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πολλός: cp. 7. 158 supra.
κληδόνος εἵνεκεν: i.e. for the sake of getting an omen from it; cp. c. 101 infra, and 5. 72. κληδών is no ordinary sound, or rumour, but a significant, a portentous voice. The king was surely acquainted with the name of the orator addressing the Council, before the speaking began. κατὰ συντυχίην θεοῦ ποιεῦντος: τύχη, συντυχίη, are beyond direct human control or agency, but not independent of the divine agency, cp. θείῃ τύχῃ 4. 8, not substantially different from θ. πόμπῃ 4. 152; cp. also 5. 92, where the τύχη is clearly providential.
ὃ δὲ ὑπαρπάσας κτλ.: cp. 5. 50 ὃ δὲ ὑπαρπάσας τὸν ἐπίλοιπον λόγον τὸν ὁ Ἀρισταγόρης ὥρμητο (sic) λέγειν: one or other passage is a copy—probably that of this? cp. c. 90 supra.
δέκομαι τὸν οἰωνόν. If δέκεσθαι in itself meant to accept as ominous, then τὸν οἰωνόν here would be de trop; cp. 8. 115 supra. οἰωνός is also once used in Thucydides, 6. 27. 3 τοῦ τε γὰρ ἔκπλου οἰωνὸς ἐδόκει εἶναι κτλ. Cp. Il. 12. 243 “εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης” Blakesley well cites the parallel anecdote of L. Paullus, quum ei, bellum ut cum rege Perse gereret, obtigisset. He came home that evening to find his little daughter in the depths. ““Quid est,” inquit, “mea Tertia? quid tristis es?” “Mi pater (inquit), Persa periit.” Tum ille arctius puellam complexus “Accipio,” inquit, “mea filia, omen”: erat autem mortuus catellus eo nomine.” Cicero de Divin. 1. 46.
σὺ δὲ ἡμῖν κτλ., ‘but do thou, prithee, contrive, before you sail away, to pledge yourselves . .’ The apparent is not the real predicate; the position of αὐτός τε ... πίστιν secures the phrase predicative force; the words καὶ οἱ σὺν σοὶ ἐόντες οἵδε is hardly in constinction.
ἦ μὲν Σαμίους ... συμμάχους: the formula ἦ μέν (ἦ μήν, ἦ μάν, all three Homeric), of oath taking, occurs generally in oratio recta, but also, as here, in obliqua, after verbs of swearing, etc. (πίστιν δούς), cp. 4. 154, 5. 93. The Samians alone are here nominated: what of the ‘Ionians’ c. 90 supra?
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