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

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Ἀθηναίων δέ. The interest is shifted to the left wing, of which very little has been recorded in the actual battle, cp. cc. (60), 61, 67, (70). A different source is doubtless here in evidence, though the introduction of the verb λέγεται is not reassuring as to its reliability. εὐδοκιμῆσαι is, of course, less than ἀριστεῦσαι, which is used of the same man in the next chapter.

Σωφάνης ὁ Εὐτυχίδεω: an old acquaintance, as the work of Hdt. now stands; cp. 6. 92, where his deme but not his patronymic is given; cp. further c. 75 infra, where his biography is enlarged. The father's name, Eutychides. is commoner at Athens and elsewhere than the son's (cp. PapeBenseler, sub vv.), but nothing more appears to be recorded of this particular man. Greek onomatology rang a score of changes on the significant compouuds εὐ-τυχ-. The wish was father to the name.

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ἐκ δήμου Δεκελεῆθεν. The first two words were superfluous in official Attic. The demotikon is given as Δεκελεύς here and in 6. 92. Δεκελειεύς ap. Steph. B. sub v, also Δεκελειᾶθεν and Δεκελειόθεν. On the position of Dekeleia cp. c. 15 supra. It belonged to the (VIII) Hippothontis (cp. l.c.) and was perhaps the chief deme in the Mesogaian or Land-Trittys of that tribe, though this point does not appear to have been as yet established epigraphically (cp. Judeich ap. Pauly-Wissowa ii. 2229 f.; Milchhofer, ib. iv. 2425).

Δεκελέων δὲ τῶν κοτε κτλ. The genitive may be in rough apposition to Δεκελεῆθεν or to δήμου, or constructed with Σωφάνης, or even regarded as a correction or limitation of Ἀθηναίων, or, in fiue, of no very strict construction at all! The digression or excursus into the mythical history of Attica is rather forced, and looks like an insertion, but how far the insertion extends is not obvious. Insertions may even have been made here at more than one time; thus the last sentence of the chapter (οὕτω ὥστε ... ἀπέχεσθαι) is manifestly to be dated after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war, but may be a separate addition. There are, in fact, traces in this passage of all three drafts, or stages, in the composition of Hdt.'s work, viz. the original basis, which would naturally record the άριστήια on the Athenian side; the addition of a note on the mythical antecedents of Dekeleia; thirdly, the little appendix upon the sparing of Dekeleia by the Spartans. The first would belong to the earliest draft; the secoud might have resulted from Hdt.'s first visit to Atbens; the third is plainly an addition to be dated after 431 B.C. Cp. Introduction, § 9.

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ἐς τὸν πάντα χρόνον, ‘for ever,’ ‘to all time’; contrast c. 13. 6 supra.

ὡς αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσι. ‘as even Athenian (writers) themselves admit.’ The mythic origins of the privileges enjoyed by the Dekeleians at Sparta had doubtless been made the subject of research and investigation by native writers before Hdt. penned this passage; cp. Iutroduction, § 10.

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τὸ πάλαι here goes back to a time before the Trojan war.

κατὰ Ἑλένης κομιδήν: ad recuperandam Helenam, Baehr. Helene is, of course, Hoineric Helen, “Ἀργεἰη Ἑλένη” Il. 2. 161, sister of Kastor and Polydeukes, Il. 3. 237 f., daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, Od. 11. 299 ff., unless indeed Zeus himself was her sire, Od. 4. 219, 227, cp. 569. The adventure here involved is not recorded in Homer, but it was perhaps represented on the Chest of Kypselos (Pausan. 5. 19. 3, Dio Chrysost. Or. 11. 325 R, Dindorf Teubner i. 179), and was familiar to the Lyric poets; cp. Alkman, Fr. 13 = Pausan. 1. 41. 4, Stesichoros 27 = Pausan. 2. 22. 6, Pindar, Fr. 258 = Pausan. 1. 41. 5; and the story is told by Diodor. 4. 63, Plutarch, Thes. 31-34, Pausan. 1. 17. 5 (in part). Theseus and Peirithous stole Helena, a lovely girl of ten years, as she danced before the altar of Artemis Orthia in Sparta; they drew lots for her, Theseus won, and put her for safety iu Aphidna with his mother Aithra. During his absence (to help Peirithous to carry off Persephone!) the sons of Tyndareus invaded Attica, and recovered their sister. Aithra was carried off by them into captivity, which may account for her figuring as attendant on Helena in the Iliad.

