In that passage he speaks of Pheidon as “the man who made their measures for the Peloponnesians[888].” The force of the definite article that precedes the Greek μέτρα has not always been sufficiently stressed. More than one recent writer begins his discussion of the passage by translating τὰ μέτρα “_a_ system of measures.” The subsequent argument has naturally suffered. τὰ μέτρα can be no other measures than those associated with the Peloponnesus in Herodotus’ own days, namely those of the famous Aeginetan standard, employed in particular for the coinage of the island[889]. Other scholars have regarded the statement that Pheidon struck the first coins in Aegina as merely an amplification by later writers of these very words. They argue that “the measures” plainly meant the Aeginetan standard, and so suggested the famous Aeginetan coinage. This latter view assumes of course that the amplifications of Ephorus are not to be found in Herodotus himself. But what are the facts? The establishment of Aeginetan measures in the Peloponnesus are alluded to by Herodotus not only in the passage about the Argive tyrant in Book VI but also very possibly in the passage in Book V that describes the early Argive expedition to Aegina. In this latter passage the measures are said to have been the result of the expedition. Both expedition and tyrant are probably to be dated early in the seventh century. That is also the date to which numismatists generally assign the first drachmae struck in Aegina, struck too on a standard that, like that of our brooches, was half again as great as that previously in use. It is hard to avoid the inference that when the fourth century writers say that Pheidon coined in Aegina, they are faithfully reporting a genuine tradition. [Sidenote: Sceptical views on these chapters of Herodotus stated and answered.]