---
title: "On the Malice of Herodotus · De Herodoti malignitate"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "A. G., rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 3 of 3
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-malice-of-herodotus/3/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. A. G., rev. William W. Goodwin, On the Malice of Herodotus · De Herodoti malignitate, section 3. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-malice-of-herodotus/3/"
---

# On the Malice of Herodotus · De Herodoti malignitate

*Plutarch, tr. A. G., rev. William W. Goodwin*

Plutarch defends the Greeks, and his native Boeotia above all, against the historian he accuses of spite.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg123, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: A. G., rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg123.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 3. Sections 35–43

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-malice-of-herodotus/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-malice-of-herodotus/3/#p-N

[¶0] 35. He indeed ought not to have too much insulted over the Greeks that took part with the Persians, who, being by others thought a Thurian, reckons himself among the Halicarnassians, who, being Dorians by descent, went with their wives and children to the war against the Greeks. But he is so far from giving first an account of the straits they were in who revolted to the Persians, that, having related how the Thessalians sent to the Phocians, who were their mortal enemies, and promised to preserve their country free from all damage if they might receive from them a reward of fifty talents, he writ thus of the Phocians: “For the Phocians were the only people in these quarters who inclined not to the Persians, and that, as far as I upon due consideration can find, for no other reason but because they hated the Thessalians; for if the Thessalians had been affected to the Grecian affairs, I suppose the Phocians would have joined themselves to the Persians.” And yet a little after he will say, that thirteen cities of the Phocians were burned by the barbarians, their country laid waste, and the temple which was in Abae set on fire, and all of both sexes put to the sword, except those that by flight escaped to Parnassus. Nevertheless, he puts those who suffered all extremities rather than lose their honesty in the same rank with those who most affectionately sided with the Persians. And when he could not blame the Phocians’ actions, he sat at his desk devising false causes and framing suspicions against them, and bidding us judge them not by what they did, but by what they would have done if the Thessalians had not taken the same side, as if they had been shut out from treason because they found the place already occupied by others! Now if any one, going about to excuse the revolt of the Thessalians to the Persians, should say that they would not have done it but for the hatred they bare the Phocians, — whom when they saw joined to the Greeks, they against their inclinations followed the party of the Persians, — would not such a one be thought most shamefully to flatter, and for the sake of others to pervert the truth, by feigning good causes for evil actions? Indeed, I think, he would. Why then would not he be thought openly to calumniate, who says that the Phocians chose the best, not for the love of virtue, but because they saw the Thessalians on the contrary side? For neither does he refer this device to other authors, as he is elsewhere wont to do, but says that himself found it out by conjecture. He should therefore have produced certain arguments, by which he was persuaded that they, who did things like the best, followed the same counsels with the worst. For what he alleges of their enmities is ridiculous. For neither did the difference between the Aeginetans and the Athenians, nor that between the Chalcidians and the Eretrians, nor yet that between the Corinthians and the Megarians, hinder them from fighting together for Greece. Nor did the Macedonians, their most bitter enemies, divert the Thessalians from their friendship with the barbarians, by joining the Persian party themselves. For the common danger did so bury their private grudges, that banishing their other passions, they applied their minds either to honesty for the sake of virtue, or to profit through the impulse of necessity. And indeed, after that necessity which compelled them to obey the Persians was over, they returned again to the Greeks, as Lacrates the Spartan has openly testified of them. And Herodotus, as constrained to it, in his relation of the affairs at Plataea, confessed that the Phocians took part with the Greeks.

> Greek: 35. ἔδει μὲν οὖν μηδὲ τοῖς μηδίσασιν Ἑλλήνων ἄγαν ἐπεμβαίνειν, καὶ ταῦτα Θούριον μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων νομιζόμενον αὐτὸν δὲ Ἁλικαρνασέων περιεχόμενον, οἳ Δωριεῖς ὄντες μετὰ τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐστράτευσαν ὁ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀποδεῖ τοῦ πραότερον ὀνομάζειν τὰς τῶν μηδι σάντων ἀνάγκας, ὥστε περὶ Θετταλῶν διηγησάμενος, ὅτι Φωκεῦσιν, ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις οὖσι, προσέπεμψαν, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τὴν χώραν, αὐτῶν ἀβλαβῆ διαφυλάξειν, εἰ πεντήκοντα τάλαντα μισθὸν λάβοιεν, ταῦτα περὶ Φωκέων γέγραφεν αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασιν οἱ γὰρ Φωκεῖς μοῦνοι τῶν ταύτῃ ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἐμήδιζον, κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, ὡς ἐγὼ συμβαλλόμενος εὑρίσκω, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἔχθος τὸ Θεσσαλῶν εἰ δὲ Θεσσαλοὶ τὰ Ἑλλήνων ηὖξον, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ἐμήδιζον ἂν οἱ Φωκεῖς. καίτοι μετὰ μικρὸν αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ τρισκαίδεκα πόλεις τῶν Φωκέων ὑπὸ τοῦ βαρβάρου κατακεκαῦσθαι, διεφθάρθαι τὴν χώραν, ἐμπεπρῆσθαι τὸ ἐν Ἄβαις ἱερόν, ἄνδρας ἀπολωλέναι καὶ γυναῖκας, ὅσοι μὴ διαφυγόντες ἔφθησαν εἰς τὸν Παρνασόν. ἀλλʼ ὅμως τοὺς τὰ ἔσχατα παθεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ προέσθαι τὸ καλὸν ὑπομείναντας εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν ἔθετο κακίαν τοῖς προθυμότατα μηδίσασι καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνδρῶν ψέξαι μὴ δυνηθεὶς αἰτίας ἐκάθητο φαύλας καὶ ὑπονοίας ἐπὶ τοῦ γραφείου συντιθεὶς κατʼ αὐτῶν καὶ κελεύων οὐκ ἀφʼ ὧν ἔπραξαν,, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ ὧν ἔπραξαν ἄν, εἰ μὴ ταῦτα Θεσσαλοῖς ἔδοξε, κρίνεσθαι τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ χώρας ἀντειλημμένης ὑφʼ ἑτέρων τῆς προδοσίας ἀπολειφθέντας. εἰ τοίνυν Θεσσαλούς τις ἐπιχειρεῖ τοῦ μηδισμοῦ παραιτεῖσθαι, λέγων ὡς οὐ ταῦτʼ ἐβούλοντο, τῇ δὲ πρὸς Φωκέας διαφορᾷ τοῖς Ἕλλησι προστιθεμένους ὁρῶντες αὐτοὶ παρὰ γνώμην ἐμήδισαν, ἆρʼ οὐκ ἂν αἴσχιστα κολακεύειν ἔδοξε καὶ πρὸς ἑτέρων χάριν αἰτίας χρηστὰς ἐπὶ πράγμασι φαύλοις πορίζων διαστρέφειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν; ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι. πῶς οὖν οὐ περιφανέστατα δόξει συκοφαντεῖν ὁ μὴ διʼ ἀρετὴν τὰ βέλτιστα Φωκεῖς ἑλμένους ἀποφαινόμενος, ἀλλʼ ὅτι τἀναντία Θεσσαλοὺς ἔγνωσαν φρονοῦντας; οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς ἑτέρους, ὥσπερ εἴωθεν, ἀνάγει τὴν διαβολὴν ἀκηκοέναι λέγων ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς εὑρίσκειν συμβαλλόμενος. εἰπεῖν οὖν ἔδει τὰ τεκμήρια, διʼ ὧν ἐπείσθη τοὺς ὅμοια πράττοντας τοῖς ἀρίστοις ταὐτὰ τοῖς φαυλοτάτοις διανοηθῆναι· τὸ γὰρ τῆς ἔχθρας γελοῖόν ἐστιν· οὔτε γὰρ Αἰγινήτας ἐκώλυσεν ἡ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους διαφορὰ καὶ Χαλκιδεῖς ἡ πρὸς Ἐρετριέας καὶ Κορινθίους ἡ πρὸς Μεγαρέας τῇ Ἑλλάδι συμμαχεῖν οὐδʼ αὖ πάλιν Θεσσαλοὺς μηδίζοντες οἱ πολεμιώτατοι Μακεδόνες τῆς πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον φιλίας ἀπέστρεψαν τὰς γὰρ ἰδίας ἀπεχθείας ὁ κοινὸς ἀπέκρυψε κίνδυνος, ὥστε τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν ἐκπεσόντας ἢ τῷ καλῷ διʼ ἀρετὴν ἢ τῷ συμφέροντι διʼ ἀνάγκην προστίθεσθαι τὴν γνώμην. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην ἐκείνην, κατελήφθησαν ὑπὸ Μήδοις γενέσθαι, πάλιν μετεβάλοντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας οἱ ἄνδρες, καὶ Λακράτης μὲν αὐτοῖς ὁ Σπαρτιάτης ἄντικρυς ἐμαρτύρησεν· αὐτὸς δʼ ὁ Ἡρόδοτος ὥσπερ ἐκβιασθεὶς ἐν τοῖς Πλαταιικοῖς ὁμολογεῖ καὶ Φωκέας παραγενέσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν.

