at Barca, they laid siege to the city, proposing to the inhabitants that they should give up those who were guilty of the murder of Arkesilaos: but as all their people had taken a share in the guilt, they did not accept the proposals. Then they besieged Barca for nine months, both digging underground passages which led to the wall and making vigorous attacks upon it. Now the passages dug were discovered by a worker of bronze with a shield covered over with bronze, who had thought of a plan as follows:—carrying it round within the wall he applied it to the ground in the city, and whereas the other places to which he applied it were noiseless, at those places where digging was going on the bronze of the shield gave a sound; and the men of Barca would make a countermine there and slay the Persians who were digging mines. This then was discovered as I have said, and the attacks were repulsed by the men of Barca.

201. Then as they were suffering hardship for a long time and many were falling on both sides, and especially on that of the Persians, Amasis the commander of the land-army contrived as follows:—perceiving that the Barcaians were not to be conquered by force but might be conquered by guile, he dug by night a broad trench and over it he laid timber of no great strength, and brought earth and laid it above on the top of the timber, making it level with the rest of the ground: then at daybreak he invited the men of Barca to a parley; and they gladly consented, and at last they agreed to make a treaty: and the treaty they made with one another was taken over the hidden trench, namely that so long as this earth should continue to be as it was, so long the oath should remain firm, and that the men of Barca should promise to pay tribute of due amount to the king, and the Persians should do no further violence to the men of Barca.[182][{meden allo neokhmoun kata Barkaious}: cp. v. 19.] After the oath the men of Barca trusting to these engagements both went forth themselves from their city and let any who desired it of the enemy pass within their walls, having opened all the gates; but the Persians first broke down the concealed bridge and then began to run inside the city wall. And the reason why they broke down the bridge which they had made was that they might keep their oaths, since they had sworn to the men of Barca that the oath should remain firm continually for so long time as the earth should remain as it then was, but after that they had broken it down, the oath no longer remained firm.

202. Now the most guilty of the Barcaians, when they were delivered to her by the Persians, Pheretime impaled in a ring round about the wall; and she cut off the breasts of their wives and set the wall round with these also in order: but the rest of the men of Barca she bade the Persians carry off as spoil, except so many of them as were of the house of Battos and not sharers in the guilt of the murder; and to these Pheretime gave the city in charge.

203. So the Persians having made slaves of the rest of the Barcaians departed to go back: and when they appeared at the gates of the city of Kyrene, the Kyrenians let them go through their town in order to avoid neglect of some oracle. Then as the army was going through, Badres the commander of the fleet urged that they should capture the city, but Amasis the commander of the land-army would not consent to it; for he said that they had been sent against no other city of the Hellenes except Barca. When however they had passed through and were encamping on the hill of Zeus Lycaios, they repented of not having taken possession of Kyrene; and they endeavoured again to pass into it, but the men of Kyrene would not allow them. Then upon the Persians, although no one fought against them, there fell a sudden panic, and they ran away for about sixty furlongs and then encamped. And when the camp had been placed here, there came to it a messenger from Aryandes summoning them back; so the Persians asked the Kyrenians to give them provisions for their march and obtained their request; and having received these, they departed to go to Egypt. After this the Libyans took them up,[183][{paralabontes}.] and killed for the sake of their clothes and equipment those of them who at any time were left or straggled behind, until at last they came to Egypt.

204. This army of the Persians reached Euesperides, and this was their furthest point in Libya: and those of the Barcaians whom they had reduced to slavery they removed again from Egypt and brought them to the king, and king Dareios gave them a village in the land of Bactria in which to make a settlement. To this village they gave the name of Barca, and it still continued to be inhabited by them even down to my own time, in the land of Bactria.

205. Pheretime however did not bring her life happily to an end any more than they: for as soon as she had returned from Libya to Egypt after having avenged herself on the Barcaians, she died an evil death, having become suddenly full of worms while yet alive: for, as it seems, too severe punishments inflicted by men prove displeasing[184][{epiphthonoi}.] to the gods. Such and so great was the punishment inflicted by Pheretime the wife of Battos on the men of Barca.

第四册注释。 •2,200字

[1] [Some enterprises had been entrusted to others, e.g. the attack on Samos; but this had not been the case with the capture of Babylon, therefore some Editors have proposed corrections, e.g. {au tou} (Schweighäuser), and {autika} (Stein).]

[2] [See i. 106.]

[3] [{tes ano ‘Asies}: this means Eastern Asia as distinguished from the coasts of Asia Minor; see i. 103 and 177.]

[4] [{katapausantes}: the expression is awkward if meant to be equivalent to {kai katepausan}, but it is hardly improved by the alteration to {katapausontes}. Perhaps the clause is out of place.]

[5] [{ponos}.]

[6] [{peristixantes}: so the two best MSS.; others have {peristesantes} or {peristexantes}. The word {peristixantes} would be from {peristikho}, equivalent to {peristikhizo}, and is acknowledged in this sense by Hesychius.]

[7] [The connexion is not clear either at the beginning of the chapter or here. This clause would seem to be a repetition of that at the beginning of the chapter, and that which comes between should be an explanation of the reason why the slaves are blinded. As it stands, however, we can only refer it to the clause which follows, {ou gar arotai eisi alla nomades}, and even so there is no real solution of the difficulty, for it is not explained why nomads should have blinded slaves. Perhaps the best resource is to suppose that some part of the explanation, in connexion with the manner of dealing with the milk, has been lost.]

[8] [{te per}: a conjectural emendation for {e per}, “which is a very great lake”.]

[9] [{epi touton arkhonton}: the word {arkhonton} is omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.]

[10] [{sagarin}.]

[11] [{tous basileious}: so Wesseling. The MSS. have {tous basileas}, “the kings,” which may perhaps be used here as equivalent to {tous basileious}: some Editors, including Stein, adopt the conjecture {tou basileos}, “from the youngest of them who, was king, those who,” etc.]

[12] [{tou basileos}: some Editors read by conjecture {Skolotou basileos}, “after their king Scolotos”.]

[1201] [{katazonnumenon}: or {kata tade zonnumenon}, “girded in this manner”.]

[13] [{mekhanesasthai ten metera Skuthe}: the better MSS. read {mekhanasthai} and {Skuthen}: the meaning seems doubtful, and some Editors would omit the clause as an interpolation.]

[14] [{pros pollous deomenon}: the better MSS. read {pro pollou deomena}. The passage has been emended in various ways, e.g. {pros pollous deoi menontas} (Buttmann), {pros pollous menontas} (Bredow), {pro spodou deomenon} (Stein).]

[15] [{poiesas}: some authorities have {eipas}.]

[16] [Italy means for Herodotus only the Southern part of the peninsula.]

[17] [{diekosioisi}: so the best authorities; others have {priekosioisi}.]

[18] [{‘Italioteon}, i.e. Hellenic settlers in Italy.]

[19] [{to agalmati to ‘Apollonos}: {agalma} is used for anything dedicated to a god, most commonly the sacred image.]

[20] [{katuperthe}: “above,” i.e. beyond them towards the North. Similarly when dealing with Libya the writer uses the same word of those further from the coast towards the South; see ch. 174.]

[21] [{en autoisi toisi epesi poieon}: “even in the verses which he composed,” in which he might be expected as a poet to go somewhat beyond the literal truth.]

[22] [Or, “Alizonians”.]

[23] [{‘Olbiopolitas}.]

[24] [See ch. 101, where the day’s journey is reckoned at 200 stades (23 English miles).]

[25] [The meaning of {eremos} here is not waste and barren land, but land without settled inhabitants.]

[26] [i.e. “Man-eaters”.]

[27] [This is the reading of the MSS., but it is not consistent with the distance given in ch. 101, nor with the actual facts: some Editors therefore read “four” instead of “fourteen”.]

[28] [i.e. “Cliffs”.]

[29] [i.e. “Black-cloaks”.]

[30] [{‘Argippaioi}: it is not certain that this is the form which ought to be read here: Latin writers make the name “Arimphaei,” and in some MSS. it is given here as {‘Orgempaioi}.]

[31] [{agalmati}.]

[32] [{ta genesia}.]

[33] [Or, “violent”.]

[34] [Od. iv. 85.]

[35] [{e phuonta phuein mogis}.]

[36] [{prosthekas}, “additions”.]

[37] [i.e. of Apollo and Artemis.]

[3701] [Omitting {legon}.]

[38] [The word “Asia” is not contained in the MSS. and need not be inserted in the text, but it is implied, if not expressed; see chap. 41.]

[39] [{aktai}.]

[40] [{ou legousa ei me nomo}.]

[41] [i.e. 100,000 fathoms, equivalent to 1000 stades; see ii. 6, note 10.]

[42] [{oude sumballein axie}.]

[43] [ii. 158.]

[4301] [{brota}: some MSS. have {probata} “cattle”.]

[44] [{omoia parekhomene}: the construction is confused, but the meaning is that all but the Eastern parts are known to be surrounded by sea.]

[45] [{logion}: some MSS. have {logimon}, “of reputation”.]

[46] [Stein reads {eisi de} for {eisi de}, and punctuates so that the meaning is, “it has become the greatest of all rivers in the following manner:—besides other rivers which flow into it, those which especially make it great are as follows”.]

[47] [{pente men oi}: this perhaps requires emendation, but the corrections proposed are hardly satisfactory, e.g. {pente megaloi} or {pente monoi}.]

[48] [Or “Skios”: called by Thucydides “Oskios” (ii. 96).]

[49] [{eti}: most of the MSS. give {esti}, which is adopted by some Editors.]

[50] [“Sacred Ways”.]

[51] [{Gerreon}: in some MSS. {Gerrou}, “the region called Gerros”.]

[52] [{tesserakonta}: some Editors have altered this number, but without authority or sufficient reason.]

[53] [{di eremou}: see note 25 on ch. 18. The region here spoken of is that between the Gerrians and the agricultural Scythians.]

[5301] [{es touto elos}: i.e. the Dneiper-Liman. (The Medicean and Florentine MSS. read {es to elos}, not {es to telos}, as hitherto reported.)]

[54] [{eon embolon tes khores}.]

[55] [{Metros}: i.e. the Mother of the gods, Kybele, cp. ch. 76; some less good authorities have {Demetros}.]

[56] [{reei de}: most MSS. have {reei men gar}.]

[57] [Or, “Apia”.]

[58] [Or, “Goitosyros”.]

[59] [The MSS. have also “Arippasa” and “Artimpasa”.]

[60] [The authorities have also “Thagimasa” and “Thamimasidas”.]

[61] [{ton arkheion}: some read by conjecture {en to arkheio}, “at the seat of government,” or “in the public place”.]

[62] [{eson t’ epi stadious treis}.]

[63] [{upo ton kheimonon}.]

[64] [{akinakes}.]

[65] [{agalma}: see note 19 on ch. 15.]

[66] [{kata per baitas}.]

[67] [Or, “and put them together in one bundle”.]

[68] [See i. 105.]

[69] [{kuperou}: it is not clear what plant is meant.]

[70] [i.e. for this purpose. The general use of bronze is attested by ch. 81.]

[71] [{ode anabibazontes, epean k.t.l}: the reference of {ode} is directly to the clause {epean——trakhelou}, though in sense it refers equally to the following, {katothen de k.t.l}. Some Editors punctuate thus, {ode anabibazontes epean} and omit {de} after {katothen}, making the reference of {ode} to the latter clause alone.]

[72] [{oruontai}, as in iii. 117, but here they howl for pleasure.]

[73] [Like the Egyptians for example, cp. ii. 91.]

[74] [{mete ge on allelon}: the MSS. have {me ti ge on allelon}. Most Editors read {allon} for {allelon} and alter the other words in various ways ({me toi ge on, me toigaron} etc.), taking {me} as in {me oti} (ne dicam aliorum). The reading which I have adopted is based on that of Stein, who reads {mete teon allon} and quotes vii. 142, {oute ge alloisi ‘Ellenon oudamoisi, umin de de kai dia panton ekista}. With {allon} the meaning is, “rejecting those of other nations and especially those of the Hellenes”. For the use of {me} after {pheugein} cp. ii. 91.]

[75] [Or, according to some MSS., “as they proved in the case of Anacharsis and afterwards of Skyles”.]

[76] [{gen pollen}.]

[77] [{epitropou}.]

[78] [{peplastai}: some authorities give {pepaistai}, “has been invented as a jest”.]

[79] [{es kheiras agesthai}.]

[7901] [{o theos}。]

[80] [{diepresteuse}: this or {epresteuse} is the reading of most of the MSS. The meaning is uncertain, since the word does not occur elsewhere. Stein suggests that it may mean “scoffed (at the Scythians)”. Various conjectures have been tried, e.g. {diedresteuse}, {diedrepeteuse}, etc.]

[81] [{os Skuthas einai}: cp. ii. 8. Some (e.g. Dindorf and Bähr) translate “considering that they are Scythians,” i.e. for a nation so famous and so widely extended.]

[82] [i.e. about 5300 gallons.]

[83] [{epi to iro}: the MSS. mostly have {epi iro}, and Stein adopts the conjecture {epi rio}, “on a projecting point”. The temple would be that of {Zeus ourios} mentioned in ch. 87. (In the Medicean MS. the omitted {i} is inserted above the line beforethe {r}, not directly over it, as represented by Stein, and the accent is not omitted.)]

[84] [{stadioi}, and so throughout.]

[85] [即1,110,000。]

[86] [即330,000。]

[8601] [{stelas}, i.e. “square blocks”; so also in ch. 91.]

[87] [即700,000。]

[8701] [{os emoi dokeei sumballomeno}, “putting the evidence together”.]

[88] [{pasi deka}: probably a loose expression like {ta panta muria}, iii. 74.]

[89] [{psoren}, “mange”.]

[90] [Or (less probably) “Skyrmiadai”.]

[91] [{Salmoxin}: some inferior MSS. have {Zalmoxin}, or {Zamolxin}, and the spelling in other writers varies between these forms.]

[92] [{daimona}, sometimes used for deified men as distinguished from gods, cp. ch. 103.]

[93] [{dia penteteridos}.]

[94] [{bathutera}.]

[95] [{ou to asthenestato sophiste}. No depreciation seems to be intended here.]

[96] [{andreona}.]

[97] [i.e. the Mediterranean: or the passage may mean simply, “Thrace runs out further into the sea than Scythia”.]

[98] [{gounon}.]

[99] [More literally, “I say this, so far as it is allowed to compare, etc. Such is the form of the Tauric land”.]

[100] [{ede}. The Agathyrsians however have not been mentioned before in this connection.]

[101] [{stadia}.]

[102] [{tes Skuthikes ta epikarsia}, i.e. the lines running from West to East.]

[103] [{epanakhthentes}: so the Medicean MS. and another: the rest have {epanakhthentas}. Some Editors read by conjecture {apeneikhthentas}, “cast away on their coast”.]

[104] [{neoisi}.]

[105] [{trieteridas}.]

[106] [Or, “were driven out”.]

[107] [{phtheirotrageousi}.]

[108] [Or, “Aiorpata,“和”aior” below.]

[109] [i.e. the Royal Scythians: see ch. 20.]

[110] [{epi touto}, the reading of the Aldine edition. The MSS. have {epi touto}. Stein suggests {dia touto}.]

[111] [{ou peisometha}: some MSS. read {ouk oisometha}. Editors have emended by conjecture in various ways, e.g. {ou periopsometha}, “we shall not allow it”; {oi epoisometha} or {oi epeisometha}, “we shall go out to attack him”; {aposometha}, “we shall repel him”.]

[112] [{paras}, or {pasai}, belonging to {gunaikes}.]

[113] [{khersou}, “dry”.]

[114] [Perhaps the same as the “Hyrgis” mentioned in ch. 57. Some Editors read “Hyrgis” in this passage.]

[115] [参见第 119 章。 XNUMX.]

[116] [{klaiein lego}.]

[117] [{touto esti e apo Skutheon resis}: this refers to the last words, {klaiein lego}. Most Editors have doubts about the genuineness of the sentence, regarding it a marginal gloss which has crept into the text; but perhaps without sufficient reason.]

[118] [Or, “with some slight effect on the course of the war”.]

[119] [See i. 216.]

[120] [{eremothentes tou omilou}.]

[121] [{iesan tes phones}.]

[122] [{e mia kai Sauromatai}: some Editors read {e meta Sauromateon}. The MSS. give {e mia Sauromatai} (some {Sauromateon}). Stein inserts {kai}.]

[123] [{khairontes eleutheroi}.]

[124] [The list includes only those who voted in favour of the proposal of Histiaios (i.e. Miltiades is not included in it): hence perhaps Stein is right in suggesting some change in the text, e.g. {oi diapherontes te ten psephon basileos kai eontes logou pleistou}. The absence of the name of Coës is remarked by several commentators, who forget that he had accompanied Dareios: see ch. 97.]

[125] [Or, “and even so they found the passage of the river with difficulty”.]

[126] [{en Persesi}.]

[127] [即80,000。]

[128] [{gar}: some MSS. read {de}; so Stein and other Editors.]

[129] [i.e. Castor and Polydeukes the sons of Tyndareus, who were among the Argonauts.]

[130] [{Phera} (genitive).]

[131] [From {ois} “sheep” and {lukos} “wolf” ({oin en lukoisi}).]

[132] [{phule}, the word being here apparently used loosely.]

[133] [{‘Erinuon}.]

[134] [{meta touto upemeine touto touto}: some Editors mark a lacuna after {upemeine}, or supply some words like {sunebe de}: “after this the children survived, and the same thing happened also in Thera, etc”.]

[135] [Or, “Grinos”.]

[136] [{Euphemides}: the MSS. have {Euthumides}: the correction is from Pindar, Pyth. iv. 455.]

[137] [{onax}, the usual form of address to Apollo; so in ch. 155.]

[138] [Or, “Axos”.]

[139] [i.e. Aristoteles, Pind. Pyth. v. 87.]

[140] [{metaxu apolipon}.]

[141] [Or, “it happened both to himself and to the other men of Thera according to their former evil fortune”; but this would presuppose the truth of the story told in ch. 151, and {paligkotos} may mean simply “adverse” or “hostile”.]

[142] [{eontes tosoutoi osoi k.t.l.} They could hardly have failed to increase in number, but no new settlers had been added.]

[143] [{usteron elthe gas anadaiomenes}, “too late for the division of land”.]

[144] [Or, “Thestis”.]

[145] [The MSS. give also “Aliarchos” and “Learchos”.]

[146] [{mathon ekasta}.]

[147] [{ton terioikon}: i.e. conquered Libyans.]

[148] [{nesioteon panton}: i.e. the natives of the Cyclades, cp. vi. 99.]

[149] [{amphirruton ten Kurenen einai}: some Editors read by conjecture {ten amphirruton Kurenen einai} (or {Kurenen ten amph, einai}), “that Kyrene was the place flowed round by water”.]

[150] [{pselion}.]

[151] [Or, “Giligammai”.]

[152] [i.e. the plant so called, figured on the coins of Kyrene and Barca.]

[153] [Or, “Asbytai”.]

[154] [i.e. further from the coast, so {katuperthe}, ch. 174 etc., cp. ch. 16.]

[155] [Or “Cabales”.]

[156] [See i. 216.]

[157] [Distinct from the people of the same name mentioned in ch. 183: those here mentioned are called “Gamphasantes” by Pliny.]

[158] [{glukuteta}, “sweetness”.]

[159] [{allen te ekatomben kai de kai}.]

[160] [{epithespisanta to tripodi}, which can hardly mean “prophesied sitting upon the tripod”.]

[161] [Lit. “the men come together regularly to one place within three months,” which seems to mean that meetings are held every three months, before one of which the child is brought.]

[162] [See ii. 42.]

[163] [i.e. in the middle of the morning.]

[164] [{tripsin}: the “feel” to the touch: hence it might mean either hardness or softness according to the context.]

[165] [{troglodutas}: “Troglodytes”.]

[166] [{uperballonti}: “when his heat is greatest”.]

[167] [{ede}.]

[168] [Or “red”.]

[169] [{domon}: Reiske reads {omon} by conjecture, “over his shoulder”.]

[170] [Or (according to some MSS.), “practise this much and do it well”.]

[171] [{akatapseusta}. Several Editors have adopted the conjecture {katapseusta}, “other fabulous beasts”.]

[172] [{orues}: perhaps for {oruges} from {orux}, a kind of antelope.]

[173] [{diktues}: the meaning is uncertain.]

[174] [{ekhinees}, “urchins”.]

[175] [Or “Zabykes”.]

[176] [Or “Zygantes”.]

[177] [{eie d’ an pan}: cp. v. 9. Some translate, “and this might well be so”.]

[178] [{oud’ areten einai tis e Libue spoudaie}.]

[179] [i.e. corn; cp. i. 193.]

[180] [{bounous}.]

[181] [参见第 167 章。 XNUMX.]

[182] [{meden allo neokhmoun kata Barkaious}: cp. v. 19.]

[183] [{paralabontes}.]

[184] [{epiphthonoi}.]

第二卷

第五卷 • 历史的第五本书,称为 Terpsichore •24,600字

1. In the meantime those of the Persians who had been left behind in Europe by Dareios, of whom Megabazos was the commander, had subdued the people of Perinthos first of the Hellespontians, since they refused to be subject to Dareios. These had in former times also been hardly dealt with by the Paionians: for the Paionians from the Strymon had been commanded by an oracle of their god to march against the Perinthians; and if the Perinthians, when encamped opposite to them, should shout aloud and call to them by their name, they were to attack them; but if they should not shout to them, they were not to attack them: and thus the Paionians proceeded to do. Now when the Perinthians were encamped opposite to them in the suburb of their city, a challenge was made and a single combat took place in three different forms; for they matched a man against a man, and a horse against a horse, and a dog against a dog. Then, as the Perinthians were getting the better in two of the three, in their exultation they raised a shout of paion,[1][{ie paion} (or {paian}), as the burden of a song of triumph.] and the Paionians conjectured that this was the very thing which was spoken of in the oracle, and said doubtless to one another, “Now surely the oracle is being accomplished for us, now it is time for us to act.” So the Paionians attacked the Perinthians when they had raised the shout of paion, and they had much the better in the fight, and left but few of them alive.

2. Thus it happened with respect to those things which had been done to them in former times by the Paionians; and at this time, although the Perinthians proved themselves brave men in defence of their freedom, the Persians and Megabazos got the better of them by numbers. Then after Perinthos had been conquered, Megabazos marched his army through the length of Thracia, forcing every city and every race of those who dwell there to submit to the king, for so it had been commanded him by Dareios, to subdue Thracia.

3. Now the Thracian race is the most numerous, except the Indians, in all the world: and if it should come to be ruled over by one man, or to agree together in one, it would be irresistible in fight and the strongest by far of all nations, in my opinion. Since however this is impossible for them and cannot ever come to pass among them,[2][{eggenetai}: many MSS. and some Editors read {en genetai}, “and the race can never become united.”] they are in fact weak for that reason. They have many names, belonging to their various tribes in different places; but they all follow customs which are nearly the same in all respects, except the Getai and Trausians and those who dwell above the Crestonians.

4. Of these the practices of the Getai, who believe themselves to be immortal, have been spoken of by me already:[3][iv. 93.] and the Trausians perform everything else in the same manner as the other Thracians, but in regard to those who are born and die among them they do as follows:—when a child has been born, the nearest of kin sit round it and make lamentation for all the evils of which he must fulfil the measure, now that he is born,[301][Or “from the time that he was born.”] enumerating the whole number of human ills; but when a man is dead, they cover him up in the earth with sport and rejoicing, saying at the same time from what great evils he has escaped and is now in perfect bliss.

5. Those who dwell above the Crestonians do as follows:—each man has many wives, and when any man of them is dead, a great competition takes place among his wives, with much exertion on the part of their friends, about the question of which of them was most loved by their husband; and she who is preferred by the decision and so honoured, is first praised by both men and women, then her throat is cut over the tomb by her nearest of kin, and afterwards she is buried together with her husband; and the others are exceedingly grieved at it, for this is counted as the greatest reproach to them.

6. Of the other Thracians the custom is to sell their children to be carried away out of the country; and over their maidens they do not keep watch, but allow them to have commerce with whatever men they please, but over their wives they keep very great watch; and they buy their wives for great sums of money from their parents. To be pricked with figures is accounted a mark of noble rank, and not to be so marked is a sign of low birth.[4][{to astikton} is probably for {to me estikhthai}: but possibly the meaning may be, “those who are not so marked are of low birth.”] Not to work is counted most honourable, and to be a worker of the soil is above all things dishonourable: to live on war and plunder is the most honourable thing.

7. These are their most remarkable customs; and of the gods they worship only Ares and Dionysos and Artemis. Their kings, however, apart from the rest of the people, worship Hermes more than all gods, and swear by him alone; and they say that they are descended from Hermes. 8. The manner of burial for the rich among them is this:—for three days they expose the corpse to view, and they slay all kinds of victims and feast, having first made lamentation. Then they perform the burial rites, either consuming the body with fire or covering it up in the earth without burning; and afterwards when they have heaped up a mound they celebrate games with every kind of contest, in which reasonably the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat.[5][“the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat in proportion” (as it is more difficult).] This is the manner of burial among the Thracians.

9. Of the region lying further on towards the North of this country no one can declare accurately who the men are who dwell in it; but the parts which lie immediately beyond the Ister are known to be uninhabited and vast in extent. The only men of whom I can hear who dwell beyond the Ister are those who are said to be called Sigynnai, and who use the Median fashion of dress. Their horses, it is said, have shaggy hair all over their bodies, as much as five fingers long; and these are small and flat-nosed and too weak to carry men, but when yoked in chariots they are very high-spirited; therefore the natives of the country drive chariots. The boundaries of this people extend, it is said, to the parts near the Enetoi, who live on the Adriatic; and people say that they are colonists from the Medes. In what way however these have come to be colonists from the Medes I am not able for my part to conceive, but everything is possible in the long course of ages. However that may be, the Ligurians who dwell in the region inland above Massalia call traders sigynnai, and the men of Cyprus give the same name to spears.

10. Now the Thracians say that the other side of the Ister is occupied by bees, and that by reason of them it is not possible to pass through and proceed further: but to me it seems that when they so speak, they say that which is not probable; for these creatures are known to be intolerant of cold, and to me it seems that the regions which go up towards the pole are uninhabitable by reason of the cold climate. These then are the tales reported about this country; and however that may be, Megabazos was then making the coast-regions of it subject to the Persians.

11. Meanwhile Dareios, so soon as he had crossed over the Hellespont and come to Sardis, called to mind the service rendered to him by Histiaios the Milesian and also the advice of the Mytilenian Coës, and having sent for them to come to Sardis he offered them a choice of rewards. Histiaios then, being despot of Miletos, did not make request for any government in addition to that, but he asked for the district of Myrkinos which belonged to the Edonians, desiring there to found a city. Histiaios chose this for himself; but Coës, not being a despot but a man of the people, asked to be made despot of Mitylene.

12. After the desires of both had been fulfilled, they betook themselves to that which they had chosen: and at this same time it chanced that Dareios saw a certain thing which made him desire to command Megabazos to conquer the Paionians and remove them forcibly from Europe into Asia: and the thing was this:—There were certain Paionians named Pigres and Mantyas, who when Dareios had crossed over into Asia, came to Sardis, because they desired themselves to have rule over the Paionians, and with them they brought their sister, who was tall and comely. Then having watched for a time when Dareios took his seat publicly in the suburb of the Lydian city, they dressed up their sister in the best way they could, and sent her to fetch water, having a water-jar upon her head and leading a horse after her by a bridle round her arm, and at the same time spinning flax. Now when the woman passed out of the city by him, Dareios paid attention to the matter, for that which was done by the woman was not of Persian nor yet of Lydian fashion, nor indeed after the manner of any people of Asia. He sent therefore some of his spearmen, bidding them watch what the woman would do with the horse. They accordingly followed after her; and she having arrived at the river watered the horse, and having watered him and filled her jar with the water, she passed along by the same way, bearing the water upon her head, leading the horse after her by a bridle round her arm, and at the same time turning the spindle.

13. Then Dareios, marvelling both at that which he heard from those who went to observe and also at that which he saw himself, bade them bring her into his presence: and when she was brought, her brothers also came, who had been watching these things at no great distance off. So then when Dareios asked of what country she was, the young men said that they were Paionians and that she was their sister; and he replied: “Who then are these Paionians, and where upon the earth do they dwell?” and he asked them also what they desired, that they had come to Sardis. They declared to him that they had come to give themselves up to him, and that Paionia was a country situated upon the river Strymon, and that the Strymon was not far from the Hellespont, and finally that they were colonists from the Teucrians of Troy. All these things severally they told him; and he asked whether all the women of that land were as industrious as their sister; and they very readily replied to this also, saying that it was so, for it was with a view to that very thing that they had been doing this.

14. Then Dareios wrote a letter to Megabazos, whom he had left to command his army in Thrace, bidding him remove the Paionians from their place of habitation and bring them to the king, both themselves and their children and their wives. Then forthwith a horseman set forth to ride in haste bearing the message to the Hellespont, and having passed over to the other side he gave the paper to Megabazos. So he having read it and having obtained guides from Thrace, set forth to march upon Paionia:

15. and the Paionians, being informed that the Persians were coming against them, gathered all their powers together and marched out in the direction of the sea, supposing that the Persians when they invaded them would make their attack on that side. The Paionians then were prepared, as I say, to drive off the army of Megabazos when it came against them; but the Persians hearing that the Paionians had gathered their powers and were guarding the entrance which lay towards the sea, directed their course with guides along the upper road; and passing unperceived by the Paionians they fell upon their cities, which were left without men, and finding them without defenders they easily took possession of them. The Paionians when they heard that their cities were in the hands of the enemy, at once dispersed, each tribe to its own place of abode, and proceeded to deliver themselves up to the Persians. Thus then it happened that these tribes of the Paionians, namely the Siropaionians,[6][Or “Siriopaionians.”] the Paioplians and all up to the lake Prasias, were removed from their place of habitation and brought to Asia;

16, but those who dwell about mount Pangaion, and about the Doberians and Agrianians and Odomantians,[7][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.] and about the lake Prasias itself, were not conquered at all by Megabazos. He tried however to remove even those who lived in the lake and who had their dwellings in the following manner:—a platform fastened together and resting upon lofty piles stood in the middle of the water of the lake, with a narrow approach to it from the mainland by a single bridge. The piles which supported the platform were no doubt originally set there by all the members of the community working together, but since that time they continue to set them by observance of this rule, that is to say, every man who marries brings from the mountain called Orbelos three piles for each wife and sets them as supports; and each man takes to himself many wives. And they have their dwelling thus, that is each man has possession of a hut upon the platform in which he lives and of a trap-door[8][{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}.)] leading through the platform down to the lake: and their infant children they tie with a rope by the foot, for fear that they should roll into the water. To their horses and beasts of burden they give fish for fodder; and of fish there is so great quantity that if a man open the trap-door and let down an empty basket by a cord into the lake, after waiting quite a short time he draws it up again full of fish. Of the fish there are two kinds, and they call them paprax蒂隆.

17. So then those of the Paionians who had been conquered were being brought to Asia: and Megabazos meanwhile, after he had conquered the Paionians, sent as envoys to Macedonia seven Persians, who after himself were the men of most repute in the army. These were being sent to Amyntas to demand of him earth and water for Dareios the king. Now from lake Prasias there is a very short way into Macedonia; for first, quite close to the lake, there is the mine from which after this time there came in regularly a talent of silver every day to Alexander; and after the mine, when you have passed over the mountain called Dysoron, you are in Macedonia.

18. These Persians then, who had been sent to Amyntas, having arrived came into the presence of Amyntas and proceeded to demand earth and water for king Dareios. This he was willing to give, and also he invited them to be his guests; and he prepared a magnificent dinner and received the Persians with friendly hospitality. Then when dinner was over, the Persians while drinking pledges to one another[9][{diapinontes}: or perhaps, “drinking against one another.”] said thus: “Macedonian guest-friend, it is the custom among us Persians, when we set forth a great dinner, then to bring in also our concubines and lawful wives to sit beside us. Do thou then, since thou didst readily receive us and dost now entertain us magnificently as thy guests, and since thou art willing to give to king Dareios earth and water, consent to follow our custom.” To this Amyntas replied: “Persians, among us the custom is not so, but that men should be separate from women. Since however ye being our masters make this request in addition, this also shall be given you.” Having so said Amyntas proceeded to send for the women; and when they came being summoned, they sat down in order opposite to the Persians. Then the Persians, seeing women of comely form, spoke to Amyntas and said that this which had been done was by no means well devised; for it was better that the women should not come at all, than that they should come and should not seat themselves by their side, but sit opposite and be a pain to their eyes. So Amyntas being compelled bade them sit by the side of the Persians; and when the women obeyed, forthwith the Persians, being much intoxicated, began to touch their breasts, and some no doubt also tried to kiss them.

19. Amyntas seeing this kept quiet, notwithstanding that he felt anger, because he excessively feared the Persians; but Alexander the son of Amyntas, who was present and saw this, being young and without experience of calamity was not able to endure any longer; but being impatient of it he said to Amyntas: “My father, do thou grant that which thy age demands, and go away to rest, nor persevere longer in the drinking; but I will remain here and give to our guests all that is convenient.” On this Amyntas, understanding that Alexander was intending to do some violence, said: “My son, I think that I understand thy words, as the heat of anger moves thee, namely that thou desirest to send me away and then do some deed of violence: therefore I ask of thee not to do violence to these men, that it may not be our ruin, but endure to see that which is being done: as to my departure, however, in that I will do as thou sayest.”

20. When Amyntas after having made of him this request had departed, Alexander said to the Persians: “With these women ye have perfect freedom, guests, to have commerce with all, if ye so desire, or with as many of them as ye will. About this matter ye shall be they who give the word; but now, since already the hour is approaching for you to go to bed and I see that ye have well drunk, let these women go away, if so it is pleasing to you, to bathe themselves; and when they have bathed, then receive them back into your company.” Having so said, since the Persians readily agreed, he dismissed the women, when they had gone out, to the women’s chambers; and Alexander himself equipped men equal in number to the women and smooth-faced, in the dress of the women, and giving them daggers he led them into the banqueting-room; and as he led them in, he said thus to the Persians: “Persians, it seems to me that ye have been entertained with a feast to which nothing was wanting; for other things, as many as we had, and moreover such as we were able to find out and furnish, are all supplied to you, and there is this especially besides, which is the chief thing of all, that is, we give you freely in addition our mothers and our sisters, in order that ye may perceive fully that ye are honoured by us with that treatment which ye deserve, and also in order that ye may report to the king who sent you that a man of Hellas, ruler under him of the Macedonians, entertained you well at board and bed.” Having thus said Alexander caused a Macedonian man in the guise of a woman to sit by each Persian, and they, when the Persians attempted to lay hands on them, slew them.

21. So these perished by this fate, both they themselves and their company of servants; for there came with them carriages and servants and all the usual pomp of equipage, and this was all made away with at the same time as they. Afterwards in no long time a great search was made by the Persians for these men, and Alexander stopped them with cunning by giving large sums of money and his own sister, whose name was Gygaia;—by giving, I say, these things to Bubares a Persian, commander of those who were searching for the men who had been killed, Alexander stopped their search.

22. Thus the death of these Persians was kept concealed. And that these descendants of Perdiccas are Hellenes, as they themselves say, I happen to know myself, and not only so, but I will prove in the succeeding history that they are Hellenes.[10][参见第八。 137.] Moreover the Hellanodicai, who manage the games at Olympia, decided that they were so: for when Alexander wished to contend in the games and had descended for this purpose into the arena, the Hellenes who were to run against him tried to exclude him, saying that the contest was not for Barbarians to contend in but for Hellenes: since however Alexander proved that he was of Argos, he was judged to be a Hellene, and when he entered the contest of the foot-race his lot came out with that of the first.[11][i.e. “he was drawn to run in the first pair.”]

23. Thus then it happened with regard to these things: and at the same time Megabazos had arrived at the Hellespont bringing with him the Paionians; and thence after passing over the straits he came to Sardis. Then, since Histiaios the Milesian was already engaged in fortifying with a wall the place which he had asked and obtained from Dareios as a reward for keeping safe the bridge of boats (this place being that which is called Myrkinos, lying along the bank of the river Strymon), Megabazos, having perceived that which was being done by Histiaios, as soon as he came to Sardis bringing the Paionians, said thus to Dareios: “O king, what a thing is this that thou hast done, granting permission to a Hellene who is skilful and cunning to found a city in Thracia in a place where there is forest for shipbuilding in abundance and great quantity of wood for oars and mines of silver and great numbers both of Hellenes and Barbarians living round, who when they have obtained a leader will do that which he shall command them both by day and by night. Therefore stop this man from doing so, that thou be not involved in a domestic war: and stop him by sending for him in a courteous manner; but when thou hast got him in thy hands, then cause that he shall never again return to the land of the Hellenes.”.

24. Thus saying Megabazos easily persuaded Dareios, who thought that he was a true prophet of that which was likely to come to pass: and upon that Dareios sent a messenger to Myrkinos and said as follows: “Hisiaios, king Dareios saith these things:—By taking thought I find that there is no one more sincerely well disposed than thou art to me and to my power; and this I know having learnt by deeds not words. Now therefore, since I have it in my mind to accomplish great matters, come hither to me by all means, that I may communicate them to thee.” Histiaios therefore, trusting to these sayings and at the same time accounting it a great thing to become a counsellor of the king, came to Sardis; and when he had come Dareios spoke to him as follows: “Histiaios, I sent for thee for this reason, namely because when I had returned from the Scythians and thou wert gone away out of the sight of my eyes, never did I desire to see anything again within so short a time as I desired then both to see thee and that thou shouldst come to speech with me; since I perceived that the most valuable of all possessions is a friend who is a man of understanding and also sincerely well-disposed, both which qualities I know exist in thee, and I am able to bear witness of them in regard to my affairs. Now therefore (for thou didst well in that thou camest hither) this is that which I propose to thee:—leave Miletos alone and also thy newly-founded city in Thracia, and coming with me to Susa, have whatsoever things I have, eating at my table and being my counseller.”.

25. Thus said Dareios, and having appointed Artaphrenes[12][The best MSS. give this form throughout, which is also used by Æschylus: cp. iii. 70, note 60.] his own brother and the son of his father to be governor of Sardis, he marched away to Susa taking with him Histiaios, after he had first named Otanes to be commander of those who dwelt along the sea coasts. This man’s father Sisamnes, who had been made one of the Royal Judges, king Cambyses slew, because he had judged a cause unjustly for money, and flayed off all his skin: then after he had torn away the skin he cut leathern thongs out of it and stretched them across the seat where Sisamnes had been wont to sit to give judgment; and having stretched them in the seat, Cambyses appointed the son of that Sisamnes whom he had slain and flayed, to be judge instead of his father, enjoining him to remember in what seat he was sitting to give judgment..

26. This Otanes then, who was made to sit in that seat, had now become the successor of Megabazos in the command: and he conquered the Byzantians and Calchedonians, and he conquered Antandros in the land of Troas, and Lamponion; and having received ships from the Lesbians he conquered Lemnos and Imbros, which were both at that time still inhabited by Pelasgians..

27. Of these the Lemnians fought well, and defending themselves for a long time were at length brought to ruin;[13][{ekakothesan}.] and over those of them who survived the Persians set as governor Lycaretos the brother of that Maiandrios who had been king of Samos. This Lycaretos ruled in Lemnos till his death. And the cause of it[14][{toutou}: it is doubtful whether this means his power or his death. Perhaps something has dropped out after {teleuta}.] was this:—he continued to reduce all to slavery and subdue them, accusing some of desertion to the Scythians and others of doing damage to the army of Dareios as it was coming back from Scythia.

28. Otanes then effected so much when he was made commander: and after this for a short time there was an abatement[15][{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.] of evils; and then again evils began a second time to fall upon the Ionians, arising from Naxos and Miletos. For Naxos was superior to all the other islands in wealth, and Miletos at the same time had just then come to the very height of its prosperity and was the ornament[16][{praskhema}.] of Ionia; but before these events for two generations of men it had been afflicted most violently by faction until the Parians reformed it; for these the Milesians chose of all the Hellenes to be reformers of their State..

29. Now the Parians thus reconciled their factions:—the best men of them came to Miletos, and seeing that the Milesians were in a grievously ruined state, they said that they desired to go over their land: and while doing this and passing through the whole territory of Miletos, whenever they saw in the desolation of the land any field that was well cultivated, they wrote down the name of the owner of that field. Then when they had passed through the whole land and had found but few of such men, as soon as they returned to the city they called a general gathering and appointed these men to manage the State, whose fields they had found well cultivated; for they said that they thought these men would take care of the public affairs as they had taken care of their own: and the rest of the Milesians, who before had been divided by factions, they commanded to be obedient to these men.

30. The Parians then had thus reformed the Milesians; but at the time of which I speak evils began to come to Ionia from these States[17][i.e. Miletos and Naxos.] in the following manner:—From Naxos certain men of the wealthier class[18][{ton pakheon}.] were driven into exile by the people, and having gone into exile they arrived at Miletos. Now of Miletos it happened that Aristagoras son of Molpagoras was ruler in charge, being both a son-in-law and also a cousin of Histiaios the son of Lysagoras, whom Dareios was keeping at Susa: for Histiaios was despot of Miletos, and it happened that he was at Susa at this time when the Naxians came, who had been in former times guest-friends of Histiaios. So when the Naxians arrived, they made request of Aristagoras, to see if perchance he would supply them with a force, and so they might return from exile to their own land: and he, thinking that if by his means they should return to their own State, he would be ruler of Naxos, but at the same time making a pretext of the guest-friendship of Histiaios, made proposal to them thus: “I am not able to engage that I can supply you with sufficient force to bring you back from exile against the will of those Naxians who have control of the State; for I hear that the Naxians have an army which is eight thousand shields strong and many ships of war: but I will use every endeavour to devise a means; and my plan is this:—it chances that Artaphrenes is my friend: now Artaphrenes, ye must know, [1801][{umin}: omitted in some MSS. and editions.] is a son of Hystaspes and brother of Dareios the king; and he is ruler of all the people of the sea-coasts in Asia, with a great army and many ships. This man then I think will do whatsoever we shall request of him.” Hearing this the Naxians gave over the matter to Aristagoras to manage as best he could, and they bade him promise gifts and the expenses of the expedition, saying that they would pay them; for they had full expectation that when they should appear at Naxos, the Naxians would do all their bidding, and likewise also the other islanders. For of these islands, that is the Cyclades, not one was as yet subject to Dareios.

31. Aristagoras accordingly having arrived at Sardis, said to Artaphrenes that Naxos was an island not indeed large in size, but fair nevertheless and of fertile soil, as well as near to Ionia, and that there was in it much wealth and many slaves: “Do thou therefore send an expedition against this land, and restore it to those who are now exiles from it: and if thou shalt do this, first I have ready for thee large sums of money apart from the expenses incurred for the expedition (which it is fair that we who conduct it should supply), and next thou wilt gain for the king not only Naxos itself but also the islands which are dependent upon it, Paros and Andros and the others which are called Cyclades; and setting out from these thou wilt easily attack Euboea, an island which is large and wealth, as large indeed as Cyprus, and very easy to conquer. To subdue all these a hundred ships are sufficient.” He made answer in these words: “Thou makest thyself a reporter of good things to the house of the king; and in all these things thou advisest well, except as to the number of the ships: for instead of one hundred there shall be prepared for thee two hundred by the beginning of the spring. And it is right that the king himself also should join in approving this matter.”.

32. So Aristagoras hearing this went back to Miletos greatly rejoiced; and Artaphrenes meanwhile, when he had sent to Susa and communicated that which was said by Aristagoras, and Dareios himself also had joined in approving it, made ready two hundred triremes and a very great multitude both of Persians and their allies, and appointed to be commander of these Megabates a Persian, one of the Achaimenidai and a cousin to himself and to Dareios, to whose daughter afterwards Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus the Lacedaemonian (at least if the story be true) betrothed himself, having formed a desire to become a despot of Hellas. Having appointed Megabates, I say, to be commander, Artaphrenes sent away the armament to Aristagoras..

33. So when Megabates had taken force together with the Naxians, he sailed with the pretence of going to the Hellespont; but when he came to Chios, he directed his ships to Caucasa, in order that he might from thence pass them over to Naxos with a North Wind. Then, since it was not fated that the Naxians should be destroyed by this expedition, there happened an event which I shall narrate. As Megabates was going round to visit the guards set in the several ships, it chanced that in a ship of Myndos there was no one on guard; and he being very angry bade his spearmen find out the commander of the ship, whose name was Skylax, and bind him in an oar-hole of his ship in such a manner[19][Lit. “dividing him in such a manner.”] that his head should be outside and his body within. When Skylax was thus bound, some one reported to Aristagoras that Megabates had bound his guest-friend of Myndos and was doing to him shameful outrage. He accordingly came and asked the Persian for his release, and as he did not obtain anything of that which he requested, he went himself and let him loose. Being informed of this Megabates was exceedingly angry and broke out in rage against Aristagoras; and he replied: “What hast thou to do with these matters? Did not Artaphrenes send thee to obey me, and to sail whithersoever I should order? Why dost thou meddle with things which concern thee not?” Thus said Aristagoras; and the other being enraged at this, when night came on sent men in a ship to Naxos to declare to the Naxians all the danger that threatened them..

34. For the Naxians were not at all expecting that this expedition would be against them: but when they were informed of it, forthwith they brought within the wall the property which was in the fields, and provided for themselves food and drink as for a siege, and strengthened their wall.[20][{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.] These then were making preparations as for war to come upon them; and the others meanwhile having passed their ships over from Chios to Naxos, found them well defended when they made their attack, and besieged them for four months. Then when the money which the Persians had brought with them had all been consumed by them, and not only that, but Aristagoras himself had spent much in addition, and the siege demanded ever more and more, they built walls for the Naxian exiles and departed to the mainland again with ill success..

35. And so Aristagoras was not able to fulfil his promise to Artaphrenes; and at the same time he was hard pressed by the demand made to him for the expenses of the expedition, and had fears because of the ill success of the armament and because he had become an enemy of Megabates; and he supposed that he would be deprived of his rule over Miletos. Having all these various fears he began to make plans of revolt: for it happened also that just at this time the man who had been marked upon the head had come from Hisiaios who was at Susa, signifying that Aristagoras should revolt from the king. For Histiaios, desiring to signify to Aristagoras that he should revolt, was not able to do it safely in any other way, because the roads were guarded, but shaved off the hair of the most faithful of his slaves, and having marked his head by pricking it, waited till the hair had grown again; and as soon as it was grown, he sent him away to Miletos, giving him no other charge but this, namely that when he should have arrived at Miletos he should bid Aristagoras shave his hair and look at his head: and the marks, as I have said before, signified revolt. This thing Histiaios was doing, because he was greatly vexed by being detained at Susa. He had great hopes then that if a revolt occurred he would be let go to the sea-coast; but if no change was made at Miletos [2001][{me de neoteron ti poieuses tes Miletou}, “if Miletos made no change (i.e. rebellion).”] he had no expectation of ever returning thither again.

36. Accordingly Hisiaios with this intention was sending the messenger; and it chanced that all these things happened to Aristagoras together at the same time. He took counsel therefore with his partisans, declaring to them both his own opinion and the message from Hisiaios; and while all the rest expressed an opinion to the same effect, urging him namely to make revolt, Hecataios the historian urged first that they should not undertake war with the king of the Persians, enumerating all the nations over whom Dareios was ruler, and his power: and when he did not succeed in persuading him, he counselled next that they should manage to make themselves masters of the sea. Now this, he continued, could not come to pass in any other way, so far as he could see, for he knew that the force of the Milesians was weak, but if the treasures should be taken[21][{katairetheie}, “taken down” from their place (cp. {anetheke} below).] which were in the temple at Branchidai, which Croesus the Lydian dedicated as offerings, he had great hopes that they might become masters of the sea; and by this means they would not only themselves have wealth at their disposal, but the enemy would not be able to carry the things off as plunder. Now these treasures were of great value, as I have shown in the first part of the history.[22][{en to peoto ton logon}. The reference is to i. 92.] This opinion did not prevail; but nevertheless it was resolved to make revolt, and that one of them should sail to Myus, to make the force which had returned from Naxos and was then there, and endeavour to seize the commanders who sailed in the ships..

37. So Iatragoras was sent for this purpose and seized by craft Oliatos the son of Ibanollis of Mylasa, and Histiaios the son of Tymnes of Termera, and Coës the son of Erxander, to whom Dareios had given Mytilene as a gift, and Aristagoras the son of Heracleides of Kyme, and many others; and then Aristagoras openly made revolt and devised all that he could to the hurt of Dareios. And first he pretended to resign the despotic power and give to Miletos equality,[23][{isonomien}: cp. iii. 80.] in order that the Milesians might be willing to revolt with him: then afterwards he proceeded to do this same thing in the rest of Ionia also; and some of the despots he drove out, but those whom he had taken from the ships which had sailed with him to Naxis, these he surrendered, because he desired to do a pleasure to their cities, delivering them over severally to that city from which each one came..

38. Now the men of Mitylene, so soon as they received Coës into their hands, brought him out and stoned him to death; but the men of Kyme let their despot go, and so also most of the others let them go. Thus then the despots were deposed in the various cities; and Aristagoras the Milesian, after having deposed the despots, bade each people appoint commanders in their several cities, and then himself set forth as an envoy to Lacedemon; for in truth it was necessary that he should find out some powerful alliance.

39. Now at Sparta Anaxandrides the son of Leon was no longer surviving as king, but had brought his life to an end; and Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides was holding the royal power, not having obtained it by merit but by right of birth. For Anaxandrides had to wife his own sister’s daughter and she was by him much beloved, but no children were born to him by her. This being so, the Ephors summoned him before them and said: “If thou dost not for thyself take thought in time, yet we cannot suffer this to happen, that the race of Eurysthenes should become extinct. Do thou therefore put away from thee the wife whom thou now hast, since, as thou knowest, she bears thee no children, and marry another: and in doing so thou wilt please the Spartans.” He made answer saying that he would do neither of these two things, and that they did not give him honourable counsel, in that they advised him to send away the wife whom he had, though she had done him no wrong, and to take to his house another; and in short he would not follow their advice..

40. Upon this the Ephors and the Senators deliberated together and proposed to Anaxandrides as follows: “Since then we perceive that thou art firmly attached to the wife whom thou now hast, consent to do this, and set not thyself against it, lest the Spartans take some counsel about thee other than might be wished. We do not ask of thee the putting away of the wife whom thou hast; but do thou give to her all that thou givest now and at the same time take to thy house another wife in addition to this one, to bear thee children.” When they spoke to him after this manner, Anaxandrides consented, having two wives, a thing which was not by any means after the Spartan fashion..

41. Then when no long time had elapsed, the wife who had come in afterwards bore this Cleomenes of whom we spoke; and just when she was bringing to the light an heir to the kingdom of the Spartans, the former wife, who had during the time before been childless, then by some means conceived, chancing to do so just at that time: and though she was in truth with child, the kinsfolk of the wife who had come in afterwards, when they heard of it cried out against her and said that she was making a vain boast, and that she meant to pass off another child as her own. Since then they made a great show of indignation, as the time was fast drawing near, the Ephors being incredulous sat round and watched the woman during the birth of her child: and she bore Dorieos and then straightway conceived Leonidas and after him at once Cleombrotos,—nay, some even say that Cleombrotos and Leonidas were twins. The wife however who had born Cleomenes and had come in after the first wife, being the daughter of Primetades the son of Demarmenos, did not bear a child again..

42. Now Cleomenes, it is said, was not quite in his right senses but on the verge of madness,[24][{akromantes}: cp. {akrakholos}. It may mean “somewhat mad,” so {akrozumos}, “slightly leavened,” and other words.] while Dorieos was of all his equals in age the first, and felt assured that he would obtain the kingdom by merit. Seeing then that he had this opinion, when Anaxandrides died and the Lacedemonians followed the usual custom established the eldest, namely Cleomenes, upon the throne, Dorieos being indignant and not thinking it fit that he should be a subject of Cleomenes, asked the Spartans to give him a company of followers and led them out to found a colony, without either inquiring of the Oracle at Delphi to what land he should go to make a settlement, or doing any of the things which are usually done; but being vexed he sailed away with his ships to Libya, and the Theraians were his guides thither. Then having come to Kinyps[25][{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.] he made a settlement in the fairest spot of all Libya, along the banks of the river; but afterwards in the third year he was driven out from thence by the Macai and the Libyans[26][{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}.] and the Carthaginians, and returned to Peloponnesus..

43. Then Antichares a man of Eleon gave him counsel out of the oracles of Laïos to make a settlement at Heracleia[27][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.] in Sicily, saying that the whole land of Eryx belonged to the Heracleidai, since Heracles himself had won it: and hearing this he went forthwith to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle whether he would be able to conquer the land to which he was setting forth; and the Pythian prophetess replied to him that he would conquer it. Dorieos therefore took with him the armament which he conducted before to Libya, and voyaged along the coast of Italy.[28][{para ten Italion}: the name applied anciently only to the South-West of the peninsula.]

44. Now at this time, the men of Sybaris say that they and their king Telys were about to make an expedition against Croton, and the men of Croton being exceedingly alarmed asked Dorieos to help them and obtained their request. So Dorieos joined them in an expedition against Sybaris and helped them to conquer Sybaris. This is what the men of Sybaris say of the doings of Dorieos and his followers; but those of Croton say that no stranger helped them in the war against the Sybarites except Callias alone, a diviner of Elis and one of the descendants of Iamos, and he in the following manner:—he ran away, they say, from Telys the despot of the Sybarites, when the sacrifices did not prove favourable, as he was sacrificing for the expedition against Croton, and so he came to them.

45. Such, I say, are the tales which these tell, and they severally produce as evidence of them the following facts:—the Sybarites point to a sacred enclosure and temple by the side of the dried-up bed of the Crathis,[29][{Krathin}, the MSS. give {krastin} here, and {krastie} below for {Krathie}. Sybaris was situated between the rivers Crathis and Sybaris.] which they say that Dorieos, after he had joined in the capture of the city, set up to Athene surnamed “of the Crathis”; and besides they consider the death of Dorieos himself to be a very strong evidence, thinking that he perished because he acted contrary to the oracle which was given to him; for if he had not done anything by the way but had continued to do that for which he was sent, he would have conquered the land of Eryx and having conquered it would have become possessor of it, and he and his army would not have perished. On the other hand the men of Croton declare that many things were granted in the territory of Croton as special gifts to Callias the Eleisan, of which the descendants of Callias were still in possession down to my time, and that nothing was granted to Dorieos or the descendants of Dorieos: but if Dorieos had in fact helped them in the way with Sybaris, many times as much, they say, would have been given to him as to Callias. These then are the evidences which the two sides produce, and we may assent to whichever of them we think credible..

46. Now there sailed with Dorieos others also of the Spartans, to be joint-founders with him of the colony, namely Thessalos and Paraibates and Keleas and Euryleon; and these when they had reached Sicily with all their armament, were slain, being defeated in battle by the Phenicians and the men of Egesta; and Euryleon only of the joint-founders survived this disaster. This man then having collected the survivors of the expedition, took possession of Minoa the colony of Selinus, and he helped to free the men of Selinus from their despot Peithagoras. Afterwards, when he had deposed him, he laid hands himself upon the despotism in Selinus and became sole ruler there, though but for a short time; for the men of Selinus rose in revolt against him and slew him, notwithstanding that he had fled for refuge to the altar of Zeus Agoraios.[30][i.e. “of the Market-place.”]

47. There had accompanied Dorieos also and died with him Philip the son of Butakides, a man of Croton, who having betrothed himself to the daughter of Telys the Sybarite, became an exile from Croton; and then being disappointed of this marriage he sailed away to Kyrene, whence he set forth and accompanied Dorieos with a trireme of his own, himself supplying the expenses of the crew. Now this man had been a victor at the Olympic games, and he was the most beautiful of the Hellenes who lived in his time; and on account of his beauty he obtained from the men of Egesta that which none else ever obtained from them, for they established a hero-temple over his tomb, and they propitiate him still with sacrifices.

48. In this manner Dorieos ended his life: but if he had endured to be a subject of Cleomenes and had remained in Sparta, he would have been king of Lacedemon; for Cleomenes reigned no very long time, and died leaving no son to succeed him but a daughter only, whose name was Gorgo.

49. However, Aristagoras the despot of Miletos arrived at Sparta while Cleomenes was reigning: and accordingly with him he came to speech, having, as the Lacedemonians say, a tablet of bronze, on which was engraved a map[31][{periodos}.] of the whole Earth, with all the sea and all the rivers. And when he came to speech with Cleomenes he said to him as follows: “Marvel not, Cleomenes, at my earnestness in coming hither, for the case is this.—That the sons of the Ionians should be slaves instead of free is a reproach and a grief most of all indeed to ourselves, but of all others most to you, inasmuch as ye are the leaders of Hellas. Now therefore I entreat you by the gods of Hellas to rescue from slavery the Ionians, who are your own kinsmen: and ye may easily achieve this, for the Barbarians are not valiant in fight, whereas ye have attained to the highest point of valour in that which relates to war: and their fighting is of this fashion, namely with bows and arrows and a short spear, and they go into battle wearing trousers and with caps[32][{kurbasias}: see vii. 64.] on their heads. Thus they are easily conquered. Then again they who occupy that continent have good things in such quantity as not all the other nations of the world together possess; first gold, then silver and bronze and embroidered garments and beasts of burden and slaves; all which ye might have for yourselves, if ye so desired. And the nations moreover dwell in such order one after the other as I shall declare:—the Ionians here; and next to them the Lydians, who not only dwell in a fertile land, but are also exceedingly rich in gold and silver,”[33][{poluargurotatoi}: this seems to include gold also, for which Lydia was famous.]—and as he said this he pointed to the map of the Earth, which he carried with him engraved upon the tablet,—”and here next to the Lydians,” continued Aristagoras, “are the Eastern Phrygians, who have both the greatest number of sheep and cattle[34][{poluprobatotatoi}.] of any people that I know, and also the most abundant crops. Next to the Phrygians are the Cappadokians, whom we call Syrians; and bordering upon them are the Kilikians, coming down to this[35][{tende}, pointing to it in the map.] sea, in which lies the island of Cyprus here; and these pay five hundred talents to the king for their yearly tribute. Next to these Kilikians are the Armenians, whom thou mayest see here, and these also have great numbers of sheep and cattle. Next to the Armenians are the Matienians occupying this country here; and next to them is the land of Kissia here, in which land by the banks of this river Choaspes is situated that city of Susa where the great king has his residence, and where the money is laid up in treasuries. After ye have taken this city ye may then with good courage enter into a contest with Zeus in the matter of wealth. Nay, but can it be that ye feel yourselves bound to take upon you the risk of[36][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.] battles against Messenians and Arcadians and Argives, who are equally matched against you, for the sake of land which is not much in extent nor very fertile, and for confines which are but small, though these peoples have neither gold nor silver at all, for the sake of which desire incites one to fight and to die,—can this be, I say, and will ye choose some other way now, when it is possible for you easily to have the rule over all Asia?” Aristagoras spoke thus, and Cleomenes answered him saying: “Guest-friend from Miletos, I defer my answer to thee until the day after to-morrow.”[37][{es triten emeren}.]

50. Thus far then they advanced at that time; and when the appointed day arrived for the answer, and they had come to the place agreed upon, Cleomenes asked Aristagoras how many days’ journey it was from the sea of the Ionians to the residence of the king. Now Aristagoras, who in other respects acted cleverly and imposed upon him well, in this point made a mistake: for whereas he ought not to have told him the truth, at least if he desired to bring the Spartans out to Asia, he said in fact that it was a journey up from the sea of three months: and the other cutting short the rest of the account which Aristagoras had begun to give of the way, said: “Guest-friend from Miletos, get thee away from Sparta before the sun has set; for thou speakest a word which sounds not well in the ears of the Lacedemonians, desiring to take them a journey of three months from the sea.”.

51. Cleomenes accordingly having so said went away to his house: but Aristagoras took the suppliant’s branch and went to the house of Cleomenes; and having entered in as a suppliant, he bade Cleomenes send away the child and listen to him; for the daughter of Cleomenes was standing by him, whose name was Gorgo, and this as it chanced was his only child, being of the age now of eight or nine years. Cleomenes however bade him say that which he desired to say, and not to stop on account of the child. Then Aristagoras proceeded to promise him money, beginning with ten talents, if he would accomplish for him that for which he was asking; and when Cleomenes refused, Aristagoras went on increasing the sums of money offered, until at last he had promised fifty talents, and at that moment the child cried out: “Father, the stranger will do thee hurt,[38][{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.] if thou do not leave him and go.” Cleomenes, then, pleased by the counsel of the child, departed into another room, and Aristagoras went away from Sparta altogether, and had no opportunity of explaining any further about the way up from the sea to the residence of the king.

52. As regards this road the truth is as follows.—Everywhere there are royal stages[39][{stathmoi}: “stations,” the distance between them averaging here about 120 stades.] and excellent resting-places, and the whole road runs through country which is inhabited and safe. Through Lydia and Phrygia there extend twenty stages, amounting to ninety-four and a half leagues;[40][{parasaggai}: the “parasang,” as estimated at 30 stades, would be nearly 3½ English miles.] and after Phrygia succeeds the river Halys, at which there is a gate [4001][i.e. a narrow pass; so also below in speaking of the passes into Kilikia.] which one must needs pass through in order to cross the river, and a strong guard-post is established there. Then after crossing over into Cappadokia it is twenty-eight stages, being a hundred and four leagues, by this way to the borders of Kilikia; and on the borders of the Kilikians you will pass through two several gates and go by two several guard-posts: then after passing through these it is three stages, amounting to fifteen and a half leagues, to journey through Kilikia; and the boundary of Kilikia and Armenia is a navigable river called Euphrates. In Armenia the number of stages with resting-places is fifteen, and of leagues fifty-six and a half, and there is a guard-post on the way: then from Armenia, when one enters the land of Matiene,[41][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.] there are thirty-four stages, amounting to a hundred and thirty-seven leagues; and through this land flow four navigable rivers, which cannot be crossed but by ferries, first the Tigris, then a second and third called both by the same name,[42][i.e. Zabatos: the name has perhaps fallen out of the text.] though they are not the same river nor do they flow from the same region (for the first-mentioned of them flows from the Armenian land and the other[43][{o d’ usteron}: “the one mentioned afterwards.” Stein reads {o d’ usteros}.] from that of the Matienians), and the fourth of the rivers is called Gyndes, the same which once Cyrus divided into three hundred and sixty channels.[44][See i. 189.] Passing thence into the Kissian land, there are eleven stages, forty-two and a half leagues, to the river Choaspes, which is also a navigable stream; and upon this is built the city of Susa. The number of these stages amounts in all to one hundred and eleven..

53. This is the number of stages with resting-places, as one goes up from Sardis to Susa: and if the royal road has been rightly measured as regards leagues, and if the league[45][{parasagges}.] is equal to thirty furlongs,[46][{stadia}: the stade being equal to 606¾ English feet.] (as undoubtedly it is), the number of furlongs from Sardis to that which is called the palace of Memnon is thirteen thousand five hundred, the number of leagues being four hundred and fifty. So if one travels a hundred and fifty furlongs each day, just ninety days are spent on the journey.[47][Reckoned for the march of an army.].

54. Thus the Milesian Aristagoras, when he told Cleomenes the Lacedemonian that the journey up from the sea to the residence of the king was one of three months, spoke correctly: but if any one demands a more exact statement yet than this, I will give him that also: for we ought to reckon in addition to this the length of the road from Ephesos to Sardis; and I say accordingly that the whole number of furlongs from the sea of Hellas to Susa (for by that name the city of Memnon is known) is fourteen thousand and forty; for the number of furlongs from Ephesos to Sardis is five hundred and forty: thus the three months’ journey is lengthened by three days added.

55. Aristagoras then being driven out of Sparta proceeded to Athens; which had been set free from the rule of despots in the way which I shall tell.—When Hipparchos the son of Peisistratos and brother of the despot Hippias, after seeing a vision of a dream which signified it to him plainly,[48][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.”] had been slain by Aristogeiton and Harmodios, who were originally by descent Gephyraians, the Athenians continued for four years after this to be despotically governed no less than formerly,—nay, even more..

56. Now the vision of a dream which Hipparchos had was this:—in the night before the Panathenaia it seemed to Hipparchos that a man came and stood by him, tall and of fair form, and riddling spoke to him these verses:

“With enduring soul as a lion endure unendurable evil:
No one of men who doth wrong shall escape from the judgment appointed.”

These verses, as soon as it was day, he publicly communicated to the interpreters of dreams; but afterwards he put away thought of the vision[49][{apeipamenos ten opsin}, which some translate “he made offerings to avert the dream.”] and began to take part in that procession during which he lost his life.

57. Now the Gephyraians, of whom were those who murdered Hipparchos, according to their own account were originally descended from Eretria; but as I find by carrying inquiries back, they were Phenicians of those who came with Cadmos to the land which is now called Boeotia, and they dwelt in the district of Tanagra, which they had had allotted to them in that land. Then after the Cadmeians had first been driven out by the Argives, these Gephyraians next were driven out by the Boeotians and turned then towards Athens: and the Athenians received them on certain fixed conditions to be citizens of their State, laying down rules that they should be excluded from a number of things not worth mentioning here..

58. Now these Phenicians who came with Cadmos, of whom were the Gephyraians, brought in among the Hellenes many arts when they settled in this land of Boeotia, and especially letters, which did not exist, as it appears to me, among the Hellenes before this time; and at first they brought in those which are used by the Phenician race generally, but afterwards, as time went on, they changed with their speech the form of the letters also. During this time the Ionians were the race of Hellenes who dwelt near them in most of the places where they were; and these, having received letters by instruction of the Phenicians, changed their form slightly and so made use of them, and in doing so they declared them to be called “phenicians,” as was just, seeing that the Phenicians had introduced them into Hellas. Also the Ionians from ancient time call paper “skins,” because formerly, paper being scarce, they used skins of goat and sheep; nay, even in my own time many of the Barbarians write on such skins..

59. I myself too once saw Cadmeian characters in the temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes of the Boeotians, engraved on certain [4901][{tisi}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {trisi}, three.] tripods, and in most respects resembling the Ionic letters: one of these tripods has the inscription,

this inscription would be of an age contemporary with Laïos the son of Labdacos, the son of Polydoros, the son of Cadmos..

60. Another tripod says thus in hexameter rhythm:

“Me did Scaios offer to thee, far-darting Apollo,
Victor in contest of boxing, a gift most fair in thine honour:”

now Scaios would be the son of Hippocoön (at least if it were really he who offered it, and not another with the same name as the son of Hippocoön), being of an age contemporary with OEdipus the son of Laïos: 61, and the third tripod, also in hexameter rhythm, says:

“Me Laodamas offered to thee, fair-aiming Apollo,
He, of his wealth,[51][{autos}: the MSS. have {auton}. If {autos} is right, the meaning is “from his own property.”] being king, as a gift most fair in thine honor:”

now it was in the reign of this very Laodamas the son of Eteocles that the Cadmeians were driven out by the Argives and turned to go to the Enchelians; and the Gephyraians being then left behind were afterwards forced by the Boeotians to retire to Athens. Moreover they have temples established in Athens, in which the other Athenians have no part, and besides others which are different from the rest, there is especially a temple of Demeter Achaia and a celebration of her mysteries.

62. I have told now of the vision of a dream seen by Hipparchos, and also whence the Gephrynians were descended, of which race were the murderers of Hipparchos; and in addition to this I must resume and continue the story which I was about to tell at first, how the Athenians were freed from despots. When Hippias was despot and was dealing harshly with the Athenians because of the death of Hipparchos, the Alcmaionidai, who were of Athenian race and were fugitives from the sons of Peisistratos,[52][The expression {Peisistratidai} is used loosely for the family in general.] as they did not succeed in their attempt made together with the other Athenian exiles to return by force, but met with great disaster when they attempted to return and set Athens free, after they had fortified Leipsydrion which is above Paionia,—these Alomaionidai after that, still devising every means against the sons of Peisistratos, accepted the contract to build and complete the temple at Delphi, that namely which now exists but then did not as yet: and being wealthy and men of repute already from ancient time, they completed the temple in a manner more beautiful than the plan required, and especially in this respect, that having agreed to make the temple of common limestone,[53][{porinou lithou}, “tufa.”] they built the front parts of it in Parian marble.

63. So then, as the Athenians say, these men being settled at Delphi persuaded the Pythian prophetess by gifts of money, that whenever men of the Spartans should come to inquire of the Oracle, either privately or publicly sent, she should propose to them to set Athens free. The Lacedemonians therefore, since the same utterance was delivered to them on all occasions, sent Anchimolios the son of Aster, who was of repute among their citizens, with an army to drive out the sons of Peisistratos from Athens, although these were very closely connected with them by guest-friendship; for they held that the concerns of the god [5301][Or “of God.”] should be preferred to those of men: and this force they sent by sea in ships. He therefore, having put in to shore at Phaleron, disembarked his army; but the sons of Peisistratos being informed of this beforehand called in to their aid an auxiliary force from Thessaly, for they had made an alliance with the Thessalians; and the Thessalians at their request sent by public resolution a body of a thousand horse and also their king Kineas, a man of Conion.[54][{Koniaion}. There is no such place as Conion known in Thessaly, but we cannot correct the text with any certainty.] So having obtained these as allies, the sons of Peisistratos contrived as follows:—they cut down the trees in the plain of Phaleron and made this district fit for horsemen to ride over, and after that they sent the cavalry to attack the enemy’s camp, who falling upon it slew (besides many others of the Lacedemonians) Anchimolios himself also: and the survivors of them they shut up in their ships. Such was the issue of the first expedition from Lacedemon: and the burial-place of Anchimolios is at Alopecai in Attica, near the temple of Heracles which is at Kynosarges..

64. After this the Lacedemonians equipped a larger expedition and sent it forth against Athens; and they appointed to be commander of the army their king Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides, and sent it this time not by sea but by land. With these, when they had invaded the land of Attica, first the Thessalian horse engaged battle; and in no long time they were routed and there fell of them more than forty men; so the survivors departed without more ado and went straight back to Thessaly. Then Cleomenes came to the city together with those of the Athenians who desired to be free, and began to besiege the despots shut up in the Pelasgian wall.

65. And the Lacedemonians would never have captured the sons of Peisistratos at all; for they on their side had no design to make a long blockade, and the others were well provided with food and drink; so that they would have gone away back to Sparta after besieging them for a few days only: but as it was, a thing happened just at this time which was unfortunate for those, and at the same time of assistance to these; for the children of the sons of Peisistratos were captured, while being secretly removed out of the country: and when this happened, all their matters were thereby cast into confusion, and they surrendered receiving back their children on the terms which the Athenians desired, namely that they should depart out of Attica within five days. After this they departed out of the country and went to Sigeion on the Scamander, after their family had ruled over the Athenians for six-and-thirty years. These also were originally Pylians and sons of Neleus, descended from the same ancestors as the family of Codros and Melanthos, who had formerly become kings of Athens being settlers from abroad. Hence too Hippocrates had given to his son the name of Peisistratos as a memorial, calling him after Peisistratos the son of Nestor.

Thus the Athenians were freed from despots; and the things worthy to be narrated which they did or suffered after they were liberated, up to the time when Ionia revolted from Dareios and Aristagoras the Milesian came to Athens and asked them to help him, these I will set forth first before I proceed further.

66. Athens, which even before that time was great, then, after having been freed from despots, became gradually yet greater; and in it two men exercised power, namely Cleisthenes a descendant of Alcmaion, the same who is reported to have bribed the Pythian prophetess, and Isagoras, the son of Tisander, of a family which was highly reputed, but of his original descent I am not able to declare; his kinsmen however offer sacrifices to the Carian Zeus. These men came to party strife for power; and then Cleisthenes was being worsted in the struggle, he made common cause with the people. After this he caused the Athenians to be in ten tribes, who were formerly in four; and he changed the names by which they were called after the sons of Ion, namely Geleon, Aigicoreus, Argades, and Hoples, and invented for them names taken from other heroes, all native Athenians except Ajax, whom he added as a neighbour and ally, although he was no Athenian.

67. Now in these things it seems to me that this Cleisthenes was imitating his mother’s father Cleisthenes the despot of Sikyon: for Cleisthenes when he went to war with Argos first caused to cease in Sikyon the contests of rhapsodists, which were concerned with the poems of Homer, because Argives and Argos are celebrated in them almost everywhere; then secondly, since there was (as still there is) in the market-place itself of the Sikyonians a hero-temple of Adrastos the son of Talaos, Cleisthenes had a desire to cast him forth out of the land, because he was an Argive. So having come to Delphi he consulted the Oracle as to whether he should cast out Adrastos; and the Pythian prophetess answered him saying that Adrastos was king of the Sikyonians, whereas he was a stoner[55][There is perhaps a play of words in {basileus} and {leuster}.] of them. So since the god did not permit him to do this, he went away home and considered means by which Adrastos should be brought to depart of his own accord: and when he thought that he had discovered them, he sent to Thebes in Boeotia and said that he desired to introduce into his city Melanippos the son of Astacos, and the Thebans gave him leave. So Cleisthenes introduced Melanippos into his city, and appointed for him a sacred enclosure within the precincts of the City Hall[56][{prutaneio}.] itself, and established him there in the strongest position. Now Cleisthenes introduced Melanippos (for I must relate this also) because he was the greatest enemy of Adrastos, seeing that he had killed both his brother Mekisteus and his son-in-law Tydeus: and when he had appointed the sacred enclosure for him, he took away the sacrifices and festivals of Adrastos and gave them to Melanippos. Now the Sikyonians were accustomed to honour Adrastos with very great honours; for this land was formerly the land of Polybos, and Adrastos was daughter’s son to Polybos, and Polybos dying without sons gave his kingdom to Adrastos: the Sikyonians then not only gave other honours to Adrastos, but also with reference to his sufferings they specially honoured him with tragic choruses, not paying the honour to Dionysos but to Adrastos. Cleisthenes however gave back the choruses to Dionysos, and the other rites besides this he gave to Melannipos..

68. Thus he had done to Adrastos; and he also changed the names of the Dorian tribes, in order that the Sikyonians might not have the same tribes as the Argives; in which matter he showed great contempt of the Sikyonians, for the names he gave were taken from the names of a pig and an ass by changing only the endings, except in the case of his own tribe, to which he gave a name from his own rule. These last then were called Archelaoi,[57][“Rulers of the people.”] while of the rest those of one tribe were called Hyatai,[58][“Swine-ites.”] of another Oneatai,[59][“Ass-ites.”] and of the remaining tribe Choireatai.[60][“Pig-ites.”] These names of tribes were used by the men of Sikyon not only in the reign of Cleisthenes, but also beyond that for sixty years after his death; then however they considered the matter and changed them into Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanatai, adding to these a fourth, to which they gave the name Aigialeis after Aigialeus the son of Adrastos.

69. Thus had the Cleisthenes of Sikyon done: and the Athenian Cleisthenes, who was his daughter’s son and was called after him, despising, as I suppose, the Ionians, as he the Dorians, imitated his namesake Cleisthenes in order that the Athenians might not have the same tribes as the Ionians: for when at the time of which we speak he added to his own party the whole body of the common people of the Athenians, which in former time he had despised,[61][{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.] he changed the names of the tribes and made them more in number than they had been; he made in fact ten rulers of tribes instead of four, and by tens also he distributed the demes in the tribes; and having added the common people to his party he was much superior to his opponents..

70. Then Isagoras, as he was being worsted in his turn, contrived a plan in opposition to him, that is to say, he called in Cleomenes the Lacedemonian to help him, who had been a guest-friend to himself since the siege of the sons of Peisistratos; moreover Cleomenes was accused of being intimate with the wife of Isagoras. First then Cleomenes sent a herald to Athens demanding the expulsion of Cleisthenes and with him many others of the Athenians, calling them the men who were under the curse:[62][{tous enageas}.] this message he sent by instruction of Isagoras, for the Alcmaionidai and their party were accused of the murder to which reference was thus made, while he and his friends had no part in it..

71. Now the men of the Athenians who were “under the curse” got this name as follows:—there was one Kylon among the Athenians, a man who had gained the victory at the Olympic games: this man behaved with arrogance, wishing to make himself despot; and having formed for himself an association of men of his own age, he endeavoured to seize the Acropolis: but not being able to get possession of it, he sat down as a suppliant before the image of the goddess.[63][i.e. of Athene Polias in the Erechtheion.] These men were taken from their place as suppliants by the presidents of the naucraries, who then administered affairs at Athens, on the condition that they should be liable to any penalty short of death; and the Alcmaionidai are accused of having put them to death. This had occurred before the time of Peisistratos..

72. Now when Cleomenes sent demanding the expulsion of Cleisthenes and of those under the curse, Cleisthenes himself retired secretly; but after that nevertheless Cleomenes appeared in Athens with no very large force, and having arrived he proceeded to expel as accursed seven hundred Athenian families, of which Isagoras had suggested to him the names. Having done this he next endeavoured to dissolve the Senate, and he put the offices of the State into the hands of three hundred, who were the partisans of Isagoras. The Senate however making opposition, and not being willing to submit, Cleomenes with Isagoras and his partisans seized the Acropolis. Then the rest of the Athenians joined together by common consent and besieged them for two days; and on the third day so many of them as were Lacedemonians departed out of the country under a truce. Thus was accomplished for Cleomenes the ominous saying which was uttered to him: for when he had ascended the Acropolis with the design of taking possession of it, he was going to the sanctuary of the goddess, as to address her in prayer; but the priestess stood up from her seat before he had passed through the door, and said, “Lacedemonian stranger, go back and enter not into the temple, for it is not lawful for Dorians to pass in hither.” He said: “Woman, I am not a Dorian, but an Achaian.” So then, paying no attention to the ominous speech, he made his attempt and then was expelled again with the Lacedemonians; but the rest of the men the Athenians laid in bonds to be put to death, and among them Timesitheos the Delphian, with regard to whom I might mention very great deeds of strength and courage which he performed..

73. These then having been thus laid in bonds were put to death; and the Athenians after this sent for Cleisthenes to return, and also for the seven hundred families which had been driven out by Cleomenes: and then they sent envoys to Sardis, desiring to make an alliance with the Persians; for they were well assured that the Lacedemonians and Cleomenes had been utterly made their foes. So when these envoys had arrived at Sardis and were saying that which they had been commanded to say, Artaphrenes the son of Hystaspes, the governor of Sardis, asked what men these were who requested to be allies of the Persians, and where upon the earth they dwelt; and having heard this from the envoys, he summed up his answer to them thus, saying that if the Athenians were willing to give earth and water to Dareios, he was willing to make alliance with them, but if not, he bade them begone: and the envoys taking the matter upon themselves said that they were willing to do so, because they desired to make the alliance..

74. These, when they returned to their own land, were highly censured: and Cleomenes meanwhile, conceiving that he had been outrageously dealt with by the Athenians both with words and with deeds, was gathering together an army from the whole of the Peloponnese, not declaring the purpose for which he was gathering it, but desiring to take vengeance on the people of the Athenians, and intending to make Isagoras despot; for he too had come out of the Acropolis together with Cleomenes. Cleomenes then with a large army entered Eleusis, while at the same time the Boeotians by agreement with him captured Oinoe and Hysiai, the demes which lay upon the extreme borders of Attica, and the Chalkidians on the other side invaded and began to ravage various districts of Attica. The Athenians then, though attacked on more sides than one, thought that they would remember the Boeotians and Chalkidians afterwards, and arrayed themselves against the Peloponnesians who were in Eleusis..

75. Then as the armies were just about the join battle, the Corinthians first, considering with themselves that they were not acting rightly, changed their minds and departed; and after that Demaratos the son of Ariston did the same, who was king of the Spartans as well as Cleomenes, though he had joined with him in leading the army out from Lacedemon and had not been before this at variance with Cleomenes. In consequence of this dissension a law was laid down at Sparta that it should not be permitted, when an army went out, that both the kings should go with it, for up to this time both used to go with it, and that as one of the kings was set free from service, so one of the sons of Tyndareus[64][Cp. iv. 145.] also should be left behind; for before this time both of these two were called upon by them for help and went with the armies.

76. At this time then in Eleusis the rest of the allies, seeing that the kings of the Lacedemonians did not agree and also that the Corinthians had deserted their place in the ranks, themselves too departed and got them away quickly. And this was the fourth time that the Dorians had come to Attica, twice having invaded it to make war against it, and twice to help the mass of the Athenian people,—first when they at the same time colonised Megara (this expedition may rightly be designated as taking place when Codros was king of the Athenians), for the second and third times when they came making expeditions from Sparta to drive out the sons of Peisistratos, and fourthly on this occasion, when Cleomenes at the head of the Peloponnesians invaded Eleusis: thus the Dorians invaded Athens then for the fourth time.

77. This army then having been ingloriously broken up, the Athenians after that, desiring to avenge themselves, made expedition first against the Chalkidians; and the Boeotians came to the Euripos to help the Chalkidians. The Athenians, therefore, seeing those who had come to help, [6401][{tous boethous}: most of the MSS. have {tous Boiotous}.] resolved first to attack the Boeotians before the Chalkidians. Accordingly they engaged battle with the Boeotians, and had much the better of them, and after having slain very many they took seven hundred of them captive. On this very same day the Athenians passed over into Euboea and engaged battle with the Chalkidians as well; and having conquered these also, they left four thousand holders of allotments in the land belonging to the “Breeders of Horses”:[65][{ippobotai}.] now the wealthier of the Chalkidians were called the Breeders of Horses. And as many of them as they took captive, they kept in confinement together with the Boeotians who had been captured, bound with fetters; and then after a time they let them go, having fixed their ransom at two pounds of silver apiece:[66][{dimneos apotimesamenoi}.] but their fetters, in which they had been bound, they hung up on the Acropolis; and these were still existing even to my time hanging on walls which had been scorched with fire by the Mede,[67][参见第八。 53.] and just opposite the sanctuary which lies towards the West. The tenth part of the ransom also they dedicated for an offering, and made of it a four-horse chariot of bronze, which stands on the left hand as you enter the Propylaia in the Acropolis, and on it is the following inscription:

“Matched in the deeds of war with the tribes of Boeotia and Chalkis
The sons of Athens prevailed, conquered and tamed them in fight:
In chains of iron and darkness they quenched their insolent spirit;
And to Athene present these, of their ransom a tithe.”

78. The Athenians accordingly increased in power; and it is evident, not by one instance only but in every way, that Equality[68][{isegorin}: probably not “equal freedom of speech,” but practically the same as {isonomie}, ch. 37.] is an excellent thing, since the Athenians while they were ruled by despots were not better in war that any of those who dwelt about them, whereas after they had got rid of despots they became far the first. This proves that when they were kept down they were wilfully slack, because they were working for a master, whereas when they had been set free each one was eager to achieve something for himself.

79. These then were faring thus: and the Thebans after this sent to the god, desiring to be avenged on the Athenians; the Pythian prophetess however said that vengeance was not possible for them by their own strength alone, but bade them report the matter to the “many-voiced” and ask help of those who were “nearest” to them. So when those who were sent to consult the Oracle returned, they made a general assembly and reported the oracle; and then the Thebans heard them say that they were to ask help of those who were nearest to them, they said: “Surely those who dwell nearest to us are the men of Tanagra and Coroneia and Thespiai; and these always fight zealously on our side and endure the war with us to the end: what need is there that we ask of these? Rather perhaps that is not the meaning of the oracle.”.

80. While they commented upon it thus, at length one perceived “that which the oracle means to tell us. Asopos is said to have had two daughters born to him, Thebe and Egina; and as these are sisters, I think that the god gave us for answer that we should ask the men of Egina to become our helpers.” Then as there seemed to be no opinion expressed which was better than this, they sent forthwith and asked the men of Egina to help them, calling upon them in accordance with the oracle; and they, when these made request, said that they sent with them the sons of Aiacos to help them..

81. After that the Thebans, having made an attempt with the alliance of the sons of Aiacos and having been roughly handled by the Athenians, sent again and gave them back the sons of Aiacos and asked them for men. So the Eginetans, exalted by great prosperity and calling to mind an ancient grudge against the Athenians, then on the request of the Thebans commenced a war against the Athenians without notice: for while the Athenians were intent on the Boeotians, they sailed against them to Attica with ships of war, and they devastated Phaleron and also many demes in the remainder of the coast region, and so doing they deeply stirred the resentment of the Athenians.[69][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.]

82. Now the grudge which was due beforehand from the Eginetans to the Athenians came about from a beginning which was as follows:—The land of the Epidaurians yielded to its inhabitants no fruit; and accordingly with reference to this calamity the Epidaurians went to inquire at Delphi, and the Pythian prophetess bade them set up images of Damia and Auxesia, and said that when they had set up these, they would meet with better fortune. The Epidaurians then asked further whether they should make images of bronze or of stone; and the prophetess bade them not use either of these, but make them of the wood of a cultivated olive-tree. The Epidaurians therefore asked the Athenians to allow them to cut for themselves an olive-tree, since they thought that their olives were the most sacred; nay some say that at that time there were no olives in any part of the earth except at Athens. The Athenians said that they would allow them on condition that they should every year bring due offerings to Athene Polias[70][i.e. “Athene (protectress) of the city,” who shared with Erechtheus the temple on the Acropolis called the “Erechtheion”; see viii. 55.] and to Erechtheus. The Epidaurians, then, having agreed to these terms, obtained that which they asked, and they made images out of these olive-trees and set them up: and their land bore fruit and they continued to fulfil towards the Athenians that which they had agreed to do..

83. Now during this time and also before this the Eginetans were subject to the Epidaurians, and besides other things they were wont to pass over to Epidauros to have their disputes with one another settled by law:[71][More lit. “to give and receive from one another satisfaction.”] but after this time they built for themselves ships and made revolt from the Epidaurians, moved thereto by wilfulness. So as they were at variance with them, they continued to inflict damage on them, since in fact they had command of the sea, and especially they stole away from them these images of Damia and Auxesia, and they brought them and set them up in the inland part of their country at a place called Oia, which is about twenty furlongs distant from their city. Having set them up in this spot they worshipped them with sacrifices and choruses of women accompanied with scurrilous jesting, ten men being appointed for each of the deities to provide the choruses: and the choruses spoke evil of no man, but only of the women of the place. Now the Epidaurians also had the same rites; and they have also rites which may not be divulged..

84. These images then having been stolen, the Epidaurians no longer continued to fulfil towards the Athenians that which they had agreed. The Athenians accordingly sent and expressed displeasure to the Epidaurians; and they declared saying that they were doing no wrong; for during the time when they had the images in their country they continued to fulfil that which they had agreed upon, but since they had been deprived of them, it was not just that they should make the offerings any more; and they bade them demand these from the men of Egina, who had the images. So the Athenians sent to Egina and demanded the images back; but the Eginetans said that they had nothing to do with the Athenians.

85. The Athenians then report that in one single trireme were despatched those of their citizens who were sent by the State after this demand; who having come to Egina, attempted to tear up from off their pedestals the images, (alleging that they were made of wood which belonged to the Athenians), in order to carry them back with them: but not being able to get hold of them in this manner (say the Athenians) they threw ropes round them and were pulling them, when suddenly, as they pulled, thunder came on and an earthquake at the same time with the thunder; and the crew of the trireme who were pulling were made beside themselves by these, and being brought to this condition they killed one another as if they were enemies, until at last but one of the whole number was left; and he returned alone to Phaleron..

86. Thus the Athenians report that it came to pass: but the Eginetans say that it was not with a single ship that the Athenians came; for a single ship, and even a few more than one, they could have easily repelled, even if they had not happened to have ships of their own: but they say that the Athenians sailed upon their country with a large fleet of ships, and they gave way before them and did not fight a sea-battle. They cannot however declare with certainty whether they gave way thus because they admitted that they were not strong enough to fight the battle by sea, or because they intended to do something of the kind which they actually did. The Athenians then, they say, as no one met them in fight, landed from their ships and made for the images; but not being able to tear them up from their pedestals, at last they threw ropes round them and began to pull, until the images, as they were being pulled, did both the same thing (and here they report something which I cannot believe, but some other man may), for they say that the images fell upon their knees to them and that they continue to be in that position ever since this time. The Athenians, they say, were doing thus; and meanwhile they themselves (say the Eginetans), being informed that the Athenians were about to make an expedition against them, got the Argives to help them; and just when the Athenians had disembarked upon the Eginetan land, the Argives had come to their rescue, and not having been perceived when they passed over from Epidauros to the island, they fell upon the Athenians before these had heard anything of the matter, cutting them off secretly from the way to their ships; and at this moment it was that the thunder and the earthquake came upon them..

