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μεταβάλωσι, “umschwenken, abfallen” (Stein); “anderer Meinung werden” (Abicht). The question is whether the word indicates the material act or the mental antecedent. The active (used intransitively) certainly refers to a material act, as in 1. 65 μετέβαλον δὲ ὦδε ἐς εὐνομίην, and absolutely c. 170 infra: μεταβαλόντας ἀντὶ μὲν Κρητῶν γενέσθαι Ἰηπύγας Μεσσαπίους ἀντὶ δὲ εἶναι νησιώτας ἠπειρώτας. 8. 22 illustrates this passage fully: ἴνα ἢ λαθόντα τὰ γρἀμματα βασιλέα Ἴωνας ποιήση̣ μεταβαλεῖν καὶ γενέσθαι πρὸς ἑωυτῶν ἤ κτλ. Cp. (8. 109), 9. 6. The middle μετεβάλλοντό (τε καὶ ἀπαλλάσσοντο), 5. 75, may be taken in a strictly physical sense: ‘wheeled them round and marched off,’ or (with L. & S.) ‘changed their minds.’ τῶν, relative, attracted; cp. c. 8 1. 17. The word is twice repeated, as a relative, just below, rather inelegantly. ὅς=διότι σύ . . γνῶμα, ‘token’; not common. Soph. Trach. 593. The faithful loyalty of the Ionians in the Skythic expedition is adduced by Xerxes as a precedent; but (a) an invasion of ‘Skythia’ was one thing, an invasion of Hellas another; (b) Artabanos had already discredited, or heavily discounted, this argument, c. 10 supra. Hdt. could not have made Xerxes refer to the story in Bk. 4, but it is curious that he should represent him as ignoring the story of Histiaios as told by Artabanos above. Is that passage part of the additions to the first draft of this Book?
ἄλλοι, ‘besides you.’ ἐπὶ τούτοισι, cp. ἐπ᾽ ἀνδρἰ γε ἑνί, c. 10 1. 35 supra.
καί, ‘and’=‘or’: a discretive conjunction.
πάρεξ δὲ τούτου: the second argument for the loyalty of the Ionians, that the Persians had their families and properties as security, is more convincing.
οἶκον: τυραννἰδα: σκῆπτρα. Artabanos no doubt was Major-domo and Viceroy during the king's absence; cp. c. 2 supra. This fact may help to account for his person being used by Hdt. to represent the stay-at<*> homes, and opposition to the war (though he gains by it personally). τυραννἰς is hardly appropriate in the king's own mouth; σκῆπτρα (pl.) is poetical: cp. Aesch. Pr. 761, Soph. O.C. 425. The whole interview suggests a theatrical scene, and may be taken as illustrating the influence of the stage upon Hdt.
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