[¶1] 36. Neither ought it to seem strange to any, if he thus bitterly inveighs against the unfortunate; since he reckons amongst enemies and traitors those who were present at the engagement, and together with the other Greeks hazarded their safety. For the Naxians, says he, sent three ships to the assistance of the barbarians; but Democritus, one of their captains, persuaded the others to take the party of the Greeks. So unable he is to praise without dispraising, that if he commends one man he must condemn a whole city or people. But in this there give testimony against him, of the more ancient writers Hellanicus, and of the later Ephorus, one of which says that the Naxians came with six ships to aid the Greeks, and the other with five. And Herodotus convinces himself of having feigned these things. For the writers of the Naxian annals say, that they had before beaten back Megabates, who came to their island with two hundred ships, and after that had put to flight the general Datis, who had set their city on fire. Now if, as Herodotus has elsewhere said, the barbarians burned their city so that the men were glad to save themselves by flying into the mountains, most surely had they just cause rather to send aid to the destroyers of their country than to help the protectors of the common liberty. But that he framed this lie not so much to honor Democritus, as to cast infamy on the Naxians, is manifest from his omitting and wholly passing over in silence the valiant acts then performed by Democritus, of which Simonides gives us an account in this epigram:
When as the Greeks at sea the Medes did meet,
And had near Salamis a naval fight,
Democritus as third led up the fleet,
Charging the enemy with all his might;
He took five of their ships, and did another,
Which they had taken from the Greeks, recover.

> Greek: 36. οὐ δεῖ δὲ θαυμάζειν, εἰ τοῖς ἀτυχήσασιν ἔγκειται πικρῶς, ὅπου καὶ τοὺς παραγενομένους καὶ συγκινδυνεύσαντας εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων μερίδα καὶ προδοτῶν μετατίθησι. Νάξιοι γὰρ τρεῖς ἔπεμψαν τριήρεις συμμάχους τοῖς βαρβάροις, εἷς δὲ τῶν τριηράρχων Δημόκριτος ἔπεισε τοὺς ἄλλους ἑλέσθαι τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὕτως; οὐδʼ ἐπαινεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ ψέγειν οἶδεν, ἀλλʼ ἵνʼ εἷς ἀνὴρ ἐγκωμιασθῇ, πόλιν ὅλην δεῖ κακῶς ἀκοῦσαι καὶ δῆμον. ἀντιμαρτυρεῖ δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν μὲν πρεσβυτέρων Ἑλλάνικος τῶν δὲ νεωτέρων Ἔφορος, ὁ μὲν ἓξ ὁ δὲ πέντε ναυσὶ τοὺς Ναξίους ἐλθεῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησι βοηθοῦντας ἱστορήσας. αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ παντάπασιν ἑαυτὸν ὁ Ἡρόδοτος ἐξελέγχει ταῦτα πλαττόμενον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ναξίων ὡρογράφοι λέγουσι καὶ πρότερον Μεγαβάτην ἀπώσασθαι ναυσὶ διακοσίαις ἐπιπλεύσαντα τῇ νήσῳ, καὶ Δᾶτιν αὖθις τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐξελάσαι καταπλεύσαντα πλοίοις ἑκατόν, εἰ δέ, ὡς Ἡρόδοτος εἴρηκεν ἀλλαχόθι, τὴν μὲν πόλιν αὐτῶν ἐμπρήσαντες διέφθειραν, οἱ δʼ ἄνθρωποι καταφυγόντες εἰς τὰ ὄρη διεσώθησαν, ἦπου καλὴν αἰτίαν εἶχον τοῖς ἀπολέσασι τὴν πατρίδα πέμπειν βοήθειαν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς ἀμυνομένοις ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀμύνειν. ὅτι δʼ οὐκ ἐπαινέσαι βουληθεὶς Δημόκριτον, ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ αἰσχύνῃ Ναξίων συνέθηκε τὸ ψεῦδος, δῆλός ἐστι τῷ παραλιπεῖν ὅλως καὶ παρασιωπῆσαι τὸ Δημοκρίτου κατόρθωμα καὶ τὴν ἀριστείαν, ἣν ἐπιγράμματι, Σιμωνίδης ἐδήλωσε
Δημόκριτος τρίτος ἦρξε μάχης, ὅτε πὰρ Σαλαμῖνα
Ἕλληνες Μήδοις σύμβαλον ἐν πελάγει
πέντε δὲ νῆας ἕλεν δηίων, ἕκτην δʼ ὑπὸ χεῖρα
ῥύσατο βαρβαρικὴν Δωρίδʼ ἁλισκομένην.

[¶2] 37. But why should any one be angry with him about the Naxians? If we have, as some say, antipodes inhabiting the other hemisphere, I believe that they also have heard of Themistocles and his counsel, which he gave to the Greeks, to fight a naval battle before Salamis, after which, the barbarian being overcome, he built in Melite a temple to Diana the Counsellor. This gentle writer, endeavoring, as much as in him lies, to deprive Themistocles of the glory of this, and transfer it to another, writes thus word for word: “Whilst things were thus, Mnesiphilus, an Athenian, asked Themistocles, as he was going aboard his ship, what had been resolved on in council. And being answered, that it was decreed the ships should be brought back to Isthmus, and a battle fought at sea before Peloponnesus; he said, If then they remove the navy from Salamis, you will no longer be fighting for one country; for they will return every one to his own city. Wherefore, if there be any way left, go and endeavor to break this resolution; and, if it be possible, persuade Eurybiades to change his mind and stay here.” Then adding that this advice pleased Themistocles, who, without making any reply, went straight to Eurybiades, he has these very expressions: “And sitting by him he related what he had heard from Mnesiphilus, feigning as if it came from himself, and adding other things.” You see how he accuses Themistocles of disingenuity in arrogating to himself the counsel of Mnesiphilus.

