Μετὰ τὴν ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχην καὶ μετὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἡ συμμαχία
after the battle in Marathon and after the war (comes) the alliance
Translated by David Whitehead26 Sep 2001Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those who have been dilatory in some undertaking.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Μετὰ τὴν ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχην καὶ μετὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἡ συμμαχία· ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπὶ ὑποθέσει τινὶ καθυστερησάντων.
Betacode
*meta\ th\n e)n *maraqw=ni ma/xhn kai\ meta\ to\n po/lemon h( summaxi/a: e)pi\ tw=n e)pi\ u(poqe/sei tini\ kaqusterhsa/ntwn.
Notes
- This proverb is noted by two of the late paroemiographers: Macarius Chrysocephalus 5.85 and Apostolius 11.30, but each gives it slightly differently from each other and from the Suda's version.
What the Suda's gloss (Apostolius has a different one) presumably means to say is that only after the Persian incursion at Marathon (490 BCE) and again, in "the war" (the second, larger Persian invasion of 481-479) do the Greeks make a successful anti-Persian alliance. But this reflects a shaky understanding of the period in question, since the alliance that faced the second Persian invasion included a wider array of Greek cities than the alliance of the "Delian League" that persisted afterwards.
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Revision history6 revisions · last 10 Sep 2016
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- augmented note — David Whitehead
- augmented note; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- modified translation and note, set status — William Hutton
- Translated — David Whitehead