NOTES TO BOOK II
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Herodotus and Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell)
1 (return) [ Some write "Psammitichos" with less authority.]
2 (return) [ {tou en Memphi}: many Editors read {en Memphi}, "I heard at Memphis from the priests of Hephaistos," but with less authority.]
3 (return) [ {'Eliou polin} or {'Elioupolin}, cp. {'Elioupolitai} below.]
4 (return) [ {exo e ta ounamata auton mounon}. Some understand "them" to mean "the gods"; rather perhaps the meaning is that accounts of such things will not be related in full, but only touched upon.]
5 (return) [ {ison peri auton epistasthai}.]
6 (return) [ {anthropon}, emphatic, for the rulers before him were gods (ch. 144).]
7 (return) [ {Mina}: others read {Mena}, but the authority of the MSS. is strong for {Mina} both here and in ch. 99.]
8 (return) [ {tou Thebaikou nomou}, cp. ch. 164.]
9 (return) [ {tautes on apo}: some MSS. omit {apo}, "this then is the land for which the sixty schoines are reckoned."]
10 (return) [ For the measures of length cp. ch. 149. The furlong ({stadion}) is equal to 100 fathoms ({orguiai}), i.e. 606 feet 9 inches.]
11 (return) [ Or "without rain": the word {anudros} is altered by some Editors to {enudros} or {euudros}, "well watered."]
12 (return) [ I have followed Stein in taking {es ta eiretai} with {legon}, meaning "at the Erythraian Sea," {taute men} being a repetition of {te men} above. The bend back would make the range double, and hence partly its great breadth. Others translate, "Here (at the quarries) the range stops, and bends round to the parts mentioned (i.e. the Erythraian Sea)."]
13 (return) [ {os einai Aiguptou}: cp. iv. 81. Others translate, "considering that it belongs to Egypt" (a country so vast), i.e. "as measures go in Egypt." In any case {Aiguptos eousa} just below seems to repeat the same meaning.]
14 (return) [ Some Editors alter this to "fourteen."]
15 (return) [ {pentastomou}: some less good MSS. have {eptastomou}, "which has seven mouths."]
16 (return) [ See note on i. 203.]
17 (return) [ {ton erkhomai lexon}: these words are by many Editors marked as spurious, and they certainly seem to be out of place here.]
18 (return) [ {kou ge de}: "where then would not a gulf be filled up?"]
19 (return) [ {katarregnumenen}: some Editors read {katerregmenen} ("broken up by cracks") from {katerregnumenen}, which is given by many MSS.]
1901 (return) [ Or possibly "with rock below," in which case perhaps {upopsammoteren} would mean "rather sandy underneath."]
20 (return) [ We do not know whether these measurements are in the larger Egyptian cubit of 21 inches or the smaller (equal to the ordinary Hellenic cubit) of 18½ inches, cp. i. 178.]
21 (return) [ {kai to omoion apodido es auxesin}, "and to yield the like return as regards increased extent." (Mr. Woods); but the clause may be only a repetition of the preceding one.]
22 (return) [ i.e. Zeus.]
23 (return) [ i.e. of the district of Thebes, the Thebaïs.]
24 (return) [ {te Libue}.]
25 (return) [ The meaning seems to be this: "The Ionians say that Egypt is the Delta, and at the same time they divide the world into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Libya, the last two being divided from one another by the Nile. Thus they have left out Egypt altogether; and either they must add the Delta as a fourth part of the world, or they must give up the Nile as a boundary. If the name Egypt be extended, as it is by the other Hellenes, to the upper course of the Nile, it is then possible to retain the Nile as a boundary, saying that half of Egypt belongs to Asia and half to Libya, and disregarding the Delta (ch. 17). This also would be an error of reckoning, but less serious than to omit Egypt together." The reasoning is obscure because it alludes to theories (of Hecataios and other writers) which are presumed to be already known to the reader.]
26 (return) [ {Katadoupon}, i.e. the first cataract.]
27 (return) [ "and it gives us here, etc." ({parekhomenos}).]
28 (return) [ {logo de eipein thoumasiotere}. Or perhaps, "and it is more marvellous, so to speak."]
29 (return) [ {ton ta polla esti andri ke k.t.l.} I take {ton} to refer to the nature of the country, as mentioned above; but the use of {os} can hardly be paralleled, and the passage probably requires correction. Some Editors read {ton tekmeria polla esti k.t.l.} "wherein there are many evidences to prove, etc." Stein omits {ton} and alters the punctuation, so that the clauses run thus, "when it flows from the hottest parts to those which for the most part are cooler? For a man who is capable of reasoning about such matters the first and greatest evidence to prove that it is not likely to flow from snow, is afforded by the winds, etc."]
30 (return) [ {ouk ekhei elegkhon}, "cannot be refuted" (because we cannot argue with him), cp. Thuc. iii. 53, {ta de pseude elegkhon ekhei}. Some translate, "does not prove his case."]
31 (return) [ {tes arkhaies diexodou}, "his original (normal) course."]
32 (return) [ {ouk eonton anemon psukhron}: the best MSS. read {kai anemon psukhron} ("and there are cold winds"), which Stein retains, explaining that the cold North winds would assist evaporation.]
33 (return) [ {autos eoutou peei pollo upodeesteros e tou thereos}.]
34 (return) [ {diakaion ten diexodon auto}, i.e. {to reri}. Some Editors read {autou} (with inferior MSS.) or alter the word to {eoutou}.]
35 (return) [ "set forth, so far as I understood."]
36 (return) [ {epi makrotaton}, "carrying the inquiry as far as possible," cp. ch. 34.]
37 (return) [ I have little doubt that this means the island of Elephantine; for at this point only would such a mixture of races be found. To this the writer here goes back parenthetically, and then resumes the account of the journey upwards from Tachompso. This view is confirmed by the fact that Strabo relates the same thing with regard to the island of Philai just above Elephantine.]
3701 (return) [ Cp. i. 72, note 86.]
38 (return) [ {oleureon}.]