NOTES TO BOOK II
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Herodotus and Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell)
115 (return) [ {os an einai 'Podopin}: so the MSS. Some Editors read {'Podopios}, others {'Podopi}.]
116 (return) [ {antion de autout tou neou}.]
117 (return) [ {epaphroditoi ginesthai}.]
118 (return) [ {katekertomese min}: Athenæus says that Sappho attacked the mistress of Charaxos; but here {min} can hardly refer to any one but Charaxos himself, who doubtless would be included in the same condemnation.]
119 (return) [ {propulaia}.]
120 (return) [ "innumerable sights of buildings."]
121 (return) [ {tassomenon}, "posted," like an army; but the text is probably unsound: so also in the next line, where the better MSS. have {men Boubasti poli}, others {e en Boubasti polis}. Stein reads {e en Boubasti poli}, "the earth at the city of Bubastis." Perhaps {e en Boubasti polis} might mean the town as opposed to the temple, as Mr. Woods suggests.]
122 (return) [ Cp. ch. 161, {egeneto apo prophasios, ton k.t.l.} Perhaps however {prophasin} is here from {prophaino} (cp. Soph. Trach. 662), and it means merely "that the gods were foreshowing him this in order that," etc. So Stein.]
123 (return) [ i.e. for their customary gift or tribute to him as king.]
124 (return) [ The chronology is inconsistent, and some propose, without authority, to read "three hundred years."]
125 (return) [ {tas arouras}, cp. ch. 168, where the {aroura} is defined as a hundred Egyptian units square, about three-quarters of an acre.]
126 (return) [ {es to megaron}.]
127 (return) [ Not on two single occasions, but for two separate periods of time it was stated that the sun had risen in the West and set in the East; i.e. from East to West, then from West to East, then again from East to West, and finally back to East again. This seems to be the meaning attached by Herodotus to something which he was told about astronomical cycles.]
128 (return) [ {ouk eontas}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and also fits in best with the argument, which was that in Egypt gods were quite distinct from men. Most Editors however read {oikeontas} on the authority of a few MSS., "dwelling with men." (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {ouk eontas}, not {oukeontas} as stated by Stein.)]
129 (return) [ i.e. that the Hellenes borrowed these divinities from Egypt, see ch. 43 ff. This refers to all the three gods above mentioned and not (as Stein contended) to Pan and Dionysos only.]
130 (return) [ {kai toutous allous}, i.e. as well as Heracles; but it may mean "that these also, distinct from the gods, had been born," etc. The connexion seems to be this: "I expressed my opinion on all these cases when I spoke of the case of Heracles; for though the statement there about Heracles was in one respect inapplicable to the rest, yet in the main conclusion that gods are not born of men it applies to all."]
131 (return) [ {stadioi}.]
132 (return) [ {mneas}, of which 60 go to the talent.]
133 (return) [ Cp. ch. 112.]
134 (return) [ {neos}.]
135 (return) [ I understand that each wall consisted of a single stone, which gave the dimensions each way: "as regards height and length" therefore it was made of a single stone. That it should have been a monolith, except the roof, is almost impossible, not only because of the size mentioned (which in any case is suspicious), but because no one would so hollow out a monolith that it would be necessary afterwards to put on another stone for the roof. The monolith chamber mentioned in ch. 175, which it took three years to convey from Elephantine, measured only 21 cubits by 14 by 8. The {parorophis} or "cornice" is not an "eave projecting four cubits," but (as the word is explained by Pollux) a cornice between ceiling and roof, measuring in this instance four cubits in height and formed by the thickness of the single stone: see Letronne, Recherches pour servir, etc. p. 80 (quoted by Bähr).]
136 (return) [ {erpase}, "took as plunder."]
137 (return) [ {aparti}: this word is not found in any MS. but was read here by the Greek grammarians.]
13701 (return) [ i.e. 120,000.]
138 (return) [ Cp. iv. 159.]
139 (return) [ {kuneen}, perhaps the royal helmet or Pschent, cp. ch. 151.]
140 (return) [ {apemataise}, euphemism for breaking wind.]
141 (return) [ {oudena logon auto donta}: many Editors change {auto} to {eouto}, in which case it means "taking no time to consider the matter," as elsewhere in Herodotus; but cp. iii. 50 {istoreonti logon audena edidou}.]
142 (return) [ {nomon}, and so throughout the passage.]
14201 (return) [ i.e. 160,000.]
14202 (return) [ i.e. 250,000.]
143 (return) [ {arourai}, cp. ch. 141.]
144 (return) [ {ekaston}: if {ekastoi} be read (for which there is more MS. authority) the meaning will be that "a thousand Calasirians and a thousand Hermotybians acted as guards alternately, each for a year," the number at a time being 1000 not 2000.]
14401 (return) [ {pente mneai}.]
145 (return) [ {arusteres},={kotulai}.]
146 (return) [ {tou neou}.]
147 (return) [ {e trokhoiedes kaleomene}, "the Wheel."]
148 (return) [ The last words, "and when—again," are not found in the best MSS., and are omitted by Stein. However their meaning, if not expressed, is implied.]
149 (return) [ {pugonos}.]
150 (return) [ {tou autou eontes lithou}: some MSS. and many Editors have {Aithiopikou} for {tou autou}, "of Ethiopian stone." For {eontes} the MSS. have {eontos}, which may be right, referring to {tou bathrou} understood, "the base being made of," etc.]