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τῷ μεγίστη τίσις ἤδη: almost more forcible than μεγίστη δὴ τίσις—cp. πάντων άνδρῶν ἤδη κτλ. c. 106 infra. The story of this unparalleled τισις, δίκη, is in Hdt.'s best manner, or at least in a thoroughly characteristic vein, with the moral which he loves. Whether it originally stood in this place might be doubted; incidentally the view is fully endorsed that the king's objective was “Athens” (cp. c. 106 ad init.).
τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. This formula occurs five times in these Books, as from Hdt.'s own pen (7. 20, 8. 105, 124, 9. 37, 64), twice on the lips of his dramatis personae (7. 27 a Persian; 9. 78 an Aiginetan). Cp. ὅσον ἡμ. ἴδ. 7. 111, and contrast τῶν ἐγὼ οἶδα 7. 238. It might well have occurred in 7. 70 οἰ δ̓ ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης ... ἀνθρώπων: and again 9. 35 μοῦνοι δὲ ... πολιῆται. Hdt. will not add άνδρῶν here, or even ἀνθρώπων. ἁλόντα ... ὑπὸ πολεμίων suggests prima facie a misfortune of war; the Ionian revolt (498-494 B.C.) from 15-18 years previous to the date required for this story seems to offer a likely enough occasion. Cp. the threats of the barbarians and their recorded fulfilment, 6. 9, 32. (Stem, however, suggests a piratical kidnapping.)
Πανιώνιος ἀνὴρ Χῖος: Panionios, a man and a Chian. He did not remain an ἀνήρ. His name is, perhaps, significant of the ‘Panionic’ ambitions of the period, which produced the ‘Ionic Revolt’: his ethnicon suggests that the notorious wealth of the Chians was partly due to slave-trading; cp. Thucyd. 8. 40. 2, and the whole passage on Chios, Athenaeus 6. 86-91 = 265 ff. (where inter alia this passage of Hdt. is cited).
τὴν ζόην κατεστήσατο: cp. τὸν βίον κτησάμενε c. 106 infra. Panionios was not the only Greek that had engaged in this trade; the Corinthians were perhaps tarred with the same brush; cp. 3. 48.
εἴδεος ἐπαμμένους, ‘possessed of beauty.’ L. & S. give ἐπάπτω as Ionic for ἐφάπτω. Homer, at least, only contains the aspirated forms of the verb. The participle is perf. (passive in form, middle in force). ἐκταμὼν ἀγινέων: the double participles are rather awkward, but not so awkward as if both were in the present (defensible as mdicating repeated acts?); cp. App. Crit. άγινέων is itself a frequentative of ἄγω (used in the middle 7. 33 supra); here perhaps especially suitable for ‘bringing to market.’
ἐς Σάρδις τε καὶ Ἔφεσον: the great markets for such wares, from their position on the Royal Road (vide 5. 52-54); and also perhaps with a local demand for the temples of Kybele and Artemis (Stein). παρὰ γὰρ τοῖσι βαρβάροισι κτλ.: the difference between Hellenic and Asiatic culture is emphatic; the remark is, however, only intended to apply to slaves.
πίστιος ... τῆς πάσης, faithfulness, fidelity, in all respects. For the antithesis εὐνοῦχος, ἔνορχις cp. 6. 32 (ὄρχις subst. 4. 109).
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