> Greek: 37. ἀλλὰ τί ἄν τις ἀγανακτοίη περὶ Ναξίων; εἰ γάρ εἰσιν ἀντίποδες ἡμῶν, ὥσπερ ἔνιοι λέγουσι, τῆς γῆς τὰ κάτω περιοικοῦντες, οἶμαι μηδʼ ἐκείνους ἀνηκόους εἶναι Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους βουλεύματος, ὃ βουλεύσας τῇ Ἑλλάδι ναυμαχῆσαι πρὸ τῆς Σαλαμῖνος ἱδρύσατο ναὸν Ἀριστοβούλης Ἀρτέμιδος ἐν Μελίτῃ, τοῦ βαρβάρου καταπολεμηθέντος. τοῦτο μὲν τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ὁ χαρίεις συγγραφεὺς ὅσον ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ παραιρούμενος καὶ τὴν δόξαν εἰς ἕτερον μεταφέρων ταυτὶ γράφει κατὰ λέξιν ἐνταῦθα δὴ Θεμιστοκλέα ἀφικόμενον ἐπὶ τὴν νέα εἴρετο Μνησίφιλος ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος, ὃ τι σφι εἴη βεβουλευμένον πυθόμενος δὲ πρὸς αὐτοῦ, ὡς εἴη δεδογμένον ἀνάγειν τὰς νέας πρὸς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν καὶ πρὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου ναυμαχέειν, εἶπε οὐκ ἄρα, ἢν ἀπαίρωσι τὰς νέας ἀπὸ Σαλαμῖνος, οὐδὲ περὶ μιῆς ἔτι πατρίδος ναυμαχήσεις· κατὰ γὰρ πόλεις ἕκαστοι τρέψονται. καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ἀλλὰ εἴ τις ἔστι μηχανή, ἴθι τε καὶ πειρῶ διαχέαι τὰ βεβουλευμένα, ἤν κως δύνῃ ἀναγνῶσαι Εὐρυβιάδεα μεταβουλεύσασθαι ὥστε αὐτοῦ μενεῖν εὖθʼ ὑπειπὼν ὅτι κάρτα τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ ἤρεσε ἡ ὑποθήκη, καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ταῦτα ἀμειψάμενος ἀφίκετο πρὸς τὸν Εὐρυβιάδην πάλιν αὐταῖς λέξεσι γέγραφεν ἐνταῦθα δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς παριζόμενὸς οἱ καταλέγει κεῖνά τε πάντα ἃ ἤκουσε Μνησιφίλου ἑωυτοῦ ποιεύμενος, καὶ ἄλλα προστιθείς. ὁρᾷς ὅτι κακοηθείας προστρίβεται τἀνδρὶ δόξαν, ἴδιον αὐτοῦ βούλευμα ποιεῖσθαι τὸ τοῦ Μνησιφίλου λέγων;

[¶3] 38. And deriding the Greeks still further, he says, that Themistocles, who was called another Ulysses for his wisdom, was so blind that he could not foresee what was fit to be done; but that Artemisia, who was of the same city with Herodotus, without being taught by any one, but by her own consideration, said thus to Xerxes: “The Greeks will not long be able to hold out against you, but you will scatter them, and they will flee to their own cities; nor is it probable, if you march your army by land to Peloponnesus, that they will sit still, or take care to fight at sea for the Athenians. But if you make haste to give them a naval battle, I fear lest your fleets receiving damage may prove also very prejudicial to your land-forces.” Certainly Herodotus wanted nothing but verses to make Artemisia another Sibyl, so exactly prophesying of things to come. Therefore Xerxes also delivered his sons to her to be carried to Ephesus; for he had (it seems) forgot to bring women with him from Susa, if indeed the boys wanted a train of female attendants.

> Greek: 38. ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον τῶν Ἑλλήνων καταγελῶν Θεμιστοκλέα μὲν οὔτε φησὶ φρονῆσαι τὸ συμφέρον ἀλλὰ παριδεῖν, ὃς Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐπωνομάσθη διὰ τὴν φρόνησιν Ἀρτεμισίαν δὲ τὴν Ἡροδότου πολῖτιν, μηδενὸς διδάξαντος, αὐτὴν ἀφʼ ἑαυτῆς ἐπινοήσασαν Ξέρξῃ προειπεῖν, ὡς οὐχ οἷοί τε πολλὸν χρόνον ἔσονταί τοι ἀντέχειν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλά σφεας διασκεδᾷς, κατὰ πόλεις δὲ ἕκαστοι φεύξονται καὶ οὐκ εἰκὸς αὐτούς, ἢν σὺ ἐπὶ τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐλαύνῃς τὸν πεζὸν στρατόν, ἀτρεμήσειν, οὐδέ σφι μελήσειν πρὸ τῶν Ἀθηνέων ναυμαχέειν ἢν δὲ αὐτίκα ἐπειχθῇς ναυμαχῆσαι, δειμαίνω μὴ ὁ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς κακωθεὶς καὶ τὸν πεζὸν προσδηλήσηται ταῦτα μὲν οὖν μέτρων ἐνδεῖ τῷ Ἡροδότῳ, Σίβυλλαν ἀποφῆναι τὴν Ἀρτεμισίαν τὰ μέλλοντα προθεσπίζουσαν οὕτως ἀκριβῶς. διὸ καὶ Ξέρξης αὐτῇ παρέδωκε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ παῖδας ἀπάγειν εἰς Ἔφεσον· ἐπελέληστο γὰρ ἐκ Σούσων, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἄγειν γυναῖκας, εἰ γυναικείας ἐδέοντο παραπομπῆς οἱ παῖδες.

