Reginald Walter Macan, Herodotus, The Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books with Introduction and Commentary

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συνεστηκότων τῶν στρατηγῶν: for the verb cp. c. 27 supra. As to the tense Blakesley renders it, “after the commanders had come to a direct issue” but the sense rather demands a present or imperfect, ‘while the generals were still contesting the matter,’ i.e. before they had come to a decision; and that suits the material sense of the word.

ἐξ Αἰγίνης: there is a precision about this, which is seductive. Had Aristeides spent his exile in the island (cp. Ἀθην. πολ. 22. 8), the war with which was hardly his policy? Or would he have been in Aigina at this time, i<*> the feud with Athens had not been composed (7. 145 supra)? Or was he there on the mission to the Aiakidai (c. 64 supra)? The trireme despatched for them appears to return next morning, c 83 infra; but see note ad l.

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Ἀριστείδης ὁ Λυσιμάχου: his first appearance on the scene in Hdt., hence the patronymic, which is repeated with ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος in c. 95 infra, suggesting that the two passages are from different sources, and perhaps belong to different drafts. The anecdote which here follows is part of the legend of Themistokles. Lysimachos is a common Greek name; upwards of twenty men are known to have borne it. Of the father of Aristeides nothing more is recorded, but he was of course, like his son, of the tribe Antiochis and of the deme Alopeke (Plutarch Aristeid. 1); no doubt a man of substance, and perhaps of the Alkmaionid party. The ostrakism of Aristeides had taken place in 483 B. C. obviously to clear the way for the naval law of Themistokles (ep. Appendix III. § 4), and he had been recalled with all other exiles in 481 B C. Stein supposes that the law of amnesty had only just been passed, otherwise Aristeides would have appeared sooner in the camp. But is the texture of the Herodotean historiography so close as to eonvince us that this was the actual κάθοδος of Aristeides? Far more probable is J. B. Bury's idea (Class. Rev. x. 1896, 414 ff.), that Aristeides was at this moment one of the Athenian Strategoi duly elected in the spring of 480 B. C., otherwise, indeed, his exploit in c. 95 infra is hardly intelligible. As such he would presumably have been present at the Synedrion of Strategoi, unless we are to suppose that only one Strategos from each state was present. If the anecdote here given is anything more than a fable, Aristeides must have been away on special service; in which case a mission to Aigina presents itself as the most plausible hypothesis to account for his movements That mission, if not to invoke the Aiakidai, may have been for the purpose of convoying Athenian refugees; cp. c. 41 supra.

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τὸν ἐγὼ νενόμικα ... δικαιότατον. This personal judgment is most significant. In the controversy over the rival merits of Themistokles and Aristeides, Hdt. definitely takes sides with the latter: of the moral superiority of Aristeides he has no doubt; his mind is absolutely made up once for all on that question (hence the perfect tense). Thucydides' celebiated defence of Themistokles (1. 138) only affeets his intellectual qualities, and his policy. The reputation of Aristeides was based probably upon four leading points, all subsequent to his ostrakism and restoration: (i.) his Strategia at Plataia; (ii.) his full acceptance of the naval destiny of Athens; (iii.) his great services in connexion with the foundation of the maritime hegemony, including the τάξις φόρου; (iv.) his popular reforms of the Constitution. But, above all, probably his personal character, honesty, and honour contributed to his apotheosis. See further, Appendix l.c.

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στὰς ἐπὶ τὸ συνέδριον, ‘presented himself at the council of generals’: perhaps καταστάς (cp. 3. 46, 156) might be expected; but he is not yet inside, actually in the presence of the council.

ἐξεκαλέετο, middle, by means of a messenger? ὑπό, ‘by reason of.’ ἐκείνων: not, of eourse, τὰ μάλιστα, but more vaguely, ‘their previous quarrels.’ συμμεῖξαι, as in c. 67 supra.

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προακηκόεε: the pluperfect time reinforced by the compositum; how and where had he heard of the intentions of the ‘Peloponnesians’? Well, it might, of course, be merely since his arrival in Salamis, but more is probably intended.

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στασιάζειν: with such a man even στάσις turns to good; ‘now, if ever, is the opportunity for us to rival each other in promoting the good of our common country.’ But the phrase is rather overstrained in the mouth of the returned exile, who has merely some valuable information to communicate to the commander-in-chief of the forces! Does Aristeides already foresee his own performance on the morrow, in c. 95 infra, which was to be magmfied into one of the chiefest episodes of the ἐλεύθερον Ἑλλάδος ἦμαρ? Or is the phrase more than the formula of a stock debating question, ὁκότερος αὐτῶν (sc. A. and Th.) πλέω ἀγαθὰ τὴν πατρίδα εἰργασμένος εἴη;

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ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτόπτης ... κύκλῳ. If this announcement referred simply to a περικύκλωσις by the Persian fleet inside the straits (as in Leake's theory), the Grecks themselves in Salamis would scarcely have failed to perceive it, and Aristeides' announcement would have been stale news. Or again, if Aristeides had merely meant that the Persians had moved up and blocked the passages right and left of Psyttaleia, that movement would not have constitnted a περικύκλωσις, and a way of escape by the Megarid channel would still have been open to the Peloponnesians. Moreover, on neither of these hypotheses is it clear how Aristeides should have reached Salamis. If the bay of Ambelaki was blocked, he might have landed somewhere on the sea-front of the island, and made his way overland to the Greek laager; but he would not have been more an autoptes than hosts of others. If only the eastern ends of the straits were blocked, he might have come in by the west—but by the same chaunel the Greeks might go out. The only adequate meaning of the message is that both ends, that by Psyttaleia or Kynosura, and that by Megara-Budoron (Thuc. 2. 94. 4), are closed and held by Persian ships. Probably every one knew by this time that such was the case with the eastern end; the news Aristeides brings is that there is a squadron blocking the western outlet. Coming from Aigina he might have discovered that by crossing the path of that squadron on its way, or perhaps by having to fly before it. How his own ship reached Salamis is not specified; but he may have come in by the Budoron channel. If there were Persian ships patrolling the coast of Salamis towards the open sea, the περικύκλωσις would be still more effective; but it was complete, as far as the argument requires, by the closure of both outlets from the straits.

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σήμηνον: of important, significant news; cp. c. 76 supra.