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κοινῇ. The island was divided between a number of city-states.

ἄμεινον ... γίνεται: the regular form of inquiry; cf. i. 187. 2, iv. 15. 3, &c.; Thuc. i. 118 ad fin.


‘Fools, do ye find ought to complain of in the woes brought on you by Minos in his wrath for the help ye gave Menelaus?’ The god by an ironical question (for μέμφομαι ironically used cf. viii. 106. 3 ad fin.) reminds them how they had suffered in the past for similar conduct. The words τιμωρημάτων Μίνως ἔπεμψε μηνίων δακρύματα seem to have been taken as they stand from the oracular response (cf. iv. 163. 3; v. 79. 1 n.; vii. 178. 2). Stein and Busolt (ii. 658 n. 6) suspect it of being a later forgery, like the response to the Cnidians (i. 174. 5), mainly because it is in iambic metre. H. clearly believed it genuine, and probably for that reason does not blame the Cretans for refusing help. Doubtless the lying Cretans would have had no scruple in inventing later an oracle to exculpate their conduct; but that here given is of the same tenor as the better attested response to Argos (ch. 148), and may well be in substance genuine.

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    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.118
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