87. This is the report which is given by the Argives and Eginetans both, and it is admitted by the Athenians also that but one alone of them survived and came back to Attica: only the Argives say that this one remained alive from destruction wrought by them upon the army of Athens, while the Athenians say that the divine power was the destroyer. However, even this one man did not remain alive, but perished, they say, in the following manner:—when he returned to Athens he reported the calamity which had happened; and the wives of the men who had gone on the expedition to Egina, hearing it and being very indignant that he alone of all had survived, came round this man and proceeded to stab him with the brooches of their mantles, each one of them asking of him where her husband was. Thus he was slain; and to the Athenians it seemed that the deed of the women was a much more terrible thing even than the calamity which had happened; and not knowing, it is said, how they should punish the women in any other way, they changed their fashion of dress to that of Ionia,—for before this the women of the Athenians wore Dorian dress, very like that of Corinth,—they changed it therefore to the linen tunic, in order that they might not have use for brooches..

88. In truth however this fashion of dress is not Ionian originally but Carian, for the old Hellenic fashion of dress for women was universally the same as that which we now call Dorian. Moreover it is said that with reference to these events the Argives and Eginetans made it a custom among themselves in both countries[72][{eti tode poiesai nomon einai, para sphisi ekateroisi k.t.l.} The Editors punctuate variously, and alterations have been proposed in the text.] to have the brooches made half as large again as the size which was then established in use, and that their women should offer brooches especially in the temple of these goddesses,[73][i.e. Damia and Auxesia.] and also that they should carry neither pottery of Athens nor anything else of Athenian make to the temple, but that it should be the custom for the future to drink there from pitchers made in the lands themselves.

89. The women of the Argives and Eginetans from this time onwards because of the quarrel with the Athenians continued to wear brooches larger than before, and still do so even to my time; and the origin of the enmity of the Athenians towards the Eginetans came in the manner which has been said. So at this time, when the Thebans invaded them, the Eginetans readily came to the assistance of the Boeotians, calling to mind what occurred about the images. The Eginetans then were laying waste, as I have said, the coast regions of Attica; and when the Athenians were resolved to make an expedition against the Eginetans, an oracle came to them from Delphi bidding them stay for thirty years reckoned from the time of the wrong done by the Eginetans, and in the one-and-thirtieth year to appoint a sacred enclosure for Aiacos and then to begin the war against the Eginetans, and they would succeed as they desired; but if they should make an expedition against them at once, they would suffer in the meantime very much evil and also inflict very much, but at last they would subdue them. When the Athenians heard the report of this, they appointed a sacred enclosure for Aiacos, namely that which is now established close to the market-place, but they could not endure to hear that they must stay for thirty years, when they had suffered injuries from the Eginetans..

90. While however they were preparing to take vengeance, a matter arose from the Lacedemonians which provided a hindrance to them: for the Lacedemonians, having learnt that which had been contrived by the Alcmaionidai with respect to the Pythian prophetess, and that which had been contrived by the Pythian prophetess against themselves and the sons of Peisistratos, were doubly grieved, not only because they had driven out into exile men who were their guest-friends, but also because after they had done this no gratitude was shown to them by the Athenians. Moreover in addition to this, they were urged on by the oracles which said that many injuries would be suffered by them from the Athenians; of which oracles they had not been aware of before, but they had come to know them, since Cleomenes had brought them to Sparta. In fact Cleomenes had obtained from the Acropolis of the Athenians those oracles which the sons of Peisistratos possessed before and had left in the temple when they were driven out; and Cleomenes recovered them after they had been left behind..

91. At this time, then, when the Lacedemonians had recovered the oracles and when they saw that the Athenians were increasing in power and were not at all willing to submit to them, observing that the Athenian race now that it was free was becoming[74][{ginoito}: some MSS. read {an ginoito}, “would become”: so Stein and many other Editors.] a match for their own, whereas when held down by despots it was weak and ready to be ruled,—perceiving, I say, all these things, they sent for Hippias the son of Peisistratos to come from Sigeion on the Hellespont, whither the family of Peisistratos go for refuge;[75][Some Editors omit this clause, “whither—refuge.”] and when Hippias had come upon the summons, the Spartans sent also for envoys to come from their other allies and spoke to them as follows: “Allies, we are conscious within ourselves that we have not acted rightly; for incited by counterfeit oracles we drove out into exile men who were very closely united with us as guest-friends and who undertook the task of rendering Athens submissive to us, and then after having done this we delivered over the State to a thankless populace, which so soon as it had raised its head, having been freed by our means drove out us and our king with wanton outrage; and now exalted with pride[76][“having grown a good opinion of itself.”] it is increasing in power, so that the neighbours of these men first of all, that is the Boeotians and Chalkidians, have already learnt, and perhaps some others also will afterwards learn, that they committed an error. [7601][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.] As however we erred in doing those things of which we have spoken, we will try now to take vengeance on them, going thither together with you;[77][{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.] since it was for this very purpose that we sent for Hippias, whom ye see here, and for you also, to come from your cities, in order that with common counsel and a common force we might conduct him to Athens and render back to him that which we formerly took away.”

92. Thus they spoke; but the majority of the allies did not approve of their words. The rest however kept silence, but the Corinthian Socles[78][So the name is given by the better class of MSS. Others, followed by most Editors, make it “Sosicles.”] spoke as follows: (a) “Surely now the heaven shall be below the earth, and the earth raised up on high above the heaven, and men shall have their dwelling in the sea, and fishes shall have that habitation which men had before, seeing that ye, Lacedemonians, are doing away with free governments[79][{isokratias}.] and are preparing to bring back despotism again into our cities, than which there is no more unjust or more murderous thing among men. For if in truth this seems to you to be good, namely that the cities should be ruled by despots, do ye yourselves first set up a despot in your own State, and then endeavour to establish them also for others: but as it is, ye are acting unfairly towards your allies, seeing that ye have had no experience of despots yourselves and provide with the greatest care at Sparta that this may never come to pass. If however ye had had experience of it, as we have had, ye would be able to contribute juster opinions of it than at present. (b) For the established order of the Corinthian State was this:—the government was an oligarchy, and the oligarchs, who were called Bacchiadai, had control over the State and made marriages among themselves.[80][Lit. “gave and took (in marriage) from one another.”] Now one of these men, named Amphion, had a daughter born to him who was lame, and her name was Labda. This daughter, since none of the Bacchiadai wished to marry her, was taken to wife by Aëtion the son of Echecrates, who was of the deme of Petra, but by original descent a Lapith and of the race of Caineus. Neither from this wife nor from another were children born to him, therefore he set out to Delphi to inquire about offspring; and as he entered, forthwith the prophetess addressed him in these lines:

“‘Much to be honoured art thou, yet none doth render thee honour.[81][{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.]
Labda conceives, and a rolling rock will she bear, which shall ruin
Down on the heads of the kings, and with chastisement visit Corinthos.’

This answer given to Aëtion was by some means reported to the Bacchiadai, to whom the oracle which had come to Corinth before this was not intelligible, an oracle which had reference to the same thing as that of Aëtion and said thus:

“‘An eagle conceives in the rocks[82][{aietos en petresi kuei}, with a play upon the names {Eetion} ({Aeton}) and {Petre} again.] and shall bear a ravening lion,
Strong and fierce to devour, who the knees of many shall loosen.
Ponder this well in your minds, I bid you, Corinthians, whose dwelling
Lies about fair Peirene’s spring and in craggy Corinthos.'[83][{ophruoenta}, “situated on a brow or edge,” the regular descriptive epithet of Corinth.]

(c) This oracle, I say, having come before to the Bacchiadai was obscure; but afterwards when they heard that which had come to Aëtion, forthwith they understood the former also, that it was in accord with that of Aëtion; and understanding this one also they kept quiet, desiring to destroy the offspring which should be born to Aëtion. Then, so soon as his wife bore a child, they sent ten of their own number to the deme in which Aëtion had his dwelling, to slay the child; and when these had come to Petra and had passed into the court of Aëtion’s house, they asked for the child; and Labda, not knowing anything of the purpose for which they had come, and supposing them to be asking for the child on account of friendly feeling towards its father, brought it and placed it in the hands of one of them. Now they, it seems, had resolved by the way that the first of them who received the child should dash it upon the ground. However, when Labda brought and gave it, it happened by divine providence that the child smiled at the man who had received it; and when he perceived this, a feeling of compassion prevented him from killing it, and having this compassion he delivered it to the next man, and he to the third. Thus it passed through the hands of all the ten, delivered from one to another, since none of them could bring himself to destroy its life. So they gave the child back to its mother and went out; and then standing by the doors they abused and found fault with one another, laying blame especially on the one who had first received the child, because he had not done according to that which had been resolved; until at last after some time they determined again to enter and all to take a share in the murder. (d) From the offspring of Aëtion however it was destined that evils should spring up for Corinth: for Labda was listening to all this as she stood close by the door, and fearing lest they should change their mind and take the child a second time and kill it, she carried it and concealed it in the place which seemed to her the least likely to be discovered, that is to say a corn-chest,[84][{kupselen}: cp. Aristoph. Pax, 631.] feeling sure that if they should return and come to a search, they were likely to examine everything: and this in fact happened. So when they had come, and searching had failed to find it, they thought it best to return and say to those who had sent them that they had done all that which they had been charged by them to do. (e) They then having departed said this; and after this the son of Aëtion grew, and because he had escaped this danger, the name of Kypselos was given him as a surname derived from the corn-chest. Then when Kypselos had grown to manhood and was seeking divination, a two-edged[85][{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.] answer was given him at Delphi, placing trust in which he made an attempt upon Corinth and obtained possession of it. Now the answer was as follows:

“‘Happy is this man’s lot of a truth, who enters my dwelling,
Offspring of Aëtion, he shall rule in famous Corinthos,
Kypselos, he and his sons, but his children’s children no longer.’

Such was the oracle: and Kypselos when he became despot was a man of this character,—many of the Corinthians he drove into exile, many he deprived of their wealth, and very many more of their lives. (f) And when he had reigned for thirty years and had brought his life to a prosperous end, his son Periander became his successor in the despotism. Now Periander at first was milder than his father; but after he had had dealings through messengers with Thrasybulos the despot of Miletos, he became far more murderous even than Kypselos. For he sent a messenger to Thrasybulos and asked what settlement of affairs was the safest for him to make, in order that he might best govern his State: and Thrasybulos led forth the messenger who had come from Periander out of the city, and entered into a field of growing corn; and as he passed through the crop of corn, while inquiring and asking questions repeatedly[86][{anapodizon}, “calling him back over the same ground again.”] of the messenger about the occasion of his coming from Corinth, he kept cutting off the heads of those ears of corn which he saw higher than the rest; and as he cut off their heads he cast them away, until he had destroyed in this manner the finest and richest part of the crop. So having passed through the place and having suggested no word of counsel, he dismissed the messenger. When the messenger returned to Corinth, Periander was anxious to hear the counsel which had been given; but he said that Thrasybulos had given him no counsel, and added that he wondered at the deed of Periander in sending him to such a man, for the man was out of his senses and a waster of his own goods,—relating at the same time that which he had seen Thrasybulos do. (g) So Periander, understanding that which had been done and perceiving that Thrasybulos counselled him to put to death those who were eminent among his subjects, began then to display all manner of evil treatment to the citizens of the State; for whatsoever Kypselos had left undone in killing and driving into exile, this Periander completed. And in one day he stripped all the wives of the Corinthians of their clothing on account of his own wife Melissa. For when he had sent messengers to the Thesprotians on the river Acheron to ask the Oracle of the dead about a deposit made with him by a guest-friend, Melissa appeared and said she would not tell in what place the deposit was laid, for she was cold and had no clothes, since those which he had buried with her were of no use to her, not having been burnt; and this, she said, would be an evidence to him that she was speaking the truth, namely that when the oven was cold, Periander had put his loaves into it. When the report of this was brought back to Periander, the token made him believe, because he had had commerce with Melissa after she was dead; and straightway after receiving the message he caused proclamation to be made that all the wives of the Corinthians should come out to the temple of Hera. They accordingly went as to a festival in their fairest adornment; and he having set the spearmen of his guard in ambush, stripped them all alike, both the free women and their attendant; and having gathered together all their clothes in a place dug out, he set fire to them, praying at the same time to Melissa. Then after he had done this and had sent a second time, the apparition of Melissa told him in what spot he had laid the deposit entrusted to him by his guest-friend.

“Such a thing, ye must know, Lacedemonians, is despotism, and such are its deeds: and we Corinthians marvelled much at first when we saw that ye were sending for Hippias, and now we marvel even more because ye say these things; and we adjure you, calling upon the gods of Hellas, not to establish despotisms in the cities. If however ye will not cease from your design, but endeavour to restore Hippias contrary to that which is just, know that the Corinthians at least do not give their consent to that which ye do.”

93. Socles being the envoy of Corinth thus spoke, and Hippias made answer to him, calling to witness the same gods as he, that assuredly the Corinthians would more than all others regret the loss of the sons of Peisistratos, when the appointed days should have come for them to be troubled by the Athenians. Thus Hippias made answer, being acquainted with the oracles more exactly than any other man: but the rest of the allies, who for a time had restrained themselves and kept silence, when they heard Socles speak freely, gave utterance every one of them to that which they felt, and adopted the opinion of the Corinthian envoy, adjuring the Lacedemonians not to do any violence to a city of Hellas.

94. Thus was this brought to an end: and Hippias being dismissed from thence had Anthemus offered to him by Amyntas king of the Macedonians and Iolcos by the Thessalians. He however accepted neither of these, but retired again to Sigeion; which city Peisistratos had taken by force of arms from the Mytilenians, and having got possession of it, had appointed his own natural son Hegesistratos, born of an Argive woman, to be despot of it: he however did not without a struggle keep possession of that which he received from Peisistratos; for the Mytilenians and Athenians carried on war for a long time, having their strongholds respectively at Achilleion and at Sigeion, the one side demanding that the place be restored to them, and the Athenians on the other hand not admitting this demand, but proving by argument that the Aiolians had no better claim to the territory of Ilion than they and the rest of the Hellenes, as many as joined with Menelaos in exacting vengeance for the rape of Helen..

95. Now while these carried on the war, besides many other things of various kinds which occurred in the battles, once when a fight took place and the Athenians were conquering, Alcaios the poet, taking to flight, escaped indeed himself, but the Athenians retained possession of his arms and hung them up on the walls of the temple of Athene which is at Sigeion. About this matter Alcaios composed a song and sent it to Mytilene, reporting therein his misadventure to one Melanippos, who was his friend. Finally Periander the son of Kypselos made peace between the Athenians and the Mytilenians,[87][Evidently the war must be dated earlier than the time of Peisistratos.] for to him they referred the matter as arbitrator; and he made peace between them on the condition that each should continue to occupy that territory which they then possessed..

96. Sigeion then in this matter had come under the rule of the Athenians. And when Hippias had returned to Asia from Lacedemon, he set everything in motion, stirring up enmity between the Athenians and Artaphrenes, and using every means to secure that Athens should come under the rule of himself and of Dareios. Hippias, I say, was thus engaged; and the Athenians meanwhile hearing of these things sent envoys to Sardis, and endeavoured to prevent the Persians from following the suggestions of the exiled Athenians. Artaphrenes however commanded them, if they desired to be preserved from ruin, to receive Hippias back again. This proposal the Athenians were not by any means disposed to accept when it was reported; and as they did not accept this, it became at once a commonly received opinion among them that they were enemies of the Persians.

97. While they had these thoughts and had been set at enmity with the Persians, at this very time Aristagoras the Milesian, ordered away from Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedemonian, arrived at Athens; for this was the city which had most power of all the rest besides Sparta. And Aristagoras came forward before the assembly of the people and said the same things as he had said at Sparta about the wealth which there was in Asia, and about the Persian manner of making war, how they used neither shield nor spear and were easy to overcome. Thus I say he said, and also he added this, namely that the Milesians were colonists from the Athenians, and that it was reasonable that the Athenians should rescue them, since they had such great power; and there was nothing which he did not promise, being very urgent in his request, until at last he persuaded them: for it would seem that it is easier to deceive many than one, seeing that, though he did not prove able to deceive Cleomenes the Lacedemonian by himself, yet he did this to thirty thousand Athenians. The Athenians then, I say, being persuaded, voted a resolution to despatch twenty ships to help the Ionians, and appointed to command them Melanthios one of their citizens, who was in all things highly reputed. These ships proved to be the beginning of evils for the Hellenes and the Barbarians.

98. Aristagoras however sailed on before and came to Miletos; and then having devised a plan from which no advantage was likely to come for the Ionians (nor indeed was he doing what he did with a view to that, but in order to vex king Dareios), he sent a man to Phrygia to the Piaonians who had been taken captive by Megabazos from the river Strymon, and who were dwelling in a district and village of Phrygia apart by themselves; and when the messenger came to the Paionians he spoke these words: “Paionians, Aristagoras the despot of Miletos sent me to offer to you salvation, if ye shall be willing to do as he says; for now all Ionia has revolted from the king and ye have an opportunity of coming safe to your own land: to reach the sea shall be your concern, and after this it shall be thenceforth ours.” The Paionians hearing this received it as a most welcome proposal, and taking with them their children and their women they began a flight to the sea; some of them however were struck with fear and remained in the place where they were. Having come to the coast the Paionians crossed over thence to Chios, and when they were already in Chios there arrived in their track a large body of Persian horsemen pursuing the Paionians. These, as they did not overtake them, sent over to Chios to bid the Paionians return back: the Paionians however did not accept their proposal, but the men of Chios conveyed them from Chios to Lesbos, and the Lesbians brought them to Doriscos, and thence they proceeded by land and came to Paionia.

99. Aristagoras meanwhile, when the Athenians had arrived with twenty ships, bringing with them also five triremes of the Eretrians, joined the expedition not for the sake of the Athenians but of the Milesians themselves, to repay them a debt which they owed (for the Milesians in former times had borne with the Eretrians the burden of all that war which they had with the Chalkidians at the time when the Chalkidians on their side were helped by the Samians against the Eretrians and Milesians),—when these, I say, had arrived and the other allies were on the spot, Aristagoras proceeded to make a march upon Sardis. On this march he did not go himself, but remained at Miletos and appointed others to be in command of the Milesians, namely his brother Charopinos and of the other citizens one Hermophantos. [8701][Or (according to some MSS.), “another of the citizens, named Hermophantos.”]

100. With this force then the Ionians came to Ephesos, and leaving their ships at Coresos in the land of Ephesos, went up themselves in a large body, taking Ephesians to guide them in their march. So they marched along by the river Caÿster, and then when they arrived after crossing the range of Tmolos, they took Sardis without any resistance, all except the citadel, but the citadel Artaphrenes himself saved from capture, having with him a considerable force of men..

101. From plundering this city after they had taken it they were prevented by this:—the houses in Sardis were mostly built of reeds, and even those of them which were of brick had their roofs thatched with reeds: of these houses one was set on fire by a soldier, and forthwith the fire going on from house to house began to spread over the whole town. So then as the town was on fire, the Lydians and all the Persians who were in the city being cut off from escape, since the fire was prevailing in the extremities round about them, and not having any way out of the town, flowed together to the market-place and to the river Pactolos, which brings down gold-dust for them from Tmolos, flowing through the middle of their market-place, and then runs out into the river Hermos, and this into the sea;—to this Pactolos, I say, and to the market-place the Lydians and Persians gathered themselves together, and were compelled to defend themselves. The Ionians then, seeing some of the enemy standing on their defence and others in great numbers coming on to the attack, were struck with fear and retired to the mountain called Tmolos, and after that at nightfall departed to go to their ships.

102. Sardis was then destroyed by fire, and in it also the temple of the native goddess Hybebe; which the Persians alleged afterwards as a reason for setting on fire in return the temples in the land of the Hellenes. However at the time of which I speak the Persians who occupied districts within the river Halys, informed beforehand of this movement, were gathering together and coming to the help of the Lydians; and, as it chanced, they found when they came that the Ionians no longer were in Sardis; but they followed closely in their track and came up with them at Ephesos: and the Ionians stood indeed against them in array, but when they joined battle they had very much the worse; and besides other persons of note whom the Persians slaughtered, there fell also Eualkides commander of the Eretrians, a man who had won wreaths in contests of the games and who was much celebrated by Simonides of Keos: and those of them who survived the battle dispersed to their various cities.

103. Thus then they fought at that time; and after the battle the Athenians left the Ionians together, and when Aristagoras was urgent in calling upon them by messengers for assistance, they said that they would not help them: the Ionians, however, though deprived of the alliance of the Athenians, none the less continued to prepare for the war with the king, so great had been the offences already committed by them against Dareios. They sailed moreover to the Hellespont and brought under their power Byzantion and all the other cities which are in those parts; and then having sailed forth out of the Hellespont, they gained in addition the most part of Caria to be in alliance with them: for even Caunos, which before was not willing to be their ally, then, after they had burnt Sardis, was added to them also..

104. The Cyprians too, excepting those of Amathus, were added voluntarily to their alliance; for these also had revolted from the Medes in the following manner:—there was one Onesilos, younger brother of Gorgos king of Salamis, and son of Chersis, the son of Siromos, the son of Euelthon. This man in former times too had been wont often to advise Gorgos to make revolt from the king, and at this time, when he heard that the Ionians had revolted, he pressed him very hard and endeavoured to urge him to it. Since however he could not persuade Gorgos, Onesilos watched for a time when he had gone forth out of the city of Salamis, and then together with the men of his own faction he shut him out of the gates. Gorgos accordingly being robbed of the city went for refuge to the Medes, and Onesilos was ruler of Salamis and endeavoured to persuade all the men of Cyprus to join him in revolt. The others then he persuaded; but since those of Amathus were not willing to do as he desired, he sat down before their city and besieged it.

105. Onesilos then was besieging Amathus; and meanwhile, when it was reported to king Dareios that Sardis had been captured and burnt by the Athenians and the Ionians together, and that the leader of the league for being about these things[88][{tes sulloges oste tauta sunuphanthenai}, “the assembling together so that these things were woven.”] was the Milesian Aristagoras, it is said that at first being informed of this he made no account of the Ionians, because he knew that they at all events would not escape unpunished for their revolt, but he inquired into who the Athenians were; and when he had been informed, he asked for his bow, and having received it and placed an arrow upon the string, he discharged it upwards towards heaven, and as he shot into the air he said: “Zeus, that it may be granted me to take vengeance upon the Athenians!” Having so said he charged one of his attendants, that when dinner was set before the king he should say always three times: “Master, remember the Athenians.”.

106. When he had given this charge, he called into his presence Histiaios the Milesian, whom Dareios had now been keeping with him for a long time, and said: “I am informed, Histiaios, that thy deputy, to whom thou didst depute the government of Miletos, has made rebellion against me; for he brought in men against me from the other continent and persuaded the Ionians also,—who shall pay the penalty to me for that which they did,—these, I say, he persuaded to go together with them, and thus he robbed me of Sardis. Now therefore how thinkest thou that this is well? and how without thy counsels was anything of this kind done? Take heed lest thou afterwards find reason to blame thyself for this.” Histiaios replied: “O king, what manner of speech is this that thou hast uttered, saying that I counselled a matter from which it was likely that any vexation would grow for thee, either great or small? What have I to seek for in addition to that which I have, that I should do these things; and of what am I in want? for I have everything that thou hast, and I am thought worthy by thee to hear all thy counsels. Nay, but if my deputy is indeed acting in any such manner as thou hast said, be assured that he has done it merely on his own account. I however, for my part, do not even admit the report to be true, that the Milesians and my deputy are acting in any rebellious fashion against thy power: but if it prove that they are indeed doing anything of that kind, and if that which thou hast heard, O king, be the truth, learn then what a thing thou didst in removing me away from the sea-coast; for it seems that the Ionians, when I had gone out of the sight of their eyes, did that which they had long had a desire to do; whereas if I had been in Ionia, not a city would have made the least movement. Now therefore as quickly as possible let me set forth to go to Ionia, that I may order all these matters for thee as they were before, and deliver into thy hands this deputy of Miletos who contrived these things: and when I have done this after thy mind, I swear by the gods of the royal house that I will not put off from me the tunic which I wear when I go down to Ionia, until I have made Sardinia tributary to thee, which is the largest of all islands.”.

107. Thus saying Histiaios endeavoured to deceive the king, and Dareios was persuaded and let him go, charging him, when he should have accomplished that which he had promised, to return to him again at Susa.

108. In the meantime, while the news about Sardis was going up to the king, and while Dareios, after doing that which he did with the bow, came to speech with Histiaios, and Histiaios having been let go by Dareios was making his journey to the sea-coast,—during all that time the events were happening which here follow.—As Onesilos of Salamis was besieging those of Amathus, it was reported to him that Artybios a Persian, bringing with him in ships a large Persian army, was to be expected shortly to arrive in Cyprus. Being informed of this, Onesilos sent heralds to different places in Ionia to summon the Ionians to his assistance; and they took counsel together and came without delay with a large force. Now the Ionians arrived in Cyprus just at the time when the Persians having crossed over in ships from Kilikia were proceeding by land to attack Salamis, while the Phenicians with the ships were sailing round the headland which is called the “Keys of Cyprus.”.

109. This being the case, the despots of Cyprus called together the commanders of the Ionians and said: “Ionians, we of Cyprus give you a choice which enemy ye will rather fight with, the Persians or the Phenicians: for if ye will rather array yourselves on land and make trial of the Persians in fight, it is time now for you to disembark from your ships and array yourselves on the land, and for us to embark in your ships to contend against the Phenicians; but if on the other hand ye will rather make trial of the Phenicians,—whichever of these two ye shall choose, ye must endeavour that, so far as it rests with you, both Ionia and Cyprus shall be free.” To this the Ionians replied: “We were sent out by the common authority of the Ionians to guard the sea, and not to deliver our ships to the Cyprians and ourselves fight with the Persians on land. We therefore will endeavour to do good service in that place to which we were appointed; and ye must call to mind all the evils which ye suffered from the Medes, when ye were in slavery to them, and prove yourselves good men.”.

110. The Ionians made answer in these words; and afterwards, when the Persians had come to the plain of Salamis, the kings of the Cyprians set in order their array, choosing the best part of the troops of Salamis and of Soloi to be arrayed against the Persians and setting the other Cyprians against the rest of the enemy’s troops; and against Artybios, the commander of the Persians, Onesilos took up his place in the array by his own free choice.

111. Now Artybios was riding a horse which had been trained to rear up against a hoplite. Onesilos accordingly being informed of this, and having a shield-bearer, by race of Caria, who was of very good repute as a soldier and full of courage besides,[89][{kai allos lematos pleos}.] said to this man: “I am informed that the horse of Artybios rears upright and works both with his feet and his mouth against any whom he is brought to attack. Do thou therefore consider the matter, and tell me forthwith which of the two thou wilt rather watch for and strike, the horse or Artybios himself.” To this his attendant replied: “O king, I am ready to do both or either of these two things, and in every case to do that which thou shalt appoint for me; but I will declare to thee the way in which I think it will be most suitable[90][{plospheresteron}, or perhaps {plopheresteron}, “to be preferred”; so one MS.: {plospheres} ordinarily means “like.”] for thy condition. I say that it is right for one who is king and commander to fight with a king and commander; for if thou shalt slay the commander of the enemy, it turns to great glory for thee; and again, if he shall slay thee, which heaven forbid, even death when it is at the hands of a worthy foe is but half to be lamented: but for us who are under thy command it is suitable to fight with the others who are under his command and with his horse: and of the tricks of the horse have thou no fear at all, for I engage to thee that after this at least he shall never stand against any man more.” Thus he spoke; and shortly afterwards the opposed forces joined battle both on land and with their ships..

112. On that day the Ionians for their part greatly distinguished themselves and overcame the Phenicians, and of them the Samians were best: and meanwhile on land, when the armies met, they came to close quarters and fought; and as regards the two commanders, what happened was this:—when Artybios came to fight with Onesilos sitting upon his horse, Onesilos, as he had concerted with his shield-bearer, struck at Artybios himself, when he came to fight with him; and when the horse put its hoofs against the shield of Onesilos, then the Carian struck with a falchion[91][{drepano}, cp. vii. 93.] and smote off the horse’s feet..

113 So Artybios the commander of the Persians fell there on the spot together with his horse: and while the others also were fighting, Stesenor the despot of Curion deserted them, having with him a large force of men,—now these Curians are said to be settlers from Argos,—and when the Curians had deserted, forthwith also the war-chariots of the men of Salamis proceeded to do the same as the Curians. When these things took place, the Persians had the advantage over the Cyprians; and after their army had been put to rout, many others fell and among them Onesilos the son of Chersis, he who brought about the revolt of the Cyprians, and also the king of the Solians, Aristokypros the son of Philokypros,—that Philokypros whom Solon the Athenian, when he came to Cyprus, commended in verse above all other despots..

114. So the men of Amathus cut off the head of Onesilos, because he had besieged them; and having brought it to Amathus they hung it over the gate of the city: and as the head hung there, when it had now become a hollow, a swarm of bees entered into it and filled it with honeycomb. This having so come to pass, the Amathusians consulted an Oracle about the head, and they received an answer bidding them take it down and bury it and sacrifice to Onesilos every year as a hero; and if they did this, it would go better with them..

115. The Amathusians accordingly continued to do so even to my time. But the Ionians who had fought the sea-fight in Cyprus, when they perceived that the fortunes of Onesilos were ruined and that the cities of the Cyprians were besieged, except Salamis, and that this city had been delivered over by the Salaminians to Gorgos the former king,—as soon as they perceived this, the Ionians sailed away back to Ionia. Now of the cities in Cyprus Soloi held out for the longest time under the siege; and the Persians took it in the fifth month by undermining the wall round.

116. The Cyprians then, after they had made themselves free for one year, had again been reduced to slavery afresh: and meanwhile Daurises, who was married to a daughter of Dareios, and Hymaies and Otanes, who were also Persian commanders and were married also to daughters of Dareios, after they had pursued those Ionians who had made the expedition to Sardis and defeating them in battle had driven them by force to their ships,—after this distributed the cities amongst themselves and proceeded to sack them..

117. Daurises directed his march to the cities on the Hellespont, and he took Dardanos and Abydos and Percote and Lampsacos and Paisos, of these he took on each day one; and as he was marching from Paisos against the city of Parion, the report came that the Carians had made common cause with the Ionians and were in revolt from the Persians. He turned back therefore from the Hellespont and marched his army upon Caria..

118. And, as it chanced, a report of this was brought to the Carians before Daurises arrived; and the Carians being informed of it gathered together at the place which is called the “White Pillars” and at the river Marsyas, which flows from the region of Idrias and runs out into the Maiander. When the Carians had been gathered together there, among many other counsels which were given, the best, as it seems to me, was that of Pixodaros the son of Mausolos, a man of Kindye, who was married to the daughter of the king of the Kilikians, Syennesis. The opinion of this man was to the effect that the Carians should cross over the Maiander and engage battle with the Persians having the river at their backs, in order that the Carians, not being able to fly backwards and being compelled to remain where they were, might prove themselves even better men in fight than they naturally would. This opinion did not prevail; but they resolved that the Persians rather than themselves should have the Maiander at their backs, evidently[92][{delade}, ironical.] in order that if there should be a flight of the Persians and they should be worsted in the battle, they might never return home, but might fall into the river..

119. After this, when the Persians had come and had crossed the Maiander, the Carians engaged with the Persians on the river Marsyas and fought a battle which was obstinately contested and lasted long; but at length they were worsted by superior numbers: and of the Persians there fell as many as two thousand, but of the Carians ten thousand. Then those of them who escaped were shut up in Labraunda[93][Or, “Labranda.”] within the sanctuary of Zeus Stratios, which is a large sacred grove of plane-trees; now the Carians are the only men we know who offer sacrifices to Zeus Stratios. These men then, being shut up there, were taking counsel together about their safety, whether they would fare better if they delivered themselves over to the Persians or if they left Asia altogether..

120. And while they were thus taking counsel, there came to their aid the Milesians and their allies. Then the Carians dismissed the plans which they were before considering and prepared to renew the war again from the beginning: and when the Persians came to attack them, they engaged with them and fought a battle, and they were worsted yet more completely than before; and while many were slain of all parties,[94][i.e. Carians, Persians, and Ionians.] the Milesians suffered most..

121. Then afterwards the Carians repaired this loss and retrieved their defeat; for being informed that the Persians had set forth to march upon their cities, they laid an ambush on the road which is by Pedasos,[95][{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}.] and the Persians falling into it by night were destroyed both they and their commanders, namely Daurises and Amorges and Sisimakes; and with them died also Myrsos the son of Gyges. Of this ambush the leader was Heracleides the son of Ibanollis, a man of Mylasa.

122. These then of the Persians were thus destroyed; and meanwhile Hymaies, who was another of those who pursued after the Ionians that had made the expedition to Sardis, directed his march to the Propontis and took Kios in Mysia; and having conquered this city, when he was informed that Daurises had left the Hellespont and was marching towards Caria, he left the Propontis and led his army to the Hellespont: and he conquered all the Aiolians who occupy the district of Ilion, and also the Gergithes, who were left behind as a remnant of the ancient Teucrians. While conquering these tribes Hymaies himself ended his life by sickness in the land of Troas..

123. He thus brought his life to an end; and Artaphrenes the governor of the province of Sardis was appointed with Otanes the third of the commanders to make the expedition against Ionia and that part of Aiolia which bordered upon it. Of Ionia these took the city of Clazomenai, and of the Aiolians Kyme.

124. While the cities were thus being taken, Aristagoras the Milesian, being, as he proved in this instance, not of very distinguished courage, since after having disturbed Ionia and made preparation of great matters[96][{egkerasamenos pregmata megala}.] he counselled running away when he saw these things, (moreover it had become clear to him that it was impossible to overcome king Dareios),—he, I say, having regard to these things, called together those of his own party and took counsel with them, saying that it was better that there should be a refuge prepared for them, in case that they should after all be driven out from Miletos, and proposing the question whether he should lead them from thence to Sardinia, to form a colony there, or to Myrkinos in the land of the Edonians, which Histiaios had been fortifying, having received it as a gift from Dareios. This was the question proposed by Aristagoras..

125. Now the opinion of Hecataios the son of Hegesander the historian[97][{andros logopoiou}.] was that he should not take a colony to either of these places, but build a wall of defence for himself in the island of Leros and keep still, if he should be forced to leave Miletos; and afterwards with this for his starting point he would be able to return to Miletos..

126. This was the counsel of Hecataios; but Aristagoras was most inclined to go forth to Myrkinos. He therefore entrusted the government of Miletos to Pythagoras, a man of repute among the citizens, and he himself sailed away to Thrace, taking with him every one who desired to go; and he took possession of the region for which he had set out. But starting from this to make war, he perished by the hands of the Thracians, that is both Aristagoras himself and his army, when he was encamped about a certain city and the Thracians desired to go out from it under a truce.

第五册注释 •1,600字

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

[2] [{eggenetai}: many MSS. and some Editors read {en genetai}, “and the race can never become united.”]

[3] [iv. 93.]

[301] [Or “from the time that he was born.”]

[4] [{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] [“the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat in proportion” (as it is more difficult).]

[6] [Or “Siriopaionians.”]

[7] [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] [{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] [{diapinontes}: or perhaps, “drinking against one another.”]

[10] [参见第八。 137.]

[11] [i.e. “he was drawn to run in the first pair.”]

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

[13] [{ekakothesan}.]

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

[15] [{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] [{praskhema}.]

[17] [i.e. Miletos and Naxos.]

[18] [{ton pakheon}.]

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

[19] [Lit. “dividing him in such a manner.”]

[20] [{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] [{me de neoteron ti poieuses tes Miletou}, “if Miletos made no change (i.e. rebellion).”]

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

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

[23] [{isonomien}: cp. iii. 80.]

[24] [{akromantes}: cp. {akrakholos}. It may mean “somewhat mad,” so {akrozumos}, “slightly leavened,” and other words.]

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

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

[30] [i.e. “of the Market-place.”]

[31] [{periodos}.]

[32] [{kurbasias}: see vii. 64.]

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

[34] [{poluprobatotatoi}.]

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

[36] [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] [{es triten emeren}.]

[38] [{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] [{stathmoi}: “stations,” the distance between them averaging here about 120 stades.]

[40] [{parasaggai}: the “parasang,” as estimated at 30 stades, would be nearly 3½ English miles.]

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

[41] [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] [i.e. Zabatos: the name has perhaps fallen out of the text.]

[43] [{o d’ usteron}: “the one mentioned afterwards.” Stein reads {o d’ usteros}.]

[44] [See i. 189.]

[45] [{parasagges}.]

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

[47] [Reckoned for the march of an army.]

[48] [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] [{apeipamenos ten opsin}, which some translate “he made offerings to avert the dream.”]

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

[50] [{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] [{autos}: the MSS. have {auton}. If {autos} is right, the meaning is “from his own property.”]

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

[53] [{porinou lithou}, “tufa.”]

[5301] [Or “of God.”]

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

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

[56] [{prutaneio}.]

[57] [“Rulers of the people.”]

[58] [“Swine-ites.”]

[59] [“Ass-ites.”]

[60] [“Pig-ites.”]

[61] [{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] [{tous enageas}.]

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

[64] [Cp. iv. 145.]

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

[65] [{ippobotai}.]

[66] [{dimneos apotimesamenoi}.]

[67] [参见第八。 53.]

[68] [{isegorin}: probably not “equal freedom of speech,” but practically the same as {isonomie}, ch. 37.]

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

[71] [More lit. “to give and receive from one another satisfaction.”]

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

[73] [i.e. Damia and Auxesia.]

[74] [{ginoito}: some MSS. read {an ginoito}, “would become”: so Stein and many other Editors.]

[75] [Some Editors omit this clause, “whither—refuge.”]

[76] [“having grown a good opinion of itself.”]

[7601] [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] [{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] [So the name is given by the better class of MSS. Others, followed by most Editors, make it “Sosicles.”]

[79] [{isokratias}.]

[80] [Lit. “gave and took (in marriage) from one another.”]

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

[83] [{ophruoenta}, “situated on a brow or edge,” the regular descriptive epithet of Corinth.]

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

[85] [{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] [{anapodizon}, “calling him back over the same ground again.”]

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

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

[88] [{tes sulloges oste tauta sunuphanthenai}, “the assembling together so that these things were woven.”]

[89] [{kai allos lematos pleos}.]

[90] [{plospheresteron}, or perhaps {plopheresteron}, “to be preferred”; so one MS.: {plospheres} ordinarily means “like.”]

[91] [{drepano}, cp. vii. 93.]

[92] [{delade}, ironical.]

[93] [Or, “Labranda.”]

[94] [i.e. Carians, Persians, and Ionians.]

[95] [{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] [{egkerasamenos pregmata megala}.]

[97] [{andros logopoiou}.]

第六卷 • 历史的第六本书,称为《埃拉托》 •25,300字

1. Aristagoras accordingly, after having caused Ionia to revolt, thus brought his life to an end; and meanwhile Histiaios the despot of Miletos, having been let go by Dareios had arrived at Sardis: and when he came from Susa, Artaphrenes the governor of Sardis asked him for what reason he supposed the Ionians had revolted; and he said that he could not tell, and moreover he expressed wonder at that which had happened, pretending that he knew nothing of the state of affairs. Then Artaphrenes seeing that he was using dissimulation said, having knowledge of the truth about the revolt: “Thus it is with thee, Histiaios, about these matters,—this shoe was stitched by thee, and put on by Aristagoras.”.

2. Thus said Artaphrenes with reference to the revolt; and Histiaios fearing Artaphrenes because he understood the matter, ran away the next night at nightfall and went to the sea-coast, having deceived king Dareios, seeing that he had engaged to subdue Sardinia the largest of islands, and instead of that he was endeavouring to take upon himself leadership of the Ionians in the war against Dareios. Then having crossed over to Chios he was put in bonds by the Chians, being accused by them of working for a change of their State by suggestion of Dareios. When however the Chians learnt the whole story and heard that he was an enemy to the king, they released him..

3. Then Histiaios, being asked by the Ionians for what reason he had so urgently charged Aristagoras to revolt from the king and had wrought so great an evil for the Ionians, did not by any means declare to them that which had been in truth the cause, but reported to them that king Dareios had resolved to remove the Phenicians from their land and to settle them in Ionia, and the Ionians in Phenicia; and for this reason, he said, he had given the charge. Thus he attempted to alarm the Ionians, although the king had never resolved to do so at all.

4. After this Histiaios acting through a messenger, namely Hermippos a man of Atarneus, sent papers to the Persians who were at Sardis, implying that he had already talked matters over with them about a revolt: and Hermippos did not deliver them to those to whom he was sent, but bore the papers and put them into the hands of Artaphrenes. He then, perceiving all that was being done, bade Hermippos bear the papers sent by Histiaios and deliver them to those to whom he was sent to bear them, and to deliver to him the replies sent back by the Persians to Histiaios. These things having been discovered, Artaphrenes upon that put to death many of the Persians.

5. As regards Sardis therefore there was confusion of the design; and when Histiaios had been disappointed of this hope, the Chians attempted to restore him to Miletos at the request of Histiaios himself. The Milesians, however, who had been rejoiced before to be rid of Aristagoras, were by no means eager to receive another despot into their land, seeing that they had tasted of liberty: and in fact Histiaios, attempting to return to Miletos by force and under cover of night, was wounded in the thigh by one of the Milesians. He then, being repulsed from his own city, returned to Chios; and thence, as he could not persuade the Chians to give him ships, he crossed over to Mytilene and endeavoured to persuade the Lesbians to give him ships. So they manned eight triremes and sailed with Histiaios to Byzantion, and stationing themselves there they captured the ships which sailed out of the Pontus, excepting where the crews of them said that they were ready to do the bidding of Histiaios.

6. While Histiaios and the men of Mytilene were acting thus, a large army both of sea and land forces was threatening to attack Miletos itself; for the commanders of the Persians had joined together to form one single army and were marching upon Miletos, considering the other towns of less account. Of their naval force the most zealous were the Phenicians, and with them also served the Cyprians, who had just been subdued, and the Kilikians and Egyptians..

7. These, I say, were advancing upon Miletos and the rest of Ionia; and meanwhile the Ionians being informed of this were sending deputies[1][{proboulous}.] chosen from themselves to the Panionion.[2][See i. 148.] When these had arrived at that place and took counsel together, they resolved not to gather a land-army to oppose the Persians, but that the Milesians should defend their walls by themselves, and that the Ionians should man their fleet, leaving out not one of their ships, and having done so should assemble as soon as possible at Lade, to fight a sea-battle in defence of Miletos. Now Lade is a small island lying opposite the city of the Milesians..

8. Then the Ionians manned their ships and came thither, and with them also those Aiolians who inhabit Lesbos; and they were drawn up in order thus:—the extremity of the line towards the East was held by the Milesians themselves, who furnished eighty ships; next to them were the Prienians with twelve ships and the men of Myus with three; next to those of Myus were the Teians with seventeen ships, and after the Teians the Chians with a hundred; after these were stationed the men of Erythrai and of Phocaia, the former furnishing eight ships and the latter three; next to the Phocaians were the Lesbians with seventy ships, and last, holding the extremity of the line towards the West, were stationed the Samians with sixty ships. Of all these the total number proved to be three hundred and fifty-three triremes..

9. These were the ships of the Ionians; and of the Barbarians the number of ships was six hundred. When these too were come to the Milesian coast and their whole land-army was also there, then the commanders of the Persians, being informed of the number of the Ionian ships, were struck with fear lest they should be unable to overcome them, and thus on the one hand should not be able to conquer Miletos from not having command of the sea, and at the same time should run a risk of being punished by Dareios. Reflecting upon these things they gathered together the despots of the Ionians who were exiles with the Medes, having been deposed from their governments by Aristagoras the Milesian, and who chanced to be then joining in the expedition against Miletos,—of these men they called together those who were present and spoke to them as follows: “Ionians, now let each one of you show himself a benefactor of the king’s house, that is to say, let each one of you endeavour to detach his own countrymen from the body of the alliance: and make your proposals promising at the same time that they shall suffer nothing unpleasant on account of the revolt, and neither their temples nor their private houses shall be burnt, nor shall they have any worse treatment than they had before this; but if they will not do so, but will by all means enter into a contest with us, threaten them and tell them this, which in truth shall happen to them, namely that if they are worsted in the fight they shall be reduced to slavery, and we shall make their sons eunuchs, and their maidens we shall remove to Bactria, and deliver their land to others.”.

10. They thus spoke; and the despots of Ionia sent each one by night to his own people announcing to them this. The Ionians however, that is those to whom these messages came, continued obstinate and would not accept the thought of treason to their cause; and each people thought that to them alone the Persians were sending this message.

11. This happened as soon as the Persians came to Miletos; and after this the Ionians being gathered together at Lade held meetings; and others no doubt also made speeches to them, but especially the Phocaian commander Dionysios, who said as follows: “Seeing that our affairs are set upon the razor’s edge, Ionians, whether we shall be free or slaves, and slaves too to be dealt with as runaways, now therefore if ye shall be willing to take upon yourselves hardships, ye will have labour for the time being, but ye will be able to overcome the enemy and be free; whereas if ye continue to be self-indulgent and without discipline, I have no hope for you that ye will not pay the penalty to the king for your revolt. Nay, but do as I say, and deliver yourselves over to me; and I engage, if the gods grant equal conditions, that either the enemy will not fight with us, or that fighting he shall be greatly discomfited.”.

12. Hearing this the Ionians delivered themselves to Dionysios; and he used to bring the ships out every day in single file,[3][{epi keras}.] that he might practise the rowers by making the ships break through one another’s line,[4][{diekploon poieumenos tesi neusi di alleleon}.] and that he might get the fighting-men in the ships under arms; an then for the rest of the day he would keep the ships at anchor; and thus he gave the Ionians work to do during the whole day. For seven days then they submitted and did that which he commanded; but on the day after these the Ionians, being unaccustomed to such toils and being exhausted with hard work and hot sun, spoke to one another thus: “Against which of the deities have we offended, that we thus fill up the measure of evil? for surely we have delivered ourselves to a Phocaian, an impostor, who furnishes but three ships: and he has taken us into his hands and maltreats us with evil dealing from which we can never recover; and many of us in fact have fallen into sicknesses, and many others, it may be expected, will suffer the same thing shortly; and for us it is better to endure anything else in the world rather than these ills, and to undergo the slavery which will come upon us, whatever that shall be, rather than to be oppressed by that which we have now. Come, let us not obey him after this any more.” So they said, and forthwith after this every one refused to obey him, and they pitched their tents in the island like an army, and kept in the shade, and would not go on board their ships or practise any exercises.

13. Perceiving this which was being done by the Ionians, the commanders of the Samians then at length accepted from Aiakes the son of Syloson those proposals which Aiakes sent before at the bidding of the Persians, asking them to leave the alliance of the Ionians; the Samians, I say, accepted these proposals, perceiving that there was great want of discipline on the part of the Ionians, while at the same time it was clear to them that it was impossible to overcome the power of the king; and they well knew also that even if they should overcome the present naval force of Dareios,[5][{tou Dareiou}: a conjecture based upon Valla’s translation. The MSS. have {ton Dareion}.] another would be upon them five times as large. Having found an occasion[6][{prophasios epilabomenoi}.] then, so soon as they saw that the Ionians refused to be serviceable, they counted it gain for themselves to save their temples and their private property. Now Aiakes, from whom the Samians accepted the proposals, was the son of Syloson, the son of Aiakes, and being despot of Samos he had been deprived of his rule by Aristagoras the Milesian, like the other despots of Ionia..

14. So when the Phenicians sailed to the attack, the Ionians also put out their ships from shore against them, sailing in single file: and when they came near and engaged battle with one another, as regards what followed I am not able exactly to record which of the Ionians showed themselves cowards or good men in this sea-fight, for they throw blame upon one another. The Samians however, it is said, according to their agreement with Aiakes put up their sails then and set forth from their place in the line to sail back to Samos, excepting only eleven ships: of these the captains stayed in their places and took part in the sea-fight, refusing to obey the commanders of their division; and the public authority of the Samians granted them on account of this to have their names written up on a pillar with their fathers’ names also,[601][{en stele anagraphenai patrothen}.] as having proved themselves good men; and this pillar exists still in the market-place. Then the Lesbians also, when they saw that those next them in order were taking to flight, did the same things as the Samians had done, and so also most of the Ionians did the very same thing..

15. Of those which remained in their places in the sea-fight the Chians suffered very severely,[7][“were very roughly handled.”] since they displayed brilliant deeds of valour and refused to play the coward. These furnished, as was before said, a hundred ships and in each of them forty picked men of their citizens served as fighting-men;[8][{epibateuontas}.] and when they saw the greater number of their allies deserting them, they did not think fit to behave like the cowards among them, but left along with a few only of their allies they continued to fight and kept breaking through the enemy’s line; until at last, after they had conquered many ships of the enemy, they lost the greater number of their own..

16. The Chians then with the remainder of their ships fled away to their own land; but those of the Chians whose ships were disabled by the damage which they had received, being pursued fled for refuge to Mycale; and their ships they ran ashore there and left them behind, while the men proceeded over the mainland on foot: and when the Chians had entered the Ephesian territory on their way, then since[801][{nuktos te gar}: so Stein for {nuktos te}.] they came into it by night and at a time when a festival of Thesmophoria was being celebrated by the women of the place, the Ephesians, not having heard beforehand how it was with the Chians and seeing that an armed body had entered their land, supposed certainly that they were robbers and had a design upon the women; so they came out to the rescue in a body and slew the Chians.

17. Such was the fortune which befell these men: but Dionysios the Phocaian, when he perceived that the cause of the Ionians was ruined, after having taken three ships of the enemy sailed away, not to Pocaia any more, for he knew well that it would be reduced to slavery together with the rest of Ionia, and he sailed forthwith straight to Phenicia; and having there sunk merchant ships and taken a great quantity of goods, he sailed thence to Sicily. Then with that for his starting-point he became a freebooter, not plundering any Hellenes, but Carthaginians and Tyrsenians only.

18. The Persians, then, being conquerors of the Ionians in the sea-fight, besieged Miletos by land and sea, undermining the walls and bringing against it all manner of engines; and they took it completely[9][{kat akres}, lit. “from the top downwards,” i.e. town and citadel both.] in the sixth year from the revolt of Aristagoras, and reduced the people to slavery; so that the disaster agreed with the oracle which had been uttered with reference to Miletos..

19. For when the Argives were inquiring at Delphi about the safety of their city, there was given to them an oracle which applied to both, that is to say, part of it had reference to the Argives themselves, while that which was added afterwards referred to the Milesians. The part of it which had reference to the Argives I will record when I reach that place in the history,[10][参见第 77 章。 XNUMX.] but that which the Oracle uttered with reference to the Milesians, who were not there present, is as follows:

“And at that time, O Miletos, of evil deeds the contriver,
Thou shalt be made for many a glorious gift and a banquet:
Then shall thy wives be compelled to wash the feet of the long-haired,
And in Didyma then my shrine shall be tended by others.”

At the time of which I speak these things came upon the Milesians, since most of the men were killed by the Persians, who are long-haired, and the women and children were dealt with as slaves; and the temple at Didyma, with the sacred building and the sanctuary of the Oracle, was first plundered and then burnt. Of the things in this temple I have made mention frequently in other parts of the history.[11][See i. 92 and v. 36.].

20. After this the Milesians who had been taken prisoner were conducted to Susa; and king Dareios did to them no other evil, but settled them upon the Sea called Erythraian, in the city of Ampe, by which the Tigris flows when it runs out into the sea. Of the Milesian land the Persians themselves kept the surroundings of the city and the plain, but the heights they gave to the Carians of Pedasa for a possession.

21. When the Milesians suffered this treatment from the Persians, the men of Sybaris, who were dwelling in Laos and Skidros, being deprived of their own city, did not repay like with like: for when Sybaris was taken by the men of Croton, the Milesians all from youth upwards shaved their heads and put on great mourning: for these cities were more than all others of which we know bound together by ties of friendship. Not like the Sybarites were the Athenians; for these made it clear that they were grieved at the capture of Miletos, both in many other ways and also by this, that when Phrynichos had composed a drama called the “Capture of Miletos” and had put it on the stage, the body of spectators fell to weeping, and the Athenians moreover fined the poet a thousand drachmas on the ground that he had reminded them of their own calamities; and they ordered also that no one in future should represent this drama.

22. Miletos then had been stripped bare of its former inhabitants: but of the Samians they who had substance were by no means satisfied with that which had been concerted by the commanders of their fleet with the Medes; and taking counsel forthwith after the sea-fight it seemed good to them, before their despot Aiakes arrived in the country, to sail away and make a colony, and not to stay behind and be slaves of the Medes and of Aiakes: for just at this time the people of Zancle in Sicily were sending messengers to Ionia and inviting the Ionians to come to the “Fair Strand,” [1101][{Kalen akten}.] desiring there to found a city of Ionians. Now this which is called the Fair Strand is in the land of the Sikelians and on that side of Sicily which lies towards Tyrsenia. So when these gave the invitation, the Samians alone of all the Ionians set forth, having with them those of the Milesians who had escaped: and in the course of this matter it happened as follows:—

23. The Samians as they made their way towards Sicily reached Locroi Epizephyroi, and at the same time the people of Zancle, both themselves and their king, whose name was Skythes, were encamped about a city of the Sikelians, desiring to conquer it. Perceiving these things, Anaxilaos the despot of Rhegion, being then at variance with those of Zancle, communicated with the Samians and persuaded them that they ought to leave the Fair Strand alone, to which they were sailing, and take possession of Zancle instead, since it was left now without men to defend it. The Samians accordingly did as he said and took possession of Zancle; and upon this the men of Zancle, being informed that their city was possessed by an enemy, set out to rescue it, and invited Hippocrates the despot of Gela to help them, for he was their ally. When however Hippocrates also with his army had come up to their rescue, first he put Skythes the ruler of the Zanclaians in fetters, on the ground that he had been the cause of the city being lost, and together with him his brother Pythogenes, and sent them away to the town of Incyos;[12][Possibly the reading should be {Inuka}, “Inyx.”] then he betrayed the cause of the remaining Zanclaians by coming to terms with the Samians and exchanging oaths with them; and in return for this it had been promised by the Samians that Hippocrates should receive as his share the half of all the movable goods in the city and of the slaves, and the whole of the property in the fields round. So the greater number of the Zanclaians he put in bonds and kept himself as slaves, but the chief men of them, three hundred in number, he gave to the Samians to put to death; which however the Samians did not do.

24. Now Skythes the ruler of the Zanclaians escaped from Incyos to Himera, and thence he came to Asia and went up to the court of Dareios: and Dareios accounted him the most righteous of all the men who had come up to him from Hellas; for he obtained leave of the king and went away to Sicily, and again came back from Sicily to the king; and at last he brought his life to an end among the Persians in old age and possessing great wealth. The Samians then, having got rid of the rule of the Medes, had gained for themselves without labour the fair city of Zancle.

25. After the sea-battle which was fought for Miletos, the Phenicians by the command of the Persians restored to Samos Aiakes the son of Syloson, since he had been to them of much service and had done for them great things; and the Samians alone of all who revolted from Dareios, because of the desertion of their ships which were in the sea-fight,[13][{ton en te naumakhie}: perhaps we should read {ten en te naumakhin}, “which took place in the sea-fight.”] had neither their city nor their temples burnt. Then after the capture of Miletos the Persians forthwith got possession of Caria, some of the cities having submitted to their power voluntarily, while others of them they brought over by force.

26. Thus it came to pass as regards these matters: and meanwhile Histiaios the Milesian, who was at Byzantion and was seizing the merchant vessels of the Ionians as they sailed forth out of the Pontus, received the report of that which had happened about Miletos. Upon that he entrusted the matters which had to do with the Hellespont to Bisaltes the son of Apollophanes, a man of Abydos, while he himself with the Lesbians sailed to Chios; and when a body of the Chians who were on guard did not allow him to approach, he fought with them at that spot in the Chian land which is called the “Hollows.”[14][{en Koiloisi kaleomenoisi}.] Histiaios then not only slew many of these, but also, taking Polichne of the Chians as his base, he conquered with the help of the Lesbians the remainder of the Chians as well, since they had suffered great loss by the sea-fight..

27. And heaven is wont perhaps to give signs beforehand whenever great evils are about to happen to a city or a race of men; for to the Chians also before these events remarkable signs had come. In the first place when they had sent to Delphi a chorus of a hundred youths, two only returned home, the remaining ninety-eight of them having been seized by a plague and carried off; and then secondly in their city about the same time, that is shortly before the sea-fight, as some children were being taught[15][{grammata didaskomenoisi}.] in school the roof fell in upon them, so that of a hundred and twenty children only one escaped. These signs God showed to them beforehand; and after this the sea-fight came upon them and brought their State down upon its knees; and as the Chians had suffered great loss, he without difficulty effected the conquest of them.

28. Thence Histiaios made an expedition against Thasos, taking with him a large force of Ionians and Aiolians; and while he was encamped about the town of Thasos, a report came to him that the Phenicians were sailing up from Miletos to conquer the rest of Ionia. Being informed of this he left Thasos unconquered and himself hastened to Lesbos, taking with him his whole army. Then, as his army was in want of food,[16][{limainouses}: a conjectural reading for {deimainouses}.] he crossed over from Lesbos to reap the corn in Atarneus and also that in the plain of the Caïcos, which belonged to the Mysians. In these parts there chanced to be a Persian named Harpagos commanding a considerable force; and this man fought a battle with him after he had landed, and he took Histiaios himself prisoner and destroyed the greater part of his army..

29. And Histiaios was taken prisoner in the following manner:—As the Hellenes were fighting with the Persians at Malene in the district of Atarneus, after they had been engaged in close combat for a long time, the cavalry at length charged and fell upon the Hellenes; and the cavalry in fact decided the battle.[17][Lit. “and it became in fact the work of the cavalry.”] So when the Hellenes had been turned to flight, Histiaios trusting that he would not be put to death by the king on account of his present fault, conceived a love of life, so that when he was being caught in his flight by a Persian and was about to be run through by him in the moment of his capture, he spoke in Persian and made himself known, saying that he was Histiaios the Milesian..

30. If then upon being taken prisoner he had been brought to king Dareios, he would not, as I think, have suffered any harm, but Dareios would have forgiven the crime with which he was charged; as it was, however, for this very reason and in order that he might not escape from punishment and again become powerful with the king, Artaphrenes the governor of Sardis and Harpagos who had captured him, when he had reached Sardis on his way to the king, put him to death there and then, and his body they impaled, but embalmed his head and brought it up to Dareios at Susa. Dareios having been informed of this, found fault with those who had done so, because they had not brought him up to his presence alive; and he bade wash the head of Histiaios and bestow upon it proper care, and then bury it, as that of one who had been greatly a benefactor both of the king himself and of the Persians.

31. Thus it happened about Histiaios; and meanwhile the Persian fleet, after wintering near Miletos, when it put to sea again in the following year conquered without difficulty the islands lying near the mainland, Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos; and whenever they took one of the islands, the Barbarians, as each was conquered, swept the inhabitants off it;[18][{esagenouon}.] and this they do in the following manner:—they extend themselves from the sea on the North to the sea on the South, each man having hold of the hand of the next, and then they pass through the whole island hunting the people out of it. They took also the Ionian cities on the mainland in the same manner, except that they did not sweep off the inhabitants thus, for it was not possible..

32. Then the commanders of the Persians proved not false to the threats with which they had threatened the Ionians when these were encamped opposite to them: for in fact when they conquered the cities, they chose out the most comely of the boys and castrated them, making eunuchs of them, and the fairest of the maidens they carried off by force to the king; and not only this, but they also burnt the cities together with the temples. Thus for the third time had the Ionians been reduced to slavery, first by the Lydians and then twice in succession by the Persians.

33. Departing from Ionia the fleet proceeded to conquer all the places of the Hellespont on the left as one sails in, for those on the right had been subdued already by the Persians themselves, approaching them by land. Now the cities of the Hellespont in Europe are these:—first comes the Chersonese, in which there are many cities, then Perinthos, the strongholds of the Thracian border, Selymbria, and Byzantion. The people of Byzantion and those of Calchedon opposite did not even wait for the coming of the Persian ships, but had left their own land first and departed, going within the Euxine; and there they settled in the city of Mesambria.[19][Or (according to some good MSS.) “Thelymbri01.”] So the Phenicians, having burnt these places which have been mentioned, directed their course next to Proconnesos and Artake; and when they had delivered these also to the flames, they sailed back to the Chersonese to destroy the remaining cities which they had not sacked when they touched there before: but against Kyzicos they did not sail at all; for the men of Kyzicos even before the time when the Phenicians sailed in had submitted to the king of their own accord, and had made terms with Oibares the son of Megabazos, the Persian governor at Daskyleion.[20][Cp。三. 120.].

34. In the Chersonese then the Phenicians made themselves masters of all the other cities except the city of Cardia. Of these cities up to that time Miltiades the son of Kimon, the son of Stesagoras, had been despot, Miltiades the son of Kypselos having obtained this government in the manner which here follows:—The inhabitants of this Chersonese were Dolonkian Thracians; and these Dolonkians, being hard pressed in war by the Apsinthians, sent their kings to Delphi to consult the Oracle about the war. And the Pythian prophetess answered them that they must bring into their land as founder of a settlement the man who should first offer them hospitality as they returned from the temple. The Dolonkians then passed along the Sacred Road through the land of the Phokians and of the Boeotians, and as no man invited them, they turned aside and came to Athens..

35. Now at that time in Athens the government was held by Peisistratos, but Miltiades also the son of Kypselos had some power, who belonged to a family which kept four-horse chariot teams, and who was descended originally from Aiacos and Egina, though in more recent times his family was Athenian, Philaios the son of Ajax having been the first of his house who became an Athenian. This Miltiades was sitting in the entrance of his own dwelling, and seeing the Dolonkians going by with dress that was not of the native Athenian fashion and with spears, he shouted to them; and when they approached, he offered them lodging and hospitality. They then having accepted and having been entertained by him, proceeded to declare all the utterances of the Oracle; and having declared it they asked him to do as the god had said: and Miltiades when he heard it was at once disposed to agree, because he was vexed by the rule of Peisistratos and desired to be removed out of the way. He set out therefore forthwith to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle whether he should do that which the Dolonkians asked of him:.

36, and as the Pythian prophetess also bade him do so, Miltiades the son of Kypselos, who had before this been victor at Olympia with a four-horse chariot, now taking with him of the Athenians everyone who desired to share in the expedition, sailed with the Dolonkians and took possession of the land: and they who had invited him to come to them made him despot over them. First then he made a wall across the isthmus of the Chersonese from the city of Cardia to Pactye, in order that the Apsinthians might not be able to invade the land and do them damage. Now the number of furlongs[21][{stadioi}: the distances here mentioned are equal to a little more than four and a little less than fifty miles respectively.] across the isthmus at this place is six-and-thirty, and from this isthmus the Chersonese within is altogether four hundred and twenty furlongs in length..

37. Having made a wall then across the neck of the Chersonese and having in this manner repelled the Apsinthians, Miltiades made war upon the people of Lampsacos first of all others; and the people of Lampsacos laid an ambush and took him prisoner. Now Miltiades had come to be a friend[22][{en gnome gegonos}.] of Croesus the Lydian; and Croesus accordingly, being informed of this event, sent and commanded the people of Lampsacos to let Miltiades go; otherwise he threatened to destroy them utterly like a pine-tree.[23][{pituos tropon}: the old name of the town was Pityuss01.] Then when the people of Lampsacos were perplexed in their counsels as to what that saying should mean with which Croesus had threatened them, namely that he would destroy them utterly like a pine-tree, at length one of the elder men with difficulty perceived the truth, and said that a pine alone of all trees when it has been cut down does not put forth any further growth but perishes, being utterly destroyed. The people of Lampsacos therefore fearing Croesus loosed Miltiades and let him go..

38. He then escaped by means of Croesus, but afterwards he brought his life to an end leaving no son to succeed him, but passing over his rule and his possessions to Stesagoras, who was the son of Kimon, his brother on the mother’s side:[24][That is to say, Kimon was his half-brother, and Stesagoras and the younger Miltiades his nephews.] and the people of the Chersonese still offer sacrifices to him after his death as it is usual to do to a founder, and hold in his honour a contest of horse-races and athletic exercises, in which none of the men of Lampsacos are allowed to contend. After this there was war with those of Lampsacos; and it happened to Stesagoras also that he died without leaving a son, having been struck on the head with an axe in the City Hall by a man who pretended to be a deserter, but who proved himself to be in fact an enemy and a rather hot one moreover..

39. Then after Stesagoras also had ended his life in this manner, Miltiades son of Kimon and brother of that Stesagoras who was dead, was sent in a trireme to the Chersonese to take possession of the government by the sons of Peisistratos, who had dealt well with him at Athens also, pretending that they had had no share in the death of his father Kimon, of which in another part of the history I will set forth how it came to pass.[25][参见第 103 章。 XNUMX.] Now Miltiades, when he came to the Chersonese, kept himself within his house, paying honours in all appearance[26][{delade}.] to the memory of his brother Stesagoras; and the chief men of the inhabitants of the Chersonese in every place, being informed of this, gathered themselves together from all the cities and came in a body to condole with him, and when they had come they were laid in bonds by him. Miltiades then was in possession of the Chersonese, supporting a body of five hundred mercenary troops; and he married the daughter of Oloros the king of the Thracians, who was named Hegesipyle.

40. Now this Miltiades son of Kimon had at the time of which we speak but lately returned[27][{eleluthee}, but the meaning must be this, and it is explained by the clause, {trito men gar etei k.t.l.}] to the Chersonese; and after he had returned, there befell him other misfortunes worse than those which had befallen him already; for two years before this he had been a fugitive out of the land from the Scythians, since the nomad Scythians provoked by king Dareios had joined all in a body and marched as far as this Chersonese, and Miltiades had not awaited their attack but had become a fugitive from the Chersonese, until at last the Scythians departed and the Dolonkians brought him back again. These things happened two years before the calamities which now oppressed him:.

41, and now, being informed that the Phenicians were at Tenedos, he filled five triremes with the property which he had at hand and sailed away for Athens. And having set out from the city of Cardia he was sailing through the gulf of Melas; and as he passed along by the shore of the Chersonese, the Phenicians fell in with his ships, and while Miltiades himself with four of his ships escaped to Imbros, the fifth of his ships was captured in the pursuit by the Phenicians. Of this ship it chanced that Metiochos the eldest of the sons of Miltiades was in command, not born of the daughter of Oloros the Thracian, but of another woman. Him the Phenicians captured together with his ship; and being informed about him, that he was the son of Miltiades, they brought him up to the king, supposing that they would lay up for themselves a great obligation; because it was Miltiades who had declared as his opinion to the Ionians that they should do as the Scythians said, at that time when the Scythians requested them to break up the bridge of boats and sail away to their own land. Dareios however, when the Phenicians brought up to him Metiochos the son of Miltiades, did Metiochos no harm but on the contrary very much good; for he gave him a house and possessions and a Persian wife, by whom he had children born who have been ranked as Persians. Miltiades meanwhile came from Imbros to Athens.

42. In the course of this year there was done by the Persians nothing more which tended to strife with the Ionians, but these things which follow were done in this year very much to their advantage.—Artaphrenes the governor of Sardis sent for envoys from all the cities and compelled the Ionians to make agreements among themselves, so that they might give satisfaction for wrongs and not plunder one another’s land. This he compelled them to do, and also he measured their territories by parasangs,—that is the name which the Persians give to the length of thirty furlongs,[28][{stadia}: see v. 52, note 40.]—he measured, I say, by these, and appointed a certain amount of tribute for each people, which continues still unaltered from that time even to my own days, as it was appointed by Artaphrenes; and the tribute was appointed to be nearly of the same amount for each as it had been before..

43. These were things which tended to peace for the Ionians; but at the beginning of the spring, the other commanders having all been removed by the king, Mardonios the son of Gobryas came down to the sea, bringing with him a very large land-army and a very large naval force, being a young man and lately married to Artozostra daughter of king Dareios. When Mardonios leading this army came to Kilikia, he embarked on board a ship himself and proceeded together with the other ships, while other leaders led the land-army to the Hellespont. Mardonios however sailing along the coast of Asia came to Ionia: and here I shall relate a thing which will be a great marvel to those of the Hellenes who do not believe that to the seven men of the Persians Otanes declared as his opinion that the Persians ought to have popular rule;[29][See iii. 80.] for Mardonios deposed all the despots of the Ionians and established popular governments in the cities. Having so done he hastened on to the Hellespont; and when there was collected a vast number of ships and a large land-army, they crossed over the Hellespont in the ships and began to make their way through Europe, and their way was directed against Eretria and Athens..

44. These, I say, furnished them the pretence for the expedition, but they had it in their minds to subdue as many as they could of the Hellenic cities; and in the first place they subdued with their ships the Thasians, who did not even raise a hand to defend themselves: then with the land-army they gained the Macedonians to be their servants in addition to those whom they had already; for all the nations on the East of the Macedonians[30][{entos Makedonon}, “on their side of the Macedonians.”] had become subject to them already before this. Crossing over then from Thasos to the opposite coast, they proceeded on their way near the land as far as Acanthos, and then starting from Acanthos they attempted to get round Mount Athos; but as they sailed round, there fell upon them a violent North Wind, against which they could do nothing, and handled them very roughly, casting away very many of their ships on Mount Athos. It is said indeed that the number of the ships destroyed was three hundred, [3001][Or (according to some MSS.) “about three hundred.”], and more than twenty thousand men; for as this sea which is about Athos is very full of sea monsters, some were seized by these and so perished, while others were dashed against the rocks; and some of them did not know how to swim and perished for that cause, others again by reason of cold..

45. Thus fared the fleet; and meanwhile Mardonios and the land-army while encamping in Macedonia were attacked in the night by the Brygian Thracians, and many of them were slain by the Brygians and Mardonios himself was wounded. However not even these escaped being enslaved by the Persians, for Mardonios did not depart from that region until he had made them subject. But when he had subdued these, he proceeded to lead his army back, since he had suffered great loss with his land-army in fighting against the Brygians and with his fleet in going round Athos. So this expedition departed back to Asia having gained no honour by its contests.

46. In the next year after this Dareios first sent a messenger to the men of Thasos, who had been accused by their neighbours of planning revolt, and bade them take away the wall around their town and bring their ships to Abdera. The Thasians in fact, as they had been besieged by Histiaios the Milesian and at the same time had large revenues coming in, were using their money in building ships of war and in surrounding their city with a stronger wall. Now the revenues came to them from the mainland and from the mines: from the gold-mines in Scapte Hyle[31][Or “Scaptesyle.” (The Medicean MS. however has {skaptes ules}, not {skaptesules}, as reported by Stein.)] there came in generally eighty talents a year, and from those in Thasos itself a smaller amount than this but so much that in general the Thasians, without taxes upon the produce of their soil, had a revenue from the mainland and from the mines amounting yearly to two hundred talents, and when the amount was highest, to three hundred..

47. I myself saw these mines, and by much the most marvellous of them were those which the Phenicians discovered, who made the first settlement in this island in company with Thasos; and the island had the name which it now has from this Thasos the Phenician. These Phenician mines are in that part of Thasos which is between the places called Ainyra and Koinyra and opposite Samothrake, where there is a great mountain which has been all turned up in the search for metal. Thus it is with this matter: and the Thasians on the command of the king both razed their walls and brought all their ships to Abdera.

48. After this Dareios began to make trial of the Hellenes, what they meant to do, whether to make war with him or to deliver themselves up. He sent abroad heralds therefore, and appointed them to go some to one place and others to another throughout Hellas, bidding them demand earth and water for the king. These, I say, he sent to Hellas; and meanwhile he was sending abroad other heralds to his own tributary cities which lay upon the sea-coast, and he bade them have ships of war built and also vessels to carry horses..

49. They then were engaged in preparing these things; and meanwhile when the heralds had come to Hellas, many of those who dwelt upon the mainland gave that for which the Persian made demand,[32][{ta proiskheto aiteon}, “that which he put forward demanding it.”] and all those who dwelt in the islands did so, to whomsoever they came to make their demand. The islanders, I say, gave earth and water to Dareios, and among them also those of Egina, and when these had done so, the Athenians went forthwith urgent against them, supposing that the Eginetans had given with hostile purpose against themselves, in order to make an expedition against them in combination with the Persians; and also they were glad to get hold of an occasion against them. Accordingly they went backward and forwards to Sparta and accused the Eginetans of that which they had done, as having proved themselves traitors to Hellas..

50. In consequence of this accusation Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides, king of the Spartans, crossed over to Egina meaning to seize those of the Eginetans who were the most guilty; but as he was attempting to seize them, certain of the Eginetans opposed him, and among them especially Crios the son of Polycritos, who said that he should not with impunity carry off a single Eginetan, for he was doing this (said he) without authority from the Spartan State, having been persuaded to it by the Athenians with money; otherwise he would have come and seized them in company with the other king: and this he said by reason of a message received from Demaratos. Cleomenes then as he departed from Egina, asked Crios[33][i.e. “ram.”] what was his name, and he told him the truth; and Cleomenes said to him: “Surely now, O Ram, thou must cover over thy horns with bronze for thou wilt shortly have a great trouble to contend with.”

51. Meanwhile Demaratos the son of Ariston was staying behind in Sparta and bringing charges against Cleomenes, he also being king of the Spartans but of the inferior house; which however is inferior in no other way (for it is descended from the same ancestor), but the house of Eurysthenes has always been honoured more, apparently because he was the elder brother..

52. For the Lacedemonians, who herein agree with none of the poets, say that Aristodemos the son of Aristomachos, the son of Cleodaios, the son of Hyllos, being their king, led them himself (and not the sons of Aristodemos) to this land which they now possess. Then after no long time the wife of Aristodemos, whose name was Argeia,—she was the daughter, they say, of Autesion, the son of Tisamenes, the son of Thersander, the son of Polyneikes,—she, it is said, brought forth twins; and Aristodemos lived but to see his children and then ended his life by sickness. So the Lacedemonians of that time resolved according to established custom to make the elder of the children their king; but they did not know which of them they should take, because they were like one another and of equal size; and when they were not able to make out, or even before this, they inquired of their mother; and she said that even she herself did not know one from the other. She said this, although she knew in truth very well, because she desired that by some means both might be made kings. The Lacedemonians then were in a strait; and being in a strait they sent to Delphi to inquire what they should do in the matter. And the Pythian prophetess bade them regard both children as their kings, but honour most the first in age.[34][{ton geraiteron}.]The prophetess, they say, thus gave answer to them; and when the Lacedemonians were at a loss none the less how to find out the elder of them, a Messenian whose name was Panites made a suggestion to them: this Panites, I say, suggested to the Lacedemonians that they should watch the mother and see which of the children she washed and fed before the other; and if she was seen to do this always in the same order, then they would have all that they were seeking and desiring to find out, but if she too was uncertain and did it in a different order at different times, it would be plain to them that even she had no more knowledge than any other, and they must turn to some other way. Then the Spartans following the suggestion of the Messenian watched the mother of the sons of Aristodemos and found that she gave honour thus to the first-born both in feeding and in washing; for she did not know with that design she was being watched. They took therefore the child which was honoured by its mother and brought it up as the first-born in the public hall,[35][{en to demosio}.] and to it was given the name of Eurysthenes, while the other was called Procles. These, when they had grown up, both themselves were at variance, they say, with one another, though they were brothers, throughout the whole time of their lives, and their descendants also continued after the same manner.

53. This is the report given by the Lacedemonians alone of all the Hellenes; but this which follows I write in accordance with that which is reported by the Hellenes generally,—I mean that the names of these kings of the Dorians are rightly enumerated by the Hellenes up to Perseus the son of Danae (leaving the god out of account),[36][This is commonly understood to mean, leaving out of account the god who was father of Perseus; but the reason for stopping short at Perseus is given afterwards, and the expression {tou theou apeontos} refers perhaps rather to the case of Heracles, the legend of whose birth is rejected by Herodotus (see ii. 43), and rejected also by this genealogy, which passes through Amphitryon up to Perseus. I take it that {tou theou apeontos} means “reckoning Heracles” (who is mentioned by name just below in this connexion) “as the son of Amphitryon and not of Zeus.”] and proved to be of Hellenic race; for even from that time they were reckoned as Hellenes. I said “up to Perseus” and did not take the descent from a yet higher point, because there is no name mentioned of a mortal father for Perseus, as Amphitryon is for Heracles. Therefore with reason, as is evident, I have said “rightly up to Perseus”; but if one enumerates their ancestors in succession going back from Danae the daughter of Acrisios, the rulers of the Dorians will prove to be Egyptians by direct descent..

54. Thus I have traced the descent according to the account given by the Hellenes; but as the story is reported which the Persians tell, Perseus himself was an Assyrian and became a Hellene, whereas the ancestors of Perseus were not Hellenes; and as for the ancestors of Acrisios, who (according to this account) belonged not to Perseus in any way by kinship, they say that these were, as the Hellenes report, Egyptians..

55. Let it suffice to have said so much about these matters; and as to the question how and by what exploits being Egyptians they received the sceptres of royalty over the Dorians, we will omit these things, since others have told about them; but the things with which other narrators have not dealt, of these I will make mention.

56. These are the royal rights which have been given by the Spartans to their kings, namely, two priesthoods, of Zeus Lakedaimon and Zeus Uranios;[37][i.e. “of heaven.”] and the right of making war against whatsoever land they please, and that no man of the Spartans shall hinder this right, or if he do, he shall be subject to the curse; and that when they go on expeditions the kings shall go out first and return last; that a hundred picked men shall be their guard upon expeditions; and that they shall use in their goings forth to war as many cattle as they desire, and take both the hides and the backs of all that are sacrificed..

57. These are their privileges in war; and in peace moreover things have been assigned to them as follows:—if any sacrifice is performed at the public charge, it is the privilege of the kings to sit down at the feast before all others, and that the attendants shall begin with them first, and serve to each of them a portion of everything double of that which is given to the other guests, and that they shall have the first pouring of libations and the hides of the animals slain in sacrifice; that on every new moon and seventh day of the month there shall be delivered at the public charge to each one of these a full-grown victim in the temple of Apollo, and a measure[38][{medimnon}, the Lacedemonian {medimnos} being equal to rather more than two bushels.] of barley-groats and a Laconian “quarter”[39][{tetarten Lakomiken}, quantity uncertain.] of wine; and that at all the games they shall have seats of honour specially set apart for them: moreover it is their privilege to appoint as protectors of strangers[40][{proxeinous}.] whomsoever they will of the citizens, and to choose each two “Pythians:” now the Pythians are men sent to consult the god at Delphi, and they eat with the kings at the public charge. And if the kings do not come to the dinner, it is the rule that there shall be sent out for them to their houses two quarts[41][{khoinikas}. There were 48 {khoinikes} in the {medimnos}.] of barley-groats for each one and half a pint[42][{kotulen}.] of wine; but if they are present, double shares of everything shall be given them, and moreover they shall be honoured in this same manner when they have been invited to dinner by private persons. The kings also, it is ordained, shall have charge of the oracles which are given, but the Pythians also shall have knowledge of them. It is the rule moreover that the kings alone give decision on the following cases only, that is to say, about the maiden who inherits her father’s property, namely who ought to have her, if her father have not betrothed her to any one, and about public ways; also if any man desires to adopt a son, he must do it in presence of the kings: and it is ordained that they shall sit in council with the Senators, who are in number eight-and-twenty, and if they do not come, those of the Senators who are most closely related to them shall have the privileges of the kings and give two votes besides their own, making three in all. [4201][The loose manner in which this is expressed, leaving it uncertain whether each king was supposed by the writer to have two votes given for him (cp. Thuc. i. 20), or whether the double vote was one for each king, must of course be reproduced in the translation.].

58. These rights have been assigned to the kings for their lifetime by the Spartan State; and after they are dead these which follow:—horsemen go round and announce that which has happened throughout the whole of the Laconian land, and in the city women go about and strike upon a copper kettle. Whenever this happens so, two free persons of each household must go into mourning, a man and a woman, and for those who fail to do this great penalties are appointed. Now the custom of the Lacedemonians about the deaths of their kings is the same as that of the Barbarians who dwell in Asia, for most of the Barbarians practise the same customs as regards the death of their kings. Whensoever a king of the Lacedemonians is dead, then from the whole territory of Lacedemon, not reckoning the Spartans, a certain fixed number of the “dwellers round”[43][{perioikon}.] are compelled to go to the funeral ceremony:

59. and when there have been gathered together of these and of the Helots and of the Spartans themselves many thousands in the same place, with their women intermingled, they beat their foreheads with a good will and make lamentation without stint, saying that this one who has died last of their kings was the best of all: and whenever any of their kings has been killed in war, they prepare an image to represent him, laid upon a couch with fair coverings, and carry it out to be buried. Then after they have buried him, no assembly is held among them for ten days, nor is there any meeting for choice of magistrates, but they have mourning during these days. In another respect too these resemble the Persians; that is to say, when the king is dead and another is appointed king, this king who is newly coming in sets free any man of the Spartans who was a debtor to the king or to the State; while among the Persians the king who comes to the throne remits to all the cities the arrears of tribute which are due.

60. In the following point also the Lacedemonians resemble the Egyptians; that is to say, their heralds and fluteplayers and cooks inherit the crafts of their fathers, and a fluteplayer is the son of a fluteplayer, a cook of a cook, and a herald of a herald; other men do not lay hands upon the office because they have loud and clear voices, and so shut them out of it, but they practise their craft by inheritance from their fathers.

61. Thus are these things done: and at this time of which we speak,[44][参见第 51 章。 XNUMX.] while Cleomenes was in Egina doing deeds[45][{proergazomenon}: a conjectural emendation of {prosergazomenon}.] which were for the common service of Hellas, Demaratos brought charges against him, not so much because he cared for the Eginetans as because he felt envy and jealousy of him. Then Cleomenes, after he returned from Egina, planned to depose Demaratos from being king, making an attempt upon him on account of this matter which follows:—Ariston being king in Sparta and having married two wives, yet had no children born to him; and since he did not acknowledge that he himself was the cause of this, he married a third wife; and he married her thus:—he had a friend, a man of the Spartans, to whom of all the citizens Ariston was most inclined; and it chanced that this man had a wife who was of all the women in Sparta the fairest by far, and one too who had become the fairest from having been the foulest. For as she was mean in her aspect, her nurse, considering that she was the daughter of wealthy persons and was of uncomely aspect, and seeing moreover that her parents were troubled by it,—perceiving I say these things, her nurse devised as follows:—every day she bore her to the temple of Helen, which is in the place called Therapne, lying above the temple of Phoebus; and whenever the nurse bore her thither, she placed her before the image and prayed the goddess to deliver the child from her unshapeliness. And once as the nurse was going away out of the temple, it is said that a woman appeared to her, and having appeared asked her what she was bearing in her arms; and she told her that she was bearing a child; upon which the other bade her show the child to her, but she refused, for it had been forbidden to her by the parents to show it to any one: but the woman continued to urge her by all means to show it to her. So then perceiving that the woman earnestly desired to see it, the nurse showed her the child. Then the woman stroking the head of the child said that she should be the fairest of all the women in Sparta; and from that day her aspect was changed. Afterwards when she came to the age for marriage, she was married to Agetos the son of Alkeides, this friend of Ariston of whom we spoke..

62. Now Ariston it seems was ever stung by the desire of this woman, and accordingly he contrived as follows:—he made an engagement himself with his comrade, whose wife this woman was, that he would give him as a gift one thing of his own possessions, whatsoever he should choose, and he bade his comrade make return to him in similar fashion. He therefore, fearing nothing for his wife, because he saw that Ariston also had a wife, agreed to this; and on these terms they imposed oaths on one another. After this Ariston on his part gave that which Agetos had chosen from the treasures of Ariston, whatever the thing was; and he himself, seeking to obtain from him the like return, endeavoured then to take away the wife of his comrade from him: and he said that he consented to give anything else except this one thing only, but at length being compelled by the oath and by the treacherous deception,[46][{tes apates te paragoge}, “by the misleading of the deception.”] he allowed her to be taken away from him..

63. Thus had Ariston brought into his house the third wife, having dismissed the second: and this wife, not having fulfilled the ten months[47][i.e. lunar months.] but in a shorter period of time, bore him that Demaratos of whom we were speaking; and one of his servants reported to him as he was sitting in council[48][{en thoko katemeno}.] with the Ephors, that a son had been born to him. He then, knowing the time when he took to him his wife, and reckoning the months upon his fingers, said, denying with an oath, “The child would not be mine.” This the Ephors heard, but they thought it a matter of no importance at the moment; and the child grew up and Ariston repented of that which he had said, for he thought Demaratos was certainly his own son; and he gave him the name “Demaratos” for this reason, namely because before these things took place the Spartan people all in a body[49][{pandemei}.] had made a vow[50][{aren}.] praying that a son might be born to Ariston, as one who was pre-eminent in renown over all the kings who had ever arisen in Sparta.

64. For this reason the name Demaratos[51][i.e. “prayed for by the people.”] was given to him. And as time went on Ariston died, and Demaratos obtained the kingdom: but it was fated apparently that these things should become known and should cause Demaratos to be deposed from the kingdom; and therefore[52][{di a}: a conjectural emendation of {dia ta}. Some Editors suppose that other words have dropped out.] Demaratos came to be at variance greatly with Cleomenes both at the former time when he withdrew his army from Eleusis, and also now especially, when Cleomenes had crossed over to take those of the Eginetans who had gone over to the Medes..

65. Cleomenes then, being anxious to take vengeance on him, concerted matters with Leotychides the son of Menares, the son of Agis, who was of the same house as Demaratos, under condition that if he should set him up as king instead of Demaratos, he would go with him against the Eginetans. Now Leotychides had become a bitter foe of Demaratos on account of this matter which follows:—Leotychides had betrothed himself to Percalos the daughter of Chilon son of Demarmenos; and Demaratos plotted against him and deprived Leotychides of his marriage, carrying off Percalos himself beforehand, and getting her for his wife. Thus had arisen the enmity of Leotychides against Demaratos; and now by the instigation of Cleomenes Leotychides deposed against Demaratos, saying that he was not rightfully reigning over the Spartans, not being a son of Ariston: and after this deposition he prosecuted a suit against him, recalling the old saying which Ariston uttered at the time when his servant reported to him that a son was born to him, and he reckoning up the months denied with an oath, saying that it was not his. Taking his stand upon this utterance, Leotychides proceeded to prove that Demaratos was not born of Ariston nor was rightfully reigning over Sparta; and he produced as witnesses those Ephors who chanced then to have been sitting with Ariston in council and to have heard him say this..

66. At last, as there was contention about those matters, the Spartans resolved to ask the Oracle at Delphi whether Demaratos was the son of Ariston. The question then having been referred by the arrangement of Cleomenes to the Pythian prophetess, thereupon Cleomenes gained over to his side Cobon the son of Aristophantos, who had most power among the Delphians, and Cobin persuaded Perialla the prophetess of the Oracle[53][{promantin}: cp. vii. III.] to say that which Cleomenes desired to have said. Thus the Pythian prophetess, when those who were sent to consult the god asked her their question, gave decision that Demaratos was not the son of Ariston. Afterwards however these things became known, and both Cobon went into exile from Delphi and Perialla the prophetess of the Oracle was removed from her office.

67. With regard to the deposing of Demaratos from the kingdom it happened thus: but Demaratos became an exile from Sparta to the Medes on account of a reproach which here follows:—After he had been deposed from the kingdom Demaratos was holding a public office to which he had been elected. Now it was the time of the Gymnopaidiai; and as Demaratos was a spectator of them, Leotychides, who had now become king himself instead of Demaratos, sent his attendant and asked Demaratos in mockery and insult what kind of a thing it was to be a magistrate after having been king; and he vexed at the question made answer and said that he himself had now had experience of both, but Leotychides had not; this question however, he said, would be the beginning either of countless evil or countless good fortune for the Lacedemonians. Having thus said, he veiled his head and went forth out of the theatre to his own house; and forthwith he made preparations and sacrificed an ox to Zeus, and after having sacrificed he called his mother..

68. Then when his mother had come, he put into her hands some of the inner parts[54][{ton splagkhnon}.] of the victim, and besought her, saying as follows: “Mother, I beseech thee, appealing to the other gods and above all to this Zeus the guardian of the household,[55][{tou erkeiou}.] to tell me the truth, who is really and truly my father. For Leotychides spoke in his contention with me, saying that thou didst come to Ariston with child by thy former husband; and others besides, reporting that which is doubtless an idle tale,[56][{ton mataioteron logon legontes}.] say that thou didst go in to one of the servants, namely the keeper of the asses, and that I am his son. I therefore entreat thee by the gods to tell me the truth; for if thou hast done any of these things which are reported, thou hast not done them alone, but with many other women; and the report is commonly believed in Sparta that there was not in Ariston seed which should beget children; for if so, then his former wives also would have borne children.”.

