When I reached the end of Herodotus 1, I had a thought I’d like to throw out for consideration – a small point I didn’t find either in Asheri or in Dewald & Munson.
The book divisions in Herodotus are not thought to be original, but Book 1 ends at a major breaking point in the narrative: the conclusion of the Cyrus logos with Cyrus’ defeat and death at the hands of Tomyris, the queen of the Massagetae (with a short ethnographic sketch as a pendant). As Cyrus is preparing to invade Tomyris’ territory, she sends a herald to deliver a dramatic speech in her name threatening to destroy him, ending with the words ἦ μέν σε ἐγὼ καὶ ἄπληστον ἐόντα αἵματος κορέσω – “I swear that even though you’re insatiable for blood, I will give you your fill of it.” (1.212.3) Cyrus is killed in the ensuing battle and his army defeated. In the aftermath, Tomyris fills a wineskin with blood, and when she comes across Cyrus’ body on the field, she stuffs his head into the wineskin, saying σὲ δ’ἐγὼ, κατά περ ἠπείλησα, αἵματος κορέσω – “Just as I threatened, I will give you your fill of blood.” (1.214.5)
My thought is nothing more than that κορέσω is a play or pun on Κῦρος. It only works with the future tense of κορέω, and it seems to me that’s why Herodotus cast the verb in the future and repeated the expression. As I mentioned, I didn’t see this in the two recent commentaries; maybe one of the older ones picked up on this.