This text is part of:
ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀσωπῷ: cp. c. 30 supra. Mardonios and the Greeks are both ‘on the Asopos,’ but on different sides of it. μεμισθωμένος οὐκ ὀλίγου: there was nothing peculiar in this circumstance; no doubt all the diviners were largely remunerated, though to the discredit of Hegesistratos alone is it mentioned that he prostituted the diviner's office for ‘hate and greed.’
οὐκ ἐκαλλιέρεε ὥστε μάχεσθαι: i.e. οὐκ ἐγίνετο καλὰ τὰ ἱρά, cp. c. 36 supra; μάχεσθαι must here = μάχης ἄρχειν, otherwise there is a slight discrepancy between c. 37 ad init. and this place. Perhaps the sigus as divined by Hippomachos were against fighting simpliciter; while Hegesistratos modified his divination to the extent above implied.
ἐπ᾽ ἑωυτῶν: cp. c. 17 supra.
Ἱππόμαχον Λευκάδιον ἄνδρα. Hippomachos of Lcukas is the least distinguished of the diviners, and Hdt. has nothing to tell of him. His fellowcitizens are fighting in the ranks of the confederate Greeks; cp. c. 28 supra. (The name is not as common as might be expected, appearing first as that of a Trojan, Il. 12. 189, and again as one of the Thirty at Athens in 404 B.C., Xenoph. Hell. 2. 3. 2, 2. 4. 19.) ἐπιρρεόντων: cp. Il. 11. 724 “ἐπέρρεον ἔθνεα πεζῶν”.
Τιμηγενίδης ὁ Ἕρπυος: this man appears below, cc. 86, 87, with Attaginos, as leader of the medizing faction in Thebes; he doubtless held the post of ‘Boiotarch,’ cp. c. 16 supra. The name appears as Τιμηγενίδας in Pansan. 7. 10. 2 (who has nothing new to say of him); the proper form was presumably Τιμαγενίδας (or Τειμαγενίδας?). The name Τιμαγένης is not uncommon, but Timagenidas is only borne by the Theban traitor. His father's name, Herpys (Reptile!), is no less nnique. The notion that Mardonios was put up to employing his cavalry on the Greek flank and lines of communication by Timagenidas is probably a popular fiction. The Persian was, indeed, unworthy of his position, if he had to be coached in the very rudiments of warfare by a Boiotian.
τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος. Hdt. nowhere betrays any clear consciousness that there was more than one pass over Kithairon; but cp. next chapter. The plural ἐκβολαί is without prejudice, as Hdt. uses the plural (e.g. 7. 176) of a single route. ἐσβολή, not έκβολή, is, however, the usual term; the word here seems appropriate from the supposed speaker's point of view. Neither Timagenidas nor Mardonios could have any pass now in view but the main route over Kithairon to Eleutherai. The Eleutherai - Plataia road was merely a branch of this; the Plataia-Megara road was high on the mountain, very rough and inaccessible for cavalry, and doubtless, like the previously named one, covered by the Greeks. But in moving from their first position at Erythrai the Greeks had opened up the main road (Thebes - Erythrai - Eleutherai), perhaps relying upon their supplies coming via Hysiai and Plataia. The Persian cavalry could now ride freely up the hill past Erythrai; and once up there might even sweep to the west along the road to Hysiai, to Plataia, and so on. If Mardonios had moved west with a view to out-flanking the Greek left, he seems now preparing a diversion on their right. It is conceivable that the advance of the Greeks from the position ‘at Erythrai’ to the position ‘on the Asopos’ was encouraged or enforced by the pressure of the Persian cavalry. It is even conceivable that Hdt's chronology, or sequence of events, is here at fault, and that it was this very exploit of the cavalry, here recorded, which indueed the Greeks to advance down from the ὑπωρέη on to the Asopos-ridge. φυλάξαι, ‘to occupy in force.’
ἀπολάμψοιτο: an unusual form; cp. 3. 146 ἀπολάμψεσθαι.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.