69. Thus he spoke, and she made answer as follows: “My son, since thou dost beseech me with entreaties to speak the truth, the whole truth shall be told to thee. When Ariston had brought me into his house, on the third night[57][Lit. “on the third night after the first,” but the meaning is as given.] there came to me an apparition in the likeness of Ariston, and having lain with me it put upon me the garlands which it had on; and the apparition straitway departed, and after this Ariston came; and when he saw me with garlands, he asked who it was who had given me them; and I said that he had given them, but he did not admit it; and I began to take oath of it, saying that he did not well to deny it, for he had come (I said) a short time before and had lain with me and given me the garlands. Then Ariston, seeing that I made oath of it, perceived that the matter was of the gods; and first the garlands were found to be from the hero-temple which stands by the outer door of the house, which they call the temple of Astrabacos,[58][Most of the MSS. have “Astrobacos,” which may be right.] and secondly the diviners gave answer that it was this same hero. Thus, my son, thou hast all, as much as thou desirest to learn; for either thou art begotten of this hero and the hero Astrabacos is thy father, or Ariston is thy father, for on that night I conceived thee: but as to that wherein thy foes most take hold of thee, saying that Ariston himself, when thy birth was announced to him, in the hearing of many declared that thou wert not his son, because the time, the ten months namely, had not yet been fulfilled, in ignorance of such matters he cast forth that saying; for women bring forth children both at the ninth month and also at the seventh, and not all after they have completed ten months; and I bore thee, my son, at the seventh month: and Ariston himself also perceived after no long time that he had uttered this saying in folly. Do not thou then accept any other reports about thy begetting, for thou hast heard in all the full truth; but to Leotychides and to those who report these things may their wives bear children by keepers of asses!”

70. Thus she spoke; and he, having learnt that which he desired to learn, took supplies for travelling and set forth to go to Elis, pretending that he was going to Delphi to consult the Oracle: but the Lacedemonians, suspecting that he was attempting to escape, pursued after him; and it chanced that before they came Demaratos had passed over to Zakynthos from Elis; and the Lacedemonians crossing over after him laid hands on his person and carried away his attendants from him. Afterwards however, since those of Zakynthos refused to give him up, he passed over from thence to Asia, to the presence of king Dareios; and Dareios both received him with great honour as a guest, and also gave him land and cities. Thus Demaratos had come to Asia, and such was the fortune which he had had, having been distinguished in the estimation of the Lacedemonians[59][Or “to the honour of the Lacedemonians.”] in many other ways both by deeds and by counsels, and especially having gained for them an Olympic victory with the four-horse chariot, being the only one who achieved this of all the kings who ever arose in Sparta.

71. Demaratos being deposed, Leotychides the son of Menares succeeded to the kingdom; and he had born to him a son Zeuxidemos, whom some of the Spartans called Kyniscos. This Zeuxidemos did not become king of Sparta, for he died before Leotychides, leaving a son Archidemos: and Leotychides having lost Zeuxidemos married a second wife Eurydame, the sister of Menios and daughter of Diactorides, by whom he had no male issue, but a daughter Lampito, whom Archidemos the son of Zeuxidemos took in marriage, she being given to him by Leotychides..

72. Leotychides however did not himself[60][i.e. any more than his predecessor.] live to old age in Sparta, but paid a retribution for Demaratos as follows:—he went as commander of the Lacedemonians to invade Thessaly, and when he might have reduced all to subjection, he accepted gifts of money amounting to a large sum; and being taken in the act there in the camp, as he was sitting upon a glove full of money, he was brought to trial and banished from Sparta, and his house was razed to the ground. So he went into exile to Tegea and ended his life there..

73. These things happened later; but at this time, when Cleomenes had brought to a successful issue the affair which concerned Demaratos, forthwith he took with him Leotychides and went against the Eginetans, being very greatly enraged with them because of their insults towards him. So the Eginetans on their part, since both the kings had come against them, thought fit no longer to resist; and the Spartans selected ten men who were the most considerable among the Eginetans both by wealth and by birth, and took them away as prisoners, and among others also Crios[61][参见第 50 章。 XNUMX.] the son of Polycritos and Casambos the son of Aristocrates, who had the greatest power among them; and having taken these away to the land of Attica, they deposited them as a charge with the Athenians, who were the bitterest enemies of the Eginetans.

74. After this Cleomenes, since it had become known that he had devised evil against Demaratos, was seized by fear of the Spartans and retired to Thessaly. Thence he came to Arcadia, and began to make mischief[62][{neotera epresse pregmata}.] and to combine the Arcadians against Sparta; and besides other oaths with which he caused them to swear that they would assuredly follow him whithersoever he should lead them, he was very desirous also to bring the chiefs of the Arcadians to the city of Nonacris and cause them to swear by the water of Styx; for near this city it is said by the Arcadians[63][{up Arkadon}: several good MSS. have {ton Arkadon}, which is adopted by some Editors. The meaning would be “near this city it is said that there is the Styx water of the Arcadians.”] that there is the water of Styx, and there is in fact something of this kind: a small stream of water is seen to trickle down from a rock into a hollow ravine, and round the ravine runs a wall of rough stones. Now Nonacris, where it happens that this spring is situated, is a city of Arcadia near Pheneos..

75. The Lacedemonians, hearing that Cleomenes was acting thus, were afraid, and proceeded to bring him back to Sparta to rule on the same terms as before: but when he had come back, forthwith a disease of madness seized him (who had been even before this somewhat insane[64][{upomargoteron}.]), and whenever he met any of the Spartans, he dashed his staff against the man’s face. And as he continued to do this and had gone quite out of his senses, his kinsmen bound him in stocks. Then being so bound, and seeing his warder left alone by the rest, he asked him for a knife; and the warder not being at first willing to give it, he threatened him with that which he would do to him afterwards if he did not; until at last the warder fearing the threats, for he was one of the Helots, gave him a knife. Then Cleomenes, when he had received the steel, began to maltreat himself from the legs upwards: for he went on cutting his flesh lengthways from the legs to the thighs and from the thighs to the loins and flanks, until at last he came to the belly; and cutting this into strips he died in that manner. And this happened, as most of the Hellenes report, because he persuaded the Pythian prophetess to advise that which was done about Demaratos; but as the Athenians alone report, it was because when he invaded Eleusis he laid waste the sacred enclosure of the goddesses;[65][Demeter and Core.] and according to the report of the Argives, because from their sanctuary dedicated to Argos he caused to come down those of the Argives who had fled for refuge from the battle and slew them, and also set fire to the grove itself, holding it in no regard..

76. For when Cleomenes was consulting the Oracle at Delphi, the answer was given him that he should conquer Argos; so he led the Spartans and came to the river Erasinos, which is said to flow from the Stymphalian lake; for this lake, they say, running out into a viewless chasm, appears again above ground in the land of Argos; and from thence onwards this water is called by the Argives Erasinos: having come, I say, to this river, Cleomenes did sacrifice to it; and since the sacrifices were not at all favourable for him to cross over, he said that he admired the Erasinos for not betraying the men of its country, but the Argives should not even so escape. After this he retired back from thence and led his army down to Thyrea; and having done sacrifice to the Sea by slaying a bull, he brought them in ships to the land of Tiryns and Nauplia..

77. Being informed of this, the Argives came to the rescue towards the sea; and when they had got near Tiryns and were at the place which is called Hesipeia,[66][The MSS. give also “Sepeia” and “Sipei01.” The place is not elsewhere mentioned.] they encamped opposite to the Lacedemonians leaving no very wide space between the armies. There the Argives were not afraid of the open fighting, but only lest they should be conquered by craft; for to this they thought referred the oracle which the Pythian prophetess gave in common to these and to the Milesians,[67][参见第 19 章。 XNUMX.] saying as follows:

“But when the female at length shall conquer the male in the battle,
Conquer and drive him forth, and glory shall gain among Argives,
Then many wives of the Argives shall tear both cheeks in their mourning;
So that a man shall say some time, of the men that came after,
‘Quelled by the spear it perished, the three-coiled terrible serpent,’

The conjunction of all these things caused fear to the Argives, and with a view to this they resolved to make use of the enemy’s herald; and having so resolved they proceeded to do as follows:—whenever the Spartan herald proclaimed anything to the Lacedemonians, the Argives also did that same thing..

78. So Cleomenes, perceiving that the Argives were doing whatever the herald of the Lacedemonians proclaimed, passed the word to the Lacedemonians that when the herald should proclaim that they were to get breakfast, then they should take up their arms and go to attack the Argives. This was carried out even so by the Lacedemonians; for as the Argives were getting breakfast according to the herald’s proclamation, they attacked them; and many of them they slew, but many more yet took refuge in the sacred grove of Argos, and upon these they kept watch, sitting round about the place. Then Cleomenes did this which follows:—

79. He had with him deserters, and getting information by inquiring of these, he sent a herald and summoned forth those of the Argives who were shut up in the sanctuary, mentioning each by name; and he summoned them forth saying that he had received their ransom. Now among the Peloponnesians ransom is two pounds weight of silver[68][{duo mneai}: cp. v. 77.] appointed to be paid for each prisoner. So Cleomenes summoned forth about fifty of the Argives one by one and slew them; and it chanced that the rest who were in the enclosure did not perceive that this was being done; for since the grove was thick, those within did not see how it fared with those who were without, at least until one of them climbed up a tree and saw from above that which was being done. Accordingly they then no longer came forth when they were called.

80. So Cleomenes thereupon ordered all the Helots to pile up brushwood round the sacred grove; and they obeying, he set fire to the grove. And when it was now burning, he asked one of the deserters to what god the grove was sacred, and the man replied that it was sacred to Argos. When he heard that, he groaned aloud and said, “Apollo who utterest oracles, surely thou hast greatly deceived me, saying that I should conquer Argos: I conjecture that the oracle has had its fulfilment for me already.”.

81. After this Cleomenes sent away the greater part of his army to go back to Sparta, but he himself took a thousand of the best men and went to the temple of Hera to sacrifice: and when he wished to sacrifice upon the altar, the priest forbade him, saying that it was not permitted by religious rule for a stranger to sacrifice in that place. Cleomenes however bade the Helots take away the priest from the altar and scourge him, and he himself offered the sacrifice. Having so done he returned back to Sparta;.

82, and after his return his opponents brought him up before the Ephors, saying that he had received gifts and therefore had not conquered Argos, when he might easily have conquered it. He said to them,—but whether he was speaking falsely or whether truly I am not able with certainty to say,—however that may be, he spoke and said that when he had conquered the sanctuary of Argos, it seemed to him that the oracle of the god had had its fulfilment for him; therefore he did not think it right to make an attempt on the city, at least until he should have had recourse to sacrifice, and should have learnt whether the deity[69][{o theos}, i.e. Hera: cp. i. 105.] permitted him or whether she stood opposed to him: and as he was sacrificing for augury[70][{kalliereumeno}.] in the temple of Hera, a flame of fire blazed forth from the breasts of the image; and thus he knew the certainty of the matter, namely that he would not conquer Argos: for if fire had blazed forth from the head of the image, he would have been conqueror of the city from top to bottom,[71][{kat akres}: cp. ch. 18.] but since it blazed from the breasts, everything had been accomplished for him which the god desired should come to pass. Thus speaking he seemed to the Spartans to speak credibly and reasonably, and he easily escaped his pursuers.[72][i.e. was acquitted of the charge brought against him.]

83. Argos however was so bereft of men that their slaves took possession of all the State, ruling and managing it until the sons of those who had perished grew to be men. Then these, endeavouring to gain Argos back to themselves, cast them out; and the slaves being driven forth gained possession of Tiryns by fighting. Now for a time these two parties had friendly relations with one another; but afterwards there came to the slaves a prophet named Cleander, by race a Phigalian from Arcadia: this man persuaded the slaves to attack their masters, and in consequence of this there was war between them for a long time, until at last with difficulty the Argives overcame them.

84. The Argives then say that this was the reason why Cleomenes went mad and had an evil end: but the Spartans themselves say that Cleomenes was not driven mad by any divine power, but that he had become a drinker of unmixed wine from having associated with Scythians, and that he went mad in consequence of this: for the nomad Scythians, they say, when Dareios had made invasion of their land, desired eagerly after this to take vengeance upon him; and they sent to Sparta and tried to make an alliance, and to arrange that while the Scythians themselves attempted an invasion of Media by the way of the river Phasis, the Spartans should set forth from Ephesos and go up inland, and then that they should meet in one place: and they say that Cleomenes when the Scythians had come for this purpose, associated with them largely, and that thus associating more than was fit, he learnt the practice of drinking wine unmixed with water; and for this cause (as the Spartans think) he went mad. Thenceforth, as they say themselves, when they desire to drink stronger wine, they say “Fill up in Scythian fashion.”[73][{episkuthison}.] Thus the Spartans report about Cleomenes; but to me it seems that this was a retribution which Cleomenes paid for Demaratos.

85. Now when the Eginetans heard that Cleomenes had met his end, they sent messengers to Sparta to denounce Leotychides for the matter of the hostages which were being kept at Athens: and the Lacedemonians caused a court to assemble and judged that the Eginetans had been dealt with outrageously by Leotychides; and they condemned him to be taken to Egina and delivered up in place of the men who were being kept at Athens. Then when the Eginetans were about to take Leotychides, Theasides the son of Leoprepes, a man of repute in Sparta, said to them: “What are ye proposing[74][{bouleuesthe}: some MSS. and editions have {boulesthe}, “desiring.”] to do, men of Egina? Do ye mean to take away the king of the Spartans, thus delivered up to you by his fellow-citizens? If the Spartans now being in anger have decided so, beware lest at some future time, if ye do this, they bring an evil upon your land which may destroy it.” Hearing this the Eginetans abstained from taking him; but they came to an agreement that Leotychides should accompany them to Athens and restore the men to the Eginetans.

86. When however Leotychides came to Athens and asked for the deposit back, the Athenians, not being willing to give up the hostages, produced pretexts for refusing, and alleged that two kings had deposited them and they did not think it right to give them back to the one without the other: so since the Athenians said that they would not give them back, Leotychides spoke to them as follows:

(a) “Athenians, do whichever thing ye yourselves desire; for ye know that if ye give them up, ye do that which religion commands, and if ye refuse to give them up, ye do the opposite of this: but I desire to tell you what kind of a thing came to pass once in Sparta about a deposit. We Spartans report that there was in Lacedemon about two generations before my time on Glaucos the son of Epikydes. This man we say attained the highest merit in all things besides, and especially he was well reported of by all who at that time dwelt in Lacedemon for his uprightness: and we relate that in due time[75][{en khrono ikneumeno}.] it happened to him thus:—a man of Miletos came to Sparta and desired to have speech with him, alleging the reasons which follow: ‘I am a Milesian,’ he said, ‘and I am come hither desiring to have benefit from thy uprightness, Glaucos; for as there was much report of thy uprightness throughout all the rest of Hellas and also in Ionia, I considered with myself that Ionia is ever in danger, whereas Peloponnesus is safely established, and also that we never see wealth continue in the possession of the same persons long;—reflecting, I say, on these things and taking counsel with myself, I resolved to turn into money the half of my possessions, and to place it with thee, being well assured that if it were placed with thee I should have it safe. Do thou therefore, I pray thee, receive the money, and take and keep these tallies; and whosoever shall ask for the money back having the tokens answering to these, to him do thou restore it.’ (b) The stranger who had come from Miletos said so much; and Glaucos accepted the deposit on the terms proposed. Then after a long time had gone by, there came to Sparta the sons of him who had deposited the money with Glaucos; and they came to speech with Glaucos, and producing the tokens asked for the money to be given back: but he repulsed them answering them again thus: ‘I do not remember the matter, nor does my mind bring back to me any knowledge of those things whereof ye speak; but I desire to recollect and do all that is just; for if I received it, I desire to restore it honestly; and if on the other hand I did not receive it at all, I will act towards you in accordance with the customs of the Hellenes:[76][i.e. take an oath to that effect.] therefore I defer the settling of the matter with you for three months from now.’ (c) The Milesians accordingly went away grieved, for they supposed that they had been robbed of the money; but Glaucos set forth to Delphi to consult the Oracle: and when he inquired of the Oracle whether he should rob them of the money by an oath, the Pythian prophetess rebuked him with these lines:

“‘Glaucos, thou, Epikydes’ son, yea, this for the moment,
This, to conquer their word by an oath and to rob, is more gainful.
Swear, since the lot of death waits also for him who swears truly.
But know thou that Oath has a son, one nameless and handless and
footless, Yet without feet he pursues, without hands he seizes, and
wholly He shall destroy the race and the house of the man who offendeth.
But for the man who swears truly his race is the better hereafter.’

Having heard this Glaucos entreated that the god would pardon him for that which he had said, but the prophetess said that to make trial of the god and to do the deed were things equivalent. (d) Glaucos then, having sent for the Milesians, gave back to them the money: but the reason for which, O Athenians, I set forth to relate to you this story, shall now be told. At the present time there is no descendant of Glaucos existing, nor any hearth which is esteemed to be that of Glaucos, but he has been utterly destroyed and rooted up out of Sparta. Thus it is good not even to entertain a thought about a deposit other than that of restoring it, when they who made it ask for it again.”

87. When Leotychides had thus spoken, since not even so were the Athenians willing to listen to him, he departed back; and the Eginetans, before paying the penalty for their former wrongs wherein they did outrage to the Athenians to please the Thebans,[77][见第 80 节。] acted as follows:—complaining of the conduct of the Athenians and thinking that they were being wronged, they made preparations to avenge themselves upon the Athenians; and since the Athenians were celebrating a four-yearly festival[78][{penteteris}. The reading {penteres}, which is given by most of the MSS. and by several Editors, can hardly be defended.] at Sunion, they lay in wait for the sacred ship which was sent to it and took it, the vessel being full of men who were the first among the Athenians; and having taken it they laid the men in bonds..

88. The Athenians after they had suffered this wrong from the Eginetans no longer delayed to contrive all things possible to their hurt. And there was[79][{kai en gar}, “and since there was.”] in Egina a man of repute, one Nicodromos the son of Cnithos:[80][{Knoithou kaleomenos}: cp. vii. 143.] this man had cause of complaint against the Eginetans for having before this driven him forth out of the island; and hearing now that the Athenians had resolved to do mischief to the Eginetans, he agreed with the Athenians to deliver up Egina to them, telling them on what day he would make his attempt and by what day it would be necessary for them to come to his assistance..

89. After this Nicodromos, according as he had agreed with the Athenians, seized that which is called the old city, but the Athenians did not come to his support at the proper time; for, as it chanced, they had not ships sufficient to fight with the Eginetans; so while they were asking the Corinthians to lend them ships, during this time their cause went to ruin. The Corinthians however, being at this time exceedingly friendly with them, gave the Athenians twenty ships at their request; and these they gave by selling them at five drachmas apiece, for by the law it was not permitted to give them as a free gift. Having taken these ships of which I speak and also their own, the Athenians with seventy ships manned in all sailed to Egina, and they were later by one day than the time agreed..

90. Nicodromos meanwhile, as the Athenians did not come to his support at the proper time, embarked in a ship and escaped from Egina, and with him also went others of the Eginetans; and the Athenians gave them Sunion to dwell in, starting from whence these men continued to plunder the Eginetans who were in the island..

91. This happened afterwards: but at the time of which we speak the well-to-do class among the Eginetans prevailed over the men of the people, who had risen against them in combination with Nicodromos, and then having got them into their power they were bringing their prisoners forth to execution. From this there came upon them a curse which they were not able to expiate by sacrifice, though they devised against it all they could; but they were driven forth from the island before the goddess became propitious to them. For they had taken as prisoners seven hundred of the men of the people and were bringing them forth to execution, when one of them escaped from his bonds and fled for refuge to the entrance of the temple of Demeter the Giver of Laws,[81][{thesmophorou}.] and he took hold of the latch of the door and clung to it; and when they found that they could not drag him from it by pulling him away, they cut off his hands and so carried him off, and those hands remained clinging to the latch of the door..

92. Thus did the Eginetans to one another: and when the Athenians came, they fought against them with seventy ships, and being worsted in the sea-fight they called to their assistance the same whom they had summoned before, namely the Argives. These would no longer come to their help, having cause of complaint because the ships of Egina compelled by Cleomenes had put in to the land of Argos and their crews had landed with the Lacedemonians; with whom also had landed men from ships of Sikyon in this same invasion: and as a penalty for this there was laid upon them by the Argives a fine of a thousand talents, five hundred for each State. The Sikyonians accordingly, acknowledging that they had committed a wrong, had made an agreement to pay a hundred talents and be free from the penalty; the Eginetans however did not acknowledge their wrong, but were more stubborn. For this reason then, when they made request, none of the Argives now came to their help at the charge of the State, but volunteers came to the number of a thousand; and their leader was a commander named Eurybates, a man who had practised the five contests.[82][{pentaethlon epaskesas}.] Of these men the greater number never returned back, but were slain by the Athenians in Egina; and the commander himself, Eurybates, fighting in single combat[83][{mounomakhien epaskeon}, “practising single combat,” as if training for the games.] killed in this manner three men and was himself slain by the fourth, Sophanes namely of Dekeleia.

93. The Eginetans however engaged in contest with the Athenians in ships, when these were in disorder, and defeated them; and they took of them four ships together with their crews.

94. So the Athenians were at war with the Eginetans; and meanwhile the Persian was carrying forward his design, since he was put in mind ever by his servant to remember the Athenians, and also because of the sons of Peisistratos were near at hand and brought charges continually against the Athenians, while at the same time Dareios himself wished to take hold of this pretext and subdue those nations of Hellas which had not given him earth and water. Mardonios then, since he had fared miserably in his expedition, he removed from his command; and appointing other generals to command he despatched them against Eretria and Athens, namely Datis, who was a Mede by race, and Artaphrenes the son of Artaphrenes, a nephew of the king: and he sent them forth with the charge to reduce Athens and Eretria to slavery and to bring the slaves back into his presence..

95. When these who had been appointed to command came in their march from the king to the Aleïan plain in Kilikia, taking with them a large and well-equipped land-army, then while they were encamping there, the whole naval armament came up, which had been appointed for several nations to furnish; and there came to them also the ships for carrying horses, which in the year before Dareios had ordered his tributaries to make ready. In these they placed their horses, and having embarked the land-army in the ships they sailed for Ionia with six hundred triremes. After this they did not keep their ships coasting along the mainland towards the Hellespont and Thrace, but they started from Samos and made their voyage by the Icarian Sea[84][{para te Ikarion}: the use of {para} and the absence of the article may justify the conjecture {para te Ikarion} (or {Ikaron}) “by Icaria” (or “Icaros”), the island from which the Icarian Sea had its name.] and between the islands; because, as I think, they feared more than all else the voyage round Athos, seeing that in the former year[85][This perhaps should be emended, for the event referred to occurred two years before, cp. ch. 46 and 48: The reading {trito proteron etei} has been proposed.] while making the passage by this way they had come to great disaster. Moreover also Naxos compelled them, since it had not been conquered at the former time.[86][See v. 33 ff.].

96. And when they had arrived at Naxos, coming against it from the Icarian Sea (for it was against Naxos first that the Persians intended to make expedition, remembering the former events), the Naxians departed forthwith fleeing to the mountains, and did not await their attack; but the Persians made slaves of those of them whom they caught and set fire to both the temples and the town. Having so done they put out to sea to attack the other islands.

97. While these were doing thus, the Delians also had left Delos and fled away to Tenos; and when the armament was sailing in thither, Datis sailed on before and did not allow the ships to anchor at the island of Delos, but at Rhenaia on the other side of the channel; and he himself, having found out by inquiry where the men of Delos were, sent a herald and addressed them thus: “Holy men, why are ye fled away and departed, having judged of me that which is not convenient? for even I of myself have wisdom at least so far, and moreover it has been thus commanded me by the king, not to harm at all that land in which the two divinities were born, neither the land itself nor the inhabitants of it. Now therefore return to your own possessions and dwell in your island.” Thus he proclaimed by a herald to the Delians; and after this he piled up and burned upon the altar three hundred talents’ weight of frankincense.

98. Datis having done these things sailed away with his army to fight against Eretria first, taking with him both Ionians and Aiolians; and after he had put out to sea from thence, Delos was moved, not having been shaken (as the Delians reported to me) either before that time or since that down to my own time; and this no doubt the god [8601][i.e. Apollo: or perhaps more generally, “God,” as in ch. 27.] manifested as a portent to men of the evils that were about to be; for in the time of Dareios the son of Hystaspes and Xerxes the son of Dareios and Artoxerxes the son of Xerxes, three generations following upon one another, there happened more evils to Hellas than during the twenty other generations which came before Dareios, some of the evils coming to it from the Persians, and others from the leaders themselves of Hellas warring together for supremacy. Thus it was not unreasonable that Delos should be moved, which was before unmoved. [And in an oracle it was thus written about it:[87][This in brackets is probably an interpolation. It is omitted by some of the best MSS. Some Editors suspect the genuineness of the next four lines also, on internal grounds.]

“Delos too will I move, unmoved though it hath been aforetime.”]

Now in the Hellenic tongue the names which have been mentioned have this meaning—Dareios means “compeller,”[88][{erxies}, perhaps meaning “worker.”] Xerxes “warrior,”[89][{areios}.] Artoxerxes “great warrior.”[90][{megas areios}.] Thus then might the Hellenes rightly call these kings in their own tongue.

99. The Barbarians then, when they had departed from Delos, touched at the islands as they went, and from them received additional forces and took sons of the islanders as hostages: and when in sailing round about the islands they put in also to Carystos, seeing that the Carystians would neither give them hostages nor consent to join in an expedition against cities that were their neighbours, meaning Eretria and Athens, they began to besiege them and to ravage their land; until at last the Carystians also came over to the will of the Persians..

100. The Eretrians meanwhile being informed that the armament of the Persians was sailing to attack them, requested the Athenians to help them; and the Athenians did not refuse their support, but gave as helpers those four thousand to whom had been allotted the land of the wealthy[91][{ippoboteon}, lit. “horse-breeding”: see v. 77.] Chalkidians. The Eretrians however, as it turned out, had no sound plan of action, for while they sent for the Athenians, they had in their minds two different designs: some of them, that is, proposed to leave the city and go to the heights of Euboea; while others of them, expecting to win gain for themselves from the Persian, were preparing to surrender the place. Having got knowledge of how things were as regards both these plans, Aischines the son of Nothon, one of the leaders of the Eretrians, told the whole condition of their affairs to those of the Athenians who had come, and entreated them to depart and go to their own land, that they might not also perish. So the Athenians did according to this counsel given to them by Aischines..

101. And while these passed over to Oropos and saved themselves, the Persians sailed on and brought their ships to land about Temenos and Chioreai and Aigilea in the Eretrian territory; and having taken possession of these places, [9101][Or (according to some MSS.), “having come to shore at these places.”] forthwith they began to disembark their horses and prepared to advance against the enemy. The Eretrians however did not intend to come forth against them and fight; but their endeavour was if possible to hold out by defending their walls, since the counsel prevailed not to leave the city. Then a violent assault was made upon the wall, and for six days there fell many on both sides; but on the seventh day Euphorbos the son of Alkimachos and Philagros the son of Kyneos, men of repute among the citizens, gave up the city to the Persians. These having entered the city plundered and set fire to the temples in retribution for the temples which were burned at Sardis, and also reduced the people to slavery according to the commands of Dareios.

102. Having got Eretria into their power, they stayed a few days and then sailed for the land of Attica, pressing on[92][{katergontes}: the word is not elsewhere found intransitive, yet it is rather difficult to supply {tous Athenaious}. Some alterations have been proposed, but none probable.] hard and supposing that the Athenians would do the same as the Eretrians had done. And since Marathon was the most convenient place in Attica for horsemen to act and was also very near to Eretria, therefore Hippias the son of Peisistratos was guiding them thither..

103. When the Athenians had information of this, they too went to Marathon to the rescue of their land; and they were led by ten generals, of whom the tenth was Miltiades, whose father Kimon of Stesagoras had been compelled to go into exile from Athens because of Peisistratos the son of Hippocrates: and while he was in exile it was his fortune to win a victory at the Olympic games with a four-horse chariot, wherein, as it happened, he did the same thing as his half-brother Miltiades[93][Lit. “and it happened that in winning this victory he won the same victory as his half-brother Miltiades.” See ch. 36.] had done, who had the same mother as he. Then afterwards in the next succeeding Olympic games he gained a victory with the same mares and allowed Peisistratos to be proclaimed as victor; and having resigned to him the victory he returned to his own native land under an agreement for peace. Then after he had won with the same mares at another Olympic festival, it was his hap to be slain by the sons of Peisistratos, Peisistratos himself being no longer alive. These killed him near the City Hall, having set men to lie in wait for him by night; and the burial-place of Kimon is in the outskirts of the city, on the other side of the road which is called the way through Coile, and just opposite him those mares are buried which won in three Olympic games. This same thing was done also by the mares belonging to Euagoras the Laconian, but besides these by none others. Now the elder of the sons of Kimon, Stesagoras, was at that time being brought up in the house of his father’s brother Miltiades in the Chersonese, while the younger son was being brought up at Athens with Kimon himself, having been named Miltiades after Miltiades the settler of the Chersonese..

104. This Miltiades then at the time of which we speak had come from the Chersonese and was a general of the Athenians, after escaping death in two forms; for not only did the Phenicians, who had pursued after him as far as Imbros, endeavour earnestly to take him and bring him up to the presence of the king, but also after this, when he had escaped from these and had come to his own native land and seemed to be in safety from that time forth, his opponents, who had laid wait for him there, brought him up before a court and prosecuted him for his despotism in the Chersonese. Having escaped these also, he had then been appointed a general of the Athenians, being elected by the people.

105. First of all, while they were still in the city, the generals sent off to Sparta a herald, namely Pheidippides[94][Or, according to some authorities, “Philippides.”] an Athenian and for the rest a runner of long day-courses and one who practised this as his profession. With this man, as Pheidippides himself said and as he made report to the Athenians, Pan chanced to meet by mount Parthenion, which is above Tegea; and calling aloud the name of Pheidippides, Pan bade him report to the Athenians and ask for what reason they had no care of him, though he was well disposed to the Athenians and had been serviceable to them on many occasions before that time, and would be so also yet again. Believing that this tale was true, the Athenians, when their affairs had been now prosperously settled, established under the Acropolis a temple of Pan; and in consequence of this message they propitiate him with sacrifice offered every year and with a torch-race..

106. However at that time, the time namely when he said that Pan appeared to him, this Pheidippides having been sent by the generals was in Sparta on the next day after that on which he left the city of the Athenians; and when he had come to the magistrates he said: “Lacedemonians, the Athenians make request of you to come to their help and not to allow a city most anciently established among the Hellenes to fall into slavery by the means of Barbarians; for even now Eretria has been enslaved, and Hellas has become the weaker by a city of renown.” He, as I say, reported to them that with which he had been charged, and it pleased them well to come to help the Athenians; but it was impossible for them to do so at once, since they did not desire to break their law; for it was the ninth day of the month, and on the ninth day they said they would not go forth, nor until the circle of the moon should be full.[95][Lit. “except the circle were full.”]

107. These men were waiting for the full moon: and meanwhile Hippias the son of Peisistratos was guiding the Barbarians in to Marathon, after having seen on the night that was just past a vision in his sleep of this kind,—it seemed to Hippias that he lay with his own mother. He conjectured then from the dream that he should return to Athens and recover his rule, and then bring his life to an end in old age in his own land. From the dream, I say, he conjectured this; and after this, as he guided them in, first he disembarked the slaves from Eretria on the island belonging to the Styrians, called Aigleia;[96][Or “Aigilei01.”] and then, as the ships came in to shore at Marathon, he moored them there, and after the Barbarians had come from their ships to land, he was engaged in disposing them in their places. While he was ordering these things, it came upon him to sneeze and cough more violently than was his wont. Then since he was advanced in years, most of his teeth were shaken thereby, and one of these teeth he cast forth by the violence of the cough:[97][Lit. “by violence, having coughed.”] and the tooth having fallen from him upon the sand, he was very desirous to find it; since however the tooth was not to be found when he searched, he groaned aloud and said to those who were by him: “This land is not ours, nor shall we be able to make it subject to us; but so much part in it as belonged to me the tooth possesses.”

108. Hippias then conjectured that his vision had been thus fulfilled: and meanwhile, after the Athenians had been drawn up in the sacred enclosure of Heracles, there joined them the Plataians coming to their help in a body: for the Plataians had given themselves to the Athenians, and the Athenians before this time undertook many toils on behalf of them; and this was the manner in which they gave themselves:—Being oppressed by the Thebans, the Plataians at first desired to give themselves to Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides and to the Lacedemonians, who chanced to come thither; but these did not accept them, and said to them as follows: “We dwell too far off, and such support as ours would be to you but cold comfort; for ye might many times be reduced to slavery before any of us had information of it: but we counsel you rather to give yourselves to the Athenians, who are both neighbours and also not bad helpers.” Thus the Lacedemonians counselled, not so much on account of their goodwill to the Plataians as because they desired that the Athenians should have trouble by being involved in a conflict with the Boetians. The Lacedemonians, I say, thus counselled the men of Plataia; and they did not fail to follow their counsel, but when the Athenians were doing sacrifice to the twelve gods, they sat down as suppliants at the altar and so gave themselves. Then the Thebans having been informed of these things marched against the Plataians, and the Athenians came to their assistance: and as they were about to join battle, the Corinthians did not permit them to do so, but being by chance there, they reconciled their strife; and both parties having put the matter into their hands, they laid down boundaries for the land, with the condition that the Thebans should leave those of the Boeotians alone who did not desire to be reckoned with the other Boeotians. The Corinthians having given this decision departed; but as the Athenians were going back, the Boeotians attacked them, and having attacked them they were worsted in the fight. Upon that the Athenians passed beyond the boundaries which the Corinthians had set to be for the Plataians, and they made the river Asopos itself to be the boundary of the Thebans towards the land of Plataia and towards the district of Hysiai. The Plataians then had given themselves to the Athenians in the manner which has been said, and at this time they came to Marathon to bring them help.

109. Now the opinions of the generals of the Athenians were divided, and the one party urged that they should not fight a battle, seeing that they were too few to fight with the army of the Medes, while the others, and among them Miltiades, advised that they should do so: and when they were divided and the worse opinion was like to prevail, then, since he who had been chosen by lot[98][“by the bean.”] to be polemarch of the Athenians had a vote in addition to the ten (for in old times the Athenians gave the polemarch an equal vote with the generals) and at that time the polemarch was Callimachos of the deme of Aphidnai, to him came Miltiades and said as follows: “With thee now it rests, Callimachos, either to bring Athens under slavery, or by making her free to leave behind thee for all the time that men shall live a memorial such as not even Harmodios and Aristogeiton have left. For now the Athenians have come to a danger the greatest to which they have ever come since they were a people; and on the one hand, if they submit to the Medes, it is determined what they shall suffer, being delivered over to Hippias, while on the other hand, if this city shall gain the victory, it may become the first of the cities of Hellas. How this may happen and how it comes to thee of all men[99][{es se toi}, a conjectural emendation of {es se ti}.] to have the decision of these matters, I am now about to tell. Of us the generals, who are ten in number, the opinions are divided, the one party urging that we fight a battle and the others that we do not fight. Now if we do not, I expect that some great spirit of discord will fall upon the minds of the Athenians and so shake them that they shall go over to the Medes; but if we fight a battle before any unsoundness appear in any part of the Athenian people, then we are able to gain the victory in the fight, if the gods grant equal conditions. These things then all belong to thee and depend on thee; for if thou attach thyself to my opinions, thou hast both a fatherland which is free and a native city which shall be the first among the cities of Hellas; but if thou choose the opinion of those who are earnest against fighting, thou shalt have the opposite of those good things of which I told thee.”.

110. Thus speaking Miltiades gained Callimachos to his side; and the opinion of the polemarch being added, it was thus determined to fight a battle. After this, those generals whose opinion was in favour of fighting, as the turn of each one of them to command for the day[100][{prutaneie tes emeres}.] came round, gave over their command to Miltiades; and he, accepting it, would not however yet bring about a battle, until his own turn to command had come..

111. And when it came round to him, then the Athenians were drawn up for battle in the order which here follows:—On the right wing the polemarch Callimachos was leader (for the custom of the Athenians then was this, that the polemarch should have the right wing); and he leading, next after him came the tribes in order as they were numbered one after another, and last were drawn up the Plataians occupying the left wing: for[101][Some Editors propose to omit {gar} or alter it. If it be allowed to stand, the meaning must be that the importance of the place is testified by the commemoration mentioned.] ever since this battle, when the Athenians offer sacrifices in the solemn assemblies[102][{es tas panegurias}, some MSS. have {kai panegurias}, “hold sacrifices and solemn assemblies.”] which are made at the four-yearly festivals,[103][{penteterisi}.] the herald of the Athenians prays thus, “that blessings[104][Lit. “the good things.”] may come to the Athenians and to the Plataians both.” On this occasion however, when the Athenians were being drawn up at Marathon something of this kind was done:—their army being made equal in length of front to that of the Medes, came to drawn up in the middle with a depth of but few ranks, and here their army was weakest, while each wing was strengthened with numbers..

112. And when they had been arranged in their places and the sacrifices proved favourable, then the Athenians were let go, and they set forth at a run to attack the Barbarians. Now the space between the armies was not less than eight furlongs:[105][{stadioi}: the distance would be rather over 1600 yards.] and the Persians seeing them advancing to the attack at a run, made preparations to receive them; and in their minds they charged the Athenians with madness which must be fatal, seeing that they were few and yet were pressing forwards at a run, having neither cavalry nor archers.[106][Whether this is thrown in here by the historian as an explanation of the rapid advance, or as an additional source of wonder on the part of the Persians at the boldness of the Athenians, is not clear.] Such was the thought of the Barbarians; but the Athenians when all in a body they had joined in combat with the Barbarians, fought in a memorable fashion: for they were the first of all the Hellenes about whom we know who went to attack the enemy at a run, and they were the first also who endured to face the Median garments and the men who wore them, whereas up to this time the very name of the Medes was to the Hellenes a terror to hear..

113. Now while they fought in Marathon, much time passed by; and in the centre of the army, where the Persians themselves and the Sacans were drawn up, the Barbarians were winning,—here, I say, the Barbarians had broken the ranks of their opponents and were pursuing them inland, but on both wings the Athenians and the Plataians severally were winning the victory; and being victorious they left that part of the Barbarians which had been routed to fly without molestation, and bringing together the two wings they fought with those who had broken their centre, and the Athenians were victorious. So they followed after the Persians as they fled, slaughtering them, until they came to the sea; and then they called for fire and began to take hold of the ships..

114. In this part of the work was slain the polemarch Callimachos after having proved himself a good man, and also one of the generals, Stesilaos the son of Thrasylaos, was killed; and besides this Kynegeiros the son of Euphorion while taking hold[107][Or (according to some MSS.) “having taken hold.”] there of the ornament at the stern of a ship had his hand cut off with an axe and fell; and many others also of the Athenians who were men of note were killed..

115. Seven of the ships the Athenians got possession of in this manner, but with the rest the Barbarians pushed off from land, and after taking the captives from Eretria off the island where they had left them, they sailed round Sunion, purposing to arrive at the city before the Athenians. And an accusation became current among the Athenians to the effect that they formed this design by contrivance of the Alcmaionidai; for these, it was said, having concerted matters with the Persians, displayed to them a shield when they had now embarked in their ships..

116. These then, I say, were sailing round Sunion; and meanwhile the Athenians came to the rescue back to the city as speedily as they could, and they arrived there before the Barbarians came; and having arrived from the temple of Heracles at Marathon they encamped at another temple of Heracles, namely that which is in Kynosarges. The Barbarians however came and lay with their ships in the sea which is off Phaleron, (for this was then the seaport of the Athenians), they anchored their ships, I say, off this place, and then proceeded to sail back to Asia.

117. In this fight at Marathon there were slain of the Barbarians about six thousand four hundred men, and of the Athenians a hundred and ninety and two. Such was the number which fell on both sides; and it happened also that a marvel occurred there of this kind:—an Athenian, Epizelos the son of Cuphagoras, while fighting in the close combat and proving himself a good man, was deprived of the sight of his eyes, neither having received a blow in any part of his body nor having been hit with a missile, and for the rest of his life from this time he continued to be blind: and I was informed that he used to tell about that which had happened to him a tale of this kind, namely that it seemed to him that a tall man in full armour stood against him, whose beard overshadowed his whole shield; and this apparition passed him by, but killed his comrade who stood next to him. Thus, as I was informed, Epizelos told the tale.

118. Datis, however, as he was going with his army to Asia, when he had come to Myconos saw a vision in his sleep; and of what nature the vision was it is not reported, but as soon as day dawned he caused a search to be made of the ships, and finding in a Phenician ship an image of Apollo overlaid with gold, he inquired from whence it had been carried off. Then having been informed from what temple it came, he sailed in his own ship to Delos: and finding that the Delians had returned then to the island, he deposited the image in the temple and charged the men of Delos to convey it back to Delion in the territory of the Thebans, which is situated by the sea-coast just opposite Chalkis. Datis having given this charge sailed away: the Delians however did not convey the statue back, but after an interval of twenty years the Thebans themselves brought it to Delion by reason of an oracle..

119. Now as to those Eretrians who had been reduced to slavery, Datis and Artaphrenes, when they reached Asia in their voyage, brought them up to Susa; and king Dareios, though he had great anger against the Eretrians before they were made captive, because the Eretrians had done wrong to him unprovoked, yet when he saw that they had been brought up to him and were in his power, he did them no more evil, but established them as settlers in the Kissian land upon one of his own domains, of which the name is Ardericca: and this is distant two hundred and ten furlongs from Susa and forty from the well which produces things of three different kinds; for they draw from it asphalt, salt and oil, in the manner which here follows:—the liquid is drawn with a swipe, to which there is fastened half a skin instead of a bucket, and a man strikes this down into it and draws up, and then pours it into a cistern, from which it runs through into another vessel, taking three separate ways. The asphalt and the salt become solid at once, and the oil[108][The account of how the oil was dealt with has perhaps dropt out: one MS. and the Aldine edition have “the oil they collect in vessels, and this,” etc.] which is called by the Persians rhadinake, is black and gives out a disagreeable smell. Here king Dareios established the Eretrians as settlers; and even to my time they continued to occupy this land, keeping still their former language. Thus it happened with regard to the Eretrians.

120. Of the Lacedemonians there came to Athens two thousand after the full moon, making great haste to be in time, so that they arrived in Attica on the third day after leaving Sparta: and though they had come too late for the battle, yet they desired to behold the Medes; and accordingly they went out to Marathon and looked at the bodies of the slain: then afterwards they departed home, commending the Athenians and the work which they had done.

121. Now it is a cause of wonder to me, and I do not accept the report, that the Alcmaionidai could ever have displayed to the Persians a shield by a previous understanding, with the desire that the Athenians should be under the Barbarians and under Hippias; seeing that they are evidently proved to have been haters of despots as much or more than Callias the son of Phainippos and father of Hipponicos, while Callias for his part was the only man of all the Athenians who dared, when Peisistratos was driven out of Athens, to buy his goods offered for sale by the State, and in other ways also he contrived against him everything that was most hostile:

122. Of this Callias it is fitting that every one should have remembrance for many reasons: first because of that which has been before said, namely that he was a man of excellence in freeing his country; and then also for that which he did at the Olympic games, wherein he gained a victory in the horse-race and was second in the chariot-race, and he had before this been a victor at the Pythian games, so that he was distinguished in the sight of all Hellenes by the sums which he expended; and finally because he showed himself a man of such liberality towards his daughters, who were three in number; for when they came to be of ripe age for marriage, he gave them a most magnificent dowry and also indulged their inclinations; for whomsoever of all the Athenians each one of them desired to choose as a husband for herself, to that man he gave her.][109][This chapter is omitted by several of the best MSS., and is almost certainly an interpolation. (In the Medicean MS. it has been added in the margin by a later hand.)].

123, and similarly,[110][Answering to “Callias for his part” at the end of ch. 121, the connexion being broken by the interpolated passage.] the Alcmaionidai were haters of despots equally or more[111][{ouden esson}.] than he. Therefore this is a cause of wonder to me, and I do not admit the accusation that these they were who displayed the shield; seeing that they were in exile from the despots during their whole time, and that by their contrivance the sons of Peisistratos gave up their rule. Thus it follows that they were the men who set Athens free much more than Harmodios and Aristogeiton, as I judge: for these my slaying Hipparchos exasperated the rest of the family of Peisistratos, and did not at all cause the others to cease from their despotism; but the Alcmaionidai did evidently set Athens free, at least if these were in truth the men who persuaded the Pythian prophetess to signify to the Lacedemonians that they should set Athens free, as I have set forth before..

124. It may be said however that they had some cause of complaint against the people of the Athenians, and therefore endeavoured to betray their native city. But on the contrary there were no men in greater repute than they, among the Athenians at least, nor who had been more highly honoured. Thus it is not reasonable to suppose that by them a shield should have been displayed for any such purpose. A shield was displayed, however; that cannot be denied, for it was done: but as to who it was who displayed it, I am not able to say more than this.

125. Now the family of Alcmaionidai was distinguished in Athens in the earliest times also, and from the time of Alcmaion and of Megacles after him they became very greatly distinguished. For first Alcmaion the son of Megacles showed himself a helper of the Lydians from Sardis who came from Croesus to the Oracle at Delphi, and assisted them with zeal; and Croesus having heard from the Lydians who went to the Oracle that this man did him service, sent for him to Sardis; and when he came, he offered to give him a gift of as much gold as he could carry away at once upon his own person. With a view to this gift, its nature being such, Alcmaion made preparations and used appliances as follows:—he put on a large tunic leaving a deep fold in the tunic to hang down in front, and he draw on his feet the widest boots which he could find, and so went to the treasury to which they conducted him. Then he fell upon a heap of gold-dust, and first he packed in by the side of his legs so much of the gold as his boots would contain, and then he filled the whole fold of the tunic with the gold and sprinkled some of the gold dust on the hair of his head and took some into his mouth, and having so done he came forth out of the treasury, with difficulty dragging along his boots and resembling anything in the world rather than a man; for his mouth was stuffed full, and every part of him was swelled out: and upon Croesus came laughter when he saw him, and he not only gave him all that, but also presented him in addition with more not inferior in value to that. Thus this house became exceedingly wealthy, and thus the Alcmaion of whom I speak became a breeder of chariot-horses and won a victory at Olympia..

126. Then in the next generation after this, Cleisthenes the despot of Sikyon exalted the family, so that it became of much more note among the Hellenes than it had been formerly. For Cleisthenes the son of Arisonymos, the son of Myron, the son of Andreas, had a daughter whose name was Agariste; and as to her he formed a desire to find out the best man of all the Hellenes and to assign her to him in marriage. So when the Olympic games were being held and Cleisthenes was victor in them with a four-horse chariot, he caused a proclamation to be made, that whosoever of the Hellenes thought himself worthy to be the son-in-law of Cleisthenes should come on the sixtieth day, or before that if he would, to Sikyon; for Cleisthenes intended to conclude the marriage within a year, reckoning from the sixtieth day. Then all those of the Hellenes who had pride either in themselves or in their high descent,[112][{patre}, “family,” or possibly “country,” as in ch. 128.] came as wooers, and for them Cleisthenes had a running-course and a wrestling-place made and kept them expressly for their use..

127. From Italy came Smindyrides the son of Hippocrates of Sybaris, who of all men on earth reached the highest point of luxury (now Sybaris at this time was in the height of its prosperity), and Damasos of Siris, the son of that Amyris who was called the Wise; these came from Italy: from the Ionian gulf came Amphimnestos the son of Epistrophos of Epidamnos, this man from the Ionian gulf: from Aitolia came Males, the brother of that Titormos who surpassed all the Hellenes in strength and who fled from the presence of men to the furthest extremities of the Aitolian land: from Peloponnesus, Leokedes the son of Pheidon the despot of the Argives, that Pheidon who established for the Peloponnesians the measures which they use, and who went beyond all other Hellenes in wanton insolence, since he removed from their place the presidents of the games appointed by the Eleians and himself presided over the games at Olympia,—his son, I say, and Amiantos the son of Lycurgos an Arcadian from Trapezus, and Laphanes an Azanian from the city of Paios, son of that Euphorion who (according to the story told in Arcadia) received the Dioscuroi as guests in his house and from thenceforth was wont to entertain all men who came, and Onomastos the son of Agaios of Elis; these, I say, came from Peloponnesus itself: from Athens came Megacles the son of that Alcmaion who went to Croesus, and besides him Hippocleides the son of Tisander, one who surpassed the other Athenians in wealth and in comeliness of form: from Eretria, which at that time was flourishing, came Lysanias, he alone from Euboea: from Thessalia came Diactorides of Crannon, one of the family of the Scopadai: and from the Molossians, Alcon..

128. So many in number did the wooers prove to be: and when these had come by the appointed day, Cleisthenes first inquired of their native countries and of the descent of each one, and then keeping them for a year he made trial continually both of their manly virtue and of their disposition, training and temper, associating both with each one separately and with the whole number together: and he made trial of them both by bringing out to bodily exercises those of them who were younger, and also especially in the common feast: for during all the time that he kept them he did everything that could be done, and at the same time he entertained them magnificently. Now it chanced that those of the wooers pleased him most who had come from Athens, and of these Hippocleides the son of Tisander was rather preferred, both by reason of manly virtues and also because he was connected by descent with the family of Kypselos at Corinth.

129. Then when the appointed day came for the marriage banquet and for Cleisthenes himself to declare whom he selected from the whole number, Cleisthenes sacrificed a hundred oxen and feasted both the wooers themselves and all the people of Sikyon; and when the dinner was over, the wooers began to vie with one another both in music and in speeches for the entertainment of the company;[113][{to legomeno es to meson}: perhaps only “general conversation.”] and as the drinking went forward and Hippocleides was very much holding the attention of the others,[114][{katekhon pollon tous allous}.] he bade the flute-player play for him a dance-measure; and when the flute-player did so, he danced: and it so befell that he pleased himself in his dancing, but Cleisthenes looked on at the whole matter with suspicion. Then Hippocleides after a certain time bade one bring in a table; and when the table came in, first he danced upon it Laconian figures, and then also Attic, and thirdly he planted his head upon the table and gesticulated with his legs. Cleisthenes meanwhile, when he was dancing the first and the second time, though he abhorred the thought that Hippocleides should now become his son-in-law, because of his dancing and his shamelessness, yet restrained himself, not desiring to break out in anger against him; but when he saw that he thus gesticulated with his legs, he was no longer able to restrain himself, but said: “Thou hast danced away thy marriage however,[115][i.e. “though the dancing may be good.”] son of Tisander!” and Hippocleides answered and said: “Hippocleides cares not!”

130. and hence comes this saying. Then Cleisthenes caused silence to be made, and spoke to the company as follows: “Men who are wooers of my daughter, I commend you all, and if it were possible I would gratify you all, neither selecting one of you to be preferred, nor rejecting the remainder. Since however it is not possible, as I am deliberating about one maiden only, to act so as to please all, therefore to those of you who are rejected from this marriage I give as a gift a talent of silver to each one for the worthy estimation ye had of me, in that ye desired to marry from my house, and for the time of absence from your homes; and to the son of Alcmaion, Megacles, I offer my daughter Agariste in betrothal according to the customs of the Athenians.” Thereupon Megacles said that he accepted the betrothal, and so the marriage was determined by Cleisthenes.

131. Thus it happened as regards the judgment of the wooers, and thus the Alcmaionidai got renown over all Hellas. And these having been married, there was born to them that Cleisthenes who established the tribes and the democracy for the Athenians, he being called after the Sikyonian Cleisthenes, his mother’s father; this son, I say, was born to Megacles, and also Hippocrates: and of Hippocrates came another Megacles and another Agariste, called after Agariste, the daughter of Cleisthenes, who having been married to Xanthippos the son of Ariphron and being with child, saw a vision in her sleep, and it seemed to her that she had brought forth a lion: then after a few days she bore to Xanthippos Pericles.

132. After the defeat at Marathon, Miltiades, who even before was well reputed with the Athenians, came then to be in much higher estimation: and when he asked the Athenians for seventy ships and an army with supplies of money, not declaring to them against what land he was intending to make an expedition, but saying that he would enrich them greatly if they would go with him, for he would lead them to a land of such a kind that they would easily get from it gold in abundance,—thus saying he asked for the ships; and the Athenians, elated by these words, delivered them over to him..

133. Then Miltiades, when he had received the army, proceeded to sail to Paris with the pretence that the Parians had first attacked Athens by making expedition with triremes to Marathon in company with the Persian: this was the pretext which he put forward, but he had also a grudge against the Parians on account of Lysagoras the son of Tisias, who was by race of Paros, for having accused him to Hydarnes the Persian. So when Miltiades had arrived at the place to which he was sailing, he began to besiege the Parians with his army, first having shut them up within their wall; and sending in to them a herald he asked for a hundred talents, saying that if they refused to give them, his army should not return back[116][{aponostesein}: some MSS. have {apanastesein}, “he would not take away his army thence.”] until it had conquered them completely. The Parians however had no design of giving any money to Miltiades, but contrived only how they might defend their city, devising various things besides and also this,—wherever at any time the wall proved to be open to attack, that point was raised when night came on to double its former height..

134. So much of the story is reported by all the Hellenes, but as to what followed the Parians alone report, and they say that it happened thus:—When Miltiades was at a loss, it is said, there came a woman to speech with him, who had been taken prisoner, a Parian by race whose name was Timo, an under-priestess[117][{upozakoron}.] of the Earth goddesses;[118][{ton khthonion theon}, i.e. Demeter and Persephone: cp. vii. 153.] she, they say, came into the presence of Miltiades and counselled him that if he considered it a matter of much moment to conquer Paros, he could do that which she should suggest to him; and upon that she told him her meaning. He accordingly passed through to the hill which is before the city and leapt over the fence of the temple of Demeter Giver of Laws,[119][{thesmophorou}.] not being able to open the door; and then having leapt over he went on towards the sanctuary[120][{to megaron}.] with the design of doing something within, whether it were that he meant to lay hands on some of the things which should not be touched, or whatever else he intended to do; and when he had reached the door, forthwith a shuddering fear came over him and he set off to go back the same way as he came, and as he leapt down from the wall of rough stones his thigh was dislocated, or, as others say, he struck his knee against the wall..

135. Miltiades accordingly, being in a wretched case, set forth to sail homewards, neither bringing wealth to the Athenians nor having added to them the possession of Paros, but having besieged the city for six-and-twenty days and laid waste the island: and the Parians being informed that Timo the under-priestess of the goddesses had acted as a guide to Miltiades, desired to take vengeance upon her for this, and they sent messengers to Delphi to consult the god, so soon as they had leisure from the siege; and these messengers they sent to ask whether they should put to death the under-priestess of the goddesses, who had been a guide to their enemies for the capture of her native city and had revealed to Miltiades the mysteries which might not be uttered to a male person. The Pythian prophetess however forbade them, saying that Timo was not the true author of these things, but since it was destined that Miltiades should end his life not well, she had appeared to guide him to his evil fate..

136. Thus the Pythian prophetess replied to the Parians: and the Athenians, when Miltiades had returned back from Paros, began to talk of him, and among the rest especially Xanthippos the son of Ariphron, who brought Miltiades up before the people claiming the penalty of death and prosecuted him for his deception of the Athenians: and Miltiades did not himself make his own defence, although he was present, for he was unable to do so because his thigh was mortifying; but he lay in public view upon a bed, while his friends made a defence for him, making mention much both of the battle which had been fought at Marathon and of the conquest of Lemnos, namely how he had conquered Lemnos and taken vengeance on the Pelasgians, and had delivered it over to the Athenians: and the people came over to his part as regards the acquittal from the penalty of death, but they imposed a fine of fifty talents for the wrong committed: and after this Miltiades died, his thigh having gangrened and mortified, and the fifty talents were paid by his son Kimon.

137. Now Miltiades son of Kimon had thus taken possession of the Lemnos:—After the Pelasgians had been cast out of Attica by the Athenians, whether justly or unjustly,—for about this I cannot tell except the things reported, which are these:—Hecataois on the one hand, the son of Hegesander, said in his history that it was done unjustly; for he said that when the Athenians saw the land which extends below Hymettos, which they had themselves given them[121][{sphi autoi}: a conjectural rendering of {sphisi autoisi}, which can only be taken with {eousan}, meaning “belonging to them” i.e. the Athenians, and involves the insertion of {Pelasgoisi} or something equivalent with {edosan}.] to dwell in, as payment for the wall built round the Acropolis in former times, when the Athenians, I say, saw that this land was made good by cultivation, which before was bad and worthless, they were seized with jealousy and with longing to possess the land, and so drove them out, not alleging any other pretext: but according to the report of the Athenians themselves they drove them out justly; for the Pelasgians being settled under Hymettos made this a starting-point and committed wrong against them as follows:—the daughters and sons of the Athenians were wont ever to go for water to the spring of Enneacrunos; for at that time neither they nor the other Hellenes as yet had household servants; and when these girls came, the Pelasgians in wantonness and contempt of the Athenians would offer them violence; and it was not enough for them even to do this, but at last they were found in the act of plotting an attack upon the city: and the narrators say that they herein proved themselves better men than the Pelasgians, inasmuch as when they might have slain the Pelasgians, who had been caught plotting against them, they did not choose to do so, but ordered them merely to depart out of the land: and thus having departed out of the land, the Pelasgians took possession of several older places and especially of Lemnos. The former story is that which was reported by Hecataios, while the latter is that which is told by the Athenians..

138. These Pelasgians then, dwelling after that in Lemnos, desired to take vengeance on the Athenians; and having full knowledge also of the festivals of the Athenians, they got[122][{ktesamenoi}: some MSS. and editions have {stesamenoi}, “set fifty-oared galleys in place.”] fifty-oared galleys and laid wait for the women of the Athenians when they were keeping festival to Artemis in Brauron; and having carried off a number of them from thence, they departed and sailed away home, and taking the women to Lemnos they kept them as concubines. Now when these women had children gradually more and more, they made it their practice to teach their sons both the Attic tongue and the manners of the Athenians. And these were not willing to associate with the sons of the Pelasgian women, and moreover if any of them were struck by any one of those, they all in a body came to the rescue and helped one another. Moreover the boys claimed to have authority over the other boys and got the better of them easily. Perceiving these things the Pelasgians considered the matter; and when they took counsel together, a fear came over them and they thought, if the boys were indeed resolved now to help one another against the sons of the legitimate wives, and were endeavouring already from the first to have authority over them, what would they do when they were grown up to be men? Then they determined to put to death the sons of the Athenian women, and this they actually did; and in addition to them they slew their mothers also. From this deed and from that which was done before this, which the women did when they killed Thoas and the rest, who were their own husbands, it has become a custom in Hellas that all deeds of great cruelty should be called “Lemnian deeds.”.

139. After the Pelasgians had killed their own sons and wives, the earth did not bear fruit for them, nor did their women or their cattle bring forth young as they did before; and being hard pressed by famine and by childlessness, they sent to Delphi to ask for a release from the evils which were upon them; and the Pythian prophetess bade them pay such penalty to the Athenians as the Athenians themselves should appoint. The Pelasgians came accordingly to Athens and professed that they were willing to pay the penalty for all the wrong which they had done: and the Athenians laid a couch in the fairest possible manner in the City Hall, and having set by it a table covered with all good things, they bade the Pelasgians deliver up to them their land in that condition. Then the Pelasgians answered and said: “When with a North Wind in one single day a ship shall accomplish the voyage from your land to ours, then we will deliver it up,” feeling assured that it was impossible for this to happen, since Attica lies far away to the South of Lemnos..

140. Such were the events which happened then: and very many years later, after the Chersonese which is by the Hellespont had come to be under the Athenians, Miltiades the son of Kimon, when the Etesian Winds blew steadily, accomplished the voyage in a ship from Elaius in the Chersonese to Lemnos, and proclaimed to the Pelasgians that they should depart out of the island, reminding them of the oracle, which the Pelasgians had never expected would be accomplished for them. The men of Hephaistia accordingly obeyed; but those of Myrina, not admitting that the Chersonese was Attica, suffered a siege, until at last these also submitted. Thus it was that the Athenians and Miltiades took possession of Lemnos.

第六卷注释。 •1,200字

[1] [{proboulous}.]

[2] [See i. 148.]

[3] [{epi keras}.]

[4] [{diekploon poieumenos tesi neusi di alleleon}.]

[5] [{tou Dareiou}: a conjecture based upon Valla’s translation. The MSS. have {ton Dareion}.]

[6] [{prophasios epilabomenoi}.]

[601] [{en stele anagraphenai patrothen}.]

[7] [“were very roughly handled.”]

[8] [{epibateuontas}.]

[801] [{nuktos te gar}: so Stein for {nuktos te}.]

[9] [{kat akres}, lit. “from the top downwards,” i.e. town and citadel both.]

[10] [参见第 77 章。 XNUMX.]

[11] [See i. 92 and v. 36.]

[1101] [{Kalen akten}.]

[12] [Possibly the reading should be {Inuka}, “Inyx.”]

[13] [{ton en te naumakhie}: perhaps we should read {ten en te naumakhin}, “which took place in the sea-fight.”]

[14] [{en Koiloisi kaleomenoisi}.]

[15] [{grammata didaskomenoisi}.]

[16] [{limainouses}: a conjectural reading for {deimainouses}.]

[17] [Lit. “and it became in fact the work of the cavalry.”]

[18] [{esagenouon}.]

[19] [Or (according to some good MSS.) “Thelymbri01.”]

[20] [Cp。三. 120.]

[21] [{stadioi}: the distances here mentioned are equal to a little more than four and a little less than fifty miles respectively.]

[22] [{en gnome gegonos}.]

[23] [{pituos tropon}: the old name of the town was Pityuss01.]

[24] [That is to say, Kimon was his half-brother, and Stesagoras and the younger Miltiades his nephews.]

[25] [参见第 103 章。 XNUMX.]

[26] [{delade}.]

[27] [{eleluthee}, but the meaning must be this, and it is explained by the clause, {trito men gar etei k.t.l.}]

[28] [{stadia}: see v. 52, note 40.]

[29] [See iii. 80.]

[30] [{entos Makedonon}, “on their side of the Macedonians.”]

[3001] [Or (according to some MSS.) “about three hundred.”]

[31] [Or “Scaptesyle.” (The Medicean MS. however has {skaptes ules}, not {skaptesules}, as reported by Stein.)]

[32] [{ta proiskheto aiteon}, “that which he put forward demanding it.”]

[33] [i.e. “ram.”]

[34] [{ton geraiteron}.]

[35] [{en to demosio}.]

[36] [This is commonly understood to mean, leaving out of account the god who was father of Perseus; but the reason for stopping short at Perseus is given afterwards, and the expression {tou theou apeontos} refers perhaps rather to the case of Heracles, the legend of whose birth is rejected by Herodotus (see ii. 43), and rejected also by this genealogy, which passes through Amphitryon up to Perseus. I take it that {tou theou apeontos} means “reckoning Heracles” (who is mentioned by name just below in this connexion) “as the son of Amphitryon and not of Zeus.”]

[37] [i.e. “of heaven.”]

[38] [{medimnon}, the Lacedemonian {medimnos} being equal to rather more than two bushels.]

[39] [{tetarten Lakomiken}, quantity uncertain.]

[40] [{proxeinous}.]

[41] [{khoinikas}. There were 48 {khoinikes} in the {medimnos}.]

[42] [{kotulen}.]

[4201] [The loose manner in which this is expressed, leaving it uncertain whether each king was supposed by the writer to have two votes given for him (cp. Thuc. i. 20), or whether the double vote was one for each king, must of course be reproduced in the translation.]

[43] [{perioikon}.]

[44] [参见第 51 章。 XNUMX.]

[45] [{proergazomenon}: a conjectural emendation of {prosergazomenon}.]

[46] [{tes apates te paragoge}, “by the misleading of the deception.”]

[47] [i.e. lunar months.]

[48] [{en thoko katemeno}.]

[49] [{pandemei}.]

[50] [{aren}.]

[51] [i.e. “prayed for by the people.”]

[52] [{di a}: a conjectural emendation of {dia ta}. Some Editors suppose that other words have dropped out.]

[53] [{promantin}: cp. vii. III.]

[54] [{ton splagkhnon}.]

[55] [{tou erkeiou}.]

[56] [{ton mataioteron logon legontes}.]

[57] [Lit. “on the third night after the first,” but the meaning is as given.]

[58] [Most of the MSS. have “Astrobacos,” which may be right.]

[59] [Or “to the honour of the Lacedemonians.”]

[60] [i.e. any more than his predecessor.]

[61] [参见第 50 章。 XNUMX.]

[62] [{neotera epresse pregmata}.]

[63] [{up Arkadon}: several good MSS. have {ton Arkadon}, which is adopted by some Editors. The meaning would be “near this city it is said that there is the Styx water of the Arcadians.”]

[64] [{upomargoteron}.]

[65] [Demeter and Core.]

[66] [The MSS. give also “Sepeia” and “Sipei01.” The place is not elsewhere mentioned.]

[67] [参见第 19 章。 XNUMX.]

[68] [{duo mneai}: cp. v. 77.]

[69] [{o theos}, i.e. Hera: cp. i. 105.]

[70] [{kalliereumeno}.]

[71] [{kat akres}: cp. ch. 18.]

[72] [i.e. was acquitted of the charge brought against him.]

[73] [{episkuthison}.]

[74] [{bouleuesthe}: some MSS. and editions have {boulesthe}, “desiring.”]

[75] [{en khrono ikneumeno}.]

[76] [i.e. take an oath to that effect.]

[77] [见第 80 节。]

[78] [{penteteris}. The reading {penteres}, which is given by most of the MSS. and by several Editors, can hardly be defended.]

[79] [{kai en gar}, “and since there was.”]

[80] [{Knoithou kaleomenos}: cp. vii. 143.]

[81] [{thesmophorou}.]

[82] [{pentaethlon epaskesas}.]

[83] [{mounomakhien epaskeon}, “practising single combat,” as if training for the games.]

[84] [{para te Ikarion}: the use of {para} and the absence of the article may justify the conjecture {para te Ikarion} (or {Ikaron}) “by Icaria” (or “Icaros”), the island from which the Icarian Sea had its name.]

[85] [This perhaps should be emended, for the event referred to occurred two years before, cp. ch. 46 and 48: The reading {trito proteron etei} has been proposed.]

[86] [See v. 33 ff.]

[8601] [i.e. Apollo: or perhaps more generally, “God,” as in ch. 27.]

[87] [This in brackets is probably an interpolation. It is omitted by some of the best MSS. Some Editors suspect the genuineness of the next four lines also, on internal grounds.]

[88] [{erxies}, perhaps meaning “worker.”]

[89] [{areios}.]

[90] [{megas areios}.]

[91] [{ippoboteon}, lit. “horse-breeding”: see v. 77.]

[9101] [Or (according to some MSS.), “having come to shore at these places.”]

[92] [{katergontes}: the word is not elsewhere found intransitive, yet it is rather difficult to supply {tous Athenaious}. Some alterations have been proposed, but none probable.]

[93] [Lit. “and it happened that in winning this victory he won the same victory as his half-brother Miltiades.” See ch. 36.]

[94] [Or, according to some authorities, “Philippides.”]

[95] [Lit. “except the circle were full.”]

[96] [Or “Aigilei01.”]

[97] [Lit. “by violence, having coughed.”]

[98] [“by the bean.”]

[99] [{es se toi}, a conjectural emendation of {es se ti}.]

[100] [{prutaneie tes emeres}.]

[101] [Some Editors propose to omit {gar} or alter it. If it be allowed to stand, the meaning must be that the importance of the place is testified by the commemoration mentioned.]

[102] [{es tas panegurias}, some MSS. have {kai panegurias}, “hold sacrifices and solemn assemblies.”]

[103] [{penteterisi}.]

[104] [Lit. “the good things.”]

[105] [{stadioi}: the distance would be rather over 1600 yards.]

[106] [Whether this is thrown in here by the historian as an explanation of the rapid advance, or as an additional source of wonder on the part of the Persians at the boldness of the Athenians, is not clear.]

[107] [Or (according to some MSS.) “having taken hold.”]

[108] [The account of how the oil was dealt with has perhaps dropt out: one MS. and the Aldine edition have “the oil they collect in vessels, and this,” etc.]

[109] [This chapter is omitted by several of the best MSS., and is almost certainly an interpolation. (In the Medicean MS. it has been added in the margin by a later hand.)]

[110] [Answering to “Callias for his part” at the end of ch. 121, the connexion being broken by the interpolated passage.]

[111] [{ouden esson}.]

[112] [{patre}, “family,” or possibly “country,” as in ch. 128.]

[113] [{to legomeno es to meson}: perhaps only “general conversation.”]

[114] [{katekhon pollon tous allous}.]

[115] [i.e. “though the dancing may be good.”]

[116] [{aponostesein}: some MSS. have {apanastesein}, “he would not take away his army thence.”]

[117] [{upozakoron}.]

[118] [{ton khthonion theon}, i.e. Demeter and Persephone: cp. vii. 153.]

[119] [{thesmophorou}.]

[120] [{to megaron}.]

[121] [{sphi autoi}: a conjectural rendering of {sphisi autoisi}, which can only be taken with {eousan}, meaning “belonging to them” i.e. the Athenians, and involves the insertion of {Pelasgoisi} or something equivalent with {edosan}.]

[122] [{ktesamenoi}: some MSS. and editions have {stesamenoi}, “set fifty-oared galleys in place.”]

第七卷 • 历史书第七卷,名为波里姆尼亚 (Polymnia) •45,200字

1. Now when the report came to Dareios the son of Hystaspes of the battle which was fought at Marathon, the king, who even before this had been greatly exasperated with the Athenians on account of the attack made upon Sardis, then far more than before displayed indignation, and was far more desirous of making a march against Hellas. Accordingly at once he sent messengers to the various cities and ordered that they should get ready a force, appointing to each people to supply much more than at the former time, and not only ships of war, but also horses and provisions and transport vessels;[1][{kai ploia}, for transport of horses and also of provisions: however these words are omitted in some of the best MSS.] and when these commands were carried round, all Asia was moved for three years, for all the best men were being enlisted for the expedition against Hellas, and were making preparations. In the fourth year however the Egyptians, who had been reduced to subjection by Cambyses, revolted from the Persians; and then he was even more desirous of marching against both these nations.

2. While Dareios was thus preparing to set out against Egypt and against Athens, there arose a great strife among his sons about the supreme power; and they said that he must not make his expeditions until he had designated one of them to be king, according to the custom of the Persians. For to Dareios already before he became king three sons had been born of his former wife the daughter of Gobryas, and after he became king four other sons of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus: of the first the eldest was Artobazanes, and of those who had been born later, Xerxes. These being not of the same mother were at strife with one another, Artobazanes contending that he was the eldest of all the sons, and that it was a custom maintained by all men that the eldest should have the rule, and Xerxes arguing that he was the son of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus, and that Cyrus was he who had won for the Persians their freedom.

3. Now while Dareios did not as yet declare his judgment, it chanced that Demaratos also, the son of Ariston, had come up to Susa at this very same time, having been deprived of the kingdom in Sparta and having laid upon himself a sentence of exile from Lacedemon. This man, hearing of the difference between the sons of Dareios, came (as it is reported of him) and counselled Xerxes to say in addition to those things which he was wont to say, that he had been born to Dareios at the time when he was already reigning as king and was holding the supreme power over the Persians, while Artobazanes had been born while Dareios was still in a private station: it was not fitting therefore nor just that another should have the honour before him; for even in Sparta, suggested Demaratos, this was the custom, that is to say, if some of the sons had been born first, before their father began to reign, and another came after, born later while he was reigning, the succession of the kingdom belonged to him who had been born later. Xerxes accordingly made use of the suggestion of Demaratos; and Dareios perceiving that he spoke that which was just, designated him to be king. It is my opinion however that even without this suggestion Xerxes would have become king, for Atossa was all-powerful.

4. Then having designated Xerxes to the Persians as their king, Dareios wished to go on his expeditions. However in the next year after this and after the revolt of Egypt, it came to pass that Dareios himself died, having been king in all six-and-thirty years; and thus he did not succeed in taking vengeance either upon the revolted Egyptians or upon the Athenians.

5. Dareios being dead the kingdom passed to his son Xerxes. Now Xerxes at the first was by no means anxious to make a march against Hellas, but against Egypt he continued to gather a force. Mardonios however, the son of Gobryas, who was a cousin of Xerxes, being sister’s son to Dareios, was ever at his side, and having power with him more than any other of the Persians, he kept continually to such discourse as this which follows, saying: “Master, it is not fitting that the Athenians, after having done to the Persians very great evil, should not pay the penalty for that which they have done. What if thou shouldest[2][{all ei}: this is the reading of the better class of MSS. The rest have {alla}, which with {pressois} could only express a wish for success, and not an exhortation to action.] at this present time do that which thou hast in thy hands to do; and when thou hast tamed the land of Egypt, which has broken out insolently against us, then do thou march an army against Athens, that a good report may be made of thee by men, and that in future every one may beware of making expeditions against thy land.” Thus far his speech had to do with vengeance,[3][{outos men oi o logos en timoros}: the words may mean “this manner of discourse was helpful for his purpose.”] and to this he would make addition as follows, saying that Europe was a very fair land and bore all kinds of trees that are cultivated for fruit, and was of excellent fertility, and such that the king alone of all mortals was worthy to possess it.

6. These things he was wont to say, since he was one who had a desire for perilous enterprise and wished to be himself the governor of Hellas under the king. So in time he prevailed upon Xerxes and persuaded him to do this; for other things also assisted him and proved helpful to him in persuading Xerxes. In the first place there had come from Thessaly messengers sent by the Aleuadai, who were inviting the king to come against Hellas and were showing great zeal in his cause, (now these Aleuadai were kings of Thessaly): and then secondly those of the sons of Peisistratos who had come up to Susa were inviting him also, holding to the same arguments as the Aleuadai; and moreover they offered him yet more inducement in addition to these; for there was one Onomacritos an Athenian, who both uttered oracles and also had collected and arranged the oracles of Musaios;[4][{khresmologon e kai diatheten khresmon ton Mousaiou}.] and with this man they had come up, after they had first reconciled the enmity between them. For Onomacritos had been driven forth from Athens by Hipparchos the son of Peisistratos, having been caught by Lasos of Hermion interpolating in the works of Musaios an oracle to the effect that the islands which lie off Lemnos should disappear[5][{aphanizoiato}, representing the present tense {aphanizontai} in the oracle.] under the sea. For this reason Hipparchos drove him forth, having before this time been very much wont to consult him. Now however he had gone up with them; and when he had come into the presence of the king, the sons of Peisistratos spoke of him in magnificent terms, and he repeated some of the oracles; and if there was in them anything which imported disaster to the Barbarians, of this he said nothing; but choosing out of them the most fortunate things he told how it was destined that the Hellespont should be yoked with a bridge by a Persian, and he set forth the manner of the march. He then thus urged Xerxes with oracles, while the sons of Peisistratos and the Aleuadai pressed him with their advice.

7. So when Xerxes had been persuaded to make an expedition against Hellas, then in the next year after the death of Dareios he made a march first against those who had revolted. Having subdued these and having reduced all Egypt to slavery much greater than it had suffered in the reign of Dareios, he entrusted the government of it to Achaimenes his own brother, a son of Dareios. Now this Achaimenes being a governor of Egypt was slain afterwards by Inaros the son of Psammetichos, a Libyan.

8. Xerxes then after the conquest of Egypt, being about to take in hand the expedition against Athens, summoned a chosen assembly of the best men among the Persians, that he might both learn their opinions and himself in the presence of all declare that which he intended to do; and when they were assembled, Xerxes spoke to them as follows: (a) “Persians, I shall not be the first to establish this custom in your nation, but having received it from others I shall follow it: for as I am informed by those who are older than myself, we never yet have kept quiet since we received this supremacy in succession to the Medes, when Cyrus overthrew Astyages; but God thus leads us, and for ourselves tends to good that we are busied about many things. Now about the nations which Cyrus and Cambyses and my father Dareios subdued and added to their possessions there is no need for me to speak, since ye know well: and as for me, from the day when I received by inheritance this throne upon which I sit[6][{ton thronon touton}: most MSS. have {ton thronon, touto}.] I carefully considered always how in this honourable place I might not fall short of those who have been before me, nor add less power to the dominion of the Persians: and thus carefully considering I find a way by which not only glory may be won by us, together with a land not less in extent nor worse than that which we now possess, (and indeed more varied in its productions), but also vengeance and retribution may be brought about. Wherefore I have assembled you together now, in order that I may communicate to you that which I have it in my mind to do. (b) I design to yoke the Hellespont with a bridge, and to march an army through Europe against Hellas, in order that I may take vengeance on the Athenians for all the things which they have done both to the Persians and to my father. Ye saw how my father Dareios also was purposing to make an expedition against these men; but he has ended his life and did not succeed in taking vengeance upon them. I however, on behalf of him and also of the other Persians, will not cease until I have conquered Athens and burnt it with fire; seeing that they did wrong unprovoked to me and to my father. First they went to Sardis, having come with Aristagoras the Milesian our slave, and they set fire to the sacred groves and the temples; and then secondly, what things they did to us when we disembarked in their land, at the time when Datis and Artaphrenes were commanders of our army, ye all know well, as I think.[7][{epistasthe kou pantes}: the MSS. have {ta epistasthe kou pantes}, which is given by most Editors. In that case {oia erxan} would be an exclamation, “What evils they did to us,… things which ye all know well, I think.”] (c) For these reasons[8][{touton mentoi eineka}: it is hardly possible here to give {mentoi} its usual meaning: Stein in his latest edition reads {touton men toinun}.] I have resolved to make an expedition against them, and reckoning I find in the matter so many good things as ye shall hear:—if we shall subdue these and the neighbours of these, who dwell in the land of Pelops the Phrygian, we shall cause the Persian land to have the same boundaries as the heaven of Zeus; since in truth upon no land will the sun look down which borders ours, but I with your help shall make all the lands into one land, having passed through the whole extent of Europe. For I am informed that things are so, namely that there is no city of men nor any race of human beings remaining, which will be able to come to a contest with us, when those whom I just now mentioned have been removed out of the way. Thus both those who have committed wrong against us will have the yoke of slavery, and also those who have not committed wrong. (d) And ye will please me best if ye do this:—whensoever I shall signify to you the time at which ye ought to come, ye must appear every one of you with zeal for the service; and whosoever shall come with a force best equipped, to him I will give gifts such as are accounted in our land to be the most honourable. Thus must these things be done: but that I may not seem to you to be following my own counsel alone, I propose the matter for discussion, bidding any one of you who desires it, declare his opinion.”

9. Having thus spoken he ceased; and after him Mardonios said: “Master, thou dost surpass not only all the Persians who were before thee, but also those who shall come after, since thou didst not only attain in thy words to that which is best and truest as regards other matters, but also thou wilt not permit the Ionians who dwell in Europe to make a mock of us, having no just right to do so: for a strange thing it would be if, when we have subdued and kept as our servants Sacans, Indians, Ethiopians, Assyrians, and other nations many in number and great, who have done no wrong to the Persians, because we desired to add to our dominions, we should not take vengeance on the Hellenes who committed wrong against us unprovoked. (a) Of what should we be afraid?—what gathering of numbers, or what resources of money? for their manner of fight we know, and as for their resources, we know that they are feeble; and we have moreover subdued already their sons, those I mean who are settled in our land and are called Ionians, Aiolians, and Dorians. Moreover I myself formerly made trial of marching against these men, being commanded thereto by thy father; and although I marched as far as Macedonia, and fell but little short of coming to Athens itself, no man came to oppose me in fight. (b) And yet it is true that the Hellenes make wars, but (as I am informed) very much without wise consideration, by reason of obstinacy and want of skill: for when they have proclaimed war upon one another, they find out first the fairest and smoothest place, and to this they come down and fight; so that even the victors depart from the fight with great loss, and as to the vanquished, of them I make no mention at all, for they are utterly destroyed. They ought however, being men who speak the same language, to make use of heralds and messengers and so to take up their differences and settle them in any way rather than by battles; but if they must absolutely war with one another, they ought to find out each of them that place in which they themselves are hardest to overcome, and here to make their trial. Therefore the Hellenes, since they use no good way, when I had marched as far as the land of Macedonia, did not come to the resolution of fighting with me. (c) Who then is likely to set himself against thee, O king, offering war, when thou art leading both all the multitudes of Asia and the whole number of the ships? I for my part am of opinion that the power of the Hellenes has not attained to such a pitch of boldness: but if after all I should prove to be deceived in my judgment, and they stirred up by inconsiderate folly should come to battle with us, they would learn that we are the best of all men in the matters of war. However that may be, let not anything be left untried; for nothing comes of itself, but from trial all things are wont to come to men.”

10. Mardonios having thus smoothed over the resolution expressed by Xerxes had ceased speaking: and when the other Persians were silent and did not venture to declare an opinion contrary to that which had been proposed, then Artabanos the son of Hystaspes, being father’s brother to Xerxes and having reliance upon that, spoke as follows: (a) “O king, if opinions opposed to one another be not spoken, it is not possible to select the better in making the choice, but one must accept that which has been spoken; if however opposite opinions be uttered, this is possible; just as we do not distinguish the gold which is free from alloy when it is alone by itself, but when we rub it on the touchstone in comparison with other gold, then we distinguish that which is the better. Now I gave advice to thy father Dareios also, who was my brother, not to march against the Scythians, men who occupied no abiding city in any part of the earth. He however, expecting that he would subdue the Scythians who were nomads, did not listen to me; but he made a march and came back from it with the loss of many good men of his army. But thou, O king, art intending to march against men who are much better than the Scythians, men who are reported to be excellent both by sea and on land: and the thing which is to be feared in this matter it is right that I should declare to thee. (b) Thou sayest that thou wilt yoke the Hellespont with a bridge and march an army through Europe to Hellas. Now supposing it chance that we are[9][{suneneike}: Stein reads {suneneike se}, “supposing that thou art worsted.”] worsted either by land or by sea, or even both, for the men are reported to be valiant in fight, (and we may judge for ourselves that it is so, since the Athenians by themselves destroyed that great army which came with Datis and Artaphrenes to the Attic land),—suppose however that they do not succeed in both, yet if they shall attack with their ships and conquer in a sea-fight, and then sail to the Hellespont and break up the bridge, this of itself, O king, will prove to be a great peril. (c) Not however by any native wisdom of my own do I conjecture that this might happen: I am conjecturing only such a misfortune as all but came upon us at the former time, when thy father, having yoked the Bosphorus of Thracia and made a bridge over the river Ister, had crossed over to go against the Scythians. At that time the Scythians used every means of entreaty to persuade the Ionians to break up the passage, to whom it had been entrusted to guard the bridges of the Ister. At that time, if Histiaios the despot of Miletos had followed the opinion of the other despots and had not made opposition to them, the power of the Persians would have been brought to an end. Yet it is a fearful thing even to hear it reported that the whole power of the king had come to depend upon one human creature.[10][{ep andri ge eni}, as opposed to a god.] (d) Do not thou therefore propose to go into any such danger when there is no need, but do as I say:—at the present time dissolve this assembly; and afterwards at whatever time it shall seem good to thee, when thou hast considered prudently with thyself, proclaim that which seems to thee best: for good counsel I hold to be a very great gain; since even if anything shall prove adverse, the counsel which has been taken is no less good, though it has been defeated by fortune; while he who took counsel badly at first, if good fortune should go with him has lighted on a prize by chance, but none the less for that his counsel was bad. (e) Thou seest how God strikes with thunderbolts the creatures which stand above the rest and suffers them not to make a proud show; while those which are small do not provoke him to jealousy: thou seest also how he hurls his darts ever at those buildings which are the highest and those trees likewise; for God is wont to cut short all those things which stand out above the rest. Thus also a numerous army is destroyed by one of few men in some such manner as this, namely when God having become jealous of them casts upon them panic or thundering from heaven, then they are destroyed utterly and not as their worth deserves; for God suffers not any other to have high thoughts save only himself. (f) Moreover the hastening of any matter breeds disasters, whence great losses are wont to be produced; but in waiting there are many good things contained, as to which, if they do not appear to be good at first, yet one will find them to be so in course of time. (g) To thee, O king, I give this counsel: but thou son of Gobryas, Mardonios, cease speaking foolish words about the Hellenes, since they in no way deserve to be spoken of with slight; for by uttering slander against the Hellenes thou art stirring the king himself to make an expedition, and it is to this very end that I think thou art straining all thy endeavour. Let not this be so; for slander is a most grievous thing: in it the wrongdoers are two, and the person who suffers wrong is one. The slanderer does a wrong in that he speaks against one who is not present, the other in that he is persuaded of the thing before he gets certain knowledge of it, and he who is not present when the words are spoken suffers wrong in the matter thus,—both because he has been slandered by the one and because he has been believed to be bad by the other. (h) However, if it be absolutely needful to make an expedition against these men, come, let the king himself remain behind in the abodes of the Persians, and let us both set to the wager our sons; and then do thou lead an army by thyself, choosing for thyself the men whom thou desirest, and taking an army as large as thou thinkest good: and if matters turn out for the king as thou sayest, let my sons be slain and let me also be slain in addition to them; but if in the way which I predict, let thy sons suffer this, and with them thyself also, if thou shalt return back. [11][{akousesthai tina psemi ton k.t.l.}, “each one of those who are left behind.”] that Mardonios, after having done a great mischief to the Persians, is torn by dogs and birds, either in the land of the Athenians, or else perchance thou wilt be in the land of the Lacedemonians (unless indeed this should have come to pass even before that upon the way), and that thou hast at length been made aware against what kind of men thou art persuading the king to march.”

11. Artabanos thus spoke; and Xerxes enraged by it made answer as follows: “Artabanos, thou art my father’s brother, and this shall save thee from receiving any recompense such as thy foolish words deserve. Yet I attach to thee this dishonour, seeing that thou art a coward and spiritless, namely that thou do not march with me against Hellas, but remain here together with the women; and I, even without thy help, will accomplish all the things which I said: for I would I might not be descended from Dareios, the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, the son of Ariaramnes, the son of Teïspes, or from Cyrus,[12][{kai Kurou}, a conjectural emendation of {tou Kurou}. The text of the MSS. enumerates all these as one continuous line of ascent. It is clear however that the enumeration is in fact of two separate lines, which combine in Teïspes, the line of ascent through the father Dareios being, Dareios, Hystaspes, Arsames, Ariamnes, Teïspes, and through the mother, Atossa, Cyrus, Cambyses, Teïspes.] the son of Cambyses, the son of Teïspes, the son of Achaimenes, if I take not vengeance on the Athenians; since I know well that if we shall keep quiet, yet they will not do so, but will again[13][{kai mala}: perhaps, “even.”] march against our land, if we may judge by the deeds which have been done by them to begin with, since they both set fire to Sardis and marched upon Asia. It is not possible therefore that either side should retire from the quarrel, but the question before us is whether we shall do or whether we shall suffer; whether all these regions shall come to be under the Hellenes or all those under the Persians: for in our hostility there is no middle course. It follows then now that it is well for us, having suffered wrong first, to take revenge, that I may find out also what is this terrible thing which I shall suffer if I lead an army against these men,—men whom Pelops the Phrygian, who was the slave of my forefathers, so subdued that even to the present day both the men themselves and their land are called after the name of him who subdued them.”

12. Thus far was it spoken then; but afterwards when darkness came on, the opinion of Artabanos tormented Xerxes continually; and making night his counsellor he found that it was by no means to his advantage to make the march against Hellas. So when he had thus made a new resolve, he fell asleep, and in the night he saw, as is reported by the Persians, a vision as follows:—Xerxes thought that a man tall and comely of shape came and stood by him and said: “Art thou indeed changing thy counsel, O Persian, of leading an expedition against Hellas, now that thou hast made proclamation that the Persians shall collect an army? Thou dost not well in changing thy counsel, nor will he who is here present with thee excuse thee from it; [1301][Lit. “nor is he present who will excuse thee.”] but as thou didst take counsel in the day to do, by that way go.”

13. After he had said this, Xerxes thought that he who had spoken flew away; and when day had dawned he made no account of this dream, but gathered together the Persians whom he had assembled also the former time and said to them these words: “Persians, pardon me that I make quick changes in my counsel; for in judgment not yet am I come to my prime, and they who advise me to do the things which I said, do not for any long time leave me to myself. However, although at first when I heard the opinion of Artabanos my youthful impulses burst out,[14][Lit. “my youth boiled over.”] so that I cast out unseemly words[15][Lit. “words more unseemly than was right.”] against a man older than myself; yet now I acknowledge that he is right, and I shall follow his opinion. Consider then I have changed my resolve to march against Hellas, and do ye remain still.”

