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ἔμαθον δὲ ... ἀναβεβηκότας, ‘the Persians were already on the summit, when the Phokians discovered the fact in this way.’
τὸ ὄρος is governed by ἀναβαίνοντες.
δρυῶν ἐπίπλεον is not quite happy; cp. Grundy, G.P.W. p. 303. If the Oaks are to be our guides, the station of the Phokians might have to be pushed a good deal westwards; cp. ib. 302. νηνεμίη: c. 188 supra. The weather was all that could be desired from a tourist's point of view; yet the night before, according to 8. 12, there had been a furious storm. φύλλων: of many former seasons. The leaves had not yet fallen in 480 B.C. ὑπό with the dat.: the leaves were there already for them to tread on. These leaves are sometimes alleged as a miracle of verisimilitude, but (i.) it is at least doubtful whether there were any leaves ‘hereabouts’; cp. Grundy l.c. (ii.) 10,000 men marching along a mountain path could hardly have escaped notice even on bare ground!
ἀνά τε ἔδραμον, ‘sprang up,’ cp. c. 212 supra; with the tmesis, 1. 66. The tenses (ἀνέδραμον, ἐνέδυνον) are observable; also the parataxis. ἐνδυομένους, in the very act. ἀντίξοον, cc. 49, 192, etc. ἐνεκύρησαν, c. 208 supra.
καταρρωδήσας μὴ ... ἔωσι: there was a chance for the Phokians, had they been ready! εἶεν might be expected grammatically; the subjunctive is more graphic.
ὁποδαπός, ‘of what country,’ 5. 13.
ἐβάλλοντο: imperfect and passive.
τοῦ ὄρεος τὸν κόρυμβον: different from and higher than the ὰκρωτήριον in c. 217; cp. νηῶν ἄκρα κόρυμβα (heteroclite) Il. 9. 241; “ἔλθ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἄκρον κόρυμβον ὄχθου” Aischyl. Pers. 659. Did the Phokians retreat to the south or the north, the right or the left of the path? ἐπιστάμενοι here has no suggestion of ἐπιστήμη in it; nor ἐφρόνεον just below of φρόνησις, in its later meaning. But perhaps the words, unnecessarily strong, have come from a source favourable to the Phokians.
ἀρχήν, ‘originally,’ ‘in the first instance.’
οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιεῦντο, οἳ δέ . ., ‘made no account (of the Phokians) but . .’ For the repeated subject with δέ cp. c. 13 etc. λόγον ποιέεσθαι, cp. 5. 105 etc.
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