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

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τρηχέως περιείποντο: cp. 5. 1. Diodoros, i.e. Ephoros, apparently observed that Hdt. here only withdrew the Medes, and therefore made the Kissians previously give place to the Medes, as the Medes here now to the Persians.

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τοὺς ἀθανάτους ἐκάλεε βασιλεύς: cp. cc. 31, 83 supra. That ‘the king’ called them Immortals is a curious statement: cp. note c. 215 infra. And should not the figure (οἱ μύριοι) come in? And were the ‘Immortals’ really employed as yet?

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Ὑδάρνης: c. 83 supra.

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οὐδὲν πλέον ἐφέροντο: cp. 8. 29, 62, 4. 129, c. 213 infra.

τῆς στρατιῆς: sc. τούτου ὅπερ ἡ στρατιὴ ἐφέρετο. (Very different from φερόμενοι supra.）

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ἅτε. Hdt. gives apparently three, but really two reasons, as the first and third coalesce. (i.) The battle-field was στεινόπορος (as subst. c. 223 infra, cp. Thuc. 7. 73. 1) so that t<*> superior numbers could not deploy. (ii.) The ‘Hellenes’ had superior weapons. (Diodoros makes the fighting take place at τὸ στενώτατον τῆς παρόδου, inaccurately, cp. c. 176 supra, and puts the advantage on the shields, not the spears, of the Greeks.)

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ἐμάχοντο ἀξίως λόγου: and the λόγος was forthcoming, the Legend of Thermopylai.

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ἐν οὐκ ἐπισταμένοισι μάχεσθαι. These words, though referring primarily to the barbarians, also cover the Hellenes, among whom the Lakedaimonians have just before been included.

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ἐξεπιστάμενοι: the Spartans are thoroughly trained and disciplined warriors, ‘past masters’ of the art of fighting, men of science in that respect, τεχνῖται τῶν πολεμικῶν Xenoph. de rep. Lac. 13. 5.

ὅκως ἐντρέψειαν ... φεύγεσκον: true frequentatives. Cp. c. 210 1. 6 supra.

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καταλαμβανόμενοι, ‘allowing themselves to be overtaken’: they retreat up the slope, in front of the wall, and then turn on their pursuers.

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κατὰ τέλεα καὶπαντοίως: τέλος can no doubt apply to infantry, cp. 1. 103, and c. 83 supra (in c. 87 of the cavalry); but the παντοίως may cover an attempt to use horsemen. (ἀπήλαυνον is, of course, indecisive; cp. c. 210 1. 4.)