by Herodotus
‘Fear not, Athenian stranger, because of this marvel. It has not appeared on thy account, but on mine. Protesilaüs of Elaeus has sent it to show me, that albeit he is dead and embalmed with salt, he has power from the gods to chastise his injurer. Now then I would fain acquit my debt to him thus. For the riches which I took from his temple, I will fix my fine at one hundred talents – while for myself and this boy of mine, I will give the Athenians two hundred talents, [84] on condition that they will spare our lives.’
Such were the promises of Artayctes; but they failed to persuade Xanthippus. For the men of Elaeus, who wished to avenge Protesilaüs, entreated that he might be put to death; and Xanthippus himself was of the same mind. So they led Artayctes to the tongue of land where the bridges of Xerxes had been fixed [85] – or, according to others, to the knoll above the town of Madytus; and, having nailed him to a board, they left him hanging thereupon. As for the son of Artayctes, him they stoned to death before his eyes.
121. This done, they sailed back to Greece, carrying with them, besides other treasures, the shore cables from the bridges of Xerxes, which they wished to dedicate in their temples. And this was all that took place that year.
122. It was the grandfather of this Artayctes, one Artembares by name, who suggested to the Persians a proposal which they readily embraced, and thus urged upon Cyrus: ‘Since Zeus,’ they said, ‘has overthrown Astyages, and given the rule to the Persians, and to thee chiefly, O Cyrus, come now, let us quit this land wherein we dwell – for it is a scant land and a rugged – and let us choose ourselves some other better country. Many such lie around us, some nearer, some further off: if we take one of these, men will admire us far more than they do now. Who that had the power would not so act? And when shall we have a fairer time than now, when we are lords of so many nations, and rule all Asia?’ Then Cyrus, who did not greatly esteem the counsel, told them – ‘they might do so, if they liked – but he warned them not to expect in that case to continue rulers, but to prepare for being ruled by others – soft countries gave birth to soft men – there was no region which produced very delightful fruits, and at the same time men of a warlike spirit.’ So the Persians departed with altered minds, confessing that Cyrus was wiser than they; and chose rather to dwell in a churlish land, and exercise lordship, than to cultivate plains, and be the slaves of others. [86]
Notes to Book Nine
1. Mardonius wintered his army in Thessaly and Macedonia (viii, 126). The difficulty of procuring supplies, after the exhaustion caused by the presence of the immense host of Xerxes, made it necessary to fall back upon those rich and fertile countries, the chief granaries of Greece. The same cause compelled the wide dispersion of his troops, indicated by their occupation of both regions.
2. See viii, 140, §1.
3. Held annually at midsummer. Hyacinthus, the beautiful youth slain accidentally by Apollo, was the chief object of the worship. He took his name from the flower, which was an emblem of death; and the original feast seems to have been altogether a mournful ceremony – a lamentation over the destruction of the flowers of spring by the summer heat, passing on to a more general lament over death itself.
4. See viii, 142.
5. That is, the naval power of Athens would lay the whole coast of the Peloponnese open to the Persians.
6. Oresteum, or Orestasium, was a small town in the district of Arcadia called Maenalia.
7. Three roads only connected Attica with Boeotia. The one, which Mardonius now followed, led from Athens into the Tanagraea by the fortress of Deceleia. This is comparatively an easy route.
8. The chief magistrates of the Boeotians.
9. The Asopians are the inhabitants of the rich valley of the Asopus, which lay immediately beyond the Attic frontier.
10. Tanagra was situated on the left or northern bank of the Asopus.
11. See viii, 34.
12. By Thebans we must understand here Boeotians.
13. See viii, 30-33.
14. See ch. 15.
15. See vii. 6, and viii, 113.
16. Such free indulgence of grief is characteristic of the Oriental temper.
17. Before the Dorian immigration the entire Peloponnese was occupied, with trifling exceptions, by three races: the Arcadians, the Achaeans, and the Ionians. The Ionians occupied the country along the Corinthian Gulf, which in later times became Achaea (i, 145) the Arcadians held the strong central position in which they always maintained themselves; the Achaeans were masters of the remainder.
18. [See note 86 – E.H.B.]
19. See ch. 10.
20. The Corinthians naturally desired to have their colonies under their immediate protection.
21. For the site of Tiryns, see vi, 76.
22. Not the Chalcideans of Thrace, but those of Euboea.
23. Anactorium was a Corinthian, or perhaps a joint Corinthian and Corcyraean colony situated at the mouth of the Ambracian gulf.
24. That is, the whole number left after the destruction of the 700 at Thermopylae (vii, 222-5).
25. That is, the thousand Phocians who had been previously mentioned (chs 17, 18).
26. See viii, 113, ad fin.
27. The whole of the former amounted to 160,000 men, the Calisiries to 250,000. (Bk. ii, chs. 164, 165, 166.)
28. See viii, 113, end.
29. On the habit of the Pythoness to disregard the question asked, and to answer on an entirely different subject, see iv, 151 and 155, v, 63.
30. For the nature of the pentathlon, see vi, 92.
31. Hagias the brother must be distinguished from Hagias the grandson of Tisamenus.
32. Herodotus must be supposed to mean the only foreigners; otherwise his statement will be very incorrect.
33. The name ‘Oak-Heads’ (Dryos-Cephalae) seems to have belonged to the entire dip in the mountain range through which passed both the roads above mentioned.