Τυνδαρίδαι. This patronymic does not occur in Iliad or Odyssey, but makes its appearance (like Διὸς κοῦροι) in the Hymns, e.g. 17, 33. (Does the name contain that conjunction of -νδ-, the supposed minor-Asiatic equivalent for -nt-, -nth-, Kretschmer, 293 ff.? (L. & S. appear to connect it with (Lat.) tund-o etc.).)

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ἀνίστασαν τοὺς δήμους, ‘were upsetting, depopulating, ravaging, the demes.’ There is no material anachronism in the assumption that the Demoi were in existence in the days of Theseus, for the Demoi are the oldest institutions in historic Attica; yet the phraseology here, as elsewhere in Hdt. (cp. 1. 60 bis), is rather post-Kleisthenean (cp. 5. 69) than ‘Theseian.’ Theseus, indeed, was already accounted the author of the Attic synoikismos (cp. Thuc. 2. 15), but Thucydides is careful to represent the Thesean synoikism as a purely political centralization, the units in which had been themselves πόλεις. Diodoios l.c. has τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων ἀγανακτούντων ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι φοβηθεὶς ὁ Θησεὺς ὑπεξέθετο τὴν Ἑλένην εἰς Ἄφιδναν, μίαν τῶν Ἀττικῶν πόλεων. (That the description may not square with the hypothetical synoikism need not distress us.)

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ἵνα, ubi: cp. Index.

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τότε is, of course, ‘at the date of Theseus.’

λέγουσι ... οἳ δέ shows that there were already conflicting variants on the tradition; an extreme illustration is supplied by Plutarch (Thes 32) who substitutes Ἀκάδημος and the Ἀκαδήμεια for Δέκελος and Δεκέλεια. Δέκελος is, of course, the eponymous hero of the deme. Stein connects his name with δεικνύναι indicare, index. and sees in this etymology the origin of the rôle played by Δέκελος or the Δεκελεῖς.

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τῇ Θησέος ὕβρι: primarily the adventure with Peirithous itself; cp. the passage cited from Diodoros above; in the second place, perhaps more generally the high-handed tyranny of Theseus, his attack on local liberties, and so on. The phrase is hardly of Attic origin, and perhaps betrays Hdt.'s Anti-Ionism (cp. Hdt. IV.-VI. li. 214). In the version followed by Plutarch the Tyndaridai are working in the interests of Menestheus, the earliest demagogue on record (c. 32). So too in Pausanias 1. 17. 5 “στρατεύουσιν ἐς Ἄφιδναν οἱ Τυνδάρεω παῖδες, καὶ τήν τε Ἄφιδναν αἱροῦσι καὶ Μενεσθέα ἐπὶ βασιλείᾳ κατήγαγον”.

δειμαίνοντα περὶ πάσῃ τῇ Ἀθηναίων χώρῃ: this solicitude on the part of the local leader, or hero, ‘for the whole Athenian land’ presupposes the unification of Attica, or at least a synoikism on a large scale, and a solidarity of interests; but the variant cited above from Pausanias might suggest that what Dekelos really wished to avoid was being subjected to Menestheus and the central power<*> In reality Dekelos here plays the chief rôle, and the political turn given to the legend there is probably afterthought. περί with dat. causal, especially common with verbs denoting fear, courage, hope, etc.

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ἐξηγησάμενόν σφι ... κατηγήσασθαι. Hdt. is not over-careful to avoid such stylistic incongruities; cp. Index s.v. Iterations.

