Note 59 — Chapter IV · PERSIAN OPERATIONS IN EUROPE: B.C. 493–490. MARATHON.
Reading edition
It must at the same time be pointed out that the statement is not above suspicion in certain respects. Herodotus says, for instance, that “many of the continentals” and “all the islanders” gave earth and water. Cf. H. vi. 96. Did Naxos give “earth and water”? It is a very remarkable exception. Who were these “continentals”? Of all the states only one is mentioned by name—Ægina. Did Ægina really Medize at this time, or was it merely that Athens feared she might do so, or might, at any rate, take the opportunity afforded by a Persian attack to pay off old scores?