14. The Persians accordingly when they heard this were rejoiced and made obeisance: but when night had come on, the same dream again came and stood by Xerxes as he lay asleep and said: “Son of Dareios, it is manifest then that thou hast resigned this expedition before the assembly of the Persians, and that thou hast made no account of my words, as if thou hadst heard them from no one at all. Now therefore be well assured of this:—if thou do not make thy march forthwith, there shall thence spring up for thee this result, namely that, as thou didst in short time become great and mighty, so also thou shalt speedily be again brought low.”

15. Xerxes then, being very greatly disturbed by fear of the vision, started up from his bed and sent a messenger to summon Artabanos; to whom when he came Xerxes spoke thus: “Artabanos, at the first I was not discreet, when I spoke to thee foolish words on account of thy good counsel; but after no long time I changed my mind and perceived that I ought to do these things which thou didst suggest to me. I am not able however to do them, although I desire it; for indeed, now that I have turned about and changed my mind, a dream appears haunting me and by no means approving that I should do so; and just now it has left me even with a threat. If therefore it is God who sends it to me, and it is his absolute will and pleasure that an army should go against Hellas, this same dream will fly to thee also, laying upon thee a charge such as it has laid upon me; and it occurs to my mind that this might happen thus, namely if thou shouldst take all my attire and put it on, and then seat thyself on my throne, and after that lie down to sleep in my bed.”

16. Xerxes spoke to him thus; and Artabanos was not willing to obey the command at first, since he did not think himself worthy to sit upon the royal throne; but at last being urged further he did that which was commanded, first having spoken these words: (a) “It is equally good in my judgment, O king, whether a man has wisdom himself or is willing to follow the counsel of him who speaks well: and thou, who hast attained to both these good things, art caused to err by the communications of evil men; just as they say that the Sea, which is of all things the most useful to men, is by blasts of winds falling upon it prevented from doing according to its own nature. I however, when I was evil spoken of by thee, was not so much stung with pain for this, as because, when two opinions were laid before the Persians, the one tending to increase wanton insolence and the other tending to check it and saying that it was a bad thing to teach the soul to endeavour always to have something more than the present possession,—because, I say, when such opinions as these were laid before us, thou didst choose that one which was the more dangerous both for thyself and for the Persians. (b) And now that thou hast turned to the better counsel, thou sayest that when thou art disposed to let go the expedition against the Hellenes, a dream haunts thee sent by some god, which forbids thee to abandon thy enterprise. Nay, but here too thou dost err, my son, since this is not of the Deity;[16][{all oude tauta esti o pai theia}.] for the dreams of sleep which come roaming about to men, are of such nature as I shall inform thee, being by many years older than thou. The visions of dreams are wont to hover above us[17][{peplanesthai}.] in such form[18][{autai}: a correction of {autai}.] for the most part as the things of which we were thinking during the day; and we in the days preceding were very much occupied with this campaign. (c) If however after all this is not such a thing as I interpret it to be, but is something which is concerned with God, thou hast summed the matter up in that which thou hast said: let it appear, as thou sayest, to me also, as to thee, and give commands. But supposing that it desires to appear to me at all, it is not bound to appear to me any the more if I have thy garments on me than if I have my own, nor any more if I take my rest in thy bed than if I am in thy own; for assuredly this thing, whatever it may be, which appears to thee in thy sleep, is not so foolish as to suppose, when it sees me, that it is thou, judging so because the garments are thine. That however which we must find out now is this, namely if it will hold me in no account, and not think fit to appear to me, whether I have my own garments or whether I have thine, but continue still to haunt thee;[19][{se de epiphoitesei}: the better MSS. have {oude epiphoitesei}, which is adopted by Stein.] for if it shall indeed haunt thee perpetually, I shall myself also be disposed to say that it is of the Deity. But if thou hast resolved that it shall be so, and it is not possible to turn aside this thy resolution, but I must go to sleep in thy bed, then let it appear to me also, when I perform these things: but until then I shall hold to the opinion which I now have.”

17. Having thus said Artabanos, expecting that he would prove that Xerxes was speaking folly, did that which was commanded him; and having put on the garments of Xerxes and seated himself in the royal throne, he afterwards went to bed: and when he had fallen asleep, the same dream came to him which used to come to Xerxes, and standing over Artabanos spoke these words: “Art thou indeed he who endeavours to dissuade Xerxes from making a march against Hellas, pretending to have a care of him? However, neither in the future nor now at the present shalt thou escape unpunished for trying to turn away that which is destined to come to pass: and as for Xerxes, that which he must suffer if he disobeys, hath been shown already to the man himself.”

18. Thus it seemed to Artabanos that the dream threatened him, and at the same time was just about to burn out his eyes with hot irons; and with a loud cry he started up from his bed, and sitting down beside Xerxes he related to him throughout the vision of the dream, and then said to him as follows: “I, O king, as one who has seen before now many great things brought to their fall by things less, urged thee not to yield in all things to the inclination of thy youth, since I knew that it was evil to have desire after many things; remembering on the one hand the march of Cyrus against the Massagetai, what fortune it had, and also that of Cambyses against the Ethiopians; and being myself one who took part with Dareios in the campaign against the Scythians. Knowing these things I had the opinion that thou wert to be envied of all men, so long as thou shouldest keep still. Since however there comes a divine impulse, and, as it seems, a destruction sent by heaven is taking hold of the Hellenes, I for my part am both changed in myself and also I reverse my opinions; and do thou signify to the Persians the message which is sent to thee from God, bidding them follow the commands which were given by thee at first with regard to the preparations to be made; and endeavour that on thy side nothing may be wanting, since God delivers the matter into thy hands.” These things having been said, both were excited to confidence by the vision, and so soon as it became day, Xerxes communicated the matter to the Persians, and Artabanos, who before was the only man who came forward to dissuade him, now came forward to urge on the design.

19. Xerxes being thus desirous to make the expedition, there came to him after this a third vision in his sleep, which the Magians, when they heard it, explained to have reference to the dominion of the whole Earth and to mean that all men should be subject to him; and the vision was this:—Xerxes thought that he had been crowned with a wreath of an olive-branch and that the shoots growing from the olive-tree covered the whole Earth; and after that, the wreath, placed as it was about his head, disappeared. When the Magians had thus interpreted the vision, forthwith every man of the Persians who had been assembled together departed to his own province and was zealous by all means to perform the commands, desiring each one to receive for himself the gifts which had been proposed: and thus Xerxes was gathering his army together, searching every region of the continent.

20. During four full years from the conquest of Egypt he was preparing the army and the things that were of service for the army, and in the course of the fifth year[20][{pempto de etei anomeno}.] he began his campaign with a host of great multitude. For of all the armies of which we have knowledge this proved to be by far the greatest; so that neither that led by Dareios against the Scythians appears anything as compared with it, nor the Scythian host, when the Scythians pursuing the Kimmerians made invasion of the Median land and subdued and occupied nearly all the upper parts of Asia, for which invasion afterwards Dareios attempted to take vengeance, nor that led by the sons of Atreus to Ilion, to judge by that which is reported of their expedition, nor that of the Mysians and Teucrians, before the Trojan war, who passed over into Europe by the Bosphorus and not only subdued all the Thracians, but came down also as far as the Ionian Sea[21][{ton Ionion}.] and marched southwards to the river Peneios.

21. All these expeditions put together, with others, if there be any, added to them,[22][{kai oud ei eperai pros tautesi prosgenomenai}: some MSS. read {oud eterai pros tautesi genomenai}, which is adopted (with variations) by some Editors. The meaning would be “not all these, nor others which happened in addition to these, were equal to this one.”] are not equal to this one alone. For what nation did Xerxes not lead out of Asia against Hellas? and what water was not exhausted, being drunk by his host, except only the great rivers? For some supplied ships, and others were appointed to serve in the land-army; to some it was appointed to furnish cavalry, and to others vessels to carry horses, while they served in the expedition themselves also;[23][{ama strateuomenoisi}: {ama} is omitted in some MSS.] others were ordered to furnish ships of war for the bridges, and others again ships with provisions.

22. Then in the first place, since the former fleet had suffered disaster in sailing round Athos, preparations had been going on for about three years past with regard to Athos: for triremes lay at anchor at Elaius in the Chersonese, and with this for their starting point men of all nations belonging to the army worked at digging, compelled by the lash; and the men went to the work regularly in succession: moreover those who dwelt round about Athos worked also at the digging: and Bubares the son of Megabazos and Artachaies the son of Artaios, Persians both, were set over the work. Now Athos is a mountain great and famous, running down to the sea and inhabited by men: and where the mountain ends on the side of the mainland the place is like a peninsula with an isthmus about twelve furlongs[24][{stadion},等等。] across. Here it is plain land or hills of no great size, extending from the sea of the Acanthians to that which lies off Torone; and on this isthmus, where Athos ends, is situated a Hellenic city called Sane: moreover there are others beyond Sane[25][{entos Sanes}: some MSS. read {ektos Sanes}, which is adopted by Stein, who translates “beyond Sane, but on this side of Mount Athos”: this however will not suit the case of all the towns mentioned, e.g. Acrothoon, and {ton Athen} just below clearly means the whole peninsula.] and within the peninsula of Athos, all which at this time the Persian had resolved to make into cities of an island and no longer of the mainland; these are, Dion, Olophyxos, Acrothoon, Thyssos, Cleonai.

23. These are the cities which occupy Athos: and they dug as follows, the country being divided among the Barbarians by nations for the work:—at the city of Sane they drew a straight line across the isthmus, and when the channel became deep, those who stood lowest dug, while others delivered the earth as it was dug out to other men who stood above, as upon steps, and they again to others when it was received, until they came to those that were highest; and these bore it away and cast it forth. Now the others except the Phenicians had double toil by the breaking down of the steep edges of their excavation; for since they endeavoured to make the opening at the top and that at the bottom both of the same measure, some such thing was likely to result, as they worked: but the Phenicians, who are apt to show ability in their works generally, did so in this work also; for when they had had assigned to them by lot so much as fell to their share, they proceeded to dig, making the opening of the excavation at the top twice as wide as the channel itself was to be; and as the work went forward, they kept contracting the width; so that, when they came to the bottom, their work was made of equal width with that of the others. Now there is a meadow there, in which there was made for them a market and a place for buying and selling; and great quantities of corn came for them regularly from Asia, ready ground.

24. It seems to me, making conjecture of this work, that Xerxes when he ordered this to be dug was moved by a love of magnificence and by a desire to make a display of his power and to leave a memorial behind him; for though they might have drawn the ships across the isthmus with no great labour, he bade them dig a channel for the sea of such breadth that two triremes might sail through, propelled side by side. To these same men to whom the digging had been appointed, it was appointed also to make a bridge over the river Strymon, yoking together the banks.

25. These things were being done by Xerxes thus; and meanwhile he caused ropes also to be prepared for the bridges, made of papyrus and of white flax,[26][{leukolinou}.] appointing this to the Phenicians and Egyptians; and also he was making preparations to store provisions for his army on the way, that neither the army itself nor the baggage animals might suffer from scarcity, as they made their march against Hellas. Accordingly, when he had learnt by inquiry of the various places, he bade them make stores where it was most convenient, carrying supplies to different parts by merchant ships and ferry-boats from all the countries of Asia. So they conveyed the greater part of the corn[27][{ton de on pleiston}: if this reading is right, {siton} must be understood, and some MSS. read {allon} for {alla} in the sentence above. Stein in his latest edition reads {siton} instead of {pleiston}.] to the place which is called Leuke Acte in Thrace, while others conveyed stores to Tyrodiza of the Perinthians, others to Doriscos, others to Eïon on the Strymon, and others to Macedonia, the work being distributed between them.

26. During the time that these were working at the task which had been proposed to them, the whole land-army had been assembled together and was marching with Xerxes to Sardis, setting forth from Critalla in Cappadokia; for there it had been ordered that the whole army should assemble, which was to go with Xerxes himself by the land: but which of the governors of provinces brought the best equipped force and received from the king the gifts proposed, I am not able to say, for I do not know that they even came to a competition in this matter. Then after they had crossed the river Halys and had entered Phrygia, marching through this land they came to Kelainai, where the springs of the river Maiander come up, and also those of another river not less than the Maiander, whose name is Catarractes;[28][Lit. “the name of which happens to be Catarractes.”] this rises in the market-place itself of Kelainai and runs into the Maiander: and here also is hanging up in the city the skin of Marsyas the Silenos, which is said by the Phrygians to have been flayed off and hung up by Apollo.

27. In this city Pythios the son of Atys, a Lydian, was waiting for the king and entertained his whole army, as well as Xerxes himself, with the most magnificent hospitality: moreover he professed himself ready to supply money for the war. So when Pythios offered money, Xerxes asked those of the Persians who were present, who Pythios was and how much money he possessed, that he made this offer. They said: “O king, this is he who presented thy father Dareios with the golden plane-tree and the golden vine; and even now he is in wealth the first of all men of whom we know, excepting thee only.”

28. Marvelling at the conclusion of these words Xerxes himself asked of Pythios then, how much money he had; and he said: “O king, I will not conceal the truth from thee, nor will I allege as an excuse that I do not know my own substance, but I will enumerate it to thee exactly, since I know the truth: for as soon as I heard that thou wert coming down to the Sea of Hellas, desiring to give thee money for the war I ascertained the truth, and calculating I found that I had of silver two thousand talents, and of gold four hundred myriads[29][即4,000,000。] of daric staters[30][The {stater dareikos} was of nearly pure gold (cp. iv. 166), weighing about 124 grains.] all but seven thousand: and with this money I present thee. For myself I have sufficient livelihood from my slaves and from my estates of land.”

29. Thus he said; and Xerxes was pleased by the things which he had spoken, and replied: “Lydian host, ever since I went forth from the Persian land I have encountered no man up to this time who was desirous to entertain my army, or who came into my presence and made offer of his own free will to contribute money to me for the war, except only thee: and thou not only didst entertain my army magnificently, but also now dost make offer of great sums of money. To thee therefore in return I give these rewards,—I make thee my guest-friend, and I will complete for thee the four hundred myriads of staters by giving from myself the seven thousand, in order that thy four hundred myriads may not fall short by seven thousand, but thou mayest have a full sum in thy reckoning, completed thus by me. Keep possession of that which thou hast got for thyself, and be sure to act always thus; for if thou doest so, thou wilt have no cause to repent either at the time or afterwards.”

30. Having thus said and having accomplished his promise, he continued his march onwards; and passing by a city of the Phrygians called Anaua and a lake whence salt is obtained, he came to Colossai, a great city of Phrygia, where the river Lycos falls into an opening of the earth and disappears from view, and then after an interval of about five furlongs it comes up to view again, and this river also flows into the Maiander. Setting forth from Colossai towards the boundaries of the Phrygians and Lydians, the army arrived at the city of Kydrara, where a pillar [3001][{stele}, i.e. a square block of stone.] is fixed, set up by Croesus, which declares by an inscription that the boundaries are there.

31. From Phrygia then he entered Lydia; and here the road parts into two, and that which goes to the left leads towards Caria, while that which goes to the right leads to Sardis; and travelling by this latter road one must needs cross the river Maiander and pass by the city of Callatebos, where men live whose trade it is to make honey of the tamarisk-tree and of wheat-flour. By this road went Xerxes and found a plane-tree, to which for its beauty he gave an adornment of gold, and appointed that some one should have charge of it always in undying succession;[31][{athanato andri}, taken by some to mean one of the body of “Immortals.”] and on the next day he came to the city of the Lydians.

32. Having come to Sardis he proceeded first to send heralds to Hellas, to ask for earth and water, and also to give notice beforehand to prepare meals for the king; except that he sent neither to Athens nor Lacedemon to ask for earth, but to all the other States: and the reason why he sent the second time to ask for earth and water was this,—as many as had not given at the former time to Dareios when he sent, these he thought would certainly give now by reason of their fear: this matter it was about which he desired to have certain knowledge, and he sent accordingly.

33. After this he made his preparations intending to march to Abydos: and meanwhile they were bridging over the Hellespont from Asia to Europe. Now there is in the Chersonese of the Hellespont between the city of Sestos and Madytos, a broad foreland[32][{akte pakhea}: some inferior MSS. read {akte trakhea}, and hence some Editors have {akte trekhea}, “a rugged foreland.”]running down into the sea right opposite Abydos; this is the place where no long time afterwards the Athenians under the command of Xanthippos the son of Ariphron, having taken Artaÿctes a Persian, who was the governor of Sestos, nailed him alive to a board with hands and feet extended (he was the man who was wont to take women with him to the temple of Protesilaos at Elaius and to do things there which are not lawful).

34. To this foreland they on whom this work was laid were making their bridges, starting from Abydos, the Phenicians constructing the one with ropes of white flax, and the Egyptians the other, which was made with papyrus rope. Now from Abydos to the opposite shore is a distance of seven furlongs. But when the strait had been bridged over, a great storm came on and dashed together all the work that had been made and broke it up. Then when Xerxes heard it he was exceedingly enraged, and bade them scourge the Hellespont with three hundred strokes of the lash and let down into the sea a pair of fetters. Nay, I have heard further that he sent branders also with them to brand the Hellespont. However this may be, he enjoined them, as they were beating, to say Barbarian and presumptuous words as follows: “Thou bitter water, thy master lays upon thee this penalty, because thou didst wrong him not having suffered any wrong from him: and Xerxes the king will pass over thee whether thou be willing or no; but with right, as it seems, no man doeth sacrifice to thee, seeing that thou art a treacherous[33][{dolero}: some Editors read {tholero}, “turbid,” by conjecture.] and briny stream.” The sea he enjoined them to chastise thus, and also he bade them cut off the heads of those who were appointed to have charge over the bridging of the Hellespont.

36. Thus then the men did, to whom this ungracious office belonged; and meanwhile other chief-constructors proceeded to make the bridges; and thus they made them:—They put together fifty-oared galleys and triremes, three hundred and sixty to be under the bridge towards the Euxine Sea, and three hundred and fourteen to be under the other, the vessels lying in the direction of the stream of the Hellespont (though crosswise in respect to the Pontus), to support the tension of the ropes.[34][The meaning is much disputed. I understand Herodotus to state that though the vessels lay of course in the direction of the stream from the Hellespont, that is presenting their prows (or sterns) to the stream, yet this did not mean that they pointed straight towards the Propontis and Euxine; for the stream after passing Sestos runs almost from North to South with even a slight tendency to the East (hence {eurou} a few lines further on), so that ships lying in the stream would point in a line cutting at right angles that of the longer axis (from East to West) of the Pontus and Propontis. This is the meaning of {epikarsios} elsewhere in Herodotus (i. 180 and iv. 101), and it would be rash to assign to it any other meaning here. It is true however that the expression {pros esperes} is used loosely below for the side toward the Egean. For {anakokheue} a subject must probably be supplied from the clause {pentekonterous—sunthentes}, “that it (i.e. the combination of ships) might support etc.,” and {ton tonon ton oplon} may either mean as below “the stretched ropes,” or “the tension of the ropes,” which would be relieved by the support: the latter meaning seems to me preferable.]

Mr. Whitelaw suggests to me that {epikarsios} ({epi kar}) may mean rather “head-foremost,” which seems to be its meaning in Homer (Odyss. ix. 70), and from which might be obtained the idea of intersection, one line running straight up against another, which it has in other passages. In that case it would here mean “heading towards the Pontus.”]
They placed them together thus, and let down very large anchors, those on the one side[35][{tas men pros tou Pontou tes eteres}. Most commentators would supply {gephures} with {tes eteres}, but evidently both bridges must have been anchored on both sides.] towards the Pontus because of the winds which blow from within outwards, and on the other side, towards the West and the Egean, because of the South-East[36][{eurou}: Stein adopts the conjecture {zephurou}.] and South Winds. They left also an opening for a passage through, so that any who wished might be able to sail into the Pontus with small vessels,[37][{ton pentekonteron kai triereon trikhou}: the MSS. give {ton pentekonteron kai trikhou}, “between the fifty-oared galleys in as many as three places,” but it is strange that the fifty-oared galleys should be mentioned alone, and there seems no need of {kai} with {trikhou}. Stein reads {ton pentekonteron kai triereon} (omitting {trikhou} altogether), and this may be right.] and also from the Pontus outwards. Having thus done, they proceeded to stretch tight the ropes, straining them with wooden windlasses, not now appointing the two kinds of rope to be used apart from one another, but assigning to each bridge two ropes of white flax and four of the papyrus ropes. The thickness and beauty of make was the same for both, but the flaxen ropes were heavier in proportion,[38][i.e. in proportion to the quantity: there was of course a greater weight altogether of the papyrus rope.] and of this rope a cubit weighed one talent. When the passage was bridged over, they sawed up logs of wood, and making them equal in length to the breadth of the bridge they laid them above the stretched ropes, and having set them thus in order they again fastened them above.[39][{autis epezeugnuon}.] When this was done, they carried on brushwood, and having set the brushwood also in place, they carried on to it earth; and when they had stamped down the earth firmly, they built a barrier along on each side, so that the baggage-animals and horses might not be frightened by looking out over the sea.

37. When the construction of the bridges had been finished, and the works about Athos, both the embankments about the mouths of the channel, which were made because of the breaking of the sea upon the beach, that the mouths of it might not be filled up, and the channel itself, were reported to be fully completed, then, after they had passed the winter at Sardis, the army set forth from thence fully equipped, at the beginning of spring, to march to Abydos; and when it had just set forth, the Sun left his place in the heaven and was invisible, though there was no gathering of clouds and the sky was perfectly clear; and instead of day it became night. When Xerxes saw and perceived this, it became a matter of concern to him; and he asked the Magians what the appearance meant to portend. These declared that the god was foreshowing to the Hellenes a leaving[40][{ekleipsin}: cp. {eklipon} above.] of their cities, saying that the Sun was the foreshower of events for the Hellenes, but the Moon for the Persians. Having been thus informed, Xerxes proceeded on the march with very great joy.

38. Then as he was leading forth his army on its march, Pythios the Lydian, being alarmed by the appearance in the heavens and elated by the gifts which he had received, came to Xerxes, and said as follows: “Master, I would desire to receive from thee a certain thing at my request, which, as it chances, is for thee an easy thing to grant, but a great thing for me, if I obtain it.” Then Xerxes, thinking that his request would be for anything rather than that which he actually asked, said that he would grant it, and bade him speak and say what he desired. He then, when he heard this, was encouraged, and spoke these words: “Master, I have, as it chances, five sons, and it is their fortune to be all going together with thee on the march against Hellas. Do thou, therefore, O king, have compassion upon me, who have come to so great an age, and release from serving in the expedition one of my sons, the eldest, in order that he may be caretaker both of myself and of my wealth: but the other four take with thyself, and after thou hast accomplished that which thou hast in thy mind, mayest thou have a safe return home.”

38. Then Xerxes was exceedingly angry and made answer with these words: “Thou wretched man, dost thou dare, when I am going on a march myself against Hellas, and am taking my sons and my brothers and my relations and friends, dost thou dare to make any mention of a son of thine, seeing that thou art my slave, who ought to have been accompanying me thyself with thy whole household and thy wife as well? Now therefore be assured of this, that the passionate spirit of man dwells within the ears; and when it has heard good things, it fills the body with delight, but when it has heard the opposite things to this, it swells up with anger. As then thou canst not boast of having surpassed the king in conferring benefits formerly, when thou didst to us good deeds and madest offer to do more of the same kind, so now that thou hast turned to shamelessness, thou shalt receive not thy desert but less than thou deservest: for thy gifts of hospitality shall rescue from death thyself and the four others of thy sons, but thou shalt pay the penalty with the life of the one to whom thou dost cling most.” Having answered thus, he forthwith commanded those to whom it was appointed to do these things, to find out the eldest of the sons of Pythios and to cut him in two in the middle; and having cut him in two, to dispose the halves, one on the right hand of the road and the other on the left, and that the army should pass between them by this way.

40. When these had so done, the army proceeded to pass between; and first the baggage-bearers led the way together with their horses, and after these the host composed of all kinds of nations mingled together without distinction: and when more than the half had gone by, an interval was left and these were separated from the king. For before him went first a thousand horsemen, chosen out of all the Persians; and after them a thousand spearmen chosen also from all the Persians, having the points of their spears turned down to the ground; and then ten sacred horses, called “Nesaian,”[41][Or, according to some MSS., “Nisaian.”] with the fairest possible trappings. Now the horses are called Nesaian for this reason:—there is a wide plain in the land of Media which is called the Nesaian plain, and this plain produces the great horses of which I speak. Behind these ten horses the sacred chariot of Zeus was appointed to go, which was drawn by eight white horses; and behind the horses again followed on foot a charioteer holding the reins, for no human creature mounts upon the seat of that chariot. Then behind this came Xerxes himself in a chariot drawn by Nesaian horses, and by the side of him rode a charioteer, whose name was Patiramphes, son of Otanes a Persian.

41. Thus did Xerxes march forth out of Sardis; and he used to change, whenever he was so disposed, from the chariot to a carriage. And behind him went spearmen, the best and most noble of the Persians, a thousand in number, holding their spear-points in the customary way;[42][i.e. not downwards.] and after them another thousand horsemen chosen out from the Persians; and after the horsemen ten thousand men chosen out from the remainder of the Persians. This body went on foot; and of these a thousand had upon their spears pomegranates of gold instead of the spikes at the butt-end, and these enclosed the others round, while the remaining nine thousand were within these and had silver pomegranates. And those also had golden pomegranates who had their spear-points turned towards the earth, while those who followed next after Xerxes had golden apples. Then to follow the ten thousand there was appointed a body of ten thousand Persian cavalry; and after the cavalry there was an interval of as much as two furlongs. Then the rest of the host came marching without distinction.

42. So the army proceeded on its march from Lydia to the river Caïcos and the land of Mysia; and then setting forth from the Caïcos and keeping the mountain of Cane on the left hand, it marched through the region of Atarneus to the city of Carene. From this it went through the plain of Thebe, passing by the cities of Adramytteion and Antandros of the Pelasgians; and taking mount Ida on the left hand, it came on to the land of Ilion. And first, when it had stopped for the night close under mount Ida, thunder and bolts of lightning fell upon it, and destroyed here in this place a very large number of men.[43][{tina autou sukhnon omilon}.]

43. Then when the army had come to the river Scamander,—which of all rivers to which they had come, since they set forth from Sardis and undertook their march, was the first of which the stream failed and was not sufficient for the drinking of the army and of the animals with it,—when, I say, Xerxes had come to this river, he went up to the Citadel of Priam,[44][{to Priamou Pergamon}.] having a desire to see it; and having seen it and learnt by inquiry of all those matters severally, he sacrificed a thousand heifers to Athene of Ilion, and the Magians poured libations in honour of the heroes: and after they had done this, a fear fell upon the army in the night. Then at break of day he set forth from thence, keeping on his left hand the cities of Rhoition and Ophryneion and Dardanos, which last borders upon Abydos, and having on the right hand the Gergith Teucrians.

44. When Xerxes had come into the midst of Abydos,[45][{en Abudo mese}: some inferior authorities (followed by most Editors) omit {mese}: but the district seems to be spoken of, as just above.] he had a desire to see all the army; and there had been made purposely for him beforehand upon a hill in this place a raised seat of white stone,[46][{proexedre lothou leukou}: some kind of portico or 阳台 seems to be meant.] which the people of Abydos had built at the command of the king given beforehand. There he took his seat, and looking down upon the shore he gazed both upon the land-army and the ships; and gazing upon them he had a longing to see a contest take place between the ships; and when it had taken place and the Phenicians of Sidon were victorious, he was delighted both with the contest and with the whole armament.

45. And seeing all the Hellespont covered over with the ships, and all the shores and the plains of Abydos full of men, then Xerxes pronounced himself a happy man, and after that he fell to weeping.

46. Artabanos his uncle therefore perceiving him,—the same who at first boldly declared his opinion advising Xerxes not to march against Hellas,—this man, I say, having observed that Xerxes wept, asked as follows: “O king, how far different from one another are the things which thou hast done now and a short while before now! for having pronounced thyself a happy man, thou art now shedding tears.” He said: “Yea, for after I had reckoned up, it came into my mind to feel pity at the thought how brief was the whole life of man, seeing that of these multitudes not one will be alive when a hundred years have gone by.” He then made answer and said: “To another evil more pitiful than this we are made subject in the course of our life; for in the period of life, short as it is, no man, either of these here or of others, is made by nature so happy, that there will not come to him many times, and not once only, the desire to be dead rather than to live; for misfortunes falling upon us and diseases disturbing our happiness make the time of life, though short indeed, seem long: thus, since life is full of trouble, death has become the most acceptable refuge for man; and God, having given him to taste of the sweetness of life, is discovered in this matter to be full of jealousy.”

47. Xerxes made answer saying: “Artabanos, of human life, which is such as thou dost define it to be, let us cease to speak, and do not remember evils when we have good things in hand: but do thou declare to me this:—If the vision of the dream had not appeared with so much evidence, wouldest thou still be holding thy former opinion, endeavouring to prevent me from marching against Hellas, or wouldest thou have changed from it? Come, tell me this exactly.” He answered saying: “O king, may the vision of the dream which appeared have such fulfilment as we both desire! but I am even to this moment full of apprehension and cannot contain myself, taking into account many things besides, and also seeing that two things, which are the greatest things of all, are utterly hostile to thee.”

48. To this Xerxes made answer in these words: “Thou strangest of men,[47][{daimonie andoon}.] of what nature are these two things which thou sayest are utterly hostile to me? Is it that the land-army is to be found fault with in the matter of numbers, and that the army of the Hellenes appears to thee likely to be many times as large as ours? or dost thou think that our fleet will fall short of theirs? or even that both of these things together will prove true? For if thou thinkest that in these respects our power is deficient, one might make gathering at once of another force.”

49. Then he made answer and said: “O king, neither with this army would any one who has understanding find fault, nor with the number of the ships; and indeed if thou shalt assemble more, the two things of which I speak will be made thereby yet more hostile: and these two things are—the land and the sea. For neither in the sea is there, as I suppose, a harbour anywhere large enough to receive this fleet of thine, if a storm should arise, and to ensure the safety of the ships till it be over; and yet not one alone[48][{ena auton}.] ought this harbour to be, but there should be such harbours along the whole coast of the continent by which thou sailest; and if there are not harbours to receive thy ships, know that accidents will rule men and not men the accidents. Now having told thee of one of the two things, I am about to tell thee of the other. The land, I say, becomes hostile to thee in this way:—if nothing shall come to oppose thee, the land is hostile to thee by so much the more in proportion as thou shalt advance more, ever stealing on further and further,[49][{to proso aiei kleptomenos}: “stealing thy advance continually,” i.e. “advancing insensibly further.” Some take {kleptomenos} as passive, “insensibly lured on further.”] for there is no satiety of good fortune felt by men: and this I say, that with no one to stand against thee the country traversed, growing more and more as time goes on, will produce for thee famine. Man, however, will be in the best condition, if when he is taking counsel he feels fear, reckoning to suffer everything that can possibly come, but in doing the deed he is bold.”

50. Xerxes made answer in these words: “Artabanos, reasonably dost thou set forth these matters; but do not thou fear everything nor reckon equally for everything: for if thou shouldest set thyself with regard to all matters which come on at any time, to reckon for everything equally, thou wouldest never perform any deed. It is better to have good courage about everything and to suffer half the evils which threaten, than to have fear beforehand about everything and not to suffer any evil at all: and if, while contending against everything which is said, thou omit to declare the course which is safe, thou dost incur in these matters the reproach of failure equally with him who says the opposite to this. This then, I say, is evenly balanced: but how should one who is but man know the course which is safe? I think, in no way. To those then who choose to act, for the most part gain is wont to come; but to those who reckon for everything and shrink back, it is not much wont to come. Thou seest the power of the Persians, to what great might it has advanced: if then those who came to be kings before me had had opinions like to thine, or, though not having such opinions, had had such counsellors as thou, thou wouldest never have seen it brought forward to this point. As it is however, by running risks they conducted it on to this: for great power is in general gained by running great risks. We therefore, following their example, are making our march now during the fairest season of the year; and after we have subdued all Europe we shall return back home, neither having met with famine anywhere nor having suffered any other thing which is unpleasant. For first we march bearing with us ourselves great store of food, and secondly we shall possess the corn-crops of all the peoples to whose land and nation we come; and we are making a march now against men who plough the soil, and not against nomad tribes.”

51. After this Artabanos said: “O king, since thou dost urge us not to have fear of anything, do thou I pray thee accept a counsel from me; for when speaking of many things it is necessary to extend speech to a greater length. Cyrus the son of Cambyses subdued all Ionia except the Athenians, so that it was tributary to the Persians. These men therefore I counsel thee by no means to lead against their parent stock, seeing that even without these we are able to get the advantage over our enemies. For supposing that they go with us, either they must prove themselves doers of great wrong, if they join in reducing their mother city to slavery, or doers of great right, if they join in freeing her: now if they show themselves doers of great wrong, they bring us no very large gain in addition; but if they show themselves doers of great right, they are able then to cause much damage to thy army. Therefore lay to heart also the ancient saying, how well it has been said that at the first beginning of things the end does not completely appear.”

52. To this Xerxes made answer: “Artabanos, of all the opinions which thou hast uttered, thou art mistaken most of all in this; seeing that thou fearest lest the Ionians should change side, about whom we have a most sure proof, of which thou art a witness thyself and also the rest are witnesses who went with Dareios on his march against the Scythians,—namely this, that the whole Persian army then came to be dependent upon these men, whether they would destroy or whether they would save it, and they displayed righteous dealing and trustworthiness, and nought at all that was unfriendly. Besides this, seeing that they have left children and wives and wealth in our land, we must not even imagine that they will make any rebellion.[50][{neoteron ti poiesein}.] Fear not then this thing either, but have a good heart and keep safe my house and my government; for to thee of all men I entrust my sceptre of rule.”

53. Having thus spoken and having sent Artabanos back to Susa, next Xerxes summoned to his presence the men of most repute among the Persians, and when they were come before him, he spoke to them as follows: “Persians, I assembled you together desiring this of you, that ye should show yourselves good men and should not disgrace the deeds done in former times by the Persians, which are great and glorious; but let us each one of us by himself, and all together also, be zealous in our enterprise; for this which we labour for is a common good for all. And I exhort you that ye preserve in the war without relaxing your efforts, because, as I am informed, we are marching against good men, and if we shall overcome them, there will not be any other army of men which will ever stand against us. Now therefore let us begin the crossing, after having made prayer to those gods who have the Persians[51][Or, according to some MSS., “the Persian land.”] for their allotted charge.”

54. During this day then they were making preparation to cross over; and on the next day they waited for the Sun, desiring to see him rise, and in the meantime they offered all kinds of incense upon the bridges and strewed the way with branches of myrtle. Then, as the Sun was rising, Xerxes made libation from a golden cup into the sea, and prayed to the Sun, that no accident might befall him such as should cause him to cease from subduing Europe, until he had come to its furthest limits. After having thus prayed he threw the cup into the Hellespont and with it a golden mixing-bowl and a Persian sword, which they call 秋葵: but whether he cast them into the sea as an offering dedicated to the Sun, or whether he had repented of his scourging of the Hellespont and desired to present a gift to the sea as amends for this, I cannot for certain say.

55. When Xerxes had done this, they proceeded to cross over, the whole army both the footmen and the horsemen going by one bridge, namely that which was on the side of the Pontus, while the baggage-animals and the attendants went over the other, which was towards the Egean. First the ten thousand Persians led the way, all with wreaths, and after them came the mixed body of the army made up of all kinds of nations: these on that day; and on the next day, first the horsemen and those who had their spear-points turned downwards, these also wearing wreaths; and after them the sacred horses and the sacred chariot, and then Xerxes himself and the spear-bearers and the thousand horsemen; and after them the rest of the army. In the meantime the ships also put out from shore and went over to the opposite side. I have heard however another account which says that the king crossed over the very last of all.

56. When Xerxes had crossed over into Europe, he gazed upon the army crossing under the lash; and his army crossed over in seven days and seven nights, going on continuously without any pause. Then, it is said, after Xerxes had now crossed over the Hellespont, a man of that coast exclaimed: “Why, O Zeus, in the likeness of a Persian man and taking for thyself the name of Xerxes instead of Zeus, art thou proposing to lay waste Hellas, taking with thee all the nations of men? for it was possible for thee to do so even without the help of these.”

57. When all had crossed over, after they had set forth on their way a great portent appeared to them, of which Xerxes made no account, although it was easy to conjecture its meaning,—a mare gave birth to a hare. Now the meaning of this was easy to conjecture in this way, namely that Xerxes was about to march an army against Hellas very proudly and magnificently, but would come back again to the place whence he came, running for his life. There happened also a portent of another kind while he was still at Sardis,—a mule brought forth young and gave birth to a mule which had organs of generation of two kinds, both those of the male and those of the female, and those of the male were above. Xerxes however made no account of either of these portents, but proceeded on his way, and with him the land-army.

58. The fleet meanwhile was sailing out of the Hellespont and coasting along, going in the opposite direction to the land-army; for the fleet was sailing towards the West, making for the promontory of Sarpedon, to which it had been ordered beforehand to go, and there wait for the army; but the land-army meanwhile was making its march towards the East and the sunrising, through the Chersonese, keeping on its right the tomb of Helle the daughter of Athamas, and on its left the city of Cardia, and marching through the midst of a town the name of which is Agora.[52][Lit. “the name of which happens to be Agora.”] Thence bending round the gulf called Melas and having crossed over the river Melas, the stream of which did not suffice at this time for the army but failed,—having crossed, I say, this river, from which the gulf also has its name, it went on Westwards, passing by Ainos a city of the Aiolians, and by the lake Stentoris, until at last it came to Doriscos.

59. Now Doriscos is a sea-beach and plain of great extent in Thrace, and through it flows the great river Hebros: here a royal fortress had been built, the same which is now called Doriscos, and a garrison of Persians had been established in it by Dareios, ever since the time when he went on his march against the Scythians. It seemed then to Xerxes that the place was convenient to order his army and to number it throughout, and so he proceeded to do. The commanders of the ships at the bidding of Xerxes had brought all their ships, when they arrived at Doriscos, up to the sea-beach which adjoins Doriscos, on which there is situated both Sale a city of the Samothrakians, and also Zone, and of which the extreme point is the promontory of Serreion, which is well known; and the region belonged in ancient time to the Kikonians. To this beach then they had brought in their ships, and having drawn them up on land they were letting them get dry: and during this time he proceeded to number the army at Doriscos.

60. Now of the number which each separate nation supplied I am not able to give certain information, for this is not reported by any persons; but of the whole land-army taken together the number proved to be one hundred and seventy myriads:[53][即1,700,000。] and they numbered them throughout in the following manner:—they gathered together in one place a body of ten thousand men, and packing them together[54][{sunnaxantes}: a conjectural emendation very generally adopted of {sunaxantes} or {sunapsantes}.] as closely as they could, they drew a circle round outside: and thus having drawn a circle round and having let the ten thousand men go from it, they built a wall of rough stones round the circumference of the circle, rising to the height of a man’s navel. Having made this, they caused others to go into the space which had been built round, until they had in this manner numbered them all throughout: and after they had numbered them, they ordered them separately by nations.

61. Now those who served were as follows:—The Persians with this equipment:—about their heads they had soft[55][{apageas}, i.e. not stiffly standing up; the opposite to {pepeguias} (ch. 64).] felt caps called 头饰, and about their body tunics of various colours with sleeves, presenting the appearance of iron scales like those of a fish,[56][{lepidos siderees opsin ikhthueideos}: many Editors suppose that some words have dropped out. The {kithon} spoken of may have been a coat of armour, but elsewhere the body armour {thorex} is clearly distinguished from the {kithon}, see ix. 22.]and about the legs trousers; and instead of the ordinary shields they had shields of wicker-work,[57][{gerra}: cp. ix. 61 and 102.] under which hung quivers; and they had short spears and large bows and arrows of reed, and moreover daggers hanging by the right thigh from the girdle: and they acknowledged as their commander Otanes the father of Amestris the wife of Xerxes. Now these were called by the Hellenes in ancient time Kephenes; by themselves however and by their neighbours they were called Artaians: but when Perseus, the son of Danae and Zeus, came to Kepheus the son of Belos[58][Cp. i. 7.] and took to wife his daughter Andromeda, there was born to them a son to whom he gave the name Perses, and this son he left behind there, for it chanced that Kepheus had no male offspring: after him therefore this race was named.

62. The Medes served in the expedition equipped in precisely the same manner; for this equipment is in fact Median and not Persian: and the Medes acknowledged as their commander Tigranes an Achaimenid. These in ancient time used to be generally called Arians; but when Medea the Colchian came from Athens to these Arians, they also changed their name. Thus the Medes themselves report about themselves. The Kissians served with equipment in other respects like that of the Persians, but instead of the felt caps they wore fillets:[59][{mitrephoroi esan}: the {mitre} was perhaps a kind of turban.]and of the Kissians Anaphes the son of Otanes was commander. The Hyrcanians were armed like the Persians, acknowledging as their leader Megapanos, the same who after these events became governor of Babylon.

63. The Assyrians served with helmets about their heads made of bronze or plaited in a Barbarian style which it is not easy to describe; and they had shields and spears, and daggers like the Egyptian knives,[60][{tesi Aiguptiesi}, apparently {makhairesi} is meant to be supplied: cp. ch. 91.] and moreover they had wooden clubs with knobs of iron, and corslets of linen. These are by the Hellenes called Syrians, but by the Barbarians they have been called always[61][{eklethesan}, “were called” from the first.] Assyrians: [among these were the Chaldeans]:[62][These words are by some Editors thought to be an interpolation. The Chaldeans in fact had become a caste of priests, cp. i. 181.] and the commander of them was Otaspes the son of Artachaies.

64. The Bactrians served wearing about their heads nearly the same covering as the Medes, and having native bows of reed and short spears. The Scaran Scythians had about their heads caps[63][{kurbasias}: supposed to be the same as the 头饰 (cp. v. 49), but in this case stiff and upright.] which were carried up to a point and set upright and stiff; and they wore trousers, and carried native bows and daggers, and besides this axes of the kind called 传奇. These were called Amyrgian Sacans, being in fact Scythians; for the Persians call all the Scythians Sacans: and of the Bactrians and Sacans the commander was Hystaspes, the son of Dareios and of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus.

65. The Indians wore garments made of tree-wool, and they had bows of reed and arrows of reed with iron points. Thus were the Indians equipped; and serving with the rest they had been assigned to Pharnazathres the son of Artabates.

66. The Arians[64][i.e. Areians, cp. iii. 93.] were equipped with Median bows, and in other respects like the Bactrians: and of the Arians Sisamnes the son of Hydarnes was in command. The Parthians and Chorasmians and Sogdians and Gandarians and Dadicans served with the same equipment as the Bactrians. Of these the commanders were, Artabazos the son of Pharnakes of the Parthians and Chorasmians, Azanes the son of Artaios of the Sogdians, and Artyphios the son of Artabanos of the Gandarians and Dadicans. The Caspians served wearing coats of skin[65][{sisurnas}: cp. iv. 109.] and having native bows of reed and short swords:[66][{akinakas}.] thus were these equipped; and they acknowledged as their leader Ariomardos the brother of Artyphios. The Sarangians were conspicuous among the rest by wearing dyed garments; and they had boots reaching up to the knee, and Median bows and spears: of these the commander was Pherendates the son of Megabazos. The Pactyans were wearers of skin coats[67][{sisurnophoroi}.] and had native bows and daggers: these acknowledged as their commander Artaÿntes the son of Ithamitres.

68. The Utians and Mycans and Paricanians were equipped like the Pactyans: of these the commanders were, Arsamenes the son of Dareios of the Utians and Mycans, and of the Paricanians Siromitres the son of Oiobazos.

69. The Arabians wore loose mantles[68][{zeiras}.] girt up, and they carried at their right side bows that bent backward[69][{toxa palintona}.] of great length. The Ethiopians had skins of leopards and lions tied upon them, and bows made of a slip[70][{spathes}, which perhaps means the stem of the leaf.] of palm-wood, which were of great length, not less than four cubits, and for them small arrows of reed with a sharpened stone at the head instead of iron, the same stone with which they engrave seals: in addition to this they had spears, and on them was the sharpened horn of a gazelle by way of a spear-head, and they had also clubs with knobs upon them. Of their body they used to smear over half with white,[71][{gupso}, “white chalk.”] when they went into battle, and the other half with red.[72][{milto}, “red ochre.”] Of the Arabians and the Ethiopians who dwelt above Egypt the commander was Arsames, the son of Dareios and of Artystone, the daughter of Cyrus, whom Dareios loved most of all his wives, and had an image made of her of beaten gold.

70. Of the Ethiopians above Egypt and of the Arabians the commander, I say, was Arsames; but the Ethiopians from the direction of the sunrising (for the Ethiopians were in two bodies) had been appointed to serve with the Indians, being in no way different from the other Ethiopians, but in their language and in the nature of their hair only; for the Ethiopians from the East are straight-haired, but those of Libya have hair more thick and woolly than that of any other men. These Ethiopians from Asia were armed for the most part like the Indians, but they had upon their heads the skin of a horse’s forehead flayed off with the ears and the mane, and the mane served instead of a crest, while they had the ears of the horse set up straight and stiff: and instead of shields they used to make defences to hold before themselves of the skins of cranes.

71. The Libyans went with equipments of leather, and they used javelins burnt at the point. These acknowledged as their commander Massages the son of Oarizos.

72. The Paphlagonians served with plaited helmets upon their heads, small shields, and spears of no great size, and also javelins and daggers; and about their feet native boots reaching up to the middle of the shin. The Ligyans and Matienians and Mariandynoi and Syrians served with the same equipment as the Paphlagonians: these Syrians are called by the Persians Cappadokians. Of the Paphlagonians and Matienians the commander was Dotos the son of Megasidros, and of the Mariandynoi and Lygians and Syrians, Gobryas, who was the son of Dareios and Artystone.

73. The Phrygians had an equipment very like that of the Paphlagonians with some slight difference. Now the Phrygians, as the Macedonians say, used to be called Brigians during the time that they were natives of Europe and dwelt with the Macedonians; but after they had changed into Asia, with their country they changed also their name and were called Phrygians. The Armenians were armed just like the Phrygians, being settlers from the Phrygians. Of these two together the commander was Artochmes, who was married to a daughter of Dareios.

74. The Lydians had arms very closely resembling those of the Hellenes. Now the Lydians were in old time called Medonians, and they were named again after Lydos the son of Atys, changing their former name. The Mysians had upon their heads native helmets, and they bore small shields and used javelins burnt at the point. These are settlers from the Lydians, and from mount Olympos they are called Olympienoi. Of the Lydians and Mysians the commander was Artaphrenes the son of Artaphrenes, he who invaded Marathon together with Datis.

75. The Thracians served having fox-skins upon their heads and tunics about their body, with loose mantles of various colours thrown round over them; and about their feet and lower part of the leg they wore boots of deer-skin; and besides this they had javelins and round bucklers and small daggers. These when they had crossed over into Asia came to be called Bithynians, but formerly they were called, as they themselves report, Strymonians, since they dwelt upon the river Strymon; and they say that they were driven out of their abode by the Teucrians and Mysians. Of the Thracians who lived in Asia the commander was Bassakes the son of Artabanos.

76 ...。[73][Some words have apparently been lost containing the name of the nation to which the following description applies. It is suggested that this might be either the Chalybians or the Pisidians.] and they had small shields of raw ox-hide, and each man carried two hunting-spears of Lykian workmanship.[74][{lukioergeas}, an emendation from Athenæus of {lukoergeas} (or {lukergeas}), which might perhaps mean “for wolf-hunting.”] On their heads they wore helmets of bronze, and to the helmets the ears and horns of an ox were attached, in bronze, and upon them also there were crests; and the lower part of their legs was wrapped round with red-coloured strips of cloth. Among these men there is an Oracle of Ares.

77. The Meonian Cabelians, who are called Lasonians, had the same equipment as the Kilikians, and what this was I shall explain when in the course of the catalogue I come to the array of the Kilikians. The Milyans had short spears, and their garments were fastened on with buckles; some of them had Lykian bows, and about their heads they had caps made of leather. Of all these Badres the son of Hystanes was in command.

78. The Moschoi had wooden caps upon their heads, and shields and small spears, on which long points were set. The Tibarenians and Macronians and Mossynoicoi served with equipment like that of the Moschoi, and these were arrayed together under the following commanders,—the Moschoi and Tibarenians under Ariomardos, who was the son of Dareios and of Parmys, the daughter of Smerdis son of Cyrus; the Macronians and Mossynoicoi under Artaÿctes the son of Cherasmis, who was governor of Sestos on the Hellespont.

79. The Mares wore on their heads native helmets of plaited work, and had small shields of hide and javelins; and the Colchians wore wooden helmets about their heads, and had small shields of raw ox-hide and short spears, and also knives. Of the Mares and Colchians the commander was Pharandates the son of Teaspis. The Alarodians and Saspeirians served armed like the Colchians; and of these the commander was Masistios the son of Siromitres.

80. The island tribes which came with the army from the Erythraian Sea, belonging to the islands in which the king settles those who are called the “Removed,”[75][{anastpastous}: cp. iii. 93.] had clothing and arms very like those of the Medes. Of these islanders the commander was Mardontes the son of Bagaios, who in the year after these events was a commander of the army at Mykale and lost his life in the battle.

81. These were the nations which served in the campaign by land and had been appointed to be among the foot-soldiers. Of this army those who have been mentioned were commanders; and they were the men who sit it in order by divisions and numbered it and appointed commanders of thousands and commanders of tens of thousands, but the commanders of hundreds and of tens were appointed by the commanders of ten thousands; and there were others who were leaders of divisions and nations.

82. These, I say, who have been mentioned were commanders of the army; and over these and over the whole army together that went on foot there were in command Mardonios the son of Gobryas, Tritantaichmes the son of that Artabanos who gave the opinion that they should not make the march against Hellas, Smerdomenes the son of Otanes (both these being sons of brothers of Dareios and so cousins of Xerxes),[76][Some Editors place this clause before the words: “and Smerdomenes the son of Otanes,” for we do not hear of Otanes or Smerdomenes elsewhere as brother and nephew of Dareios. On the other hand Mardonios was son of the 妹妹 of Dareios.] Masistes the son of Dareios and Atossa, Gergis the son of Ariazos, and Megabyzos the son of Zopyros.

83. These were generals of the whole together that went on foot, excepting the ten thousand; and of these ten thousand chosen Persians the general was Hydarnes the son of Hydarnes; and these Persians were called “Immortals,” because, if any one of them made the number incomplete, being overcome either by death or disease, another man was chosen to his place, and they were never either more or fewer than ten thousand. Now of all the nations, the Persians showed the greatest splendour of ornament and were themselves the best men. They had equipment such as has been mentioned, and besides this they were conspicuous among the rest for great quantity of gold freely used; and they took with them carriages, and in them concubines and a multitude of attendants well furnished; and provisions for them apart from the soldiers were borne by camels and beasts of burden.

84. The nations who serve as cavalry are these; not all however supplied cavalry, but only as many as here follow:—the Persians equipped in the same manner as their foot-soldiers, except that upon their heads some of them had beaten-work of metal, either bronze or iron.

85. There are also certain nomads called Sagartians, Persian in race and in language and having a dress which is midway between that of the Persians and that of the Pactyans. These furnished eight thousand horse, and they are not accustomed to have any arms either of bronze or of iron excepting daggers, but they use ropes twisted of thongs, and trust to these when they go into war: and the manner of fighting of these men is as follows:—when they come to conflict with the enemy, they throw the ropes with nooses at the end of them, and whatsoever the man catches by the throw,[77][{tukhe}, “hits.”] whether horse or man, he draws to himself, and they being entangled in toils are thus destroyed.

86. This is the manner of fighting of these men, and they were arrayed next to the Persians. The Medes had the same equipment as their men on foot, and the Kissians likewise. The Indians were armed in the same manner as those of them who served on foot, and they both rode horses[78][{keletas}, “single horses.”] and drove chariots, in which were harnessed horses or wild asses. The Bactrians were equipped in the same way as those who served on foot, and the Caspians likewise. The Libyans too were equipped like those who served on foot, and these also all drove chariots. So too the Caspians[79][This name is apparently placed here wrongly. It has been proposed to read {Kaspeiroi} or {Paktues}.] and Paricanians were equipped like those who served on foot, and they all rode on camels, which in swiftness were not inferior to horses.

87. These nations alone served[80][{ippeue}: the greater number of MSS. have {ippeuei} here as at the beginning of ch. 84, to which this is a reference back, but with a difference of meaning. There the author seemed to begin with the intention of giving a full list of the cavalry force of the Persian Empire, and then confined his account to those actually present on this occasion, whereas here the word in combination with {mouna} refers only to those just enumerated.] as cavalry, and the number of the cavalry proved to be eight myriads,[81][即80,000。] apart from the camels and the chariots. Now the rest of the cavalry was arrayed in squadrons, but the Arabians were placed after them and last of all, for the horses could not endure the camels, and therefore they were placed last, in order that the horses might not be frightened.

88. The commanders of the cavalry were Harmamithras and Tithaios sons of Datis, but the third, Pharnuches, who was in command of the horse with them, had been left behind at Sardis sick: for as they were setting forth from Sardis, an accident befell him of an unwished-for kind,—as he was riding, a dog ran up under his horse’s feet, and the horse not having seen it beforehand was frightened, and rearing up he threw Pharnuches off his back, who falling vomited blood, and his sickness turned to a consumption. To the horse however they forthwith at the first did as he commanded, that is to say, the servants led him away to the place where he had thrown his master and cut off his legs at the knees. Thus was Pharnuches removed from his command.

89. Of the triremes the number proved to be one thousand two hundred and seven, and these were they who furnished them:—the Phenicians, together with the Syrians[82][{Suroisi}, see note on ii. 104.] who dwell in Palestine furnished three hundred; and they were equipped thus, that is to say, they had about their heads leathern caps made very nearly in the Hellenic fashion, and they wore corslets of linen, and had shields without rims and javelins. These Phenicians dwelt in ancient time, as they themselves report, upon the Erythraian Sea, and thence they passed over and dwell in the country along the sea coast of Syria; and this part of Syria and all as far as Egypt is called Palestine. The Egyptians furnished two hundred ships: these men had about their heads helmets of plaited work, and they had hollow shields with the rims large, and spears for sea-fighting, and large axes:[83][{tukous}, which appears to mean ordinarily a tool for stone-cutting.] the greater number of them wore corslets, and they had large knives.

90. These men were thus equipped; and the Cyprians furnished a hundred and fifty ships, being themselves equipped as follows,—their kings had their heads wound round with fillets,[84][{mitresi}, perhaps “turbans.”] and the rest had tunics,[85][{kithonas}: there is some probability in the suggestion of {kitarias} here, for we should expect mention of a head-covering, and the word {kitaris} (which is explained to mean the same as {tiara}), is quoted by Pollux as occurring in Herodotus.] but in other respects they were like the Hellenes. Among these there are various races as follows,—some of them are from Salamis and Athens, others from Arcadia, others from Kythnos, others again from Phenicia and others from Ethiopia, as the Cyprians themselves report.

91. The Kilikians furnished a hundred ships; and these again had about their heads native helmets, and for shields they carried targets made of raw ox-hide: they wore tunics[86][{kithonas}.] of wool and each man had two javelins and a sword, this last being made very like the Egyptian knives. These in old time were called Hypachaians, and they got their later name from Kilix the son of Agenor, a Phenician. The Pamphylians furnished thirty ships and were equipped in Hellenic arms. These Pamphylians are of those who were dispersed from Troy together with Amphilochos and Calchas.

92. The Lykians furnished fifty ships; and they were wearers of corslets and greaves, and had bows of cornel-wood and arrows of reeds without feathers and javelins and a goat-skin hanging over their shoulders, and about their heads felt caps wreathed round with feathers; also they had daggers and falchions.[87][{drepana}, “reaping-hooks,” cp. v. 112.] The Lykians were formerly called Termilai, being originally of Crete, and they got their later name from Lycos the son of Pandion, an Athenian.

93. The Dorians of Asia furnished thirty ships; and these had Hellenic arms and were originally from the Peloponnese. The Carians supplied seventy ships; and they were equipped in other respects like Hellenes but they had also falchions and daggers. What was the former name of these has been told in the first part of the history.[88][See i. 171.]

94. The Ionians furnished a hundred ships, and were equipped like Hellenes. Now the Ionians, so long time as they dwelt in the Peloponnese, in the land which is now called Achaia, and before the time when Danaos and Xuthos came to the Peloponnese, were called, as the Hellenes report, Pelasgians of the Coast-land,[89][{Pelasgoi Aigialees}.] and then Ionians after Ion the son of Xuthos.

95. The islanders furnished seventeen ships, and were armed like Hellenes, this also being a Pelasgian race, though afterwards it came to be called Ionian by the same rule as the Ionians of the twelve cities, who came from Athens. The Aiolians supplied sixty ships; and these were equipped like Hellenes and used to be called Pelasgians in the old time, as the Hellenes report. The Hellespontians, excepting those of Abydos (for the men of Abydos had been appointed by the king to stay in their place and be guards of the bridges), the rest, I say, of those who served in the expedition from the Pontus furnished a hundred ships, and were equipped like Hellenes: these are colonists of the Ionians and Dorians.

96. In all the ships there served as fighting-men Persians, Medes, or Sacans;: and of the ships, those which sailed best were furnished by the Phenicians, and of the Phenicians the best by the men of Sidon. Over all these men and also over those of them who were appointed to serve in the land-army, there were for each tribe native chieftains, of whom, since I am not compelled by the course of the inquiry, I make no mention by the way; for in the first place the chieftains of each separate nation were not persons worthy of mention, and then moreover within each nation there were as many chieftains as there were cities. These went with the expedition too not as commanders, but like the others serving as slaves; for the generals who had the absolute power and commanded the various nations, that is to say those who were Persians, having already been mentioned by me.

97. Of the naval force the following were commanders,—Ariabignes the son of Dareios, Prexaspes the son of Aspathines, Megabazos the son of Megabates, and Achaimenes the son of Dareios; that is to say, of the Ionian and Carian force Ariabignes, who was the son of Dareios and of the daughter of Gobryas; of the Egyptians Achaimenes was commander, being brother of Xerxes by both parents; and of the rest of the armament the other two were in command: and galleys of thirty oars and of fifty oars, and light vessels,[90][{kerkouroi}.] 而且很长[91][{makra}: some MSS. and editions have {smikra}, “small.”] ships to carry horses had been assembled together, as it proved, to the number of three thousand.

98. Of those who sailed in the ships the men of most note after the commanders were these,—of Sidon, Tetramnestos son of Anysos; of Tyre, Matten[92][Or “Mapen.”] son of Siromos; or Arados, Merbalos son of Agbalos; of Kilikia, Syennesis son of Oromedon; of Lykia, Kyberniscos son of Sicas; of Cyprus, Gorgos son of Chersis and Timonax son of Timagoras; of Caria, Histiaios son of Tymnes, Pigres son of Hysseldomos,[93][Or “Seldomos.”] and Damasithymos son of Candaules.

99. Of the rest of the officers I make no mention by the way (since I am not bound to do so), but only of Artemisia, at whom I marvel most that she joined the expedition against Hellas, being a woman; for after her husband died, she holding the power herself, although she had a son who was a young man, went on the expedition impelled by high spirit and manly courage, no necessity being laid upon her. Now her name, as I said, was Artemisia and she was the daughter of Lygdamis, and by descent she was of Halicarnassos on the side of her father, but of Crete by her mother. She was ruler of the men of Halicarnassos and Cos and Nisyros and Calydna, furnishing five ships; and she furnished ships which were of all the fleet reputed the best after those of the Sidonians, and of all his allies she set forth the best counsels to the king. Of the States of which I said that she was leader I declare the people to be all of Dorian race, those of Halicarnassos being Troizenians, and the rest Epidaurians. So far then I have spoken of the naval force.

100. Then when Xerxes had numbered the army, and it had been arranged in divisions, he had a mind to drive through it himself and inspect it: and afterwards he proceeded so to do; and driving through in a chariot by each nation, he inquired about them and his scribes wrote down the names, until he had gone from end to end both of the horse and of the foot. When he had done this, the ships were drawn down into the sea, and Xerxes changing from his chariot to a ship of Sidon sat down under a golden canopy and sailed along by the prows of the ships, asking of all just as he had done with the land-army, and having the answers written down. And the captains had taken their ships out to a distance of about four hundred feet from the beach and were staying them there, all having turned the prows of the ships towards the shore in an even line[94][{metopedon}.] and having armed all the fighting-men as for war; and he inspected them sailing within, between the prows of the ships and the beach.

101. Now when he had sailed through these and had disembarked from his ship, he sent for Demaratos the son of Ariston, who was marching with him against Hellas; and having called him he asked as follows: “Demaratos, now it is my pleasure to ask thee somewhat which I desire to know. Thou art not only a Hellene, but also, as I am informed both by thee and by the other Hellenes who come to speech with me, of a city which is neither the least nor the feeblest of Hellas. Now therefore declare to me this, namely whether the Hellenes will endure to raise hands against me: for, as I suppose, even if all the Hellenes and the remaining nations who dwell towards the West should be gathered together, they are not strong enough in fight to endure my attack, supposing them to be my enemies.[95][{me oentes arthmioi}. This is generally taken to mean, “unless they were of one mind together”; but that would very much weaken the force of the remark, and {arthmios} elsewhere is the opposite of {polemios}, cp. vi. 83 and ix. 9, 37: Xerxes professes enmity only against those who had refused to give the tokens of submission.] I desire however to be informed also of thy opinion, what thou sayest about these matters.” He inquired thus, and the other made answer and said: “O king, shall I utter the truth in speaking to thee, or that which will give pleasure?” and he bade him utter the truth, saying that he should suffer nothing unpleasant in consequence of this, any more than he suffered before.

102. When Demaratos heard this, he spoke as follows: “O king, since thou biddest me by all means utter the truth, and so speak as one who shall not be afterwards convicted by thee of having spoken falsely, I say this:—with Hellas poverty is ever an inbred growth, while valour is one that has been brought in, being acquired by intelligence and the force of law; and of it Hellas makes use ever to avert from herself not only poverty but also servitude to a master. Now I commend all the Hellenes who are settled in those Dorian lands, but this which I am about to say has regard not to all, but to the Lacedemonians alone: of these I say, first that it is not possible that they will ever accept thy terms, which carry with them servitude for Hellas; and next I say that they will stand against thee in fight, even if all the other Hellenes shall be of thy party: and as for numbers, ask now how many they are, that they are able to do this; for whether it chances that a thousand of them have come out into the field, these will fight with thee, or if there be less than this, or again if there be more.”

103. Xerxes hearing this laughed, and said: “Demaratos, what a speech is this which thou hast uttered, saying that a thousand men will fight with this vast army! Come tell me this:—thou sayest that thou wert thyself king of these men; wilt thou therefore consent forthwith to fight with ten men? and yet if your State is such throughout as thou dost describe it, thou their king ought by your laws to stand in array against double as many as another man; that is to say, if each of them is a match for ten men of my army, I expect of thee that thou shouldest be a match for twenty. Thus would be confirmed the report which is made by thee: but if ye, who boast thus greatly are such men and in size so great only as the Hellenes who come commonly to speech with me, thyself included, then beware lest this which has been spoken prove but an empty vaunt. For come, let me examine it by all that is probable: how could a thousand or ten thousand or even fifty thousand, at least if they were all equally free and were not ruled by one man, stand against so great an army? since, as thou knowest, we shall be more than a thousand coming about each one of them, supposing them to be in number five thousand. If indeed they were ruled by one man after our fashion, they might perhaps from fear of him become braver than it was their nature to be, or they might go compelled by the lash to fight with greater numbers, being themselves fewer in number; but if left at liberty, they would do neither of these things: and I for my part suppose that, even if equally matched in numbers, the Hellenes would hardly dare to fight with the Persians taken alone. With us however this of which thou speakest is found in single men,[96][{men mounoisi}: these words are omitted in some good MSS., and {mounoisi} has perhaps been introduced from the preceding sentence. The thing referred to in {touto} is the power of fighting in single combat with many at once, which Demaratos is supposed to have claimed for the whole community of the Spartans.] not indeed often, but rarely; for there are Persians of my spearmen who will consent to fight with three men of the Hellenes at once: but thou hast had no experience of these things and therefore thou speakest very much at random.”

104. To this Demaratos replied: “O king, from the first I was sure that if I uttered the truth I should not speak that which was pleasing to thee; since however thou didst compel me to speak the very truth, I told thee of the matters which concern the Spartans. And yet how I am at this present time attached to them by affection thou knowest better than any; seeing that first they took away from me the rank and privileges which came to me from my fathers, and then also they have caused me to be without native land and an exile; but thy father took me up and gave me livelihood and a house to dwell in. Surely it is not to be supposed likely that the prudent man will thrust aside friendliness which is offered to him, but rather that he will accept it with full contentment.[97][{stergein malista}.] And I do not profess that I am able to fight either with ten men or with two, nay, if I had my will, I would not even fight with one; but if there were necessity or if the cause which urged me to the combat were a great one, I would fight most willingly with one of these men who says that he is a match for three of the Hellenes. So also the Lacedemonians are not inferior to any men when fighting one by one, and they are the best of all men when fighting in a body: for though free, yet they are not free in all things, for over them is set Law as a master, whom they fear much more even than thy people fear thee. It is certain at least that they do whatsoever that master commands; and he commands ever the same thing, that is to say, he bids them not flee out of battle from any multitude of men, but stay in their post and win the victory or lose their life. But if when I say these things I seem to thee to be speaking at random, of other things for the future I prefer to be silent; and at this time I spake only because I was compelled. May it come to pass however according to thy mind, O king.”

105. He thus made answer, and Xerxes turned the matter to laughter and felt no anger, but dismissed him with kindness. Then after he had conversed with him, and had appointed Mascames son of Megadostes to be governor at this place Doriscos, removing the governor who had been appointed by Dareios, Xerxes marched forth his army through Thrace to invade Hellas.

106. And Mascames, whom he left behind here, proved to be a man of such qualities that to him alone Xerxes used to send gifts, considering him the best of all the men whom either he himself or Dareios had appointed to be governors,—he used to send him gifts, I say, every year, and so also did Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes to the descendants of Mascames. For even before this march governors had been appointed in Thrace and everywhere about the Hellespont; and these all, both those in Thrace and in the Hellespont, were conquered by the Hellenes after this expedition, except only the one who was at Doriscos; but Mascames at Doriscos none were ever[98][{oudamoi ko}.] able to conquer, though many tried. For this reason the gifts are sent continually for him from the king who reigns over the Persians.

107. Of those however who were conquered by the Hellenes Xerxes did not consider any to be a good man except only Boges, who was at Eïon: him he never ceased commending, and he honoured very highly his children who survived him in the land of Persia. For in truth Boges proved himself worthy of great commendation, seeing that when he was besieged by the Athenians under Kimon the son of Miltiades, though he might have gone forth under a truce and so returned home to Asia, he preferred not to do this, for fear that the king should that it was by cowardice that he survived; and he continued to hold out till the last. Then when there was no longer any supply of provisions within the wall, he heaped together a great pyre, and he cut the throats of his children, his wife, his concubines and his servants, and threw them into the fire; and after this he scattered all the gold and silver in the city from the wall into the river Strymon, and having so done he threw himself into the fire. Thus he is justly commended even to this present time by the Persians.

108. Xerxes from Doriscos was proceeding onwards to invade Hellas; and as he went he compelled those who successively came in his way, to join his march: for the whole country as far as Thessaly had been reduced to subjection, as has been set forth by me before, and was tributary under the king, having been subdued by Megabazos and afterwards by Mardonios. And he passed in his march from Doriscos first by the Samothrakian strongholds, of which that which is situated furthest towards the West is a city called Mesambria. Next to this follows Stryme, a city of the Thasians, and midway between them flows the river Lisos, which at this time did not suffice when supplying its water to the army of Xerxes, but the stream failed. This country was in old time called Gallaïke, but now Briantike; however by strict justice this also belongs to the Kikonians.

109. Having crossed over the bed of the river Lisos after it had been dried up, he passed by these Hellenic cities, namely Maroneia, Dicaia and Abdera. These I say he passed by, and also the following lakes of note lying near them,—the Ismarian lake, lying between Maroneia and Stryme; the Bistonian lake near Dicaia, into which two rivers pour their waters, the Trauos[99][Or, “Strauos.”] and the Compsantos;[100][Or, “Compsatos.”] and at Abdera no lake indeed of any note was passed by Xerxes, but the river Nestos, which flows there into the sea. Then after passing these places he went by the cities of the mainland,[101][{tas epeirotidas polis}: it is not clear why these are thus distinguished. Stein suggests {Thasion tas epeirotidas polis}, cp. ch. [Note 118; and if that be the true reading {ion} is probably a remnant of {Thasion} after {khoras}.] near one of which there is, as it chances, a lake of somewhere about thirty furlongs in circumference, abounding in fish and very brackish; this the baggage-animals alone dried up, being watered at it: and the name of this city is Pistyros.[102][Or, “Pistiros.”]

110. These cities, I say, lying by the sea coast and belonging to Hellenes, he passed by, leaving them on the left hand; and the tribes of Thracians through whose country he marched were as follows, namely the Paitians, Kikonians, Bistonians, Sapaians, Dersaians, Edonians, Satrians. Of these they who were settled along the sea coast accompanied him with their ships, and those of them who dwelt inland and have been enumerated by me, were compelled to accompany him on land, except the Satrians:

111, the Satrians however never yet became obedient to any man, so far as we know, but they remain up to my time still free, alone of all the Thracians; for they dwell in lofty mountains, which are covered with forest of all kinds and with snow, and also they are very skilful in war. These are they who possess the Oracle of Dionysos; which Oracle is on their most lofty mountains. Of the Satrians those who act as prophets[103][{oi propheteountes}, i.e. those who interpret the utterances of the Oracle, cp. viii. 36.] of the temple are the Bessians; it is a prophetess[104][{普罗曼蒂斯}。] who utters the oracles, as at Delphi; and beyond this there is nothing further of a remarkable character.[105][{kai ouden poikiloteron}, an expression of which the meaning is not quite clear; perhaps “and the oracles are not at all more obscure,” cp. Eur. Phoen. 470 and Hel. 711 (quoted by Bähr).]

112. Xerxes having passed over the land which has been spoken of, next after this passed the strongholds of the Pierians, of which the name of the one is Phagres and of the other Pergamos. By this way, I say, he made his march, going close by the walls of these, and keeping Mount Pangaion on the right hand, which is both great and lofty and in which are mines both of gold and of silver possessed by the Pierians and Odomantians, and especially by the Satrians.

113. Thus passing by the Paionians, Doberians and Paioplians, who dwell beyond Pangaion towards the North Wind, he went on Westwards, until at last he came to the river Strymon and the city of Eïon, of which, so long as he lived, Boges was commander, the same about whom I was speaking a short time back. This country about Mount Pangaion is called Phyllis, and it extends Westwards to the river Angites, which flows into the Strymon, and Southwards it stretches to the Strymon itself; and at this river the Magians sacrificed for good omens, slaying white horses.

114. Having done this and many other things in addition to this, as charms for the river, at the Nine Ways[106][“Ennea Hodoi.”] in the land of the Edonians, they proceeded by the bridges, for they had found the Strymon already yoked with bridges; and being informed that this place was called the Nine Ways, they buried alive in it that number of boys and maidens, children of the natives of the place. Now burying alive is a Persian custom; for I am informed that Amestris also, the wife of Xerxes, when she had grown old, made return for her own life to the god who is said to be beneath the earth by burying twice seven children of Persians who were men of renown.

115. As the army proceeded on its march from the Strymon, it found after this a sea-beach stretching towards the setting of the sun, and passed by the Hellenic city, Argilos, which was there placed. This region and that which lies above it is called Bisaltia. Thence, keeping on the left hand the gulf which lies of Posideion, he went through the plain which is called the plain of Syleus, passing by Stageiros a Hellenic city, and so came to Acanthos, taking with him as he went each one of these tribes and also of those who dwell about Mount Pangaion, just as he did those whom I enumerated before, having the men who dwelt along the sea coast to serve in the ships and those who dwelt inland to accompany him on foot. This road by which Xerxes the king marched his army, the Thracians do not disturb nor sow crops over, but pay very great reverence to it down to my own time.

116. Then when he had come to Acanthos, Xerxes proclaimed a guest-friendship with the people of Acanthos and also presented them with the Median dress[107][Cp。三. 84.] and commended them, perceiving that they were zealous to serve him in the war and hearing of that which had been dug.

117. And while Xerxes was in Acanthos, it happened that he who had been set over the making of the channel, Artachaies by name, died of sickness, a man who was highly esteemed by Xerxes and belonged to the Achaimenid family; also he was in stature the tallest of all the Persians, falling short by only four fingers of being five royal cubits[108][The “royal cubit” is about 20 inches; the {daktulos}, “finger’s breadth,” is rather less than ¾ inch.] in height, and he had a voice the loudest of all men; so that Xerxes was greatly grieved at the loss of him, and carried him forth and buried him with great honour, and the whole army joined in throwing up a mound for him. To this Artachaies the Acanthians by the bidding of an oracle do sacrifice as a hero, calling upon his name in worship.

118. King Xerxes, I say, was greatly grieved at the loss of Artachaies: and meanwhile the Hellenes who were entertaining his army and providing Xerxes with dinners had been brought to utter ruin, so that they were being driven from house and home; seeing that when the Thasians, for example, entertained the army of Xerxes and provided him with a dinner on behalf of their towns upon the mainland, Antipater the son of Orgeus, who had been appointed for this purpose, a man of repute among the citizens equal to the best, reported that four hundred talents of silver had been spent upon the dinner.

119. Just so or nearly so in the other cities also those who were set over the business reported the reckoning to be: for the dinner was given as follows, having been ordered a long time beforehand, and being counted by them a matter of great importance:—In the first place, so soon as they heard of it from the heralds who carried round the proclamation, the citizens in the various cities distributed corn among their several households, and all continued to make wheat and barley meal for many months; then they fed cattle, finding out and obtaining the finest animals for a high price; and they kept birds both of the land and of the water, in cages or in pools, all for the entertainment of the army. Then again they had drinking-cups and mixing-bowls made of gold and of silver, and all the other things which are placed upon the table: these were made for the king himself and for those who ate at his table; but for the rest of the army only the things appointed for food were provided. Then whenever the army came to any place, there was a tent pitched ready wherein Xerxes himself made his stay, while the rest of the army remained out in the open air; and when it came to be time for dinner, then the entertainers had labour; but the others, after they had been satiated with food and had spent the night there, on the next day tore up the tent and taking with them all the movable furniture proceeded on their march, leaving nothing, but carrying all away with them.

120. Then was uttered a word well spoken by Megacreon, a man of Abdera, who advised those of Abdera to go in a body, both themselves and their wives, to their temples, and to sit down as suppliants of the gods, entreating them that for the future also they would ward off from them the half of the evils which threatened; and he bade them feel great thankfulness to the gods for the past events, because king Xerxes had not thought good to take food twice in each day; for if it had been ordered to them beforehand to prepare breakfast also in like manner as the dinner, it would have remained for the men of Abdera either not to await the coming of Xerxes, or if they stayed, to be crushed by misfortune more than any other men upon the Earth.

121. They then, I say, though hard put to it, yet were performing that which was appointed to them; and from Acanthos Xerxes, after having commanded the generals to wait for the fleet at Therma, let the ships take their course apart from himself, (now this Therma is that which is situated on the Thermaic gulf, from which also this gulf has its name); and thus he did because he was informed that this was the shortest way: for from Doriscos as far as Acanthos the army had been making its march thus:—Xerxes had divided the whole land-army into three divisions, and one of them he had set to go along the sea accompanying the fleet, of which division Mardonios and Masistes were commanders; another third of the army had been appointed to go by the inland way, and of this the generals in command were Tritantaichmes and Gergis; and meanwhile the third of the subdivisions, with which Xerxes himself went, marched in the middle between them, and acknowledged as its commanders Smerdomenes and Megabyzos.

122. The fleet, when it was let go by Xerxes and had sailed right through the channel made in Athos (which went across to the gulf on which are situated the cities of Assa, Piloros, Singos and Sarte), having taken up a contingent from these cities also, sailed thence with a free course to the Thermaïc gulf, and turning round Ampelos the headland of Torone, it left on one side the following Hellenic cities, from which it took up contingents of ships and men, namely Torone, Galepsos, Sermyle, Mekyberna, Olynthos: this region is called Sithonia.

123. And the fleet of Xerxes, cutting across from the headland of Ampelos to that of Canastron, which runs out furthest to sea of all Pallene, took up there contingents of ships and men from Potidaia, Aphytis, Neapolis, Aige, Therambo, Skione, Mende and Sane, for these are the cities which occupy the region which now is called Pallene, but was formerly called Phlegra. Then sailing along the coast of this country also the fleet continued its course towards the place which has been mentioned before, taking up contingents also from the cities which come next after Pallene and border upon the Thermaïc gulf; and the names of them are these,—Lipaxos, Combreia, Lisai, Gigonos, Campsa, Smila, Aineia; and the region in which these cities are is called even to the present day Crossaia. Then sailing from Aineia, with which name I brought to an end the list of the cities, at once the fleet came into the Thermaïc gulf and to the region of Mygdonia, and so it arrived at the aforesaid Therma and at the cities of Sindos and Chalestra upon the river Axios. This river is the boundary between the land of Mygdonia and Bottiaia, of which district the narrow region which lies on the sea coast is occupied by the cities of Ichnai and Pella.

124. Now while his naval force was encamped about the river Axios an the city of Therma and the cities which lie between these two, waiting for the coming of the king, Xerxes and the land-army were proceeding from Acanthos, cutting through the middle by the shortest way[109][Or, “Cape Canastraion.”] with a view to reaching Therma: and he was proceeding through Paionia and Crestonia to the river Cheidoros,[110][Or “Echeidoros”: so it is usually called, but not by any MS. here, and by a few only in ch. 127.] which beginning from the land of the Crestonians, runs through the region of Mygdonia and comes out alongside of the marsh which is by the river Axios.

125. As he was proceeding by this way, lions attacked the camels which carried his provisions; for the lions used to come down regularly by night, leaving their own haunts, but they touched nothing else, neither beast of burden nor man, but killed the camels only: and I marvel what was the cause, and what was it that impelled the lions to abstain from all else and to attack the camels only, creatures which they had never seen before, and of which they had had no experience.

126. Now there are in these parts both many lions and also wild oxen, those that have the very large horns which are often brought into Hellas: and the limit within which these lions are found is on the one side the river Nestos, which flows through Abdera, and on the other the Achelos, which flows through Acarnania; for neither do the East of the Nestos, in any part of Europe before you come to this, would you see a lion, nor again in the remaining part of the continent to the West of the Acheloos, but they are produced in the middle space between these rivers.

127. When Xerxes had reached Therma he established the army there; and his army encamping there occupied of the land along by the sea no less than this,—beginning from the city of Therma and from Mygdonia it extended as far as the river Lydias and the Haliacmon, which form the boundary between the lands of Bottiaia and Macedonia, mingling their waters together in one and the same stream. The Barbarians, I say, were encamped in these regions; and of the rivers which have been enumerated, only the river Cheidoros flowing from the Crestonian land was insufficient for the drinking of the army and failed in its stream.

128. Then Xerxes seeing from Therma the mountains of Thessaly, Olympos and Ossa, that they were of very great height, and being informed that in the midst between them there was a narrow channel, through which flows the Peneios, and hearing also that by this way there was a good road leading to Thessaly, formed a desire to sail thither and look at the outlet of the Peneios, because he was meaning to march by the upper road, through the land of the Macedonians who dwell inland, until he came to the Perraibians, passing by the city of Gonnos; for by this way he was informed that it was safest to go. And having formed this desire, so also he proceeded to do; that is, he embarked in a Sidonian ship, the same in which he used always to embark when he wished to do anything of this kind, and he displayed a signal for the others to put out to sea also, leaving there the land-army. Then when Xerxes had looked at the outlet of the Peneios, he was possessed by great wonder, and summoning his guides he asked them whether it was possible to turn the river aside and bring it out to the sea by another way.

129. Now it is said that Thessaly was in old time a lake, being enclosed on all sides by very lofty mountains: for the parts of it which lie towards the East are shut in by the ranges of Pelion and Ossa, which join one another in their lower slopes, the parts towards the North Wind by Olympos, those towards the West by Pindos and those towards the mid-day and the South Wind by Othrys; and the region in the midst, between these mountains which have been named, is Thessaly, forming as it were a hollow. Whereas then many rivers flow into it and among them these five of most note, namely Peneios, Apidanos, Onochonos, Enipeus and Pamisos, these, which collect their waters from the mountains that enclose Thessaly round, and flow into this plain, with names separate each one, having their outflow into the sea by one channel and that a narrow one, first mingling their waters all together in one and the same stream; and so soon as they are mingled together, from that point onwards the Peneios prevails with its name over the rest and causes the others to lose their separate names. And it is said that in ancient time, there not being yet this channel and outflow between the mountains, these rivers, and besides these rivers the lake Boibeïs also, had no names as they have now, but by their waters they made Thessaly to be all sea. The Thessalians themselves say that Poseidon made the channel through which the Peneios flows; and reasonably they report it thus, because whosoever believes that it is Poseidon who shakes the Earth and that the partings asunder produced by earthquake are the work of this god, would say, if he saw this, that it was made by Poseidon; for the parting asunder of the mountains is the work of an earthquake, as is evident to me.

130. So the guides, when Xerxes asked whether there was any other possible outlet to the sea for the Peneios, said with exact knowledge of the truth: “O king, for this river there is no other outgoing which extends to the sea, but this alone; for all Thessaly is circled about with mountains as with a crown.” To this Xerxes is said to have replied: “The Thessalians then are prudent men. This it appears was that which they desired to guard against in good time[111][{pro mesogaian tamnon tes odou}: cp. iv. 12 and ix. 89.] when they changed their counsel,[112][Cp. ch. 6 and 174: but it does not appear that the Aleuadai, of whom Xerxes is here speaking, ever thought of resistance, and perhaps {gnosimakheontes} means, “when they submitted without resistance.”] reflecting on this especially besides other things, namely that they had a country which, it appears, is easy to conquer and may quickly be taken: for it would have been necessary only to let the river flow over their land by making an embankment to keep it from going through the narrow channel and so diverting the course by which now it flows, in order to put all Thessaly under water except the mountains.” This he said in reference to the sons of Aleuas, because they, being Thessalians, were the first of the Hellenes who gave themselves over to the king; for Xerxes thought that they offered him friendship on behalf of their whole nation. Having said thus and having looked at the place, he sailed back to Therma.

131. He then was staying in the region of Pieria many days, for the road over the mountains of Macedonia was being cut meanwhile by a third part of his army, that all the host might pass over by this way into the land of the Perraibians: and now the heralds returned who had been sent to Hellas to demand the gift of earth, some empty-handed and others bearing earth and water.

132. And among those who gave that which was demanded were the following, namely the Thessalians, Dolopians, Enianians,[113][Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.] Perraibians, Locrians, Megnesians, Malians, Achaians of Phthiotis, and Thebans, with the rest of the Boeotians also excepting the Thespians and Plataians. Against these the Hellenes who took up war with the Barbarian made an oath; and the oath was this,—that whosoever being Hellenes had given themselves over to the Persian, not being compelled, these, if their own affairs should come to a good conclusion, they would dedicate as an offering[114][{dekateusai}: there is sufficient authority for this rendering of {dekateuein}, and it seems better here than to understand the word to refer only to a “tithing” of goods.] to the god at Delphi.

133. Thus ran the oath which was taken by the Hellenes: Xerxes however had not sent to Athens or to Sparta heralds to demand the gift of earth, and for this reason, namely because at the former time when Dareios had sent for this very purpose, the one people threw the men who made the demand into the pit[115][{es to barathron}, the place of execution at Athens.] and the others into a well, and bade them take from thence earth and water and bear them to the king. For this reason Xerxes did not send men to make this demand. And what evil thing[116][“undesirable thing.”] came upon the Athenians for having done this to the heralds, I am not able to say, except indeed that their land and city were laid waste; but I do not think that this happened for that cause:

134, on the Lacedemonians however the wrath fell of Talthybios, the herald of Agamemnon; for in Sparta there is a temple of Talthybios, and there are also descendants of Talthybios called Talthybiads, to whom have been given as a right all the missions of heralds which go from Sparta; and after this event it was not possible for the Spartans when they sacrificed to obtain favourable omens. This was the case with them for a long time; and as the Lacedemonians were grieved and regarded it as a great misfortune, and general assemblies were repeatedly gathered together and proclamation made, asking if any one of the Lacedemonians was willing to die for Sparta, at length Sperthias the son of Aneristos and Bulis the son of Nicolaos, Spartans of noble birth and in wealth attaining to the first rank, voluntarily submitted to pay the penalty to Xerxes for the heralds of Dareios which had perished at Sparta. Thus the Spartans sent these to the Medes to be put to death.

135. And not only the courage then shown by these men is worthy of admiration, but also the following sayings in addition: for as they were on their way to Susa they came to Hydarnes (now Hydarnes was a Persian by race and commander of those who dwelt on the sea coasts of Asia), and he offered them hospitality and entertained them; and while they were his guests he asked them as follows: “Lacedemonians, why is it that ye flee from becoming friends to the king? for ye may see that the king knows how to honour good men, when ye look at me and at my fortunes. So also ye, Lacedemonians, if ye gave yourselves to the king, since ye have the reputation with him already of being good men, would have rule each one of you over Hellenic land by the gift of the king.” To this they made answer thus: “Hydarnes, thy counsel with regard to us is not equally balanced,[117][{ouk ex isou}: i.e. it is one-sided, because the speaker has had experience of only one of the alternatives.] for thou givest counsel having made trial indeed of the one thing, but being without experience of the other: thou knowest well what it is to be a slave, but thou hast never yet made trial of freedom, whether it is pleasant to the taste or no; for if thou shouldest make trial of it, thou wouldest then counsel us to fight for it not with spears only but also with axes.”

136. Thus they answered Hydarnes; and then, after they had gone up to Susa and had come into the presence of the king, first when the spearmen of the guard commanded them and endeavoured to compel them by force to do obeisance to the king by falling down before him, they said that they would not do any such deed, though they should be pushed down by them head foremost; for it was not their custom to do obeisance to a man, and it was not for this that they had come. Then when they had resisted this, next they spoke these words or words to this effect: “O king of the Medes, the Lacedemonians sent us in place of the heralds who were slain in Sparta, to pay the penalty for their lives.” When they said this, Xerxes moved by a spirit of magnanimity replied that he would not be like the Lacedemonians; for they had violated the rules which prevailed among all men by slaying heralds, but he would not do that himself which he blamed them for having done, nor would he free the Lacedemonians from their guilt by slaying these in return.

137. Thus the wrath of Talthybios ceased for the time being, even though the Spartans had done no more than this and although Sperthias and Bulis returned back to Sparta; but a long time after this it was roused again during the war between the Peloponnesians and Athenians, as the Lacedemonians report. This I perceive to have been most evidently the act of the Deity: for in that the wrath of Talthybios fell upon messengers and did not cease until it had been fully satisfied, so much was but in accordance with justice; but that it happened to come upon the sons of these men who went up to the king on account of the wrath, namely upon Nicolaos the son of Bulis and Aneristos the son of Sperthias (the same who conquered the men of Halieis, who came from Tiryns, by sailing into their harbour with a merchant ship filled with fighting men),—by this it is evident to me that the matter came to pass by the act of the Deity caused by this wrath. For these men, sent by the Lacedemonians as envoys to Asia, having been betrayed by Sitalkes the son of Teres king of the Thracians and by Nymphodoros the son of Pythes a man of Abdera, were captured at Bisanthe on the Hellespont; and then having been carried away to Attica they were put to death by the Athenians, and with them also Aristeas the son of Adeimantos the Corinthian. These things happened many years after the expedition of the king; and I return now to the former narrative.

138. Now the march of the king’s army was in name against Athens, but in fact it was going against all Hellas: and the Hellenes being informed of this long before were not all equally affected by it; for some of them having given earth and water to the Persian had confidence, supposing that they would suffer no hurt from the Barbarian; while others not having given were in great terror, seeing that there were not ships existing in Hellas which were capable as regards number of receiving the invader in fight, and seeing that the greater part of the States were not willing to take up the war, but adopted readily the side of the Medes.

