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ἔτι δέ. It is only at the fourth stage of the fight that the Lakedaimonians and their half of the army arrive on the scene, and help to finish the remnant (τὰ λοιπὰ συνδιεχείριζον). Hdt. does not employ the simpler forms χειρίζειν or διαχειρίζειν, nor any one else the double compound.


συχνός = πολλός, πολύς: cp. c. 102 supra, et passim.

Περίλεως: the name Perilaos was common and widespread, i.e. there is nothing specially Sikyonian, or even Peloponnesian about it. (Cp. PapeBenseler, sub v.) Nothing more is recorded of this man: the absence of a patronymic suggests that Hdt. did not get this item from an inscription, least of all in Sikyon. Samian or Athenian tradition may have preserved the bare name of the only general who fell on this occasion.


τῶν τε Σαμίων: this great, though somewhat vague, service of the Samians is very lightly and easily introduced; in fact Hdt. has nothing concrete or definite to report on their behalf. οἱ στρατευόμενοι, cp. 7. 61 supra. ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, not necessarily ἐν τῷ τείχει, cp. c. 15 supra. But what of the Samians on the Greek side, of whom there should now have been some? Or were there as yet no Samians serving? Cp. c. 92 supra.


ἀπαραιρημένοι τὰ ὅπλα, ‘deprived of their heavy arms,’ ep. c. 99 supra. ἀπαιρέειν takes double acc., cp. 8. 3 supra.

αὐτίκα κατ᾽ ἀρχάς: cp. 7. 88 supra; it would go better here with ἔρδον.


ἑτεραλκέα: cp. 8. 11 supra.

ἔρδον ὅσον ἐδυνέατο: the first verb is rather epic (cp. 7. 33 supra). What did they ‘do’? They might have set fire to the camp? or they might have pulled it partially to pieces; or they might have ‘done sacrifice’: but this testimonial lacks precision.


προσωφελέειν with the dative Stein regards as ‘poetical’; it is used with the acc. c. 68 supra in a more precise or definite context.

οἱ ἄλλοι Ἴωνες: not including the Milesians, as the next c. shows. There were thus Ionians besides the Samians and the Milesians serving with the Persians; they would be the crews of the ships.


ἄρξαντας: i.e. αὐτίκα κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς ἔρδοντας ὅσον ἐδυνέατο.

ἀποστάντες ἀπὸ Περσέων: this phrase is hardly to be taken in the physical sense, suggested by the immediate eontext, viz. stood off, separated from the Persians there and then, but rather in the political sense: threw off their allegiance to Persia. The absence of the article and the last sentence of the next c. support this view. Cp. c. 90 supra.


ἐπέθεντο τοῖσι βαρβάροισι. This attack on the barbarians goes beyond anything explicitly recorded of the Samians in the context, but it still leaves something to be desired, in the way of concrete definiteness. Rawlinson ad l. remarks that “Hdt. is never very favourable to the Ionian Greeks and may have given them on this occasion less credit than they deserved.” Euge! Diodoros (Ephoros) is kinder; cp. Appendix VII. § 7 (c), 2. Had Hdt. written the story of Mykale before his visit to Samos, where the fame of that island grew dearer to him (cp. 3. 60)? And did he leave what he had written unrevised?

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