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καὶ δὴ διετείνοντο τὰ βέλεα ὡς ἀπ.: καὶ ἤδη δ. τὰ τόξα ὡς ἀπήσοντες τὰ βέλεα would be more correct.
πάντῃ συστρέψαντες ἑωυτούς: cp. Livy 8. 11. 5 cum se in unum conglobassent (Valckenaer). But the tactical manœuvre here described is really at closer quarters; just as 1. 101 Δηιόκης τὸ Μηδικὸν ἔθνος συνέστρεψε is on a larger scale. Cp. συστροφή 7. 9, συστραφέντες 6. 6. ὑποστρέφειν just below gives a different result; cp. ὑποστροφή c. 22 infra.
οὐκ ἔχω δ᾽ ἀτρεκέως εἰπεῖν. Hdt. thinks that if the intention really was to destroy the Phokians, it must have been dictated by the Thessalians; and this view is evidently a datum of his source or authority; but he himself suggests another alternative, viz. that Mardonios merely meant to put their mettle to the proof (ἀλκή, cp. cc. 70, 102 infra). A third alternative he does not face, viz. that the whole story was an exaggeration, or even based upon a misunderstanding, of what was intended for a complimentary reception!
οὔτε is, of course, the idiomatic doubling of the negative, after οὐκ ἔχω. εἰ ἦλθον ... εἰ ἠθέλησε . .: the two alternatives put as strict co-ordinates.
πρὸς ἀλέξησιν τραπομένους: cp. πρὸς ἀλκὴν τραπέσθαι c. 102 infra and Hesych. sub v. ἀλκή: δύναμις ἰσχὺς ἡ ἀλέξησις ἢ μάχη. The word is an ἅπαξ λ. in Hdt., and Schweighaeuser overlooked this passage in his Lexicon.
ὥς = οὕτω, as often with δὲ καί but only here with γάρ (Krueger).
ἐπυνθανόμην: of course from the Thessalians.
π. φέρετε: cp. c. 40 infra: like the Thebans.
ὦν emphasizes his own case.
ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐγ., ‘went no further.’
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