139. And here I am compelled by necessity to declare an opinion which in the eyes of most men would seem to be invidious, but nevertheless I will not abstain from saying that which I see evidently to be the truth. If the Athenians had been seized with fear of the danger which threatened them and had left their land,[118][Cp. ch. 143 (end), and viii. 62.] or again, without leaving their land, had stayed and given themselves up to Xerxes, none would have made any attempt by sea to oppose the king. If then none had opposed Xerxes by sea, it would have happened on the land somewhat thus:—even if many tunics of walls[119][{teikheon kithones}, a poetical expression, quoted perhaps from some oracle; and if so, {kithon} may here have the Epic sense of a “coat of mail,” equivalent to {thorex} in i. 181: see ch. 61, note 56.] had been thrown across the Isthmus by the Peloponnesians, the Lacedemonians would have been deserted by their allies, not voluntarily but of necessity, since these would have been conquered city after city by the naval force of the Barbarian, and so they would have been left alone: and having been left alone and having displayed great deeds of valour, they would have met their death nobly. Either they would have suffered this fate, or before this, seeing the other Hellenes also taking the side of the Medes, they would have made an agreement with Xerxes; and thus in either case Hellas would have come to be under the rule of the Persians: for as to the good to be got from the walls thrown across the Isthmus, I am unable to discover what it would have been, when the king had command of the sea. As it is however, if a man should say that the Athenians proved to be the saviours of Hellas, he would not fail to hit the truth; for to whichever side these turned, to that the balance was likely to incline: and these were they who, preferring that Hellas should continue to exist in freedom, roused up all of Hellas which remained, so much, that is, as had not gone over to the Medes, and (after the gods at least) these were they who repelled the king. Nor did fearful oracles, which came from Delphi and cast them into dread, induce them to leave Hellas, but they stayed behind and endured to receive the invader of their land.

140. For the Athenians had sent men to Delphi to inquire and were preparing to consult the Oracle; and after these had performed the usual rites in the sacred precincts, when they had entered the sanctuary[120][{to megaron}.] and were sitting down there, the Pythian prophetess, whose name was Aristonike, uttered to them this oracle:

“Why do ye sit, O ye wretched? Flee thou[121][The form of address changes abruptly to the singular number, referring to the Athenian people.] to the uttermost
limits, Leaving thy home and the heights of the wheel-round city
behind thee! Lo, there remaineth now nor the head nor the body in
safety,—Neither the feet below nor the hands nor the middle are
left thee,—All are destroyed[122][{azela}, probably for {aionla}, which has been proposed as a correction: or possibly “wretched.”] together; for fire and the
passionate War-god,[123][{oxus Ares}.] Urging the Syrian[124][i.e. Assyrian, cp. ch. 63.] car to speed, doth
hurl them[125][{min}, i.e. the city, to which belong the head, feet, and body which have been mentioned.] to ruin. Not thine alone, he shall cause many more
great strongholds to perish, Yes, many temples of gods to the
ravening fire shall deliver,—Temples which stand now surely with
sweat of their terror down-streaming, Quaking with dread; and lo!
from the topmost roof to the pavement Dark blood trickles,
forecasting the dire unavoidable evil. Forth with you, forth from
the shrine, and steep your soul in the sorrow!”[126][{kakois d’ epikidnate thumon}: this might perhaps mean (as it is taken by several Editors), “show a courageous soul in your troubles,” but that would hardly suit with the discouraging tone of the context.]

141. Hearing this the men who had been sent by the Athenians to consult the Oracle were very greatly distressed; and as they were despairing by reason of the evil which had been prophesied to them, Timon the son of Androbulos, a man of the Delphians in reputation equal to the first, counselled them to take a suppliant’s bough and to approach the second time and consult the Oracle as suppliants. The Athenians did as he advised and said: “Lord,[127][{onax}, cp. iv. 15.] we pray thee utter to us some better oracle about our native land, having respect to these suppliant boughs which we have come to thee bearing; otherwise surely we will not depart away from the sanctuary, but will remain here where we are now, even until we bring our lives to an end.” When they spoke these words, the prophetess gave them a second oracle as follows:

“Pallas cannot prevail to appease great Zeus in Olympos, Though she
with words very many and wiles close-woven entreat him. But I will
tell thee this more, and will clench it with steel adamantine: Then
when all else shall be taken, whatever the boundary[128][{ouros}: the word might of course be for {oros}, “mountain,” and {Kekropos ouros} would then mean the Acropolis (so it is understood by Stein and others), but the combination with Kithairon makes it probable that the reference is to the boundaries of Attica, and this seems more in accordance with the reference to it in viii. 53.] of Kecrops
Holdeth within, and the dark ravines of divinest Kithairon, A
bulwark of wood at the last Zeus grants to the Trito-born goddess
Sole to remain unwasted, which thee and thy children shall profit.
Stay thou not there for the horsemen to come and the footmen
unnumbered; Stay thou not still for the host from the mainland to
come, but retire thee, Turning thy back to the foe, for yet thou
shalt face him hereafter. Salamis, thou the divine, thou shalt cause
sons of women to perish, Or when the grain[129][{Demeteros}.] is scattered or
when it is gathered together.”

142. This seemed to them to be (as in truth it was) a milder utterance than the former one; therefore they had it written down and departed with it to Athens: and when the messengers after their return made report to the people, many various opinions were expressed by persons inquiring into the meaning of the oracle, and among them these, standing most in opposition to one another:—some of the elder men said they thought that the god had prophesied to them that the Acropolis should survive; for the Acropolis of the Athenians was in old time fenced with a thorn hedge; and they conjectured accordingly that this saying about the “bulwark of wood” referred to the fence: others on the contrary said that the god meant by this their ships, and they advised to leave all else and get ready these. Now they who said that the ships were the bulwark of wood were shaken in their interpretation by the two last verses which the prophetess uttered:

“Salamis, thou the divine, thou shalt cause sons of women to perish,
Or when the grain is scattered or when it is gathered together.”

In reference to these verses the opinions of those who said that the ships were the bulwark of wood were disturbed; for the interpreters of oracles took these to mean that it was fated for them, having got ready for a sea-fight, to suffer defeat round about Salamis.

143. Now there was one man of the Athenians who had lately been coming forward to take a place among the first, whose name was Themistocles, called son of Neocles. This man said that the interpreters of oracles did not make right conjecture of the whole, and he spoke as follows, saying that if these words that had been uttered referred really to the Athenians, he did not think it would have been so mildly expressed in the oracle, but rather thus, “Salamis, thou the merciless,” instead of “Salamis, thou the divine,” at least if its settlers were destined to perish round about it: but in truth the oracle had been spoken by the god with reference to the enemy, if one understood it rightly, and not to the Athenians: therefore he counselled them to get ready to fight a battle by sea, for in this was their bulwark of wood. When Themistocles declared his opinion thus, the Athenians judged that this was to be preferred by them rather than the advice of the interpreters of oracles, who bade them not make ready for a sea-fight, nor in short raise their hands at all in opposition, but leave the land of Attica and settle in some other.

144. Another opinion too of Themistocles before this one proved the best at the right moment, when the Athenians, having got large sums of money in the public treasury, which had come in to them from the mines which are at Laureion, were intending to share it among themselves, taking each in turn the sum of ten drachmas. Then Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to give up this plan of division and to make for themselves with this money two hundred ships for the war, meaning by that the war with the Eginetans: for this war having arisen[130][{sustas}, “having been joined” cp. viii. 142.] proved in fact the salvation of Hellas at that time, by compelling the Athenians to become a naval power. And the ships, not having been used for the purpose for which they had been made, thus proved of service at need to Hellas. These ships then, I say, the Athenians had already, having built them beforehand, and it was necessary in addition to these to construct others. They resolved then, when they took counsel after the oracle was given, to receive the Barbarian invading Hellas with their ships in full force, following the commands of the god, in combination with those of the Hellenes who were willing to join them.

145. These oracles had been given before to the Athenians: and when those Hellenes who had the better mind about Hellas[131][{ton peri ten Ellada Ellenon ta ameino phroneonton}: the MSS. have {ton} also after {Ellenon}, which would mean “those of the Hellenes in Hellas itself, who were of the better mind;” but the expression {ton ta ameino phroneouseon peri ten Ellada} occurs in ch. 172: Some Editors omit {Ellenon} as well as {ton}.] came together to one place, and considered their affairs and interchanged assurances with one another, then deliberating together they thought it well first of all things to reconcile the enmities and bring to an end the wars which they had with one another. Now there were wars engaged[132][{egkekremenoi} (from {egkerannumi}, cp. v. 124), a conjectural emendation (by Reiske) of {egkekhremenoi}. Others have conjectured {egkekheiremenoi} or {egegermenoi}.] between others also, and especially between the Athenians and the Eginetans. After this, being informed that Xerxes was with his army at Sardis, they determined to send spies to Asia to make observation of the power of the king; and moreover they resolved to send envoys to Argos to form an alliance against the Persian, and to send others to Sicily to Gelon the son of Deinomenes and also to Corcyra, to urge them to come to the assistance of Hellas, and others again to Crete; for they made it their aim that if possible the Hellenic race might unite in one, and that they might join all together and act towards the same end, since dangers were threatening all the Hellenes equally. Now the power of Gelon was said to be great, far greater than any other Hellenic power.

146. When they had thus resolved, they reconciled their enmities and then sent first three men as spies to Asia. These having come to Sardis and having got knowledge about the king’s army, were discovered, and after having been examined by the generals of the land-army were being led off to die. For these men, I say, death had been determined; but Xerxes, being informed of this, found fault with the decision of the generals and sent some of the spearmen of his guard, enjoining them, if they should find the spies yet alive, to bring them to his presence. So having found them yet surviving they brought them into the presence of the king; and upon that Xerxes, being informed for what purpose they had come, commanded the spearmen to lead them round and to show them the whole army both foot and horse, and when they should have had their fill of looking at these things, to let them go unhurt to whatsoever land they desired.

147. Such was the command which he gave, adding at the same time this saying, namely that if the spies had been put to death, the Hellenes would not have been informed beforehand of his power, how far beyond description it was; while on the other hand by putting to death three men they would not very greatly have damaged the enemy; but when these returned back to Hellas, he thought it likely that the Hellenes, hearing of his power, would deliver up their freedom to him themselves, before the expedition took place which was being set in motion; and thus there would be no need for them to have the labour of marching an army against them. This opinion of his is like his manner of thinking at other times;[133][{te ge alle}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {tede alle} “is like the following, which he expressed on another occasion.”] for when Xerxes was in Abydos, he saw vessels which carried corn from the Pontus sailing out through the Hellespont on their way to Egina and the Peloponnese. Those then who sat by his side, being informed that the ships belonged to the enemy, were prepared to capture them, and were looking to the king to see when he would give the word; but Xerxes asked about them whither the men were sailing, and they replied: “Master, to thy foes, conveying to them corn”: he then made answer and said: “Are we not also sailing to the same place as these men, furnished with corn as well as with other things necessary? How then do these wrong us, since they are conveying provisions for our use?”

148. The spies then, having thus looked at everything and after that having been dismissed, returned back to Europe: and meanwhile those of the Hellenes who had sworn alliance against the Persian, after the sending forth of the spies proceeded to send envoys next to Argos. Now the Argives report that the matters concerning themselves took place as follows:—They were informed, they say, at the very first of the movement which was being set on foot by the Barbarian against Hellas; and having been informed of this and perceiving that the Hellenes would endeavour to get their alliance against the Persians, they had sent messengers to inquire of the god at Delphi, and to ask how they should act in order that it might be best for themselves: because lately there had been slain of them six thousand men by the Lacedemonians and by Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides,[134][See vi. 77: This calamity had occurred about fourteen years before, and it was not in order to recover from this that the Argives wished now for a thirty years’ truce; but warned by this they desired (they said) to guard against the consequence of a similar disaster in fighting with the Persians, against whom, according to their own account, they were going to defend themselves independently. So great was their fear of this that, “though fearing the oracle,” they were willing to disobey it on certain conditions.] and this in fact was the reason that they were sending to inquire: and when they inquired, the Pythian prophetess made answer to them as follows:

“Thou to thy neighbours a foe, by the gods immortal beloved,
Keep thou thy spear[135][{probalaion}, cp. {probolous}, ch. 76.] within bounds, and sit well-guarded behind it:
Guard well the head, and the head shall preserve the limbs and the body.”

Thus, they say, the Pythian prophetess had replied to them before this; and afterwards when the messengers of the Hellenes came, as I said, to Argos, they entered the Council-chamber and spoke that which had been enjoined to them; and to that which was said the Council replied that the Argives were ready to do as they were requested, on condition that they got peace made with the Lacedemonians for thirty years and that they had half the leadership of the whole confederacy: and yet by strict right (they said) the whole leadership fell to their share, but nevertheless it was sufficient for them to have half.

149. Thus they report that the Council made answer, although the oracle forbade them to make the alliance with the Hellenes; and they were anxious, they say, that a truce from hostilities for thirty years should be made, although they feared the oracle, in order, as they allege, that their sons might grow to manhood in these years; whereas if a truce did not exist, they had fear that, supposing another disaster should come upon them in fighting against the Persian in addition to that which had befallen them already, they might be for all future time subject to the Lacedemonians. To that which was spoken by the Council those of the envoys who were of Sparta replied, that as to the truce they would refer the matter to their public assembly,[136][{es tous pleunas}.] but as to the leadership they had themselves been commissioned to make reply, and did in fact say this, namely that they had two kings, while the Argives had one; and it was not possible to remove either of the two who were of Sparta from the leadership, but there was nothing to prevent the Argive king from having an equal vote with each of their two. Then, say the Argives, they could not endure the grasping selfishness of the Spartans, but chose to be ruled by the Barbarians rather than to yield at all to the Lacedemonians; and they gave notice to the envoys to depart out of the territory of the Argives before sunset, or, if not, they would be dealt with as enemies.

150. The Argives themselves report so much about these matters: but there is another story reported in Hellas to the effect that Xerxes sent a herald to Argos before he set forth to make an expedition against Hellas, and this herald, they say, when he had come, spoke as follows: “Men of Argos, king Xerxes says to you these things:—We hold that Perses, from whom we are descended, was the son of Perseus, the son of Danae, and was born of the daughter of Kepheus, Andromeda; and according to this it would seem that we are descended from you. It is not fitting then that we should go forth on an expedition against those from whom we trace our descent, nor that ye should set yourselves in opposition to us by rendering assistance to others; but it is fitting that ye keep still and remain by yourselves: for if things happen according to my mind, I shall not esteem any people to be of greater consequence than you.” Having heard this the Argives, it is said, considered it a great matter; and therefore at first they made no offer of help nor did they ask for any share; but afterwards, when the Hellenes tried to get them on their side, then, since they knew well that the Lacedemonians would not give them a share in the command, they asked for this merely in order that they might have a pretext for remaining still.

151. Also some of the Hellenes report that the following event, in agreement with this account, came to pass many years after these things:—there happened, they say, to be in Susa the city of Memnon[137][Cp. v. 53.] envoys of the Athenians come about some other matter, namely Callias the son of Hipponicos and the others who went up with him; and the Argives at that very time had also sent envoys to Susa, and these asked Artoxerxes the son of Xerxes, whether the friendship which they had formed with Xerxes still remained unbroken, if they themselves desired to maintain it,[138][{ethelousi}: this is omitted in most of the MSS., but contained in several of the best. Many Editors have omitted it.] or whether they were esteemed by him to be enemies; and king Artoxerxes said that it most certainly remained unbroken, and that there was no city which he considered to be more his friend than Argos.

152. Now whether Xerxes did indeed send a herald to Argos saying that which has been reported, and whether envoys of the Argives who had gone up to Susa inquired of Artoxerxes concerning friendship, I am not able to say for certain; nor do I declare any opinion about the matters in question other than that which the Argives themselves report: but I know this much, that if all the nations of men should bring together into one place the evils which they have suffered themselves, desiring to make exchange with their neighbours, each people of them, when they had examined closely the evils suffered by their fellows, would gladly carry away back with them those which they had brought.[139][{ta oikeia kaka} seems to mean the grievances which each has against his neighbours, “if all the nations of men should bring together into one place their own grievances against their neighbours, desiring to make a settlement with them, each people, when they had examined closely the grievances of others against themselves, would gladly carry away back with them those which they had brought,” judging that they had offended others more than they had suffered themselves.] Thus it is not the Argives who have acted most basely of all. I however am bound to report that which is reported, though I am not bound altogether to believe it; and let this saying be considered to hold good as regards every narrative in the history: for I must add that this also is reported, namely that the Argives were actually those who invited the Persian to invade Hellas, because their war with the Lacedemonians had had an evil issue, being willing to suffer anything whatever rather than the trouble which was then upon them.

153. That which concerns the Argives has now been said: and meanwhile envoys had come to Sicily from the allies, to confer with Gelon, among whom was also Syagros from the Lacedemonians. Now the ancestor of this Gelon, he who was at Gela as a settler,[140][{oiketor o en Gele}: some Editors read by conjecture {oiketor eon Geles}, others {oiketor en Gele}.]was a native of the island of Telos, which lies off Triopion; and when Gela was founded by the Lindians of Rhodes and by Antiphemos, he was not left behind. Then in course of time his descendants became and continued to be priests of the mysteries of the Earth goddesses,[141][{iropsantai ton khthonion theon}: cp. vi. 134.] an office which was acquired by Telines one of their ancestors in the following manner:—certain of the men of Gela, being worsted in a party struggle, had fled to Mactorion, the city which stands above Gela: these men Telines brought back to Gela from exile with no force of men but only with the sacred rites of these goddesses; but from whom he received them, or whether he obtained them for himself,[142][i.e. by direct inspiration.] this I am not able to say; trusting in these however, he brought the men back from exile, on the condition that his descendants should be priests of the mysteries of the goddesses. To me it has caused wonder also that Telines should have been able to perform so great a deed, considering that which I am told; for such deeds, I think, are not apt to proceed from every man, but from one who has a brave spirit and manly vigour, whereas Telines is said by the dwellers in Sicily to have been on the contrary a man of effeminate character and rather poor spirit.

154. He then had thus obtained the privilege of which I speak: and when Cleander the son of Pantares brought his life to an end, having been despot of Gela for seven years and being killed at last by Sabyllos a man of Gela, then Hippocrates succeeded to the monarchy, who was brother of Cleander. And while Hippocrates was despot, Gelon, who was a descendant of Telines the priest of the mysteries, was spearman of the guard[143][{en dorupsoros}: the MSS. have {os en dorupsoros}. Some Editors mark a lacuna.] to Hippocrates with many others and among them Ainesidemos the son of Pataicos. Then after no long time he was appointed by reason of valour to be commander of the whole cavalry; for when Hippocrates besieged successively the cities of Callipolis, Naxos, Zancle, Leontini, and also Syracuse and many towns of the Barbarians, in these wars Gelon showed himself a most brilliant warrior; and of the cities which I just now mentioned, not one except Syracuse escaped being reduced to subjection by Hippocrates: the Syracusans however, after they had been defeated in battle at the river Eloros, were rescued by the Corinthians and Corcyreans; these rescued them and brought the quarrel to a settlement on this condition, namely that the Syracusans should deliver up Camarina to Hippocrates. Now Camarina used in ancient time to belong to the men of Syracuse.

155. Then when it was the fate of Hippocrates also, after having been despot for the same number of years as his brother Cleander, to be killed at the city of Hybla, whither he had gone on an expedition against the Sikelians, then Gelon made a pretence of helping the sons of Hippocrates, Eucleides and Cleander, when the citizens were no longer willing to submit; but actually, when he had been victorious in a battle over the men of Gela, he robbed the sons of Hippocrates of the power and was ruler himself. After this stroke of fortune Gelon restored those of the Syracusans who were called “land-holders,”[144][{gamorous}, the name given to the highest class of citizens.] after they had been driven into exile by the common people and by their own slaves, who were called Kyllyrians,[145][Or, “Killyrians.” They were conquered Sicanians, in the position of the Spartan Helots.] these, I say, he restored from the city of Casmene to Syracuse, and so got possession of this last city also, for the common people of Syracuse, when Gelon came against them, delivered up to him their city and themselves.

156. So after he had received Syracuse into his power, he made less account of Gela, of which he was ruler also in addition, and he gave it in charge to Hieron his brother, while he proceeded to strengthen Syracuse. So forthwith that city rose and shot up to prosperity; for in the first place he brought all those of Camarina to Syracuse and made them citizens, and razed to the ground the city of Camarina; then secondly he did the same to more than half of the men of Gela, as he had done to those of Camarina: and as regards the Megarians of Sicily, when they were besieged and had surrendered by capitulation, the well-to-do men[146][{pakheas}: cp. v. 30.] of them, though they had stirred up war with him and expected to be put to death for this reason, he brought to Syracuse and made them citizens, but the common people of the Megarians, who had no share in the guilt of this war and did not expect that they would suffer any evil, these also he brought to Syracuse and sold them as slaves to be carried away from Sicily: and the same thing he did moreover to the men of Euboia in Sicily, making a distinction between them: and he dealt thus with these two cities because he thought that a body of commons was a most unpleasant element in the State.

157. In the manner then which has been described Gelon had become a powerful despot; and at this time when the envoys of the Hellenes had arrived at Syracuse, they came to speech with him and said as follows: “The Lacedemonians and their allies sent us to get thee to be on our side against the Barbarian; for we suppose that thou art certainly informed of him who is about to invade Hellas, namely that a Persian is designing to bridge over the Hellespont, and to make an expedition against Hellas, leading against us out of Asia all the armies of the East, under colour of marching upon Athens, but in fact meaning to bring all Hellas to subjection under him. Do thou therefore, seeing that[147][{gar}: inserted conjecturally by many Editors.] thou hast attained to a great power and hast no small portion of Hellas for thy share, being the ruler of Sicily, come to the assistance of those who are endeavouring to free Hellas, and join in making her free; for if all Hellas be gathered together in one, it forms a great body, and we are made a match in fight for those who are coming against us; but if some of us go over to the enemy and others are not willing to help, and the sound portion of Hellas is consequently small, there is at once in this a danger that all Hellas may fall to ruin. For do not thou hope that if the Persian shall overcome us in battle he will not come to thee, but guard thyself against this beforehand; for in coming to our assistance thou art helping thyself; and the matter which is wisely planned has for the most part a good issue afterwards.”

158. The envoys spoke thus; and Gelon was very vehement with them, speaking to them as follows: “Hellenes, a selfish speech is this, with which ye have ventured to come and invite me to be your ally against the Barbarian; whereas ye yourselves, when I in former time requested of you to join with me in fighting against an army of Barbarians, contention having arisen between me and the Carthaginians, and when I charged you to exact vengeance of the men of Egesta for the death of Dorieos the son of Anaxandrides,[148][见第 46 节。] while at the same time I offered to help in setting free the trading-places, from which great advantages and gains have been reaped by you,—ye, I say, then neither for my own sake came to my assistance, nor in order to exact vengeance for the death of Dorieos; and, so far as ye are concerned, all these parts are even now under the rule of Barbarians. But since it turned out well for us and came to a better issue, now that the war has come round and reached you, there has at last arisen in your minds a recollection of Gelon. However, though I have met with contempt at your hands, I will not act like you; but I am prepared to come to your assistance, supplying two hundred triremes and twenty thousand hoplites, with two thousand horsemen, two thousand bowmen, two thousand slingers and two thousand light-armed men to run beside the horsemen; and moreover I will undertake to supply corn for the whole army of the Hellenes, until we have finished the war. These things I engage to supply on this condition, namely that I shall be commander and leader of the Hellenes against the Barbarian; but on any other condition I will neither come myself nor will I send others.”

159. Hearing this Syagros could not contain himself but spoke these words: “Deeply, I trow, would Agamemnon son of Pelops lament,[149][{e ke meg oimexeie}, the beginning of a Homeric hexameter, cp. Il. vii. 125.] if he heard that the Spartans had had the leadership taken away from them by Gelon and by the Syracusans. Nay, but make thou no further mention of this condition, namely that we should deliver the leadership to thee; but if thou art desirous to come to the assistance of Hellas, know that thou wilt be under the command of the Lacedemonians; and if thou dost indeed claim not to be under command, come not thou to our help at all.”

160. To this Gelon, seeing that the speech of Syagros was adverse, set forth to them his last proposal thus: “Stranger from Sparta, reproaches sinking into the heart of a man are wont to rouse his spirit in anger against them; thou however, though thou hast uttered insults against me in thy speech, wilt not bring me to show myself unseemly in my reply. But whereas ye so strongly lay claim to the leadership, it were fitting that I should lay claim to it more than ye, seeing that I am the leader of an army many times as large and of ships many more. Since however this condition is so distasteful to you,[150][Or, “since your speech is so adverse.”] we will recede somewhat from our former proposal. Suppose that ye should be leaders of the land-army and I of the fleet; or if it pleases you to lead the sea-forces, I am willing to be leader of those on land; and either ye must be contented with these terms or go away without the alliance which I have to give.”

161. Gelon, I say, made these offers, and the envoy of the Athenians, answering before that of the Lacedemonians, replied to him as follows: “O king of the Syracusans, it was not of a leader that Hellas was in want when it sent us to thee, but of an army. Thou however dost not set before us the hope that thou wilt send an army, except thou have the leadership of Hellas; and thou art striving how thou mayest become commander of the armies of Hellas. So long then as it was thy demand to be leader of the whole army of the Hellenes, it was sufficient for us Athenians to keep silence, knowing that the Lacedemonian would be able to make defence even for us both; but now, since being repulsed from the demand for the whole thou art requesting to be commander of the naval force, we tell that thus it is:—not even if the Lacedemonian shall permit thee to be commander of it, will we permit thee; for this at least is our own, if the Lacedemonians do not themselves desire to have it. With these, if they desire to be the leaders, we do not contend; but none others beside ourselves shall we permit to be in command of the ships: for then to no purpose should we be possessors of a sea-force larger than any other which belongs to the Hellenes, if, being Athenians, we should yield the leadership to Syracusans, we who boast of a race which is the most ancient of all and who are of all the Hellenes the only people who have not changed from one land to another; to whom also belonged a man whom Homer the Epic poet said was the best of all who came to Ilion in drawing up an army and setting it in array.[151][See Il. ii. 552.] Thus we are not justly to be reproached if we say these things.”

162. To this Gelon made answer thus: “Stranger of Athens, it would seem that ye have the commanders, but that ye will not have the men to be commanded. Since then ye will not at all give way, but desire to have the whole, it were well that ye should depart home as quickly as possible and report to the Hellenes that the spring has been taken out of their year.” Now this is the meaning of the saying:—evidently the spring is the noblest part of the year; and so he meant to say that his army was the noblest part of the army of the Hellenes: for Hellas therefore, deprived of his alliance, it was, he said, as if the spring had been taken out of the year.[152][Some Editors mark this explanation “Now this is the meaning— year,” as interpolated.]

163. The envoys of the Hellenes, having thus had conference with Gelon, sailed away; and Gelon upon this, fearing on the one hand about the Hellenes, lest they should not be able to overcome the Barbarian, and on the other hand considering it monstrous and not to be endured that he should come to Peloponnesus and be under the command of the Lacedemonians, seeing that he was despot of Sicily, gave up the thought of this way and followed another: for so soon as he was informed that the Persian had crossed over the Hellespont, he sent Cadmos the son of Skythes, a man of Cos, with three fifty-oared galleys to Delphi, bearing large sums of money and friendly proposals, to wait there and see how the battle would fall out: and if the Barbarian should be victorious, he was to give him the money and also to offer him earth and water from those over whom Gelon had rule; but if the Hellenes should be victorious, he was bidden to bring it back.

164. Now this Cadmos before these events, having received from his father in a prosperous state the government[153][{purannida}.] of the people of Cos, had voluntarily and with no danger threatening, but moved merely by uprightness of nature, placed the government in the hands of the people of Cos[154][{es meson Kooisi katatheis ten arkhen}.] and had departed to Sicily, where he took from[155][{para Samion}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have {meta Samion}, “together with the Samians,” which is adopted by many Editors. There can be little doubt however that the Skythes mentioned in vi. 23 was the father of this Cadmos, and we know from Thuc. vi. 4 that the Samians were deprived of the town soon after they had taken it, by Anaxilaos, who gave it the name of Messene, and no doubt put Cadmos in possession of it, as the son of the former king.] the Samians and newly colonised the city of Zancle, which had changed its name to Messene. This same Cadmos, having come thither in such manner as I have said, Gelon was now sending, having selected him on account of the integrity which in other matters he had himself found to be in him; and this man, in addition to the other upright acts which had been done by him, left also this to be remembered, which was not the least of them: for having got into his hands that great sum of money which Gelon entrusted to his charge, though he might have taken possession of it himself he did not choose to do so; but when the Hellenes had got the better in the sea-fight and Xerxes had marched away and departed, he also returned to Sicily bringing back with him the whole sum of money.

165. The story which here follows is also reported by those who dwell in Sicily, namely that, even though he was to be under the command of the Lacedemonians, Gelon would have come to the assistance of the Hellenes, but that Terillos, the son of Crinippos and despot of Himera, having been driven out of Himera by Theron the son of Ainesidemos[156][Cp。 ch. 154.] the ruler of the Agrigentines, was just at this very time bringing in an army of Phenicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians, Elisycans, Sardinians and Corsicans, to the number of thirty myriads,[157][即300,000。] with Amilcas the son of Annon king of the Carthaginians as their commander, whom Terillos had persuaded partly by reason of his own guest-friendship, and especially by the zealous assistance of Anaxilaos the son of Cretines, who was despot of Rhegion, and who to help his father-in-law endeavoured to bring in Amilcas to Sicily, and had given him his sons as hostages; for Anaxilaos was married to the daughter of Terillos, whose name was Kydippe. Thus it was, they say, that Gelon was not able to come to the assistance of the Hellenes, and sent therefore the money to Delphi.

166. In addition to this they report also that, as it happened, Gelon and Theron were victorious over Amilcas the Carthaginian on the very same day when the Hellenes were victorious at Salamis over the Persian. And this Amilcas, who was a Carthaginian on the father’s side but on the mother’s Syracusan, and who had become king of the Carthaginians by merit, when the engagement took place and he was being worsted in the battle, disappeared, as I am informed; for neither alive nor dead did he appear again anywhere upon the earth, though Gelon used all diligence in the search for him.

167. Moreover there is also this story reported by the Carthaginians themselves, who therein relate that which is probable in itself, namely that while the Barbarians fought with the Hellenes in Sicily from the early morning till late in the afternoon (for to such a length the combat is said to have been protracted), during this time Amilcas was remaining in the camp and was making sacrifices to get good omens of success, offering whole bodies of victims upon a great pyre: and when he saw that there was a rout of his own army, he being then, as it chanced, in the act of pouring a libation over the victims, threw himself into the fire, and thus he was burnt up and disappeared. Amilcas then having disappeared, whether it was in such a manner as this, as it is reported by the Phenicians, or in some other way,[159][The MSS. add either {os Karkhedonioi}, or {os Karkhedonioi kai Surekosioi}, but the testimony of the Carthaginians has just been given, {os Phoinikes legousi}, and the Syracusans professed to be unable to discover anything of him at all. Most of the Editors omit or alter the words.] the Carthaginians both offer sacrifices to him now, and also they made memorials of him then in all the cities of their colonies, and the greatest in Carthage itself.

168. So far of the affairs of Sicily: and as for the Corcyreans, they made answer to the envoys as follows, afterwards acting as I shall tell: for the same men who had gone to Sicily endeavoured also to obtain the help of these, saying the same things which they said to Gelon; and the Corcyreans at the time engaged to send a force and to help in the defence, declaring that they must not permit Hellas to be ruined without an effort on their part, for if it should suffer disaster, they would be reduced to subjection from the very first day; but they must give assistance so far as lay in their power. Thus speciously they made reply; but when the time came to send help, they manned sixty ships, having other intentions in their minds, and after making much difficulty they put out to sea and reached Peloponnese; and then near Pylos and Tainaron in the land of the Lacedemonians they kept their ships at anchor, waiting, as Gelon did, to see how the war would turn out: for they did not expect that the Hellenes would overcome, but thought that the Persian would gain the victory over them with ease and be ruler of all Hellas. Accordingly they were acting of set purpose, in order that they might be able to say to the Persian some such words as these: “O king, when the Hellenes endeavoured to obtain our help for this war, we, who have a power which is not the smallest of all, and could have supplied a contingent of ships in number not the smallest, but after the Athenians the largest, did not choose to oppose thee or to do anything which was not to thy mind.” By speaking thus they hoped that they would obtain some advantage over the rest, and so it would have happened, as I am of opinion: while they had for the Hellenes an excuse ready made, that namely of which they actually made use: for when the Hellenes reproached them because they did not come to help, they said that they had manned sixty triremes, but had not been able to get past Malea owing to the Etesian Winds; therefore it was that they had not come to Salamis, nor was it by any want of courage on their part that they had been left of the sea-fight.

169. These then evaded the request of the Hellenes thus: but the Cretans, when those of the Hellenes who had been appointed to deal with these endeavoured to obtain their help, did thus, that is to say, they joined together and sent men to inquire of the god at Delphi whether it would be better for them if they gave assistance to Hellas: and the Pythian prophetess answered: “Ye fools, do ye think those woes too few,[160][{epimemphesthe}: some Editors have tried corrections, e.g. {ou ti memnesthe}, “do ye not remember,” or {epimemnesthe}, “remember”; but cp. viii. 106, {oste se me mempsasthai ten… diken}.] which Minos sent upon you in his wrath,[161][{osa umin… Minos epempse menion dakrumata}. The oracle would seem to have been in iambic verse.] because of the assistance that ye gave to Menelaos? seeing that, whereas they did not join with you in taking vengeance for his death in Camicos, ye nevertheless joined with them in taking vengeance for the woman who by a Barbarian was carried off from Sparta.” When the Cretans heard this answer reported, they abstained from the giving of assistance.

170. For the story goes that Minos, having come to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search of Daidalos, died there by a violent death; and after a time the Cretans, urged thereto by a god, all except the men of Polichne and Praisos, came with a great armament to Sicania and besieged for seven years the city of Camicos, which in my time was occupied by the Agrigentines; and at last not being able either to capture it or to remain before it, because they were hard pressed by famine, they departed and went away. And when, as they sailed, they came to be off the coast of Iapygia, a great storm seized them and cast them away upon the coast; and their vessels being dashed to pieces, they, since they saw no longer any way of coming to Crete, founded there the city of Hyria; and there they stayed and were changed so that they became instead of Cretans, Messapians of Iapygia, and instead of islanders, dwellers on the mainland: then from the city of Hyria they founded those other settlements which the Tarentines long afterwards endeavoured to destroy and suffer great disaster in that enterprise, so that this in fact proved to be the greatest slaughter of Hellenes that is known to us, and not only of the Tarentines themselves but of those citizens of Rhegion who were compelled by Mikythos the son of Choiros to go to the assistance of the Tarentines, and of whom there were slain in this manner three thousand men: of the Tarentines themselves however, who were slain there, there was no numbering made. This Mikythos, who was a servant of Anaxilaos, had been left by him in charge of Rhegion; and he it was who after being driven out of Rhegion took up his abode at Tegea of the Arcadians and dedicated those many statues at Olympia.

171. This of the men of Rhegion and of the Tarentines has been an episode[162][{parentheke}.] in my narrative: in Crete however, as the men of Praisos report, after it had been thus stripped of inhabitants, settlements were made by various nations, but especially by Hellenes; and in the next generation but one after the death of Minos came the Trojan war, in which the Cretans proved not the most contemptible of those who came to assist Menelaos. Then after this, when they had returned home from Troy, famine and pestilence came upon both the men and their cattle, until at last Crete was stripped of its inhabitants for the second time, and a third population of Cretans now occupy it together with those which were left of the former inhabitants. The Pythian prophetess, I say, by calling these things to their minds stopped them from giving assistance to the Hellenes, though they desired to do so.

172. As for the Thessalians, they at first had taken the side of the Persians against their will, and they gave proof that they were not pleased by that which the Aleuadai were designing; for so soon as they heard that the Persian was about to cross over into Europe, they sent envoys to the Isthmus: now at the Isthmus were assembled representatives of Hellas chosen by the cities which had the better mind about Hellas: having come then to these, the envoys of the Thessalians said: “Hellenes, ye must guard the pass by Olympos, in order that both Thessaly and the whole of Hellas may be sheltered from the war. We are prepared to join with you in guarding it, but ye must send a large force as well as we; for if ye shall not send, be assured that we shall make agreement with the Persian; since it is not right that we, standing as outposts so far in advance of the rest of Hellas, should perish alone in your defence: and not being willing[163][{ou boulomenoi}, apparently equivalent to {me boulemenoi}.] to come to our help, ye cannot apply to us any force to compel inability;[164][Cp. viii. 111.] but we shall endeavour to devise some means of safety for ourselves.”

173. Thus spoke the Thessalians; and the Hellenes upon this resolved to send to Thessaly by sea an army of men on foot to guard the pass: and when the army was assembled it set sail through Euripos, and having come to Alos in the Achaian land, it disembarked there and marched into Thessaly leaving the ships behind at Alos, and arrived at Tempe, the pass which leads from lower Macedonia into Thessaly by the river Peneios, going between the mountains of Olympos and Ossa. There the Hellenes encamped, being assembled to the number of about ten thousand hoplites, and to them was added the cavalry of the Thessalians; and the commander of the Lacedemonians was Euainetos the son of Carenos, who had been chosen from the polemarchs,[165][i.e. the six commanders of divisions {morai} in the Spartan army.] not being of the royal house, and of the Athenians Themistocles the son of Neocles. They remained however but few days here, for envoys came from Alexander the son of Amyntas the Macedonian, who advised them to depart thence and not to remain in the pass and be trodden under foot by the invading host, signifying to them at the same time both the great numbers of the army and the ships which they had. When these gave them this counsel, they followed the advice, for they thought that the counsel was good, and the Macedonian was evidently well-disposed towards them. Also, as I think, it was fear that persuaded them to it, when they were informed that there was another pass besides this to the Thessalian land by upper Macedonia through the Perraibians and by the city of Gonnos, the way by which the army of Xerxes did in fact make its entrance. So the Hellenes went down to their ships again and made their way back to the Isthmus.

174. Such was the expedition to Thessaly, which took place when the king was about to cross over from Asia to Europe and was already at Abydos. So the Thessalians, being stripped of allies, upon this took the side of the Medes with a good will and no longer half-heartedly, so that in the course of events they proved very serviceable to the king.

175. When the Hellenes had returned to the Isthmus, they deliberated, having regard to that which had been said by Alexander, where and in what regions they should set the war on foot: and the opinion which prevailed was to guard the pass at Thermopylai; for it was seen to be narrower than that leading into Thessaly, and at the same time it was single,[166][{mia}: for this most MSS. have {ama}. Perhaps the true reading is {ama mia}.] and nearer also to their own land; and as for the path by means of which were taken those of the Hellenes who were taken by the enemy at Thermopylai, they did not even know of its existence until they were informed by the people of Trachis after they had come to Thermopylai. This pass then they resolved to guard, and not permit the Barbarian to go by into Hellas; and they resolved that the fleet should sail to Artemision in the territory of Histiaia: for these points are near to one another, so that each division of their forces could have information of what was happening to the other. And the places are so situated as I shall describe.

176. As to Artemision first, coming out of the Thracian Sea the space is contracted from great width to that narrow channel which lies between the island of Skiathos and the mainland of Magnesia; and after the strait there follows at once in Euboea the sea-beach called Artemision, upon which there is a temple of Artemis. Then secondly the passage into Hellas by Trechis is, where it is narrowest, but fifty feet wide: it is not here however that the narrowest part of this whole region lies, but in front of Thermopylai and also behind it, consisting of a single wheel-track only[167][{amaxitos moune}, cp. ch. 200.] both by Alpenoi, which lies behind Thermopylai and again by the river Phoinix near the town of Anthela there is no space but a single wheel-track only: and on the West of Thermopylai there is a mountain which is impassable and precipitous, rising up to a great height and extending towards the range of Oite, while on the East of the road the sea with swampy pools succeeds at once. In this passage there are hot springs, which the natives of the place call the “Pots,”[168][{Khutrous}.] and an altar of Heracles is set up near them. Moreover a wall had once been built at this pass, and in old times there was a gate set in it; which wall was built by the Phokians, who were struck with fear because the Thessalians had come from the land of the Thesprotians to settle in the Aiolian land, the same which they now possess. Since then the Thessalians, as they supposed, were attempting to subdue them, the Phokians guarded themselves against this beforehand; and at that time they let the water of the hot springs run over the passage, that the place might be converted into a ravine, and devised every means that the Thessalians might not make invasion of their land. Now the ancient wall had been built long before, and the greater part of it was by that time in ruins from lapse of time; the Hellenes however resolved to set it up again, and at this spot to repel the Barbarian from Hellas: and very near the road there is a village called Alpenoi, from which the Hellenes counted on getting supplies.

177. These places then the Hellenes perceived to be such as their purpose required; for they considered everything beforehand and calculated that the Barbarians would not be able to take advantage either of superior numbers or of cavalry, and therefore they resolved here to receive the invader of Hellas: and when they were informed that the Persian was in Pieria, they broke up from the Isthmus and set forth for the campaign, some going to Thermopylai by land, and others making for Artemision by sea.

178. The Hellenes, I say, were coming to the rescue with speed, having been appointed to their several places: and meanwhile the men of Delphi consulted the Oracle of the god on behalf of themselves and on behalf of Hellas, being struck with dread; and a reply was given them that they should pray to the Winds, for these would be powerful helpers of Hellas in fight. So the Delphians, having accepted the oracle, first reported the answer which had been given them to those of the Hellenes who desired to be free; and having reported this to them at a time when they were in great dread of the Barbarian, they laid up for themselves an immortal store of gratitude: then after this the men of Delphi established an altar for the Winds in Thuia, where is the sacred enclosure of Thuia the daughter of Kephisos, after whom moreover this place has its name; and also they approached them with sacrifices.

179. The Delphians then according to the oracle even to this day make propitiary offerings to the Winds: and meanwhile the fleet of Xerxes setting forth from the city of Therma had passed over with ten of its ships, which were those that sailed best, straight towards Skiathos, where three Hellenic ships, a Troizenian, an Eginetan and an Athenian, were keeping watch in advance. When the crews of these caught sight of the ships of the Barbarians, they set off to make their escape:

180, and the ship of Troizen, of which Prexinos was in command, was pursued and captured at once by the Barbarians; who upon that took the man who was most distinguished by beauty among the fighting-men on board of her,[169][{ton epibateon autes}.] and cut his throat at the prow of the ship, making a good omen for themselves of the first of the Hellenes whom they had captured who was pre-eminent for beauty. The name of this man who was sacrificed was Leon, and perhaps he had also his name to thank in some degree for what befell him.

181. The ship of Egina however, of which Asonides was master, even gave them some trouble to capture it, seeing that Pytheas the son of Ischenoös served as a fighting-man on board of her, who proved himself a most valiant man on this day; for when the ship was being taken, he held out fighting until he was hacked all to pieces: and as when he had fallen he did not die, but had still breath in him, the Persians who served as fighting-men on board the ships, because of his valour used all diligence to save his life, both applying unguents of myrrh to heal his wounds and also wrapping him up in bands of the finest linen; and when they came back to their own main body, they showed him to all the army, making a marvel of him and giving him good treatment; but the rest whom they had taken in this ship they treated as slaves.

182. Two of the three ships, I say, were captured thus; but the third, of which Phormos an Athenian was master, ran ashore in its flight at the mouth of the river Peneios; and the Barbarians got possession of the vessel but not of the crew; for so soon as the Athenians had run the ship ashore, they leapt out of her, and passing through Thessaly made their way to Athens.

183. Of these things the Hellenes who were stationed at Artemision were informed by fire-signals from Skiathos; and being informed of them and being struck with fear, they removed their place of anchorage from Atermision to Chalkis, intending to guard the Euripos, but leaving at the same time watchers by day[170][{emeroskopous}: perhaps simply “scouts,” cp. ch. 219, by which it would seem that they were at their posts by night also, though naturally they would not see much except by day.] on the heights of Euboea. Of the ten ships of the Barbarians three sailed up to the reef called Myrmex,[171][i.e. “Ant.”] which lies between Skiathos and Magnesia; and when the Barbarians had there erected a stone pillar, which for that purpose they brought to the reef, they set forth with their main body[172][{autoi}.] from Therma, the difficulties of the passage having now been cleared away, and sailed thither with all their ships, having let eleven days go by since the king set forth on his march from Therma. Now of this reef lying exactly in the middle of the fairway they were informed by Pammon of Skyros. Sailing then throughout the day the Barbarians accomplished the voyage to Sepias in Magnesia and to the sea-beach which is between the city of Casthanaia and the headland of Sepias.

184. So far as this place and so far as Thermopylai the army was exempt from calamity; and the number was then still, as I find by computation, this:—Of the ships which came from Asia, which were one thousand two hundred and seven, the original number of the crews supplied by the several nations I find to have been twenty-four myriads and also in addition to them one thousand four hundred,[173][即241,400。] if one reckons at the rate of two hundred men to each ship: and on board of each of these ships there served as fighting-men,[174][{epebateuon}.] besides the fighting-men belonging to its own nation in each case, thirty men who were Persians, Medes, or Sacans; and this amounts to three myriads six thousand two hundred and ten[175][36,210。] in addition to the others. I will add also to this and to the former number the crews of the fifty-oared galleys, assuming that there were eighty men, more or less,[176][{o ti pleon en auton e elasson}. In ch. 97, which is referred to just above, these ships are stated to have been of many different kinds, and not only fifty-oared galleys.] in each one. Of these vessels there were gathered together, as was before said, three thousand: it would follow therefore that there were in them four-and-twenty myriads[177][240,000。]of men. This was the naval force which came from Asia, amounting in all to fifty-one myriads and also seven thousand six hundred and ten in addition.[178][517,610。] Then of the footmen there had been found to be a hundred and seventy myriads,[179][1,700,000: see ch. 60.] and of the horsemen eight myriads:[180][80,000。] and I will add also to these the Arabian camel-drivers and the Libyan drivers of chariots, assuming them to amount to twenty thousand men. The result is then that the number of the ships’ crews combined with that of the land-army amounts to two hundred and thirty-one myriads and also in addition seven thousand six hundred and ten.[181][2,317,610。] This is the statement of the Army which was brought up out of Asia itself, without counting the attendants which accompanied it or the corn-transports and the men who sailed in these.

185. There is still to be reckoned, in addition to all this which has been summed up, the force which was being led from Europe; and of this we must give a probable estimate.[182][{dokesin de dei legein}.] The Hellenes of Thrace and of the islands which lie off the coast of Thrace supplied a hundred and twenty ships; from which ships there results a sum of twenty-four thousand men: and as regards the land-force which was supplied by the Thracians, Paionians, Eordians, Bottiaians, the race which inhabits Chalkidike, the Brygians, Pierians, Macedonians, Perraibians, Enianians,[183][Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.] Dolopians, Magnesians, Achaians, and all those who dwell in the coast-region of Thrace, of these various nations I estimate that there were thirty myriads.[184][300,000。] These myriads then added to those from Asia make a total sum of two hundred and sixty-four myriads of fighting men and in addition to these sixteen hundred and ten.[185][2,641,610。]

186. Such being the number of this body of fighting-men,[186][{tou makhimou toutou}.] the attendants who went with these and the men who were in the small vessels[187][{akatoisi}.] which carried corn, and again in the other vessels which sailed with the army, these I suppose were not less in number but more than the fighting men. I assume them to be equal in number with these, and neither at all more nor less; and so, being supposed equal in number with the fighting body, they make up the same number of myriads as they. Thus five hundred and twenty-eight myriads three thousand two hundred and twenty[188][5,283,220。] was the number of men whom Xerxes son of Dareios led as far as Sepias and Thermopylai.

187. This is the number of the whole army of Xerxes; but of the women who made bread for it, and of the concubines and eunuchs no man can state any exact number, nor again of the draught-animals and other beasts of burden or of the Indian hounds, which accompanied it, could any one state the number by reason of their multitude: so that it does not occur to me to wonder that the streams of some rivers should have failed them, but I wonder rather how the provisions were sufficient to feed so many myriads; for I find on computation that if each man received a quart[189][{khoinika}, the usual daily allowance.] of wheat every day and nothing more, there would be expended every day eleven myriads of medimnoi[190][The {medimnos} is about a bushel and a half, and is equal to 48 {khoinikes}. The reckoning here of 110,340 {medimnoi} is wrong, owing apparently to the setting down of some numbers in the quotient which were in fact part of the dividend.] and three hundred and forty medimnoi besides: and here I am not reckoning anything for the women, eunuchs, baggage-animals, or dogs. Of all these men, amounting to so many myriads, not one was for beauty and stature more worthy than Xerxes himself to possess this power.

188. The fleet, I say, set forth and sailed: and when it had put in to land in the region of Magnesia at the beach which is between the city of Casthanaia and the headland of Sepias, the first of the ships which came lay moored by the land and the others rode at anchor behind them; for, as the beach was not large in extent, they lay at anchor with prows projecting[191][{prokrossai ormeonto es ponton}: the meaning of {prokrossai} is doubtful, but the introduction of the word is probably due to a reminiscence of Homer, Il. xiv. 35, where the ships are described as drawn up in rows one behind the other on shore, and where {prokrossas} is often explained to mean {klimakedon}, i.e. either in steps one behind the other owing to the rise of the beach, or in the arrangement of the 梅花. Probably in this passage the idea is rather of the prows projecting in rows like battlements {krossai}, and this is the sense in which the word is used by Herodotus elsewhere (iv. 152). The word {krossai} however is used for the successively rising stages of the pyramids (ii. 125), and {prokrossos} may mean simply “in a row,” or “one behind the other,” which would suit all passages in which it occurs, and would explain the expression {prokrossoi pheromenoi epi ton kindunon}, quoted by Athenæus.] towards the sea in an order which was eight ships deep. For that night they lay thus; but at early dawn, after clear sky and windless calm, the sea began to be violently agitated and a great storm fell upon them with a strong East[192][{apeliotes}. Evidently, from its name {Ellespontias} and from its being afterwards called {Boreas}, it was actually a North-East Wind.] Wind, that wind which they who dwell about those parts call Hellespontias. Now as many of them as perceived that the wind was rising and who were so moored that it was possible for them to do so, drew up their ships on land before the storm came, and both they and their ships escaped; but as for those of the ships which it caught out at sea, some it cast away at the place called Ipnoi[193][i.e. “Ovens.”] in Pelion and others on the beach, while some were wrecked on the headland of Sepias itself, others at the city of Meliboia, and others were thrown up on shore[194][{exebrassonto}.] at Casthanaia: and the violence of the storm could not be resisted.

189. There is a story reported that the Athenians had called upon Boreas to aid them, by suggestion of an oracle, because there had come to them another utterance of the god bidding them call upon their brother by marriage to be their helper. Now according to the story of the Hellenes Boreas has a wife who is of Attica, Oreithuia the daughter of Erechththeus. By reason of this affinity, I say, the Athenians, according to the tale which has gone abroad, conjectured that their “brother by marriage” was Boreas, and when they perceived the wind rising, as they lay with their ships at Chalkis in Euboea, or even before that, they offered sacrifices and called upon Boreas and Oreithuia to assist them and to destroy the ships of the Barbarians, as they had done before round about mount Athos. Whether it was for this reason that the wind Boreas fell upon the Barbarians while they lay at anchor, I am not able to say; but however that may be, the Athenians report that Boreas had come to their help in former times, and that at this time he accomplished those things for them of which I speak; and when they had returned home they set up a temple dedicated to Boreas by the river Ilissos.

190. In this disaster the number of the ships which were lost was not less than four hundred, according to the report of those who state the number which is lowest, with men innumerable and an immense quantity of valuable things; insomuch that to Ameinocles the son of Cretines, a Magnesian who held lands about Sepias, this shipwreck proved very gainful; for he picked up many cups of gold which were thrown up afterwards on the shore, and many also of silver, and found treasure-chests[195][{thesaurous}.] which had belonged to the Persians, and made acquisition of other things of gold[196][The word {khrusea}, “of gold,” is omitted by some Editors.] more than can be described. This man however, though he became very wealthy by the things which he found, yet in other respects was not fortunate; for he too suffered misfortune, being troubled by the slaying of a child.[197][“in his case also {kai touton} there was an unpleasing misfortune of the slaying of a child {paidophonos} which troubled him,” i.e. he like others had misfortunes to temper his prosperity.]

191. Of the corn-transports and other vessels which perished there was no numbering made; and so great was the loss that the commanders of the fleet, being struck with fear lest the Thessalians should attack them now that they had been brought into an evil plight, threw round their camp a lofty palisade built of the fragments of wreck. For the storm continued during three days; but at last the Magians, making sacrifice of victims and singing incantations to appease the Wind by enchantments,[198][{goesi}, (from a supposed word {goe}): a correction of {geosi}, “by enchanters,” which is retained by Stein. Some read {khoesi}, “with libations,” others {boesi}, “with cries.”] and in addition to this, offering to Thetis and the Nereïds, caused it to cease on the fourth day, or else for some other reason it abated of its own will. Now they offered sacrifice to Thetis, being informed by the Ionians of the story that she was carried off from the place by Peleus, and that the whole headland of Sepias belonged to her and to the other Nereïds.

192. The storm then had ceased on the fourth day; and meanwhile the day-watchers had run down from the heights of Euboea on the day after the first storm began, and were keeping the Hellenes informed of all that had happened as regards the shipwreck. They then, being informed of it, prayed first to Poseidon the Saviour and poured libations, and then they hastened to go back to Artemision, expecting that there would be but a very few ships of the enemy left to come against them.

193. They, I say, came for the second time and lay with their ships about Artemision: and from that time even to this they preserve the use of the surname “Saviour” for Poseidon. Meanwhile the Barbarians, when the wind had ceased and the swell of the sea had calmed down, drew their ships into the sea and sailed on along the shore of the mainland, and having rounded the extremity of Magnesia they sailed straight into the gulf which leads towards Pagasai. In this gulf of Magnesia there is a place where it is said that Heracles was left behind by Jason and his comrades, having been sent from the Argo to fetch water, at the time when they were sailing for the fleece to Aia in the land of Colchis: for from that place they designed, when they had taken in water, to loose[199][{aphesein}, whence the name {Aphetai} was supposed to be derived.] their ship into the open sea; and from this the place has come to have the name Aphetai. Here then the fleet of Xerxes took up its moorings.

194. Now it chanced that fifteen of these ships put out to sea a good deal later than the rest, and they happened to catch sight of the ships of the Hellenes at Artemision. These ships the Barbarians supposed to be their own, and they sailed thither accordingly and fell among the enemy. Of these the commander was Sandokes the son of Thamasios, the governor of Kyme in Aiolia, whom before this time king Dareios had taken and crucified (he being one of the Royal Judges) for this reason, [19901][Or, “had crucified… having convicted him of the following charge, namely,” etc. Cp. iii. 35 (end).] namely that Sandokes had pronounced judgment unjustly for money. So then after he was hung up, Dareios reckoned and found that more good services had been done by him to the royal house than were equal to his offences; and having found this, and perceived that he had himself acted with more haste than wisdom, he let him go. Thus he escaped from king Dareios, and did not perish but survived; now, however, when he sailed in toward the Hellenes, he was destined not to escape the second time; for when the Hellenes saw them sailing up, perceiving the mistake which was being made they put out against them and captured them without difficulty.

195. Sailing in one of these ships Aridolis was captured, the despot of Alabanda in Caria, and in another the Paphian commander Penthylos son of Demonoös, who brought twelve ships from Paphos, but had lost eleven of them in the storm which had come on by Sepias, and now was captured sailing in towards Artemision with the one which had escaped. These men the Hellenes sent away in bonds to the Isthmus of the Corinthians, after having inquired of them that which they desired to learn of the army of Xerxes.

196. The fleet of the Barbarians then, except the fifteen ships of which I said that Sandokes was in command, had arrived at Aphetai; and Xerxes meanwhile with the land-army, having marched through Thessalia and Achaia, had already entered the land of the Malians two days before,[200][{tritaios}. According to the usual meaning of the word the sense should be “on the third day after” entering Thessaly, but the distance was much greater than a two-days’ march.] after having held in Thessaly a contest for his own horses, making trial also of the Thessalian cavalry, because he was informed that it was the best of all among the Hellenes; and in this trial the horses of Hellas were far surpassed by the others. Now of the rivers in Thessalia the Onochonos alone failed to suffice by its stream for the drinking of the army; but of the rivers which flow in Achaia even that which is the largest of them, namely Epidanos, even this, I say, held out but barely.

197. When Xerxes had reached Alos of Achaia, the guides who gave him information of the way, wishing to inform him fully of everything, reported to him a legend of the place, the things, namely, which have to do with the temple of Zeus Laphystios;[201][i.e. “the Devourer.”] how Athamas the son of Aiolos contrived death for Phrixos, having taken counsel with Ino, and after this how by command of an oracle the Achaians propose to his descendants the following tasks to be performed:—whosoever is the eldest of this race, on him they lay an injunction that he is forbidden to enter the City Hall,[202][{Prutaneiou}, “Hall of the Magistrates.”] and they themselves keep watch; now the City Hall is called by the Achaians the “Hall of the People”;[203][{leiton}.] and if he enter it, it may not be that he shall come forth until he is about to be sacrificed. They related moreover in addition to this, that many of these who were about to be sacrificed had before now run away and departed to another land, because they were afraid; and if afterwards in course of time they returned to their own land and were caught, they were placed[204][{estellonto}: many Editors, following inferior MSS., read {eselthontes} and make changes in the rest of the sentence.] in the City Hall: and they told how the man is sacrificed all thickly covered with wreaths, and with what form of procession he is brought forth to the sacrifice. This is done to the descendants of Kytissoros the son of Phrixos, because, when the Achaians were making of Athamas the son of Aiolos a victim to purge the sins of the land according to the command of an oracle, and were just about to sacrifice him, this Kytissoros coming from Aia of the Colchians rescued him; and having done so he brought the wrath of the gods upon his own descendants. Having heard these things, Xerxes, when he came to the sacred grove, both abstained from entering it himself, and gave the command to his whole army to so likewise; and he paid reverence both to the house and to the sacred enclosure of the descendants of Athamas.

198. These then are the things which happened in Thessalia and in Achaia; and from these regions he proceeded to the Malian land, going along by a gulf of the sea, in which there is an ebb and flow of the tide every day. Round about this gulf there is a level space, which in parts is broad but in other parts very narrow; and mountains lofty and inaccessible surrounding this place enclose the whole land of Malis and are called the rocks of Trachis. The first city upon this gulf as one goes from Achaia is Antikyra, by which the river Spercheios flowing from the land of the Enianians[205][Some MSS. have {Ainienon} for {Enienon}.] runs out into the sea. At a distance of twenty furlongs[206][{stadion}.] or thereabouts from this river there is another, of which the name is Dyras; this is said to have appeared that it might bring assistance to Heracles when he was burning: then again at a distance of twenty furlongs from this there is another river called Melas.

199. From this river Melas the city of Trachis is distant five furlongs; and here, in the parts where Trachis is situated, is even the widest portion of all this district, as regards the space from the mountains to the sea; for the plain has an extent of twenty-two thousand plethra.[207][{diskhilia te gar kai dismuria plethra tou pediou esti}. If the text is right, the {plethron} must here be a measure of area. The amount will then be about 5000 acres.] In the mountain-range which encloses the land of Trachis there is a cleft to the South of Trachis itself; and through this cleft the river Asopos flows, and runs along by the foot of the mountain.

200. There is also another river called Phoinix, to the South of the Asopos, of no great size, which flowing from these mountains runs out into the Asopos; and at the river Phoinix is the narrowest place, for here has been constructed a road with a single wheel-track only. Then from the river Phoinix it is a distance of fifteen furlongs to Thermopylai; and in the space between the river Phoinix and Thermopylai there is a village called Anthela, by which the river Asopos flows, and so runs out into the sea; and about this village there is a wide space in which is set up a temple dedicated to Demeter of the Amphictyons, and there are seats for the Amphictyonic councillors and a temple dedicated to Amphictyon himself.

201. King Xerxes, I say, was encamped within the region of Trachis in the land of the Malians, and the Hellenes within the pass. This place is called by the Hellenes in general Thermopylai, but by the natives of the place and those who dwell in the country round it is called Pylai. Both sides then were encamped hereabout, and the one had command of all that lies beyond Trachis[208][{mekhri Trekhinos}, “up to Trachis,” which was the Southern limit.] in the direction of the North Wind, and the others of that which tends towards the South Wind and the mid-day on this side of the continent.[209][{to epi tautes tes epeirou}. I take {to epi tautes} to be an adverbial expression like {tes eteres} in ch. 36, for I cannot think that the rendering “towards this continent” is satisfactory.]

202. These were the Hellenes who awaited the attack of the Persian in this place:—of the Spartans three hundred hoplites; of the men of Tegea and Mantineia a thousand, half from each place, from Orchomenos in Arcadia a hundred and twenty, and from the rest of Arcadia a thousand,—of the Arcadians so many; from Corinth four hundred, from Phlius two hundred, and of the men of Mykene eighty: these were they who came from the Peloponnese; and from the Boeotians seven hundred of the Thespians, and of the Thebans four hundred.

203. In addition to these the Locrians of Opus had been summoned to come in their full force, and of the Phokians a thousand: for the Hellenes had of themselves sent a summons to them, saying by messengers that they had come as forerunners of the others, that the rest of the allies were to be expected every day, that their sea was safely guarded, being watched by the Athenians and the Eginetans and by those who had been appointed to serve in the fleet, and that they need fear nothing: for he was not a god, they said, who was coming to attack Hellas, but a man; and there was no mortal, nor would be any, with those fortunes evil had not been mingled at his very birth, and the greatest evils for the greatest men; therefore he also who was marching against them, being mortal, would be destined to fail of his expectation. They accordingly, hearing this, came to the assistance of the others at Trachis.

204. Of these troops, although there were other commanders also according to the State to which each belonged, yet he who was most held in regard and who was leader of the whole army was the Lacedemonian Leonidas son of Anaxandrides, son of Leon, son of Eurycratides, son of Anaxander, son of Eurycrates, son of Polydoros, son of Alcamenes, son of Teleclos, son of Archelaos, son of Hegesilaos, son of Doryssos, son of Leobotes, son of Echestratos, son of Agis, son of Eurysthenes, son of Aristodemos, son of Aristomachos, son of Cleodaios, son of Hyllos, son of Heracles; who had obtained the kingdom of Sparta contrary to expectation.

205. For as he had two brothers each older than himself, namely Cleomenes and Dorieos, he had been far removed from the thought of becoming king. Since however Cleomenes had died without male child, and Dorieos was then no longer alive, but he also had brought his life to an end in Sicily,[210][见第 45 节。] thus the kingdom came to Leonidas, both because was of elder birth than Cleombrotos (for Cleombrotos was the youngest of the sons of Anaxandrides) and also because he had in marriage the daughter of Cleomenes. He then at this time went to Thermopylai, having chosen the three hundred who were appointed by law[211][{tous katesteotas}. There is a reference to the body of 300 so called {ippeis} (cp. i. 67), who were appointed to accompany the king in war; but we must suppose that on special occasions the king made up this appointed number by selection, and that in this case those were preferred who had sons to keep up the family. Others (including Grote) understand {tous katesteotas} to mean “men of mature age.”] and men who chanced to have sons; and he took with him besides, before he arrived, those Thebans whom I mentioned when I reckoned them in the number of the troops, of whom the commander was Leontiades the son of Eurymachos: and for this reason Leonidas was anxious to take up these with him of all the Hellenes, namely because accusations had been strongly brought against them that they were taking the side of the Medes; therefore he summoned them to the war, desiring to know whether they would send troops with them or whether they would openly renounce the alliance of the Hellenes; and they sent men, having other thoughts in their mind the while.

206. These with Leonidas the Spartans had sent out first, in order that seeing them the other allies might join in the campaign, and for fear that they also might take the side of the Medes, if they heard that the Spartans were putting off their action. Afterwards, however, when they had kept the festival, (for the festival of the Carneia stood in their way), they intended then to leave a garrison in Sparta and to come to help in full force with speed: and just so also the rest of the allies had thought of doing themselves; for it chanced that the Olympic festival fell at the same time as these events. Accordingly, since they did not suppose that the fighting in Thermopylai would so soon be decided, they sent only the forerunners of their force.

207. These, I say, had intended to do thus: and meanwhile the Hellenes at Thermopylai, when the Persian had come near to the pass, were in dread, and deliberated about making retreat from their position. To the rest of the Peloponnesians then it seemed best that they should go to the Peloponnese and hold the Isthmus in guard; but Leonidas, when the Phokians and Locrians were indignant at this opinion, gave his vote for remaining there, and for sending at the same time messengers to the several States bidding them to come up to help them, since they were but few to repel the army of the Medes.

208. As they were thus deliberating, Xerxes sent a scout on horseback to see how many they were in number and what they were doing; for he had heard while he was yet in Thessaly that there had been assembled in this place a small force, and that the leaders of it were Lacedemonians together with Leonidas, who was of the race of Heracles. And when the horseman had ridden up towards their camp, he looked upon them and had a view not indeed of the whole of their army, for of those which were posted within the wall, which they had repaired and were keeping a guard, it was not possible to have a view, but he observed those who were outside, whose station was in front of the wall; and it chanced at that time that the Lacedemonians were they who were posted outside. So then he saw some of the men practising athletic exercises and some combing their long hair: and as he looked upon these things he marvelled, and at the same time he observed their number: and when he had observed all exactly, he rode back unmolested, for no one attempted to pursue him and he found himself treated with much indifference. And when he returned he reported to Xerxes all that which he had seen.

209. Hearing this Xerxes was not able to conjecture the truth about the matter, namely that they were preparing themselves to die and to deal death to the enemy so far as they might; but it seemed to him that they were acting in a manner merely ridiculous; and therefore he sent for Demaratos the son of Ariston, who was in his camp, and when he came, Xerxes asked him of these things severally, desiring to discover what this was which the Lacedemonians were doing: and he said: “Thou didst hear from my mouth at a former time, when we were setting forth to go against Hellas, the things concerning these men; and having heard them thou madest me an object of laughter, because I told thee of these things which I perceived would come to pass; for to me it is the greatest of all ends to speak the truth continually before thee, O king. Hear then now also: these men have come to fight with us for the passage, and this is it that they are preparing to do; for they have a custom which is as follows;—whenever they are about to put their lives in peril, then they attend to the arrangement of their hair. Be assured however, that if thou shalt subdue these and the rest of them which remain behind in Sparta, there is no other race of men which will await thy onset, O king, or will raise hands against thee: for now thou art about to fight against the noblest kingdom and city of those which are among the Hellenes, and the best men.” To Xerxes that which was said seemed to be utterly incredible, and he asked again a second time in what manner being so few they would fight with his host. He said; “O king, deal with me as with a liar, if thou find not that these things come to pass as I say.”

210. Thus saying he did not convince Xerxes, who let four days go by, expecting always that they would take to flight; but on the fifth day, when they did not depart but remained, being obstinate, as he thought, in impudence and folly, he was enraged and sent against them the Medes and the Kissians, charging them to take the men alive and bring them into his presence. Then when the Medes moved forward and attacked the Hellenes, there fell many of them, and others kept coming up continually, and they were not driven back, though suffering great loss: and they made it evident to every man, and to the king himself not least of all, that human beings are many but men are few. This combat went on throughout the day:

211, and when the Medes were being roughly handled, then these retired from the battle, and the Persians, those namely whom the king called “Immortals,” of whom Hydarnes was commander, took their place and came to the attack, supposing that they at least would easily overcome the enemy. When however these also engaged in combat with the Hellenes, they gained no more success than the Median troops but the same as they, seeing that they were fighting in a place with a narrow passage, using shorter spears than the Hellenes, and not being able to take advantage of their superior numbers. The Lacedemonians meanwhile were fighting in a memorable fashion, and besides other things of which they made display, being men perfectly skilled in fighting opposed to men who were unskilled, they would turn their backs to the enemy and make a pretence of taking to flight; and the Barbarians, seeing them thus taking a flight, would follow after them with shouting and clashing of arms: then the Lacedemonians, when they were being caught up, turned and faced the Barbarians; and thus turning round they would slay innumerable multitudes of the Persians; and there fell also at these times a few of the Spartans themselves. So, as the Persians were not able to obtain any success by making trial of the entrance and attacking it by divisions and every way, they retired back.

212. And during these onsets it is said that the king, looking on, three times leapt up from his seat, struck with fear for his army. Thus they contended then: and on the following day the Barbarians strove with no better success; for because the men opposed to them were few in number, they engaged in battle with the expectation that they would be found to be disabled and would not be capable any longer of raising their hands against them in fight. The Hellenes however were ordered by companies as well as by nations, and they fought successively each in turn, excepting the Phokians, for these were posted upon the mountain to guard the path. So the Persians, finding nothing different from that which they had seen on the former day, retired back from the fight.

213. Then when the king was in a strait as to what he should do in the matter before him, Epialtes the son of Eurydemos, a Malian, came to speech with him, supposing that he would win a very great reward from the king; and this man told him of the path which leads over the mountain to Thermopylai, and brought about the destruction of those Hellenes who remained in that place. Afterwards from fear of the Lacedemonians he fled to Thessaly, and when he had fled, a price was proclaimed for his life by the Deputies,[212][{ton Pulagoron}.]when the Amphictyons met for their assembly at Pylai.[213][{es ten Pulaien}.] Then some time afterwards having returned to Antikyra he was slain by Athenades a man of Trachis. Now this Athenades killed Epialtes for another cause, which I shall set forth in the following part of the history,[214][An indication that the historian intended to carry his work further than the year 479.] but he was honoured for it none the less by the Lacedemonians.

214. Thus Epialtes after these events was slain: there is however another tale told, that Onetes the son of Phanagoras, a man of Carystos, and Corydallos of Antikyra were those who showed the Persians the way round the mountain; but this I can by no means accept: for first we must judge by this fact, namely that the Deputies of the Hellenes did not proclaim a price for the lives of Onetes and Corydallos, but for that of Epialtes the Trachinian, having surely obtained the most exact information of the matter; and secondly we know that Epialtes was an exile from his country to avoid this charge. True it is indeed that Onetes might know of this path, even though he were not a Malian, if he had had much intercourse with the country; but Epialtes it was who led them round the mountain by the path, and him therefore I write down as the guilty man.

215. Xerxes accordingly, being pleased by that which Epialtes engaged to accomplish, at once with great joy proceeded to send Hydarnes and the men of whom Hydarnes was commander;[215][参见第 83 章。 XNUMX.] and they set forth from the camp about the time when the lamps are lit. This path of which we speak had been discovered by the Malians who dwell in that land, and having discovered it they led the Thessalians by it against the Phokians, at the time when the Phokians had fenced the pass with a wall and thus were sheltered from the attacks upon them: so long ago as this had the pass been proved by the Malians to be of no value.[216][{ek te tosou de katededekto eousa ouden khreste Melieusi}, i.e. {e esbole}.] And this path lies as follows:—it begins from the river Asopos, which flows through the cleft, and the name of this mountain and of the path is the same, namely Anopaia; and this Anopaia stretches over the ridge of the mountain and ends by the town of Alpenos, which is the first town of the Locrians towards Malis, and by the stone called Black Buttocks[217][{Melampugon}.] and the seats of the Kercopes, where is the very narrowest part.

217. By this path thus situated the Persians after crossing over the Asopos proceeded all through the night, having on their right hand the mountains of the Oitaians and on the left those of the Trachinians: and when dawn appeared, they had reached the summit of the mountain. In this part of the mountain there were, as I have before shown, a thousand hoplites of the Phokians keeping guard, to protect their own country and to keep the path: for while the pass below was guarded by those whom I have mentioned, the path over the mountain was guarded by the Phokians, who had undertaken the business for Leonidas by their own offer.

218. While the Persians were ascending they were concealed from these, since all the mountain was covered with oak-trees; and the Phokians became aware of them after they had made the ascent as follows:—the day was calm, and not a little noise was made by the Persians, as was likely when leaves were lying spread upon the ground under their feet; upon which the Phokians started up and began to put on their arms, and by this time the Barbarians were close upon them. These, when they saw men arming themselves, fell into wonder, for they were expecting that no one would appear to oppose them, and instead of that they had met with an armed force. Then Hydarnes, seized with fear lest the Phokians should be Lacedemonians, asked Epialtes of what people the force was; and being accurately informed he set the Persians in order for battle. The Phokians however, when they were hit by the arrows of the enemy, which flew thickly, fled and got away at once to the topmost peak of the mountain, fully assured that it was against them that the enemy had designed to come,[218][Lit. “had set out to go at first.”] and here they were ready to meet death. These, I say, were in this mind; but the Persians meanwhile with Epialtes and Hydarnes made no account of the Phokians, but descended the mountain with all speed.

219. To the Hellenes who were in Thermopylai first the soothsayer Megistias, after looking into the victims which were sacrificed, declared the death which was to come to them at dawn of day; and afterwards deserters brought the report[219][Lit. “and afterwards deserters were they who reported.”] of the Persians having gone round. These signified it to them while it was yet night, and thirdly came the day-watchers, who had run down from the heights when day was already dawning. Then the Hellenes deliberated, and their opinions were divided; for some urged that they should not desert their post, while others opposed this counsel. After this they departed from their assembly,[220][{diakrithentes}.] and some went away and dispersed each to their several cities, while others of them were ready to remain there together with Leonidas.

220. However it is reported also that Leonidas himself sent them away, having a care that they might not perish, but thinking that it was not seemly for himself and for the Spartans who were present to leave the post to which they had come at first to keep guard there. I am inclined rather to be of this latter opinion,[221][{taute kai mallon te gnome pleistos eimi}.] namely that because Leonidas perceived that the allies were out of heart and did not desire to face the danger with him to the end, he ordered them to depart, but held that for himself to go away was not honourable, whereas if he remained, a great fame of him would be left behind, and the prosperity of Sparta would not be blotted out: for an oracle had been given by the Pythian prophetess to the Spartans, when they consulted about this war at the time when it was being first set on foot, to the effect that either Lacedemon must be destroyed by the Barbarians, or their king must lose his life. This reply the prophetess gave them in hexameter verses, and it ran thus:

“But as for you, ye men who in wide-spaced Sparta inhabit,
Either your glorious city is sacked by the children of Perses,
Or, if it be not so, then a king of the stock Heracleian
Dead shall be mourned for by all in the boundaries of broad Lacedemon.
[222][i.e. the Persian.] nor the might of bulls nor the raging of lions shall hinder;
For he hath might as of Zeus; and I say he shall not be restrained,
Till one of the other of these he have utterly torn and divided.”[223][{prin tond eteron dia panta dasetai}: i.e. either the city or the king.]

I am of opinion that Leonidas considering these things and desiring to lay up for himself glory above all the other Spartans,[224][{mounon Spartieteon}: some Editors (following Plutarch) read {mounon Spartieteon}, “lay up for the Spartans glory above all other nations.”] dismissed the allies, rather than that those who departed did so in such disorderly fashion, because they were divided in opinion.

221. Of this the following has been to my mind a proof as convincing as any other, namely that Leonidas is known to have endeavoured to dismiss the soothsayer also who accompanied this army, Megistias the Acarnanian, who was said to be descended from Melampus, that he might not perish with them after he had declared from the victims that which was about to come to pass for them. He however when he was bidden to go would not himself depart, but sent away his son who was with him in the army, besides whom he had no other child.

222. The allies then who were dismissed departed and went away, obeying the word of Leonidas, and only the Thespians and the Thebans remained behind with the Lacedemonians. Of these the Thebans stayed against their will and not because they desired it, for Leonidas kept them, counting them as hostages; but the Thespians very willingly, for they said that they would not depart and leave Leonidas and those with him, but they stayed behind and died with them. The commander of these was Demophilos the son of Diadromes.

223. Xerxes meanwhile, having made libations at sunrise, stayed for some time, until about the hour when the market fills, and then made an advance upon them; for thus it had been enjoined by Epialtes, seeing that the descent of the mountain is shorter and the space to be passed over much less than the going round and the ascent. The Barbarians accordingly with Xerxes were advancing to the attack; and the Hellenes with Leonidas, feeling that they were going forth to death, now advanced out much further than at first into the broader part of the defile; for when the fence of the wall was being guarded,[225][{to men gar eruma tou teikheos ephulasseto, oi de k.t.l.}] they on the former days fought retiring before the enemy into the narrow part of the pass; but now they engaged with them outside the narrows, and very many of the Barbarians fell: for behind them the leaders of the divisions with scourges in their hands were striking each man, ever urging them on to the front. Many of them then were driven into the sea and perished, and many more still were trodden down while yet alive by one another, and there was no reckoning of the number that perished: for knowing the death which was about to come upon them by reason of those who were going round the mountain, they[226][i.e. the Lacedemonians.] displayed upon the Barbarians all the strength which they had, to its greatest extent, disregarding danger and acting as if possessed by a spirit of recklessness.

224. Now by this time the spears of the greater number of them were broken, so it chanced, in this combat, and they were slaying the Persians with their swords; and in this fighting fell Leonidas, having proved himself a very good man, and others also of the Spartans with him, men of note, of whose names I was informed as of men who had proved themselves worthy, and indeed I was told also the names of all the three hundred. Moreover of the Persians there fell here, besides many others of note, especially two sons of Dareios, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, born to Dareios of Phratagune the daughter of Artanes: now Artanes was the brother of king Dareios and the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames; and he in giving his daughter in marriage to Dareios gave also with her all his substance, because she was his only child.

225. Two brothers of Xerxes, I say, fell here fighting; and meanwhile over the body of Leonidas there arose a great struggle between the Persians and the Lacedemonians, until the Hellenes by valour dragged this away from the enemy and turned their opponents to flight four times. This conflict continued until those who had gone with Epialtes came up; and when the Hellenes learnt that these had come, from that moment the nature of the combat was changed; for they retired backwards to the narrow part of the way, and having passed by the wall they went and placed themselves upon the hillock,[227][{izonto epi ton kolonon}.] all in a body together except only the Thebans: now this hillock is in the entrance, where now the stone lion is placed for Leonidas. On this spot while defending themselves with daggers, that is those who still had them left, and also with hands and with teeth, they were overwhelmed by the missiles of the Barbarians, some of these having followed directly after them and destroyed the fence of the wall, while others had come round and stood about them on all sides.

226. Such were the proofs of valour given by the Lacedemonians and Thespians; yet the Spartan Dienekes is said to have proved himself the best man of all, the same who, as they report, uttered this saying before they engaged battle with the Medes:—being informed by one of the men of Trachis that when the Barbarians discharged their arrows they obscured the light of the sun by the multitude of the arrows, so great was the number of their host, he was not dismayed by this, but making small account of the number of the Medes, he said that their guest from Trachis brought them very good news, for if the Medes obscured the light of the sun, the battle against them would be in the shade and not in the sun.

227. This and other sayings of this kind they report that Dienekes the Lacedemonian left as memorials of himself; and after him the bravest they say of the Lacedemonians were two brothers Alpheos and Maron, sons of Orsiphantos. Of the Thespians the man who gained most honour was named Dithyrambos son of Harmatides.

228. The men were buried were they fell; and for these, as well as for those who were slain before being sent away[228][Some Editors insert {tous} after {e}, “before those who were sent away by Leonidas had departed.”] by Leonidas, there is an inscription which runs thus:

“Here once, facing in fight three hundred myriads of foemen,
Thousands four did contend, men of the Peloponnese.”

This is the inscription for the whole body; and for the Spartans separately there is this:

“Stranger, report this word, we pray, to the Spartans, that lying
Here in this spot we remain, faithfully keeping their laws.”[229][{remasi}.]

This, I say, for the Lacedemonians; and for the soothsayer as follows:

“This is the tomb of Megistias renowned, whom the Median foemen,
Where Sperchios doth flow, slew when they forded the stream;
Soothsayer he, who then knowing clearly the fates that were coming,
Did not endure in the fray Sparta’s good leaders to leave.”

The Amphictyons it was who honoured them with inscriptions and memorial pillars, excepting only in the case of the inscription to the soothsayer; but that of the soothsayer Megistias was inscribed by Simonides the son of Leoprepes on account of guest-friendship.

229. Two of these three hundred, it is said, namely Eurystos and Aristodemos, who, if they had made agreement with one another, might either have come safe home to Sparta together (seeing that they had been dismissed from the camp by Leonidas and were lying at Alpenoi with disease of the eyes, suffering extremely), or again, if they had not wished to return home, they might have been slain together with the rest,—when they might, I say, have done either one of these two things, would not agree together; but the two being divided in opinion, Eurystos, it is said, when he was informed that the Persians had gone round, asked for his arms and having put them on ordered his Helot to lead him to those who were fighting; and after he had led him thither, the man who had led him ran away and departed, but Eurystos plunged into the thick of the fighting, and so lost his life: but Aristodemos was left behind fainting.[230][{leipopsukheonta}, a word which refers properly to bodily weakness. It has been proposed to read {philopsukheonta}, “loving his life,” cp. vi. 29.] Now if either Aristodemos had been ill[231][{algesanta}: some good MSS. have {alogesanta}, which is adopted by Stein, “had in his ill-reckoning returned alone.”] alone, and so had returned home to Sparta, or the men had both of them come back together, I do not suppose that the Spartans would have displayed any anger against them; but in this case, as the one of them had lost his life and the other, clinging to an excuse which the first also might have used,[232][{tes autes ekhomenou prophasios}.] had not been willing to die, it necessarily happened that the Spartans had great indignation against Aristodemos.

230. Some say that Aristodemos came safe to Sparta in this manner, and on a pretext such as I have said; but others, that he had been sent as a messenger from the camp, and when he might have come up in time to find the battle going on, was not willing to do so, but stayed upon the road and so saved his life, while his fellow-messenger reached the battle and was slain.

231. When Aristodemos, I say, had returned home to Lacedemon, he had reproach and dishonour;[233][{atimien}.] and that which he suffered by way of dishonour was this,—no one of the Spartans would either give him light for a fire or speak with him, and he had reproach in that he was called Aristodemos the coward.[234][{o tresas}.]

232. He however in the battle at Plataia repaired all the guilt that was charged against him: but it is reported that another man also survived of these three hundred, whose name was Pantites, having been sent as a messenger to Thessaly, and this man, when he returned back to Sparta and found himself dishonoured, is said to have strangled himself.

233. The Thebans however, of whom the commander was Leontiades, being with the Hellenes had continued for some time to fight against the king’s army, constrained by necessity; but when they saw that the fortunes of the Persians were prevailing, then and not before, while the Hellenes with Leonidas were making their way with speed to the hillock, they separated from these and holding out their hands came near to the Barbarians, saying at the same time that which was most true, namely that they were on the side of the Medes and that they had been among the first to give earth and water to the king; and moreover that they had come to Thermopylai constrained by necessity, and were blameless for the loss which had been inflicted upon the king: so that thus saying they preserved their lives, for they had also the Thessalians to bear witness to these words. However, they did not altogether meet with good fortune, for some had even been slain as they had been approaching, and when they had come and the Barbarians had them in their power, the greater number of them were branded by command of Xerxes with the royal marks, beginning with their leader Leontiades, the same whose son Eurymachos was afterwards slain by the Plataians, when he had been made commander of four hundred Thebans and had seized the city of the Plataians.[235][Thuc. ii. 2 ff.]

234. Thus did the Hellenes at Thermopylai contend in fight; and Xerxes summoned Demaratos and inquired of him, having first said this: “Demaratos, thou art a good man; and this I conclude by the truth of thy words, for all that thou saidest turned out so as thou didst say. Now, however, tell me how many in number are the remaining Lacedemonians, and of them how many are like these in matters of war; or are they so even all of them?” He said: “O king, the number of all the Lacedemonians is great and their cities are many, but that which thou desirest to learn, thou shalt know. There is in Lacedemon the city of Sparta, having about eight thousand men; and these are all equal to those who fought here: the other Lacedemonians are not equal to these, but they are good men too.” To this Xerxes said: “Demaratos, in what manner shall we with least labour get the better of these men? Come set forth to us this; for thou knowest the courses of their counsels,[236][{tas diexodous ton bouleumaton}, cp. iii. 156.] seeing that thou wert once their king.”

235. He made answer: “O king, if thou dost in very earnest take counsel with me, it is right that I declare to thee the best thing. What if thou shouldest send three hundred ships from thy fleet to attack the Laconian land? Now there is lying near it an island named Kythera, about which Chilon, who was a very wise man among us, said that it would be a greater gain for the Spartans that it should be sunk under the sea than that it should remain above it; for he always anticipated that something would happen from it of such a kind as I am now setting forth to thee: not that he knew of thy armament beforehand, but that he feared equally every armament of men. Let thy forces then set forth from this island and keep the Lacedemonians in fear; and while they have a war of their own close at their doors, there will be no fear for thee from them that when the remainder of Hellas is being conquered by the land-army, they will come to the rescue there. Then after the remainder of Hellas has been reduced to subjection, from that moment the Lacedemonian power will be left alone and therefore feeble. If however thou shalt not do this, I will tell thee what thou must look for. There is a narrow isthmus leading to the Peloponnese, and in this place thou must look that other battles will be fought more severe than those which have taken place, seeing that all the Peloponnesians have sworn to a league against thee: but if thou shalt do the other thing of which I spoke, this isthmus and the cities within it will come over to thy side without a battle.”

236. After him spoke Achaimenes, brother of Xerxes and also commander of the fleet, who chanced to have been present at this discourse and was afraid lest Xerxes should be persuaded to do this: “O king,” he said, “I see that thou art admitting the speech of a man who envies thy good fortune, or is even a traitor to thy cause: for in truth the Hellenes delight in such a temper as this; they envy a man for his good luck, and they hate that which is stronger than themselves. And if, besides other misfortunes which we have upon us, seeing that four hundred of our ships[237][{ton vees k.t.l.}: some Editors insert {ek} before {ton}, “by which four hundred ships have suffered shipwreck.”] have suffered wreck, thou shalt send away another three hundred from the station of the fleet to sail round Peloponnese, then thy antagonists become a match for thee in fight; whereas while it is all assembled together our fleet is hard for them to deal with, and they will not be at all a match for thee: and moreover the whole sea-force will support the land-force and be supported by it, if they proceed onwards together; but if thou shalt divide them, neither wilt thou be of service to them nor they to thee. My determination is rather to set thy affairs in good order[238][{ta seoutou de tithemenos eu gnomen ekho}: for {ekho} some inferior MSS. have {ekhe}, which is adopted by several Editors, “Rather set thy affairs in good order and determine not to consider,” etc.] and not to consider the affairs of the enemy, either where they will set on foot the war or what they will do or how many in number they are; for it is sufficient that they should themselves take thought for themselves, and we for ourselves likewise: and if the Lacedemonians come to stand against the Persians in fight, they will assuredly not heal the wound from which they are now suffering.”[239][{to pareon troma}, i.e. their defeat.]

237. To him Xerxes made answer as follows: “Achaimenes, I think that thou speakest well, and so will I do; but Demaratos speaks that which he believes to be best for me, though his opinion is defeated by thine: for I will not certainly admit that which thou saidest, namely that he is not well-disposed to my cause, judging both by what was said by him before this, and also by that which is the truth, namely that though one citizen envies another for his good fortune and shows enmity to him by his silence,[240][{kai esti dusmenes te sige}. Some commentators understand {te sige} to mean “secretly,” like {sige}, viii. 74.] nor would a citizen when a fellow-citizen consulted him suggest that which seemed to him the best, unless he had attained to a great height of virtue, and such men doubtless are few; yet guest-friend to guest-friend in prosperity is well-disposed as nothing else on earth, and if his friend should consult him, he would give him the best counsel. Thus then as regards the evil-speaking against Demaratos, that is to say about one who is my guest-friend, I bid every one abstain from it in the future.”

238. Having thus said Xerxes passed in review the bodies of the dead; and as for Leonidas, hearing that he had been the king and commander of the Lacedemonians he bade them cut off his head and crucify him. And it has been made plain to me by many proofs besides, but by none more strongly than by this, that king Xerxes was enraged with Leonidas while alive more than with any other man on earth; for otherwise he would never have done this outrage to his corpse; since of all the men whom I know, the Persians are accustomed most to honour those who are good men in war. They then to whom it was appointed to do these things, proceeded to do so.