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τὰς Ἀφίδνας. Strabo 397 gives Ἄφιδνα (λέγουσι δὲ καὶ πληθυντικῶς Ἀφίδνας) as one of the twelve original city-states of Attica, on the authority of Philochoros. Steph. Byz. makes Aphidna a deme of the Leontis, apparently a slip for Aiantis (cp. Milchhoefer ap. Pauly-Wissowa i. 2719), and mentions the suggestive fact that there was an Aphidna in Lakonia. The position of the Attic deme is identified on and round Kotroni, in the neighbourhood of Marathon; but Aphidna probably belonged to the Mesogaian Trittys of the Aiantis, and may have given its name thereto; it was one of the largest and most important demes in Attica (cp. Milchhoefer, Demenordnung, 1892, p. 8) and was fortified in the time of Demosthenes (de Cor. 38), and probably from time immemorial. It appears again in Hdt. as the deme of Kalhmachos the polemarch at Marathon, 6. 109, and of the insignificant Timodemos, 8. 125.

Τιτακός is unmistakably the eponymous hero of the neighbouring deme Τιτακίδαι, and in this story of his betrayal of Aphidnai Milchhoefer (Demenordnung p. 34) sees indications (1) of local jealousies, (2) of the former inclusion of Titakidai in Aphidnai. The little deme, together with Thyrgonidai and Perrhidai (all members of the Aphidna-Trittys), may have occupied the modern villages of Kapandriti, Masi and Tsiurka.

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τοῖσι δὲ Δεκελεῦσι ἐν Σπάρτῃ: doubtless the Dekeleians really held privileges in Sparta, which had originated in legendary days, before the coming of the Dorians, and were continuously maintained, though perhaps not very often exercised, in historic Sparta. ἀπό, ‘from the date of . .,’ rather temporal than causal.

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ἀτελείη τε καὶ προεδρίη: two privileges frequently combined (cp. 1. 54); the former term denotes financial, economic, freedom from taxation, dues, etc., which might be complete or partial (cp. 3. 67); the latter term denotes precedence (front seat) at public festivals, games, etc.; cp. L. & S. sub vv. (The latter could only be a personal privilege, conferred upon individuals or communities; the former might be attached to property, irrespective of the particular owner; cp. the ἀτελὲς χωρίον on Hymettos, Ἀθην. πολ. 16. 6.) Demosthenes, Lept. 105, says that the Lakedaimonians (and Thebans) οὐδενὶ τῶν παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς διδόασι τοιαύτην οὐδεμἰαν τιμήν (sc. ἀτελείαν). That is an obvious exaggeration: ἔστι γἀρ αὐτοῖς νόμος τὸν μὲν γεννήσαντα τρεῖς υἱοὺς ἄφρουρον εἶναι τὸν δὲ τέτταρας ἀτελῆ πάντων, Aristot. Pol. 2. 9. 18 = 1270 B.

ἐς τόδε αἰεὶ ἔτι ἐοῦσα. As the text now stands the date here indicated comes down to the out-break of the war noted in the next following sentence; but, if the latter is an addition, these words may have stood originally as denoting a date fifteen to twenty years earlier. We have here also traces of the stratification in Hdt.'s composition, which explains the appearance of the later, or latest references in the portion earliest drafted; cp. Introduction, § 9, and next note.

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οὕτω ὥστε κτλ. As the privileges of the Dekeleians in Sparta must have been suspended by war, this passage (Stein too observes) would have the air of an addition, while grainmatically the οὕτω has no proper reference to what precedes. The war here mentioned is plainly the ‘ten years' war’ which broke out in 431 B.C., and the special favour shown to Dekeleia is hardly less plainly to be dated to the first invasion, in which Archidamos laid waste the Thriasian plain, and all the parts of Attica north of the city, and retired via (Dekeleia) Oropos and Borotia, Tbuc. 2. 18-23. ἐς τὸν πόλεμον is hardly so clear as ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ, or κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον (cp. 7. 137) would have been, and is perhaps only a carelessness produced by the proximity of ἐς τόδε just before (cp. c. 64 supra).

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τὴν ἄλλην Ἀττικήν looks like an exaggeration; the whole of the south of Attica was ravaged in the second invasion, 430 B.C., Thuc. 2. 55, 57.