OUSEION - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative ...

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 197
other things. to show why these peoples came to make war on one another."
For contrast here is my own literal translation. which follows
Herodotus' clause rhythm more precisely: "Herodotus of Halicarnassus
here sets forth the results of his investigations. that the actions performed
by men may not fade over time. nor the great and wonderful
deeds. which both the Greeks and barbarians have displayed. lack renown.
and. along with all other relevant matters. the cause that drove
them to wage war on each other." Herodotus has not written his history
to preserve the "events of human history" but the "actions performed
by men." He intends to recount the "great and wonderful
deeds" which both Greeks and barbarians have displayed. not merely
the "notable achievements" of Greeks and foreigners. (Throughout the
book that offensive word "barbarian" and its cognates have been replaced
with "foreigner" and its cognates except for a single neglected
instance of "barbarians" I found on 95.) Finally. he does not break the
sentence at its end with a strong stop in order to resume more smoothly
with an epexegetical verb (the interpolated "to show"). but strains the
syntax sharply by adding a final paratactic clause that is best taken as
explanatory of iCTOpillC ("investigations") at the start of the sentence.
That final clause in a baldly faithful translation runs as follows: "both
the other relevant matters and the reason through which they waged
war on each other." I tried to suggest the syntactical strain in my
translation above without being too painfully exact. All in all. Shirley is
smooth and painless with more of the Herodotean rhythm in his English
than Blanco. who chopped Herodotus-as he did Thucydides in his
complete Norton translation-into a mess of short. declarative sentences
that almost make de Selincourt look elegant.
This edition would have benefited from a larger range of explanatory
notes. a more thorough historical introduction and a brief bibliography
for further reading-not to mention the missing maps for Marathon
and Plataea. The relatively thin support material will require any
teacher using it to fill in a lot of historical. social and cultural gaps. One
hopes. therefore. that Hackett will eventually publish a complete Herodotus
with adequate commentaries and maps to match their superb
Thucydides.
The low price of Herodotus: On the War for Greek Freedom in paper
makes it suitable for survey courses in Greek history or the Greco­
Persian wars where there is no need for a complete translation. The
choice of abridgements then is between Blanco or Shirley-Romm. The
decision hinges on (a) the quality of translation and (b) the scope of the
background material and commentaries. Blanco is deficient in the first
despite giving us more of the Histories. but far larger in the second. I
myself would choose the cheaper Shirley-Romm edition for the simple