3. Hude (following Dionysius) conjecturally restores τε in the text of Herodotus. Usener, on the other hand, thinks that Dionysius has deliberately inserted τε here and in l. 17 while omitting it in l. 9.
10. This rugged re-writing of Herodotus shows a real appreciation of style and should be compared with the remarks which Demetrius (de Eloc. § 48) makes on Thucydides’ avoidance of smoothness and evenness of composition, and on his liking for jolting rhythms (e.g. “from other maladies this year, by common consent, was free,” rather than “by common consent, this year was free from other maladies”): καὶ ὁ Θουκυδίδης δὲ πανταχοῦ σχεδὸν φεύγει τὸ λεῖον καὶ ὁμαλὲς τῆς συνθέσεως, καὶ ἀεὶ μᾶλλόν τι προσκρούοντι ἔοικεν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς τραχείας ὁδοὺς πορευόμενοι, ἐπὰν λέγῃ ὅτι “τὸ μὲν δὴ ἔτος, ὡς ὡμολόγητο, ἄνοσον ἐς τὰς ἄλλας ἀσθενείας ἐτύγχανεν ὄν.” ῥᾷον μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἥδιον ὧδ’ ἄν τις εἶπεν, ὅτι “ἄνοσον ἐς τὰς ἄλλας ἀσθενείας ὂν ἐτύγχανεν,” ἀφῄρητο δ’ αὐτοῦ τὴν μεγαλοπρέπειαν.—Hermogenes (Walz Rhett. Gr. iii. 206) shows how the passage would be changed for the worse by such a πλαγιασμός as the use of a genitive absolute at the start: e.g. Κροίσου ὄντος κτλ.
11. From this point onwards, the less important of the manuscript variants are not recorded in the critical apparatus, except in the case of P which the editor has examined personally.
12. Demetrius (de Eloc. § 199), in quoting this passage, reads ἐσπλέοντι εἰς: and this may be correct reading in Thucyd. i. 24.
19. Hegesias, in the eyes of Dionysius, was a writer whose originality displayed itself in unnatural contortions of language; cp. Introduction, pp. [52]-55 supra. The merits of a natural, untutored prose-order have been indicated once for all by Molière (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ii. 4): “Monsieur Jourdan. Je voudrais donc lui mettre dans un billet: Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour; mais je voudrais que cela fût mis d’une manière galante, que cela fût tourné gentiment ... Non, vous dis-je, je ne veux que ces seules paroles-là dans le billet; mais tournées à la mode, bien arrangées comme il faut. Je vous prie de me dire un peu, pour voir, les diverses manières dont on les peut mettre.—Maître de Philosophie. On les peut mettre premièrement comme vous avez dit: Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour. Ou bien: D’amour mourir me font, belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux. Ou bien: Vos yeux beaux d’amour me font, belle Marquise, mourir. Ou bien: Mourir vos beaux yeux, belle Marquise, d'amour me font. Ou bien: Me font vos yeux beaux mourir, belle Marquise, d’amour. [This is, apparently the crowning absurdity.]—M. Jourdain. Mais de toutes ces façons-là, laquelle est la meilleure?—Maître de Philosophie. Celle que vous avez dite: Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour.—M. Jourdain. Cependant je n’ai point étudié, et j’ai fait cela tout du premier coup.”
20. The phrase is perhaps suggested by Aristoph. Nub. 359 σύ τε, λεπτοτάτων λήρων ἱερεῦ, φράζε πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὅ τι χρῄζεις. Cp. Cic. pro Sestio 17. 39 “stuprorum sacerdos,” and also D.H. p. 169 (note on καὶ πολὺς ὁ τελέτης ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις παρ’ αὐτῷ). ‘Hierophant,’ ‘adept,’ ‘past master,’ will give something of the idea.
ἱερεὺς ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ τοιαῦτα γράφων· “Ἐξ ἀγαθῆς ἑορτῆς
ἀγαθὴν ἄγομεν ἄλλην.” “Ἀπὸ Μαγνησίας εἰμὶ τῆς μεγάλης
Σιπυλεύς.” “Οὐ γὰρ μικρὰν εἰς Θηβαίων ὕδωρ ἔπτυσεν ὁ
Διόνυσος· ἡδὺς μὲν γάρ ἐστι, ποιεῖ δὲ μαίνεσθαι.”
ἅλις ἔστω παραδειγμάτων. ἱκανῶς γὰρ οἴομαι πεποιηκέναι 5
φανερὸν ὃ προὔκειτό μοι, ὅτι μείζονα ἰσχὺν ἔχει τῆς
ἐκλογῆς ἡ σύνθεσις. καί μοι δοκεῖ τις οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτεῖν
εἰκάσας αὐτὴν τῇ Ὁμηρικῇ Ἀθηνᾷ· ἐκείνη τε γὰρ τὸν
Ὀδυσσέα τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα ἄλλοτε ἀλλοῖον ἐποίει φαίνεσθαι,
τοτὲ μὲν μικρὸν καὶ ῥυσὸν καὶ αἰσχρὸν 10
πτωχῷ λευγαλέῳ ἐναλίγκιον ἠδὲ γέροντι,