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Ἀδείμαντον: c. 5 supra, and cp. 7. 137. λέγουσι Ἀθηναῖοι: the story here told from Athenian sources is a transparent bit of scandal, due to the rivalry and jealousy of Athens and Korinth in and after the Persian war. It is improbable, if not absurd, in itself; it is contradicted by the Korinthians, who were supported by the rest of Greece: Plutarch de Hdti. malig. 39 has an easy task in refuting it, by the evidence of extant monuments, and epitaphs and stories. Dio Chrysostom (?) says, Or. 37. 7 (ed. Teubner ii. p. 295), that the first draft of Hdt.'s history did not contain the story, and that Hdt. inserted it to revenge himself for the refusal of the Korinthians to give him money. The fact (of com position) and the explanation can here be distinguished. The explanation is itself ‘malignant,’ and (as Plutarch shows) the anecdote is hardly less to the discredit of the Athenians than of th<*> Korinthians — one might indeed say more. The story might well be an addition an insertion, by the author, in a secon<*> or third draft; it has the air of a<*> anecdote, and Hdt. uses below one o<*> the rare formulae (φἀτις ἔχει) which ar<*> most suggestive of oral sources; cp. In<*> troduction, §§ 9, 10. But false as the story must be, had the Athenians n<*> excuse, no peg on which to hang the scandal? If a detachment of the Persian fleet had been sent to circumnavigate Salamis, and to bar or to penetrate the Megarid channel, a squadron of Greek ships must have been detached to confront the ‘barbarians’ and keep them out. The 40 Korinthian ships may have been detached on this service (cp. the service of the 53 Athenian ships at Chalkis, c. 14 supra), and may even have had some fighting to do on their own account. The Athenian travesty need not be brought down to the date of the Archidamian war in 431 B.C.; the first Peloponnesian war in 458 B.C. would be a possible occasion; but there was already friction enough in 480 B.C. for a deal of mutual scandal to be set afloat.
αὐτίκα κατ᾽ ἀρχάς: cp. 7. 88 supra. συνέμισγον: here of hostile encounter, cp. 1. 166, 4. 127, 6. 14; of friendly converse, cc. 67, 79 supra, etc.
τὰ ἱστία ἀειράμενον: cp. c. 56 supra.
τοὺς Κορινθίους: all forty vesscls! c. 43 supra; what of the Amprakiotes, and Leukadians (making together ten more, c. 45 supra)? The Athenians forgot to account for them; but probably they accompanied the Korinthians for better or worse.
ἄρα: still the Athenian reporter; the word has a touch of malignity here, even if it betokens ‘an advance in the action’ (Abicht) as in 7. 116, 9. 8. κατὰ ἱρὸν Ἀθηναίης Σκιράδος. According to Pausan. 1. 36. 4 the oldest temple of Athene Skiras was at Phaleron, and had been founded by a diviner from Dodona named Σκῖρος, who had fallen in the war between the Eleusinians and Erechtheus, and had been buried, by them, near a torrent, which afterwards, as well as the place, was known by his name. The temple here in question cannot be the one at Phaleron; it is plainly on Salamis. Strabo 393 gives Σκιράς as an old name of Salamis, ‘from some hero,’ and therefrom derives also the title of Athene. The Σκιρωνὶς ὁδός is not far off, cp. c. 70 supra. σκῖρος means hard, harsh (σκλῆρος), and appears in the names of rough places, cp. Σκιρῖτις. The connexion with σκίρον, Σκιροφόρια (cp. Strabo l.c.) is doubtless based upon a Volksetymologie. The temple on Salamis may have had no proper connexion with the temple at Phaleron. As to its position: (i.) Stein places the temple of Athene Skiras on the extreme southern point of the island; the ἄκρον τὸ Σκιράδιον is mentioned by Plutarch, Solon 9, as apparently in the neigh bourhood of a χηλή τις πρὸς τὴν Εὔβοιαν (sic） ἀποβλέπουσα, and <*>in Mor. 870 (= de Hdti. m. 39) this episode is located περὶ τὰ λήγοντα τῆς Σαλαμινίας—which would perhaps suit that ‘end’ of Salamis best. If this view be correct the line of the Korinthian flight would lie outside the island, and be quite inconsistent with any of the theories of the battle-lines. (ii.) Leake, Topogr. and Demi, ii.2 171 ff., identified the spot with “the northwestern promontory of Salamis” now occupied by a monastery of the Παναγία φανερωμένη (the Virgin brought to light). The monastery stands on the site of an Hellenic building. This position would suit the argument better; and the continued existence of a sacred building is in its favour. (iii.) Westermann ad Plutarch. makes it the extreme western promontory of Salamis, nearest Megara. This location suits best with the suggestion above made in regard to the true services of the Korinthians; morcover, if one were eoncerned to rationalize the incident of the κέλης this position would be the most intelligible: a message, carried from the Greek fleet, across the wasp's waist of Salamis, and then by boat to Budoron, might easily have ‘met’ the Korinthians as they made their way out of the straits.
περιπίπτειν, ‘encountered,’ c. 89 supra. κέλητα: here inevitably a boat, cp. 7. 86 supra; θείῃ πομπῇ 4. 152 etc.
τὸν οὔτε ... οὐδένα. ‘It was never discovered that any one had despatched the boat,’ rather than ‘it was evident that no one had despatched the boat’—a ὕστερον would make the point clearer. But there was apparently nothing at the moment in evidence to suggest to the Korinthians the supernatural character of the occurrence. οὔτε τι ... Κορινθίοισι: the meaning is clear, but the expression is involved: ‘and the Korinthians whom it approached knew nothing of the fortunes of the fleet’; i.e. προσφέρεσθαί τε τ. Κ. οὐδὲν τῶν ἀπὸ τ. στ. εἰδόσι. The participle is essentially a part of the predicate. τὰ ἀπό, as of news from; cp. 4. 54 τὰ ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ποταμῶν.
συμβάλλονται: coniiciunt; sc. οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, οἱ λέγοντες.
τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ κέλητος: a false parallel to τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς στρατιῆς just above; perhaps an ‘unconscious iteration.’
ἀποστρέψας apparently means ‘having turned tail,’ or having turned aside, cp. c. 87 supra; which shows that τὰς νέας is here superfluous; cp. 4. 43. The word is repeated below, of the return from flight. ἐς φυγὴν ὅρμησαι: the verb is apparently perf. pass. unaugmented; cp. App. Crit. καὶ δή = ἤδη 4. 102. καταπροδούς: cp. 7. 157, 9. 7, 11 etc.
ὅσον αὐτοὶ ἠρῶντο, ‘to the height of their own prayers,’ i.e. of the Greeks.
ὡς αὐτοὶ ... ἀποθνῄσκειν: i.e. the men in the boat (their number is not given) offered to be treated as hostages, to go bail for the truth of their statement. Yet Adeimantos lets them depart, apparently convinced by this generous offer! ἀγόμενοι, middle, ‘of their own accord.’
ἐπ᾽ ἐξεργασμένοισι ἐλθεῖν: cp. 9. 77 infra. τὸ στρατόπεδον, the fleet; cp. c. 11 l. 7, c. 84 l. 11 supra.
φάτις ἔχει: cp. 7. 3 supra, and Introduction, § 10.
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