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

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ἔπλεον: on this imperfect cp. c. 132 supra. Here it seems to be calculated rather with regard to what follows—the account of Mardonios, whose actions preceded in temporal order the move to Delos, or even the move to Aigina.

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περὶ τὴν Θεσσαλίην ἐχείμαζε: ep. c. 113 supra. The word χειμάζειν here (= Hdtn. χειμερίζειν) is observable; cp. 7. 191.

ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ὁρμώμενος: has the participle any real foree? Does it mean ‘as he was starting,’ i.e. before leaving; or simply ‘from headquarters there’ (cp. c. 112 ἐξ Ἄνδρου ὁρμώμενος, where the phiase is not quite so much atrophied)?

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κατὰ τὰ χρηστήρια: the preposition is observahle, and appears to be used locally and distributively rather than of the object or purpose of the mission (i.e. not ad consulend a oracula); Stein eps. 1. 30 τὸν Σὁλωνα θεράποντες περιῆγον κατὰ τοὺς θησαυρούς.

Εὐρωπέα γένος, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Μῦς, ‘a man of Europos by name Mys.’ Europos as a plaee-name or town (fem.) is found in several quarters, notably in Makedonia, Thuc. 2. 100. 3. (The towns of this name in further Asia were probably Makedonian foundations?) The man here named was evidently a Karian, cp. c. 135 infra: Steph. B. sub v. ἔστι καὶ ἄλλη Καρίας, τὴν Ἰδριάδα, ἀπὸ Ἰδρίος τοῦ Χρυσάορος (se. ὀνομάζουσι). On Ἰδριάς cp. 5. 118. Oddly enough Steph. B. also has sub v. Εὔρωμος: πόλις Καρίας, ἀπὸ Εὐρὡμου τοῦ Ἰδριέως Καρός. τὸ ἐθνικὸν Εὐρωμεύς. Of Europos he gives the ethnikon as Εὐρώπιος. Stein2 suggested Εὐρωμέα as the true reading here, and Stein5 suggests that Εὐρωπέα is an ancient error for Εὐρωμία (sic), i.e. from the small Karian town of Εὔρωμος (also Υ̓́ρωμος). Blakesley (overlooking the Karian utterance of the Pythia below) makes Mys a Makedonian, and (observing that Europe was a surname of Demeter in the cult of Trophonios, Pausan. 9. 39. 5), an ‘Achaian’ to boot. Mys (mouse, 2. 141) as a proper name is curious, but genuine; there are several later instanees, e.g. Pausan. 1. 28. 2 (a celebrated artist, possibly eontemporary with Pheidias, as he is said to have executed the reliefs on the shield of the Promachos): a boxer, of Tarentum, Suidas sub v. etc.

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τῶν οἷά τε ἦν σφι ἀποπειρήσασθαι: notwithstanding its plural form, οἷα does not refer to χρηστήρια, but=pote or fas esset: one relative is enough! The ἀπὁπειρα of the Oracles by Mardonios, or Mys, is a genuine consultation, not a trial (διάπειρα 1. 47) or testing, like that of Kroisos 1. 46. On the contrary, it is a remarkable homage on the part of the Persian to the Greek religion. Delphi is apparently not one of the centres it is possible for him to consult!

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οὐκ ἔχω φράσαι: οὐ γὰρ ὦν λέγεται: δοκέω δ᾽ ἔγωγε ... Hdt.'s conjecture appears eminently reasonable, and is confirmed pro tanto by the aneedote in 9. 42 infra: it is, however, remarkable that Hdt. had not been able to diseover the purport of Mardonios' inquiries—in other words, he had not been able to obtain any of the answers given to Mys. This circumstance certainly does not enhance the credit of the story, and taken in conjunction with the conspieuous absence of the Pythia, suggests the suspicion that the whole story may be a part of the Rettung of Delphi. But it has a bona fide air withal, and reads like a Boiotian memory. Was it, perhaps, one of the tales told Hdt. by his Boiotian friend Thersander of Orchomenos? Cp. 9. 16, and Introduction, § 10.