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Πύθιος ὁ Λυδός re-enters from ec. 27-29 supra, with an implicit reference back (τοῖσι δ.). ε<*>παερθείς, always with a disparaging sense: cp. 9. 49.
γενόμενον: participle conditional =εἰ γένοιτο, cp. Index for reff.
τό <περ> ἐδεήθη: τό relative. δἐομαι is constructed with double genitive, of thing and person as in 3. 157, or as here with accus. of thing (gen. of person), though this accus. looks like a case of attraction; cp. ὅτευ δέοιτο immediately following.
καταλαμβάνει: neut.
ἐς τόδε ἡλικίας. If Pythios was grandson of Kroisos, cp. c. 27 supra, he would be in 480 B.C. (as Stein calculates) some 80 years old. All his five sons were of age for military service: he asks for the eldest—who would be no chicken. Stein compares the request of Chryses Il. A 18 (Baehr records this as Larcher's suggestion). The Homeric reminiscence affects the form of the request, not the substance of the story: the parallel with 4. 84 is even more suspicious.
μελεδωνός: cp. c. 31 supra. πρήξας ... ὀπίσω. Ironical in effect, and probably in Hdt.'s intention.
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