tales from herodotus revision

8/3/2019 Tales From Herodotus REVISION

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Tales from HerodotusINTRODUCTIONHerodotus:

y Father of History (by Cicero)y genuine critical treatment of historical factsy

well-educatedy born in 484BC (not certain) in Halicarnassusy he travelled to many places (Egypt and Greece)y professional reciter, a prose rhapsodisty the tenor of his history is theologicaly imbued with the sentiment thatwe find in Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles

Defects:1. this prevents logical analysis and blinds Herodotus to the true causes that

underlie events2. he is far too given to the miraculous

a. he was not basing his history on fableb. there are undoubtedly inconsistencies in the history

3. critics accuse him of inability to detect the predisposing causes of eventsa. he is content to ascribe cause to person, oblivious of the fact that it is

the progress of human thought that results in great events (e.g.abolition of slavery)

b. no critic can deny his gift for telling a story (he is a consummate artist)c. he has the incomparable gift of making a story live, so much is

forgiven because he has given much


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THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS(a) Capture of Athens Greek naval commanders determine to abandon theirposition at Salamis and retire to the Isthmus of Corinth.

Then indeed, when Themistocles returned to his ship, Mnesiphilus, an Atheniancitizen, asked him what had been decided. Having learned from him that theyhad decided to put out the ships to the Isthmus and give a naval battle indefence of Peloponnese, he said: If they remove the ships from Salamis, you

will certainly have no country left to fight for, for every ally will turn towards hisown city and neither Eurybiades nor any other man will be able to hold them;and Greece will be destroyed due to imprudence. But if there is any way, goand try to confuse the plans, if you can somehow persuade Eurybiades tochange his mind, so thatwe can stay here.

y (if) this conditional that Mnesiphilus uses means that Athens will be lost ifthe allies dont fight for Salamis

y emphatic, last in the sentence, emphasises that Themistoclesshould act in an intelligent, if not cunning, mind

y pronoun showing how all of the allies with no exception will leavey at the end to emphasise their act. The prepositional phrase

should normally be placed after the verb, but is

placed at the beginning to emphasise that the Athenians will beabandoned.

y The use of two successive imperatives (go and try) emphasisesMnesiphilus anxiety and the urgency of a new decision. Short sentence forceful, clear

y Herodotus places Mnesiphiluswords as a long monologue which shows hispassion and confidence in his arguments

(b) Urged by Themistocles, Eurybiades recalls the meeting and Themistoclespresents the plan of action

Themistocles liked the answer very much indeed, and without answeringto this he went to Eurybiades ship. On arriving, he said that he wished todiscuss with him a matter of common interest. After coming on board, the otherordered him to talk if he wanted to say something.

Then, sitting beside him, Themistocles told him in detail all that he hadheard from Mnesiphilus and having added many more, thus he persuaded himboth to disembark the ship and gather the admirals to their place of meeting.

And when actually they assembled, before Eurybiades presented thereasons for the sake ofwhich he had brought them together, Themistoclesdelivered a long speech because he was in great need. While he was talking,the Corinthian admiral Adeimantus said: Themistocles, the ones who startbefore the signal at the athletic games are punished.

And Themistocles, defending himself, replied: But the ones that are leftbehind will certainly notwin.


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y Anecdotes: short and amusing stories that teach us something.Adeimantus uses parallelism from the athletic games. HoweverThemistocles answers back in a witty manner, he refers to war-fight,giving the word another meaning and saying that in war, one has

to be quick to surprise the enemy.

(c) Speech of Themistocles on the advantages of remaining at Salamis

Then he replied to the Corenthian in a mild way and to Eurybiades he

said the following:Now it is in your hand to save Greece, if you obey me to give a naval battle bystaying here and if you do not set sail again towards the Isthmus. For firstly, wewill have a great victory ifwe fight in a narrow place with few ships againstmany ships ifwe have the reasonable outcome of the war. For to give a navalbattle in a strait is to our advantage, but to fight in the open sea is to theirs.Secondly, Salamis, where our children and women are put away in safety, issaved. And surely, you will defend the Peloponnesus as well by staying here as

by fighting off at the Isthmus and you will not lead our enemies against thePeloponnesus, if you think reasonably. And, ifwhat I expect happens and wewin by means of our ships, you will neither have the foreigners upon you at theIsthmus, nor will they advance further than Attica, but they will leave withoutany order.

y Emphasise the speakers argument:o Parallelism is for emphasis. Using the same structure it says the

same thing to emphasise the argument. Contrast by parallelstructure. The place and the benefit pros

o at the end of the sentence for emphasiso placed at the beginning for emphasiso early in the sentence to indicate that the outcome

of the battle will be the same whether they stay here or go at theIsthmus

o Use of future indicative shows Themistocles certainty about theoutcome of the battle (, )

o Themistocles implies that itwould be absurd to fight at theIsthmus because itwould lead the enemy to the people

y Litotes (meiosis) is an understatement in which the negation intensifiesan idea.

(d) Attacked by Adeimantus, Themistocles declares as a detailed argument infavour of staying at Salamis that otherwise the Athenians will sail off at Italy.Eurybiades and the rest are persuaded to remain.

The Corinthian Adeimantus attacked Themistocles again while he wassaying this, ordering him, who was a landless man, to keep silent and notallowing Eurybiades to permit a man without a country to vote. (And he said

this because Athens had been captured and was occupied.)


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Then at last Themistocles made many accusations against Adeimantusand the Corinthians and made clear by his words that the Athenians had both acountry and land bigger than theirs, as long as they had two hundred ships fullymanned; for he said that no-one of the Greeks could repel them, if theAthenians came against them.

And declaring this, he passed over to Eurybiades speaking more eagerly:If you stay here (all will be well), and by staying you will be a brave man, but ifyou do not, you will overthrow Greece. But believe me; if you do not do so, we,

just as we are having taken up our households, will travel to Siris in Italy (whichhas been ours from old time and the oracles tell that a colony must be founded(there) by us). And you, when you will be deprived from such allies, willremember my words.

When Themistocles spoke these words, Eurybiades was won over; for ifthe Athenians left them, the restwould no longer be a match in battle. Hechose this plan to fight a naval battle through to the end by staying there.

y An idea is expressed twice in differentwords. An idea that Themistocleshad no country. Once by an adjective with aprivative which forms an alliteration. The first time it is expressed by a wholesentence.

y The negative and the word are emphatic.y Adeimantus was aggressive and had a contemptuous tone. He wished to

diminish Themistocles.y no-one of the Greeks could repel them, if the Athenians came against

them this is an indirect threat of Themistocles to the rest of theGreeks.

y There is a climax in Themistocles threats in lines 11-19.

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