[¶4] 39. But it is not our design to search into the lies of Herodotus; we only make enquiry into those which he invented to detract from the glory of others. He says: “It is reported by the Athenians that Adimantus, captain of the Corinthians, when the enemies were now ready to join battle, was struck with such fear and astonishment that he fled; not thrusting his ship backward by the stern, or leisurely retreating through those that were engaged, but openly hoisting up his sails, and turning the heads of all his vessels. And about the farther part of the Salaminian coast, he was met by a pinnace, out of which one spake thus to him: Thou indeed, Adimantus, fliest, having betrayed the Grecians; yet they overcome, and according to their desires have the better of their enemies.” This pinnace was certainly let down from heaven. For what should hinder him from erecting a tragical machine, who by his boasting excelled the tragedians in all other things? Adimantus then crediting him (he adds) “returned to the fleet, when the business was already done.” “This report,” says he, “is believed by the Athenians; but the Corinthians deny it, and say, they were the first at the sea-fight, for which they have the testimony of all the other Greeks.” Such is this man in many other places. He spreads different calumnies and accusations of different men, that he may not fail of making some one appear altogether wicked. And it has succeeded well with him in this place; for if the calumny is believed, the Corinthians — if it is not, the Athenians — are rendered infamous. But in truth the Athenians did not belie the Corinthians, but he hath belied them both. Certainly Thucydides, bringing in an Athenian ambassador contesting with a Corinthian at Sparta, and gloriously boasting of many things about the Persian war and the sea-fight at Salamis, charges not the Corinthians with any crime of treachery or leaving their station. Nor was it likely the Athenians should object any such thing against Corinth, when they saw her engraven in the third place after the Lacedaemonians and themselves on those spoils which, being taken from the barbarians, were consecrated to the Gods. And in Salamis they had permitted them to bury the dead near the city, as being men who had behaved themselves gallantly, and to write over them this elegy:
Well-watered Corinth, stranger, was our home;
Salamis, Ajax’s isle, is now our grave;
Here Medes and Persians and Phoenician ships
We fought and routed, sacred Greece to save.
And their honorary sepulchre at the Isthmus has on it this epitaph:
When Greece upon the point of danger stood,
We fell, defending her with our life-blood.
Moreover, on the offerings of Diodorus, one of the Corinthian sea-captains, reserved in the temple of Latona, there is this inscription:
Diodorus’s seamen to Latona sent
These arms, of hostile Medes the monument.
And as for Adimantus himself, against whom Herodotus frequently inveighs, — saying, that he was the only captain who went about to fly from Artemisium, and would not stay the fight, — behold in how great honor he is:
Here Adimantus rests: the same was he,
Whose counsels won for Greece the crown of liberty.
For neither is it probable, that such honor would have been shown to a coward and a traitor after his decease; nor would he have dared to give his daughters the names of Nausinica, Acrothinius, and Alexibia, and his son that of Aristeas, if he had not performed some illustrious and memorable action in that fight. Nor is it credible that Herodotus was ignorant of that which could not be unknown even to the meanest Carian, that the Corinthian women alone made that glorious and divine prayer, by which they besought the Goddess Venus to inspire their husbands with a love of fighting against the barbarians. For it was a thing divulged abroad, concerning which Simonides made an epigram to be inscribed on the brazen image set up in that temple of Venus which is said to have been founded by Medea, when she desired the Goddess, as some affirm, to deliver her from loving her husband Jason, or, as others say, to free him from loving Thetis. The tenor of the epigram follows:
For those who, fighting on their country’s side,
Opposed th’ imperial Mede’s advancing tide,
We, votaresses, to Cythera pray’d;
Th’ indulgent power vouchsafed her timely aid,
And kept the citadel of Hellas free
From rude assaults of Persia’s archery.
These things he should rather have written and recorded, than have inserted Aminocles’s killing of his son.

> Greek: 39. ἀλλʼ ὃ μὲν ἔψευσται, λόγος ἡμῖν οὐδείς ἃ δὲ τ … ψεῦσται μόνον ἐξετάζομεν. φησὶ τοίνυν Ἀθηναίους· λέγειν, ὡς Ἀδείμαντος ὁ Κορινθίων στρατηγός, ἐν χερσὶ τῶν πολεμίων γενομένων, ὑπερεκπλαγεὶς καὶ καταδείσας ἔφευγεν· οὐ πρύμναν κρουσάμενος οὐδὲ διαδὺς ἀτρέμα διὰ τῶν μαχομένων, ἀλλὰ λαμπρῶς ἐπαιρόμενος τὰ ἱστία καὶ τὰς ναῦς ἁπάσας ἀποστρέψας· εἶτα μέντοι κέλης ἐλαυνόμενος αὐτῷ συνέτυχε περὶ τὰ λήγοντα τῆς Σαλαμινίας, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κέλητος ἐφθέγξατό τις σὺ μέν, ὦ Ἀδείμαντε, φεύγεις καταπροδοὺς τοὺς Ἕλληνας· οἱ δὲ καὶ δὴ νικῶσι, καθάπερ ἠρῶντο ἐπικρατῆσαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὁ δὲ κέλης οὗτος ἦν, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐρανοπετής· τί γὰρ ἔδει τίθεσθαι μηχανῆς τραγικῆς, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπερπαίοντα τοὺς τραγῳδοὺς ἀλαζονείᾳ; πιστεύσας οὖν ὁ Ἀδείμαντος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐπʼ ἐξειργασμένοις αὕτη φάτις ἔχει ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων οὐ μέντοι Κορίνθιοι ὁμολογέουσι, ἀλλὰ ἐν πρώτοισι σφέας αὐτοὺς τῆς ναυμαχίης νομίζουσι γενέσθαι μαρτυρεῖ δέ σφι καὶ ἡ ἄλλη Ἑλλάς. Τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ἐν πολλοῖς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἑτέρας καθʼ ἑτέρων διαβολὰς καὶ κατηγορίας κατατίθησιν, ὥστε μὴ διαμαρτεῖν τοῦ φανῆναὶ τινα πάντως πονηρόν ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα περίεστιν αὐτῷ, ἀπιστουμένους μὲν τῆς διαβολῆς, Κορινθίους ἀδοξεῖν, ἀπιστουμένης δέ, Ἀθηναίους, ἢν οἶμαι μηδὲ Κορινθίων Ἀθηναίους, ἀλλὰ τοῦτον ἀμφοτέρων ὁμοῦ καταψεύδεσθαι. Θουκυδίδης γοῦν ἀντιλέγοντα ποιῶν τῷ Κορινθίῳ τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐν Λακεδαίμονι καὶ πολλὰ περὶ τῶν Μηδικῶν λαμπρυνόμενον ἔργων καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίας οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν προδοσίας ἢ λιποταξίας ἐπενήνοχε Κορινθίοις· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν Ἀθηναίους ταῦτα βλασφημεῖν περὶ τῆς Κορινθίων πόλεως, ἣν τρίτην μὲν ἑώρων μετὰ Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ μετʼ αὐτοὺς ἐγχαραττομένην τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἀναθήμασιν· ἐν δὲ Σαλαμῖνι παρὰ τὴν πόλιν ἔδωκαν αὐτοῖς θάψαι τε τοὺς ἀποθανόντας, ὡς ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενομένους, καὶ ἐπιγράψαι τόδε τὸ ἐλεγεῖον
ὦ ξένε, εὔυδρὸν ποτʼ ἐναίομεν ἄστυ Κορίνθου,
νῦν δʼ ἅμʼ Αἴαντος νᾶσος ἔχει Σαλαμίς.
ἐνθάδε Φοινίσσας νῆας καὶ Πέρσας ἑλόντες
καὶ Μήδους, ἱερὰν Ἑλλάδα ῥυσάμεθα.
τὸ δʼ ἐν Ἰσθμῷ κενοτάφιον ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχει ταύτην
ἀκμᾶς ἑστακυῖαν ἐπὶ ξυροῦ Ἑλλάδα πᾶσαν
ταῖς αὐτῶν ψυχαῖς κείμεθα ῥυσάμενοι.
Διοδώρου δέ τινος τῶν Κορινθίων τριηράρχων ἐν ἱερῷ Λητοῦς ἀναθήμασι κειμένοις καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐπιγέγραπται
ταῦτʼ ἀπὸ δυσμενέων Μήδων ναῦται Διοδώρου
ὅπλʼ ἀνέθεν Λατοῖ, μνάματα ναυμαχίας.
αὐτός γε μὴν ὁ Ἀδείμαντος, πλεῖστα λοιδορούμενος Ἡρόδοτος διατελεῖ καὶ λέγων μοῦνον ἀσπαίρειν τῶν στρατηγῶν, ὡς φευξόμενον ἀπʼ Ἀρτεμισίου καὶ· μὴ περιμενοῦντα σκόπει τίνα δόξαν εἶχεν
οὗτος Ἀδειμάντου κείνου τάφος, ὃν δία πᾶσα
Ἑλλὰς ἐλευθερίας ἀμφέθετο στέφανον.
οὔτε γὰρ τελευτήσαντι τοιαύτην εἰκὸς ἦν ἀνδρὶ δειλῷ καὶ προδότῃ γενέσθαι τιμήν, οὔτʼ ἂν ἐτόλμησε τῶν θυγατέρων ὄνομα θέσθαι τῇ μὲν Ναυσινίκην τῇ δʼ Ἀκροθίνιον τῇ δʼ Ἀλεξιβίαν, Ἀριστέα δὲ καλέσαι τὸν υἱόν, εἰ μή τις ἦν ἐπιφάνεια καὶ λαμπρότης περὶ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἐκείνων. καὶ μὴν ὅτι μόναι τῶν Ἑλληνίδων αἱ Κορίνθιαι γυναῖκες εὔξαντο τὴν καλὴν ἐκείνην καὶ δαιμόνιον εὐχήν, ἔρωτα τοῖς ἀνδράσι τῆς πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους μάχης ἐμβαλεῖν τὴν θεόν, οὐχ ὅπως τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἡρόδοτον ἀγνοῆσαι πιθανὸν ἦν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸν ἔσχατον Καρῶν· διεβοήθη γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ Σιμωνίδης ἐποίησεν ἐπίγραμμα, χαλκῶν εἰκόνων ἀνασταθεισῶν ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, ὃν ἱδρύσασθαι Μήδειαν λέγουσιν, οἱ μὲν αὐτὴν παυσαμένην τἀνδρός, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν Ἰάσονα τῆς Θέτιδος ἐρῶντα παῦσαι τὴν θεόν. τὸ δʼ ἐπίγραμμα τοῦτʼ ἐστὶν
αἵδʼ ὑπὲρ Ἑλλάνων τε καὶ ἰθυμάχων πολιητᾶν
ἔσταθεν εὐξάμεναι Κύπριδι δαιμόνια.
οὐ γὰρ τοξοφόροισιν ἐμήδετο δῖʼ Ἀφροδίτα
Μήδοις Ἑλλάνων ἀκρόπολιν προδόμεν.
ταῦτʼ ἔδει γράφειν καὶ τούτων μεμνῆσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ τὴν Ἀμεινοκλέους ἐμβαλεῖν … παιδοφονίαν.

