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The ruggedness of Persia proper is frequently insisted on in antiquity, rightly in the main; cf. i. 71. 2 f.; Plat. Laws 695 A; Arrian, Anab. v. 4. 5. πλέοσι: in more points (Stein); cf. ἅπασι (i. 1. 2, 91. 6).
H. ascribes to Cyrus the teaching of Hippocrates περὶ Ἀέρων 24 (cf. i. 142) εὑρήσεις γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χώρης τῇ φύσει ἀκολουθέοντα καὶ τὰ εἴδεα τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοὺς τρόπους. ὅκου μὲν γὰρ ἡ γῆ πίειρα καὶ μαλθακή . . . καὶ τῶν ὡρέων καλῶς κεῖται, ἐνταῦθα καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι σαρκώδεές εἰσι καὶ ἄναρθροι καὶ ὑγροὶ καὶ ἀταλαίπωροι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν κακοὶ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ. . . . ὅκου δ᾽ ἐστὶ ἡ χώρη ψιλή τε καὶ ἄνυδρος καὶ τρηχεῖα καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος πιεζομένη καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου κεκαυμένη, ἐνθαῦτα δὲ . . . τά τε ἤθεα καὶ τὰς ὀργὰς αὐθάδεας καὶ ἰδιογνώμονας τοῦ τε ἀγρίου μᾶλλον μετέχοντας ἢ τοῦ ἡμέρου ἔς τε τὰς τέχνας ὀξυτέρους τε καὶ συνετωτέρους καὶ τὰ πολέμια ἀμείνους εὑρήσεις. H. throughout assumes the influence of climate on character and on institutions. Differences between one folk and another he would trace in part to differences in physical and geographical environment, since he is convinced of the relativity of human institutions (cf. Macan, ad loc., and iii. 38). It should never have been doubted that this anecdote was deliberately chosen by the historian to close his work. It recalls the fact that the Persians, though now defeated, were a famous race of warriors; it perhaps is intended to warn the conquerors that they too may suffer decline and fall if they relax their discipline (cf. vii. 102). No doubt the moral is a little obvious, the literary artifice somewhat naïve, but is not all this characteristic of Herodotus?
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