34. See viii, 126-9.
35. See ch. 24
36. Glisas was one of the most ancient of the Boeotian towns. It is mentioned by Homer.
37. See v, 22; viii, 137, 138.
38. It seems very unlikely that this could be true.
39. See vii, 209.
40. Supra, vii, 84 (compare vii, 61). The custom is noticed by several writers.
41. See ch. 25.
42. See ch. 11, and ch. 55.
43. See ch. 51.
44. Euryanax had been mentioned as having some share in the command, ch. 10.
45. See chs. 6 and 8.
46. See ch. 11.
47. See ch. 1.
48. See ch. 47.
49. See ch. 41.
50. The wicker shield used by the Persians seems to have been adopted from the Assyrians.
51. The wicker shields of the Persians were useless for close combat.
52. See vii, 40 and viii, 113.
53. See ch. 15.
54. See ch. 41.
55. See ch. 52.
56. The inability to conduct sieges is one of the most striking features of the Spartan military character. The Athenian skill contrasted remarkably with the Spartan inefficiency.
57. See vii, 229-31.
58. Pirithoüs and Theseus resolved to wed daughters of Zeus, and to help one another. They had heard of the beauty of Helen, though she was no more than seven years old, and went to Sparta to carry her off. There they found her dancing in the temple of Artemis Orthia. Having seized her and borne her away they cast lots whose she should be, and Theseus was the winner. So he brought Helen to Attica, and secreted her at Aphidnae giving her in charge to his friend Aphidnus and his mother Aethra. Theseus then accompanied Pirithoüs into Thesprotia, to obtain Persephone for him. Meanwhile the Dioscuri had collected a vast host, and invaded Attica, where they sought everyw
here for their sister. At length her hiding-place was pointed out to them, and they laid siege to Aphidnae, and having taken it returned Helen, and made Aethra prisoner.
59. Devices upon shields were in use among the Greeks from very early times.
60. See vi, 92.
61. The battle here mentioned was fought about the year BC 465, on occasion of the first attempt which the Athenians made to colonise Amphipolis.
62. See vii, 238.
63. This ignorance of the Helots has been well compared to that of the Swiss after the battle of Granson, when, according to Philippe de Comines, they ‘ne connurent les biens qu’ils eurent en leurs mains . . . il y en eut qui vendirent grande quantité de plats et d’escuelles d’argent, pour deux grands blancs la pièce, cuidans que ce fust estaing.’ (Memories, v, 2).
64. Upon this tripod Pausanias placed the inscription which was one of the first indications of his ambitious aims:
Pausanias, Grecia’s chief, the Mede o’erthrewAnd gave Apollo that which here ye view.
65. This is one of the very few passages of his History in which Herodotus seems to imply that he consulted authors in compiling it. For the most part he derives his materials from personal observation and inquiry.
66. The capture of this tent was commemorated at Athens by the erection of a building in imitation of it. This was the Odeum.
67. See chs. 15 and 38.
68. The reason of this was given, viii, 85.
69. The geography of Herodotus is here somewhat at fault.
70. See iii, 60. I understand by this the great temple of Hera near the town of Samos.
71. See i, 148. Mycale is the modern Cape St Mary, the promontory which runs out towards Samos.
72. See i, 147.
73. See viii, 22, end.
74. See above, chapters 61 and 62.
75. See viii, 130.
76. The pancration was a contest in which wrestling and boxing were united.
77. See viii, 88, and ix, 20.
78. Probably this is an overstatement, natural in one jealous for the honour of a countryman.
79. The custom of celebrating birthdays by a feast was universal in Persia. Even the poorest are said to have conformed to it.
80. Few readers can fail to be struck by the resemblance between this scene and that described by St Matthew, xiv, 6–9, and St Mark, vi, 21–6. In the East kings celebrated their birthdays by holding feasts and granting graces from very early times (see Genesis xl, 20 and 21).
81. Lectum is the modern Cape Baba, the extreme point of the Troas towards the south-west. It is mentioned by Homer.
82. Protesilaüs, the son of Iphiclus, was one of the Trojan heroes. He led the Thessalians of Phthiotis, and was the first Greek who fell on the disembarkation of the army (Homer Iliad ii, 695-702).
83. Celebrated for the final defeat of the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war.
84. Two hundred talents would be nearly £50,000 of our money. [1996 note: see also Book ii, note 333.]
85. See vii, 33.
86. The work of Herodotus, though not finished throughout, is concluded. This is, I think, the case both historically and artistically. Historically, the action ends with the victorious return of the Athenian fleet from the cruise in which they had destroyed the last remnant of the invading host and recovered the key of their continent, which was still held, after all his defeats, by the invader. Artistically – by this last chapter – the end is brought back into a connection with the beginning – the tail of the snake is curved round into his mouth, while at the same time the key-note of the whole narrative is struck, its moral suggested – that victory is to the hardy dwellers in rough and mountainous countries, defeat to the soft inhabitants of fertile plains, who lay aside old warlike habits and sink into sloth and luxury.
[Note the phil-Athenian feelings of Herodotus, and his anti-Ionian prejudices all through the latter books of his history. For the former cf. vii, 161 and ix, 27. The claim of Athens to a hegemony of the Greeks at the time of the Persian war is an anachronism. At that time Sparta was the leader.]