[¶5] 40. After he had abundantly satisfied himself with the accusations brought against Themistocles, — of whom he says that, unknown to the other captains, he incessantly robbed and spoiled the islands, — he at length openly takes away the crown of victory from the Athenians, and sets it on the head of the Aeginetans, writing thus: “The Greeks having sent the first-fruits of their spoils to Delphi, asked in general of the God, whether he had a sufficient part of the booty and were contented with it. He answered, that he had enough of all the other Greeks, but not of the Aeginetans; for he expected a donary of them, as having won the greatest honor in the battle at Salamis.” See here how he attributes not his fictions to the Scythians, to the Persians, or to the Egyptians, as Aesop did his to the ravens and apes; but using the very person of the Pythian Apollo, he takes from Athens the chief honor of the battle at Salamis. And the second place in honor being given to Themistocles at the Isthmus by all the other captains, — every one of which attributed to himself the first degree of valor, but gave the next to Themistocles, — and the judgment not coming to a determination, when he should have reprehended the ambition of the captains, he said, that all the Greeks weighed anchor from thence through envy, not being willing to give the chief honor of the victory to Themistocles.

> Greek: 40. τῶν τοίνυν αἰτιῶν τῶν κατὰ Θεμιστοκλέους ἀνέδην ἐμφορηθείς, ἐν οἷς κλέπτοντα καὶ πλεονεκτοῦντα λάθρα τῶν ἄλλων στρατηγῶν οὔ φησι παύσασθαι περὶ τὰς νήσους· τέλος αὐτῶν Ἀθηναίων τὸν στέφανον ἀφελόμενος Αἰγινήταις ἐπιτίθησι, γράφων ταῦτα πέμψαντες ἀκροθίνια, οἱ Ἕλληνες εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐπηρώτων τὸν θεὸν κοινῇ, εἰ λελάβηκε πλήρεα καὶ ἀρεστὰ τὰ ἀκροθίνια· ὁ δὲ παρʼ Ἑλλήνων μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἔφησε ἔχειν, παρʼ Αἰγινητέων δὲ οὒ· ἀλλʼ ἀπαίτεε αὐτοὺς τὰ ἀριστεῖα τῆς ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίας. οὐκέτι Σκύθαις οὐδὲ Πέρσαις οὐδʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ λόγους ἀνατίθησι πλάττων, ὥσπερ Αἴσωπος κόραξι καὶ πιθήκοις, ἀλλὰ τῷ τοῦ Πυθίου προσώπῳ χρώμενος, ἀπωθεῖ τῶν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι πρωτείων τὰς Ἀθήνας. Θεμιστοκλεῖ δὲ τῶν δευτερείων ἐν Ἰσθμῷ γενομένων διὰ τὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἕκαστον αὑτῷ μὲν τὸ πρωτεῖον ἐκείνῳ δὲ τὸ δευτερεῖον ἀποδοῦναι, καὶ τέλος τῆς κρίσεως μὴ λαβούσης, δέον αἰτιάσασθαι τὴν φιλοτιμίαν τῶν στρατηγῶν, πάντας ἀποπλεῦσαί φησι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑπὸ φθόνου μὴ βουληθέντας ἀναγορεῦσαι τὸν ἄνδρα πρῶτον.

[¶6] 41. In his ninth and last book, having nothing left to vent his malice on but the Lacedaemonians and their glorious action against the barbarians at Plataea, he writes, that the Spartans at first feared lest the Athenians should suffer themselves to be persuaded by Mardonius to forsake the other Greeks; but that now, the Isthmus being fortified, they, supposing all to be safe at Peloponnesus, neglected and slighted the rest, feasting and making merry at home, and deluding and delaying the Athenian ambassadors. How then did there go forth from Sparta to Plataea a thousand and five men, having every one of them with him seven Helots? Or how came it that, exposing themselves to so many dangers, they vanquished and overthrew so many thousand barbarians? Hear now his probable cause of it. “It happened,” says he, “that there was then at Sparta a certain stranger of Tegea, named Chileus, who had some friends amongst the Ephori, between whom and him there was mutual hospitality. He then persuaded them to send forth the army, telling them that the fortification on the Isthmus, by which they had fenced in Peloponnesus, would be of no avail if the Athenians joined themselves with Mardonius.” This counsel then drew Pausanias with his army to Plataea; but if any private business had kept that Chileus at Tegea, Greece had never been victorious.

