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ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ τῶν Αἰγινητέων: there were but 500 Aiginetan hoplites, all told, cp. c. 28 supra; as they were posted next to the Megarians, they may have been literally ἐν Πλαταιῇσι at this time, but cp. c. 76 supra. They should have been έν τῷ Κιθαιρῶνι, cp. c. 69 ad f.
Λάμπων Πυθέω: to be distinguished from the Athenian, c. 21 supra, and the Samian, c. 90 infra, of the same name; but this Aiginetan Lampon, son of Pytheas, may be identified (as by K. O. Muller, Aeginetica 126) with Lampon, father of Pytheas and Phylakides, whose victories Pindar celebrates in Nem. 5, Isth. 4 and 5. The Pytheas, son of lschenoos, captured off Skiathos, 7. 181 supra, and liberated at Salamis, 8. 92, can hardly be identical with the father of Lampon, but he may be of the same house, the Ψαλυχιάδαι, or Ψαλυχίδαι, Pindar, Isth. 5 (6). 63. τὰ πρῶτα: as in 6. 100. On this occasion Lampon may have been Strategos of the Aiginetans. ἀνοσιώτατον ἔχων λόγον, ‘with a most impious (shocking) proposal.’
ἵετο, ‘came full speed’; repeated in άπικόμενος σπουδῇ. σπουδῇ: cp. cc. 1, 66 supra. etc.
ὦ καῖ Κλεομβρότου: cp. c. 76 l. 9.
ὑπερφυές, ‘supernatural,’ ‘colossal,’ in a bad sense 8. 116; here in a good. μέγαθός τε καὶ κάλλος: generally of corporeal beauty; cp. c. 72 supra. Pausanias' work was a καλλίστη νίκη, c. 64 supra. The accusative is “of reference.” Cp. Index. τοι ... ῥυσάμενον is not strict grammar; cp. c. 58. 13, 15 supra. θεὸς παρέδωκε: cp. 7. 18, 5. 67. The god would probably be Zeus.
κλέος καταθέσθαι: 7. 220. μέγιστον ... τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν: the formula (cp. 8. 105 supra) is here especially interesting, as used, not by the historian propria persona, but by one of his puppets. The use is hardly quite accurate: the τῶν is presumably masculine, referring to Ἑλλήνων, though the reference to κλέος might be eased by the use of that word in the plural (“κλέα ἀνδρῶν” Il. 9. 189, Od. 8. 73); but πάντων is here desiderated in either case. The fame of Leonidas (who is named just below) is here given a distinct set-back; but with posterity the failure of Thermopylai has ever outshone the success at Plataia; cp. Leopardi's All' Italia.
ἐπί here nearly = πρός; cp. 7. 236 (or ‘after’).
λόγος ... σε ἔχῃ: λόγος here comes near to κλέος, δόξα: cp. λ. άγαθός 7. 5. 11. τις = πᾶς τις.
φυλάσσηται ... μὴ ὑπάρχειν: an idiomatic negative; we should say, ‘beware of beginning . .’ In point of form this sentence is identical with the phraseology in 7. 5 ἵνα λόγος τε κτλ., but the idiomatic μή is there dropped. ἀτάσθαλα: cp. c. 116 infra.
Μαρδόνιός τε καὶ Ξέρξης: there is nothing in the story as told 7. 238 to implicate the living Mardonios in the outrage; but there is, of course, no direct inconsistency in Hdt.'s allowing Lampon to discredit the dead Mardonios, though we are hardly justified in arguing, as we might do in the case of a more careful writer, that he himself acquits Mardonios. More probably he has followed his source in each case, without noting the potential inconsistency; perhaps the anecdote in 8. 114 suggested that Mardonios was coucerned in the case.
τῷ is ambiguous: grammatically it might seem to belong to Λεωνιδέω, but naturally it seems to refer to Μαρδόνιος. Taking τὴν ὁμοίην as = δίκην, or τὴν ὁμ. χάριν, or τίσιν, it would, however, make good sense to refer the relative to Λεωνίδεω. The introductiou of the name Μαρδόνιον γάρ just below also favours this interpretation, and especially the expression in c. 79 below, Λεωνίδῃ δὲ τῷ με κελεύεις τιμωρῆσαι κτλ. ἀποδιδούς is strictly conditional: perhaps the tense, as compared with ἀνασκολοπίσας just below, also favours the reference of τῷ to Leonidas, not to Mardonios. ἔπαινον ἕξεις ... ὑπό. On the ἐπαινετοί cp. c. 71 supra; the phrase here is hardly used in the technical sense. ὑπό as ἔπ. ἕξ. = ἐπαινεθήσεαι (Stein); cp. c. 75, 6 supra.
ἀνασκολοπίζειν, ‘to impale’ cp. for the subst. c. 97; for the verb, and the barbarous practice, 1. 128, 3. 159, 4. 43, 202. τετιμωρήσεαι: cp. App. Crit., the future perfect, passive; doubly remarkable in respect both of the voice and of the tense; though passive in form, it must here be middle in sense, “thou wilt have taken vengeance iu respect to Leonidas” (so too τετιμώρημαι in some cases; cp. L. & S.). The active and passive of the verb are used iu the next chapter. The normal construction of the verb is τινί (pers.), or ὑπέρ τινός τινα (pers.), τινός (rei), or τί. With the use of ἐς here cp. ἐς Λεωνίδην c. 64 supra.
πάτρων: Kleombrotos, the father of Pausanias, being brother of Leonidas; cp. c. 10 supra.
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