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

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πρότερον Δαρείου πέμψαντος: cp. 6. 48, where, however, not a word is reported of the outrage on the Persian heralds, much less of the wrath of Talthybios. The whole story (ec 133-7) inust be an addition, and, at least the end of it, one of the latest from the author's hand; cp. notes infra to c. 137, and Introduction, § 9.

It is remarkable that in 6. 48 nothing is said even of heralds having been sent to Athens, or to Sparta. It is possible that heralds were sent to Sparta by Dareios; as to their treatment cp. my notes to l.c. But were any heralds ever sent by Dareios to Athens? Certainly not. (1) Artaphrenes (son of Hystaspes) had demanded earth and water of Athenian ambassadors in Sardes, c. 509 B.C., 5. 73; and (2) again—if the story be not a doublette—the Athenians having sent ambassadors to Sardes warning Artaphrenes to give no heed to Hippias, Artaphrenes had demanded the tyrant's restoration, 5. 96. After that (3) the Athenians had deelared war (!) against the Persians, ibid., and (4) went to Sardes, in 498 B.C., and burnt it. (5) This act greatly angered the Persians, 5. 102, and Dareios, who took a solemn vow of vengeance, 5. 105. This story, and indeed the whole sequence of events, is inconsistent with the notion that Dareios, in 492 B.C., afterwards despatched heralds to Athens, of whom moreover (6) nothing is said in 6. 48. Further, (7) the idea is inconsistent with the story of the mission of Mardo<*>os in 492 B.C., 6. 44, 45; and (8) if Dareios sent heralds to Athens, against whom was he at the same time levying a fleet? 6. 48. Lastly, (9) the occurrence of the record here, instead of in 6. 48, is very unfortunate for its historical character, showing, as it does, that (a) when Hdt. wrote 6. 48, either he did not know this story about throwing Persian heralds into the Barathron in 491 B.C., or he had already inserted it, or the major part of it, in this place, or he preferred, for some reason, to insert it here; (b) the story is a rider on the Wrath of Talthybios. It is possible that we should never have heard of Persian heralds thrown into the Barathron in 491 B.C. but that Spartan heralds were put to death in Athens in 430 B.C. We must, therefore, conclude that no Persian heralds were ever sent to Athens by Dareios, much less thrown into the Barathron.

Why, then, was such a crime fathered on the Athenians? Heralds had been sent to Sparta; they had, perhaps, been badly treated, outraged, possibly even slain (though that seems unlikely), but the Spartans certainly had something on their conscience in this matter, or we should hardly have had the story of the Wrath of Talthybios. It was desired, then, to tar Athens with the same brush. The rough jest has quite a laconic ring in it! But crities should not swallow so easily the notion that heralds had been sent to Athens and thrown into the Barathron, if they would have us believe that Persian heralds at Sparta had been thrown into a well.

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ὅ τι δὲ τοῖσι Ἀθ. ... συνήνεικε ἀνεθέλητον γενέσθαι. Pausanias (3. 12. 7) supplies Hdt.'s omission, and explains that in the case of Athens the vengeance fell on Miltiades, author of the proposal. Was this an original hypothesis on the part of Pausa<*>as, or had Miltiades been already made the scapegoat in 430 B.C.? Hdt. has another crime to punish Miltiades for, cp. 6. 135, and could not have endorsed it Hdt. will not see the τίσις or δίκη in the case of Athens in the destruction of the city and the devastation of the country, perhaps for two reasons: (i.) a want of congruity between the supposed offence and the punishment; (ii.) the congruity of those sufferings with the crime at Sardes, though he does not actually or expressly relate the two together (but cp. 5. 102).

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ἀνεθέλητον: cp. c. 88 supra.

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αἰτίην might be translated ‘cause,’ or ‘reason,’ but has not at all the full force of αἴτιον, c. 125 supra.