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οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι ... Ἀρτεμισίη δέ . .: cp. 5. 36 οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι πάντες γνώμην κατὰ τὠυτὸ ἐξεφέροντο κελεύοντες ἀπίστασθαι: Ἑκαταῖος δ᾽ ὁ λογοποιός κτλ. On Artemisia 7. 99 supra.
τάδε ἔφη, ‘made the following speech.’ The very words are given of the speech, and of a speech within the speech. εἰπεῖν μοι, ‘prythee, say!’—imper. infin. (cp. 7. 159 App. Crit.), and dativ. ethic. Artemisia claims to have distinguished herself in the sea-fights off Euboia (Artemision!), of which claim the sources followed by Hdt. above apparently know nothing. He is here, doubtless, drawing upon his native traditions, and perhaps composing rather freely.
τὴν δὲ ἐοῦσαν γνώμην: the δέ is peculiar, but, as Stein explains, may be taken to express the antithesis between the real or genuine (ἐοῦσαν) opinion, which she expresses, and the unreal opinions given by the others. But the antithesis would be more pointed if it lay between the persons—Artemisia on the one side, the kings on the other— than between the opinions. How little τυγχάνω need connote of ‘chance’ is well illustrated by the context (it has as much affinity with τέχνη as with τύχη).
οἱ γὰρ ἄνδρες ... γυναικῶν: ep. 7. 210 supra, where something nearly as bad is said of the fighting on land, and c. 88 infra, where Xerxes remembers this shrewish mot, with a difference. Cp. 9. 107, which shows how bitter was the taunt even to the barbarian. In vilipending the fleet Artemisia apparently would make a silent exception for the Greek contingents! cp. l. 30 infra.
ἔχεις μέν, ‘thou art in possession of . .’ ἔχῃς just below, ‘keep.’ τῶν περ ... στρατεύεσθαι: cp. 7. 4. Athens is the goal of the expedition. ‘The rest of Hellas’ was hardly to be included in the actual possessions of the king, so long as Peloponnesos, to say nothing of the West, remained.
ἀντιπολέμων = ἀντιπολεμίων: cp. 7. 236, 4. 134, 140.
ἢ καὶ προβαίνων ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον. Artemisia too is credited with the idea previously ascribed to Demaratos, 7. 235 supra, of an advance on the Peloponnesos, but with a difference: she appears to advocate a weak blockade of Salamis and an advance by the army (cp. below, ἣν σὺ ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐλαύνῃς τὸν πεζὸν στρατόν). Such an advance, she argues, will dissipate and seatter the Hellenes—apparently that is the Hellenic fleet at Salamis, who are to be allowed and encouraged to break up κατὰ πόλις. They must be looking for a ναυμαχίη, as shortage of provisions would in any case compel them either to fight or to dissolve. ‘Refuse battle by sea, push on by land,’ is Artemisia's plan—a distinctly inferior plan to that ascribed to Demaratos l.c. Artemisia underrates the defensibility of the Isthmos, which, apart from naval cooperation, the Greeks could have held for ever; the gates into Peloponnesos were across the water; cp. 9. 9 infra.
ἐς θυμὸν βάλευ: 7. 51. Cp. Iliad 1. 297. The aphorism which follows is not a very sound one; rather, one might say, ‘Good masters (and still more good mistresses) make good servants.’ If the slaves and subjects of Xerxes were indeed such as Artemisia described them, it was a condemnation of the master, of the system. Still more absurd is her converse: The better the master, the worse the slave! But is not Hdt. himself aware of all this? Is not the perverted aphorism, put into the mouth of Artemisia, a hit at the tyrant, and the tyrannis? Is there not a little malice at the woman's expense? The lines quoted by Wesseling from Naumachios ap. Stob. lxxi. p. 438 fin. are not identical in sentiment with the Herodotean, but rather a plea for the via media— μήτε κακὴ δμώεσσι τεοῖς ἔσο: μήτε μάλ̓ ἐσθλὴ φαίνεο: ῥηΐτεροι γὰρ ἀεί που πῆμα φέρονται. θάρσεϊ δειδιότων μάλ᾽ ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄνακτες.
ἐν συμμάχων λόγῳ: Artemisia apparently implies that the only persons deserving the honourable title of the king's allies were Hellenes—like herself. The non-Hellenic members of the fleet— Egyptians, Kyprians, Kilikians, Pamphylians—are born slaves, and naturally worthless for fighting purposes. But she does not venture so to taboo the Phoenicians. Mardonios amends her list, c. 100 infra. According to the navy-list, 7. 89 ff., the Egyptians furnished 200 ships, the Kyprians 150, the Kilikians 100, the Pamphylians 30, a total of 480 ships. This might conceivably represent one squadron of the whole fleet, if it was divided tripartito: cp. 7. 97.
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