> Greek: 41. ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐνάτῃ καὶ τελευταίᾳ τῶν βίβλων, ὅσον ἦν ὑπόλοιπον ἔτι τῆς πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους αὐτῷ δυσμενείας, ἐκχέαι σπεύδων τὸ παρʼ αὑτὸν ἀφείλετο τὴν ἀοίδιμον νίκην καὶ τὸ περιβόητον Πλαταιᾶσι κατόρθωμα τῆς πόλεως· γέγραφε γὰρ ὡς πρότερον μὲν ὠρρώδουν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, μὴ πεισθέντες ὑπὸ Μαρδονίου τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐγκαταλίπωσιν· τοῦ δʼ Ἰσθμοῦ τειχισθέντος ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ θέμενοι τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἠμέλουν ἢδη τῶν ἄλλων καὶ περιεώρων, ἑορτάζοντες οἴκοι καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις τῶν Ἀθηναίων κατειρωνευόμενοι καὶ διατρίβοντες πῶς οὖν ἐξῆλθον εἰς Πλαταιὰς πεντακισχίλιοι Σπαρτιᾶται, περὶ αὑτὸν ἔχων ἀνὴρ ἕκαστος ἑπτὰ εἵλωτας; ἢ πῶς κίνδυνον ἀράμενοι τοσοῦτον ἐκράτησαν καὶ κατέβαλον μυριάδας τοσαύτας; ἄκουσον αἰτίας πιθανῆς· ἔτυχε φησὶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ παρεπιδημῶν ἐκ Τεγέας ἀνὴρ ὄνομα Χείλεως, ᾧ φίλοι τινὲς καὶ ξένοι τῶν ἐφόρων ἦσαν· οὗτος οὖν ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς ἐκπέμψαι τὸ στράτευμα, λέγων ὅτι τοῦ διατειχίσματος οὐδὲν ὄφελός ἐστι Πελοποννησίοις, ἂν Ἀθηναῖοι Μαρδονίῳ προσγένωνται τοῦτο Παυσανίαν ἐξήγαγεν εἰς Πλαταιὰς μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως· εἰ δέ τι κατέσχεν οἰκεῖον ἐν Τεγέᾳ πρᾶγμα τὸν Χείλεων ἐκεῖνον, οὐκ ἂν ἡ Ἑλλὰς περιεγένετο.

[¶7] 42. Again, not knowing what to do with the Athenians, he tosses to and fro that city, sometimes extolling it, and sometimes debasing it. He says that, contending for the second place with the Tegeatans they made mention of the Heraclidae, alleged their acts against the Amazons, and the sepulchres of the Peloponnesians that died under the walls of Cadmea, and at last ambitiously brought down their discourse to the battle of Marathon, saying, however, that they would be contented with the command of the left wing. A little after, he says, Pausanias and the Spartans yielded them the first place, desiring them to fight in the right wing against the Persians and give them the left, who excused themselves as not skilled in fighting against the barbarians. Now it is a ridiculous thing, to be unwilling to fight against an enemy unless one has been used to him. But he says farther, that the other Greeks being led by their captains to encamp in another place, as soon as they were moved, the horse fled with joy towards Plataea, and in their flight came as far as Juno’s temple. In which place indeed he charges them all in general with disobedience, cowardice, and treason. At last he says, that only the Lacedaemonians and the Tegeates fought with the barbarians, and the Athenians with the Thebans; equally defrauding all the other cities of their part in the honor of the victory, whilst he affirms that none of them joined in the fight, but that all of them, sitting still hard by in their arms, betrayed and forsook those who fought for them; that the Phliasians and Megarians indeed, when they heard Pausanias had got the better, came in late, and falling on the Theban horse, were all cut off; that the Corinthians were not at the battle, and that after the victory, by pressing on over the hills, they escaped the Theban cavalry. For the Thebans, after the barbarians were overthrown, going before with their horse, affectionately assisted them in their flight; to return them thanks (forsooth) for the marks they had stigmatized them with at Thermopylae! Now what rank the Corinthians had in the fight at Plataea against the barbarians, and how they performed their duty, you may hear from Simonides in these verses:
I’ th’ midst were men, in warlike feats excelling
Who Ephyre, full of springs, inhabited,
And who in Corinth, Glaucus’ city, dwelling,
Great praise by their great valor merited;
Of which they to perpetuate the fame,
To th’ Gods of well-wrought gold did offerings frame.
For he wrote not these things, as one that taught at Corinth or that made verses in honor of the city, but only as recording these actions in elegiac verses. But Herodotus, whilst he desires to prevent that objection by which those might convince him of lying who should ask, Whence then are so many mounts, tombs, and monuments of the dead, at which the Plataeans, even to this day, celebrate funeral solemnities in the presence of the Greeks? — has charged, unless I am mistaken, a fouler crime than that of treason on their posterity. For these are his words: “As for the other sepulchres that are seen in Plataea, I have heard that their successors, being ashamed of their progenitors’ absence from this battle, erected every man a monument for posterity’s sake.” Of this treacherous deserting the battle Herodotus was the only man that ever heard. For if any Greeks withdrew them selves from the battle, they must have deceived Pausanias, Aristides, the Lacedaemonians, and the Athenians. Neither yet did the Athenians exclude the Aeginetans who were their adversaries from the inscription, nor convince the Corinthians of having fled from Salamis before the victory, Greece bearing witness to the contrary. Indeed Cleadas, a Plataean, ten years after the Persian war, to gratify, as Herodotus says, the Aeginetans, erected a mount bearing their name. How came it then to pass that the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, who were so jealous of each other that they were presently after the war ready to go together by the ears about the setting up a trophy, did not yet repel those Greeks who fled in a fear from the battle from having a share in the honor of those that behaved themselves valiantly, but inscribed their names on the trophies and colossuses, and granted them part of the spoils? Lastly they set up an altar, on which was engraven this epigram:
The Greeks, by valor having put to flight
The Persians and preserved their country’s right,
Erected here this altar which you see,
To Jove, preserver of their liberty.
Did Cleadas, O Herodotus, or some other, write this also, to oblige the cities by flattery? What need had they then to employ fruitless labor in digging up the earth, to make tombs and erect monuments for posterity’s sake, when they saw their glory consecrated in the most illustrious and greatest donaries? Pausanias indeed, when he was aspiring to the tyranny, set up this inscription in Delphi:
Pausanias, of Greeks the general,
When he the Medes in fight had overthrown,
Offered to Phoebus a memorial
Of victory, this monumental stone.
In which he gave the glory to the Greeks, whose general he professed himself to be. Yet the Greeks not enduring but utterly misliking it, the Lacedaemonians, sending to Delphi, caused this to be cut out, and the names of the cities, as it was fit, to be engraven instead of it. Now how is it possible that the Greeks should have been offended that there was no mention made of them in the inscription, if they had been conscious to themselves of deserting the fight? or that the Lacedaemonians would have erased the name of their leader and general, to insert deserters and such as withdrew themselves from the common danger? For it would have been a great indignity, that Sophanes, Aeimnestus, and all the rest who showed their valor in that fight, should calmly suffer even the Cythnians and Melians to be inscribed on the trophies; and that Herodotus, attributing that fight only to three cities, should raze all the rest out of those and other sacred monuments and donaries.

