This text is part of:
ὡς οὐ κατέβαινον οἱ Ἕλ. ἐς τὸ πεδίον. Mardonios wished to induce the Greeks to come down from the higher ground about or above Erythrai, and Hysiai, on to the lower ground nearer the Asopos. Later on they did so, with disastrous results to themselves in the first instance.
πᾶσαν τὴν ἵππον τῆς ἱππάρχεε Μ., ‘all the cavalry commanded by Masistios’ is not of necessity all the cavalry in Laager, nor necessarily identical with ἵππος ἡ ἅπασα of c. 17 supra. But it is arguable that Masistios was in fact supreme Hipparch in the corps d'armée of Mardonios, and commanded a myriad of mounted men. In the army of Xerxes there had been three ‘hipparchs’ (one for each corps d'armée? cp. 7. 88), of whom Masistios was certainly not one. Had the cavalry now on service in Greece under Mardonios been cut down to one-third, and a new hipparch appointed? Or is he one hipparch of two, or three, in the whole forces of Mardonios? Cp. c. 69 infra.
Μασίστιος ... τὸν Ἕλληνες Μακίστιον καλέουσι. What Hellenes are these? Stein answers, Greek authors, writers; cp. 1. 7, 216, 2. 16. The sentence, unless athetized as a gloss, is good evidence that Hdt. had some written authorities before him for the history he is writing. But these authors are hardly poets, Simonides, (still less) Choirilos, as Stein suggests, but probably prose writers, such as Dionysios of Miletos, and possibly others; cp. Introduction, § 10. A Μασίστιος ὁ Σιρομίτρεω appears 7. 79 as ἄρχων of the Ἀλαρόδιοι and Σάσπειρες. He may be the same man on promotion; but Hdt. is evidently unconscious of any such identity. This was a clear case for a patronymic, but none is forthcoming. Why did Greek authors call him Makistios if his name was Masistios? Was it to distinguish him from the son of Siromitres? Or was it to guard against that very confusion of Μασίστιος with Μασίστης, the full brother of Xerxes and one of the six chief Strategoi, 7. 82 (cp. c. 107 infra), into which Tzetzes actually fell; cp. Wesseling ad l. Or were the Greek authors perhaps right? Oddly enough Μακίστιος was an Eleian ἐθνικόν (cp. Μάκιστον 4. 148), and this Masistios was μάκιστος (as they might say in Elis, and elsewhere, for μήκιστος); his corpse even ἦν θέης ἄξιος μεγάθεος εἵνεκα c. 25 infra.
ἵππον ἔχων Νησαῖον: riding— having under him—a Nesaian horse; cp. 7. 40.
ἄλλως, even apart from the gold bridle; in fact, ‘in all respects.’
προσήλασαν ... προσέβαλλον: two distinct manœuvres are indicated. The whole cavalry under Masistios— perhaps a myriad, nominal—advanced together, and then (having halted) delivered a succession of charges κατὰ τέλεα, squadron by squadron, perhaps chiliad<*> nominal; cp. c. 22 infra. These attacks inflicted considerable damage upon the Greek ranks. An ἱππομαχία is quite en règle as a preliminary to hoplite or infantry engagements; cp. c. 49 infra, and 1. 80 (Sardes 547 B.C.), 5. 63 (Phaleron 512 B.C.), Xenoph. Hell. 3. 4. 22 ff. (Paktolos 395 B.C.), 6. 4. 10 ff. (Leuktra 371 B.C.), Arrian, Anab. 1. 14. 5 ff. (Granikos, 334 B.C.), etc. But at Plataia in 479 B.C. the Greeks had no cavalry, and therefore the fighting was not a true ἱππομαχία.
γυναῖκας σφέας ἀπεκάλεον: they added insult to injury by calling them ‘women,’ cowards! (for not coming down into the plain); this was the poisoned arrow in a Persian's quiver! cp. c. 107 infra. Had these riders learnt to speak Greek? or just picked up the word wanted? Or did they speak their own language? ἀποκαλέειν 3. 53, ‘to recall’; here ‘to reproach’; cp. Plato Gorg. 512 C, Aristot. Eth. N. 9. 8. 1 = 1168 b 30, but without dyslogism; ib. 2. 9. 7 = 1109 b 18.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.