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

---

---

ἐπορεύετο. Hdt. makes no attempt to estimate the length of the pause at Doriskos, which must have lasted weeks, or months, if the manœnvres deseribed by him actually took place there, cp. c. 59 supra.

---

ἐδεδούλωτο: with temporal force, cp. c. 119.

ὡς καὶ πρότερόν μοι δεδήλωται. A curious jingle-jangle with ἐδεδούλωτο just before! The reference is, of course, to Bk. 5 and 6. 43, and is probably the first genuine reference to any part of the work ‘previous’ to this Book, cp. c. 93 supra. The mere formula of reference might easily have been inserted in a final revise. The words Μεγαβάζου τε καταστρεψαμένου καὶ ὕστερον Μαρδονίου may still belong to the first draft, and even render the formula of reference more suspicious or gloss-like. The last three words are, indeed, somewhat awkward, as the interval of revolt is thus taken for granted. But the conquest by Mardonios (here, too, treated as a snccess) has been referred to earlier in the Book, c. 9 supra. And the bald fact of the conquest by Megabazos ‘and afterwards Mardonios’ (presented as one continuous act τε ... καί) might have been known to Hdt. long before he could have written out the stories in Books 5 and 6, the latter of which represents the expedition of Mardonios as a failure. Still less is there here any record of the conquest of Thasos (and the Peraea), which in Book 6 is treated as completely independent of, and subsequent to, the operations of Mardonios. This passage, then, rather eonfirms than disturbs the hypothesis of the earlier date for the composition of this section of the work; cp. Introduction, §§ 7, 8.

---

πρῶτα μέν is weakly answered by διαβὰς δέ . ἔπειτα δέ or δεύτερα δέ might be expected, cp. c. 42 supra.

τὰ Σαμοθρηίκια τείχεα. Samothrake had a tract on the mainland extending from near Doriskos to the Lissos, cp. c. 59 supra. Mesambria is the most westerly (not to be confused with the city on the Euxine 4. 93, 6. 33). The τείχεα were fortified emporia or depôts, necessary in Thrace, for communication with the ‘Rand.’ (The Σαμοθρᾷκες paid 6 T. tribute <*> thens pretty rcgularly, which w<*> probably not all raised in the island itself.) Steph. B. cites Hdt. as authority for ‘Mesambria,’ which does not prove it unknown to Hekataios.

---

ἔχεται, in geographi<*>l sense, ‘succeeds.’

Θασίων πόλις Στρύμη. The Thasian ‘Peraea’ was of more importance than the Samothrakian (cp. 6. 46). After the thirty years' peace Θάσιοι pay <*>0 T. tribute to Athens. The Peraea must have been again in their hands. At a later time there seems to have been a dispute between Thasos and Maroneia over the possession, determined by an arbitration imposed by Athens, ps.-Phil. ap. Demosth. Or. 12. 17. Στρύμη is known to Steph. Byz., who quotes not Hdt. but Androtion as his authority. The name seems to have the same root as the river Στρυμών, which was not in the neighbourhood.

διὰ τοῦ μέσου=μεταξύ of space, as in 1. 104, Thuc. 4. 20. 1 (and of time, as in 9. 112, Thuc. 5. 26. 2 “τὴν διὰ μέσου ξύμβασιν”).

---

σφέων: ‘Mesambria and Stryme’?

Λίσος ποταμός: a river known to fame only by its failure on this occasion. The army drank it dry, and passed it by, cp. c. 43 supra.

---

πάλαι μὲν Γαλλαϊκή, νῦν δὲ Βριαντική, sc. καλέεται. “Gallaica, not mentioned elsewhere [Γαλαῖοι in Attic trib.-lists, C.I.A. i. 243 f.], suggests an original Celtic occupation,” Rawlinson. Briantica reappears in the Campus Priaticus of Livy 38 41. 8, and the Priantae of Pliny, N.H. 4. 18. 2, id. Oberhummer (ap. Pauly-Wissowa s. vv.） connects it further with Brendice (a place in Thrace on the Via Egnatia); and with Briana, a (Thracian) town in Phrygia, coins BPIANΩN, Head, Hist. Num. 560. -bria in Thracian signified πόλις (Burg), Strabo 319.

---

ἔστιμέντοι ... καὶ αὕτη Κικόνων. καί, ‘as well as Doriskos,’ c. 59 supra. The Kikones are spoken of in the next chapter also as actually existing: in l.c. supra as having lost Doriskos. It is not quite clear here whether Hdt. means that the Kikones, a still existing tribe (cp. next c.), have lost hold on ‘Briantike,’ as they had lost Doriskos (c 59), or whether Kikones were still to be found in the country, though it bore an alien name.

τῷ δικαιοτάτῳ τῶν λόγων: cp. τῶν λόγων τοὺς ἀληθεστάτους, c. 104 supra. The title of the Kikones might perhaps be based upon their recognition in Homer. Odysseus reports to Alkinoos (Od. 9. 39-61) as his first act on the return from Troy an attack on Ismaros, a place and city of the Kikones (cp. c. 109 infra), which ultimately proved a failure. And in the Catalogue (B 846) the Kikones are mentioned among the Thracian allies of Troy, between the Hellespont and the Axios (or between the ‘Thrakians and the Paionians’). A better title to the land they could hardly have had <*> In Homeric times the name of the Kikones is recognized as widespread between Paionia and Hellespont, and, though disappearing from history, naturally lasts on in literature, and even revives, especially with the Latin poets (Vergil, Ovid, Silius).