239. I will return now to that point of my narrative where it remained unfinished.[241][参见第 220 章。 XNUMX.] The Lacedemonians had been informed before all others that the king was preparing an expedition against Hellas; and thus it happened that they sent to the Oracle at Delphi, where that reply was given them which I reported shortly before this. And they got this information in a strange manner; for Demaratos the son of Ariston after he had fled for refuge to the Medes was not friendly to the Lacedemonians, as I am of opinion and as likelihood suggests supporting my opinion; but it is open to any man to make conjecture whether he did this thing which follows in a friendly spirit or in malicious triumph over them. When Xerxes had resolved to make a campaign against Hellas, Demaratos, being in Susa and having been informed of this, had a desire to report it to the Lacedemonians. Now in no other way was he able to signify it, for there was danger that he should be discovered, but he contrived thus, that is to say, he took a folding tablet and scraped off the wax which was upon it, and then he wrote the design of the king upon the wood of the tablet, and having done so he melted the wax and poured it over the writing, so that the tablet (being carried without writing upon it) might not cause any trouble to be given by the keepers of the road. Then when it had arrived at Lacedemon, the Lacedemonians were not able to make conjecture of the matter; until at last, as I am informed, Gorgo, the daughter of Cleomenes and wife of Leonidas, suggested a plan of which she had herself thought, bidding them scrape the wax and they would find writing upon the wood; and doing as she said they found the writing and read it, and after that they sent notice to the other Hellenes. These things are said to have come to pass in this manner.[242][Many Editors pronounce the last chapter to be an interpolation, but perhaps with hardly sufficient reason.]

第七册注释 •3,500字

[1] [{kai ploia}, for transport of horses and also of provisions: however these words are omitted in some of the best MSS.]

[2] [{all ei}: this is the reading of the better class of MSS. The rest have {alla}, which with {pressois} could only express a wish for success, and not an exhortation to action.]

[3] [{outos men oi o logos en timoros}: the words may mean “this manner of discourse was helpful for his purpose.”]

[4] [{khresmologon e kai diatheten khresmon ton Mousaiou}.]

[5] [{aphanizoiato}, representing the present tense {aphanizontai} in the oracle.]

[6] [{ton thronon touton}: most MSS. have {ton thronon, touto}.]

[7] [{epistasthe kou pantes}: the MSS. have {ta epistasthe kou pantes}, which is given by most Editors. In that case {oia erxan} would be an exclamation, “What evils they did to us,… things which ye all know well, I think.”]

[8] [{touton mentoi eineka}: it is hardly possible here to give {mentoi} its usual meaning: Stein in his latest edition reads {touton men toinun}.]

[9] [{suneneike}: Stein reads {suneneike se}, “supposing that thou art worsted.”]

[10] [{ep andri ge eni}, as opposed to a god.]

[11] [{akousesthai tina psemi ton k.t.l.}, “each one of those who are left behind.”]

[12] [{kai Kurou}, a conjectural emendation of {tou Kurou}. The text of the MSS. enumerates all these as one continuous line of ascent. It is clear however that the enumeration is in fact of two separate lines, which combine in Teïspes, the line of ascent through the father Dareios being, Dareios, Hystaspes, Arsames, Ariamnes, Teïspes, and through the mother, Atossa, Cyrus, Cambyses, Teïspes.]

[13] [{kai mala}: perhaps, “even.”]

[1301] [Lit. “nor is he present who will excuse thee.”]

[14] [Lit. “my youth boiled over.”]

[15] [Lit. “words more unseemly than was right.”]

[16] [{all oude tauta esti o pai theia}.]

[17] [{peplanesthai}.]

[18] [{autai}: a correction of {autai}.]

[19] [{se de epiphoitesei}: the better MSS. have {oude epiphoitesei}, which is adopted by Stein.]

[20] [{pempto de etei anomeno}.]

[21] [{ton Ionion}.]

[22] [{kai oud ei eperai pros tautesi prosgenomenai}: some MSS. read {oud eterai pros tautesi genomenai}, which is adopted (with variations) by some Editors. The meaning would be “not all these, nor others which happened in addition to these, were equal to this one.”]

[23] [{ama strateuomenoisi}: {ama} is omitted in some MSS.]

[24] [{stadion},等等。]

[25] [{entos Sanes}: some MSS. read {ektos Sanes}, which is adopted by Stein, who translates “beyond Sane, but on this side of Mount Athos”: this however will not suit the case of all the towns mentioned, e.g. Acrothoon, and {ton Athen} just below clearly means the whole peninsula.]

[26] [{leukolinou}.]

[27] [{ton de on pleiston}: if this reading is right, {siton} must be understood, and some MSS. read {allon} for {alla} in the sentence above. Stein in his latest edition reads {siton} instead of {pleiston}.]

[28] [Lit. “the name of which happens to be Catarractes.”]

[29] [即4,000,000。]

[30] [The {stater dareikos} was of nearly pure gold (cp. iv. 166), weighing about 124 grains.]

[3001] [{stele}, i.e. a square block of stone.]

[31] [{athanato andri}, taken by some to mean one of the body of “Immortals.”]

[32] [{akte pakhea}: some inferior MSS. read {akte trakhea}, and hence some Editors have {akte trekhea}, “a rugged foreland.”]

[33] [{dolero}: some Editors read {tholero}, “turbid,” by conjecture.]

[34] [The meaning is much disputed. I understand Herodotus to state that though the vessels lay of course in the direction of the stream from the Hellespont, that is presenting their prows (or sterns) to the stream, yet this did not mean that they pointed straight towards the Propontis and Euxine; for the stream after passing Sestos runs almost from North to South with even a slight tendency to the East (hence {eurou} a few lines further on), so that ships lying in the stream would point in a line cutting at right angles that of the longer axis (from East to West) of the Pontus and Propontis. This is the meaning of {epikarsios} elsewhere in Herodotus (i. 180 and iv. 101), and it would be rash to assign to it any other meaning here. It is true however that the expression {pros esperes} is used loosely below for the side toward the Egean. For {anakokheue} a subject must probably be supplied from the clause {pentekonterous—sunthentes}, “that it (i.e. the combination of ships) might support etc.,” and {ton tonon ton oplon} may either mean as below “the stretched ropes,” or “the tension of the ropes,” which would be relieved by the support: the latter meaning seems to me preferable.]

Mr. Whitelaw suggests to me that {epikarsios} ({epi kar}) may mean rather “head-foremost,” which seems to be its meaning in Homer (Odyss. ix. 70), and from which might be obtained the idea of intersection, one line running straight up against another, which it has in other passages. In that case it would here mean “heading towards the Pontus.”]

[35] [{tas men pros tou Pontou tes eteres}. Most commentators would supply {gephures} with {tes eteres}, but evidently both bridges must have been anchored on both sides.]

[36] [{eurou}: Stein adopts the conjecture {zephurou}.]

[37] [{ton pentekonteron kai triereon trikhou}: the MSS. give {ton pentekonteron kai trikhou}, “between the fifty-oared galleys in as many as three places,” but it is strange that the fifty-oared galleys should be mentioned alone, and there seems no need of {kai} with {trikhou}. Stein reads {ton pentekonteron kai triereon} (omitting {trikhou} altogether), and this may be right.]

[38] [i.e. in proportion to the quantity: there was of course a greater weight altogether of the papyrus rope.]

[39] [{autis epezeugnuon}.]

[40] [{ekleipsin}: cp. {eklipon} above.]

[41] [Or, according to some MSS., “Nisaian.”]

[42] [i.e. not downwards.]

[43] [{tina autou sukhnon omilon}.]

[44] [{to Priamou Pergamon}.]

[45] [{en Abudo mese}: some inferior authorities (followed by most Editors) omit {mese}: but the district seems to be spoken of, as just above.]

[46] [{proexedre lothou leukou}: some kind of portico or 阳台 seems to be meant.]

[47] [{daimonie andoon}.]

[48] [{ena auton}.]

[49] [{to proso aiei kleptomenos}: “stealing thy advance continually,” i.e. “advancing insensibly further.” Some take {kleptomenos} as passive, “insensibly lured on further.”]

[50] [{neoteron ti poiesein}.]

[51] [Or, according to some MSS., “the Persian land.”]

[52] [Lit. “the name of which happens to be Agora.”]

[53] [即1,700,000。]

[54] [{sunnaxantes}: a conjectural emendation very generally adopted of {sunaxantes} or {sunapsantes}.]

[55] [{apageas}, i.e. not stiffly standing up; the opposite to {pepeguias} (ch. 64).]

[56] [{lepidos siderees opsin ikhthueideos}: many Editors suppose that some words have dropped out. The {kithon} spoken of may have been a coat of armour, but elsewhere the body armour {thorex} is clearly distinguished from the {kithon}, see ix. 22.]

[57] [{gerra}: cp. ix. 61 and 102.]

[58] [Cp. i. 7.]

[59] [{mitrephoroi esan}: the {mitre} was perhaps a kind of turban.]

[60] [{tesi Aiguptiesi}, apparently {makhairesi} is meant to be supplied: cp. ch. 91.]

[61] [{eklethesan}, “were called” from the first.]

[62] [These words are by some Editors thought to be an interpolation. The Chaldeans in fact had become a caste of priests, cp. i. 181.]

[63] [{kurbasias}: supposed to be the same as the 头饰 (cp. v. 49), but in this case stiff and upright.]

[64] [i.e. Areians, cp. iii. 93.]

[65] [{sisurnas}: cp. iv. 109.]

[66] [{akinakas}.]

[67] [{sisurnophoroi}.]

[68] [{zeiras}.]

[69] [{toxa palintona}.]

[70] [{spathes}, which perhaps means the stem of the leaf.]

[71] [{gupso}, “white chalk.”]

[72] [{milto}, “red ochre.”]

[73] [Some words have apparently been lost containing the name of the nation to which the following description applies. It is suggested that this might be either the Chalybians or the Pisidians.]

[74] [{lukioergeas}, an emendation from Athenæus of {lukoergeas} (or {lukergeas}), which might perhaps mean “for wolf-hunting.”]

[75] [{anastpastous}: cp. iii. 93.]

[76] [Some Editors place this clause before the words: “and Smerdomenes the son of Otanes,” for we do not hear of Otanes or Smerdomenes elsewhere as brother and nephew of Dareios. On the other hand Mardonios was son of the 妹妹 of Dareios.]

[77] [{tukhe}, “hits.”]

[78] [{keletas}, “single horses.”]

[79] [This name is apparently placed here wrongly. It has been proposed to read {Kaspeiroi} or {Paktues}.]

[80] [{ippeue}: the greater number of MSS. have {ippeuei} here as at the beginning of ch. 84, to which this is a reference back, but with a difference of meaning. There the author seemed to begin with the intention of giving a full list of the cavalry force of the Persian Empire, and then confined his account to those actually present on this occasion, whereas here the word in combination with {mouna} refers only to those just enumerated.]

[81] [即80,000。]

[82] [{Suroisi}, see note on ii. 104.]

[83] [{tukous}, which appears to mean ordinarily a tool for stone-cutting.]

[84] [{mitresi}, perhaps “turbans.”]

[85] [{kithonas}: there is some probability in the suggestion of {kitarias} here, for we should expect mention of a head-covering, and the word {kitaris} (which is explained to mean the same as {tiara}), is quoted by Pollux as occurring in Herodotus.]

[86] [{kithonas}.]

[87] [{drepana}, “reaping-hooks,” cp. v. 112.]

[88] [See i. 171.]

[89] [{Pelasgoi Aigialees}.]

[90] [{kerkouroi}.]

[91] [{makra}: some MSS. and editions have {smikra}, “small.”]

[92] [Or “Mapen.”]

[93] [Or “Seldomos.”]

[94] [{metopedon}.]

[95] [{me oentes arthmioi}. This is generally taken to mean, “unless they were of one mind together”; but that would very much weaken the force of the remark, and {arthmios} elsewhere is the opposite of {polemios}, cp. vi. 83 and ix. 9, 37: Xerxes professes enmity only against those who had refused to give the tokens of submission.]

[96] [{men mounoisi}: these words are omitted in some good MSS., and {mounoisi} has perhaps been introduced from the preceding sentence. The thing referred to in {touto} is the power of fighting in single combat with many at once, which Demaratos is supposed to have claimed for the whole community of the Spartans.]

[97] [{stergein malista}.]

[98] [{oudamoi ko}.]

[99] [Or, “Strauos.”]

[100] [Or, “Compsatos.”]

[101] [{tas epeirotidas polis}: it is not clear why these are thus distinguished. Stein suggests {Thasion tas epeirotidas polis}, cp. ch. [Note 118; and if that be the true reading {ion} is probably a remnant of {Thasion} after {khoras}.]

[102] [Or, “Pistiros.”]

[103] [{oi propheteountes}, i.e. those who interpret the utterances of the Oracle, cp. viii. 36.]

[104] [{普罗曼蒂斯}。]

[105] [{kai ouden poikiloteron}, an expression of which the meaning is not quite clear; perhaps “and the oracles are not at all more obscure,” cp. Eur. Phoen. 470 and Hel. 711 (quoted by Bähr).]

[106] [“Ennea Hodoi.”]

[107] [Cp。三. 84.]

[108] [The “royal cubit” is about 20 inches; the {daktulos}, “finger’s breadth,” is rather less than ¾ inch.]

[109] [Or, “Cape Canastraion.”]

[110] [Or “Echeidoros”: so it is usually called, but not by any MS. here, and by a few only in ch. 127.]

[111] [{pro mesogaian tamnon tes odou}: cp. iv. 12 and ix. 89.]

[112] [Cp. ch. 6 and 174: but it does not appear that the Aleuadai, of whom Xerxes is here speaking, ever thought of resistance, and perhaps {gnosimakheontes} means, “when they submitted without resistance.”]

[113] [Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.]

[114] [{dekateusai}: there is sufficient authority for this rendering of {dekateuein}, and it seems better here than to understand the word to refer only to a “tithing” of goods.]

[115] [{es to barathron}, the place of execution at Athens.]

[116] [“undesirable thing.”]

[117] [{ouk ex isou}: i.e. it is one-sided, because the speaker has had experience of only one of the alternatives.]

[118] [Cp. ch. 143 (end), and viii. 62.]

[119] [{teikheon kithones}, a poetical expression, quoted perhaps from some oracle; and if so, {kithon} may here have the Epic sense of a “coat of mail,” equivalent to {thorex} in i. 181: see ch. 61, note 56.]

[120] [{to megaron}.]

[121] [The form of address changes abruptly to the singular number, referring to the Athenian people.]

[122] [{azela}, probably for {aionla}, which has been proposed as a correction: or possibly “wretched.”]

[123] [{oxus Ares}.]

[124] [i.e. Assyrian, cp. ch. 63.]

[125] [{min}, i.e. the city, to which belong the head, feet, and body which have been mentioned.]

[126] [{kakois d’ epikidnate thumon}: this might perhaps mean (as it is taken by several Editors), “show a courageous soul in your troubles,” but that would hardly suit with the discouraging tone of the context.]

[127] [{onax}, cp. iv. 15.]

[128] [{ouros}: the word might of course be for {oros}, “mountain,” and {Kekropos ouros} would then mean the Acropolis (so it is understood by Stein and others), but the combination with Kithairon makes it probable that the reference is to the boundaries of Attica, and this seems more in accordance with the reference to it in viii. 53.]

[129] [{Demeteros}.]

[130] [{sustas}, “having been joined” cp. viii. 142.]

[131] [{ton peri ten Ellada Ellenon ta ameino phroneonton}: the MSS. have {ton} also after {Ellenon}, which would mean “those of the Hellenes in Hellas itself, who were of the better mind;” but the expression {ton ta ameino phroneouseon peri ten Ellada} occurs in ch. 172: Some Editors omit {Ellenon} as well as {ton}.]

[132] [{egkekremenoi} (from {egkerannumi}, cp. v. 124), a conjectural emendation (by Reiske) of {egkekhremenoi}. Others have conjectured {egkekheiremenoi} or {egegermenoi}.]

[133] [{te ge alle}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {tede alle} “is like the following, which he expressed on another occasion.”]

[134] [See vi. 77: This calamity had occurred about fourteen years before, and it was not in order to recover from this that the Argives wished now for a thirty years’ truce; but warned by this they desired (they said) to guard against the consequence of a similar disaster in fighting with the Persians, against whom, according to their own account, they were going to defend themselves independently. So great was their fear of this that, “though fearing the oracle,” they were willing to disobey it on certain conditions.]

[135] [{probalaion}, cp. {probolous}, ch. 76.]

[136] [{es tous pleunas}.]

[137] [Cp. v. 53.]

[138] [{ethelousi}: this is omitted in most of the MSS., but contained in several of the best. Many Editors have omitted it.]

[139] [{ta oikeia kaka} seems to mean the grievances which each has against his neighbours, “if all the nations of men should bring together into one place their own grievances against their neighbours, desiring to make a settlement with them, each people, when they had examined closely the grievances of others against themselves, would gladly carry away back with them those which they had brought,” judging that they had offended others more than they had suffered themselves.]

[140] [{oiketor o en Gele}: some Editors read by conjecture {oiketor eon Geles}, others {oiketor en Gele}.]

[141] [{iropsantai ton khthonion theon}: cp. vi. 134.]

[142] [i.e. by direct inspiration.]

[143] [{en dorupsoros}: the MSS. have {os en dorupsoros}. Some Editors mark a lacuna.]

[144] [{gamorous}, the name given to the highest class of citizens.]

[145] [Or, “Killyrians.” They were conquered Sicanians, in the position of the Spartan Helots.]

[146] [{pakheas}: cp. v. 30.]

[147] [{gar}: inserted conjecturally by many Editors.]

[148] [见第 46 节。]

[149] [{e ke meg oimexeie}, the beginning of a Homeric hexameter, cp. Il. vii. 125.]

[150] [Or, “since your speech is so adverse.”]

[151] [See Il. ii. 552.]

[152] [Some Editors mark this explanation “Now this is the meaning— year,” as interpolated.]

[153] [{purannida}.]

[154] [{es meson Kooisi katatheis ten arkhen}.]

[155] [{para Samion}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have {meta Samion}, “together with the Samians,” which is adopted by many Editors. There can be little doubt however that the Skythes mentioned in vi. 23 was the father of this Cadmos, and we know from Thuc. vi. 4 that the Samians were deprived of the town soon after they had taken it, by Anaxilaos, who gave it the name of Messene, and no doubt put Cadmos in possession of it, as the son of the former king.]

[156] [Cp。 ch. 154.]

[157] [即300,000。]

[159] [The MSS. add either {os Karkhedonioi}, or {os Karkhedonioi kai Surekosioi}, but the testimony of the Carthaginians has just been given, {os Phoinikes legousi}, and the Syracusans professed to be unable to discover anything of him at all. Most of the Editors omit or alter the words.]

[160] [{epimemphesthe}: some Editors have tried corrections, e.g. {ou ti memnesthe}, “do ye not remember,” or {epimemnesthe}, “remember”; but cp. viii. 106, {oste se me mempsasthai ten… diken}.]

[161] [{osa umin… Minos epempse menion dakrumata}. The oracle would seem to have been in iambic verse.]

[162] [{parentheke}.]

[163] [{ou boulomenoi}, apparently equivalent to {me boulemenoi}.]

[164] [Cp. viii. 111.]

[165] [i.e. the six commanders of divisions {morai} in the Spartan army.]

[166] [{mia}: for this most MSS. have {ama}. Perhaps the true reading is {ama mia}.]

[167] [{amaxitos moune}, cp. ch. 200.]

[168] [{Khutrous}.]

[169] [{ton epibateon autes}.]

[170] [{emeroskopous}: perhaps simply “scouts,” cp. ch. 219, by which it would seem that they were at their posts by night also, though naturally they would not see much except by day.]

[171] [i.e. “Ant.”]

[172] [{autoi}.]

[173] [即241,400。]

[174] [{epebateuon}.]

[175] [36,210。]

[176] [{o ti pleon en auton e elasson}. In ch. 97, which is referred to just above, these ships are stated to have been of many different kinds, and not only fifty-oared galleys.]

[177] [240,000。]

[178] [517,610。]

[179] [1,700,000: see ch. 60.]

[180] [80,000。]

[181] [2,317,610。]

[182] [{dokesin de dei legein}.]

[183] [Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.]

[184] [300,000。]

[185] [2,641,610。]

[186] [{tou makhimou toutou}.]

[187] [{akatoisi}.]

[188] [5,283,220。]

[189] [{khoinika}, the usual daily allowance.]

[190] [The {medimnos} is about a bushel and a half, and is equal to 48 {khoinikes}. The reckoning here of 110,340 {medimnoi} is wrong, owing apparently to the setting down of some numbers in the quotient which were in fact part of the dividend.]

[191] [{prokrossai ormeonto es ponton}: the meaning of {prokrossai} is doubtful, but the introduction of the word is probably due to a reminiscence of Homer, Il. xiv. 35, where the ships are described as drawn up in rows one behind the other on shore, and where {prokrossas} is often explained to mean {klimakedon}, i.e. either in steps one behind the other owing to the rise of the beach, or in the arrangement of the 梅花. Probably in this passage the idea is rather of the prows projecting in rows like battlements {krossai}, and this is the sense in which the word is used by Herodotus elsewhere (iv. 152). The word {krossai} however is used for the successively rising stages of the pyramids (ii. 125), and {prokrossos} may mean simply “in a row,” or “one behind the other,” which would suit all passages in which it occurs, and would explain the expression {prokrossoi pheromenoi epi ton kindunon}, quoted by Athenæus.]

[192] [{apeliotes}. Evidently, from its name {Ellespontias} and from its being afterwards called {Boreas}, it was actually a North-East Wind.]

[193] [i.e. “Ovens.”]

[194] [{exebrassonto}.]

[195] [{thesaurous}.]

[196] [The word {khrusea}, “of gold,” is omitted by some Editors.]

[197] [“in his case also {kai touton} there was an unpleasing misfortune of the slaying of a child {paidophonos} which troubled him,” i.e. he like others had misfortunes to temper his prosperity.]

[198] [{goesi}, (from a supposed word {goe}): a correction of {geosi}, “by enchanters,” which is retained by Stein. Some read {khoesi}, “with libations,” others {boesi}, “with cries.”]

[199] [{aphesein}, whence the name {Aphetai} was supposed to be derived.]

[19901] [Or, “had crucified… having convicted him of the following charge, namely,” etc. Cp. iii. 35 (end).]

[200] [{tritaios}. According to the usual meaning of the word the sense should be “on the third day after” entering Thessaly, but the distance was much greater than a two-days’ march.]

[201] [i.e. “the Devourer.”]

[202] [{Prutaneiou}, “Hall of the Magistrates.”]

[203] [{leiton}.]

[204] [{estellonto}: many Editors, following inferior MSS., read {eselthontes} and make changes in the rest of the sentence.]

[205] [Some MSS. have {Ainienon} for {Enienon}.]

[206] [{stadion}.]

[207] [{diskhilia te gar kai dismuria plethra tou pediou esti}. If the text is right, the {plethron} must here be a measure of area. The amount will then be about 5000 acres.]

[208] [{mekhri Trekhinos}, “up to Trachis,” which was the Southern limit.]

[209] [{to epi tautes tes epeirou}. I take {to epi tautes} to be an adverbial expression like {tes eteres} in ch. 36, for I cannot think that the rendering “towards this continent” is satisfactory.]

[210] [见第 45 节。]

[211] [{tous katesteotas}. There is a reference to the body of 300 so called {ippeis} (cp. i. 67), who were appointed to accompany the king in war; but we must suppose that on special occasions the king made up this appointed number by selection, and that in this case those were preferred who had sons to keep up the family. Others (including Grote) understand {tous katesteotas} to mean “men of mature age.”]

[212] [{ton Pulagoron}.]

[213] [{es ten Pulaien}.]

[214] [An indication that the historian intended to carry his work further than the year 479.]

[215] [参见第 83 章。 XNUMX.]

[216] [{ek te tosou de katededekto eousa ouden khreste Melieusi}, i.e. {e esbole}.]

[217] [{Melampugon}.]

[218] [Lit. “had set out to go at first.”]

[219] [Lit. “and afterwards deserters were they who reported.”]

[220] [{diakrithentes}.]

[221] [{taute kai mallon te gnome pleistos eimi}.]

[222] [i.e. the Persian.]

[223] [{prin tond eteron dia panta dasetai}: i.e. either the city or the king.]

[224] [{mounon Spartieteon}: some Editors (following Plutarch) read {mounon Spartieteon}, “lay up for the Spartans glory above all other nations.”]

[225] [{to men gar eruma tou teikheos ephulasseto, oi de k.t.l.}]

[226] [i.e. the Lacedemonians.]

[227] [{izonto epi ton kolonon}.]

[228] [Some Editors insert {tous} after {e}, “before those who were sent away by Leonidas had departed.”]

[229] [{remasi}.]

[230] [{leipopsukheonta}, a word which refers properly to bodily weakness. It has been proposed to read {philopsukheonta}, “loving his life,” cp. vi. 29.]

[231] [{algesanta}: some good MSS. have {alogesanta}, which is adopted by Stein, “had in his ill-reckoning returned alone.”]

[232] [{tes autes ekhomenou prophasios}.]

[233] [{atimien}.]

[234] [{o tresas}.]

[235] [Thuc. ii. 2 ff.]

[236] [{tas diexodous ton bouleumaton}, cp. iii. 156.]

[237] [{ton vees k.t.l.}: some Editors insert {ek} before {ton}, “by which four hundred ships have suffered shipwreck.”]

[238] [{ta seoutou de tithemenos eu gnomen ekho}: for {ekho} some inferior MSS. have {ekhe}, which is adopted by several Editors, “Rather set thy affairs in good order and determine not to consider,” etc.]

[239] [{to pareon troma}, i.e. their defeat.]

[240] [{kai esti dusmenes te sige}. Some commentators understand {te sige} to mean “secretly,” like {sige}, viii. 74.]

[241] [参见第 220 章。 XNUMX.]

[242] [Many Editors pronounce the last chapter to be an interpolation, but perhaps with hardly sufficient reason.]

第八卷 • 历史书第八卷,名为乌拉尼亚 •26,000字

1. Those of the Hellenes who had been appointed to serve in the fleet were these:—the Athenians furnished a hundred and twenty-seven ships, and the Plataians moved by valour and zeal for the service, although they had had no practice in seamanship, yet joined with the Athenians in manning their ships. The Corinthians furnished forty ships, the Megarians twenty; the Chalkidians manned twenty ships with which the Athenians furnished them;[1][见第 77 节。] the Eginetans furnished eighteen ships, the Sikyonians twelve, the Lacedemonians ten, the Epidaurians eight, the Eretrians seven, the Troizenians five, the Styrians two, the Keïans two ships[2][i.e. triremes.] and two fifty-oared galleys, while the Locrians of Opus came also to the assistance of the rest with seven fifty-oared galleys.

2. These were those who joined in the expedition to Artemision, and I have mentioned them according to the number[3][{os to plethos ekastoi ton neon pareikhonto}: some read by conjecture {oson to plethos k.t.l.}] of the ships which they severally supplied: so the number of the ships which were assembled at Artemision was (apart from the fifty-oared galleys) two hundred and seventy-one: and the commander who had the supreme power was furnished by the Spartans, namely Eurybiades son of Eurycleides, since the allies said that they would not follow the lead of the Athenians, but unless a Lacedemonian were leader they would break up the expedition which was to be made:

3, for it had come to be said at first, even before they sent to Sicily to obtain allies, that the fleet ought to be placed in the charge of the Athenians. So as the allies opposed this, the Athenians yielded, having it much at heart that Hellas should be saved, and perceiving that if they should have disagreement with one another about the leadership, Hellas would perish: and herein they judged rightly, for disagreement between those of the same race is worse than war undertaken with one consent by as much as war is worse than peace. Being assured then of this truth, they did not contend, but gave way for so long time as they were urgently in need of the allies; and that this was so their conduct proved; for when, after repelling the Persian from themselves, they were now contending for his land and no longer for their own, they alleged the insolence of Pausanias as a pretext and took away the leadership from the Lacedemonians. This however took place afterwards.

4. But at this time these Hellenes also who had come to Artemision,[4][Perhaps “also” refers to the case of those who had come to Thermopylai, cp. vii. 207: Others translate, “these Hellenes who had come 毕竟 to Artemision,” i.e. after all the doubt and delay.] when they saw that a great number of ships had put in to Aphetai and that everything was filled with their armament, were struck with fear, because the fortunes of the Barbarians had different issue from that which they expected, and they deliberated about retreating from Artemision to the inner parts of Hellas. And the Euboeans perceiving that they were so deliberating, asked Eurybiades to stay there by them for a short time, until they should have removed out of their land their children, and their households; and as they did not persuade him, they went elsewhere and persuaded Themistocles the commander of the Athenians by a payment of thirty talents, the condition being that the fleet should stay and fight the sea-battle in front of Euboea.

5. Themistocles then caused the Hellenes to stay in the following manner:—to Eurybiades he imparted five talents of the sum with the pretence that he was giving it from himself; and when Eurybiades had been persuaded by him to change his resolution, Adeimantos son of Okytos, the Corinthian commander, was the only one of all the others who still made a struggle, saying that he would sail away from Artemision and would not stay with the others: to him therefore Themistocles said with an oath: “Thou at least shalt not leave us, for I will give thee greater gifts than the king of the Medes would send to thee, if thou shouldest desert thy allies.” Thus he spoke, and at the same time he sent to the ship of Adeimantos three talents of silver. So these all[5][{pantes}: some MSS. have {plegentes}, which is adopted by most Editors, “smitten by bribes.”] had been persuaded by gifts to change their resolution, and at the same time the request of the Euboeans had been gratified and Themistocles himself gained money; and it was not known that he had the rest of the money, but those who received a share of this money were fully persuaded that it had come from the Athenian State for this purpose.

6. Thus they remained in Euboea and fought a sea-battle; and it came to pass as follows:—when the Barbarians had arrived at Aphetai about the beginning of the afternoon, having been informed even before they came that a few ships of the Hellenes were stationed about Artemision and now seeing them for themselves, they were eager to attack them, to see if they could capture them. Now they did not think it good yet to sail against them directly for this reason,—for fear namely that the Hellenes, when they saw them sailing against them, should set forth to take flight and darkness should come upon them in their flight; and so they were likely (thought the Persians)[6][{dethen}, with ironical sense.] to get away; whereas it was right, according to their calculation, that not even the fire-bearer[7][{mede purphoron}: the {purphoros} had charge of the fire brought for sacrifices from the altar of Zeus Agetor at Sparta, and ordinarily his person would be regarded as sacred; hence the proverb {oude purphoros esothe}, used of an utter defeat.] should escape and save his life.

7. With a view to this then they contrived as follows:—of the whole number of their ships they parted off two hundred and sent them round to sail by Caphereus and round Geriastos to the Euripos, going outside Skiathos so that they might not be sighted by the enemy as they sailed round Euboea: and their purpose was that with these coming up by that way, and blocking the enemies’ retreat, and themselves advancing against them directly, they might surround them on all sides. Having formed this plan they proceeded to send off the ships which were appointed for this, and they themselves had no design of attacking the Hellenes on that day nor until the signal agreed upon should be displayed to them by those who were sailing round, to show that they had arrived. These ships, I say, they were sending round, and meanwhile they were numbering the rest at Aphetai.

8. During this time, while these were numbering their ships, it happened thus:—there was in that camp a man of Skione named Skyllias, as a diver the best of all the men of that time, who also in the shipwreck which took place by Pelion had saved for the Persians many of their goods and many of them also he had acquired for himself: this Skyllias it appears had had an intention even before this of deserting to the side of the Hellenes, but it had not been possible for him to do so then. In what manner after this attempt he did actually come to the Hellenes, I am not able to say with certainty, but I marvel if the tale is true which is reported; for it is said that he dived into the sea at Aphetai and did not come up till he reached Artemision, having traversed here somewhere about eighty furlongs through the sea. Now there are told about this man several other tales which seem likely to be false, but some also which are true: about this matter however let it be stated as my opinion that he came to Artemision in a boat. Then when he had come, he forthwith informed the commanders about the shipwreck, how it had come to pass, and of the ships which had been sent away to go round Euboea.

9. Hearing this the Hellenes considered the matter with one another; and after many things had been spoken, the prevailing opinion was that they should remain there that day and encamp on shore, and then, when midnight was past, they should set forth and go to meet those ships which were sailing round. After this however, as no one sailed out to attack them, they waited for the coming of the late hours of the afternoon and sailed out themselves to attack the Barbarians, desiring to make a trial both of their manner of fighting and of the trick of breaking their line.[8][{tou diekploou}.]

10. And seeing them sailing thus against them with few ships, not only the others in the army of Xerxes but also their commanders judged them to be moved by mere madness, and they themselves also put out their ships to sea, supposing that they would easily capture them: and their expectation was reasonable enough, since they saw that the ships of the Hellenes were few, while theirs were many times as numerous and sailed better. Setting their mind then on this, they came round and enclosed them in the middle. Then so many of the Ionians as were kindly disposed to the Hellenes and were serving in the expedition against their will, counted it a matter of great grief to themselves when they saw them being surrounded and felt assured that not one of them would return home, so feeble did they think the power of the Hellenes to be; while those to whom that which was happening was a source of pleasure, were vying with one another, each one endeavouring to be the first to take an Athenian ship and receive gifts from the king: for in their camps there was more report of the Athenians than of any others.

11. The Hellenes meanwhile, when the signal was given, first set themselves with prows facing the Barbarians and drew the sterns of their ships together in the middle; and when the signal was given a second time, although shut off in a small space and prow against prow,[9][{kata stoma}.] they set to work vigorously; and they captured thirty ships of the Barbarians and also Philaon the son of Chersis, the brother of Gorgos kind of the Salaminians, who was a man of great repute in the army. Now the first of the Hellenes who captured a ship of the enemy was an Athenian, Lycomedes the son of Aischraios, and he received the prize for valour. So these, as they were contending in this sea-fight with doubtful result, were parted from one another by the coming on of night. The Hellenes accordingly sailed away to Artemision and the Barbarians to Aphetai, the contest having been widely different from their expectation. In this sea-fight Antidoros of Lemnos alone of the Hellenes who were with the king deserted to the side of the Hellenes, and the Athenians on account of this deed gave him a piece of land in Salamis.

12. When the darkness had come on, although the season was the middle of summer, yet there came on very abundant rain, which lasted through the whole of the night, with crashing thunder[10][{sklerai brontai}: the adjective means “harsh-sounding.”] from Mount Pelion; and the dead bodies and pieces of wreck were cast up at Aphetai and became entangled round the prows of the ships and struck against the blades of the oars: and the men of the army who were there, hearing these things became afraid, expecting that they would certainly perish, to such troubles had they come; for before they had had even breathing space after the shipwreck and the storm which had arisen off Mount Pelion, there had come upon them a hard sea-fight, and after the sea-fight a violent storm of rain and strong streams rushing to the sea and crashing thunder.

13. These then had such a night as I have said; and meanwhile those of them who had been appointed to sail round Euboea experienced the very same night, but against them it raged much more fiercely, inasmuch as it fell upon them while they were making their course in the open sea. And the end of it proved distressful[11][{akhari}.] to them; for when the storm and the rain together came upon them as they sailed, being then off the “Hollows” of Euboea,[12][{ta Koila tes Euboies}.] they were borne by the wind not knowing by what way they were carried, and were cast away upon the rocks. And all this was being brought about by God in order that the Persian force might be made more equal to that of the Hellenes and might not be by very much the larger.

14. These then, I say, were perishing about the Hollows of Euboea, and meanwhile the Barbarians at Aphetai, when day had dawned upon them, of which they were glad, were keeping their ships quiet, and were satisfied in their evil plight to remain still for the present time; but to the Hellenes there came as a reinforcement three-and-fifty Athenian ships. The coming of these gave them more courage, and at the same time they were encouraged also by a report that those of the Barbarians who had been sailing round Euboea had all been destroyed by the storm that had taken place. They waited then for the same time of day as before, and then they sailed and fell upon some Kilikian ships; and having destroyed these, they sailed away when the darkness came on, and returned to Artemision.

15. On the third day the commanders of the Barbarians, being exceedingly indignant that so small a number of ships should thus do them damage, and fearing what Xerxes might do, did not wait this time for the Hellenes to begin the fight, but passed the word of command and put out their ships to sea about the middle of the day. Now it so happened that these battles at sea and the battles on land at Thermopylai took place on the same days; and for those who fought by sea the whole aim of the fighting was concerned with the channel of Euripos, just as the aim of Leonidas and of his band was to guard the pass: the Hellenes accordingly exhorted one another not to let the Barbarians go by into Hellas; while these cheered one another on to destroy the fleet of the Hellenes and to get possession of the straits.

16. Now while the forces of Xerxes were sailing in order towards them, the Hellenes kept quiet at Artemision; and the Barbarians, having made a crescent of their ships that they might enclose them, were endeavouring to surround them. Then the Hellenes put out to sea and engaged with them; and in this battle the two sides were nearly equal to one another; for the fleet of Xerxes by reason of its great size and numbers suffered damage from itself, since the ships were thrown into confusion and ran into one another: nevertheless it stood out and did not give way, for they disdained to be turned to flight by so few ships. Many ships therefore of the Hellenes were destroyed and many men perished, but many more ships and men of the Barbarians. Thus contending they parted and went each to their own place.

17. In this sea-fight the Egyptians did best of the men who fought for Xerxes; and these, besides other great deeds which they displayed, captured five ships of the Hellenes together with their crews: while of the Hellenes those who did best on this day were the Athenians, and of the Athenians Cleinias the son of Alkibiades, who was serving with two hundred man and a ship of his own, furnishing the expense at his own proper cost.

18. Having parted, both sides gladly hastened to their moorings; and after they had separated and got away out of the sea-fight, although the Hellenes had possession of the bodies of the dead and of the wrecks of the ships, yet having suffered severely[13][“having been roughly handled.”] (and especially the Athenians, of whose ships half had been disabled), they were deliberating now about retreating to the inner parts of Hellas.

19. Themistocles however had conceived that if there should be detached from the force of the Barbarians the Ionian and Carian nations, they would be able to overcome the rest; and when the people of Euboea were driving their flocks down to that sea,[14][{epi ten thalassan tauten}: some MSS. read {taute} for {tauten}, which is to be taken with {sullexas}, “he assembled the generals there.”] he assembled the generals and said to them that he thought he had a device by which he hoped to cause the best of the king’s allies to leave him. This matter he revealed to that extent only; and with regard to their present circumstances, he said that they must do as follows:—every one must slaughter of the flocks of the Euboeans as many as he wanted, for it was better that their army should have them than the enemy; moreover he advised that each one should command his own men to kindle a fire: and as for the time of their departure he would see to it in such wise that they should come safe to Hellas. This they were content to do, and forthwith when they had kindled a fire they turned their attention to the flocks.

20. For in fact the Euboeans, neglecting the oracle of Bakis as if it had no meaning at all, had neither carried away anything from their land nor laid in any store of provisions with a view to war coming upon them, and by their conduct moreover they had brought trouble upon themselves.[15][{peripetea epoiesanto sphisi autoisi ta pregmata}.] For the oracle uttered by Bakis about these matters runs as follows:

“Mark, when a man, a Barbarian, shall yoke the Sea with papyrus,
Then do thou plan to remove the loud-bleating goats from Euboea.”

In the evils which at this time were either upon them or soon to be expected they might feel not a little sorry that they had paid no attention to these lines.

21. While these were thus engaged, there came to them the scout from Trachis: for there was at Artemision a scout named Polyas, by birth of Antikyra, to whom it had been appointed, if the fleet should be disabled,[16][{paleseie}, a word which does not occur elsewhere, and is explained by Hesychius as equivalent to {diaphtharein}. Various emendations have been proposed, and Valla seems to have had the reading {apelaseie}, for he says discessisset. Stein explains {paleseie} (as from {pale}) “should contend.”] to signify this to those at Thermopylai, and he had a vessel equipped and ready for this purpose; and similarly there was with Leonidas Abronichos son of Lysicles, an Athenian, ready to carry news to those at Artemision with a thirty-oared galley, if any disaster should happen to the land-army. This Abronichos then had arrived, and he proceeded to signify to them that which had come to pass about Leonidas and his army; and then when they were informed of it no longer put off their retreat, but set forth in the order in which they were severally posted, the Corinthians first and the Athenians last.

22. Themistocles however selected those ships of the Athenians which sailed best, and went round to the springs of drinking-water, cutting inscriptions on the stones there, which the Ionians read when they came to Artemision on the following day. These inscriptions ran thus: “Ionians, ye act not rightly in making expedition against the fathers of your race and endeavouring to enslave Hellas. Best of all were it that ye should come and be on our side; but if that may not be done by you, stand aside even now from the combat against us and ask the Carians to do the same as ye. If however neither of these two things is possible to be done, and ye are bound down by too strong compulsion to be able to make revolt, then in the action, when we engage battle, be purposely slack, remember that ye are descended from us and that our quarrel with the Barbarian took its rise at the first from you.” Themistocles wrote thus, having, as I suppose, two things together in his mind, namely that either the inscriptions might elude the notice of the king and cause the Ionians to change and come over to the side on which he was, or that having been reported and denounced to Xerxes they might cause the Ionians to be distrusted by him, and so he might keep them apart from the sea-fights.

23. Themistocles then had set these inscriptions: and to the Barbarians there came immediately after these things a man of Histaia in a boat bringing word of the retreat of the Hellenes from Artemision. They however, not believing it, kept the messenger under guard and sent swift-sailing ships to look on before. Then these having reported the facts, at last as daylight was spreading over the sky, the whole armament sailed in a body to Artemision; and having stayed at this place till mid-day, after this they sailed to Histaia, and there arrived they took possession of the city of Histaia and overran all the villages which lie along the coast in the region of Ellopia, which is the land of Histaia.

24. While they were there, Xerxes, after he had made his dispositions with regard to the bodies of the dead, sent a herald to the fleet: and the dispositions which he made beforehand were as follows:—for all those of his army who were lying dead at Thermopylai, (and there were as many as twenty thousand in all), with the exception of about a thousand whom he left, he dug trenches and buried them, laying over them leaves and heaping earth upon them, that they might not be seen by the men of the fleet. Then when the herald had gone over to Histaia, he gathered an assembly of the whole force and spoke these words: “Allies, king Xerxes grants permission to any one of you who desires it, to leave his post and to come and see how he fights against those most senseless men who looked to overcome the power of the king.”

25. When the herald had proclaimed this, then boats were of all things most in request, so many were they who desired to see this sight; and when they had passed over they went through the dead bodies and looked at them: and every one supposed that those who were lying there were all Lacedemonians or Thespians, though the Helots also were among those that they saw: however, they who had passed over did not fail to perceive that Xerxes had done that which I mentioned about the bodies of his own dead; for in truth it was a thing to cause laughter even: on the one side there were seen a thousand dead bodies lying, while the others lay all gathered together in the same place, four thousand[17][Some suppose the number “four thousand” is interpolated by misunderstanding of the inscription in vii. 228; and it seems hardly possible that the dead were so many as four thousand, unless at least half were Helots.] of them. During this day then they busied themselves with looking, and on the day after this they sailed back to the ships at Histaia, while Xerxes and his army set forth upon their march.

26. There had come also to them a few deserters from Arcadia, men in want of livelihood and desiring to be employed. These the Persians brought into the king’s presence and inquired about the Hellenes, what they were doing; and one man it was who asked them this for all the rest. They told them that the Hellenes were keeping the Olympic festival and were looking on at a contest of athletics and horsemanship. He then inquired again, what was the prize proposed to them, for the sake of which they contended; and they told them of the wreath of olive which is given. Then Tigranes[18][Some MSS. have “Tritantaichmes,” which is adopted by many Editors.] the son of Artabanos uttered a thought which was most noble, though thereby he incurred from the king the reproach of cowardice: for hearing that the prize was a wreath and not money, he could not endure to keep silence, but in the presence of all he spoke these words: “Ah! Mardonios, what kind of men are these against whom thou hast brought us to fight, who make their contest not for money but for honour!” Thus was it spoken by this man.

27. In the meantime, so soon as the disaster at Thermopylai had come about, the Thessalians sent a herald forthwith to the Phokians, against whom they had a grudge always, but especially because of the latest disaster which they had suffered: for when both the Thessalians themselves and their allies had invaded the Phokian land not many years before this expedition of the king, they had been defeated by the Phokians and handled by them roughly. For the Phokians had been shut up in Mount Parnassos having with them a soothsayer, Tellias the Eleian; and this Tellias contrived for them a device of the following kind:—he took six hundred men, the best of the Phokians, and whitened them over with chalk, both themselves and their armour, and then he attacked the Thessalians by night, telling the Phokians beforehand to slay every man whom they should see not coloured over with white. So not only the sentinels of the Thessalians, who saw these first, were terrified by them, supposing it to be something portentous and other than it was, but also after the sentinels the main body of their army; so that the Phokians remained in possession of four thousand bodies of slain men and shields; of which last they dedicated half at Abai and half at Delphi; and from the tithe of booty got by this battle were made the large statues which are contending for the tripod in front of the temple[19][{neou}.] at Delphi, and others similar to these are dedicated as an offering at Abai.

28. Thus had the Phokians done to the Thessalian footmen, when they were besieged by them; and they had done irreparable hurt to their cavalry also, when this had invaded their land: for in the pass which is by Hyampolis they had dug a great trench and laid down in it empty wine-jars; and then having carried earth and laid it on the top and made it like the rest of the ground, they waited for the Thessalians to invade their land. These supposing that they would make short work with the Phokians,[20][{os anarpasomenoi tous Phokeas}: cp. ix. 60.] riding in full course fell upon the wine-jars; and there the legs of their horses were utterly crippled.

29. Bearing then a grudge for both of these things, the Thessalians sent a herald and addressed them thus: “Phokians, we advise you to be more disposed now to change your minds and to admit that ye are not on a level with us: for in former times among the Hellenes, so long as it pleased us to be on that side, we always had the preference over you, and now we have such great power with the Barbarian that it rests with us to cause you to be deprived of your land and to be sold into slavery also. We however, though we have all the power in our hands, do not bear malice, but let there be paid to us fifty talents of silver in return for this, and we will engage to avert the dangers which threaten to come upon your land.”

30. Thus the Thessalians proposed to them; for the Phokians alone of all the people in those parts were not taking the side of the Medes, and this for no other reason, as I conjecture, but only because of their enmity with the Thessalians; and if the Thessalians had supported the cause of the Hellenes, I am of opinion that the Phokians would have been on the side of the Medes. When the Thessalians proposed this, they said that they would not give the money, and that it was open to them to take the Median side just as much as the Thessalians, if they desired it for other reasons; but they would not with their own will be traitors to Hellas.

31. When these words were reported, then the Thessalians, moved with anger against the Phokians, became guides to the Barbarian to show him the way: and from the land of Trachis they entered Doris; for a narrow strip[21][{podeon steinos}, like the neck of a wineskin; cp. ii. 121, note [Note 102.] of the Dorian territory extends this way, about thirty furlongs in breadth, lying between Malis and Phokis, the region which was in ancient time called Dryopis; this land is the mother-country of the Dorians in Peloponnese. Now the Barbarians did not lay waste this land of Doris when they entered it, for the people of it were taking the side of the Medes, and also the Thessalians did not desire it.

32. When however from Doris they entered Phokis, they did not indeed capture the Phokians themselves; for some of them had gone up to the heights of Parnassos,—and that summit of Parnassos is very convenient to receive a large number, which lies by itself near the city of Neon, the name of it being Tithorea,—to this, I say, some of them had carried up their goods and gone up themselves; but most of them had conveyed their goods out to the Ozolian Locrians, to the city of Amphissa, which is situated above the Crissaian plain. The Barbarians however overran the whole land of Phokis, for so the Thessalians led their army, and all that they came to as they marched they burned or cut down, and delivered to the flames both the cities and the temples:

33, for they laid everything waste, proceeding this way by the river Kephisos, and they destroyed the city of Drymos by fire, and also the following, namely Charadra, Erochos, Tethronion, Amphikaia, Neon, Pedieis, Triteis, Elateia, Hyampolis, Parapotamioi and Abai, at which last-named place there was a temple of Apollo, wealthy and furnished with treasuries and votive offerings in abundance; and there was then, as there is even now, the seat of an Oracle there: this temple they plundered and burnt. Some also of the Phokians they pursued and captured upon the mountains, and some women they did to death by repeated outrage.

34. Passing by Parapotamioi the Barbarians came to Panopeus, and from this point onwards their army was separated and went different ways. The largest and strongest part of the army, proceeding with Xerxes himself against Athens, entered the land of the Boeotians, coming into the territory of Orchomenos. Now the general body of the Boeotians was taking the side of the Medes, and their cities were being kept by Macedonians appointed for each, who had been sent by Alexander; and they were keeping them this aim, namely in order to make it plain to Xerxes that the Boeotians were disposed to be on the side of the Medes.

35. These, I say, of the Barbarians took their way in this direction; but others of them with guides had set forth to go to the temple at Delphi, keeping Parnassos on their right hand: and all the parts of Phokis over which these marched they ravaged; for they set fire to the towns of Panopeus and Daulis and Aiolis. And for this reason they marched in that direction, parted off from the rest of the army, namely in order that they might plunder the temple at Delphi and deliver over the treasures there to king Xerxes: and Xerxes was well acquainted with all that there was in it of any account, better, I am told, than with the things which he had left in his own house at home, seeing that many constantly reported of them, and especially of the votive offerings of Croesus the son of Alyattes.

36. Meanwhile the Delphians, having been informed of this, had been brought to extreme fear; and being in great terror they consulted the Oracle about the sacred things, whether they should bury them in the earth or carry them forth to another land; but the god forbade them to meddle with these, saying that he was able by himself to take care of his own. Hearing this they began to take thought for themselves, and they sent their children and women over to Achaia on the other side of the sea, while most of the men themselves ascended up towards the summits of Parnassos and carried their property to the Corykian cave, while others departed for refuge to Amphissa of the Locrians. In short the Delphians had all left the town excepting sixty men and the prophet of the Oracle.[22][{tou propheten}, the interpreter of the utterances of the {promantis}.]

37. When the Barbarians had come near and could see the temple, then the prophet, whose name was Akeratos, saw before the cell[23][{neou}.] arms lying laid out, having been brought forth out of the sanctuary,[24][{megarou}.] which were sacred and on which it was not permitted to any man to lay hands. He then was going to announce the portent to those of the Delphians who were still there, but when the Barbarians pressing onwards came opposite the temple of Athene Pronaia, there happened to them in addition portents yet greater than that which had come to pass before: for though that too was a marvel, that arms of war should appear of themselves laid forth outside the cell, yet this, which happened straightway after that, is worthy of marvel even beyond all other prodigies. When the Barbarians in their approach were opposite the temple of Athene Pronaia, at this point of time from the heaven there fell thunderbolts upon them, and from Parnassos two crags were broken away and rushed down upon them with a great crashing noise falling upon many of them, while from the temple of Pronaia there was heard a shout, and a battle-cry was raised.

38. All these things having come together, there fell fear upon the Barbarians; and the Delphians having perceived that they were flying, came down after them and slew a great number of them; and those who survived fled straight to Boeotia. These who returned of the Barbarians reported, as I am informed, that in addition to this which we have said they saw also other miraculous things; for two men (they said) in full armour and of stature more than human followed them slaying and pursuing.

39. These two the Delphians say were the native heroes Phylacos and Autonoös, whose sacred enclosures are about the temple, that of Phylacos being close by the side of the road above the temple of Pronaia and that of Autonoös near Castalia under the peak called Hyampeia. Moreover the rocks which fell from Parnassos were still preserved even to my time, lying in the sacred enclosure of Athene Pronaia, into which they fell when they rushed through the ranks of the Barbarians. Such departure had these men from the temple.

40. Meanwhile the fleet of the Hellenes after leaving Artemision put in to land at Salamis at the request of the Athenians: and for this reason the Athenians requested them to put in to Salamis, namely in order that they might remove out of Attica to a place of safety their children and their wives, and also deliberate what they would have to do; for in their present case they meant to take counsel afresh, because they had been deceived in their expectation. For they had thought to find the Peloponnesians in full force waiting for the Barbarians in Boeotia; they found however nothing of this, but they were informed on the contrary that the Peloponnesians were fortifying the Isthmus with a wall, valuing above all things the safety of the Peloponnese and keeping this in guard; and that they were disposed to let all else go. Being informed of this, the Athenians therefore made request of them to put in to Salamis.

41. The others then put in their ships to land at Salamis, but the Athenians went over to their own land; and after their coming they made a proclamation that every one of the Athenians should endeavour to save his children and household as best he could. So the greater number sent them to Troizen, but others to Egina, and others to Salamis, and they were urgent to put these out of danger, both because they desired to obey the oracle and also especially for another reason, which was this:—the Athenians say that a great serpent lives in the temple[25][i.e. of Athene Polias, the Erechtheion; so throughout this account.] and guards the Acropolis; and they not only say this, but also they set forth for it monthly offerings, as if it were really there; and the offering consists of a honey-cake. This honey-cake, which before used always to be consumed, was at this time left untouched. When the priestess had signified this, the Athenians left the city much more and with greater eagerness than before, seeing that the goddess also had (as they supposed) left the Acropolis. Then when all their belongings had been removed out of danger, they sailed to the encampment of the fleet.

42. When those who came from Artemision had put their ships in to land at Salamis, the remainder of the naval force of the Hellenes, being informed of this, came over gradually to join them[26][{sunerree}, “kept flowing together.”] from Troizen: for they had been ordered beforehand to assemble at Pogon, which is the harbour of the Troizenians. There were assembled accordingly now many more ships than those which were in the sea-fight at Artemision, and from more cities. Over the whole was set as admiral the same man as at Artemision, namely Eurybiades the son of Eurycleides, a Spartan but not of the royal house; the Athenians however supplied by far the greatest number of ships and those which sailed the best.

43. The following were those who joined the muster:—From Peloponnese the Lacedemonians furnishing sixteen ships, the Corinthians furnishing the same complement as at Artemision, the Sikyonians furnishing fifteen ships, the Epidaurians ten, the Troizenians five, the men of Hermion [2601][Or, “Hermione.”] three, these all, except the Hermionians, being of Doric and Makednian[27][See i. 56.] race and having made their last migration from Erineos and Pindos and the land of Dryopis;[28][参见第 31 章。 XNUMX.] but the people of Hermion are Dryopians, driven out by Heracles and the Malians from the land which is now called Doris.

44. These were the Peloponnesians who joined the fleet, and those of the mainland outside the Peloponnese were as follows:—the Athenians, furnishing a number larger than all the rest,[29][{pros pantas tous allous}, “in comparison with all the rest,” cp. iii. 94.] namely one hundred and eighty ships, and serving alone, since the Plataians did not take part with the Athenians in the sea-fight at Salamis, because when the Hellenes were departing from Artemision and come near Chalkis, the Plataians disembarked on the opposite shore of Boeotia and proceeded to the removal of their households. So being engaged in saving these, they had been left behind. As for the Athenians, in the time when the Pelasgians occupied that which is now called Hellas, they were Pelasgians, being named Cranaoi, and in the time of king Kecrops they came to be called Kecropidai; then when Erechtheus had succeeded to his power, they had their name changed to Athenians; and after Ion the son of Xuthos became commander[30][{stratarkheo}: a vague expression, because being introduced after Kecrops he could not have the title of king.] of the Athenians, they got the name from him of Ionians.

45. The Megarians furnished the same complement as at Artermision; the Amprakiots came to the assistance of the rest with seven ships, and the Leucadians with three, these being by race Dorians from Corinth.

46. Of the islanders the Eginetans furnished thirty; these had also other ships manned, but with them they were guarding their own land, while with the thirty which sailed best they joined in the sea-fight at Salamis. Now the Eginetans are Dorians from Epidauros, and their island had formerly the name of Oinone. After the Eginetans came the Chalkidians with the twenty ships which were at Artemision, and the Eretrians with their seven: these are Ionians. Next the Keïans, furnishing the same as before and being by race Ionians from Athens. The Naxians furnished four ships, they having been sent out by the citizens of their State to join the Persians, like the other islanders; but neglecting these commands they had come to the Hellenes, urged thereto by Democritos, a man of repute among the citizens and at that time commander of a trireme. Now the Naxians are Ionians coming originally from Athens. The Styrians furnished the same ships as at Artemision, and the men of Kythnos one ship and one fifty-oared galley, these both being Dryopians. Also the Seriphians, the Siphnians and the Melians served with the rest; for they alone of the islanders had not given earth and water to the Barbarian.

47. These all who have been named dwelt inside the land of the Thesprotians and the river Acheron; for the Thesprotians border upon the land of the Amprakiots and Leucadians, and these were they who came from the greatest distance to serve: but of those who dwell outside these limits the men of Croton were the only people who came to the assistance of Hellas in her danger; and these sent one ship, of whom the commander was Phaÿlos, a man who had three times won victories at the Pythian games. Now the men of Croton are by descent Achaians.

48. All the rest who served in the fleet furnished triremes, but the Melians, Siphnian and Seriphians fifty-oared galleys: the Melians, who are by descent from Lacedemon, furnished two, the Siphnians and Seriphians, who are Ionians from Athens, each one. And the whole number of the ships, apart from the fifty-oared galleys, was three hundred and seventy-eight.[31][The number obtained by adding up the separate contingents is 366. Many Editors suppose that the ships with which the Eginetans were guarding their own coast (ch. 46) are counted here, and quote the authority of Pausanias for the statement that the Eginetans supplied more ships than any others except the Athenians. Stein suggests the insertion of the number twelve in ch. 46.]

49. When the commanders had assembled at Salamis from the States which have been mentioned, they began to deliberate, Eurybiades having proposed that any one who desired it should declare his opinion as to where he thought it most convenient to fight a sea-battle in those regions of which they had command; for Attica had already been let go, and he was now proposing the question about the other regions. And the opinions of the speakers for the most part agreed that they should sail to the Isthmus and there fight a sea-battle in defence of the Peloponnese, arguing that if they should be defeated in the sea-battle, supposing them to be at Salamis they would be blockaded in an island, where no help would come to them, but at the Isthmus they would be able to land where their own men were.

50. While the commanders from the Peloponnese argued thus, an Athenian had come in reporting that the Barbarians were arrived in Attica and that all the land was being laid waste with fire. For the army which directed its march through Boeotia in company with Xerxes, after it had burnt the city of the Thespians (the inhabitants having left it and gone to the Peloponnese) and that of the Plataians likewise, had now come to Athens and was laying waste everything in those regions. Now he had burnt Thespiai [3101][Or, “Thespeia.”] and Plataia because he was informed by the Thebans that these were not taking the side of the Medes.

51. So in three months from the crossing of the Hellespont, whence the Barbarians began their march, after having stayed there one month while they crossed over into Europe, they had reached Attica, in the year when Calliades was archon of the Athenians. And they took the lower city, which was deserted, and then they found that there were still a few Athenians left in the temple, either stewards of the temple or needy persons, who had barred the entrance to the Acropolis with doors and with a palisade of timber and endeavoured to defend themselves against the attacks of the enemy, being men who had not gone out to Salamis partly because of their poverty, and also because they thought that they alone had discovered the meaning of the oracle which the Pythian prophetess had uttered to them, namely that the “bulwark of wood” should be impregnable, and supposed that this was in fact the safe refuge according to the oracle, and not the ships.

52. So the Persians taking their post upon the rising ground opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Hill of Ares,[32][i.e. “Areopagus.”] proceeded to besiege them in this fashion, that is they put tow round about their arrows and lighted it, and then shot them against the palisade. The Athenians who were besieged continued to defend themselves nevertheless, although they had come to the extremity of distress and their palisade had played them false; nor would they accept proposals for surrender, when the sons of Peisistratos brought them forward: but endeavouring to defend themselves they contrived several contrivances against the enemy, and among the rest they rolled down large stones when the Barbarians approached the gates; so that for a long time Xerxes was in a difficulty, not being able to capture them.

53. In time however there appeared for the Barbarians a way of approach after their difficulties, since by the oracle it was destined that all of Attica which is on the mainland should come to be under the Persians. Thus then it happened that on the front side[33][i.e. the North side.] of the Acropolis behind the gates and the way up to the entrance, in a place where no one was keeping guard, nor would one have supposed that any man could ascend by this way, here men ascended by the temple of Aglauros the daughter of Kecrops, although indeed the place is precipitous: and when the Athenians saw that they had ascended up to the Acropolis, some of them threw themselves down from the wall and perished, while others took refuge in the sanctuary[34][{megaron}.] of the temple. Then those of the Persians who had ascended went first to the gates, and after opening these they proceeded to kill the suppliants; and when all had been slain by them, they plundered the temple and set fire to the whole of the Acropolis.

54. Then Xerxes, having fully taken possession of Athens, sent to Susa a mounted messenger to report to Artabanos the good success which they had. And on the next day after sending the herald he called together the exiles of the Athenians who were accompanying him, and bade them go up to the Acropolis and sacrifice the victims after their own manner; whether it was that he had seen some vision of a dream which caused him to give this command, or whether perchance he had a scruple in his mind because he had set fire to the temple. The Athenian exiles did accordingly that which was commanded them:

55, and the reason why I made mention of this I will here declare:—there is in this Acropolis a temple[35][{neos}.] of Erechtheus, who is said to have been born of the Earth, and in this there is an olive-tree and a sea, which (according to the story told by the Athenians) Poseidon and Athene, when they contended for the land, set as witnesses of themselves. Now it happened to this olive-tree to be set on fire with the rest of the temple by the Barbarians; and on the next day after the conflagration those of the Athenians who were commanded by the king to offer sacrifice, saw when they had gone up to the temple that a shoot had run up from the stock of the tree about a cubit in length. These then made report of this.

56. The Hellenes meanwhile at Salamis, when it was announced to them how it had been as regards the Acropolis of the Athenians, were disturbed so greatly that some of the commanders did not even wait for the question to be decided which had been proposed, but began to go hastily to their ships and to put up their sails, meaning to make off with speed; and by those of them who remained behind it was finally decided to fight at sea in defence of the Isthmus. So night came on, and they having been dismissed from the council were going to their ships:

57, and when Themistocles had come to his ship, Mnesiphilos an Athenian asked him what they had resolved; and being informed by him that it had been determined to take out the ships to the Isthmus and fight a battle by sea in defence of the Peloponnese, he said: “Then, if they set sail with the ships from Salamis, thou wilt not fight any more sea-battles at all for the fatherland, for they will all take their way to their several cities and neither Eurybiades nor any other man will be able to detain them or to prevent the fleet from being dispersed: and Hellas will perish by reason of evil counsels. But if there by any means, go thou and try to unsettle that which has been resolved, if perchance thou mayest persuade Eurybiades to change his plans, so as to stay here.”

58. This advice very much commended itself to Themistocles; and without making any answer he went to the ship of Eurybiades. Having come thither he said that he desired to communicate to him a matter which concerned the common good; and Eurybiades bade him come into his ship and speak, if he desired to say anything. Then Themistocles sitting down beside him repeated to him all those things which he had heard Mnesiphilos say, making as if they were his own thoughts, and adding to them many others; until at last by urgent request he persuaded him to come out of his ship and gather the commanders to the council.

59. So when they were gathered together, before Eurybiades proposed the discussion of the things for which he had assembled the commanders, Themistocles spoke with much vehemence[36][{pollos en en tois logois}: cp. ix. 91.] being very eager to gain his end; and as he was speaking, the Corinthian commander, Adeimantos the son of Okytos, said: “Themistocles, at the games those who stand forth for the contest before the due time are beaten with rods.” He justifying himself said: “Yes, but those who remain behind are not crowned.”

60. At that time he made answer mildly to the Corinthian; and to Eurybiades he said not now any of those things which he had said before, to the effect that if they should set sail from Salamis they would disperse in different directions; for it was not seemly for him to bring charges against the allies in their presence: but he held to another way of reasoning, saying: “Now it is in thy power to save Hellas, if thou wilt follow my advice, which is to stay here and here to fight a sea-battle, and if thou wilt not follow the advice of those among these men who bid thee remove the ships to the Isthmus. For hear both ways, and then set them in comparison. If thou engage battle at the Isthmus, thou wilt fight in an open sea, into which it is by no means convenient for us that we go to fight, seeing that we have ships which are heavier and fewer in number than those of the enemy. Then secondly thou wilt give up to destruction Salamis and Megara and Egina, even if we have success in all else; for with their fleet will come also the land-army, and thus thou wilt thyself lead them to the Peloponnese and wilt risk the safety of all Hellas. If however thou shalt do as I say, thou wilt find therein all the advantages which I shall tell thee of:—in the first place by engaging in a narrow place with few ships against many, if the fighting has that issue which it is reasonable to expect, we shall have very much the better; for to fight a sea-fight in a narrow space is for our advantage, but to fight in a wide open space is for theirs. Then again Salamis will be preserved, whither our children and our wives have been removed for safety; and moreover there is this also secured thereby, to which ye are most of all attached, namely that by remaining here thou wilt fight in defence of the Peloponnese as much as if the fight were at the Isthmus; and thou wilt not lead the enemy to Peloponnese, if thou art wise. Then if that which I expect come to pass and we gain a victory with our ships, the Barbarians will not come to you at the Isthmus nor will they advance further than Attica, but they will retire in disorder; and we shall be the gainers by the preservation of Megara and Egina and Salamis, at which place too an oracle tells us that we shall get the victory over our enemies.[37][See vii. 141-143.] Now when men take counsel reasonably for themselves, reasonable issues are wont as a rule to come, but if they do not take counsel reasonably, then God is not wont generally to attach himself to the judgment of men.”

61. When Themistocles thus spoke, the Corinthian Adeimantos inveighed against him for the second time, bidding him to be silent because he had no native land, and urging Eurybiades not to put to the vote the proposal of one who was a citizen of no city; for he said that Themistocles might bring opinions before the council if he could show a city belonging to him, but otherwise not. This objection he made against him because Athens had been taken and was held by the enemy. Then Themistocles said many evil things of him and of the Corinthians both, and declared also that he himself and his countrymen had in truth a city and a land larger than that of the Corinthians, so long as they had two hundred ships fully manned; for none of the Hellenes would be able to repel the Athenians if they came to fight against them.

62. Signifying this he turned then to Eurybiades and spoke yet more urgently: “If thou wilt remain here, and remaining here wilt show thyself a good man, well; but if not, thou wilt bring about the overthrow of Hellas, for upon the ships depends all our power in the war. Nay, but do as I advise. If, however, thou shalt not do so, we shall forthwith take up our households and voyage to Siris in Italy, which is ours already of old and the oracles say that it is destined to be colonised by us; and ye, when ye are left alone and deprived of allies such as we are, will remember my words.”

63. When Themistocles thus spoke, Eurybiades was persuaded to change his mind; and, as I think, he changed his mind chiefly from fear lest the Athenians should depart and leave them, if he should take the ships to the Isthmus; for if the Athenians left them and departed, the rest would be no longer able to fight with the enemy. He chose then this counsel, to stay in that place and decide matters there by a sea-fight.

64. Thus those at Salamis, after having skirmished with one another in speech, were making preparations for a sea-fight there, since Eurybiades had so determined: and as day was coming on, at the same time when the sun rose there was an earthquake felt both on the land and on the sea: and they determined to pray to the gods and to call upon the sons of Aiacos to be their helpers. And as they had determined, so also they did; for when they had prayed to all the gods, they called Ajax and Telamon to their help from Salamis, where the fleet was,[38][{autothen ik Salaminos}.] and sent a ship to Egina to bring Aiacos himself and the rest of the sons of Aiacos.

65. Moreover Dicaios the son of Theokydes, an Athenian, who was an exile and had become of great repute among the Medes at this time, declared that when the Attic land was being ravaged by the land-army of Xerxes, having been deserted by the Athenians, he happened then to be in company with Demaratos the Lacedemonian in the Thriasian plain; and he saw a cloud of dust going up from Eleusis, as if made by a company of about thirty thousand men, and they wondered at the cloud of dust, by what men it was caused. Then forthwith they heard a sound of voices, and Dicaios perceived that the sound was the mystic cry Iacchos; but Demaratos, having no knowledge of the sacred rites which are done at Eleusis, asked him what this was that uttered the sound, and he said: “Demaratos, it cannot be but that some great destruction is about to come to the army of the king: for as to this, it is very manifest, seeing that Attica is deserted, that this which utters the sound is of the gods, and that it is going from Eleusis to help the Athenians and their allies: if then it shall come down in the Peloponnese, there is danger for the king himself and for the army which is upon the mainland, but if it shall direct its course towards the ships which are at Salamis, the king will be in danger of losing his fleet. This feast the Athenians celebrate every year to the Mother and the Daughter;[39][{te Metri kai te Koure}, Demeter and Persephone.] and he that desires it, both of them and of the other Hellenes, is initiated in the mysteries; and the sound of voices which thou hearest is the cry Iacchos which they utter at this feast.” To this Demaratos said: “Keep silence and tell not this tale to any other man; for if these words of thine be reported to the king, thou wilt surely lose thy head, and neither I nor any other man upon earth will be able to save thee: but keep thou quiet, and about this expedition the gods will provide.” He then thus advised, and after the cloud of dust and the sound of voices there came a mist which was borne aloft and carried towards Salamis to the camp of the Hellenes: and thus they learnt (said he) that the fleet of Xerxes was destined to be destroyed. Such was the report made by Dicaios the son of Theodykes, appealing to Demaratos and others also as witnesses.

66. Meanwhile those who were appointed to serve in the fleet of Xerxes, having gazed in Trachis upon the disaster of the Lacedemonians and having passed over from thence to Histiaia, after staying three days sailed through Euripos, and in other three days they had reached Phaleron. And, as I suppose, they made their attack upon Athens not fewer in number both by land and sea than when they had arrived at Sepias and at Thermopylai: for against those of them who perished by reason of the storm and those who were slain at Thermopylai and in the sea-fights at Artemision, I will set those who at that time were not yet accompanying the king, the Malians, Dorians, Locrians, and Boeotians (who accompanied him in a body, except the Thespians and Plataians), and moreover those of Carystos, Andros, and Tenos, with all the other islanders except the five cities of which I mentioned the names before; for the more the Persian advanced towards the centre of Hellas, the more nations accompanied him.

67. So then, when all these had come to Athens except the Parians (now the Parians had remained behind at Kythnos waiting to see how the war would turn out),—when all the rest, I say, had come to Phaleron, then Xerxes himself came down to the ships desiring to visit them and to learn the opinions of those who sailed in them: and when he had come and was set in a conspicuous place, then those who were despots of their own nations or commanders of divisions being sent for came before him from their ships, and took their seats as the king had assigned rank to each one, first the king of Sidon, then he of Tyre, and after them the rest: and when they were seated in due order, Xerxes sent Mardonios and inquired, making trial of each one, whether he should fight a battle by sea.

68. So when Mardonios went round asking them, beginning with the king of Sidon, the others gave their opinions all to the same effect, advising him to fight a battle by sea, but Artemisia spoke these words:—(a) “Tell the king I pray thee, Mardonios, that I, who have proved myself not to be the worst in the sea-fights which have been fought near Euboea, and have displayed deeds not inferior to those of others, speak to him thus: Master, it is right that I set forth the opinion which I really have, and say that which I happen to think best for thy cause: and this I say,—spare thy ships and do not make a sea-fight; for the men are as much stronger than thy men by sea, as men are stronger than women. And why must thou needs run the risk of sea-battles? Hast thou not Athens in thy possession, for the sake of which thou didst set forth on thy march, and also the rest of Hellas? and no man stands in thy way to resist, but those who did stand against thee came off as it was fitting that they should. (b) Now the manner in which I think the affairs of thy adversaries will have their issue, I will declare. If thou do not hasten to make a sea-fight, but keep thy ships here by the land, either remaining here thyself or even advancing on to the Peloponnese, that which thou hast come to do, O master, will easily be effected; for the Hellenes are not able to hold out against thee for any long time, but thou wilt soon disperse them and they will take flight to their several cities: since neither have they provisions with them in this island, as I am informed, nor is it probable that if thou shalt march thy land-army against the Peloponnese, they who have come from thence will remain still; for these will have no care to fight a battle in defence of Athens. (c) If however thou hasten to fight forthwith, I fear that damage done to the fleet may ruin the land-army also. Moreover, O king, consider also this, that the servants of good men are apt to grow bad, but those of bad men good; and thou, who art of all men the best, hast bad servants, namely those who are reckoned as allies, Egyptians and Cyprians and Kilikians and Pamphylians, in whom there is no profit.”

69. When she thus spoke to Mardonios, those who were friendly to Artemisia were grieved at her words, supposing that she would suffer some evil from the king because she urged him not to fight at sea; while those who had envy and jealousy of her, because she had been honoured above all the allies, were rejoiced at the opposition,[40][{te anakrisi}: cp. {anakrinomenous}, ix. 56: Some Editors, following inferior MSS., read {te krisi}, “at the judgment expressed.”] supposing that she would now be ruined. When however the opinions were reported to Xerxes, he was greatly pleased with the opinion of Artemisia; and whereas even before this he thought her excellent, he commended her now yet more. Nevertheless he gave orders to follow the advice of the greater number, thinking that when they fought by Euboea they were purposely slack, because he was not himself present with them, whereas now he had made himself ready to look on while they fought a sea-battle.

70. So when they passed the word to put out to sea, they brought their ships out to Salamis and quietly ranged themselves along the shore in their several positions. At that time the daylight was not sufficient for them to engage battle, for night had come on; but they made their preparations to fight on the following day. Meanwhile the Hellenes were possessed by fear and dismay, especially those who were from Peloponnese: and these were dismayed because remaining in Salamis they were to fight a battle on behalf of the land of the Athenians, and being defeated they would be cut off from escape and blockaded in an island, leaving their own land unguarded. And indeed the land-army of the Barbarians was marching forward during that very night towards the Peloponnese.

71. Yet every means had been taken that the Barbarians might not be able to enter Peloponnesus by land: for as soon as the Peloponnesians heard that Leonidas and his company had perished at Thermopylai, they came together quickly from the cities and took post at the Isthmus, and over them was set as commander Cleombrotos, the son of Anaxandrides and brother of Leonidas. These being posted at the Isthmus had destroyed the Skironian way, and after this (having so determined in counsel with one another) they began to build a wall across the Isthmus; and as they were many myriads[41][{muriadon}, “ten thousands.”] and every man joined in the work, the work proceeded fast; for stones and bricks and pieces of timber and baskets full of sand were carried to it continually, and they who had thus come to help paused not at all in their work either by night or by day.

72. Now those of the Hellenes who came in full force to the Isthmus to help their country were these,—the Lacedemonians, the Arcadians of every division, the Eleians, Corinthians, Sikyonians, Epidaurians, Phliasians, Troizenians and Hermionians. These were they who came to the help of Hellas in her danger and who had apprehension for her, while the rest of the Peloponnesians showed no care: and the Olympic and Carneian festivals had by this time gone by.

73. Now Peloponnesus is inhabited by seven races; and of these, two are natives of the soil and are settled now in the place where they dwelt of old, namely the Arcadians and the Kynurians; and one race, that of the Achaians, though it did not remove from the Peloponnese, yet removed in former time from its own land and dwells now in that which was not its own. The remaining races, four in number, have come in from without, namely the Dorians, Aitolians, Dryopians and Lemnians. Of the Dorians there are many cities and of great renown; of the Aitolians, Elis alone; of the Dryopians, Hermion[42][Or, “Hermione.”] and Asine, which latter is opposite Cardamyle in the Laconian land; and of the Lemnians, all the Paroreatai. The Kynurians, who are natives of the soil, seem alone to be Ionians, but they have become Dorians completely because they are subject to the Argives and by lapse of time, being originally citizens of Orneai or the dwellers in the country round Orneai.[43][{oi perioikoi}: some Editors omit the article and translate “and these are the so-called Orneates or dwellers round (Argos),” Orneates being a name for the {perioikoi} of Argos, derived from the conquered city of Orneai.] Of these seven nations the remaining cities, except those which I enumerated just now, stood aside and did nothing; and if one may be allowed to speak freely, in thus standing aside they were in fact taking the side of the Medes.

74. Those at the Isthmus were struggling with the labour which I have said, since now they were running a course in which their very being was at stake, and they did not look to have any brilliant success with their ships: while those who were at Salamis, though informed of this work, were yet dismayed, not fearing so much for themselves as for Peloponnesus. For some time then they spoke of it in private, one man standing by another, and they marvelled at the ill-counsel of Eurybiades; but at last it broke out publicly. A meeting accordingly was held, and much was spoken about the same points as before, some saying that they ought to sail away to Peloponnesus and run the risk in defence of that, and not stay and fight for a land which had been captured by the enemy, while the Athenians, Eginetans and Megarians urged that they should stay there and defend themselves.

75. Then Themistocles, when his opinion was like to be defeated by the Peloponnesians, secretly went forth from the assembly, and having gone out he sent a man to the encampment of the Medes in a boat, charging him with that which he must say: this man’s name was Sikinnos, and he was a servant of Themistocles and tutor to his children; and after these events Themistocles entered him as a Thespian citizen, when the Thespians were admitting new citizens, and made him a wealthy man. He at this time came with a boat and said to the commanders of the Barbarians these words: “The commander of the Athenians sent me privately without the knowledge of the other Hellenes (for, as it chances, he is disposed to the cause of the king, and desires rather that your side should gain the victory than that of the Hellenes), to inform you that the Hellenes are planning to take flight, having been struck with dismay; and now it is possible for you to execute a most noble work, if ye do not permit them to flee away: for they are not of one mind with one another and they will not stand against you in fight, but ye shall see them fighting a battle by sea with one another, those who are disposed to your side against those who are not.”

76. He then having signified to them this, departed out of the way; and they, thinking that the message deserved credit, landed first a large number of Persians in the small island of Psyttaleia, which lies between Salamis and the mainland; and then, as midnight came on, they put out the Western wing of their fleet to sea, circling round towards Salamis, and also those stationed about Keos and Kynosura put out their ships to sea; and they occupied all the passage with their ships as far as Munychia. And for this reason they put out their ships, namely in order that the Hellenes might not even be permitted to get away, but being cut off in Salamis might pay the penalty for the contests at Artemision: and they disembarked men of the Persians on the small island called Psyttaleia for this reason, namely that when the fight should take place, these might save the men of one side and destroy those of the other, since there especially it was likely that the men and the wrecks of ships would be cast up on shore, for the island lay in the way of the sea-fight which was to be. These things they did in silence, that the enemy might not have information of them.

77. They then were making their preparations thus in the night without having taken any sleep at all: and with regard to oracles, I am not able to make objections against them that they are not true, for I do not desire to attempt to overthrow the credit of them when they speak clearly, looking at such matters as these which here follow:

“But when with ships they shall join the sacred strand of the goddess,
Artemis golden-sword-girded, and thee, wave-washed Kynosura,
Urged by a maddening hope,[44][{elpidi mainomene}, “with a mad hope.”] having given rich Athens to plunder,
Then shall Justice divine quell Riot, of Insolence first-born,[45][{krateron Koron Ubrios uion}.]
Longing to overthrow all things[46][{dokeunt ana panta tithesthai}: the MSS. have also {pithesthai}. Possibly {tithesthai} might stand, though {anatithesthai} is not found elsewhere in this sense. Stein adopts in his last edition the conjecture {piesthai}, “swallow up.”] and terribly panting for bloodhshed:
Brass shall encounter with brass, and Ares the sea shall empurple,
Tinging its waves with the blood: then a day of freedom for Hellas
Cometh from wide-seeing Zeus[47][{Kronides}.] and from Victory, lady and mother.”[48][{potnia Nike}.]

Looking to such things as this, and when Bakis speaks so clearly, I do not venture myself to make any objections about oracles, nor can I admit them from others.

78. Now between the commanders that were at Salamis there came to be great contention of speech and they did not yet know that the Barbarians were surrounding them with their ships, but they thought that they were still in their place as they saw them disposed in the day.

79. Then while the commanders were engaged in strife, there came over from Egina Aristeides the son of Lysimachos, an Athenian who had been ostracised by the people, a man whom I hold (according to that which I hear of his character) to have been the best and most upright of all Athenians. This man came into the council and called forth Themistocles, who was to him not a friend, but an enemy to the last degree; but because of the greatness of the present troubles he let those matters be forgotten and called him forth, desiring to communicate with him. Now he had heard beforehand that the Peloponnesians were pressing to take the ships away to the Isthmus. So when Themistocles came forth to him, Aristeides spoke these words: “Both at other times when occasion arises, and also especially at this time we ought to carry on rivalry as to which of us shall do more service to our country. And I tell thee now that it is indifferent whether the Peloponnesians say many words or few about sailing away from hence; for having been myself an eye-witness I tell thee that now not even if the Corinthians and Eurybiades himself desire to sail out, will they be able; for we are encompassed round by the enemy. Go thou in then, and signify this to them.”

80. He made answer as follows: “Thou advisest very well,[49][i.e. about rivalry.] and also the news which thou hast brought is good, since thou art come having witnessed with thine own eyes that which I desired might come to pass: for know that this which is being done by the Medes is of my suggestion; because, when the Hellenes would not come to a battle of their own will, it was necessary to bring them over to us against their will. Do thou however, since thou art come bearing good news, thyself report it to them; for if I say these things, I shall be thought to speak that which I have myself invented, and I shall not persuade them, but they will think that the Barbarians are not doing so. Do thou thyself however come forward to speak, and declare to them how things are; and when thou hast declared this, if they are persuaded, that will be the best thing, but if this is not credible to them, it will be the same thing so far as concerns us, for they will no longer be able to take to flight, if we are encompassed on all sides, as thou sayest.”

81. Aristeides accordingly came forward and told them this, saying that he had come from Egina and had with difficulty escaped without being perceived by those who were blockading them; for the whole encampment of the Hellenes was encompassed by the ships of Xerxes; and he counselled them to get ready to defend themselves. He then having thus spoken retired, and among them again there arose dispute, for the greater number of the commanders did not believe that which was reported to them:

82. and while these were doubting, there came a trireme manned by Tenians, deserting from the enemy, of which the commander was Panaitios the son of Sosimenes, which brought them the whole truth. For this deed the Tenians were inscribed at Delphi on the tripod among those who had conquered the Barbarians. With the ship which deserted at Salamis and the Lemnian ship which deserted before and came to Artemision, the naval force of the Hellenes was completed to the number of three hundred and eighty ships, for before this two ships were yet wanting to make up this number.

83. The Hellenes then, since they believed that which was said by the Tenians, were preparing for a sea-fight: and as the dawn appeared, they made an assembly of those who fought on board the ships[50][{ton epibateon}.] and addressed them, Themistocles making a speech which was eloquent beyond the rest; and the substance of it was to set forth all that is better as opposed to that which is worse, of the several things which arise in the nature and constitution of man; and having exhorted them to choose the better,[51][Many Editors reading {osa de} and {parainesas de}, make the stop after {antitithemena}: “and in all that is produced in the nature and constitution of man he exhorted them to choose the better.”] and thus having wound up his speech, he bade them embark in their ships. These then proceeded to embark, and there came in meanwhile the trireme from Egina which had gone away to bring the sons of Aiacos.

84. Then the Hellenes put out all their ships, and while they were putting out from shore, the Barbarians attacked them forthwith. Now the other Hellenes began backing their ships and were about to run them aground, but Ameinias of Pallene, an Athenian, put forth with his ship and charged one of the enemy; and his ship being entangled in combat and the men not being able to get away, the others joined in the fight to assist Ameinias. The Athenians say that the beginning of the battle was made thus, but the Eginetans say that the ship which went away to Egina to bring the sons of Aiacos was that which began the fight. It is also reported that an apparition of a woman was seen by them, and that having appeared she encouraged them to the fight so that the whole of the army of the Hellenes heard it, first having reproached them in these words: “Madmen,[52][{o daimonioi}, “strange men.”] how far will ye yet back your ships?”

85. Opposite the Athenians had been ranged the Phenicians, for these occupied the wing towards Eleusis and the West, and opposite the Lacedemonians were the Ionians, who occupied the wing which extended to the East and to Piræus. Of them however a few were purposely slack in the fight according to the injunctions of Themistocles,[53][参见第 22 章。 XNUMX.] but the greater number were not so. I might mention now the names of many captains of ships who destroyed ships of the Hellenes, but I will make no use of their names except in the case of Theomestor, the son of Androdamas and Phylacos the son of Histiaios, of Samos both: and for this reason I make mention of these and not of the rest, because Theomestor on account of this deed became despot of Samos, appointed by the Persians, and Phylacos was recorded as a benefactor of the king and received much land as a reward. Now the benefactors of the king are called in the Persian tongue orosangai.

86. Thus it was with these; but the greater number of their ships were disabled at Salamis, being destroyed some by the Athenians and others by the Eginetans: for since the Hellenes fought in order and ranged in their places, while the Barbarians were no longer ranged in order nor did anything with design, it was likely that there would be some such result as in fact followed. Yet on this day they surpassed themselves much more than when they fought by Euboea, every one being eager and fearing Xerxes, and each man thinking that the king was looking especially at him.

87. As regards the rest I cannot speak of them separately, or say precisely how the Barbarians or the Hellenes individually contended in the fight; but with regard to Artemisia that which happened was this, whence she gained yet more esteem than before from the king.—When the affairs of the king had come to great confusion, at this crisis a ship of Artemisia was being pursued by an Athenian ship; and as she was not able to escape, for in front of her were other ships of her own side, while her ship, as it chanced, was furthest advanced towards the enemy, she resolved what she would do, and it proved also much to her advantage to have done so. While she was being pursued by the Athenian ship she charged with full career against a ship of her own side manned by Calyndians and in which the king of the Calyndians Damasithymos was embarked. Now, even though it be true that she had had some strife with him before, while they were still about the Hellespont, yet I am not able to say whether she did this by intention, or whether the Calyndian ship happened by chance to fall in her way. Having charged against it however and sunk it, she enjoyed good fortune and got for herself good in two ways; for first the captain of the Athenian ship, when he saw her charge against a ship manned by Barbarians, turned away and went after others, supposing that the ship of Artemisia was either a Hellenic ship or was deserting from the Barbarians and fighting for the Hellenes,

88,—first, I say, it was her fortune to have this, namely to escape and not suffer destruction; and then secondly it happened that though she had done mischief, she yet gained great reputation by this thing with Xerxes. For it is said that the king looking on at the fight perceived that her ship had charged the other; and one of those present said: “Master, dost thou see Artemisia, how well she is fighting, and how she sank even now a ship of the enemy?” He asked whether this was in truth the deed of Artemisia, and they said that it was; for (they declared) they knew very well the sign of her ship: and that which was destroyed they thought surely was one of the enemy; for besides other things which happened fortunately for her, as I have said, there was this also, namely that not one of the crew of the Calyndian ship survived to become her accuser. And Xerxes in answer to that which was said to him is reported to have uttered these words: “My men have become women, and my women men.” Thus it is said that Xerxes spoke.

89. And meanwhile in this struggle there was slain the commander Ariabignes, son of Dareios and brother of Xerxes, and there were slain too many others of note of the Persians and Medes and also of the allies; and of the Hellenes on their part a few; for since they knew how to swim, those whose ships were destroyed and who were not slain in hand-to-hand conflict swam over to Salamis; but of the Barbarians the greater number perished in the sea, not being able to swim. And when the first ships turned to flight, then it was that the largest number perished, for those who were stationed behind, while endeavouring to pass with their ships to the front in order that they also might display some deed of valour for the king to see, ran into the ships of their own side as they fled.

90. It happened also in the course of this confusion that some of the Phenicians, whose ships had been destroyed, came to the king and accused the Ionians, saying that by means of them their ships had been lost, and that they had been traitors to the cause. Now it so came about that not only the commanders of the Ionians did not lose their lives, but the Phenicians who accused them received a reward such as I shall tell. While these men were yet speaking thus, a Samothrakian ship charged against an Athenian ship: and as the Athenian ship was being sunk by it, an Eginetan ship came up against the Samothrakian vessel and ran it down. Then the Samothrakians, being skilful javelin-throwers, by hurling cleared off the fighting-men from the ship which had wrecked theirs and then embarked upon it and took possession of it. This event saved the Ionians from punishment; for when Xerxes saw that they had performed a great exploit, he turned to the Phenicians (for he was exceedingly vexed and disposed to find fault with all) and bade cut off their heads, in order that they might not, after having been cowards themselves, accuse others who were better men than they. For whensoever Xerxes (sitting just under the mountain opposite Salamis, which is called Aigaleos) saw any one of his own side display a deed of valour in the sea-fight, he inquired about him who had done it, and the scribes recorded the name of the ship’s captain with that of his father and the city from whence he came. Moreover also Ariaramnes, a Persian who was present, shared[54][{pros de eti kai proselabeto}: the MSS. have {prosebaleto}. Most Editors translate, “Moreover Ariamnes… contributed to the fate of the Phenicians, being a friend (of the Ionians);” but this does not seem possible unless we read {philos eon Iosi} (or {Ionon}). Valla translates nearly as I have done. (It does not appear that {prosballesthai} is found elsewhere in the sense of {sumballesthai}.)] the fate of the Phenicians, being their friend. They[55][i.e. they who were commanded to execute them.] then proceeded to deal with the Phenicians.

