HERODOTUS HEROES. 



713 



and flourishing. His visit to Assyria has been doubt- 

 ed; but if we consider the different passages of his 

 description of Babylon, we must be convinced that 

 none but an eye-witness could have given so exact 

 an account of that great city and of the manners of 

 the inhabitants. Having arrived in Scythia, then 

 little known to the Greeks, although the primitive 

 inhabitants of Greece were from that country, lie 

 penetrated into its immense wilds by the routes which 

 had recently been opened by the Grecian colonies on 

 the Euxine,and thence passing through the Getap, into 

 Thrace and Macedonia, he reached Greece by the 

 way of Epirus. Herodotus expected to find at home 

 that honour which was due to his labours, and leisure 

 to arrange the information which he had collected. 

 But Lygdamis, who had usurped the supreme 

 authority in Halicarnassus, and put to death the 

 noblest citizens, among others, Panyasis, forced him to 

 seek an asylum in the island of Samos. 



Here, in quiet retirement, he wrote the first books 

 of his history; in which, abandoning the Doric dia- 

 lect of his own country, he employed the Ionic, which 

 was spoken in the island of Samos. This labour, 

 however, did not so entirely occupy him, as to pre- 

 vent him from concerting plans for the relief of his 

 oppressed country and the expulsion of the tyrant. 

 Having formed a conspiracy with several exiles who 

 entertained similar sentiments with himself, he re- 

 turned to Halicarnassus, and drove out the usurper, 

 but without much advantage to his country. The 

 nobles who had acted with him, immediately form- 

 ed an aristocracy, more oppressive to Halicarnassus 

 than the arbitrary government of the banished tyrant. 

 Herodotus became odious to the people, who regard- 

 ed him as the author of their aggravated sufferings, 

 and to the nobles, whose proceedings he opposed, so 

 that, bidding an eternal farewell to his unhappy coun- 

 try, he embarked for Greece. He arrived at the 

 time of the celebration of the eighty-first Olympiad, 

 when the noblest spirits, from every corner of Greece, 

 were collected at Olympia. In the presence of the 

 assembled multitudes, he read the beginning of his 

 history, and such extracts as were peculiarly calcu- 

 lated to kindle the enthusiasm and to flatter the 

 pride of his countrymen. His success was complete. 

 His animated description of the contest of the Greeks 

 with the Persians, and of the triumph of liberty over 

 despotism, was received with universal applause. 

 But the influence of his recitation was not limited 

 to this deep impression upon a whole nation. 

 Thucydides, then scarcely fifteen years of age, was 

 present at the Olympian games. He shed tears of 

 admiration, as he looked upon him to whom all 

 eyes were directed. Herodotus perceived it, and 

 ventured to foretell to his father the brilliant destiny 

 which awaited him. 



Encouraged by the applause which he received, 

 Herodotus devoted the twelve following years to the 

 completion of his work : he travelled .over all the 

 countries of Greece : he collected accounts of the 

 most important affairs from the archives of every 

 nation, and corrected from the original documents 

 the genealogies of the most distinguished families. 

 While travelling through Greece, he probably read, 

 in the public assemblies of each people, those por- 

 tions of his history which most nearly concerned it, 

 not merely to elicit their applause, but to obtain 

 useful information. The assertion of Dio Chrysos- 

 tom, that Herodotus, having read before the Corin- 

 thians a description of the battle of Salamis, highly 

 flattering to their pride, and having been refused the 

 reward he had demanded, wrote another account, 

 representing things in a wholly different light, is 

 unworthy of credit. Twelve years after his first 

 recitation at Olympia, he read his work, then proba- 



bly just completed, at the festival of the Panatheiueo, 

 B. C. 444. The Athenians did not limit their grati- 

 tude to empty praise ; they bestowed on the author, 

 who had so well described the achievements of their 

 countrymen, the sum of ten talents (about 10,000 

 dollars). Herodotus, however, did not remain in 

 Athens ; he attached himself to a colony, which the 

 Athenians founded some years after at Thurium', 

 in Italy, near the ruins of the ancient Sybaris. His 

 long residence there led several ancient writers 

 to suppose this was his native city. He devoted his 

 leisure to the revision and extension of his history, 

 and probably died at Thurium, at an advanced age. 



Herodotus, in ancient times, was attacked by 

 jealous critics, who impeached the credibility of his 

 work. But time and the most careful investigation 

 have completely refuted their attacks. The history 

 of Herodotus is one of the most valuable monuments 

 of antiquity which has come down to us. It consists 

 of nine books, which were early distinguished by the 

 names of the nine muses. From the travels of Hero- 

 dotus, before he commenced his work, from the 

 laborious researches in which he engaged, for the 

 purpose of collecting materials, we may infer that he 

 conceived an elevated idea of the duty of a historian, 

 and how much more important he considered it to be 

 impartial and correct, than interesting and eloquent. 

 When he relates any occurrence of which he doubts 

 the truth, he honestly expresses his doubts. He has 

 been accused of credulity ; but we ought to be 

 thankful to him for having preserved a crowd of 

 traditions, which, however marvellous they may be, 

 are characteristic of the genius of antiquity. We 

 are indebted to him alone for the history of the 

 origin and growth of the Persian monarchy, and of 

 those of the earlier Medes and Assyrians. The 

 origin of the kingdom of Lydia ; its destruction by 

 Cyrus, and the different expeditions of that cele- 

 brated conqueror ; the conquest of Egypt by Cam- 

 byses, and the most minute and exact description of 

 that country and its inhabitants ; the constant wars 

 of the successors of Cyrus ; and, particularly, the 

 expedition of Darius against the Scythians, which 

 leads the author to a highly instructive and faithful 

 account of all the people then known in the north of 

 Europe and Asia; these are the principal topics of 

 his introduction to the history of the war between 

 the Greeks and Persians. This war, so rich in great 

 events and great characters, in the course of which 

 the powers and defects of the most illustrious nations 

 of antiquity were strongly developed all this is 

 united in one of the most magnificent and masterly 

 pictures which the human mind has ever conceived. 

 The style and execution of the work excited the 

 admiration of the ablest critics of antiquity ; and we 

 also, although to us so many charms are necessarily 

 lost, are powerfully struck with a style so full of 

 nobleness and grace, of energy and simplicity. 

 Besides this history, there is also a life of Homer, 

 attributed to Herodotus, which is valuable, and 

 which was generally regarded as genuine, by the 

 ancients. Most modem critics, however, agree that 

 he was not the author of it. 



The best editions of the history of Herodotus, are 

 by Wesseling (Amst. 1763, folio), and Schweighauser 

 (Strasburg, 1810, 6 vols.) The work has been trans- 

 lated into German, by Degen, Jacobi, and Lange. 

 The works of Larcher, Volney, Bottiger, Heyne, 

 and Creuzer (Commentat. Herod. Leipsic, 1819), on 

 Herodotus, are very valuable ; translated into French 

 by Larcher, into English by Beloe. Rennell's Geo- 

 graphy of Herodotus (London, 1800) is a very im- 

 portant work. 



HEROES ; a name applied by the Greeks to 

 persons of the earlier periods, who were di>lin- 



