Reginald Walter Macan, Herodotus, The Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books with Introduction and Commentary

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ἐγεγόνεε μέγας ὁ Γέλων: with the article cp. c. 154 supra; μέγας is predicative, ἐγεγόνεε is a temporal pluperfect, ‘before the date of the embassy.’ Stein notes that Timaios (of Sicily) made the negotiations originate with Gelon; cp. Polyb. 12. 26 b. To be quite strict the story only transfers the scene of the negotiations from Syracuse to Korinth, and converts the dramatis personae accordingly into the Greek Probouloi and Gelon's Ambassadors: the primary application for aid might have originated with the προκαθήμενοι.

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τότε: presumably the summer or autumn of 481 B.C. referring back to the point at the beginning of c. 153 supra (with which perhaps this passage was once continuous; cp. Introduction, § 9).

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ἔλεγον τάδε: Syagros presumably was the orator; cp cc. 153, 159. Hdt. gives the ipsissima verba of the speeches at this interview throughout: whence did he obtain them? Cp. Introduction, § 10.

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Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ οἱ τούτων σύμμαχοι. As the Athenians appear to be entitled to separate mention, some would amend the text (cp. App. Crit.). Others may perhaps quote these words as proving that the Athenians had simply entered the Spartan Symmachy. But a Spartan is speaking: there are ‘allies’ and ‘allies’: the Athenians might equally speak of the Spartans as allies of Athens. Moreover, the word τούτων (not ἡμῶν or ἡμέτεροι) following ἡμέας is especially significant. Syagros may be speaking: he is the only Spartan named, and probably the only one present, but he speaks in the name of all the ambassadors, to whom (and not to himself, or his fellow Lakedaimonians) ἡμέας refers. Still, the expression is a curious one, instead of οἱ συνωμόται Ἑλλήνων ἐπὶ τῷ Πέρσῃ, or one of its equivalents, and Syagros is giving his own state all the prominence he can; cp. c. 149 supra.

παραλαμψομένους σε πρὸς τὸν β. sounds a little abrupt, or ‘plump.’ πρός, ‘against,’ as in c. 145 supra.

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ζεύξ<*>ς καὶ ἐπάγων. In regard to the tenses, it is not quite clear whether they are grammatically relative to the moment of speaking or subordinate to μέλλει στρατηλατήσειν. Actually no difference arises, as at the time of the visit to Gelon bridges had been thrown across the Hellespont, and Xerxes was undèrway. πᾶς ὁ ἠῷος στρατὸς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης is a phrase which supplies a clue to the army-list of Xerxes: Hdt. knew what was expected of him; cp. Appendix II. § 5.

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πρόσχημα μὲν ποιεύμενος ... ἐν νόῳ δὲ ἔχων: a very elaborate form of the antithesis (τῷ) λόγῳ ... (τῷ) ἔργῳ: cp. c. 155 supra, 4. 167.

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δυνάμιός τε <γὰρ> ἥκεις μεγάλως. ἥκειν with εὖ, followed by a substantive in the genitive, is common: 1. 30 τοῦ βίου εὖ ἥκοντι; 5. 62 χρημάτων εὖ ἥκοντες; 8. 111 θεῶν χρηστῶν ἥκοιεν εὖ; 1. 102 ἑωυτῶν εὖ ἤκοντες. If μεγάλως is to stand, it takes the place of εὖ, with a difference not quite happy; or=ἐς μέγα τι. Perhaps Hdt. wrote δυνάμιός τε γὰρ εὖ ἥκεις μεγάλης? Cp. App. Crit.

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μοῖρά τοι τῆς Ἑλλάδος οὐκ ἐλαχίστη μέτα. μέτα=μέτεστι. γῆς might be supplied with Ἑλλάδος, but the feeling is of something more abstract, κοινωνίας, or even of ἡ Ἑλλάς itself as an entity, das Griechentum, comprising all the highest culture and civilization of the time. The recognition in the phrase ἄρχοντί γε Σικελίης of (a) the unity of Sicily, (b) the constitntional character of Gelon's government, is very significant.

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ἄρχοντί γε might be a diplomatic compliment; but so far as it goes it supports “the confused statement of a late writer that Gelon ruled at Syracuse under cover of the office of general with full powers,” Freeman, ii. 137. (The phrase στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ is used by both Diodoros and Polyainos of Gelon; but it smacks too much of Athenian procedure.) Cp. c. 161 infra.

τοῖσι ἐλευθεροῦσι τὴν Ἑλλάδα: an unofficial term for the συνωμόται. As Hellas is not in subjection ἐλευθεροῦντες is rhetorical, and means ‘defending the liberties of Hellas.’

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ἁλὴς ... συνάγεται: the grammar is a little peculiar. Is ἁλὴς ... Ἑλλάς a nominativus pendens? or in apposition to χεὶρ μ.? or the subject of συνάγεται and χεὶρ μεγάλη an extension of the predicate? The passage is not well expressed: ἁλὴς γενομένη anticipates συνάγεται, and συνάγεται therefore means very little more than γίνεται. A somewhat similar construction occurs 6. 111 τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐξισούμενον τῷ Μηδικῷ στρατοπέδῳ κτλ., but there, though the genitive might be simpler, (a) there are no less than three participial constructions with genitivus pendens immediately preceding; (b) the subordinate subjects, τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ μέσον ... τὸ δὲ κέρας ἑκάτερον, are parts of the whole στρατόπεδον, and their specification resumes in detail the precedent subject, but yet greatly enriches its contents. Here there is less excuse for the anacoluthon, as χεὶρ μεγάλη is simply equivalent to ἁλὴς . . ὴ Ἑλλάς. (πολλοὶ μὲν ἄνδρες πολλαι δὲ νέες συνάγονται would be a hetter justification than the jejnne χεὶρ μεγάλη.)

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τὸ δὲ ὑγιαῖνον τῆς Ἑλλάδος: cp. ὑγιὲς βούλευμα 6. 100, and the λόγον οὐκ ὑγιέα 1. 8. The metaphor of health and disease in the state involves the analogy between the state and the individual; cp. cc. 148, 140 supra.

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ἤδη is rather intensive than temporal; cp. 8. 106. The δέ here is in apodosi.

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πρὸ τούτου: chronological, ‘before that’ (χρόνου or καιροῦ: cp. c. 139 supra), yet becomes here virtually an alternative.

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τῷ δὲ εὖ κτλ. The speaker concludes (more Herodoteo) with a ‘gnome.’ This particular apophthegm is something of a corrective or a confirmation of the maxim τέλος ὁρᾶν, according to the interpretation put on the latter; it is itself to be qualified by the observation that ‘the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft a-gley’!