Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The Histories

1446 Pages·2016·3.29 MB·English

HerodotusofHalicarnassus
T H
Anaccountofgreatandmarvelous
deedsthroughthe1920translationof
A.D.Godley.
PL
2010
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Contents
1 BookI 6
2 BookII 225
3 BookIII 405
4 BookIV 560
5 BookV 733
6 BookVI 857
7 BookVII 981
8 BookVIII 1201
9 BookIX 1323
4
isisthedisplayoftheinquiryofHerodotusof
H,sothatthingsdonebymannot
beforgottenintime,andthatgreatandmarvelous
deeds,somedisplayedbytheH,someby
thebarbarians,notlosetheirglory,including
amongotherswhatwasthecauseoftheirwaging
waroneachother.
I
1: 1)e P learned men say that the
Pwerethecauseofthedispute.ese
(they say) came to our seas from the sea which is
calledRed,¹andhavingsettledinthecountrywhich
¹Ed.:NotthemodernRS,butthePG
andadjacentwaters.
6
Herodotus TH
theystilloccupy, atoncebegantomakelongvoy-
ages. Among other places to which they carried
EandAmerchandise,theycame
toA,2)whichwasatthattimepreeminentin
everywayamongthepeopleofwhatisnowcalled
H.ePcametoA,and
setouttheircargo. 3)Onthefihorsixthdayaer
theirarrival,whentheirwareswerealmostallsold,
manywomencametotheshoreandamongthemes-
peciallythedaughteroftheking,whosenamewas
Io(accordingtoPandGalike),the
daughter of Inachus. 4)As these stood about the
sternoftheshipbargainingforthewarestheyliked,
thePincitedoneanothertosetupon
them. Mostofthewomenescaped: Ioandothers
were seized andthrown intothe ship, which then
sailedawayforE.
2: 1)In this way, the P say (and not
astheG), washowIocametoE, and
this, according to them, was the first wrong that
7
Herodotus TH
was done. Next, according to their story, some
G (they cannot say who) landed at T
in P and carried off the king’s daugh-
ter Europa. ese G must, I suppose, have
beenC. Sofar,then,theaccountbetween
themwasbalanced. Butaerthis(theysay),itwas
theGwhowereguiltyofthesecondwrong.
2)ey sailed in a long ship to A, a city of the
C,andtotheriverP:² andwhen
they had done the business for which they came,
theycarriedofftheking’sdaughterMedea.3)When
theCkingsentaheraldtodemandrepa-
rationfortherobberyandrestitutionofhisdaugh-
ter, theGrepliedthat, astheyhadbeenre-
fusedreparationfortheabductionoftheA
Io,theywouldnotmakeanytotheC.
3: 1)en(theysay),inthesecondgeneration
aerthis,Alexandrus,sonofPriam,whohadheard
thistale,decidedtogethimselfawifefromH
²Ed.:isisthelegendarycruiseoftheArgonauts.
8
Herodotus TH
bycapture;forhewasconfidentthathewouldnot
sufferpunishment. 2)SohecarriedoffHelen. e
Gfirstresolvedtosendmessengersdemand-
ing that Helen be restored and atonement made
fortheseizure; butwhenthis proposalwas made,
the T pleaded the seizure of Medea, and
reminded the G that they asked reparation
fromothers,yetmadenonethemselves,norgaveup
thebootywhenasked.
4: 1)So far it was a matter of mere seizure
on both sides. But aer this (the P say),
the G were very much to blame; for they
invaded A before the P attacked E-
. 2)“We think,” they say, “that it is unjust
to carry women off. But to be anxious to avenge
rape is foolish: wise men take no notice of such
things. For plainly the women would never have
been carried away, had they not wanted it them-
selves. 3)We of A did not deign to notice the
seizureofourwomen;buttheG,forthesake
9
Herodotus TH
of a L woman, recruited a great
armada,cametoA,anddestroyedthepowerof
Priam.4)EversincethenwehaveregardedG
asourenemies.” ForthePclaimAfor
theirown, andtheforeignpeoplesthatinhabitit;
EandtheGpeopletheyconsidertobe
separatefromthem.
5: 1)Such is the P account; in their
opinion, it was the taking of T which began
their hatred of the G. 2)But the P-
 do not tell the same story about Io as the
P. ey say that they did not carry her
offtoEbyforce. ShehadintercourseinA-
 with the captain of the ship. en, finding
herselfpregnant,shewasashamedtohaveherpar-
entsknowit, andso, lesttheydiscoverhercondi-
tion,shesailedawaywiththePofher
ownaccord.3)esearethestoriesoftheP
and the P. For my part, I shall not
saythatthisorthatstoryistrue,butIshallidentify
10