> Greek: 42. πάλιν δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις οὐκ ἔχων ὅ τι χρήσαιτο, ποτὲ μὲν αἴρει ποτὲ καταβάλλει τὴν πόλιν ἄνω καὶ κάτω μεταφέρων, οὓς Τεγεάταις μὲν εἰς ἀγῶνα λέγει περὶ τῶν δευτερείων καταστάντας Ἡρακλειδῶν τε μεμνῆσθαι καὶ τὰ πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας πραχθέντα προφέρειν ταφάς τε Πελοποννησίων τῶν ὑπὸ τῇ Καδμείᾳ πεσόντων· καὶ τέλος, εἰς τὸν Μαραθῶνα καταβαίνειν τῷ λόγῳ φιλοτιμουμένους καὶ ἀγαπῶντας ἡγεμονίας τυχεῖν τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ κέρως ὀλίγον δʼ ὕστερον αὐτοῖς Παυσανίαν καὶ Σπαρτιάτας τῆς ἡγεμονίας ὑφίεσθαι καὶ παρακαλεῖν, ὅπως κατὰ Πέρσας ἀντιταχθῶσι τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας παραλαβόντες, αὐτοῖς δὲ παραδόντες τὸ εὐώνυμον, ὡς ἀηθείᾳ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους μάχην ἀπολεγομένους. καίτοι γελοῖον, εἰ συνήθεις; εἶεν οἱ πολέμιοι, μάχεσθαι μὴ θέλειν. ἀλλὰ τοὺς γʼ ἄλλους Ἕλληνας εἰς ἕτερον τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀγομένους στρατόπεδον, ὡς ἐκινήθησαν, φησὶ φεύγειν ἀσμένως τὴν ἵππον πρὸς τὴν τῶν Πλαταιέων πόλιν· φεύγοντας δʼ ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς τὸ Ἡραῖον ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἀπείθειαν καὶ λιποταξίαν καὶ προδοσίαν ὁμοῦ τι πάντων κατηγόρησε. τέλος μόνους φησὶ τοῖς μὲν βαρβάροις Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Τεγεάτας τοῖς δὲ Θηβαίοις Ἀθηναίους συμπεσόντας διαγωνίσασθαι, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας πόλεις ὁμαλῶς ἁπάσας τοῦ κατορθώματος ἀπεστέρηκεν· οὐδένα συνεφάψασθαι τοῦ ἀγῶνος, ἀλλὰ καθημένους πάντας τῶν ὅπλων καταλιπεῖν καὶ προδοῦναι τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν μαχομένους· ὀψὲ δὲ Φλιασίους καὶ Μεγαρέας πυθομένους νικῶντα Παυσανίαν, προσφερομένους καὶ ἐμπεσόντας εἰς τὸ Θηβαίων ἱππικόν, οὐδενὶ λόγῳ διαφθαρῆναι Κορινθίους δὲ τῇ μὲν μάχῃ μὴ παραγενέσθαι, μετὰ δὲ τὴν νίκην ἐπειγομένους διὰ τῶν λόφων, μὴ περιπεσεῖν τοῖς ἱππεῦσι τῶν Θηβαίων· οἱ γὰρ Θηβαῖοι, τῆς τροπῆς γενομένης, προϊππεύοντες τῶν βαρβάρων προθύμως παρεβοήθουν φεύγουσιν αὐτοῖς, δηλονότι τῶν ἐν Θερμοπύλαις στιγμάτων χάριν ἀποδιδόντες. ἀλλὰ Κορινθίους γε καὶ τάξιν ἣν ἐμάχοντο τοῖς βαρβάροις, καὶ τέλος ἡλίκον ὑπῆρξεν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Πλαταιᾶσιν ἀγῶνος ἔξεστι Σιμωνίδου πυθέσθαι γράφοντος ἐν τούτοις
μέσσοι δʼ οἳ τʼ Ἔφυραν πολυπίδακα ναιετάοντες,
παντοίης ἀρετῆς ἴδριες ἐν πολέμῳ,
οἵ τε πόλιν Γλαύκοιο, Κορίνθιον ἄστυ, νέμοντες,
οἵ … κάλλιστον μάρτυν ἔθεντο πόνων
χρυσοῦ τιμήεντος ἐν αἰθέρι καί σφιν ἀέξει
αὐτῶν τʼ εὐρεῖαν κληδόνα καὶ πατέρων.
ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ χορὸν ἐν Κορίνθῳ διδάσκων οὐδʼ ᾆσμα ποιῶν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἄλλως δὲ τὰς πράξεις ἐκείνας, ἐλεγείᾳ γράφων, ἱστόρηκεν. ὁ δὲ προλαμβάνων τὸν ἔλεγχον τοῦ ψεύσματος τῶν ἐρησομένων πόθεν οὖν πολυάνδρια καὶ θῆκαι τοσαῦται καὶ μνήματα νεκρῶν, ἐν οἷς ἐναγίζουσιν ἄχρι νῦν Πλαταιεῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων συμπαρόντων αἴσχιον, ὡς οἶμαι, τῆς προδοσίας τῶν γενεῶν κατηγόρηκεν ἐν τούτοις τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὅσοι καὶ φαίνονται ἐν Πλαταιῇσι ἐόντες τάφοι, τούτους δέ, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, αἰσχυνομένους τῇ ἀπεστοῖ τῆς μάχης ἑκάστους χώματα χῶσαι κεινὰ τῶν ἐπιγινομένων εἵνεκʼ ἀνθρώπων ταύτην τὴν ἀπεστὼ τῆς μάχης προδοσίαν οὖσαν Ἡρόδοτος ἀνθρώπων μόνος ἁπάντων ἢκουσε, Παυσανίαν δὲ καὶ Ἀριστείδην καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους καὶ Ἀθηναίους ἔλαθον οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐγκαταλιπόντες τὸν κίνδυνον καὶ οὔτʼ Αἰγινήτας Ἀθηναῖοι διαφόρους ὄντας εἶρξαν τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς, οὔτε Κορινθίους ἤλεγξαν, οὓς πρότερον νικῶντες φεύγειν ἀπὸ Σαλαμῖνος, ἀντιμαρτυρούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς Ἑλλάδος. καίτοι Κλεάδας ἦν ὁ Πλαταιεύς, ὃς ἔτεσι, δέκα ὔστερον τῶν Μηδικῶν Αἰγινήταις χαριζόμενος, ὥς φησιν Ἡρόδοτος, ἐπώνυμον ἔχωσεν αὐτῶν πολυάνδριον. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τί παθόντες εὐθὺς τότε πρὸς μὲν ἀλλήλους ὀλίγον ἐδέησαν εἰς χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν περὶ τοῦ τροπαίου τῆς ἀναστάσεως· τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας ἀποδειλιάσαντας καὶ ἀποδράντας οὐκ ἀπήλαυνον τῶν ἀριστείων, ἀλλʼ ἐνέγραφον τοῖς τροπαίοις καὶ τοῖς κολοσσοῖς καὶ μετεδίδοσαν τῶν λαφύρων τέλος δὲ τῷ βωμῷ τοὐπίγραμμα τοῦτο γράφοντες ἐνεχάραξαν
τόνδε ποθʼ Ἕλληνες Νίκης κράτει, ἔργῳ Ἄρηος,
εὐτόλμῳ ψυχῆς λήματι πειθόμενοι,
Πέρσας ἐξελάσαντες, ἐλευθέρᾳ Ἑλλάδι κοινὸν
ἱδρύσαντο Διὸς βωμὸν Ἐλευθερίου;
μὴ καὶ τοῦτο Κλεάδας ἤ τις ἄλλος, ὦ Ἡρόδοτε, κολακεύων τὰς πόλεις ἐπέγραψε; τί οὖν ἐδέοντο τὴν γῆν ὀρύσσοντες διακενῆς ἔχειν πράγματα καὶ ῥᾳδιουργεῖν χώματα καὶ μνήματα τῶν ἐπιγινομένων ἕνεκʼ ἀνθρώπων κατασκευάζοντες, ἐν τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις καὶ μεγίστοις ἀναθήμασι τὴν δόξαν αὑτῶν καθιερουμένην ὁρῶντες; καὶ μὴν Παυσανίας, ὡς λέγουσιν, ἤδη τυραννικὰ φρονῶν ἐπέγραψεν ἐν Δελφοῖς
Ἑλλήνων ἀρχηγὸς ἐπεὶ στρατὸν ὤλεσε Μήδων
Παυσανίας, Φοίβῳ μνῆμʼ ἀνέθηκε τόδε,
κοινούμενος ἁμωσγέπως τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὴν δόξαν ὧν ἑαυτὸν ἀνηγόρευσεν ἡγεμόνα τῶν δʼ Ἑλλήνων οὐκ ἀνασχομένων ἀλλʼ ἐγκαλούντων, πέμψαντες εἰς Δελφοὺς Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῦτο μὲν ἐξεκόλαψαν, τὰ δʼ ὀνόματα τῶν πόλεων, ὥσπερ ἦν δίκαιον, ἐνεχάραξαν. καίτοι πῶς εἰκός ἐστιν ἢ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀγανακτεῖν τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς μὴ μετασχόντας, εἰ συνῄδεσαν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἀπόλειψιν τῆς μάχης, ἢ Λακεδαιμονίους τὸν ἡγεμόνα καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐκχαράξαντας, ἐπιγράψαι τοὺς ἐγκαταλιπόντας καὶ περιιδόντας τὸν κίνδυνον; ὡς δεινότατόν ἐστιν, εἰ Σωφάνης μὲν καὶ Ἀείμνηστος καὶ πάντες οἱ διαπρεπῶς ἀγωνισάμενοι τὴν μάχην ἐκείνην οὐδὲ Κυθνίων ἐπιγραφομένων τοῖς τροπαίοις οὐδὲ Μηλίων ἠχθέσθησαν Ἡρόδοτος· δὲ τρισὶ μόναις πόλεσιν ἀναθεὶς τὸν ἀγῶνα τὰς ἄλλας πάσας ἐκχαράττει τῶν τροπαίων καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν.

