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τὸν πόρον: not the bridge, for the bridge was ex hypothesi gone, but perhaps the place where the bridge should have been—i.e. the passage across (not adown) the straits; cp. c. 115 supra.
τῇσι νηυσί: the ships had made for the Hellespont from Salamis διαφυλαξούσας τὰς σχεδίας πορευθῆναι βασιλέι, c. 107 supra. But according to this text the bridges were no longer taut (ἐντεταμένας 7. 34, 9. 106, 114), and the ships had to be used to convey Xerxes, and the remnant of his forces, across the Hellespont. Blakesley challenges this tradition: Aischylos takes Xerxes back over the bridge (Pers. 725), and the Greeks, a year later, on Hdt.'s own showing, were still ignorant of the supposed destruction of the bridges in the course of the summer or autumn of 480 B.C.
κατεχόμενοι: probably passive in force; cp. c. 114 supra. ἐμπιπλάμενοι, very distinctly middle.
οὐδένα ... κόσμον=ἀκόσμως: this adverbial or modal accusative is observable. ὕδατα μεταβάλλοντες: they must have been doing so all the way from Attica, and not merely after crossing the Hellespont. Nothing is said of the failure of the rivers on the way back. The mere change of drinking water, if the water in itself was good, could hardly have the effects ascribed to it, pace Hippocrat. περὶ άέρων κτλ. 2.
ἐς Σάρδις: where he remained for a considerable time; cp. 9. 107 infra.
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