91. In the meantime, as the Barbarians turned to flight and were sailing out towards Phaleron, the Eginetans waited for them in the passage and displayed memorable actions: for while the Athenians in the confused tumult were disabling both those ships which resisted and those which were fleeing, the Eginetans were destroying those which attempted to sail away; and whenever any escaped the Athenians, they went in full course and fell among the Eginetans.

92. Then there met one another the ship of Themistocles, which was pursuing a ship of the enemy, and that of Polycritos the son of Crios the Eginetan. This last had charged against a ship of Sidon, the same that had taken the Eginetan vessel which was keeping watch in advance at Skiathos,[56][See vii. 179, 181.] and in which sailed Pytheas the son of Ischenoös, whom the Persians kept in their ship, all cut to pieces as he was, making a marvel of his valour. The Sidonian ship then was captured bearing with it this man as well as the Persians of whom I spoke, so that Pytheas thus came safe to Egina. Now when Polycritos looked at the Athenian vessel he recognised when he saw it the sign of the admiral’s ship, and shouting out he addressed Themistocles with mockery about the accusation brought against the Eginetans of taking the side of the Medes,[57][See vi. 49, etc., and 73.] and reproached him. This taunt Polycritos threw out against Themistocles after he had charged against the ship of Sidon. And meanwhile those Barbarians whose ships had escaped destruction fled and came to Phaleron to be under cover of the land-army.

93. In this sea-fight the Eginetans were of all the Hellenes the best reported of, and next to them the Athenians; and of the individual men the Eginetan Polycritos and the Athenians Eumenes of Anagyrus and Ameinias of Pallene, the man who had pursued after Artemisia. Now if he had known that Artemisia was sailing in this ship, he would not have ceased until either he had taken her or had been taken himself; for orders had been given to the Athenian captains, and moreover a prize was offered of ten thousand drachmas for the man who should take her alive; since they thought it intolerable that a woman should make an expedition against Athens. She then, as has been said before, had made her escape; and the others also, whose ships had escaped destruction, were at Phaleron.

94. As regards Adeimantos the commander of the Corinthians, the Athenians say that forthwith at the beginning when the ships were engaging in the fight, being struck with panic and terror he put up his sails and fled away; and the Corinthians, when they saw the admiral’s ship fleeing, departed likewise: and after this, as the story goes, when they came in their flight opposite to the temple of Athene Skiras in the land of Salamis, there fell in with them by divine guidance a light vessel,[58][{keleta}.] which no one was ever found to have sent, and which approached the Corinthians at a time when they knew nothing of that which was happening with the fleet. And by this it is conjectured[59][{sumballontai}: the Athenians apparently are spoken of, for they alone believed the story.] that the matter was of the Deity; for when they came near to the ships, the men in the light vessel said these words: “Adeimantos, thou hast turned thy ships away and hast set forth to flee, deserting the cause of the Hellenes, while they are in truth gaining a victory and getting the better of their foes as much as they desired.” When they said this, since Adeimantos doubted of it, they spoke a second time and said that they might be taken as hostages and slain, if the Hellenes should prove not to be gaining the victory. Then he turned his ship back, he and the others with him, and they reached the camp when the work was finished. Such is the report spread by the Athenians against these: the Corinthians however do not allow this to be so, but hold that they were among the first in the sea-fight; and the rest of Hellas also bears witness on their side.

95. Aristeides moreover the son of Lysimachos, the Athenian, of whom I made mention also shortly before this as a very good man, he in this tumult which had arisen about Salamis did as follows:—taking with him a number of the hoplites of Athenian race who had been ranged along the shore of the land of Salamis, with them he disembarked on the island of Psyttaleia; and these slew all the Persians who were in this islet.

96. When the sea-fight had been broken off, the Hellenes towed in to Salamis so many of the wrecks as chanced to be still about there, and held themselves ready for another sea-fight, expecting that the king would yet make use of the ships which remained unhurt; but many of the wrecks were taken by the West Wind and borne to that strand in Attica which is called Colias; so as to fulfil[60][{apoplesai}: this is the reading of the MSS.; but many Editors adopt corrections ({apoplesthai} or {apoplesthenai}). The subject to {apoplesai} is to be found in the preceding sentence and the connexion with {ton te allon panta k.t.l.} is a loose one. This in fact is added as an afterthought, the idea being originally to call attention simply to the fulfilment of the oracle of Lysistratos.] not only all that other oracle which was spoken about this sea-fight by Bakis and Musaios, but also especially, with reference to the wrecks cast up here, that which had been spoken in an oracle many years before these events by Lysistratos, an Athenian who uttered oracles, and which had not been observed by any of the Hellenes:

This was destined to come to pass after the king had marched away.

97. When Xerxes perceived the disaster which had come upon him, he feared lest some one of the Ionians should suggest to the Hellenes, or they should themselves form the idea, to sail to the Hellespont and break up the bridges; and so he might be cut off in Europe and run the risk of perishing utterly: therefore he began to consider about taking flight. He desired however that his intention should not be perceived either by the Hellenes or by those of his own side; therefore he attempted to construct a mole going across to Salamis, and he bound together Phenician merchant vessels in order that they might serve him both for a bridge and a wall, and made preparations for fighting as if he were going to have another battle by sea. Seeing him do so, all the rest made sure that he had got himself ready in earnest and intended to stay and fight; but Mardonios did not fail to perceive the true meaning of all these things, being by experience very well versed in his way of thinking.

98. While Xerxes was doing thus, he sent a messenger to the Persians, to announce the calamity which had come upon them. Now there is nothing mortal which accomplishes a journey with more speed than these messengers, so skilfully has this been invented by the Persians: for they say that according to the number of days of which the entire journey consists, so many horses and men are set at intervals, each man and horse appointed for a day’s journey. These neither snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness of night prevents from accomplishing each one the task proposed to him, with the very utmost speed. The first then rides and delivers the message with which he is charged to the second, and the second to the third; and after that it goes through them handed from one to the other,[62][{kat allon kai allon}: the MSS. have {kat allon}, but Valla’s rendering is “alium atque alium.”] as in the torch-race among the Hellenes, which they perform for Hephaistos. This kind of running of their horses the Persians call angareion.

99. The first message then which came to Susa, announcing that Xerxes had Athens in his possession, so greatly rejoiced the Persians who had been left behind, that they strewed all the ways with myrtle boughs and offered incense perpetually, and themselves continued in sacrifices and feasting. The second message however, which came to them after this, so greatly disturbed them that they all tore their garments and gave themselves up to crying and lamentation without stint, laying the blame upon Mardonios: and this the Persians did not so much because they were grieved about the ships, as because they feared for Xerxes himself.

100. As regards the Persians this went on for all the time which intervened, until the coming of Xerxes himself caused them to cease: and Mardonios seeing that Xerxes was greatly troubled by reason of the sea-fight, and suspecting that he was meaning to take flight from Athens, considered with regard to himself that he would have to suffer punishment for having persuaded the king to make an expedition against Hellas, and that it was better for him to run the risk of either subduing Hellas or ending his own life honourably, placing his safety in suspense for a great end,[63][{uper megalon aiorethenta}.] though his opinion was rather that he would subdue Hellas;—he reckoned up these things, I say, and addressed his speech to the king as follows: “Master, be not thou grieved, nor feel great trouble on account of this thing which has come to pass; for it is not upon a contest of timbers that all our fortunes depend, but of men and of horses: and none of these who suppose now that all has been achieved by them will attempt to disembark from the ships and stand against thee, nor will any in this mainland do so; but those who did stand against us paid the penalty. If therefore thou thinkest this good to do, let us forthwith attempt the Peloponnese, or if thou thinkest good to hold back, we may do that. Do not despond however, for there is no way of escape for the Hellenes to avoid being thy slaves, after they have first given an account of that which they did to thee both now and at former times. Thus it were best to do; but if thou hast indeed resolved to retire thyself and to withdraw thy army, I have another counsel to offer for that case too. Do not thou, O king, let the Persians be an object of laughter to the Hellenes; for none of thy affairs have suffered by means of the Persians, nor wilt thou be able to mention any place where we proved ourselves cowards: but if Phenicians or Egyptians or Cyprians or Kilikians proved themselves cowards, the calamity which followed does not belong to the Persians in any way. Now therefore, since it is not the Persians who are guilty towards thee, follow my counsel. If thou hast determined not to remain here, retire thou to thine own abode, taking with thee the main body of the army, and it must then be for me to deliver over to thee Hellas reduced to subjection, choosing for this purpose thirty myriads[64][即300,000。] from the army.”

101. Hearing this Xerxes was rejoiced and delighted so far as he might be after his misfortunes,[65][{os ek kakon}: some translate, “thinking that he had escaped from his troubles.”] and to Mardonios he said that when he had taken counsel he would reply and say which of these two things he would do. So when he was taking counsel with those of the Persians who were called to be his advisers,[66][{toisi epikletoisi}, cp. vii. 8 and ix. 42.] it seemed good to him to send for Artemisia also to give him counsel, because at the former time she alone had showed herself to have perception of that which ought to be done. So when Artemisia had come, Xerxes removed from him all the rest, both the Persian councillors and also the spearmen of the guard and spoke to her thus: “Mardonios bids me stay here and make an attempt on the Peloponnese, saying that the Persians and the land-army are not guilty of any share in my calamity, and that they would gladly give me proof of this. He bids me therefore either do this or, if not, he desires himself to choose thirty myriads from the army and to deliver over to me Hellas reduced to subjection; and he bids me withdraw with the rest of the army to my own abode. Do thou therefore, as thou didst well advise about the sea-fight which was fought, urging that we should not bring it on, so also now advise me which of these things I shall do, that I may succeed in determining well.”

102. He thus consulted her, and she spoke these words: “O king, it is hard for me to succeed in saying the best things when one asks me for counsel; yet it seems good to me at the present that thou shouldest retire back and leave Mardonios here, if he desires it and undertakes to do this, together with those whom he desires to have: for on the one hand if he subdue those whom he says that he desires to subdue, and if those matters succeed well which he has in mind when he thus speaks, the deed will after all be thine, master, seeing that thy slaves achieved it: and on the other hand if the opposite shall come to pass of that which Mardonios intends, it will be no great misfortune, seeing that thou wilt thyself remain safe, and also the power in those parts[67][i.e. Asia, as opposed to “these parts.”] which concerns thy house:[68][Stein would take {peri oikon ton son} with {oudemia sumphore}, but the order of words is against this.] for if thou shalt remain safe with thy house, many contests many times over repeated will the Hellenes have to pass through for their own existence.[69][{pollous pollakis agonas drameontai peri spheon auton}.] Of Mardonios however, if he suffer any disaster, no account will be made; and if the Hellenes conquer they gain a victory which is no victory, having destroyed one who is but thy slave. Thou however wilt retire having done that for which thou didst make thy march, that is to say, having delivered Athens to the fire.”

103. With this advice Xerxes was greatly delighted, since she succeeded in saying that very thing which he himself was meaning to do: for not even if all the men and all the women in the world had been counselling him to remain, would he have done so, as I think, so much had he been struck with terror. He commended Artemisia therefore and sent her away to conduct his sons to Ephesos, for there were certain bastard sons of his which accompanied him.

104. With these sons he sent Hermotimos to have charge of them, who was by race of Pedasa and was in the estimation of the king second to none of the eunuchs. [Now the Pedasians dwell above Halicarnassos, and at this Pedasa a thing happens as follows:—whenever to the whole number of those who dwell about this city some trouble is about to come within a certain time, then the priestess of Athene in that place gets a long beard; and this has happened to them twice before now.

105. Of these Pedasians was Hermotimos.][70][See i. 175: The manner of the repetition and some points in the diction raise suspicion that the passage is interpolated here; and so it is held to be by most Editors. In i. 175 we find {tris} instead of {dis}.] And this man of all persons whom we know up to this time obtained the greatest revenge for a wrong done to him. For he had been captured by enemies and was being sold, and Panionios a man of Chios bought him, one who had set himself to gain his livelihood by the most impious practices; for whenever he obtained boys who possessed some beauty, he would make eunuchs of them, and then taking them to Sardis or Ephesos sold them for large sums of money, since with the Barbarians eunuchs are held to be of more value for all matters of trust than those who are not eunuchs. Panionios then, I say, made eunuchs of many others, since by this he got his livelihood, and also of this man about whom I speak: and Hermotimos, being not in everything unfortunate, was sent from Sardis to the king with other gifts, and as time went on he came to be honoured more than all the other eunuchs in the sight of Xerxes.

106. And when the king, being at that time in Sardis, was setting the Persian army in motion to march against Athens, then Hermotimos, having gone down for some business to that part of Mysia which the Chians occupy and which is called Atarneus, found there Panionios: and having recognised him he spoke to him many friendly words, first recounting to him all the good things which he had by his means, and next making promises in return for this, and saying how many good things he would do for him, if he would bring his household and dwell in that land; so that Panionios gladly accepting his proposals brought his children and his wife. Then, when he had caught him together with his whole house, Hermotimos spoke as follows: “O thou, who of all men that ever lived up to this time didst gain thy substance by the most impious deeds, what evil did either I myself or any of my forefathers do either to thee or to any of thine, that thou didst make me to be that which is nought instead of a man? Didst thou suppose that thou wouldest escape the notice of the gods for such things as then thou didst devise? They however following the rule of justice delivered[71][{upegagon}, cp. vi. 72, with the idea of bringing before a court for punishment, not “by underhand means,” as it is understood by Larcher and Bähr.] thee into my hands, since thou hadst done impious deeds; so that thou shalt not have reason to find fault with the penalty which shall be inflicted upon thee by me.” When he had thus reproached him, the man’s sons were brought into his presence and Panionios was compelled to make eunuchs of his own sons, who were four in number, and being compelled he did so; and then when he had so done, the sons were compelled to do the same thing to him. Thus vengeance by the hands of Hermotimos[72][“vengeance and Hermotimos.”] overtook Panionios.

107. When Xerxes had entrusted his sons to Artemisia to carry them back to Ephesos, he called Mardonios and bade him choose of the army whom he would, and make his deeds, if possible, correspond to his words. During this day then things went so far; and in the night on the command of the king the leaders of the fleet began to withdraw their ships from Phaleron to the Hellespont, as quickly as they might each one, to guard the bridges for the king to pass over. And when the Barbarians were near Zoster as they sailed, then seeing the small points of rock which stretch out to sea from this part of the mainland, they thought that these were ships and fled for a good distance. In time however, perceiving that they were not ships but points of rock, they assembled together again and continued on their voyage.

108. When day dawned, the Hellenes, seeing that the land-army was staying still in its place, supposed that the ships also were about Phaleron; and thinking that they would fight another sea-battle, they made preparations to repel them. When however they were informed that the ships had departed, forthwith upon this they thought it good to pursue after them. They pursued therefore as far as Andros, but did not get a sight of the fleet of Xerxes; and when they had come to Andros, they deliberated what they should do. Themistocles then declared as his opinion that they should take their course through the islands and pursue after the ships, and afterwards sail straight to the Hellespont to break up the bridges; but Eurybiades expressed the opposite opinion to this, saying that if they should break up the floating-bridges, they would therein do[73][{spheis… ergasaiato}: the MSS. read {sphi} (one {spheas}) and {ergasaito}, and this is retained by some Editors.] the greatest possible evil to Hellas: for if the Persian should be cut off and compelled to remain in Europe, he would endeavour not to remain still, since if he remained still, neither could any of his affairs go forward, nor would any way of returning home appear; but his army would perish of hunger: whereas if he made the attempt and persevered in it, all Europe might be brought over to him, city by city and nation by nation, the inhabitants being either conquered[74][“taken.”]or surrendering on terms before they were conquered: moreover they would have for food the crops of the Hellenes which grew year by year. He thought however that conquered in the sea-fight the Persian would not stay in Europe, and therefore he might be allowed to flee until in his flight he came to his own land. Then after that they might begin the contest for the land which belonged to the Persian. To this opinion the commanders of the other Peloponnesians adhered also.

109. When Themistocles perceived that he would not be able to persuade them, or at least the greater number of them, to sail to the Hellespont, he changed his counsel[75][{metabalon}: others translate, “he turned from them to the Athenians”; but cp. vii. 52: The words {pros tous Athenaious} are resumed by {sphi} with {elege}.] and turning to the Athenians (for these were grieved most at the escape of the enemy and were anxious to sail to the Hellespont even by themselves alone,[76][{kai epi spheon auton balomenoi}, “even at their own venture,” cp. iii. 71.] if the others were not willing) to them he spoke as follows: “I myself also have been present before now on many occasions, and have heard of many more, on which something of this kind came to pass, namely that men who were forced into great straits, after they had been defeated fought again and repaired their former disaster: and as for us, since we have won as a prize from fortune the existence of ourselves and of Hellas by repelling from our land so great a cloud of men, let us not pursue enemies who flee from us: for of these things not we were the doors, but the gods and heroes, who grudged that one man should become king of both Asia and of Europe, and he a man unholy and presumptuous, one who made no difference between things sacred and things profane,[77][{ta idia}, “things belonging to private persons.”] burning and casting down the images of the gods, and who also scourged the Sea and let down into it fetters. But as things are at present, it is well that we should now remain in Hellas and look after ourselves and our households; and let each man repair his house, and have a care for sowing his land, after he has completely driven away the Barbarian: and then at the beginning of the spring let us sail down towards the Hellespont and Ionia.” Thus he spoke, intending to lay up for himself a store of gratitude with the Persian, in order that if after all any evil should come upon him at the hands of the Athenians, he might have a place of refuge: and this was in fact that which came to pass.

110. Themistocles then speaking thus endeavoured to deceive them, and the Athenians followed his advice: for he had had the reputation even in former times of being a man of ability[78][{sophos}.] and he had now proved himself to be in truth both able and of good judgment; therefore they were ready in every way to follow his advice when he spoke. So when these had been persuaded by him, forthwith after this Themistocles sent men with a vessel, whom he trusted to keep silence, to whatever test they might be brought, of that which he himself charged them to tell the king; and of them Sikinnos his servant again was one. When these came to Attica, the rest stayed behind in the ship, while Sikinnos went up to Xerxes and spoke these words: “Themistocles the son of Neocles sent me, who is commander of the Athenians, and of all the allies the best and ablest man, to tell thee that Themistocles the Athenian, desiring to be of service to thee, held back the Hellenes when they were desirous to pursue after thy ships and to destroy the bridges on the Hellespont. Now therefore thou mayest make thy way home quite undisturbed.” They having signified this sailed away again.

111. The Hellenes meanwhile, having resolved not to pursue after the ships of the Barbarians further, nor to sail to the Hellespont to break up the passage, were investing Andros intending to take it: for the Andrians were the first of the islanders who, being asked by Themistocles for money, refused to give it: and when Themistocles made proposals to them and said that the Athenians had come having on their side two great deities, Persuasion and Compulsion, and therefore they must by all means give them money, they replied to this that not without reason, as it now appeared, was Athens great and prosperous, since the Athenians were well supplied with serviceable deities; but as for the Andrians, they were poor,[79][{geopeinas}, “poor in land.”] having in this respect attained to the greatest eminence, and there were two unprofitable deities which never left their island but always remained attached to the place, Poverty, namely, and Helplessness: and the Andrians being possessed of these deities would not give money; for never could the power of the Athenians get the better of their inability.[80][It seems necessary to insert {an} with {einai}. For the sentiment cp. vii. 172.]

112. These, I say, having thus made answer and having refused to give the money, were being besieged: and Themistocles not ceasing in his desire for gain sent threatening messages to the other islands and asked them for money by the same envoys, employing those whom he had before sent to the king;[81][{khreomenos toisi kai pros basilea ekhresato}. This is the reading of the best MSS.: the rest have {khreomenos logoisi toisi kai pros Andrious ekhresato}, “using the same language as he had before used to the Andrians.”] and he said that if they did not give that which was demanded of them, he would bring the fleet of the Hellenes against them to besiege and take them. Thus saying he collected great sums of money from the Carystians and the Parians, who being informed how Andros was being besieged, because it had taken the side of the Medes, and how Themistocles was held in more regard than any of the other commanders, sent money for fear of this. Whether any others of the islanders also gave money I am not able to say, but I think that some others gave and not these alone. Yet to the Carystians at least there was no respite from the evil on this account, but the Parians escaped the attack, because they propitiated Themistocles with money. Thus Themistocles with Andros as his starting-point was acquiring sums of money for himself from the men of the islands without the knowledge of the other commanders.

113. Xerxes meanwhile with his army stayed for a few days after the sea-fight, and then they all began to march forth towards Boeotia by the same way by which they had come: for Mardonios thought both that it was well for him to escort the king on his way, and also that it was now too late in the year to carry on the war; it was better, he thought, to winter in Thessaly and then at the beginning of spring to attempt the Peloponnese. When he came to Thessaly, then Mardonios chose out for himself first all those Persians who are called “Immortals,” except only their commander Hydarnes (for Hydarnes said that he would not be left behind by the king), and after them of the other Persians those who wore cuirasses, and the body of a thousand horse: also the Medes, Sacans, Bactrians and Indians, foot and horsemen both.[82][{kai ten allen ippon}: some MSS. omit {allen}.] These nations he chose in the mass,[83][{ola}, i.e. not the whole number of them, but great masses without individual selection.] but from the other allies he selected by few at a time, choosing whose who had fine appearance of those of whom he knew that they had done good service. From the Persians he chose more than from any other single nation, and these wore collars of twisted metal and bracelets; and after them came the Medes, who in fact were not inferior in number to the Persians, but only in bodily strength. The result was that there were thirty myriads in all, including cavalry.

114. During this time, while Mardonios was selecting his army and Xerxes was in Thessaly, there had come an oracle from Delphi to the Lacedemonians, bidding them ask satisfaction from Xerxes for the murder of Leonidas and accept that which should be given by him. The Spartans therefore sent a herald as quickly as possible, who having found the whole army still in Thessaly came into the presence of Xerxes and spoke these words: “O king of the Medes, the Lacedemonians and the sons of Heracles of Sparta demand of thee satisfaction for murder, because thou didst kill their king, fighting in defence of Hellas.” He laughed and then kept silence some time, and after that pointing to Mardonios, who happened to be standing by him, he said: “Then Mardonios here shall give them satisfaction, such as is fitting for them to have.”

115. The herald accordingly accepted the utterance and departed; and Xerxes leaving Mardonios in Thessaly went on himself in haste to the Hellespont and arrived at the passage where the crossing was in five-and-thirty days, bringing back next to nothing, as one may say,[84][{ouden meros os eipein}.] of his army: and whithersoever they came on the march and to whatever nation, they seized the crops of that people and used them for provisions; and if they found no crops, then they took the grass which was growing up from the earth, and stripped off the bark from the trees and plucked down the leaves and devoured them, alike of the cultivated trees and of those growing wild; and they left nothing behind them: thus they did by reason of famine. Then plague too seized upon the army and dysentery, which destroyed them by the way, and some of them also who were sick the king left behind, laying charge upon the cities where at the time he chanced to be in his march, to take care of them and support them: of these he left some in Thessaly, and some at Siris in Paionia, and some in Macedonia. In these parts too he had left behind him the sacred chariot of Zeus, when he was marching against Hellas; but on his return he did not receive it back: for the Paionians had given it to the Thracians, and when Xerxes asked for it again, they said that the mares while at pasture had been carried off by the Thracians of the upper country, who dwelt about the source of the Strymon.

116. Here also a Thracian, the king of the Bisaltians and of the Crestonian land, did a deed of surpassing horror; for he had said that he would not himself be subject to Xerxes with his own will and had gone away up to Mount Rhodope, and also he had forbidden his sons to go on the march against Hellas. They however, either because they cared not for his command, or else because a desire came upon them to see the war, went on the march with the Persian: and when they returned all unhurt, being six in number, their father plucked out their eyes for this cause.

117. They then received this reward: and as to the Persians, when passing on from Thrace they came to the passage, they crossed over the Hellespont in haste to Abydos by means of the ships, for they did not find the floating-bridges still stretched across but broken up by a storm. While staying there for a time they had distributed to them an allowance of food more abundant than they had had by the way, and from satisfying their hunger without restraint and also from the changes of water there died many of those in the army who had remained safe till then. The rest arrived with Xerxes at Sardis.

118. There is also another story reported as follows, namely that when Xerxes on his march away from Athens came to Eïon on the Strymon, from that point he did not continue further to make marches by road, but delivered his army to Hydarnes to lead back to the Hellespont, while he himself embarked in a Phenician ship and set forth for Asia; and as he sailed he was seized by a wind from the Strymon,[85][{anemon Strumonien}, “the wind called Strymonias.”] violent and raising great waves; and since he was tossed by the storm more and more, the ship being heavily laden (for there were upon the deck great numbers of Persians, those namely who went with Xerxes), the king upon that falling into fear shouted aloud and asked the pilot whether there were for them any means of safety. He said: “Master, there are none, unless some way be found of freeing ourselves of the excessive number of passengers.” Then it is said that Xerxes, when he heard this, spoke thus: “Persians, now let each one of you show that he has care for the king; for my safety, as it seems, depends upon you.” He, they say, thus spoke, and they made obeisance to him and leapt out into the sea; and so the ship being lightened came safe to Asia. As soon as they had landed Xerxes, they say, first presented the pilot with a wreath of gold, because he had saved the life of the king, and then cut off his head, because he had caused the death of many of the Persians.

119. This other story, I say, is reported about the return of Xerxes, but I for my part can by no means believe it, either in other respects or as regards this which is said to have happened to the Persians; for if this which I have related had in truth been said by the pilot to Xerxes, not one person’s opinion in ten thousand will differ from mine that the king would have done some such thing as this, that is to say, he would have caused those who were upon the deck to go down below into the hold, seeing that they were Persians of the highest rank among the Persians; and of the rowers, who were Phenicians, he would have thrown out into the sea a number equal to the number of those. In fact however, as I have said before, he made his return to Asia together with the rest of the army by road.

120. And this also which follows is a strong witness that it was so; for Xerxes is known to have come to Abdera on his way back, and to have made with them a guest-friendship and presented them with a Persian sword of gold and a gold-spangled tiara: and as the men of Abdera themselves say (though I for my part can by no means believe it), he loosed his girdle for the first time during his flight back from Athens, considering himself to be in security. Now Abdera is situated further towards the Hellespont than the river Strymon and Eïon, from which place the story says that he embarked in the ship.

121. The Hellenes meanwhile, when it proved that they were not able to conquer Andros, turned towards Carystos, and having laid waste the land of that people they departed and went to Salamis. First then for the gods they chose out first-fruits of the spoil, and among them three Persian triremes, one to be dedicated as an offering at the Isthmus, which remained there still up to my time, another at Sunion, and the third to Ajax in Salamis where they were. After this they divided the spoil among themselves and sent the first-fruits[86][{ta akrothinia}, i.e. the tithe.] to Delphi, of which was made a statue holding in its hand the beak of a ship and in height measuring twelve cubits. This statue stood in the same place with the golden statue of Alexander the Macedonian.

122. Then when the Hellenes had sent first-fruits to Delphi, they asked the god on behalf of all whether the first-fruits which he had received were fully sufficient and acceptable to him. He said that from the Hellenes he had received enough, but not from the Eginetans, and from them he demanded the offering of their prize of valour for the sea-fight at Salamis. Hearing this the Eginetans dedicated golden stars, three in number, upon a ship’s mast of bronze, which are placed in the corner[87][i.e. the corner of the entrance-hall, {epi tou proneiou tes gonies}, i. 51.] close to the mixing-bowl of Croesus.

123. After the division of the spoil the Hellenes sailed to the Isthmus, to give the prize of valour to him who of all the Hellenes had proved himself the most worthy during this war: and when they had come thither and the commanders distributed[88][{dienemon}: some understand this to mean “distributed the voting tablets,” and some MSS. read {dienemonto}, “distributed among themselves,” which is adopted by many Editors.] their votes at the altar of Poseidon, selecting from the whole number the first and the second in merit, then every one of them gave in his vote for himself, each man thinking that he himself had been the best; but for the second place the greater number of votes came out in agreement, assigning that to Themistocles. They then were left alone in their votes, while Themistocles in regard to the second place surpassed the rest by far:

124, and although the Hellenes would not give decision of this by reason of envy, but sailed away each to their own city without deciding, yet Themistocles was loudly reported of and was esteemed throughout Hellas to be the man who was the ablest[89][{sophotatos}.] by far of the Hellenes: and since he had not received honour from those who had fought at Salamis, although he was the first in the voting, he went forthwith after this to Lacedemon, desiring to receive honour there; and the Lacedemonians received him well and gave him great honours. As a prize of valour they gave to Eurybiades a wreath of olive; and for ability and skill they gave to Themistocles also a wreath of olive, and presented him besides with the chariot which was judged to be the best in Sparta. So having much commended him, they escorted him on his departure with three hundred picked men of the Spartans, the same who are called the “horsemen,”[90][See i. 67.] as far as the boundaries of Tegea: and he is the only man of all we know to whom the Spartans ever gave escort on his way.

125. When however he had come to Athens from Lacedemon, Timodemos of Aphidnai, one of the opponents of Themistocles, but in other respects not among the men of distinction, maddened by envy attacked him, bringing forward against him his going to Lacedemon, and saying that it was on account of Athens that he had those marks of honour which he had from the Lacedemonians, and not on his own account. Then, as Timodemos continued ceaselessly to repeat this, Themistocles said: “I tell thee thus it is:—if I had been a native of Belbina[91][A small island near Attica, taken here as the type of insignificance. To suppose that Timodemos was connected with it is quite unnecessary. The story in Plutarch about the Seriphian is different.] I should never have been thus honoured by the Spartans; but neither wouldest thou, my friend, for all that thou art an Athenian.” So far then went these matters.

126. Artabazos meanwhile the son of Pharnakes, a man who was held in esteem among the Persians even before this and came to be so yet more after the events about Plataia, was escorting the king as far as the passage with six myriads[92][即60,000。] of that army which Mardonios had selected for himself; and when the king was in Asia and Artabazos on his march back came near to Pallene, finding that Mardonios was wintering in Thessaly and Macedonia and was not at present urgent with him to come and join the rest of the army, he thought it not good to pass by without reducing the Potidaians to slavery, whom he had found in revolt: for the men of Potidaia, when the king had marched by them and when the fleet of the Persians had departed in flight from Salamis, had openly made revolt from the Barbarians; and so also had the others done who occupy Pallene.

127. So upon this Artabazos began to besiege Potidaia, and suspecting that the men of Olynthos also were intending revolt from the king, he began to besiege this city too, which was occupied by Bottiaians who had been driven away from the Thermaian gulf by the Macedonians. So when he had taken these men by siege, he brought them forth to a lake and slew them[93][{katesphaxe}, “cut their throats.”] there; and the city he delivered to Critobulos of Torone to have in charge, and to the natives of Chalkidike; and thus it was that the Chalkidians got possession of Olynthos.

128. Having taken this city Artabazos set himself to attack Potidaia with vigour, and as he was setting himself earnestly to this work, Timoxeinos the commander of the troops from Skione concerted with him to give up the town by treachery. Now in what manner he did this at the first, I for my part am not able to say, for this is not reported; at last however it happened as follows. Whenever either Timoxeinos wrote a paper wishing to send it to Artabazos, or Artabazos wishing to send one to Timoxeinos, they wound it round by the finger-notches[94][{para tas gluphidas}: some Editors read {peri tas gluphidas} on the authority of Æneas Tacticus. The {gluphides} are probably notches which give a hold for the fingers as they draw back the string.] of an arrow, and then, putting feathers over the paper, they shot it to a place agreed upon between them. It came however to be found out that Timoxeinos was attempting by treachery to give up Potidaia; for Artabazos, shooting an arrow at the place agreed upon, missed this spot and struck a man of Potidaia in the shoulder; and when he was struck, a crowd came about him, as is apt to happen when there is fighting, and they forthwith took the arrow and having discovered the paper carried it to the commanders. Now there was present an allied force of the other men of Pallene also. Then when the commanders had read the paper and discovered who was guilty of the treachery, they resolved not openly to convict[95][{kataplexai}, “strike down” by the charge.] Timoxeinos of treachery, for the sake of the city of Skione, lest the men of Skione should be esteemed traitors for all time to come.

129. He then in such a manner as this had been discovered; and when three months had gone by while Artabazos was besieging the town, there came to be a great ebb of the sea backwards, which lasted for a long time; and the Barbarians, seeing that shallow water had been produced, endeavoured to get by into the peninsula of Pallene,[96][The way was shut against them ordinarily by the town of Potidaia, which occupied the isthmus.] but when they had passed through two fifth-parts of the distance, and yet three-fifths remained, which they must pass through before they were within Pallene, then there came upon them a great flood-tide of the sea, higher than ever before, as the natives of the place say, though high tides come often. So those of them who could not swim perished, and those who could were slain by the men of Potidaia who put out to them in boats. The cause of the high tide and flood and of that which befell the Persians was this, as the Potidaians say, namely that these same Persians who perished by means of the sea had committed impiety towards the temple of Poseidon and his image in the suburb of their town; and in saying that this was the cause, in my opinion they say well. The survivors of his army Artabazos led away to Thessaly to join Mardonios. Thus it fared with these who escorted the king on his way.

130. The fleet of Xerxes, so much of it as remained, when it had touched Asia in its flight from Salamis, and had conveyed the king and his army over from the Chersonese to Abydos, passed the winter at Kyme: and when spring dawned upon it, it assembled early at Samos, where some of the ships had even passed the winter; and most of the Persians and Medes still served as fighting-men on board of them.[97][i.e. most of those who before served as {epibatai} (vii. 96) continued to serve still. The sentence is usually translated, “of those who served as fighting-men in them the greater number were Persians or Medes,” and this may be right.] To be commanders of them there came Mardontes the son of Bagaios, and Artaÿntes the son of Artachaies, and with them also Ithamitres was in joint command, who was brother’s son to Artaÿntes and had been added by the choice of Artaÿntes himself. They then, since they had suffered a heavy blow, did not advance further up towards the West, nor did any one compel them to do so; but they remained still in Samos and kept watch over Ionia, lest it should revolt, having three hundred ships including those of the Ionians; and they did not expect that the Hellenes on their part would come to Ionia, but thought that it would satisfy them to guard their own land, judging from the fact that they had not pursued after them in their flight from Salamis but were well contented then to depart homewards. As regards the sea then their spirit was broken, but on land they thought that Mardonios would get much the advantage. So they being at Samos were taking counsel to do some damage if they could to their enemies, and at the same time they were listening for news how the affairs of Mardonios would fall out.

131. The Hellenes on their part were roused both by the coming on of spring and by the presence of Mardonios in Thessaly. Their land-army had not yet begun to assemble, when the fleet arrived at Egina, in number one hundred and ten ships, and the commander and admiral was Leotychides, who was the son of Menares, the son of Hegesilaos, the son of Hippocratides, the son of Leotychides, the son of Anaxilaos, the son of Archidemos, the son of Anaxandriddes, the son of Theopompos, the son of Nicander, the son of Charilaos,[98][The MSS. have “Charilos” or “Charillos.”] the son of Eunomos, the son of Polydectes, the son of Prytanis, the son of Euryphon,[99][Some Editors read “Eurypon,” which is the form found elsewhere.] the son of Procles, the son of Aristodemos, the son of Aristomachos, the son of Cleodaios, the son of Hyllos, the son of Heracles, being of the other royal house.[100][Cp。七. 204.]These all, except the two[101][{duon}. It seems certain that the number required here is seven and not two, and the emendation {epta} for {duon} ({z} for {b}) is approved by several Editors.] enumerated first after Leotychides, had been kings of Sparta. And of the Athenians the commander was Xanthippos the son of Ariphon.

132. When all the ships had arrived at Egina, there came Ionian envoys to the camp of the Hellenes, who also came a short time before this to Sparta and asked the Lacedemonians to set Ionia free; and of them one was Herodotus the son of Basileides. These had banded themselves together and had plotted to put to death Strattis the despot of Chios, being originally seven in number; but when one of those who took part with them gave information of it and they were discovered to be plotting against him, then the remaining six escaped from Chios and came both to Sparta and also at this time to Egina, asking the Hellenes to sail over to Ionia: but they with difficulty brought them forward as far as Delos; for the parts beyond this were all fearful to the Hellenes, since they were without experience of those regions and everything seemed to them to be filled with armed force, while their persuasion was that it was as long a voyage to Samos as to the Pillars of Heracles. Thus at the same time it so chanced that the Barbarians dared sail no further up towards the West than Samos, being smitten with fear, and the Hellenes no further down towards the East than Delos, when the Chians made request of them. So fear was guard of the space which lay between them.

133. The Hellenes, I say, sailed to Delos; and Mardonios meanwhile had been wintering in Thessaly. From thence he sent round a man, a native of Europos, whose name was Mys, to the various Oracles, charging him to go everywhere to consult,[102][{khresomenon}: the best MSS. read {khresamenon}, which is retained by Stein, with the meaning “charging him to consult the Oracles everywhere… and then return.”] wherever they[103][i.e. Mardonios and the Persians.] were permitted to make trial of the Oracles. What he desired to find out from the Oracles when he gave this charge, I am not able to say, for that is not reported; but I conceive for my part that he sent to consult about his present affairs and not about other things.

134. This Mys is known to have come to Lebadeia and to have persuaded by payment of money one of the natives of the place to go down to Trophonios, and also he came to the Oracle at Abai of the Phokians; and moreover when he came for the first time to Thebes, he not only consulted the Ismenian Apollo,—there one may consult just as at Olympia with victims,—but also by payment he persuaded a stranger who was not a Theban, and induced him to lie down to sleep in the temple of Amphiaraos. In this temple no one of the Thebans is permitted to seek divination, and that for the following reason:—Amphiaraos dealing by oracles bade them choose which they would of these two things, either to have him as a diviner or else as an ally in war, abstaining from the other use; and they chose that he should be their ally in war: for this reason it is not permitted to any of the Thebans to lie down to sleep in that temple.

135. After this a thing which to me is a very great marvel is said by the Thebans to have come to pass:—it seems that this man Mys of Europos, as he journeyed round to all the Oracles, came also to the sacred enclosure of the Ptoan Apollo. This temple is called “Ptoon,” and belongs to the Thebans, and it lies above the lake Copaïs at the foot of the mountains, close to the town of Acraiphia. When the man called Mys came to this temple with three men chosen from the citizens[104][i.e. Theban citizens.] in his company, who were sent by the public authority to write down that which the god should utter in his divination, forthwith it is said the prophet[105][{promantin}: he is afterwards called {prophetes}.] of the god began to give the oracle in a Barbarian tongue; and while those of the Thebans who accompanied him were full of wonder, hearing a Barbarian instead of the Hellenic tongue, and did not know what to make of the matter before them, it is said that the man of Europos, Mys, snatched from them the tablet which they bore and wrote upon it that which was being spoken by the prophet; and he said that the prophet was giving his answer in the Carian tongue: and then when he had written it, he went away and departed to Thessaly.

136. Mardonios having read that which the Oracles uttered, whatever that was, after this sent as an envoy to Athens Alexander the son of Amyntas, the Macedonian, both because the Persians were connected with him by marriage, (for Gygaia the sister of Alexander and daughter of Amyntas had been married to a Persian Bubares,[106][Cp. v. 21.] and from her had been born to him that Amyntas who lived in Asia, having the name of his mother’s father, to whom the king gave Alabanda,[107][Some Editors would read “Alabastra.” Alabanda was a Carian town.] a great city of Phrygia, to possess), and also Mardonios was sending him because he was informed that Alexander was a public guest-friend and benefactor of the Athenians; for by this means he thought that he would be most likely to gain over the Athenians to his side, about whom he heard that they were a numerous people and brave in war, and of whom he knew moreover that these were they who more than any others had brought about the disasters which had befallen the Persians by sea. Therefore if these should be added to him, he thought that he should easily have command of the sea (and this in fact would have been the case), while on land he supposed himself to be already much superior in force. Thus he reckoned that his power would be much greater than that of the Hellenes. Perhaps also the Oracles told him this beforehand, counselling him to make the Athenian his ally, and so he was sending in obedience to their advice.

137. Now of this Alexander the seventh ancestor[108][Counting Alexander himself as one.] was that Perdiccas who first became despot of the Macedonians, and that in the manner which here follows:—From Argos there fled to the Illyrians three brothers of the descendents of Temenos, Gauanes, Aëropos, and Perdiccas; and passing over from the Illyrians into the upper parts of Macedonia they came to the city of Lebaia. There they became farm-servants for pay in the household of the king, one pasturing horses, the second oxen, and the youngest of them, namely Perdiccas, the smaller kinds of cattle; for[109][{esan gar}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have {esan de}. Stein (reading {esan gar}) places this clause after the next, “The wife of the king herself baked their bread, for in ancient times, etc.” This transposition is unnecessary; for it would be easy to understand it as a comment on the statement that three members of the royal house of Argos became farm-servants.] in ancient times even those who were rulers over men[110][{ai turannides ton anthropon}.] were poor in money, and not the common people only; and the wife of the king cooked for them their food herself. And whenever she baked, the loaf of the boy their servant, namely Perdiccas, became double as large as by nature it should be. When this happened constantly in the same manner, she told it to her husband, and he when he heard it conceived forthwith that this was a portent and tended to something great. He summoned the farm-servants therefore, and gave notice to them to depart out of his land; and they said that it was right that before they went forth they should receive the wages which were due. Now it chanced that the sun was shining into the house down through the opening which received the smoke, and the king when he heard about the wages said, being infatuated by a divine power: “I pay you then this for wages, and it is such as ye deserve,” pointing to the sunlight. So then Gauanes and Aëropos the elder brothers stood struck with amazement when they heard this, but the boy, who happened to have in his hand a knife, said these words: “We accept, O king, that which thou dost give;” and he traced a line with his knife round the sunlight on the floor of the house, and having traced the line round he thrice drew of the sunlight into his bosom, and after that he departed both himself and his fellows.

138. They then were going away, and to the king one of those who sat by him at table told what manner of thing the boy had done, and how the youngest of them had taken that which was given with some design: and he hearing this and being moved with anger, sent after them horsemen to slay them. Now there is a river in this land to which the descendents of these men from Argos sacrifice as a saviour. This river, so soon as the sons of Temenos had passed over it, began to flow with such great volume of water that the horsemen became unable to pass over. So the brothers, having come to another region of Macedonia, took up their dwelling near the so-called gardens of Midas the son of Gordias, where roses grow wild which have each one sixty petals and excel all others in perfume. In these gardens too Silenos was captured, as is reported by the Macedonians: and above the gardens is situated a mountain called Bermion, which is inaccessible by reason of the cold. Having taken possession of that region, they made this their starting-point, and proceeded to subdue also the rest of Macedonia.

139. From this Perdiccas the descent of Alexander was as follows:—Alexander was the son of Amyntas, Amyntas was the son of Alketes, the father of Alketes was Aëropos, of him Philip, of Philip Argaios, and of this last the father was Perdiccas, who first obtained the kingdom.

140. Thus then, I say, Alexander the son of Amyntas was descended; and when he came to Athens sent from Mardonios, he spoke as follows: (a) “Athenians, Mardonios speaks these words:—There has come to me a message from the king which speaks in this manner:—To the Athenians I remit all the offences which were committed against me: and now, Mardonios, thus do,—first give them back their own land; then let them choose for themselves another in addition to this, whichsoever they desire, remaining independent; and set up for them again all their temples, which I set on fire, provided that they consent to make a treaty with me. This message having come to me, it is necessary for me to do so, unless by your means I am prevented: and thus I speak to you now:—Why are ye so mad as to raise up war against the king? since neither will ye overcome him, nor are ye able to hold out against him for ever: for ye saw the multitude of the host of Xerxes and their deeds, and ye are informed also of the power which is with me at the present time; so that even if ye overcome and conquer us (of which ye can have no hope if ye are rightly minded), another power will come many times as large. Do not ye then desire to match yourselves with the king, and so to be both deprived of your land and for ever running a course for your own lives; but make peace with him: and ye have a most honourable occasion to make peace, since the king has himself set out upon this road: agree to a league with us then without fraud or deceit, and remain free. (b) These things Mardonios charged me to say to you, O Athenians; and as for me, I will say nothing of the goodwill towards you on my part, for ye would not learn that now for the first time; but I ask of you to do as Mardonios says, since I perceive that ye will not be able to war with Xerxes for ever,—if I perceived in you ability to do this, I should never have come to you speaking these words,—for the power of the king is above that of a man and his arm is very long. If therefore ye do not make an agreement forthwith, when they offer you great things as the terms on which they are willing to make a treaty, I have fear on your behalf, seeing that ye dwell more upon the highway than any of your allies, and are exposed ever to destruction alone, the land which ye possess being parted off from the rest and lying between the armies which are contending together.[111][{exaireton metaikhmion te ten gun ektemenon}: there are variations of reading and punctuation in the MSS.] Nay, but be persuaded, for this is a matter of great consequence to you, that to you alone of the Hellenes the great king remits the offences committed and desires to become a friend.”

141. Thus spoke Alexander; and the Lacedemonians having been informed that Alexander had come to Athens to bring the Athenians to make a treaty with the Barbarians, and remembering the oracles, who it was destined that they together with the other Dorians should be driven forth out of the Peloponnese by the Medes and the Athenians combined, had been very greatly afraid lest the Athenians should make a treaty with the Persians; and forthwith they had resolved to send envoys. It happened moreover that they were introduced at the same time with Alexander;[112][{sunepipte oste omou spheon ginesthai ten katastasin}, i.e. their introduction before the assembly, cp. iii. 46.] for the Athenians had waited for them, protracting the time, because they were well assured that the Lacedemonians would hear that an envoy had come from the Barbarians to make a treaty, and that having heard it they would themselves send envoys with all speed. They acted therefore of set purpose, so as to let the Lacedemonians see their inclination.

142. So when Alexander had ceased speaking, the envoys from Sparta followed him forthwith and said: “As for us, the Lacedemonians sent us to ask of you not to make any change in that which concerns Hellas, nor to accept proposals from the Barbarian; since this is not just in any way nor honourable for any of the Hellenes to do, but least of all for you, and that for many reasons. Ye were they who stirred up this war, when we by no means willed it; and the contest came about for your dominion, but now it extends even to the whole of Hellas. Besides this it is by no means to be endured that ye Athenians, who are the authors of all this, should prove to be the cause of slavery to the Hellenes, seeing that ye ever from ancient time also have been known as the liberators of many. We feel sympathy however with you for your sufferings and because ye were deprived of your crops twice and have had your substance ruined now for a long time. In compensation for this the Lacedemonians and their allies make offer to support your wives and all those of your households who are unfitted for war, so long as this war shall last: but let not Alexander the Macedonian persuade you, making smooth the speech of Mardonios; for these things are fitting for him to do, since being himself a despot he is working in league with a despot: for you however they are not fitting to do, if ye chance to be rightly minded; for ye know that in Barbarians there is neither faith nor truth at all.”

Thus spoke the envoys:

143, and to Alexander the Athenians made answer thus: “Even of ourselves we know so much, that the Mede has a power many times as numerous as ours; so that there is no need for thee to cast this up against us. Nevertheless because we long for liberty we shall defend ourselves as we may be able: and do not thou endeavour to persuade us to make a treaty with the Barbarian, for we on our part shall not be persuaded. And now report to Mardonios that the Athenians say thus:—So long as the Sun goes on the same course by which he goes now, we will never make an agreement with Xerxes; but we will go forth to defend ourselves[113][{epeximen amunomenoi}, which possibly might be translated, “we will continue to defend ourselves.”] against him, trusting in the gods and the heroes as allies, for whom he had no respect when he set fire to their houses and to their sacred images. And in the future do not thou appear before the Athenians with any such proposals as these, nor think that thou art rendering them good service in advising them to do that which is not lawful; for we do not desire that thou shouldest suffer anything unpleasant at the hands of the Athenians, who art their public guest and friend.”

144. To Alexander they thus made answer, but to the envoys from Sparta as follows: “That the Lacedemonians should be afraid lest we should make a treaty with the Barbarian was natural no doubt;[114][{karta anthropeion}.] but it seems to be an unworthy fear for men who know so well the spirit of the Athenians, namely that there is neither so great quantity of gold anywhere upon the earth, nor any land so much excelling in beauty and goodness, that we should be willing to accept it and enslave Hellas by taking the side of the Medes. For many and great are the reasons which hinder us from doing this, even though we should desire it; first and greatest the images and houses of the gods set on fire or reduced to ruin, which we must necessarily avenge to the very utmost rather than make an agreement with him who did these deeds; then secondly there is the bond of Hellenic race, by which we are of one blood and of one speech, the common temples of the gods and the common sacrifices, the manners of life which are the same for all; to these it would not be well that the Athenians should become traitors. And be assured of this, if by any chance ye were not assured of it before, that so long as one of the Athenians remains alive, we will never make an agreement with Xerxes. We admire however the forethought which ye had with regard to us, in that ye took thought for us who have had our substance destroyed, and are willing to support the members of our households; and so far as ye are concerned, the kindness has been fully performed: but we shall continue to endure as we may, and not be a trouble in any way to you. Now therefore, with full conviction this is so, send out an army as speedily as ye may: for, as we conjecture, the Barbarian will be here invading our land at no far distant time but so soon as he shall be informed of the message sent, namely that we shall do none of those things which he desired of us. Therefore before he arrives here in Attica, it is fitting that ye come to our rescue quickly in Boeotia.” Thus the Athenians made answer, and upon that the envoys went away back to Sparta.

第八册注释 •1,400字

[1] [见第 77 节。]

[2] [i.e. triremes.]

[3] [{os to plethos ekastoi ton neon pareikhonto}: some read by conjecture {oson to plethos k.t.l.}]

[4] [Perhaps “also” refers to the case of those who had come to Thermopylai, cp. vii. 207: Others translate, “these Hellenes who had come 毕竟 to Artemision,” i.e. after all the doubt and delay.]

[5] [{pantes}: some MSS. have {plegentes}, which is adopted by most Editors, “smitten by bribes.”]

[6] [{dethen}, with ironical sense.]

[7] [{mede purphoron}: the {purphoros} had charge of the fire brought for sacrifices from the altar of Zeus Agetor at Sparta, and ordinarily his person would be regarded as sacred; hence the proverb {oude purphoros esothe}, used of an utter defeat.]

[8] [{tou diekploou}.]

[9] [{kata stoma}.]

[10] [{sklerai brontai}: the adjective means “harsh-sounding.”]

[11] [{akhari}.]

[12] [{ta Koila tes Euboies}.]

[13] [“having been roughly handled.”]

[14] [{epi ten thalassan tauten}: some MSS. read {taute} for {tauten}, which is to be taken with {sullexas}, “he assembled the generals there.”]

[15] [{peripetea epoiesanto sphisi autoisi ta pregmata}.]

[16] [{paleseie}, a word which does not occur elsewhere, and is explained by Hesychius as equivalent to {diaphtharein}. Various emendations have been proposed, and Valla seems to have had the reading {apelaseie}, for he says discessisset. Stein explains {paleseie} (as from {pale}) “should contend.”]

[17] [Some suppose the number “four thousand” is interpolated by misunderstanding of the inscription in vii. 228; and it seems hardly possible that the dead were so many as four thousand, unless at least half were Helots.]

[18] [Some MSS. have “Tritantaichmes,” which is adopted by many Editors.]

[19] [{neou}.]

[20] [{os anarpasomenoi tous Phokeas}: cp. ix. 60.]

[21] [{podeon steinos}, like the neck of a wineskin; cp. ii. 121, note [Note 102.]

[22] [{tou propheten}, the interpreter of the utterances of the {promantis}.]

[23] [{neou}.]

[24] [{megarou}.]

[25] [i.e. of Athene Polias, the Erechtheion; so throughout this account.]

[26] [{sunerree}, “kept flowing together.”]

[2601] [Or, “Hermione.”]

[27] [See i. 56.]

[28] [参见第 31 章。 XNUMX.]

[29] [{pros pantas tous allous}, “in comparison with all the rest,” cp. iii. 94.]

[30] [{stratarkheo}: a vague expression, because being introduced after Kecrops he could not have the title of king.]

[31] [The number obtained by adding up the separate contingents is 366. Many Editors suppose that the ships with which the Eginetans were guarding their own coast (ch. 46) are counted here, and quote the authority of Pausanias for the statement that the Eginetans supplied more ships than any others except the Athenians. Stein suggests the insertion of the number twelve in ch. 46.]

[3101] [Or, “Thespeia.”]

[32] [i.e. “Areopagus.”]

[33] [i.e. the North side.]

[34] [{megaron}.]

[35] [{neos}.]

[36] [{pollos en en tois logois}: cp. ix. 91.]

[37] [See vii. 141-143.]

[38] [{autothen ik Salaminos}.]

[39] [{te Metri kai te Koure}, Demeter and Persephone.]

[40] [{te anakrisi}: cp. {anakrinomenous}, ix. 56: Some Editors, following inferior MSS., read {te krisi}, “at the judgment expressed.”]

[41] [{muriadon}, “ten thousands.”]

[42] [Or, “Hermione.”]

[43] [{oi perioikoi}: some Editors omit the article and translate “and these are the so-called Orneates or dwellers round (Argos),” Orneates being a name for the {perioikoi} of Argos, derived from the conquered city of Orneai.]

[44] [{elpidi mainomene}, “with a mad hope.”]

[45] [{krateron Koron Ubrios uion}.]

[46] [{dokeunt ana panta tithesthai}: the MSS. have also {pithesthai}. Possibly {tithesthai} might stand, though {anatithesthai} is not found elsewhere in this sense. Stein adopts in his last edition the conjecture {piesthai}, “swallow up.”]

[47] [{Kronides}.]

[48] [{potnia Nike}.]

[49] [i.e. about rivalry.]

[50] [{ton epibateon}.]

[51] [Many Editors reading {osa de} and {parainesas de}, make the stop after {antitithemena}: “and in all that is produced in the nature and constitution of man he exhorted them to choose the better.”]

[52] [{o daimonioi}, “strange men.”]

[53] [参见第 22 章。 XNUMX.]

[54] [{pros de eti kai proselabeto}: the MSS. have {prosebaleto}. Most Editors translate, “Moreover Ariamnes… contributed to the fate of the Phenicians, being a friend (of the Ionians);” but this does not seem possible unless we read {philos eon Iosi} (or {Ionon}). Valla translates nearly as I have done. (It does not appear that {prosballesthai} is found elsewhere in the sense of {sumballesthai}.)]

[55] [i.e. they who were commanded to execute them.]

[56] [See vii. 179, 181.]

[57] [See vi. 49, etc., and 73.]

[58] [{keleta}.]

[59] [{sumballontai}: the Athenians apparently are spoken of, for they alone believed the story.]

[60] [{apoplesai}: this is the reading of the MSS.; but many Editors adopt corrections ({apoplesthai} or {apoplesthenai}). The subject to {apoplesai} is to be found in the preceding sentence and the connexion with {ton te allon panta k.t.l.} is a loose one. This in fact is added as an afterthought, the idea being originally to call attention simply to the fulfilment of the oracle of Lysistratos.]

[61] [{phruxousi}: a conjectural emendation, adopted by most Editors, of {phrixousi}, “will shudder (at the sight of oars).”]

[62] [{kat allon kai allon}: the MSS. have {kat allon}, but Valla’s rendering is “alium atque alium.”]

[63] [{uper megalon aiorethenta}.]

[64] [即300,000。]

[65] [{os ek kakon}: some translate, “thinking that he had escaped from his troubles.”]

[66] [{toisi epikletoisi}, cp. vii. 8 and ix. 42.]

[67] [i.e. Asia, as opposed to “these parts.”]

[68] [Stein would take {peri oikon ton son} with {oudemia sumphore}, but the order of words is against this.]

[69] [{pollous pollakis agonas drameontai peri spheon auton}.]

[70] [See i. 175: The manner of the repetition and some points in the diction raise suspicion that the passage is interpolated here; and so it is held to be by most Editors. In i. 175 we find {tris} instead of {dis}.]

[71] [{upegagon}, cp. vi. 72, with the idea of bringing before a court for punishment, not “by underhand means,” as it is understood by Larcher and Bähr.]

[72] [“vengeance and Hermotimos.”]

[73] [{spheis… ergasaiato}: the MSS. read {sphi} (one {spheas}) and {ergasaito}, and this is retained by some Editors.]

[74] [“taken.”]

[75] [{metabalon}: others translate, “he turned from them to the Athenians”; but cp. vii. 52: The words {pros tous Athenaious} are resumed by {sphi} with {elege}.]

[76] [{kai epi spheon auton balomenoi}, “even at their own venture,” cp. iii. 71.]

[77] [{ta idia}, “things belonging to private persons.”]

[78] [{sophos}.]

[79] [{geopeinas}, “poor in land.”]

[80] [It seems necessary to insert {an} with {einai}. For the sentiment cp. vii. 172.]

[81] [{khreomenos toisi kai pros basilea ekhresato}. This is the reading of the best MSS.: the rest have {khreomenos logoisi toisi kai pros Andrious ekhresato}, “using the same language as he had before used to the Andrians.”]

[82] [{kai ten allen ippon}: some MSS. omit {allen}.]

[83] [{ola}, i.e. not the whole number of them, but great masses without individual selection.]

[84] [{ouden meros os eipein}.]

[85] [{anemon Strumonien}, “the wind called Strymonias.”]

[86] [{ta akrothinia}, i.e. the tithe.]

[87] [i.e. the corner of the entrance-hall, {epi tou proneiou tes gonies}, i. 51.]

[88] [{dienemon}: some understand this to mean “distributed the voting tablets,” and some MSS. read {dienemonto}, “distributed among themselves,” which is adopted by many Editors.]

[89] [{sophotatos}.]

[90] [See i. 67.]

[91] [A small island near Attica, taken here as the type of insignificance. To suppose that Timodemos was connected with it is quite unnecessary. The story in Plutarch about the Seriphian is different.]

[92] [即60,000。]

[93] [{katesphaxe}, “cut their throats.”]

[94] [{para tas gluphidas}: some Editors read {peri tas gluphidas} on the authority of Æneas Tacticus. The {gluphides} are probably notches which give a hold for the fingers as they draw back the string.]

[95] [{kataplexai}, “strike down” by the charge.]

[96] [The way was shut against them ordinarily by the town of Potidaia, which occupied the isthmus.]

[97] [i.e. most of those who before served as {epibatai} (vii. 96) continued to serve still. The sentence is usually translated, “of those who served as fighting-men in them the greater number were Persians or Medes,” and this may be right.]

[98] [The MSS. have “Charilos” or “Charillos.”]

[99] [Some Editors read “Eurypon,” which is the form found elsewhere.]

[100] [Cp。七. 204.]

[101] [{duon}. It seems certain that the number required here is seven and not two, and the emendation {epta} for {duon} ({z} for {b}) is approved by several Editors.]

[102] [{khresomenon}: the best MSS. read {khresamenon}, which is retained by Stein, with the meaning “charging him to consult the Oracles everywhere… and then return.”]

[103] [i.e. Mardonios and the Persians.]

[104] [i.e. Theban citizens.]

[105] [{promantin}: he is afterwards called {prophetes}.]

[106] [Cp. v. 21.]

[107] [Some Editors would read “Alabastra.” Alabanda was a Carian town.]

[108] [Counting Alexander himself as one.]

[109] [{esan gar}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have {esan de}. Stein (reading {esan gar}) places this clause after the next, “The wife of the king herself baked their bread, for in ancient times, etc.” This transposition is unnecessary; for it would be easy to understand it as a comment on the statement that three members of the royal house of Argos became farm-servants.]

[110] [{ai turannides ton anthropon}.]

[111] [{exaireton metaikhmion te ten gun ektemenon}: there are variations of reading and punctuation in the MSS.]

[112] [{sunepipte oste omou spheon ginesthai ten katastasin}, i.e. their introduction before the assembly, cp. iii. 46.]

[113] [{epeximen amunomenoi}, which possibly might be translated, “we will continue to defend ourselves.”]

[114] [{karta anthropeion}.]

第九卷 • 历史书第九卷,名为卡利俄珀 (Calliope) •24,500字

1. Mardonios, when Alexander had returned back and had signified to him that which was said by the Athenians, set forth from Thessaly and began to lead his army with all diligence towards Athens: and to whatever land he came, he took up with him the people of that land. The leaders of Thessaly meanwhile did not repent of all that which had been done already, but on the contrary they urged on the Persian yet much more; and Thorax of Larissa had joined in escorting Xerxes in his flight and at this time he openly offered Mardonios passage to invade Hellas..

2. Then when the army in its march came to Boeotia, the Thebans endeavoured to detain Mardonios, and counselled him saying that there was no region more convenient for him to have his encampment than that; and they urged him not to advance further, but to sit down there and endeavour to subdue to himself the whole of Hellas without fighting: for to overcome the Hellenes by open force when they were united, as at the former time they were of one accord together,[1][“the same who at the former time also were of one accord together.”] was a difficult task even for the whole world combined, “but,” they proceeded, “if thou wilt do that which we advise, with little labour thou wilt have in thy power all their plans of resistance.[2][{ta ekeinon iskhura bouleumata}: some good MSS. omit {iskhura}, and so many Editors.] Send money to the men who have power in their cities, and thus sending thou wilt divide Hellas into two parties: after that thou wilt with ease subdue by the help of thy party those who are not inclined to thy side.”.

3. Thus they advised, but he did not follow their counsel; for there had instilled itself into him a great desire to take Athens for the second time, partly from obstinacy[3][{up agnomosunes}.] and partly because he meant to signify to the king in Sardis that he was in possession of Athens by beacon-fires through the islands. However he did not even at this time find the Athenians there when he came to Attica; but he was informed that the greater number were either in Salamis or in the ships, and he captured the city finding it deserted. Now the capture of the city by the king had taken place ten months before the later expedition of Mardonios against it.

4. When Mardonios had come to Athens, he sent to Salamis Morychides a man of the Hellespont, bearing the same proposals as Alexander the Macedonian had brought over to the Athenians. These he sent for the second time, being aware beforehand that the dispositions of the Athenians were not friendly, but hoping that they would give way and leave their obstinacy, since the Attic land had been captured by the enemy and was in his power..

5. For this reason he sent Morychides to Salamis; and he came before the Council[4][{boulen}.] and reported the words of Mardonios. Then one of the Councillors, Lykidas, expressed the opinion that it was better to receive the proposal which Morychides brought before them and refer it to the assembly of the people.[5][{exeneikai es ton dumon}.] He, I say, uttered this opinion, whether because he had received money from Mardonios, or because this was his own inclination: however the Athenians forthwith, both those of the Council and those outside, when they heard of it, were very indignant, and they came about Lykidas and stoned him to death; but the Hellespontian Morychides they dismissed unhurt. Then when there had arisen much uproar in Salamis about Lykidas, the women of the Athenians heard of that which was being done, and one woman passing the word to another and one taking another with her, they went of their own accord to the house of Lykidas and stoned his wife and his children to death.

6. The Athenians had passed over to Salamis as follows:—So long as they were looking that an army should come from the Peloponnese to help them, they remained in Attica; but as those in Peloponnesus acted very slowly and with much delay, while the invader was said to be already in Boeotia, they accordingly removed everything out of danger, and themselves passed over to Salamis; and at the same time they sent envoys to Lacedemon to reproach the Lacedemonians for having permitted the Barbarian to invade Attica and for not having gone to Boeotia to meet him in company with them, and also to remind them how many things the Persian had promised to give the Athenians if they changed sides; bidding the envoys warn them that if they did not help the Athenians, the Athenians would find some shelter[6][{aleoren}.] for themselves..

7. For the Lacedemonians in fact were keeping a feast during this time, and celebrating the Hyakinthia; and they held it of the greatest consequence to provide for the things which concerned the god, while at the same time their wall which they had been building at the Isthmus was just at this moment being completed with battlements. And when the envoys from the Athenians came to Lacedemon, bringing with them also envoys from Megara and Plataia, they came in before the Ephors and said as follows: “The Athenians sent us saying that the king of the Medes not only offers to give us back our land, but also desires to make us his allies on fair and equal terms without deceit or treachery,[7][Cp. viii. 140 (a).] and is desirous moreover to give us another land in addition to our own, whichsoever we shall ourselves choose. We however, having respect for Zeus of the Hellenes and disdaining to be traitors to Hellas, did not agree but refused, although we were unjustly dealt with by the other Hellenes and left to destruction, and although we knew that it was more profitable to make a treaty with the Persian than to carry on war: nor shall we make a treaty at any future time, if we have our own will. Thus sincerely is our duty done towards the Hellenes:[8][{to men ap emeon outo akibdelon nemetai epi tous Ellenas}, “that which we owe to the Hellenes is thus paid in no counterfeit coin.”] but as for you, after having come then to great dread lest we should make a treaty with the Persian, so soon as ye learnt certainly what our spirit was, namely that we should never betray Hellas, and because your wall across the Isthmus is all but finished, now ye make no account of the Athenians, but having agreed with us to come to Boeotia to oppose the Persian, ye have now deserted us, and ye permitted the Barbarian moreover to make invasion of Attica. For the present then the Athenians have anger against you, for ye did not do as was fitting to be done: and now they bid[9][{ekeleusan}, i.e. “their bidding was” when they sent us.] you with all speed send out an army together with us, in order that we may receive the Barbarian in the land of Attica; for since we failed of Boeotia, the most suitable place to fight in our land is the Thriasian plain.”.

8. When the Ephors heard this they deferred their reply to the next day, and then on the next day to the succeeding one; and this they did even for ten days, deferring the matter from day to day, while during this time the whole body of the Peloponnesians were building the wall over the Isthmus with great diligence and were just about to complete it. Now I am not able to say why, when Alexander the Macedonian had come to Athens, they were so very anxious lest the Athenians should take the side of the Medes, whereas now they had no care about it, except indeed that their wall over the Isthmus had now been built, and they thought they had no need of the Athenians any more; whereas when Alexander came to Attica the wall had not yet been completed, but they were working at it in great dread of the Persians..

9. At last however the answer was given and the going forth of the Spartans took place in the following manner:—on the day before that which was appointed for the last hearing of the envoys, Chileos a man of Tegea, who of all strangers had most influence in Lacedemon, heard from the Ephors all that which the Athenians were saying; and he, it seems, said to them these words: “Thus the matter stands, Ephors:—if the Athenians are not friendly with us but are allies of the Barbarian, then though a strong wall may have been built across the Isthmus, yet a wide door has been opened for the Persian into Peloponnesus. Listen to their request, however, before the Athenians resolve upon something else tending to the fall of Hellas.”.

10. Thus he counselled them, and they forthwith took his words to heart; and saying nothing to the envoys who had come from the cities, while yet it was night they sent out five thousand Spartans, with no less than seven of the Helots set to attend upon each man of them,[901][This clause, “with no less—each man of them,” is omitted in some MSS. and considered spurious by several Editors.] appointing Pausanias the son of Cleombrotos to lead them forth. Now the leadership belonged to Pleistarchos the son of Leonidas; but he was yet a boy, and the other was his guardian and cousin: for Cleombrotos, the father of Pausanias and son of Anaxandrides, was no longer alive, but when he had led home from the Isthmus the army which had built the wall, no long time after this he died. Now the reason why Cleombrotos led home the army from the Isthmus was this:—as he was offering sacrifice for fighting against the Persian, the sun was darkened in the heaven. And Pausanias chose as commander in addition to himself Euryanax the son of Dorieos, a man of the same house..

11. So Pausanias with his army had gone forth out of Sparta; and the envoys, when day had come, not knowing anything of this going forth, came in before the Ephors meaning to depart also, each to his own State: and when they had come in before them they said these words: “Ye, O Lacedemonians, are remaining here and celebrating this Hyakinthia and disporting yourselves, having left your allies to destruction; and the Athenians being wronged by you and for want of allies will make peace with the Persians on such terms as they can: and having made peace, evidently we become allies of the king, and therefore we shall join with him in expeditions against any land to which the Persians may lead us; and ye will learn then what shall be the issue for you of this matter.” When the envoys spoke these words, the Ephors said and confirmed it with an oath, that they supposed by this time the men were at Orestheion on their way against the strangers: for they used to call the Barbarians “strangers.”[10][Cp。 ch. 55.] So they, not knowing of the matter, asked the meaning of these words, and asking they learnt all the truth; so that they were struck with amazement and set forth as quickly as possible in pursuit; and together with them five thousand chosen hoplites of the Lacedemonian “dwellers in the country round”[11][{perioikon}.] did the same thing also.

12. They then, I say, were hastening towards the Isthmus; and the Argives so soon as they heard that Pausanias with his army had gone forth from Sparta, sent as a herald to Attica the best whom they could find of the long-distance runners,[12][{ton emerodromon}, cp. vi. 105.] because they had before of their own motion engaged for Mardonios that they would stop the Spartans from going forth: and the herald when he came to Athens spoke as follows: “Mardonios, the Argives sent me to tell thee that the young men have gone forth from Lacedemon, and that the Argives are not able to stop them from going forth: with regard to this therefore may it be thy fortune to take measures well.”[13][{tugkhane eu bouleoumenos}: perhaps, “endeavour to take measures well.”].

13. He having spoken thus departed and went back; and Mardonios was by no means anxious any more to remain in Attica when he heard this message. Before he was informed of this he had been waiting, because he desired to know the news from the Athenians as to what they were about to do; and he had not been injuring or laying waste the land of Attica, because he hoped always that they would make a treaty with him; but as he did not persuade them, being now informed of everything he began to retire out of the country before the force of Pausanias arrived at the Isthmus, having first set fire to Athens and cast down and destroyed whatever was left standing of the walls, houses or temples. Now he marched away for this cause, namely first because Attica was not a land where horsemen could act freely, and also because, if he should be defeated in a battle in Attica, there was no way of retreat except by a narrow pass, so that a few men could stop them. He intended therefore to retreat to Thebes, and engage battle near to a friendly city and to a country where horsemen could act freely.

14. Mardonios then was retiring out of the way, and when he was already upon a road a message came to him saying that another body of troops in advance of the rest[14][{prodromon}, a conjectural emendation of {prodromos}.] had come to Megara, consisting of a thousand Lacedemonians. Being thus informed he took counsel with himself, desiring if possible first to capture these. Therefore he turned back and proceeded to lead his army towards Megara, and the cavalry going in advance of the rest overran the Megaran land: this was the furthest land in Europe towards the sun-setting to which this Persian army came..

15. After this a message came to Mardonios that the Hellenes were assembled at the Isthmus; therefore he marched back by Dekeleia, for the chiefs of Boeotia[15][{boiotarkhai}, i.e. the heads of the Boeotian confederacy.] had sent for those of the Asopians who dwelt near the line of march, and these were his guides along the road to Sphendaleis and thence to Tanagra. So having encamped for the night at Tanagra and on the next day having directed his march to Scolos, he was within the land of the Thebans. Then he proceeded to cut down the trees in the lands of the Thebans, although they were on the side of the Medes, moved not at all by enmity to them, but pressed by urgent necessity both to make a defence for his camp, and also he was making it for a refuge, in case that when he engaged battle things should not turn out for him as he desired. Now the encampment of his army extended from Erythrai along by Hysiai and reached the river Asopos: he was not however making the wall to extend so far as this, but with each face measuring somewhere about ten furlongs.[16][{os epi deka stadious malista ke}.]

16. While the Barbarians were engaged upon this work, Attaginos the son of Phyrnon, a Theban, having made magnificent preparations invited to an entertainment Mardonios himself and fifty of the Persians who were of most account; and these being invited came; and the dinner was given at Thebes. Now this which follows I heard from Thersander, an Orchomenian and a man of very high repute in Orchomenos. This Thersander said that he too was invited by Attaginos to this dinner, and there were invited also fifty men of the Thebans, and their host did not place them to recline[17][{klinai}: several Editors have altered this, reading {klithenai} or {klinenai}, “they were made to recline.”] separately each nation by themselves, but a Persian and a Theban upon every couch. Then when dinner was over, as they were drinking pledges to one another,[18][{diapinonton}, cp. v. 18.] the Persian who shared a couch with him speaking in the Hellenic tongue asked him of what place he was, and he answered that he was of Orchomenos. The other said: “Since now thou hast become my table-companion and the sharer of my libation, I desire to leave behind with thee a memorial of my opinion, in order that thou thyself also mayest know beforehand and be able to take such counsels for thyself as may be profitable. Dost thou see these Persians who are feasting here, and the army which we left behind encamped upon the river? Of all these, when a little time has gone by, thou shalt see but very few surviving.” While the Persian said these words he shed many tears, as Thersander reported; and he marvelling at his speech said to him: “Surely then it is right to tell Mardonios and to those of the Persians who after him are held in regard.” He upon this said: “Friend, that which is destined to come from God, it is impossible for a man to avert; for no man is willing to follow counsel, even when one speaks that which is reasonable. And these things which I say many of us Persians know well; yet we go with the rest being bound in the bonds of necessity: and the most hateful grief of all human griefs is this, to have knowledge of the truth but no power over the event.”[19][{polla phroneonta medenos krateein}.] These things I heard from Thersander of Orchomenos, and in addition to them this also, namely that he told them to various persons forthwith, before the battle took place at Plataia.

17. Mardonios then being encamped in Boeotia, the rest of the Hellenes who lived in these parts and took the side of the Medes were all supplying troops and had joined in the invasion of Attica, but the Phokians alone had not joined in the invasion,—the Phokians, I say, for these too were now actively[20][{sphodra}: not quite satisfactory with {emedizon}, but it can hardly go with {ouk ekontes}, as Krüger suggests.] taking the side of the Medes, not of their own will however, but by compulsion. Not many days however after the arrival of Mardonios at Thebes, there came of them a thousand hoplites, and their leader was Harmokydes, the man who was of most repute among their citizens. When these too came to Thebes, Mardonios sent horsemen and bade the Phokians take up their position by themselves in the plain. After they had so done, forthwith the whole cavalry appeared; and upon this there went a rumour[21][{pheme}, as in ch. 100.] through the army of Hellenes which was with the Medes that the cavalry was about to shoot them down with javelins, and this same report went through the Phokians themselves also. Then their commander Harmokydes exhorted them, speaking as follows: “Phokians, it is manifest that these men are meaning to deliver us to a death which we may plainly foresee,[22][{proopto thanato}.] because we have been falsely accused by the Thessalians, as I conjecture: now therefore it is right that every one of you prove himself a good man; for it is better to bring our lives to an end doing deeds of valour and defending ourselves, than to be destroyed by a dishonourable death offering ourselves for the slaughter. Let each man of them learn that they are Barbarians and that we, against whom they contrived murder, are Hellenes.”.

18. While he was thus exhorting them, the horsemen having encompassed them round were riding towards them as if to destroy them; and they were already aiming their missiles as if about to discharge them, nay some perhaps did discharge them: and meanwhile the Phokians stood facing them gathered together and with their ranks closed as much as possible every way. Then the horsemen turned and rode away back. Now I am not able to say for certain whether they came to destroy the Phokians at the request of the Thessalians, and then when they saw them turn to defence they feared lest they also might suffer some loss, and therefore rode away back, for so Mardonios had commanded them; or whether on the other hand he desired to make trial of them and to see if they had in them any warlike spirit. Then, when the horsemen had ridden away back, Mardonios sent a herald and spoke to them as follows: “Be of good courage, Phokians, for ye proved yourselves good men, and not as I was informed. Now therefore carry on this way with zeal, for ye will not surpass in benefits either myself or the king.” Thus far it happened as regards the Phokians.

19. When the Lacedemonians came to the Isthmus they encamped upon it, and hearing this the rest of the Peloponnesians who favoured the better cause, and some also because they saw the Spartans going out, did not think it right to be behind the Lacedemonians in their going forth. So from the Isthmus, when the sacrifices had proved favourable, they marched all together and came to Eleusis; and having performed sacrifices there also, when the signs were favourable they marched onwards, and the Athenians together with them, who had passed over from Salamis and had joined them at Eleusis. And then they had come to Erythrai in Boeotia, then they learnt that the Barbarians were encamping on the Asopos, and having perceived this they ranged themselves over against them on the lower slopes of Kithairon..

20. Then Mardonios, as the Hellenes did not descend into the plain, sent towards them all his cavalry, of which the commander was Masistios (by the Hellenes called Makistios), a man of reputation among the Persians, who had a Nesaian horse with a bridle of gold and in other respects finely caparisoned. So when the horsemen had ridden up to the Hellenes they attacked them by squadrons, and attacking[23][{prosballontes}: most of the MSS. have {prosbalontes}, and so also in ch. 21 and 22 they have {prosbalouses}.] they did them much mischief, and moreover in contempt they called them women..

21. Now it happened by chance that the Megarians were posted in the place which was the most assailable of the whole position and to which the cavalry could best approach: so as the cavalry were making their attacks, the Megarians being hard pressed sent a herald to the commanders of the Hellenes, and the herald having come spoke these words: “The Megarians say:—we, O allies, are not able by ourselves to sustain the attacks of the Persian cavalry, keeping this position where we took post at the first; nay, even hitherto by endurance and valour alone have we held out against them, hard pressed as we are: and now unless ye shall send some others to take up our position in succession to us, know that we shall leave the position in which we now are.” The herald brought report to them thus; and upon this Pausanias made trial of the Hellenes, whether any others would voluntarily offer to go to this place and post themselves there in succession to the Megarians: and when the rest were not desirous to go, the Athenians undertook the task, and of the Athenians those three hundred picked men of whom Olympidoros the son of Lampon was captain.

22. These they were who undertook the task and were posted at Erythrai in advance of the other Hellenes who ere there present, having chosen to go with them the bow-men also. For some time then they fought, and at last an end was set to the fighting in the following manner:—while the cavalry was attacking by squadrons, the horse of Masistios, going in advance of the rest, was struck in the side by an arrow, and feeling pain he reared upright and threw Masistios off; and when he had fallen, the Athenians forthwith pressed upon him; and his horse they took and himself, as he made resistance, they slew, though at first they could not, for his equipment was of this kind,—he wore a cuirass of gold scales underneath, and over the cuirass he had put on a crimson tunic. So as they struck upon the cuirass they could effect nothing, until some one, perceiving what the matter was, thrust into his eye. Then at length he fell and died; and by some means the other men of the cavalry had not observed this take place, for they neither saw him when he had fallen from his horse nor when he was being slain, and while the retreat and the turn[24][i.e. the retreat with which each charge ended and the turn from retreat in preparation for a fresh charge. So much would be done without word of command, before reining in their horses.] were being made, they did not perceive that which was happening; but when they had stopped their horses, then at once they missed him, since there was no one to command them; and when they perceived what had happened, they passed the word to one another and all rode together, that they might if possible recover the body..

23. The Athenians upon that, seeing that the cavalry were riding to attack them no longer by squadrons but all together, shouted to the rest of the army to help them. Then while the whole number of those on foot were coming to their help, there arose a sharp fight for the body; and so long as the three hundred were alone they had much the worse and were about to abandon the body, but when the mass of the army came to their help, then the horsemen no longer sustained the fight, nor did they succeed in recovering the body; and besides him they lost others of their number also. Then they drew off about two furlongs away and deliberated what they should do; and it seemed good to them, as they had no commander, to ride back to Mardonios..

24. When the cavalry arrived at the camp, the whole army and also Mardonios made great mourning for Masistios, cutting off their own hair and that of their horses and baggage-animals and giving way to lamentation without stint; for all Boeotia was filled with the sound of it, because one had perished who after Mardonios was of the most account with the Persians and with the king..

25. The Barbarians then were paying honours in their own manner to Masistios slain: but the Hellenes, when they had sustained the attack of the cavalry and having sustained it had driven them back, were much more encouraged; and first they put the dead body in a cart and conveyed it along their ranks; and the body was a sight worth seeing for its size and beauty, wherefore also the men left their places in the ranks and went one after the other[25][{ephoiteon}.] to gaze upon Masistios. After this they resolved to come down further towards Plataia; for the region of Plataia was seen to be much more convenient for them to encamp in than that of Erythrai, both for other reasons and because it is better watered. To this region then and to the spring Gargaphia, which is in this region, they resolved that they must come, and encamp in their several posts. So they took up their arms and went by the lower slopes of Kithairon past Hysiai to the Plataian land; and having there arrived they posted themselves according to their several nations near the spring Gargaphia and the sacred enclosure of Androcrates the hero, over low hills or level ground.

26. Then in the arranging of the several posts there arose a contention of much argument [2501][Or, according to some MSS., “much contention in argument.”] between the Tegeans and the Athenians; for they each claimed to occupy the other wing of the army[26][i.e. the left wing.] themselves, alleging deeds both new and old. The Tegeans on the one hand said as follows: “We have been always judged worthy of this post by the whole body of allies in all the common expeditions which the Peloponnesians have made before this, whether in old times or but lately, ever since that time when the sons of Heracles endeavoured after the death of Eurystheus to return to the Peloponnese. This honour we gained at that time by reason of the following event:—When with the Achaians and the Ionians who were then in Peloponnesus we had come out to the Isthmus to give assistance and were encamped opposite those who desired to return, then it is said that Hyllos made a speech saying that it was not right that the one army should risk its safety by engaging battle with the other, and urging that that man of the army of the Peloponnesians whom they should judge to be the best of them should fight in single combat with himself on terms concerted between them. The Peloponnesians then resolved that this should be done; and they made oath with one another on this condition,—that if Hyllos should conquer the leader of the Peloponnesians, then the sons of Heracles should return to their father’s heritage; but he should be conquered, then on the other hand the sons of Heracles should depart and lead away their army, and not within a hundred years attempt to return to the Peloponnese. There was selected then of all the allies, he himself making a voluntary offer, Echemos the son of Aëropos, the son of Phegeus,[27][The name apparently should be Kepheus, but there is no authority for changing the text.] who was our commander and king: and he fought a single combat and slew Hyllos. By reason of this deed we obtained among the Peloponnesians of that time, besides many other great privileges which we still possess, this also of always leading the other wing of the army, when a common expedition is made. To you, Lacedemonians, we make no opposition, but we give you freedom of choice, and allow you to command whichever wing ye desire; but of the other we say that it belongs to us to be the leaders as in former time: and apart from this deed which has been related, we are more worthy than the Athenians to have this post; for in many glorious contests have we contended against you, O Spartans, and in many also against others. Therefore it is just that we have the other wing rather than the Athenians; for they have not achieved deeds such as ours, either new or old.”.

27. Thus they spoke, and the Athenians replied as follows: “Though we know that this gathering was assembled for battle with the Barbarian and not for speech, yet since the Tegean has proposed to us as a task to speak of things both old and new, the deeds of merit namely which by each of our two nations have been achieved in all time, it is necessary for us to point out to you whence it comes that to us, who have been brave men always, it belongs as a heritage rather than to the Arcadians to have the chief place. First as to the sons of Heracles, whose leader they say that they slew at the Isthmus, these in the former time, when they were driven away by all the Hellenes to whom they came flying from slavery under those of Mykene, we alone received; and joining with them we subdued the insolence of Eurystheus, having conquered in fight those who then dwelt in Peloponnesus. Again when the Argives who with Polyneikes marched against Thebes, had been slain and were lying unburied, we declare that we marched an army against the Cadmeians and recovered the dead bodies and gave them burial in our own land at Eleusis. We have moreover another glorious deed performed against the Amazons who invaded once the Attic land, coming from the river Thermodon: and in the toils of Troy we were not inferior to any. But it is of no profit to make mention of these things; for on the one hand, though we were brave men in those times, we might now have become worthless, and on the other hand even though we were then worthless, yet now we might be better. Let it suffice therefore about ancient deeds; but if by us no other deed has been displayed (as many there have been and glorious, not less than by any other people of the Hellenes), yet even by reason of the deed wrought at Marathon alone we are worthy to have this privilege and others besides this, seeing that we alone of all the Hellenes fought in single combat with the Persian, and having undertaken so great a deed we overcame and conquered six-and-forty nations.[28][This is the number of nations mentioned in vii. 61-80 as composing the land-army of Xerxes.] Are we not worthy then to have this post by reason of that deed alone? However, since at such a time as this it is not fitting to contend for post, we are ready to follow your saying, O Lacedemonians, as to where ye think it most convenient that we should stand and opposite to whom; for wheresoever we are posted, we shall endeavour to be brave men. Prescribe to us therefore and we shall obey.” They made answer thus; and the whole body of the Lacedemonians shouted aloud that the Athenians were more worthy to occupy the wing than the Arcadians. Thus the Athenians obtained the wing, and overcame the Tegeans.

28. After this the Hellenes were ranged as follows, both those of them who came in continually afterwards[29][{oi epiphoiteontes}.] and those who had come at the first. The right wing was held by ten thousand Lacedemonians; and of these the five thousand who were Spartans were attended by thirty-five thousand Helots serving as light-armed troops, seven of them appointed for each man.[30][{peri andra ekaston}.] To stand next to themselves the Spartans chose the Tegeans, both to do them honour and also because of their valour; and of these there were one thousand five hundred hoplites. After these were stationed five thousand Corinthians, and they had obtained permission from Pausanias that the three hundred who were present of the men of Potidaia in Pallene should stand by their side. Next to these were stationed six hundred Arcadians of Orchomenos; and to these three thousand Sikyonians. Next after these were eight hundred Epidaurians: by the side of these were ranged a thousand Troizenians: next to the Troizenians two hundred Lepreates: next to these four hundred of the men of Mikene and Tiryns; and then a thousand Phliasians. By the side of these stood three hundred Hermionians; and next to the Hermionians were stationed six hundred Eretrians and Styrians; next to these four hundred Chalkidians; and to these five hundred men of Amprakia. After these stood eight hundred Leucadians and Anactorians; and next to them two hundred from Pale in Kephallenia. After these were ranged five hundred Eginetans; by their side three thousand Megarians; and next to these six hundred Plataians. Last, or if you will first, were ranged the Athenians, occupying the left wing, eight thousand in number, and the commander of them was Aristeides the son of Lysimachos..

29. These all, excepting those who were appointed to attend the Spartans, seven for each man, were hoplites, being in number altogether three myriads eight thousand and seven hundred.[31][即38,700。] This was the whole number of hoplites who were assembled against the Barbarian; and the number of the light-armed was as follows:—of the Spartan division thirty-five thousand men, reckoning at the rate of seven for each man, and of these every one was equipped for fighting; and the light-armed troops of the rest of the Lacedemonians and of the other Hellenes, being about one for each man, amounted to thirty-four thousand five hundred..

30. Of the light-armed fighting men the whole number then was six myriads nine thousand and five hundred;[32][即69,500。] and of the whole Hellenic force which assembled at Plataia the number (including both the hoplites and the light-armed fighting men) was eleven myriads[33][即110,000。] all but one thousand eight hundred men; and with the Thespians who were present the number of eleven myriads was fully made up; for there were present also in the army those of the Thespians who survived, being in number about one thousand eight hundred, and these too were without heavy arms.[34][{opla de oud outoi eikhon}: i.e. these too must be reckoned with the light-armed.] These then having been ranged in order were encamped on the river Asopos.

31. Meanwhile the Barbarians with Mardonios, when they had sufficiently mourned for Masistios, being informed that the Hellenes were at Plataia came themselves also to that part of the Asopos which flows there; and having arrived there, they were ranged against the enemy by Mardonios thus:—against the Lacedemonians he stationed the Persians; and since the Persians were much superior in numbers, they were arrayed in deeper ranks than those, and notwithstanding this they extended in front of the Tegeans also: and he ranged them in this manner,—all the strongest part of that body he selected from the rest and stationed it opposite to the Lacedemonians, but the weaker part he ranged by their side opposite to the Tegeans. This he did on the information and suggestion of the Thebans. Then next to the Persians he ranged the Medes; and these extended in front of the Corinthians, Potidaians, Orchomenians and Sikyonians. Next to the Medes he ranged the Bactrians; and these extended in front of the Epidaurians, Troizenians, Lepreates, Tirynthians, Mykenians and Phliasians. After the Bactrians he stationed the Indians; and these extended in front of the Hermionians, Eretrians, Styrians and Chalkidians. Next to the Indians he ranged the Sacans, who extended in front of the men of Amprakia, the Anactorians, Leucadians, Palians and Eginetans. Next to the Sacans and opposite to the Athenians, Plataians and Megarians, he ranged the Boeotians, Locrians, Malians, Thessalians, and the thousand men of the Phokians: for not all the Phokians had taken the side of the Medes, but some of them were even supporting the cause of the Hellenes, being shut up in Parnassos; and setting out from thence they plundered from the army of Mardonios and from those of the Hellenes who were with him. He ranged the Macedonians also and those who dwell about the borders of Thessaly opposite to the Athenians..

