[101] The expedition to Thessaly must have been in the spring of 480. The Thessalian deputies came to the Isthmus “as soon as they were informed that the Persian was about to cross over into Europe” (H. vii. 172). Xerxes spent the winter of 481–480 at Sardes, and started thence “at the beginning of the spring” (H. vii. 37).
[102] The Expedition to Tempe in Diodorus.—The account of the Tempe expedition as given by Diodorus differs in certain most important particulars from the brief narrative in Herodotus. It is possible that the manifest absurdity of the chronology in the historian’s work has created an undue prejudice against him as a source of evidence, a tendency increased by the second-hand nature of his information. It seems to me, however, that this latter characteristic constitutes a very strong reason for treating his information with respect. There is no reason why a bad historian should be a bad copyist; and whatever the man himself may have been, the writers from whose work he plagiarized so freely may in some cases have been most reliable witnesses. The passage on Tempe is in Bk. XI. ch. ii. 13, and it may be well to note the points in which he agrees with, and in which he differs from, the account in Herodotus.
| Diodorus. | Herodotus. |
|---|---|
| 1. The Greeks sent ten thousand hoplites to Thessaly to seize the passes to Tempe. | Gives the same number—ten thousand. |
| 2. On hearing of the size of the Persian force. | Mentions this as the reported cause of withdrawal from Tempe. |
| 3. Synetos was leader of the Lacedæmonians. | Evænetos. |
| 4. Themistocles leader of the Athenians. | Same. |
| 5. Ambassadors sent by the Lacedæmonians to the other States, asking them to send forces to join in the defence of the passes. | No mention. |
| 6. They were eager to include the whole of the Greek States in the defending forces, and to get them to take part in the war against the Persians. | No mention. |
| 7. They left Tempe because the majority of the Thessalians and the other Greeks in that neighbourhood gave earth and water to Xerxes’ envoys. | Believes the real reason for departure to have been the discovery that there were other passes by which Tempe could be turned. |
| 8. Ænianians, Dolopians, Malians, Perrhæbians, Magnetes, medize while army still at Tempe. | Makes no distinction between the time at which these two sets of States medized. |
| 9. Achæans (Phthiotis), Locri, (Opuntian), Thessalians, Bœotians, after the departure of Greek force from Tempe. |
It is quite plain that the account of Diodorus is not borrowed from Herodotus, nor does it show traces of having had, either in whole or even in part, a common source. In certain respects it is the more probable tale of the two. For example, the comparative smallness of the numbers sent is explained by the fact that the Lacedæmonians and Athenians hoped that the other Greeks would send contingents. Again, the size of the Persian force is given as a reason for going to Tempe, while Herodotus gives it as a reason for leaving the same, though he is inclined to reject the tale. It is inconceivable that the Greeks should at this time have been totally ignorant of the magnitude of the Persian force. Diodorus’ tale admits of the common-sense explanation that, having made up their minds to defend the North, they thought it best to choose a place where the Persian superiority in numbers would be of as little advantage as possible, though it was mainly for political purposes that so advanced a position was taken up.
In speaking of the medization of the States or clans, he evidently uses Θέτταλοι in Chapter II. in a general sense of the population of the region of Thessaly, whereas in Chapter III. he uses it of the Thessalians, properly so-called. There is nothing in Herodotus which contradicts Diodorus’ account of the medization. Both accounts may be true, though that of Diodorus is the fuller one. There is one point in it which is peculiarly supported by what Herodotus says. The Aleuadæ medized; but the mass of their subjects disapproved of this policy, and called in the Southern Greeks. The great Thessalian lords were lords of the plain rather than of the mountain. It was consequently the population of the plain which was opposed to their policy. It is therefore a remarkable fact that the tribes of the Thessalian region, which Diodorus mentions as having medized in the first instance, are those of the bordering mountain region; whereas those of the great plain remained true to the Greek cause until the withdrawal of the army from Tempe left them exposed to the overwhelming flood of the invasion.
[103] Diodorus gives his name as Synetos.
[104] The Thessalian appeal to the Congress at the Isthmus to send a force to Tempe is made to the προβόυλοι τῆς Ἑλλάδος, but the expression used by Herodotus in vii. 145 and 172, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ἕλλήνες τὰ ἀμείνω φρονέοντες, has almost an official ring about it.
[105] Cf. language used by the Greek embassy to Gelo at Syracuse (H. vii. 157).
[106] It has been asserted that this passage from Diodorus is drawn from the passage of Ephorus, of which the fragment is a survival. It would seem to me that the essential difference between the two points to a difference of origin, and that they are two pieces of evidence on the question, and not one.
Note on the Sequence of Events in Relation to the Negotiations with Gelo.