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τῶν ἀπὸ Π. στ. ἐπιλεγομένων: the verb means ‘pondering, considering’; cp. 7. 49, 149, 236, etc. (Contr. the verb in the active just above) The local designation of the doubters is important.
ἐληλύθεε: whether pluperfect or not (cp. App. Crit.) his arrival anticipates the decision of the deliberating generals in council. This anonymous messenger reports only what was to be fully expected, unless indeed the defence of the Akropolis was more seriously intended than appears from the subsequent narrative. But with this message, vague in its form, the narrative breaks off, only to be resumed in c. 56 infra, where the Greeks have learnt further of the capture and destruction of the Akropolis: a different matter to this first message.
πᾶσαν cannot be taken here to cover the destruction of the Akropolis, a disaster which would have demanded more precision in the messenger's report. πυρπολέεσθαι: igne vastare, a word used (in the active) by Aristophanes frequently, and by Xenophon (Cyr. 3. 3. 25), and found in Homer, Od. 10. 30, but not elsewhere in Hdt.
ὁ γάρ κτλ. introduces what is virtually a digression, resuming the narrative of the advance of the Persian army, from c. 39, or even from c. 34 supra. There was perhaps a concentration of the Persians in W. Boiotia (Koroneia?) —to which point the centre would have advanced by Parapotamioi and Chaironeia, the left wing, from Abai, by Aspledon and Orchomenos, the right wing, by Lilaia — Delphi — Panopeus—Chaironeia, or possibly even by Trachis—Amphissa— Delphi—Lebadeia. Thespiai and Plataiai may have been destroyed by an advance of the column from Delphi; or by an excursion from Thebes, where no doubt the Persian force was concentrated: the Plataians serving on the fleet had reached home iu time to take part in the flitting to Peloponnesos; cp. c. 44 supra. Hdt. evideutly thinks that the whole land-forces of Xerxes entered Attica by one and the same road; cp. c. 113 infra. This suppositiou is absurd. From Thebes iuto Attica three routes would have beeu available. I. Right, or west, by Eleutherai—Eleusis (detaching a force against Plataiai?): probably the best and easiest route, theu as now. II. Ceutral, by Pauakton—Phyle—Acharnai: the most direct, and also the most difficult. III. Left, or east, by Tauagra and Dekeleia (cp. 9. 15 infra), a cousiderable circuit, but a good and much frequented road. Probably the Persians used all three, both goiug and coming; doubtless also a cousiderable force was left behind iu Boiotia, and garrisons all along the kiug's route to the rear. The singulars Θέσπεια, Πλάταια are unique iu Hdt.
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