32. These which have been named were the greatest of the nations who were arrayed in order by Mardonios, those, I mean, which were the most renowned and of greatest consideration: but there were in his army also men of several other nations mingled together, of the Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paionians, and the rest; and among them also some Ethiopians, and of the Egyptians those called Hermotybians and Calasirians,[35][Cp. ii. 164.] carrying knives,[36][{makhairophoroi}: cp. vii. 89.] who of all the Egyptians are the only warriors. These men, while he was yet at Phaleron, he had caused to disembark from the ships in which they served as fighting-men; for the Egyptians had not been appointed to serve in the land-army which came with Xerxes to Athens. Of the Barbarians then there were thirty myriads,[37][i.e. 300,000: see viii. 113.] as has been declared before; but of the Hellenes who were allies of Mardonios no man knows what the number was, for they were not numbered; but by conjecture I judge that these were assembled to the number of five myriads. These who were placed in array side by side were on foot; and the cavalry was ranged apart from them in a separate body.

33. When all had been drawn up by nations and by divisions, then on the next day they offered sacrifice on both sides. For the Hellenes Tisamenos the son of Antiochos was he who offered sacrifice, for he it was who accompanied this army as diviner. This man the Lacedemonians had made to be one of their own people, being an Eleian and of the race of the Iamidai:[38][{geneos tou Iamideon}: the MSS. have {Klutiaden} after {Iamideon}, but the Clytiadai seem to have been a distinct family of soothsayers.] for when Tisamenos was seeking divination at Delphi concerning issue, the Pythian prophetess made answer to him that he should win five of the greatest contests. He accordingly, missing the meaning of the oracle, began to attend to athletic games, supposing that he should win contests of athletics; and he practised for the “five contests”[39][{pentaethlon}.] and came within one fall of winning a victory at the Olympic games,[40][{para en palaisma edrame nikan Olumpiada}. The meaning is not clear, because the conditions of the {pentaethlon} are not known: however the wrestling {pale} seems to have been the last of the five contests, and the meaning may be that both Tisamenos and Hieronymos had beaten all the other competitors and were equal so far, when Tisamenos failed to win two out of three falls in the wrestling.] being set to contend with Hieronymos of Andros. The Lacedemonians however perceived that the oracle given to Tisamenos had reference not to athletic but to martial contests, and they endeavoured to persuade Tisamenos by payment of money, and to make him a leader in their wars together with the kings of the race of Heracles. He then, seeing that the Spartans set much store on gaining him over as a friend, having perceived this, I say, he raised his price and signified to them that he would do as they desired, if they would make him a citizen of their State and give him full rights, but for no other payment. The Spartans at first when they heard this displayed indignation and altogether gave up their request, but at last, when great terror was hanging over them of this Persian armament, they gave way[41][{metientes}: some MSS. have {metiontes}, “they went to fetch him.”] and consented. He then perceiving that they had changed their minds, said that he could not now be satisfied even so, nor with these terms alone; but it was necessary that his brother Hegias also should be made a Spartan citizen on the same terms as he himself became one..

34. By saying this he followed the example of Melampus in his request,[42][{aiteomenos}: this is the reading of the MSS., but the conjecture {aiteomenous} (or {aiteomenon}) seems probable enough: “if one may compare the man who asked for royal power with him who asked only for citizenship.”] if one may compare royal power with mere citizenship; for Melampus on his part, when the women in Argos had been seized by madness, and the Argives endeavoured to hire him to come from Pylos and to cause their women to cease from the malady, proposed as payment for himself the half of the royal power; and the Argives did not suffer this, but departed: and afterwards, when more of their women became mad, at length they accepted that which Melampus had proposed, and went to offer him this: but he then seeing that they had changed their minds, increased his demand, and said that he would not do that which they desired unless they gave to his brother Bias also the third share in the royal power.[43][i.e. instead of half for himself, he asks for two-thirds to be divided between himself and his brother.] And the Argives, being driven into straits, consented to this also. 35. Just so the Spartans also, being very much in need of Tisamenos, agreed with him on any terms which he desired: and when the Spartans had agreed to this demand also, then Tisamenos the Eleian, having become a Spartan, had part with them in winning five of the greatest contests as their diviner: and these were the only men who ever were made fellow-citizens of the Spartans. Now the five contests were these: one and the first of them was this at Plataia; and after this the contest at Tegea, which took place with the Tegeans and the Argives; then that at Dipaieis against all the Arcadians except the Mantineians; after that the contest with the Messenians at Ithome;[44][{o pros Ithome}: a conjectural emendation of {o pros Isthmo}.] and last of all that which took place at Tanagra against the Athenians and Argives. This, I say, was accomplished last of the five contests.

36. This Tisamenos was acting now as diviner for the Hellenes in the Plataian land, being brought by the Spartans. Now to the Hellenes the sacrifices were of good omen if they defended themselves only, but not if they crossed the Asopos and began a battle;.

37, and Mardonios too, who was eager to begin a battle, found the sacrifices not favourable to this design, but they were of good omen to him also if he defended himself only; for he too used the Hellenic manner of sacrifice, having as diviner Hegesistratos an Eleian and the most famous of the Telliadai, whom before these events the Spartans had taken and bound, in order to put him to death, because they had suffered much mischief from him. He then being in this evil case, seeing that he was running a course for his life and was likely moreover to suffer much torment before his death, had done a deed such as may hardly be believed. Being made fast on a block bound with iron, he obtained an iron tool, which in some way had been brought in, and contrived forthwith a deed the most courageous of any that we know: for having first calculated how the remaining portion of his foot might be got out of the block, he cut away the flat of his own foot,[45][{ton tarson eoutou}.] and after that, since he was guarded still by warders, he broke through the wall and so ran away to Tegea, travelling during the nights and in the daytime entering a wood and resting there; so that, though the Lacedemonians searched for him in full force, he arrived at Tegea on the third night; and the Lacedemonians were possessed by great wonder both at his courage, when they saw the piece of the foot that was cut off lying there, and also because they were not able to find him. So he at that time having thus escaped them took refuge at Tegea, which then was not friendly with the Lacedemonians; and when he was healed and had procured for himself a wooden foot, he became an open enemy of the Lacedemonians. However in the end the enmity into which he had fallen with the Lacedemonians was not to his advantage; for he was caught by them while practising divination in Zakynthos, and was put to death.

38. However the death of Hegesistratos took place later than the events at Plataia, and he was now at the Asopos, having been hired by Mardonions for no mean sum, sacrificing and displaying zeal for his cause both on account of his enmity with the Lacedemonians and on account of the gain which he got: but as the sacrifices were not favourable for a battle either for the Persians themselves or for those Hellenes who were with them (for these also had a diviner for themselves, Hippomachos a Leucadian), and as the Hellenes had men constantly flowing in and were becoming more in number, Timagenides the son of Herpys, a Theban, counselled Mardonios to set a guard on the pass of Kithairon, saying that the Hellenes were constantly flowing in every day and that he would thus cut off large numbers..

39. Eight days had now passed while they had been sitting opposite to one another, when he gave this counsel to Mardonios; and Mardonios, perceiving that the advice was good, sent the cavalry when night came on to the pass of Kithairon leading towards Plataia, which the Boeotians call the “Three Heads”[46][{Treis Kephalas}.] and the Athenians the “Oak Heads.”[47][{Druos Kephalas}.] Having been thus sent, the cavalry did not come without effect, for they caught five hundred baggage-animals coming out into the plain, which were bearing provisions from Peloponnesus to the army, and also the men who accompanied the carts: and having taken this prize the Persians proceeded to slaughter them without sparing either beast or man; and when they were satiated with killing they surrounded the rest and drove them into the camp to Mardonios.

40. After this deed they spent two days more, neither side wishing to begin a battle; for the Barbarians advanced as far as the Asopos to make trial of the Hellenes, but neither side would cross the river. However the cavalry of Mardonios made attacks continually and did damage to the Hellenes; for the Thebans, being very strong on the side of the Medes, carried on the war with vigour, and always directed them up to the moment of fighting; and after this the Persians and Medes took up the work and were they who displayed valour in their turn.

41. For ten days then nothing more was done than this; but when the eleventh day had come, while they still sat opposite to one another at Plataia, the Hellenes having by this time grown much more numerous and Mardonios being greatly vexed at the delay of action, then Mardonios the son of Gobryas and Artabazos the son of Pharnakes, who was esteemed by Xerxes as few of the Persians were besides, came to speech with one another; and as they conferred, the opinions they expressed were these,—that of Artabazos, that they must put the whole army in motion as soon as possible and go to the walls of the Thebans, whither great stores of corn had been brought in for them and fodder for their beasts; and that they should settle there quietly and get their business done as follows:—they had, he said, great quantities of gold, both coined and uncoined, and also of silver and of drinking-cups; and these he advised they should send about to the Hellenes without stint, more especially to those of the Hellenes who were leaders in their several cities; and these, he said, would speedily deliver up their freedom: and he advised that they should not run the risk of a battle. His opinion then was the same as that of the Thebans,[48][参见第 2 章。 XNUMX.] for he as well as they had some true foresight: but the opinion of Mardonios was more vehement and more obstinate, and he was by no means disposed to yield; for he said that he thought their army far superior to that of the Hellenes, and he gave as his opinion that they should engage battle as quickly as possible and not allow them to assemble in still greater numbers than were already assembled; and as for the sacrifices of Hegesistratos, they should leave them alone and not endeavour to force a good sign, but follow the custom of the Persians and engage battle..

42. When he so expressed his judgment, none opposed him, and thus his opinion prevailed; for he and not Artabazos had the command of the army given him by the king. He summoned therefore the commanders of the divisions and the generals of those Hellenes who were with him, and asked whether they knew of any oracle regarding the Persians, which said that they should be destroyed in Hellas; and when those summoned to council[49][{ton epikleton}: cp. vii. 8.] were silent, some not knowing the oracles and others knowing them but not esteeming it safe to speak, Mardonios himself said: “Since then ye either know nothing or do not venture to speak, I will tell you, since I know very well. There is an oracle saying that the Persians are destined when they come to Hellas to plunder the temple at Delphi, and having plundered it to perish every one of them. We therefore, just because we know this, will not go to that temple nor will we attempt to plunder it; and for this cause we shall not perish. So many of you therefore as chance to wish well to the Persians, have joy so far as regards this matter, and be assured that we shall overcome the Hellenes.” Having spoken to them thus, he next commanded to prepare everything and to set all in order, since at dawn of the next day a battle would be fought.

43. Now this oracle, which Mardonios said referred to the Persians, I know for my part was composed with reference with the Illyrians and the army of the Enchelians, and not with reference to the Persians at all. However, the oracle which was composed by Bakis with reference to this battle,

“The gathering of Hellenes together and cry of Barbarian voices,
Where the Thermodon flows, by the banks of grassy Asopos;
Here very many shall fall ere destiny gave them to perish,
Medes bow-bearing in fight, when the fatal day shall approach them,”—

these sayings, and others like them composed by Musaios, I know had reference to the Persians. Now the river Thermodon flows between Tanagra and Glisas.

44. After the inquiry about the oracles and the exhortation given by Mardonios night came on and the guards were set: and when night was far advanced, and it seemed that there was quiet everywhere in the camps, and that the men were in their deepest sleep, then Alexander the son of Amyntas, commander and king of the Macedonians, rode his horse up to the guard-posts of the Athenians and requested that he might have speech with their generals. So while the greater number of the guards stayed at their posts, some ran to the generals, and when they reached them they said that a man had come riding on a horse out of the camp of the Medes, who discovered nothing further, but only named the generals and said that he desired to have speech with them..

45. Having heard this, forthwith they accompanied the men to the guard-posts, and when they had arrived there, Alexander thus spoke to them: “Athenians, I lay up these words of mine as a trust to you, charging you to keep them secret and tell them to no one except only to Pausanias, lest ye bring me to ruin: for I should not utter them if I did not care greatly for the general safety of Hellas, seeing that I am a Hellene myself by original descent and I should not wish to see Hellas enslaved instead of free. I say then that Mardonios and his army cannot get the offerings to be according to their mind,[50][{Mardonio te kai te stratie ta sphagia ou dunatai katathumia genesthai}.] for otherwise ye would long ago have fought. Now however he has resolved to let the offerings alone and to bring on a battle at dawn of day; for, as I conjecture, he fears lest ye should assemble in greater numbers. Therefore prepare yourselves; and if after all Mardonios should put off the battle and not bring it on, stay where ye are and hold out patiently; for they have provisions only for a few days remaining. And if this way shall have its issue according to your mind, then each one of you ought to remember me also concerning liberation,[51][He asks for their help to free his country also from the Persian yoke.] since I have done for the sake of the Hellenes so hazardous a deed by reason of my zeal for you, desiring to show you the design of Mardonios, in order that the Barbarians may not fall upon you when ye are not as yet expecting them: and I am Alexander the Macedonian.” Thus having spoken he rode away back to the camp and to his own position.

46. Then the generals of the Athenians came to the right wing and told Pausanias that which they had heard from Alexander. Upon this saying he being struck with fear of the Persians spoke as follows: “Since then at dawn the battle comes on, it is right that ye, Athenians, should take your stand opposite to the Persians, and we opposite to the Boeotians and those Hellenes who are now posted against you; and for this reason, namely because ye are acquainted with the Medes and with their manner of fighting, having fought with them at Marathon, whereas we have had no experience of these men and are without knowledge of them; for not one of the Spartans has made trial of the Medes in fight, but of the Boeotians and Thessalians we have had experience. It is right therefore that ye should take up your arms and come to this wing of the army, and that we should go to the left wing.” In answer to this the Athenians spoke as follows: “To ourselves also long ago at the very first, when we saw that the Persians were being ranged opposite to you, it occurred to us to say these very things, which ye now bring forward before we have uttered them; but we feared lest these words might not be pleasing to you. Since however ye yourselves have made mention of this, know that your words have caused us pleasure, and that we are ready to do this which ye say.”.

47. Both then were content to do this, and as dawn appeared they began to change their positions with one another: and the Boeotians perceiving that which was being done reported it to Mardonios, who, when he heard it, forthwith himself also endeavoured to change positions, bringing the Persians along so as to be against the Lacedemonians: and when Pausanias learnt that this was being done, he perceived that he was not unobserved, and he led the Spartans back again to the right wing; and just so also did Mardonios upon his left.

48. When they had been thus brought to their former positions, Mardonios sent a herald to the Spartans and said as follows: “Lacedemonians, ye are said forsooth by those who are here to be very good men, and they have admiration for you because ye do not flee in war nor leave your post, but stay there and either destroy your enemies or perish yourselves. In this however, as it now appears, there is no truth; for before we engaged battle and came to hand-to-hand conflict we saw you already flee and leave your station, desiring to make the trial with the Athenians first, while ye ranged yourselves opposite to our slaves. These are not at all the deeds of good men in war, but we were deceived in you very greatly; for we expected by reason of your renown that ye would send a herald to us, challenging us and desiring to fight with the Persians alone; but though we on our part were ready to do this, we did not find that ye said anything of this kind, but rather that ye cowered with fear. Now therefore since ye were not the first to say this, we are the first. Why do we not forthwith fight,[52][{emakhesametha}.] ye on behalf of the Hellenes, since ye have the reputation of being the best, and we on behalf of the Barbarians, with equal numbers on both sides? and if we think it good that the others should fight also, then let them fight afterwards; and if on the other hand we should not think it good, but think it sufficient that we alone should fight, then let us fight it out to the end, and whichsoever of us shall be the victors, let these be counted as victorious with their whole army.”.

49. The herald having thus spoken waited for some time, and then, as no one made him any answer, he departed and went back; and having returned he signified to Mardonios that which had happened to him. Mardonios then being greatly rejoiced and elated by his empty[53][{psukhre}, cp. vi. 108.] victory, sent the cavalry to attack the Hellenes: and when the horsemen had ridden to attack them, they did damage to the whole army of the Hellenes by hurling javelins against them and shooting with bows, being mounted archers and hard therefore to fight against: and they disturbed and choked up the spring Gargaphia, from which the whole army of the Hellenes was drawing its water. Now the Lacedemonians alone were posted near this spring, and it was at some distance from the rest of the Hellenes, according as they chanced to be posted, while the Asopos was near at hand; but when they were kept away from the Asopos, then they used to go backwards and forwards to this spring; for they were not permitted by the horsemen and archers to fetch water from the river..

50. Such then being the condition of things, the generals of the Hellenes, since the army had been cut off from its water and was being harassed by the cavalry, assembled to consult about these and other things, coming to Pausanias upon the right wing: for other things too troubled them yet more than these of which we have spoken, since they no longer had provisions, and their attendants who had been sent to Peloponnese for the purpose of getting them had been cut off by the cavalry and were not able to reach the camp..

51. It was resolved then by the generals in council with one another, that if the Persians put off the battle for that day, they would go to the Island. This is distant ten furlongs[54][{deka stadious}.] from the Asopos and the spring Gargaphia, where they were then encamped, and is in front of the city of the Plataians: and if it be asked how there can be an island on the mainland, thus it is[55][{nesos de outo an eie en epeiro}.]:—the river parts in two above, as it flows from Kithairon down to the plain, keeping a distance of about three furlongs between its streams, and after that it joins again in one stream; and the name of it is Oëroe, said by the natives of the country to be the daughter of Asopos. To this place of which I speak they determined to remove, in order that they might be able to get an abundant supply of water and that the cavalry might not do them damage, as now when they were right opposite. And they proposed to remove when the second watch of the night should have come, so that the Persians might not see them set forth and harass them with the cavalry pursuing. They proposed also, after they had arrived at this place, round which, as I say, Oëroe the daughter of Asopos flows, parting into two streams[56][{periskhizetai}.] as she runs from Kithairon, to send half the army to Kithairon during this same night, in order to take up their attendants who had gone to get the supplies of provisions; for these were cut off from them in Kithairon.

52. Having thus resolved, during the whole of that day they had trouble unceasingly, while the cavalry pressed upon them; but when the day drew to a close and the attacks of the cavalry had ceased, then as it was becoming night and the time had arrived at which it had been agreed that they should retire from their place, the greater number of them set forth and began to retire, not however keeping it in mind to go to the place which had been agreed upon; but on the contrary, when they had begun to move, they readily took occasion to flee[57][{epheugon asmenoi}.] from the cavalry towards the city of the Plataians, and in their flight they came as far as the temple of Hera, which temple is in front of the city of the Plataians at a distance of twenty furlongs from the spring Gargaphia; and when they had there arrived they halted in front of the temple.

53. These then were encamping about the temple of Hera; and Pausanias, seeing that they were retiring from the camp, gave the word to the Lacedemonians also to take up their arms and go after the others who were preceding them, supposing that these were going to the place to which they had agreed to go. Then, when all the other commanders were ready to obey Pausanias, Amompharetos the son of Poliades, the commander of the Pitanate division,[58][{tou Pitaneteon lokhou}, called below {ton lokhon ton Pitaneten}. Evidently {lokhos} here is a division of considerable size.] said that he would not flee from the strangers, nor with his own will would he disgrace Sparta; and he expressed wonder at seeing that which was being done, not having been present at the former discussion. And Pausanias and Euryanax were greatly disturbed that he did not obey them and still more that they should be compelled to leave the Pitanate division behind, since he thus refused;[59][{anainomenou}: some MSS. and many Editors read {nenomenou}, “since he was thus minded.”] for they feared that if they should leave it in order to do that which they had agreed with the other Hellenes, both Amompharetos himself would perish being left behind and also the men with him. With this thought they kept the Lacedemonian force from moving, and meanwhile they endeavoured to persuade him that it was not right for him to do so..

54. They then were exhorting Amompharetos, who had been left behind alone of the Lacedemonians and Tegeans; and meanwhile the Athenians were keeping themselves quiet in the place where they had been posted, knowing the spirit of the Lacedemonians, that they were apt to say otherwise than they really meant;[60][{os alla phroneonton kai alla legonton}.] and when the army began to move, they sent a horseman from their own body to see whether the Spartans were attempting to set forth, or whether they had in truth no design at all to retire; and they bade him ask Pausanias what they ought to do. 55. So when the herald came to the Lacedemonians, he saw that they were still in their place and that the chiefs of them had come to strife with one another: for when Euryanax and Pausanias both exhorted Amompharetos not to run the risk of remaining behind with his men, alone of all the Lacedemonians, they did not at all persuade him, and at last they had come to downright strife; and meanwhile the herald of the Athenians had arrived and was standing by them. And Amompharetos in his contention took a piece of rock in both his hands and placed it at the feet of Pausanias, saying that with this pebble he gave his vote not to fly from the strangers, meaning the Barbarians.[61][Cp。 ch. 11.] Pausanias then, calling him a madman and one who was not in his right senses, bade tell the state of their affairs to the Athenian herald,[62][The structure of the sentence is rather confused, and perhaps some emendation is required.] who was asking that which he had been charged to ask; and at the same time he requested the Athenians to come towards the Lacedemonians and to do in regard to the retreat the same as they did..

56. He then went away back to the Athenians; and as the dawn of day found them yet disputing with one another, Pausanias, who had remained still throughout all this time, gave the signal, and led away all the rest over the low hills, supposing that Amonpharetos would not stay behind when the other Lacedemonians departed (in which he was in fact right); and with them also went the Tegeans. Meanwhile the Athenians, following the commands which were given them, were going in the direction opposite to that of the Lacedemonians; for these were clinging to the hills and the lower slope of Kithairon from fear of the cavalry, while the Athenians were marching below in the direction of the plain..

57. As for Amonpharetos, he did not at first believe that Pausanias would ever venture to leave him and his men behind, and he stuck to it that they should stay there and not leave their post; but when Pausanias and his troops were well in front, then he perceived that they had actually left him behind, and he made his division take up their arms and led them slowly towards the main body. This, when it had got away about ten furlongs, stayed for the division of Amompharetos, halting at the river Moloeis and the place called Argiopion, where also there stands a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter: and it stayed there for this reason, namely in order that of Amonpharetos and his division should not leave the place where they had been posted, but should remain there, it might be able to come back to their assistance. So Amompharetos and his men were coming up to join them, and the cavalry also of the Barbarians was at the same time beginning to attack them in full force: for the horsemen did on this day as they had been wont to do every day; and seeing the place vacant in which the Hellenes had been posted on the former days, they rode their horses on continually further, and as soon as they came up with them they began to attack them.

58. Then Mardonios, when he was informed that the Hellenes had departed during the night, and when he saw their place deserted, called Thorax of Larissa and his brothers Eurypylos and Thrasydeios, and said: “Sons of Aleuas, will ye yet say anything,[63][{eti ti lexete}. The MSS. and most Editors read {ti}, “what will ye say after this?” The order of the words is against this.] now that ye see these places deserted? For ye who dwell near them were wont to say that the Lacedemonians did not fly from a battle, but were men unsurpassed in war; and these men ye not only saw before this changing from their post, but now we all of us see that they have run away during the past night; and by this they showed clearly, when the time came for them to contend in battle with those who were in truth the best of all men, that after all they were men of no worth, who had been making a display of valour among Hellenes, a worthless race. As for you, since ye had had no experience of the Persians, I for my part was very ready to excuse you when ye praised these, of whom after all ye knew something good; but much more I marvelled at Artabazos that he should have been afraid of the Lacedemonians, and that having been afraid he should have uttered that most cowardly opinion, namely that we ought to move our army away and go to the city of the Thebans to be besieged there,—an opinion about which the king shall yet be informed by me. Of these things we will speak in another place; now however we must not allow them to act thus, but we must pursue them until they are caught and pay the penalty to us for all that they did to the Persians in time past.”.

59. Thus having spoken he led on the Persians at a run, after they had crossed the Asopos, on the track of the Hellenes, supposing that these were running away from him; and he directed his attack upon the Lacedemonians and Tegeans only, for the Athenians, whose march was towards the plain, he did not see by reason of the hills. Then the rest of the commanders of the Barbarian divisions, seeing that the Persians had started to pursue the Hellenes, forthwith all raised the signals for battle and began to pursue, each as fast as they could, not arranged in any order or succession of post..

60. These then were coming on with shouting and confused numbers, thinking to make short work of[64][{anarpasomenoi}: cp. viii. 28.] the Hellenes; and Pausanias, when the cavalry began to attack, sent to the Athenians a horseman and said thus: “Athenians, now that the greatest contest is set before us, namely that which has for its issue the freedom or the slavery of Hellas, we have been deserted by our allies, we Lacedemonians and ye Athenians, seeing that they have run away during the night that is past. Now therefore it is determined what we must do upon this, namely that we must defend ourselves and protect one another as best we may. If then the cavalry had set forth to attack you at the first, we and the Tegeans, who with us refuse to betray the cause of Hellas, should have been bound to go to your help; but as it is, since the whole body has come against us, it is right that ye should come to that portion of the army which is hardest pressed, to give aid. If however anything has happened to you which makes it impossible for you to come to our help, then do us a kindness by sending to us the archers; and we know that ye have been in the course of this present war by far the most zealous of all, so that ye will listen to our request in this matter also.”.

61. When the Athenians heard this they were desirous to come to their help and to assist them as much as possible; and as they were already going, they were attacked by those of the Hellenes on the side of the king who had been ranged opposite to them, so that they were no longer able to come to the help of the Lacedemonians, for the force that was attacking them gave them much trouble. Thus the Lacedemonians and Tegeans were left alone, being in number, together with light-armed men, the former fifty thousand and the Tegeans three thousand; for these were not parted at all from the Lacedemonians: and they began to offer sacrifice, meaning to engage battle with Mardonios and the force which had come against them. Then since their offerings did not prove favourable, and many of them were being slain during this time and many more wounded,—for the Persians had made a palisade of their wicker-work shields[65][{phraxantes ta gerra}: cp. ch. 99.] and were discharging their arrows in great multitude and without sparing,—Pausanias, seeing that the Spartans were hard pressed and that the offerings did not prove favourable, fixed his gaze upon the temple of Hera of the Plataians and called upon the goddess to help, praying that they might by no means be cheated of their hope:.

62, and while he was yet calling upon her thus, the Tegeans started forward before them and advanced against the Barbarians, and forthwith after the prayer of Pausanias the offerings proved favourable for the Lacedemonians as they sacrificed. So when this at length came to pass, then they also advanced against the Persians; and the Persians put away their bows and came against them. Then first there was fighting about the wicker-work shields, and when these had been overturned, after that the fighting was fierce by the side of the temple of Demeter, and so continued for a long time, until at last they came to justling; for the Barbarians would take hold of the spears and break them off. Now in courage and in strength the Persians were not inferior to the others, but they were without defensive armour,[66][{anoploi}, by which evidently more is meant than the absence of shields; cp. the end of ch. 63, where the equipment of the Persians is compared to that of light-armed troops.] and moreover they were unversed in war and unequal to their opponents in skill; and they would dart out one at a time or in groups of about ten together, some more and some less, and fall upon the Spartans and perish..

63. In the place where Mardonios himself was, riding on a white horse and having about him the thousand best men of the Persians chosen out from the rest, here, I say, they pressed upon their opponents most of all: and so long as Mardonios survived, they held out against them, and defending themselves they cast down many of the Lacedemonians; but when Mardonios was slain and the men who were ranged about his person, which was the strongest portion of the whole army, had fallen, then the others too turned and gave way before the Lacedemonians; for their manner of dress, without defensive armour, was a very great cause of destruction to them, since in truth they were contending light-armed against hoplites..

64. Then the satisfaction for the murder of Leonidas was paid by Mardonios according to the oracle given to the Spartans,[67][参见第八。 114.] and the most famous victory of all those about which we have knowledge was gained by Pausanias the son of Cleombrotos, the son of Anaxandrides; of his ancestors above this the names have been given for Leonidas,[68][{es Leoniden}: this is ordinarily translated “as far as Leonidas;” but to say “his ancestors above Anaxandrides have been given as far as Leonidas” (the son of Anaxandrides), is hardly intelligible. The reference is to vii. 204.] since, as it happens, they are the same for both. Now Mardonios was slain by Arimnestos,[69][Most of the MSS. call him Aeimnestos (with some variation of spelling), but Plutarch has Arimnestos.] a man of consideration in Sparta, who afterwards, when the Median wars were over, with three hundred men fought a battle against the whole army of the Messenians, then at war with the Lacedemonians, at Stenycleros, and both he was slain and also the three hundred..

65. When the Persians were turned to flight at Plataia by the Lacedemonians, they fled in disorder to their own camp and to the palisade which they had made in the Theban territory:[70][See ch. 15: There is no sharp distinction here between camp and palisade, the latter being merely the fortified part of the encampment.] and it is a marvel to me that, whereas they fought by the side of the sacred grove of Demeter, not one of the Persians was found to have entered the enclosure or to have been slain within it, but round about the temple in the unconsecrated ground fell the greater number of the slain. I suppose (if one ought to suppose anything about divine things) that the goddess herself refused to receive them, because they had set fire to the temple, that is to say the “palace”[71][{anaktoron}, a usual name for the temple of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis.] at Eleusis.

66. Thus far then had this battle proceeded: but Artabazos the son of Pharnakes had been displeased at the very first because Mardonios remained behind after the king was gone; and afterwards he had been bringing forward objections continually and doing nothing, but had urged them always not to fight a battle: and for himself he acted as follows, not being pleased with the things which were being done by Mardonios.—The men of whom Artabazos was commander (and he had with him no small force but one which was in number as much as four myriads[72][即40,000。] of men), these, when the fighting began, being well aware what the issue of the battle would be, he led carefully,[73][{ege katertemenos}: the better MSS. have {eie} for {ege}, which is retained by some Editors ({toutous} being then taken with {inai pantas}): for {katertemenos} we find as variations {katertemenos} and {katertismenos}. Many Editors read {katertismenos} (“well prepared”), following the Aldine tradition.] having first given orders that all should go by the way which he should lead them and at the same pace at which they should see him go. Having given these orders he led his troops on pretence of taking them into battle; and when he was well on his way, he saw the Persians already taking flight. Then he no longer led his men in the same order as before, but set off at a run, taking flight by the quickest way not to the palisade nor yet to the wall of the Thebans, but towards Phokis, desiring as quickly as possible to reach the Hellespont..

67. These, I say, were thus directing their march: and in the meantime, while the other Hellenes who were on the side of the king were purposely slack in the fight,[74][{ephelokakeonton}.] the Boeotians fought with the Athenians for a long space; for those of the Thebans who took the side of the Medes had no small zeal for the cause, and they fought and were not slack, so that three hundred of them, the first and best of all, fell there by the hands of the Athenians: and when these also turned to flight, they fled to Thebes, not to the same place as the Persians: and the main body of the other allies fled without having fought constantly with any one or displayed any deeds of valour..

68. And this is an additional proof to me that all the fortunes of the Barbarians depended upon the Persians, namely that at that time these men fled before they had even engaged with the enemy, because they saw the Persians doing so. Thus all were in flight except only the cavalry, including also that of the Boeotians; and this rendered service to the fugitives by constantly keeping close to the enemy and separating the fugitives of their own side from the Hellenes..

69. The victors then were coming after the troops of Xerxes, both pursuing them and slaughtering them; and during the time when this panic arose, the report was brought to the other Hellenes who had posted themselves about the temple of Hera and had been absent from the battle, that a battle had taken place and that the troops of Pausanias were gaining the victory. When they heard this, then without ranging themselves in any order the Corinthians and those near them turned to go by the skirts of the mountain and by the low hills along the way which led straight up to the temple of Demeter, while the Megarians and Phliasians and those near them went by the plain along the smoothest way. When however the Megarians and Phliasians came near to the enemy, the cavalry of the Thebans caught sight of them from a distance hurrying along without any order, and rode up to attack them, the commander of the cavalry being Asopodoros the son of Timander; and having fallen upon them they slew six hundred of them, and the rest they pursued and drove to Kithairon.

70. These then perished thus ingloriously;[75][{en oudeni logo apolonto}.] and meanwhile the Persians and the rest of the throng, having fled for refuge to the palisade, succeeded in getting up to the towers before the Lacedemonians came; and having got up they strengthened the wall of defence as best they could. Then when the Lacedemonians[76][Stein proposes to substitute “Athenians” for “Lacedemonians” here, making the comparative {erremenestere} anticipate the account given in the next few clauses.] came up to attack it, there began between them a vigorous[77][{erromenestere}.] fight for the wall: for so long as the Athenians were away, they defended themselves and had much the advantage over the Lacedemonians, since these did not understand the art of fighting against walls; but when the Athenians came up to help them, then there was a fierce fight for the wall, lasting for a long time, and at length by valour and endurance the Athenians mounted up on the wall and made a breach in it, through which the Hellenes poured in. Now the Tegeans were the first who entered the wall, and these were they who plundered the tent of Mardonios, taking, besides the other things which were in it, also the manger of his horse, which was all of bronze and a sight worth seeing. This manger of Mardonios was dedicated by the Tegeans as an offering in the temple of Athene Alea,[78][Cp. i. 66.] but all the other things which they took, they brought to the common stock of the Hellenes. The Barbarians however, after the wall had been captured, no longer formed themselves into any close body, nor did any of them think of making resistance, but they were utterly at a loss,[79][{aluktazon}, a word of doubtful meaning which is not found elsewhere.] as you might expect from men who were in a panic with many myriads of them shut up together in a small space: and the Hellenes were able to slaughter them so that out of an army of thirty myriads,[80][即300,000。] if those four be subtracted which Artabazos took with him in his flight, of the remainder not three thousand men survived. Of the Lacedemonians from Sparta there were slain in the battle ninety-one in all, of the Tegeans sixteen, and of the Athenians two-and-fifty.

71. Among the Barbarians those who proved themselves the best men were, of those on foot the Persians, and of the cavalry the Sacans, and for a single man Mardonios it is said was the best. Of the Hellenes, though both the Tegeans and the Athenians proved themselves good men, yet the Lacedemonians surpassed them in valour. Of this I have no other proof (for all these were victorious over their opposites), but only this, that they fought against the strongest part of the enemy’s force and overcame it. And the man who proved himself in my opinion by much the best was that Aristodemos who, having come back safe from Thermopylai alone of the three hundred, had reproach and dishonour attached to him. After him the best were Poseidonios and Philokyon and Amompharetos the Spartan.[81][{o Spartietes}: it has been proposed to read {Spartietai}, for it can hardly be supposed that the other two were not Spartans also.] However, when there came to be conversation as to which of them had proved himself the best, the Spartans who were present gave it as their opinion that Aristodemos had evidently wished to be slain in consequence of the charge which lay against him, and so, being as it were in a frenzy and leaving his place in the ranks, he had displayed great deeds, whereas Poseidonios had proved himself a good man although he did not desire to be slain; and so far he was the better man of the two. This however they perhaps said from ill-will; and all these whose names I mentioned among the men who were killed in this battle, were specially honoured, except Aristodemos; but Aristodemos, since he desired to be slain on account of the before-mentioned charge, was not honoured.

72. These obtained the most renown of those who fought at Plataia, for as for Callicrates, the most beautiful who came to the camp, not of the Lacedemonians alone, but also of all the Hellenes of his time, he was not killed in the battle itself; but when Pausanias was offering sacrifice, he was wounded by an arrow in the side, as he was sitting down in his place in the ranks; and while the others were fighting, he having been carried out of the ranks was dying a lingering death: and he said to Arimnestos[82][One MS. at least calls him Aeimenstos, cp. ch. 64: Thucydides (iii. Note 52) mentions Aeimnestos as the name of a Plataian citizen, the father of Lacon. Stein observes that in any case this cannot be that Arimnestos who is mentioned by Plutarch as commander of the Plataian contingent.] a Plataian that it did not grieve him to die for Hellas, but it grieved him only that he had not proved his strength of hand, and that no deed of valour had been displayed by him worthy of the spirit which he had in him to perform great deeds.[83][{eoutou axion prophumeumenou apodexasthai}.]

73. Of the Athenians the man who gained most glory is said to have been Sophanes the son of Eutychides of the deme of Dekeleia,—a deme of which the inhabitants formerly did a deed that was of service to them for all time, as the Athenians themselves report. For when of old the sons of Tyndareus invaded the Attic land with a great host, in order to bring home Helen, and were laying waste the demes, not knowing to what place of hiding Helen had been removed, then they say that the men of Dekeleia, or as some say Dekelos himself, being aggrieved by the insolence of Theseus and fearing for all the land of the Athenians, told them the whole matter and led them to Aphidnai, which Titakos who was sprung from the soil delivered up by treachery to the sons of Tyndareus. In consequence of this deed the Dekeleians have had continually freedom from dues in Sparta and front seats at the games,[84][{atelein te kai proedrin}.] privileges which exist still to this day; insomuch that even in the war which many years after these events arose between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, when the Lacedemonians laid waste all the rest of Attica, they abstained from injury to Dekeleia..

74. To this deme belonged Sophanes, who showed himself the best of all the Athenians in this battle; and of him there are two different stories told: one that he carried an anchor of iron bound by chains of bronze to the belt of his corslet; and this he threw whensoever he came up with the enemy, in order, they say, that the enemy when they came forth out of their ranks might not be able to move him from his place; and when a flight of his opponents took place, his plan was to take up the anchor first and then pursue after them. This story is reported thus; but the other of the stories, disputing the truth of that which has been told above, is reported as follows, namely that upon his shield, which was ever moving about and never remaining still, he bore an anchor as a device, and not one of iron bound to his corslet.

75. There was another illustrious deed done too by Sophanes; for when the Athenians besieged Egina he challenged to a fight and slew Eurybates the Argive,[85][vi. 92.] one who had been victor in the five contests[86][{andra pentaethlon}.] at the games. To Sophanes himself it happened after these events that when he was general of the Athenians together with Leagros the son of Glaucon, he was slain after proving himself a good man by the Edonians at Daton, fighting for the gold mines.

76. When the Barbarians had been laid low by the Hellenes at Plataia, there approached to these a woman, the concubine of Pharandates the son of Teaspis a Persian, coming over of her own free will from the enemy, who when she perceived that the Persians had been destroyed and that the Hellenes were the victors, descended from her carriage and came up to the Lacedemonians while they were yet engaged in the slaughter. This woman had adorned herself with many ornaments of gold, and her attendants likewise, and she had put on the fairest robe of those which she had; and when she saw that Pausanias was directing everything there, being well acquainted before with his name and with his lineage, because she had heard it often, she recognised Pausanias and taking hold of his knees she said these words: “O king of Sparta, deliver me thy suppliant from the slavery of the captive: for thou hast also done me service hitherto in destroying these, who have regard neither for demigods nor yet for gods.[87][{oute daimonon oute theon}: heroes and in general divinities of the second order are included under the term {daimonon}.] I am by race of Cos, the daughter of Hegetorides the son of Antagoras; and the Persian took me by force in Cos and kept me a prisoner.” He made answer in these words: “Woman, be of good courage, both because thou art a suppliant, and also if in addition to this it chances that thou art speaking the truth and art the daughter of Hegetorides the Coan, who is bound to me as a guest-friend more than any other of the men who dwell in those parts.” Having thus spoken, for that time her gave her in charge to those Ephors who were present, and afterwards he sent her away to Egina, whither she herself desired to go.

77. After the arrival of the woman, forthwith upon this arrived the Mantineians, when all was over; and having learnt that they had come too late for the battle, they were greatly grieved, and said that they deserved to be punished: and being informed that the Medes with Artabazos were in flight, they pursued after them as far as Thessaly, though the Lacedemonians endeavoured to prevent them from pursuing after fugitives.[88][Most of the commentators (and following them the historians) understand the imperfect {ediokon} to express the mere purpose to attempt, and suppose that this purpose was actually hindered by the Lacedemonians, but for a mere half-formed purpose the expression {mekhri Thessalies} seems to definite, and Diodorus states that Artabazos was pursued. I think therefore that Krüger is right in understanding {eon} of an attempt to dissuade which was not successful. The alternative version would be “they were for pursuing them as far as Thessaly, but the Lacedemonians prevented them from pursuing fugitives.”] Then returning back to their own country they sent the leaders of their army into exile from the land. After the Mantineians came the Eleians; and they, like the Mantineians, were greatly grieved by it and so departed home; and these also when they had returned sent their leaders into exile. So much of the Mantineians and Eleians.

78. At Plataia among the troops of the Eginetans was Lampon the son of Pytheas, one of the leading men of the Eginetans, who was moved to go to Pausanias with a most impious proposal, and when he had come with haste, he said as follows: “Son of Cleombrotos, a deed has been done by thee which is of marvellous greatness and glory, and to thee God has permitted by rescuing Hellas to lay up for thyself the greatest renown of all the Hellenes about whom we have any knowledge. Do thou then perform also that which remains to do after these things, in order that yet greater reputation may attach to thee, and also that in future every one of the Barbarians may beware of being the beginner of presumptuous deeds towards the Hellenes. For when Leonidas was slain at Thermopylai, Mardonios and Xerxes cut off his head and crucified him: to him therefore do thou repay like with like, and thou shalt have praise first from all the Spartans and then secondly from the other Hellenes also; for if thou impale the body of Mardonios, thou wilt then have taken vengeance for Leonidas thy father’s brother.”.

79. He said this thinking to give pleasure; but the other made him answer in these words: “Stranger of Egina, I admire thy friendly spirit and thy forethought for me, but thou hast failed of a good opinion nevertheless: for having exalted me on high and my family and my deed, thou didst then cast me down to nought by advising me to do outrage to a dead body, and by saying that if I do this I shall be better reported of. These things it is more fitting for Barbarians to do than for Hellenes; and even with them we find fault for doing so. However that may be, I do not desire in any such manner as this to please either Eginetans or others who like such things; but it is enough for me that I should keep from unholy deeds, yea and from unholy speech also, and so please the Spartans. As for Leonidas, whom thou biddest me avenge, I declare that he has been greatly avenged already, and by the unnumbered lives which have been taken of these men he has been honoured, and not he only but also the rest who brought their lives to an end at Thermopylai. As for thee however, come not again to me with such a proposal, nor give me such advice; and be thankful moreover that thou hast no punishment for it now.”

80. He having heard this went his way; and Pausanias made a proclamation that none should lay hands upon the spoil, and he ordered the Helots to collect the things together. They accordingly dispersed themselves about the camp and found tents furnished with gold and silver, and beds overlaid with gold and overlaid with silver, and mixing-bowls of gold, and cups and other drinking vessels. They found also sacks laid upon waggons, in which there proved to be caldrons both of gold and of silver; and from the dead bodies which lay there they stripped bracelets and collars, and also their swords[89][{akinakas}.] if they were of gold, for as to embroidered raiment, there was no account made of it. Then the Helots stole many of the things and sold them to the Eginetans, but many things also they delivered up, as many of them as they could not conceal; so that the great wealth of the Eginetans first came from this, that they bought the gold from the Helots making pretence that it was brass..

81. Then having brought the things together, and having set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi, with which the offering was dedicated of the golden tripod which rests upon the three-headed serpent of bronze and stands close by the altar, and also[90][Whether three tithes were taken or only one is left uncertain.] for the god at Olympia, with which they dedicated the offering of a bronze statue of Zeus ten cubits high, and finally for the god at the Isthmus, with which was made a bronze statue of Poseidon seven cubits high,—having set apart these things, they divided the rest, and each took that which they ought to have, including the concubines of the Persians and the gold and the silver and the other things, and also the beasts of burden. How much was set apart and given to those of them who had proved themselves the best men at Plataia is not reported by any, though for my part I suppose that gifts were made to these also; Pausanias however had ten of each thing set apart and given to him, that is women, horses, talents, camels, and so also of the other things.

82. It is said moreover that this was done which here follows, namely that Xerxes in his flight from Hellas had left to Mardonios the furniture of his own tent, and Pausanias accordingly seeing the furniture of Mardonios furnished[91][“furniture furnished” is hardly tolerable; perhaps Herodotus wrote {skenen} for {kataskeuen} here.] with gold and silver and hangings of different colours ordered the bakers and the cooks to prepare a meal as they were used to do for Mardonios. Then when they did this as they had been commanded, it is said that Pausanias seeing the couches of gold and of silver with luxurious coverings, and the tables of gold and silver, and the magnificent apparatus of the feast, was astonished at the good things set before him, and for sport he ordered his own servants to prepare a Laconian meal; and as, when the banquet was served, the difference between the two was great, Pausanias laughed and sent for the commanders of the Hellenes; and when these had come together, Pausanias said, pointing to the preparation of the two meals severally: “Hellenes, for this reason I assembled you together, because I desired to show you the senselessness of this leader of the Medes, who having such fare as this, came to us who have such sorry fare as ye see here, in order to take it away from us.” Thus it is said that Pausanias spoke to the commanders of the Hellenes.

83 ..[92][The connexion here is not satisfactory, and the chapter is in part a continuation of chapter 81: It is possible that ch. 82 may be a later addition by the author, thrown in without much regard to the context.] in later time after these events many of the Plataians also found chests of gold and of silver and of other treasures; and moreover afterwards this which follows was seen in the case of the dead bodies here, after the flesh had been stripped off from the bones; for the Plataians brought together the bones all to one place:—there was found, I say, a skull with no suture but all of one bone, and there was seen also a jaw-bone, that is to say the upper part of the jaw, which had teeth joined together and all of one bone, both the teeth that bite and those that grind; and the bones were seen also of a man five cubits high..

84. The body of Mardonios however had disappeared[93][“Whereas however the body of Mardonios had disappeared on the day after the battle (taken by whom I am not able to say….), it is reported with some show of reason that Dionysophanes, an Ephesian, was he who buried it.” The construction however is irregular and broken by parentheses: possibly there is some corruption of text.] on the day after the battle, taken by whom I am not able with certainty to say, but I have heard the names of many men of various cities who are said to have buried Mardonios, and I know that many received gifts from Artontes the son of Mardonios for having done this: who he was however who took up and buried the body of Mardonios I am not able for certain to discover, but Dionysophanes an Ephesian is reported with some show of reason to have been he who buried Mardonios..

85. He then was buried in some such manner as this: and the Hellenes when they had divided the spoil at Plataia proceeded to bury their dead, each nation apart by themselves. The Spartans made for themselves three several burial-places, one in which they buried the younger Spartans,[94][{tous irenas}. Spartans between twenty and thirty years old were so called. The MSS. have {ireas}.] of whom also were Poseidonios, Amompharetos, Philokyon and Callicrates,—in one of the graves, I say, were laid the younger men, in the second the rest of the Spartans, and in the third the Helots. These then thus buried their dead; but the Tegeans buried theirs all together in a place apart from these, and the Athenians theirs together; and the Megarians and Phliasians those who had been slain by the cavalry. Of all these the burial-places had bodies laid in them, but as to the burial-places of other States which are to be seen at Plataia, these, as I am informed, are all mere mounds of earth without any bodies in them, raised by the several peoples on account of posterity, because they were ashamed of their absence from the fight; for among others there is one there called the burial-place of the Eginetans, which I hear was raised at the request of the Eginetans by Cleades the son of Autodicos, a man of Plataia who was their public guest-friend,[95][{proxeinon}.] no less than ten years after these events.

86. When the Hellenes had buried their dead at Plataia, forthwith they determined in common council to march upon Thebes and to ask the Thebans to surrender those who had taken the side of the Medes, and among the first of them Timagenides and Attaginos, who were leaders equal to the first; and if the Thebans did not give them up, they determined not to retire from the city until they had taken it. Having thus resolved, they came accordingly on the eleventh day after the battle and began to besiege the Thebans, bidding them give the men up: and as the Thebans refused to give them up, they began to lay waste their land and also to attack their wall..

87. So then, as they did not cease their ravages, on the twentieth day Timagenides spoke as follows to the Thebans: “Thebans, since it has been resolved by the Hellenes not to retire from the siege until either they have taken Thebes or ye have delivered us up to them, now therefore let not the land of Boeotia suffer[96][“fill up more calamities,” cp. v. 4.] any more for our sakes, but if they desire to have money and are demanding our surrender as a colour for this, let us give them money taken out of the treasury of the State; for we took the side of the Medes together with the State and not by ourselves alone: but if they are making the siege truly in order to get us into their hands, then we will give ourselves up for trial.”[97][{es antilogien}.] In this it was thought that he spoke very well and seasonably, and the Thebans forthwith sent a herald to Pausanias offering to deliver up the men..

88. After they had made an agreement on these terms, Attaginos escaped out of the city; and when his sons were delivered up to Pausanias, he released them from the charge, saying that the sons had no share in the guilt of taking the side of the Medes. As to the other men whom the Thebans delivered up, they supposed that they would get a trial,[98][{antilogies kuresein}.] and they trusted moreover to be able to repel the danger by payment of money; but Pausanias, when he had received them, suspecting this very thing, first dismissed the whole army of allies, and then took the men to Corinth and put them to death there. These were the things which happened at Plataia and at Thebes.

89. Artabazos meanwhile, the son of Pharnakes, in his flight from Plataia was by this time getting forward on his way: and the Thessalians, when he came to them, offered him hospitality and inquired concerning the rest of the army, not knowing anything of that which had happened at Plataia; and Artabazos knowing that if he should tell them the whole truth about the fighting, he would run the risk of being destroyed, both himself and the whole army which was with him, (for he thought that they would all set upon him if they were informed of that which had happened),—reflecting, I say, upon this he had told nothing of it to the Phokians, and now to the Thessalians he spoke as follows: “I, as you see, Thessalians, am earnest to march by the shortest way to Thracia; and I am in great haste, having been sent with these men for a certain business from the army; moreover Mardonios himself and his army are shortly to be looked for here, marching close after me. To him give entertainment and show yourselves serviceable, for ye will not in the end repent of so doing.” Having thus said he continued to march his army with haste through Thessaly and Macedonia straight for Thracia, being in truth earnest to proceed and going through the land by the shortest possible way:[99][{ten mesogaian tamnon tes odou}, cp. vii. 124: The expression seems almost equivalent to {tamnon ten mesen odon}, apart from any question of inland or coast roads.] and so he came to Byzantion, having left behind him great numbers of his army, who had either been cut down by the Thracians on the way or had been overcome by hunger and fatigue;[100][{limo sustantas kai kamato}, “having struggled with hunger and fatigue.”] and from Byzantion he passed over in ships. He himself[101][{autos}: some MSS. read {outos}. If the text is right, it means Artabazos as distinguished from his troops.] then thus made his return back to Asia.

90. Now on the same day on which the defeat took place at Plataia, another took place also, as fortune would have it, at Mycale in Ionia. For when the Hellenes who had come in the ships with Leotychides the Lacedemonian, were lying at Delos, there came to them as envoys from Samos Lampon the son of Thrasycles and Athenagoras the son of Archestratides and Hegesistratos the son of Aristagoras, who had been sent by the people of Samos without the knowledge either of the Persians or of the despot Theomestor the son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had set up to be despot of Samos. When these had been introduced before the commanders, Hegesistratos spoke at great length using arguments of all kinds, and saying that so soon as the Ionians should see them they would at once revolt from the Persians, and that the Barbarians would not wait for their attack; and if after all they did so, then the Hellenes would take a prize such as they would never take again hereafter; and appealing to the gods worshipped in common he endeavoured to persuade them to rescue from slavery men who were Hellenes and to drive away the Barbarian: and this he said was easy for them to do, for the ships of the enemy sailed badly and were no match for them in fight. Moreover if the Hellenes suspected that they were endeavouring to bring them on by fraud, they were ready to be taken as hostages in their ships..

91. Then as the stranger of Samos was urgent in his prayer, Leotychides inquired thus, either desiring to hear for the sake of the omen or perhaps by a chance which Providence brought about: “Stranger of Samos, what is thy name?” He said “Hegesistratos.”[102][i.e. “leader of the army.”]The other cut short the rest of the speech, stopping all that Hegesistratos had intended to say further, and said: “I accept the augury given in Hegesistratos, stranger of Samos. Do thou on thy part see that thou give us assurance, thou and the men who are with thee, that the Samians will without fail be our zealous allies, and after that sail away home.”.

92. Thus he spoke and to the words he added the deed; for forthwith the Samians gave assurance and made oaths of alliance with the Hellenes, and having so done the others sailed away home, but Hegesistratos he bade sail with the Hellenes, considering the name to be an augury of good success. Then the Hellenes after staying still that day made sacrifices for success on the next day, their diviner being Deïphonos the son of Euenios an Apolloniate, of that Apollonia which lies in the Ionian gulf. [10201][{en to Ionio kolpo}.].

93. To this man’s father Euenios it happened as follows:—There are at this place Apollonia sheep sacred to the Sun, which during the day feed by a river[103][Stein reads {para Khona potamon}, “by the river Chon,” a conjecture derived from Theognostus.] running from Mount Lacmon through the land of Apollonia to the sea by the haven of Oricos; and by night they are watched by men chosen for this purpose, who are the most highly considered of the citizens for wealth and noble birth, each man having charge of them for a year; for the people of Apollonia set great store on these sheep by reason of an oracle: and they are folded in a cave at some distance from the city. Here at the time of which I speak this man Euenios was keeping watch over them, having been chosen for that purpose; and it happened one night that he fell asleep during his watch, and wolves came by into the cave and killed about sixty of the sheep. When he perceived this, he kept it secret and told no one, meaning to buy others and substitute them in the place of those that were killed. It was discovered however by the people of Apollonia that this had happened; and when they were informed of it, they brought him up before a court and condemned him to be deprived of his eyesight for having fallen asleep during his watch. But when they had blinded Euenios, forthwith after this their flocks ceased to bring forth young and their land to bear crops as before. Then prophesyings were uttered to them both at Dodona and also at Delphi, when they asked the prophets the cause of the evil which they were suffering, and they told them[104][It is thought by some Editors that “the prophets” just above, and these words, “and they told them,” are interpolated.] that they had done unjustly in depriving of his sight Euenios the watcher of the sacred sheep; for the gods of whom they inquired had themselves sent the wolves to attack the sheep; and they would not cease to take vengeance for him till the men of Apollonia should have paid to Euenios such satisfaction as he himself should choose and deem sufficient; and this being fulfilled, the gods would give to Euenios a gift of such a kind that many men would think him happy in that he possessed it..

94. These oracles then were uttered to them, and the people of Apollonia, making a secret of it, proposed to certain men of the citizens to manage the affair; and they managed it for them thus:—when Euenios was sitting on a seat in public, they came and sat by him, and conversed about other matters, and at last they came to sympathising with him in his misfortune; and thus leading him on they asked what satisfaction he should choose, if the people of Apollonia should undertake to give him satisfaction for that which they had done. He then, not having heard the oracle, made choice and said that if there should be given him the lands belonging to certain citizens, naming those whom he knew to possess the two best lots of land in Apollonia, and a dwelling-house also with these, which he knew to be the best house in the city,—if he became the possessor of these, he said, he would have no anger against them for the future, and this satisfaction would be sufficient for him if it should be given. Then as he was thus speaking, the men who sat by him said interrupting him: “Euenios, this satisfaction the Apolloniates pay to thee for thy blinding in accordance with the oracles which have been given to them.” Upon this he was angry, being thus informed of the whole matter and considering that he had been deceived; and they bought the property from those who possessed it and gave him that which he had chosen. And forthwith after this he had a natural gift of divination,[105][{emphuton mantiken}, as opposed to the {entekhnos mantike} possessed for example by Melampus, cp. ii. 49.] so that he became very famous..

95. Of this Euenios, I say, Deïphonos was the son, and he was acting as diviner for the army, being brought by the Corinthians. I have heard however also that Deïphonos wrongly made use of the name of Euenios, and undertook work of this kind about Hellas, not being really the son of Euenios.

96. Now when the sacrifices were favourable to the Hellenes, they put their ships to sea from Delos to go to Samos; and having arrived off Calamisa[106][Or possibly “Calamoi.”] in Samos, they moored their ships there opposite the temple of Hera which is at this place, and made preparations for a sea-fight; but the Persians, being informed that they were sailing thither, put out to sea also and went over to the mainland with their remaining ships, (those of the Phenicians having been already sent away to sail home): for deliberating of the matter they thought it good not to fight a battle by sea, since they did not think that they were a match for the enemy. And they sailed away to the mainland in order that they might be under the protection of their land-army which was in Mycale, a body which had stayed behind the rest of the army by command of Xerxes and was keeping watch over Ionia: of this the number was six myriads[107][即60,000。] and the commander of it was Tigranes, who in beauty and stature excelled the other Persians. The commanders of the fleet then had determined to take refuge under the protection of this army, and to draw up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round as a protection for the ships and a refuge for themselves..

97. Having thus determined they began to put out to sea; and they came along by the temple of the “Revered goddesses” [10701][{ton Potneion}, i.e. either the Eumenides or Demeter and Persephone.] to the Gaison and to Scolopoeis in Mycale, where there is a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter, which Philistos the son of Pasicles erected when he had accompanied Neileus the son of Codros for the founding of Miletos; and there they drew up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round them of stones and timber, cutting down fruit-trees for this purpose, and they fixed stakes round the enclosure and made their preparations either for being besieged or for gaining a victory, for in making their preparations they reckoned for both chances.

98. The Hellenes however, when they were informed that the Barbarians had gone away to the mainland, were vexed because they thought that they had escaped; and they were in a difficulty what they should do, whether they should go back home, or sail down towards the Hellespont. At last they resolved to do neither of these two things, but to sail on to the mainland. Therefore when they had prepared as for a sea-fight both boarding-bridges and all other things that were required, they sailed towards Mycale; and when they came near to the camp and no one was seen to put out against them, but they perceived ships drawn up within the wall and a large land-army ranged along the shore, then first Leotychides, sailing along in his ship and coming as near to the shore as he could, made proclamation by a herald to the Ionians, saying: “Ionians, those of you who chance to be within hearing of me, attend to this which I say: for the Persians will not understand anything at all of that which I enjoin to you. When we join battle, each one of you must remember first the freedom of all, and then the watchword ‘Hebe’; and this let him also who has not heard know from him who has heard.” The design in this act was the same as that of Themistocles at Artemision; for it was meant that either the words uttered should escape the knowledge of the Barbarians and persuade the Ionians, or that they should be reported to the Barbarians and make them distrustful of the Hellenes.[108][{apistous toisi Ellesi}. Perhaps the last two words are to be rejected, and {apistous} to be taken in its usual sense, “distrusted”; cp. viii. 22.]

99. After Leotychides had thus suggested, then next the Hellenes proceeded to bring their ships up to land, and they disembarked upon the shore. These then were ranging themselves for fight; and the Persians, when they saw the Hellenes preparing for battle and also that they had given exhortation to the Ionians, in the first place deprived the Samians of their arms, suspecting that they were inclined to the side of the Hellenes; for when the Athenian prisoners, the men whom the army of Xerxes had found left behind in Attica, had come in the ships of the Barbarians, the Samians had ransomed these and sent them back to Athens, supplying them with means for their journey; and for this reason especially they were suspected, since they had ransomed five hundred persons of the enemies of Xerxes. Then secondly the Persians appointed the Milesians to guard the passes which lead to the summits of Mycale, on the pretext that they knew the country best, but their true reason for doing this was that they might be out of the camp. Against these of the Ionians, who, as they suspected, would make some hostile move[109][{neokhmon an ti poieein}.] if they found the occasion, the Persians sought to secure themselves in the manner mentioned; and they themselves then brought together their wicker-work shields to serve them as a fence.

100. Then when the Hellenes had made all their preparations, they proceeded to the attack of the Barbarians; and as they went, a rumour came suddenly[110][{pheme eseptato}.] to their whole army, and at the same time a herald’s staff was found lying upon the beach; and the rumour went through their army to this effect, namely that the Hellenes were fighting in Boeotia and conquering the army of Mardonios. Now by many signs is the divine power seen in earthly things, and by this among others, namely that now, when the day of the defeat at Plataia and of that which was about to take place at Mycale happened to be the same, a rumour came to the Hellenes here, so that the army was encouraged much more and was more eagerly desirous to face the danger..

101. Moreover this other thing by coincidence happened besides, namely that there was a sacred enclosure of the Eleusinian Demeter close by the side of both the battle-fields; for not only in the Plataian land did the fight take place close by the side of the temple of Demeter, as I have before said, but also in Mycale it was to be so likewise. And whereas the rumour which came to them said that a victory had been already gained by the Hellenes with Pausanias, this proved to be a true report; for that which was done at Plataia came about while it was yet early morning, but the fighting at Mycale took place in the afternoon; and that it happened on the same day of the same month as the other became evident to them not long afterwards, when they inquired into the matter. Now they had been afraid before the rumour arrived, not for themselves so much as for the Hellenes generally, lest Hellas should stumble and fall over Mardonios; but when this report had come suddenly to them, they advanced on the enemy much more vigorously and swiftly than before. The Hellenes then and the Barbarians were going with eagerness into the battle, since both the islands and the Hellespont were placed before them as prizes of the contest.

102. Now for the Athenians and those who were ranged next to them, to the number perhaps of half the whole army, the road lay along the sea-beach and over level ground, while the Lacedemonians and those ranged in order by these were compelled to go by a ravine and along the mountain side: so while the Lacedemonians were yet going round, those upon the other wing were already beginning the fight; and as long as the wicker-work shields of the Persians still remained upright, they continued to defend themselves and had rather the advantage in the fight; but when the troops of the Athenians and of those ranged next to them, desiring that the achievement should belong to them and not to the Lacedemonians, with exhortations to one another set themselves more vigorously to the work, then from that time forth the fortune of the fight was changed; for these pushed aside the wicker-work shields and fell upon the Persians with a rush all in one body, and the Persians sustained their first attack and continued to defend themselves for a long time, but at last they fled to the wall; and the Athenians, Corinthians, Sikyonians and Troizenians, for that was the order in which they were ranged, followed close after them and rushed in together with them to the space within the wall: and when the wall too had been captured, then the Barbarians no longer betook themselves to resistance, but began at once to take flight, excepting only the Persians, who formed into small groups and continued to fight with the Hellenes as they rushed in within the wall. Of the commanders of the Persians two made their escape and two were slain; Artaÿntes and Ithamitres commanders of the fleet escaped, while Mardontes and the commander of the land-army, Tigranes, were slain..

103. Now while the Persians were still fighting, the Lacedemonians and those with them arrived, and joined in carrying through the rest of the work; and of the Hellenes themselves many fell there and especially many of the Sikyonians, together with their commander Perilaos. And those of the Samians who were serving in the army, being in the camp of the Medes and having been deprived of their arms, when they saw that from the very first the battle began to be doubtful,[111][{eteralkea}, cp. viii. 11.] did as much as they could, endeavouring to give assistance to the Hellenes; and the other Ionians seeing that the Samians had set the example, themselves also upon that made revolt from the Persians and attacked the Barbarians..

104. The Milesians too had been appointed to watch the passes of the Persians[112][{ton Perseon}: perhaps we should read {ek ton Perseon}, “appointed by the Persians to guard the passes.”] in order to secure their safety, so that if that should after all come upon them which actually came, they might have guides and so get safe away to the summits of Mycale,—the Milesians, I say, had been appointed to do this, not only for that end but also for fear that, if they were present in the camp, they might make some hostile move:[113][{ti neokhmon poieoien}.] but they did in fact the opposite of that which they were appointed to do; for they not only directed them in the flight by other than the right paths, by paths indeed which led towards the enemy, but also at last they themselves became their worst foes and began to slay them. Thus then for the second time Ionia revolted from the Persians.

105. In this battle, of the Hellenes the Athenians were the best men, and of the Athenians Hermolycos the son of Euthoinos, a man who had trained for the pancration. This Hermolycos after these events, when there was war between the Athenians and the Carystians, was killed in battle at Kyrnos in the Carystian land near Geraistos, and there was buried. After the Athenians the Corinthians, Troizenians and Sikyonians were the best.

106. When the Hellenes had slain the greater number of the Barbarians, some in the battle and others in their flight, they set fire to the ships and to the whole of the wall, having first brought out the spoil to the sea-shore; and among the rest they found some stores of money. So having set fire to the wall and to the ships they sailed away; and when they came to Samos, the Hellenes deliberated about removing the inhabitants of Ionia, and considered where they ought to settle them in those parts of Hellas of which they had command, leaving Ionia to the Barbarians: for it was evident to them that it was impossible on the one hand for them to be always stationed as guards to protect the Ionians, and on the other hand, if they were not stationed to protect them, they had no hope that the Ionians would escape with impunity from the Persians. Therefore it seemed good to those of the Peloponnesians that were in authority that they should remove the inhabitants of the trading ports which belonged to those peoples of Hellas who had taken the side of the Medes, and give that land to the Ionians to dwell in; but the Athenians did not think it good that the inhabitants of Ionia should be removed at all, nor that the Peloponnesians should consult about Athenian colonies; and as these vehemently resisted the proposal, the Peloponnesians gave way. So the end was that they joined as allies to their league the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and the other islanders who chanced to be serving with the Hellenes, binding them by assurance and by oaths to remain faithful and not withdraw from the league: and having bound these by oaths they sailed to break up the bridges, for they supposed they would find them still stretched over the straits.

These then were sailing towards the Hellespont;.

107, and meanwhile those Barbarians who had escaped and had been driven to the heights of Mycale, being not many in number, were making their way to Sardis: and as they went by the way, Masistes the son of Dareios, who had been present at the disaster which had befallen them, was saying many evil things of the commander Artaÿntes, and among other things he said that in respect of the generalship which he had shown he was worse than a woman, and that he deserved every kind of evil for having brought evil on the house of the king. Now with the Persians to be called worse than a woman is the greatest possible reproach. So he, after he had been much reviled, at length became angry and drew his sword upon Masistes, meaning to kill him; and as he was running upon him, Xeinagoras the son of Prexilaos, a man of Halicarnassos, perceived it, who was standing just behind Artaÿntes; and this man seized him by the middle and lifting him up dashed him upon the ground; and meanwhile the spearmen of Masistes came in front to protect him. Thus did Xeinagoras, and thus he laid up thanks for himself both with Masistes and also with Xerxes for saving the life of his brother; and for this deed Xeinagoras became ruler of all Kilikia by the gift of the king. Nothing further happened than this as they went on their way, but they arrived at Sardis.

Now at Sardis, as it chanced, king Xerxes had been staying ever since that time when he came thither in flight from Athens, after suffering defeat in the sea-fight..

108. At that time, while he was in Sardis, he had a passionate desire, as it seems, for the wife of Masistes, who was also there: and as she could not be bent to his will by his messages to her, and he did not wish to employ force because he had regard for his brother Masistes and the same consideration withheld the woman also, for she well knew that force would not be used towards her, then Xerxes abstained from all else, and endeavoured to bring about the marriage of his own son Dareios with the daughter of this woman and of Masistes, supposing that if he should do so he would obtain her more easily. Then having made the betrothal and done all the customary rites, he went away to Susa; and when he had arrived there and had brought the woman into his own house for Dareios, then he ceased from attempting the wife of Masistes and changing his inclination he conceived a desire for the wife of Dareios, who was daughter of Masistes, and obtained her: now the name of this woman was Artaÿnte..

109. However as time went on, this became known in the following manner:—Amestris the wife of Xerxes had woven a mantle, large and of various work and a sight worthy to be seen, and this she gave to Xerxes. He then being greatly pleased put it on and went to Artaÿnte; and being greatly pleased with her too, he bade her ask what she would to be given to her in return for the favours which she had granted to him, for she should obtain, he said, whatsoever she asked: and she, since it was destined that she should perish miserably with her whole house, said to Xerxes upon this: “Wilt thou give me whatsoever I ask thee for?” and he, supposing that she would ask anything rather than that which she did, promised this and swore to it. Then when he had sworn, she boldly asked for the mantle; and Xerxes tried every means of persuasion, not being willing to give it to her, and that for no other reason but only because he feared Amestris, lest by her, who even before this had some inkling of the truth, he should thus be discovered in the act; and he offered her cities and gold in any quantity, and an army which no one else should command except herself. Now this of an army is a thoroughly Persian gift. Since however he did not persuade her, he gave her the mantle; and she being overjoyed by the gift wore it and prided herself upon it..

110. And Amestris was informed that she had it; and having learnt that which was being done, she was not angry with the woman, but supposing that her mother was the cause and that she was bringing this about, she planned destruction for the wife of Masistes. She waited then until her husband Xerxes had a royal feast set before him:—this feast is served up once in the year on the day on which the king was born, and the name of this feast is in Persian tycta, which in the tongue of the Hellenes means “complete”; also on this occasion alone the king washes his head,[114][{ten kephalen smatai}: the meaning is uncertain.] and he makes gifts then to the Persians:—Amestris, I say, waited for this day and then asked of Xerxes that the wife of Masistes might be given to her. And he considered it a strange and untoward thing to deliver over to her his brother’s wife, especially since she was innocent of this matter; for he understood why she was making the request..

111. At last however as she continued to entreat urgently and he was compelled by the rule, namely that it is impossible among them that he who makes request when a royal feast is laid before the king should fail to obtain it, at last very much against his will consented; and in delivering her up he bade Amestris do as she desired, and meanwhile he sent for his brother and said these words: “Masistes, thou art the son of Dareios and my brother, and moreover in addition to this thou art a man of worth. I say to thee, live no longer with this wife with whom thou now livest, but I give thee instead of her my daughter; with her live as thy wife, but the wife whom thou now hast, do not keep; for it does not seem good to me that thou shouldest keep her.” Masistes then, marvelling at that which was spoken, said these words: “Master, how unprofitable a speech is this which thou utterest to me, in that thou biddest me send away a wife by whom I have sons who are grown up to be young men, and daughters one of whom even thou thyself didst take as a wife for thy son, and who is herself, as it chances, very much to my mind,—that thou biddest me, I say, send away her and take to wife thy daughter! I, O king, think it a very great matter that I am judged worthy of thy daughter, but nevertheless I will do neither of these things: and do not thou urge me by force to do such a thing as this: but for thy daughter another husband will be found not in any wise inferior to me, and let me, I pray thee, live still with my own wife.” He returned answer in some such words as these; and Xerxes being stirred with anger said as follows: “This then, Masistes, is thy case,—I will not give thee my daughter for thy wife, nor yet shalt thou live any longer with that one, in order that thou mayest learn to accept that which is offered thee.” He then when he heard this went out, having first said these words: “Master, thou hast not surely brought ruin upon me?”[115][{Pou de kou me apolesas}: some Editors read {ko} for {kou} (by conjecture), and print the clause as a statement instead of a question, “not yet hast thou caused by ruin.”].

112. During this interval of time, while Xerxes was conversing with his brother, Amestris had sent the spearmen of Xerxes to bring the wife of Masistes, and she was doing to her shameful outrage; for she cut away her breasts and threw them to dogs, and she cut off her nose and ears and lips and tongue, and sent her back home thus outraged.

113. Then Masistes, not yet having heard any of these things, but supposing that some evil had fallen upon him, came running to his house; and seeing his wife thus mutilated, forthwith upon this he took counsel with his sons and set forth to go to Bactria together with his sons and doubtless some others also, meaning to make the province of Bactria revolt and to do the greatest possible injury to the king: and this in fact would have come to pass, as I imagine, if he had got up to the land of the Bactrians and Sacans before he was overtaken, for they were much attached to him, and also he was the governor of the Bactrians: but Xerxes being informed that he was doing this, sent after him an army as he was on his way, and slew both him and his sons and his army. So far of that which happened about the passion of Xerxes and the death of Masistes.

114. Now the Hellenes who had set forth from Mycale to the Hellespont first moored their ships about Lecton, being stopped from their voyage by winds; and thence they came to Abydos and found that the bridges had been broken up, which they thought to find still stretched across, and on account of which especially they had come to the Hellespont. So the Peloponnesians which Leotychides resolved to sail back to Hellas, while the Athenians and Xanthippos their commander determined to stay behind there and to make an attempt upon the Chersonese. Those then sailed away, and the Athenians passed over from Abydos to the Chersonese and began to besiege Sestos..

115. To this town of Sestos, since it was the greatest stronghold of those in that region, men had come together from the cities which lay round it, when they heard that the Hellenes had arrived at the Hellespont, and especially there had come from the city of Cardia Oiobazos a Persian, who had brought to Sestos the ropes of the bridges. The inhabitants of the city were Aiolians, natives of the country, but there were living with them a great number of Persians and also of their allies..

116. And of the province Artaÿctes was despot, as governor under Xerxes, a Persian, but a man of desperate and reckless character, who also had practised deception upon the king on his march against Athens, in taking away from Elaius the things belonging to Protesilaos the son of Iphiclos. For at Elaius in the Chersonese there is the tomb of Protesilaos with a sacred enclosure about it, where there were many treasures, with gold and silver cups and bronze and raiment and other offerings, which things Artaÿctes carried off as plunder, the king having granted them to him. And he deceived Xerxes by saying to him some such words as these: “Master, there is here the house of a man, a Hellene, who made an expedition against thy land and met with his deserts and was slain: this man’s house I ask thee to give to me, that every one may learn not to make expeditions against thy land.” By saying this it was likely that he would easily enough persuade Xerxes to give him a man’s house, not suspecting what was in his mind: and when he said that Protesilaos had made expedition against the land of the king, it must be understood that the Persians consider all Asia to be theirs and to belong to their reigning king. So when the things had been given him, he brought them from Elaius to Sestos, and he sowed the sacred enclosure for crops and occupied it as his own; and he himself, whenever he came to Elaius, had commerce with women in the inner cell of the temple.[116][{en to aduto}.] And now he was being besieged by the Athenians, when he had not made any preparation for a siege nor had been expecting that the Hellenes would come; for they fell upon him, as one may say, inevitably.[117][{aphuktos}: many Editors adopt the reading {aphulakto} from inferior MSS., “they fell upon him when he was, as one may say, off his guard.”].

117. When however autumn came and the siege still went on, the Athenians began to be vexed at being absent from their own land and at the same time not able to conquer the fortress, and they requested their commanders to lead them away home; but these said that they would not do so, until either they had taken the town or the public authority of the Athenians sent for them home: and so they endured their present state.[118][{estergon ta pareonta}.].

118. Those however who were within the walls had now come to the greatest misery, so that they boiled down the girths of their beds and used them for food; and when they no longer had even these, then the Persians and with them Artaÿctes and Oiobazos ran away and departed in the night, climbing down by the back part of the wall, where the place was left most unguarded by the enemy; and when day came, the men of the Chersonese signified to the Athenians from the towers concerning that which had happened, and opened the gates to them. So the greater number of them went in pursuit, and the rest occupied the city..

119. Now Oiobazos, as he was escaping[119][{ekpheugonta}: many Editors have {ekphugonta}, “after he had escaped.”] into Thrace, was caught by the Apsinthian Thracians and sacrificed to their native god Pleistoros with their rites, and the rest who were with him they slaughtered in another manner: but Artaÿctes with his companions, who started on their flight later and were overtaken at a little distance above Aigospotamoi, defended themselves for a considerable time and were some of them killed and others taken alive: and the Hellenes had bound these and were bringing them to Sestos, and among them Artaÿctes also in bonds together with his son..

120. Then, it is said by the men of the Chersonese, as one of those who guarded them was frying dried fish, a portent occurred as follows,—the dried fish when laid upon the fire began to leap and struggle just as if they were fish newly caught: and the others gathered round and were marvelling at the portent, but Artaÿctes seeing it called to the man who was frying the fish and said: “Stranger of Athens, be not at all afraid of this portent, seeing that it has not appeared for thee but for me. Protesilaos who dwells at Elaius signifies thereby that though he is dead and his body is dried like those fish,[120][{tarikhos eon}. The word {tarikhos} suggests the idea of human bodies embalmed, as well as of dried or salted meat.] yet he has power given him by the gods to exact vengeance from the man who does him wrong. Now therefore I desire to impose this penalty for him,[121][{oi}: some Editors approve the conjecture {moi}, “impose upon myself this penalty.”]—that in place of the things which I took from the temple I should pay down a hundred talents to the god, and moreover as ransom for myself and my son I will pay two hundred talents to the Athenians, if my life be spared.” Thus he engaged to do, but he did not prevail upon the commander Xanthippos; for the people of Elaius desiring to take vengeance for Protesilaos asked that he might be put to death, and the inclination of the commander himself tended to the same conclusion. They brought him therefore to that headland to which Xerxes made the passage across, or as some say to the hill which is over the town of Madytos, and there they nailed him to boards[122][{sanidas}: some read by conjecture {sanidi}, or {pros sanida}: cp. vii. 33.] and hung him up; and they stoned his son to death before the eyes of Artaÿctes himself..

121. Having so done, they sailed away to Hellas, taking with them, besides other things, the ropes also of the bridges, in order to dedicate them as offerings in the temples: and for that year nothing happened further than this.

122. Now a forefather of this Artaÿctes who was hung up, was that Artembares who set forth to the Persians a proposal which they took up and brought before Cyrus, being to this effect: “Seeing that Zeus grants to the Persians leadership, and of all men to thee, O Cyrus, by destroying Astyages, come, since the land we possess is small and also rugged, let us change from it and inhabit another which is better: and there are many near at hand, and many also at a greater distance, of which if we take one, we shall have greater reverence and from more men. It is reasonable too that men who are rulers should do such things; for when will there ever be a fairer occasion than now, when we are rulers of many nations and of the whole of Asia?” Cyrus, hearing this and not being surprised at the proposal,[123][Or, “when he had heard this, although he did not admire the proposal, yet bade them do so if they would.”] bade them do so if they would; but he exhorted them and bade them prepare in that case to be no longer rulers but subjects; “For,” said he, “from lands which are not rugged men who are not rugged are apt to come forth, since it does not belong to the same land to bring forth fruits of the earth which are admirable and also men who are good in war.” So the Persians acknowledged that he was right and departed from his presence, having their opinion defeated by that of Cyrus; and they chose rather to dwell on poor land and be rulers, than to sow crops in a level plain and be slaves to others.

第九册注释 •1,500字

[1] [“the same who at the former time also were of one accord together.”]

[2] [{ta ekeinon iskhura bouleumata}: some good MSS. omit {iskhura}, and so many Editors.]

[3] [{up agnomosunes}.]

[4] [{boulen}.]

[5] [{exeneikai es ton dumon}.]

[6] [{aleoren}.]

[7] [Cp. viii. 140 (a).]

[8] [{to men ap emeon outo akibdelon nemetai epi tous Ellenas}, “that which we owe to the Hellenes is thus paid in no counterfeit coin.”]

[9] [{ekeleusan}, i.e. “their bidding was” when they sent us.]

[901] [This clause, “with no less—each man of them,” is omitted in some MSS. and considered spurious by several Editors.]

[10] [Cp。 ch. 55.]

[11] [{perioikon}.]

[12] [{ton emerodromon}, cp. vi. 105.]

[13] [{tugkhane eu bouleoumenos}: perhaps, “endeavour to take measures well.”]

[14] [{prodromon}, a conjectural emendation of {prodromos}.]

[15] [{boiotarkhai}, i.e. the heads of the Boeotian confederacy.]

[16] [{os epi deka stadious malista ke}.]

[17] [{klinai}: several Editors have altered this, reading {klithenai} or {klinenai}, “they were made to recline.”]

[18] [{diapinonton}, cp. v. 18.]

[19] [{polla phroneonta medenos krateein}.]

[20] [{sphodra}: not quite satisfactory with {emedizon}, but it can hardly go with {ouk ekontes}, as Krüger suggests.]

[21] [{pheme}, as in ch. 100.]

[22] [{proopto thanato}.]

[23] [{prosballontes}: most of the MSS. have {prosbalontes}, and so also in ch. 21 and 22 they have {prosbalouses}.]

[24] [i.e. the retreat with which each charge ended and the turn from retreat in preparation for a fresh charge. So much would be done without word of command, before reining in their horses.]

[25] [{ephoiteon}.]

[2501] [Or, according to some MSS., “much contention in argument.”]

[26] [i.e. the left wing.]

[27] [The name apparently should be Kepheus, but there is no authority for changing the text.]

[28] [This is the number of nations mentioned in vii. 61-80 as composing the land-army of Xerxes.]

[29] [{oi epiphoiteontes}.]

[30] [{peri andra ekaston}.]

[31] [即38,700。]

[32] [即69,500。]

[33] [即110,000。]

[34] [{opla de oud outoi eikhon}: i.e. these too must be reckoned with the light-armed.]

[35] [Cp. ii. 164.]

[36] [{makhairophoroi}: cp. vii. 89.]

[37] [i.e. 300,000: see viii. 113.]

[38] [{geneos tou Iamideon}: the MSS. have {Klutiaden} after {Iamideon}, but the Clytiadai seem to have been a distinct family of soothsayers.]

[39] [{pentaethlon}.]

[40] [{para en palaisma edrame nikan Olumpiada}. The meaning is not clear, because the conditions of the {pentaethlon} are not known: however the wrestling {pale} seems to have been the last of the five contests, and the meaning may be that both Tisamenos and Hieronymos had beaten all the other competitors and were equal so far, when Tisamenos failed to win two out of three falls in the wrestling.]

[41] [{metientes}: some MSS. have {metiontes}, “they went to fetch him.”]

[42] [{aiteomenos}: this is the reading of the MSS., but the conjecture {aiteomenous} (or {aiteomenon}) seems probable enough: “if one may compare the man who asked for royal power with him who asked only for citizenship.”]

[43] [i.e. instead of half for himself, he asks for two-thirds to be divided between himself and his brother.]

[44] [{o pros Ithome}: a conjectural emendation of {o pros Isthmo}.]

[45] [{ton tarson eoutou}.]

[46] [{Treis Kephalas}.]

[47] [{Druos Kephalas}.]

[48] [参见第 2 章。 XNUMX.]

[49] [{ton epikleton}: cp. vii. 8.]

[50] [{Mardonio te kai te stratie ta sphagia ou dunatai katathumia genesthai}.]

[51] [He asks for their help to free his country also from the Persian yoke.]

[52] [{emakhesametha}.]

[53] [{psukhre}, cp. vi. 108.]

[54] [{deka stadious}.]

[55] [{nesos de outo an eie en epeiro}.]

[56] [{periskhizetai}.]

[57] [{epheugon asmenoi}.]

[58] [{tou Pitaneteon lokhou}, called below {ton lokhon ton Pitaneten}. Evidently {lokhos} here is a division of considerable size.]

[59] [{anainomenou}: some MSS. and many Editors read {nenomenou}, “since he was thus minded.”]

[60] [{os alla phroneonton kai alla legonton}.]

[61] [Cp。 ch. 11.]

[62] [The structure of the sentence is rather confused, and perhaps some emendation is required.]

[63] [{eti ti lexete}. The MSS. and most Editors read {ti}, “what will ye say after this?” The order of the words is against this.]

[64] [{anarpasomenoi}: cp. viii. 28.]

[65] [{phraxantes ta gerra}: cp. ch. 99.]

[66] [{anoploi}, by which evidently more is meant than the absence of shields; cp. the end of ch. 63, where the equipment of the Persians is compared to that of light-armed troops.]

[67] [参见第八。 114.]

[68] [{es Leoniden}: this is ordinarily translated “as far as Leonidas;” but to say “his ancestors above Anaxandrides have been given as far as Leonidas” (the son of Anaxandrides), is hardly intelligible. The reference is to vii. 204.]

[69] [Most of the MSS. call him Aeimnestos (with some variation of spelling), but Plutarch has Arimnestos.]

[70] [See ch. 15: There is no sharp distinction here between camp and palisade, the latter being merely the fortified part of the encampment.]

[71] [{anaktoron}, a usual name for the temple of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis.]

[72] [即40,000。]

[73] [{ege katertemenos}: the better MSS. have {eie} for {ege}, which is retained by some Editors ({toutous} being then taken with {inai pantas}): for {katertemenos} we find as variations {katertemenos} and {katertismenos}. Many Editors read {katertismenos} (“well prepared”), following the Aldine tradition.]

[74] [{ephelokakeonton}.]

[75] [{en oudeni logo apolonto}.]

[76] [Stein proposes to substitute “Athenians” for “Lacedemonians” here, making the comparative {erremenestere} anticipate the account given in the next few clauses.]

[77] [{erromenestere}.]

[78] [Cp. i. 66.]

[79] [{aluktazon}, a word of doubtful meaning which is not found elsewhere.]

[80] [即300,000。]

[81] [{o Spartietes}: it has been proposed to read {Spartietai}, for it can hardly be supposed that the other two were not Spartans also.]

[82] [One MS. at least calls him Aeimenstos, cp. ch. 64: Thucydides (iii. Note 52) mentions Aeimnestos as the name of a Plataian citizen, the father of Lacon. Stein observes that in any case this cannot be that Arimnestos who is mentioned by Plutarch as commander of the Plataian contingent.]

[83] [{eoutou axion prophumeumenou apodexasthai}.]

[84] [{atelein te kai proedrin}.]

[85] [vi. 92.]

[86] [{andra pentaethlon}.]

[87] [{oute daimonon oute theon}: heroes and in general divinities of the second order are included under the term {daimonon}.]

[88] [Most of the commentators (and following them the historians) understand the imperfect {ediokon} to express the mere purpose to attempt, and suppose that this purpose was actually hindered by the Lacedemonians, but for a mere half-formed purpose the expression {mekhri Thessalies} seems to definite, and Diodorus states that Artabazos was pursued. I think therefore that Krüger is right in understanding {eon} of an attempt to dissuade which was not successful. The alternative version would be “they were for pursuing them as far as Thessaly, but the Lacedemonians prevented them from pursuing fugitives.”]

[89] [{akinakas}.]

[90] [Whether three tithes were taken or only one is left uncertain.]

[91] [“furniture furnished” is hardly tolerable; perhaps Herodotus wrote {skenen} for {kataskeuen} here.]

[92] [The connexion here is not satisfactory, and the chapter is in part a continuation of chapter 81: It is possible that ch. 82 may be a later addition by the author, thrown in without much regard to the context.]

[93] [“Whereas however the body of Mardonios had disappeared on the day after the battle (taken by whom I am not able to say….), it is reported with some show of reason that Dionysophanes, an Ephesian, was he who buried it.” The construction however is irregular and broken by parentheses: possibly there is some corruption of text.]

[94] [{tous irenas}. Spartans between twenty and thirty years old were so called. The MSS. have {ireas}.]

[95] [{proxeinon}.]

[96] [“fill up more calamities,” cp. v. 4.]

[97] [{es antilogien}.]

[98] [{antilogies kuresein}.]

[99] [{ten mesogaian tamnon tes odou}, cp. vii. 124: The expression seems almost equivalent to {tamnon ten mesen odon}, apart from any question of inland or coast roads.]

[100] [{limo sustantas kai kamato}, “having struggled with hunger and fatigue.”]

[101] [{autos}: some MSS. read {outos}. If the text is right, it means Artabazos as distinguished from his troops.]

[102] [i.e. “leader of the army.”]

[10201] [{en to Ionio kolpo}.]

[103] [Stein reads {para Khona potamon}, “by the river Chon,” a conjecture derived from Theognostus.]

[104] [It is thought by some Editors that “the prophets” just above, and these words, “and they told them,” are interpolated.]

[105] [{emphuton mantiken}, as opposed to the {entekhnos mantike} possessed for example by Melampus, cp. ii. 49.]

[106] [Or possibly “Calamoi.”]

[107] [即60,000。]

[10701] [{ton Potneion}, i.e. either the Eumenides or Demeter and Persephone.]

[108] [{apistous toisi Ellesi}. Perhaps the last two words are to be rejected, and {apistous} to be taken in its usual sense, “distrusted”; cp. viii. 22.]

[109] [{neokhmon an ti poieein}.]

[110] [{pheme eseptato}.]

[111] [{eteralkea}, cp. viii. 11.]

[112] [{ton Perseon}: perhaps we should read {ek ton Perseon}, “appointed by the Persians to guard the passes.”]

[113] [{ti neokhmon poieoien}.]

[114] [{ten kephalen smatai}: the meaning is uncertain.]

[115] [{Pou de kou me apolesas}: some Editors read {ko} for {kou} (by conjecture), and print the clause as a statement instead of a question, “not yet hast thou caused by ruin.”]

[116] [{en to aduto}.]

[117] [{aphuktos}: many Editors adopt the reading {aphulakto} from inferior MSS., “they fell upon him when he was, as one may say, off his guard.”]

[118] [{estergon ta pareonta}.]

[119] [{ekpheugonta}: many Editors have {ekphugonta}, “after he had escaped.”]

[120] [{tarikhos eon}. The word {tarikhos} suggests the idea of human bodies embalmed, as well as of dried or salted meat.]

[121] [{oi}: some Editors approve the conjecture {moi}, “impose upon myself this penalty.”]

[122] [{sanidas}: some read by conjecture {sanidi}, or {pros sanida}: cp. vii. 33.]

[123] [Or, “when he had heard this, although he did not admire the proposal, yet bade them do so if they would.”]

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