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

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ἡ μὲν δὴ πρώτη ἐς Σοῦσα: cp. c. 54 supra. Hdt. never shows any conseiousness that Susa was not a ‘Persian’ city; in his days it plainly counted in the West as the chief capital of the ‘Persian’ empire. τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας, ‘those who had stayed behind’ (cp. 5. 61, c. 67 supra, 9. 53 infra). As if there were but a few of them! The passage may be influenced by scenic and dramatic representations from Phryniehos, or even Aischylos.

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μυρσίνῃ, ‘myrtle (boughs),’ Att. μυρρίνη, the plant from which not merely wreaths, but a balsamic juice (μύρρα) was procurable; cp. 1. 132, (4, 195), 7. 54.

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ἦσαν ἐν: ἐν εὐπαθείῃσι occurs 1. 22, 191, ἐν θαλίῃσι 3. 27, but ἐν θυσίῃσι is unique (Stein). Schweighaeuser defends ἐν θυσίῃσι here. The eonjunction of θυσίαι and εὐπαθεῖαι is no offence; cp. Stallbaum ad Plat. Rep. 365 a. Aristoph. Clds. 328 has θεῶν θυσίαι θαλίαι τε.

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ἐπεσελθοῦσα: cp. 4. 154 of a stepmother; less significantly 1. 37. συνέχεε Stein takes to be the aorist, cp. ἔτερψε above. ( Il. 18. 347 “ἐν δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὕδωρ ἔχεαν”.)

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κατηρείξαντο: ep. 3. 66, Aischyl. Pers. 538.

βοῇ ... ἀπλέτῳ: cp. 7. 211 supra, 9. 24 infra.

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Μαρδόνιον ἐν αἰτίῃ τιθέντες: not for anything specially connected with the ships, but for having urged the king in the first instance to undertake the expedition; the phrase therefore constitutes an implieit reference to 7. 5 ff. supra.

περὶ τῶν νεῶν ... περὶ αὐτῷ Ξέρξῃ, ‘it was not grief arising about the ships (that had been lost), but fear centred on the king's person (lest he should never return).’ The genitive and dative are not mere stylistic variations. Just below, the accusative περὶ Πέρσας is, of course, purely locative.