[¶8] 43. There having been then four fights with the barbarians; he says, that the Greeks fled from Artemisium; that, whilst their king and general exposed himself to danger at Thermopylae, the Lacedaemonians sat negligent at home, celebrating the Olympian and Carnean feasts; and discoursing of the action at Salamis, he uses more words about Artemisia than he does in his whole narrative of the naval battle. Lastly, he says, that the Greeks sat still at Plataea, knowing no more of the fight, till it was over, than if it had been a skirmish between mice and frogs (like that which Pigres, Artemisia’s fellow-countryman, merrily and scoffingly described in his poem), and it had been agreed to fight silently, lest they should be heard by others; and that the Lacedaemonians excelled not the barbarians in valor, but only got the better, as fighting against naked and unarmed men. To wit, when Xerxes himself was present, the barbarians were with much difficulty compelled by scourges to fight with the Greeks; but at Plataea, having taken other resolutions, as Herodotus says, “they were no way inferior in courage and strength; but their garments being without armor was prejudicial to them, since being naked they fought against a completely armed enemy.” What then is there left great and memorable to the Grecians of those fights, if the Lacedaemonians fought with unarmed men, and the other Greeks, though present, were ignorant of the battle; if empty monuments are set up everywhere, and tripods and altars full of lying inscriptions are placed before the Gods; if, lastly, Herodotus only knows the truth, and all others that give any account of the Greeks have been deceived by the fame of those glorious actions, as the effect of an admirable prowess? But he is an acute writer, his style is pleasant, there is a certain grace, force, and elegancy in his narrations; and he has, like a musician, pronounced his discourse, though not knowingly, still clearly and elegantly. These things delight, please, and affect all men. But as in roses we must beware of the venomous flies called cantharides; so must we take heed of the calumnies and envy lying hid under smooth and well-couched phrases and expressions, lest we imprudently entertain absurd and false opinions of the most excellent and greatest cities and men of Greece.

> Greek: 43. τεσσάρων δʼ ἀγώνων τότε πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους γενομένων, ἐκ μὲν Ἀρτεμισίου τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀποδρᾶναί φησιν· ἐν δὲ Θερμοπύλαις, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ, καὶ βασιλέως προκινδυνεύοντος, οἰκουρεῖν καὶ ἀμελεῖν Ὀλύμπια καὶ Κάρνεια πανηγυρίζοντας· τὰ δʼ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι διηγούμενος τοσούτους περὶ Ἀρτεμισίας λόγους γέγραφεν, ὅσοις ὅλην τὴν ναυμαχίαν οὐκ ἀπήγγελκε τέλος δέ, καθημένους ἐν Πλαταιαῖς ἀγνοῆσαι μέχρι τέλους τὸν ἀγῶνα τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὥσπερ βατραχομυομαχίας γινομένης, ἣν Πίγρης ὁ Ἀρτεμισίας ἐν ἔπεσι παίζων καὶ φλυαρῶν ἔγραψε, σιωπῇ διαγωνίσασθαι συνθεμένων, ἵνα λάθωσι τοὺς ἄλλους,· αὐτοὺς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνδρείᾳ μὲν οὐδὲν κρείττονας γενέσθαι τῶν βαρβάρων, ἀνόπλοις δὲ καὶ γυμνοῖς μαχομένους κρατῆσαι. Ξέρξου μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ παρόντος, ὑπὸ μαστίγων μόλις ὄπισθεν ὠθούμενοι προσεφέροντο τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἐν δὲ Πλαταιαῖς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἑτέρας ψυχὰς μεταλαβόντες λήματι μὲν καὶ ῥώμῃ οὐκ ἥσσονες ἦσαν· ἡ δὲ ἐσθής, ἔρημος ἐοῦσα ὅπλων, πλεῖστον ἐδηλήσατό σφεας πρὸς γὰρ ὁπλίτας ἐόντες γυμνῆτες ἀγῶνα ἐποιέοντο τί οὖν περίεστιν ἔνδοξον ἢ μέγα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀπʼ ἐκείνων τῶν ἀγώνων, εἰ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν ἀόπλοις ἐμάχοντο, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἡ μάχη παρόντας ἔλαθε, κενὰ δὲ πολυάνδρια τιμώμενα τοῖς ἑκάστου, ψευδῶν δὲ γραμμάτων μεστοὶ τρίποδες ἑστᾶσι καὶ βωμοὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεοῖς, μόνος δὲ τἀληθὲς Ἡρόδοτος ἔγνω, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους, ὅσοι λόγον Ἑλλήνων ἔχουσιν, ἐξηπάτηκεν ἡ φήμη τῶν τότε κατορθωμάτων, ὡς ὑπερφυῶν γενομένων; τί δῆτα; γραφικὸς ἁνήρ, καὶ ἡδὺς ὁ λόγος, καὶ χάρις ἔπεστι καὶ δεινότης καὶ ὥρα τοῖς διηγήμασι μῦθον δʼ ὡς ὅτʼ ἀοιδός, ἐπισταμένως μὲν οὒ λιγυρῶς δὲ καὶ γλαφυρῶς ἠγόρευκεν. ἀμέλει ταῦτα καὶ κηλεῖ καὶ προσάγεται πάντας, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν ῥόδοις δεῖ κανθαρίδα φυλάττεσθαι τὴν βλασφημίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ κακολογίαν, λείοις καὶ ἁπαλοῖς σχήμασιν ὑποδεδυκυῖαν, ἵνα μὴ λάθωμεν ἀτόπους καὶ ψευδεῖς περὶ τῶν ἀρίστων καὶ μεγίστων, τῆς Ἑλλάδος πόλεων καὶ ἀνδρῶν δόξας λαβόντες.