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πυνθάνεται: by hearsay.
μαθοῦσα: by native wit; she did not, however, quite get at the facts. τὸ ποιεύμενον: cp. c. 22 supra. τῇ μὲν ... οὐκ εἶχε ἔγκοτον: she did not (presumably) suspect the intrigue between Xerxes and Artaynta (the younger), their son's bride, but thought perhaps that his visits to the daughter covered an intrigue with the mother, and that the mother had bestowed the φᾶρος on the daughter. She therefore planned the destruction of the wife of Masistes. The curtain descends upon the third act of this tragedy.
ἔγκοτον: 8. 29 supra. ἣ δέ, ‘but she <*>’ the resumed subject annexes the particle, cp. c. 109. 13 supra. ἐλπίζουσα: rather ‘believing’ than ‘hoping,’ cp. Index, sub v.
ταῦτα ἐκείνην πρήσσειν, ‘that she was at the bottom of the whole business’ —‘intrigue.’ The ἐκείνην is no more, strictly speaking, necessary than the ἥ just before, but its introduetion makes for emphasis and lucidity. πρήσσειν as above.
φυλάξασα δὲ ... προτιθέμενον, ‘she waited her own husband's holding a royal feast,’ i.e. a royal feast held by her own husband Xerxes. φυλάσσειν, cp. 1. 48 φυλάξας τὴν κυρἱην τῶν ἡμερέων. δεῖπνον προτίθεσθαι, of the king: cp. ξείνια προθεῖναι 7. 29.
τῇ ἐγένετο <ὁ> βασιλεύς, ‘on the king's birthday’: a strong ἐγένετο, cp. 1, 133 τῇ ἐκαστος ἐγένετο. (Not a mere Accession celebration, on the day when he became king!) <ὁ> βασιλεύς, sc. ὀ ἀεὶ β. 1. 133 illustrates the importance of birthday feasts among the Persians, who were no pessimists (like Thrakians, cp. 5. 4).
τυκτά: tacht; not from τυκτός. The interesting philological note, even if from Hdt.'s own pen, will not convince any one that Hdt. was deeply versed in Persian; cp. 8. 85 supra.
τὴν κεφαλὴν σμᾶται: cp. 4. 73 σμησάμενοι τὰς κεφαλάς (ἐκσμᾶν 3. 148). The meaning here must be that on his birthday and on his birthday alone (τότε μοῦνον) the king appears without his tiara, or crown (Stein), his hair glistening with the oil of gladness.
δεινόν τε καὶ ἀνάρσιον ἐποιέετο, ‘thought it shocking and monstrous’ (ἀνάρσιος c. 37 supra), for two reasons: τοῦτο μέν, to hand over his brother's wife to certain torture and death (he knew what was in store for her); τοῦτο δέ, she being innocent in the whole affair.
συνῆκε γὰρ τοῦ εἵνεκεν ἐδέετο, ‘he knew with what object she was making the request of him.’ There had probably been previous words on the subject between Amestris and Xerxes. συνῆκα is the Attic form (Ep. ξυνέηκα). ἐδέετο, cp. 8. 3.
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