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H., though in this part of his work rather regardless of chronological order (Hauvette, p. 323), clearly places these gloomy oracles before the expedition to Tempe (ch. 172-4), in the spring of 480 B.C., and apparently even before the first meeting of envoys from the patriotic Greek states at the Isthmus (ch. 145. 1) in the autumn of 481. But both the tone and the substance of the oracles point to a date when the hope of holding Thessaly has been abandoned, when Delphi has despaired of the Greek cause, and when Attica is menaced by immediate invasion, i.e. between the abandonment of Tempe and the resolution to hold Thermopylae (Hauvette, p. 327; Munro, J. H. S. xxii. 306). After the loss of Thermopylae (pace Macan, ii. 232) Athens would have no time for a double consultation of the oracle. The authenticity of the first oracle is proved by the fact that no one would later have invented gloomy predictions and advice falsified by the event, as well as by the adaptation in Aesch. Pers. 83 f. τὸ ἱρόν: not the temple itself, but the whole precinct (vi. 19. 3) with its varied contents. Here the inquirers, after lustration with water from the Castalian spring and coronation with laurel, prayed and sacrificed, and unless they possessed the right of προμαντηίη (i. 54. 2 n.) waited for the turn assigned them by lot. They then were taken into the sanctuary (ἄδυτον, μέγαρον), in which was a golden statue of the god, and in the dark background the tripod on which the Pythia sat (cf. i. 47. 2 n.).
The plural κάθησθε as well as the dual ἴτον (§ 3) refers to the two θεοπρόποι, whereas the singular φεῦγε applies to the people they represent. The style and words as in other oracles are derived from the old Epic, e.g. λιπὼν φεῦγ̓, Hesiod, fr. 144 οἶκον ἀποπρολιπὼν φεῦγ̓ Ἄργεος ἱπποβότοιο, but here λιπών goes with δώματα. For ἔσχατα γαίης cf. Hesiod, Theog. 732. The god counsels a general migration, perhaps to South Italy (cf. viii. 62. 2), such as Bias had recommended to the Ionians (i. 170 n.; cf. i. 164-8). τροχοειδέος. The old wall was nearly circular like a wheel, and even after the extension of the city by Themistocles the term κύκλος is still applied to the wall (i. 98. 5). ἄκρα κάρηνα: cf. Il. ii. 117 “πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα”. μένει ἔμπεδον: cf. Il. xvii. 434; v. 527. πόδες νέατοι: imitating Il. ii. 824 “πόδα νείατον Ἴδης”= ‘the feet beneath’. μέσσης agrees with πόλιος, as below μιν = τὴν πόλιν. ἄζηλα = ἄδηλα. As the form is strange, and elsewhere unknown, Lobeck and others correct to ἀίδηλα, but the oracle-maker may have coined a form on the analogy of ἀρίζηλος. Hesiod, Ἕργα 6 ῥεῖα δ᾽ ἀρίζηλον μινύθει καὶ ἄδηλον ἀέξει. Cf. Aesch. Pers. 83 f. (of Xerxes) πολύχειρ καὶ πολυναύτας Σύριόν θ̓ ἅρμα διώκων, | ἐπάγει δουρικλύτοις ἄνδρασι τοξοδάμνον Ἄρη ‘Syrian’ = Assyrian (cf. ch. 63) here stands for Asiatic in general, the Assyrians having been, like the Persians, masters of Asia. Very probably the Persian chariot (ch. 40, 41) was modelled on the Assyrian.
οἱ: perhaps the temples (cf. l. 15); in Delphi the roof of a temple, in Sybaris the pavement ran with blood (Heraclides, F. H. G. ii. 199), so too an altar of Neptune sweated (Liv. xxviii. 11). Or it may be the gods themselves, i.e. their statues, which often ran with sweat or blood. Cf. Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1285 ἢ ὅταν αὐτόματα ξόανα ῥέῃ ἱδρώοντα ι αἵματι, with the scholiast; Diodor. xvii. 10; Liv. xxii. 1; xxiii. 31; xxvii. 4; Virg. Georg. i. 480; Milton, Ode on the Nativity, ‘The chill marble seems to sweat.’ δείματι παλλόμενοι: so Hymn. Demeter 293. ὀρόφοισι: dative for genitive, ‘down from.’ Cf. Il. xx. 282 “κάδ δ᾽ ἄχος οἱ χύτο μυρίον ὀφθαλμοῖσι”. ἐπικίδνατε = ‘spread your mind on evils’, i.e. steep your souls in woes (Stein, Abicht, Macan), seems the meaning rather than ‘bear a brave heart amidst your evils’ (L. & S., Bähr, &c.). The tone of the oracle is throughout despairing.
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