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εἶχε, i.q. ἐδύνατο: cp. Hdt.'s own οὐκ ἔχω c. 133 supra, etc. τὸ ἐόν, ‘the truth,’ the fact: cp. c. 237 infra τῷ ἐόντι ὅτι . .
γελοῖα: the ahsurdity must surely have lain in the paucity of the force on guard rather than in their gymnastic exercises and care of their persons.
Δημάρητον τὸν Ἀρίστωνος: the patronymic again, which is such an especial compliment in the case of this exile. Cp. cc. 3, 101 supra. Is the story here from the same source as the stories of Demaratos in ll.c.? Here he seems to be merely a part of the Lakedaimonian legend of Thermopylai. The assumption that all the passages in which Demaratos figures are necessarily from one source is hy no means inevitahle. Cp. note to c. 239 infra.
ἤκουσας μὲν καὶ πρότερόν μευ: the address is curiously abrupt and discourteous; the formula ‘I told you so’ is seldom a mark of tact: is Demaratos annoyed? The reference appears to be to the conversation in ce. 101-104 supra. εὖτε ὁρμῶμεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα: it was at D<*>s, not ‘when starting’ on the expedition against Hellas; but perhaps Demaratos joined at Doriskos. ὁρμῶμεν may be the (unaugmented) imperfect.
γέλωτά με ἔθευ: for the faet cp. c. 105 supra; for the form, 3. 29 οὐ χαίροντες γέλωτα ἐμὲ θήσεσθε. ὥρων, purely mental: of ‘the inward eye.’ Cp. c. 212 1. 13. On the practice of truthfulness cp. cc. 101, 234.
ἀπίκαται: i.q. ἀπιγμένοι εἰσί. ταῦτα=μάχεσθαι is very like οὕτω.
νόμος ... ἔχων οὕτω: surely not a distinct enactment. ἔχων οὕτω, ‘to this effect.’ The law, or custom, in question Canon Rawlinson stiginatizes as “military coxcombry”—alas! alas!—and extends the censure to the bright polish of their arms, the battle-wreath, and the crimson tunic of the Spartan brave. Xenophon (de rep. Lac. 13. 8) thought some of these things μάλα ὠφέλιμα. Plutarch (Lyk. 22) reports a saying of the great legislator's in favour of hairdressing. It made the Spartans γοργότεροι, Xenoph. op. c. 11. 3. The Suabians of Tacitus (Germ. 38) in altitudinem quandam et terrorem, adituri bella, compti, ut hostium oculis, ornantur. The scarlet tunic hid the blood, Xenoph. l.c.
ἐπίστασο: as the middle imper. of ἵστημι is ἵστασο (ἵστω), ἐπίσταμαι follows suit; it may be the same word originally (though even Attic Greek preserves the form unaspirate). This passage makes the attitude and action of Sparta the supreme and crucial question for the Persian king, and implicitly claims the credit of the Greek deliverance for Sparta.
τὰ λεγόμενα, by Demaratos; but the tense is observable: cp. a stronger instance, c. 237 infra.
τοσοῦτοι, ‘so few’ (only so many); cp. 4. 159.
ψεύστῃ: Valckenaer, Baehr, and Blakesley see in this word here a genuinely Pe<*> touch; cp. 1. 138. The Dareios of <*>:. forgets that, and talks rank sophistry, 3. 72.
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