CHAPTER CXXIV
τὸ δεύτερον—cf. ch. 83.
Μακεδόνων—‘the Macedonians are here plainly distinguished from the Greeks, as in ch. 126, 17, they are even classed among barbarians. The royal family were of Hellenian and Dorian blood, but not the people’ (Arnold). The
Ἔλληνες here spoken of may have been the inhabitants of maritime towns such as Therma and Pydna.
πρὸς τοῖς αὐτοῦ—Brasidas had originally 1700 Peloponnesian men at arms (ch. 78). He had despatched 500 to Mende and Scione, and others were probably in garrison elsewhere; while some may have been lost in the course of the campaign.
αὐτοῦ—‘on the spot’, i.e. with him.
τῶν ἄλλων—sc.
ὁπλίτας (
ἦγεν).
ἑκάστων is not governed by
δύναμιν, but agrees with
τῶν ἄλλων.
ξύμπαν δέ—note the appositional construction of this clause and the next, which may be compared with the beginning of ch. 94.
ὀλίγου—‘nearly’, sc.
δέοντες:
viii. 35,
ὀλίγου εἶλον, ‘they all but took’;
Ar. Ach. 381,
ὀλίγου α:πωλόμην. Here the manuscript reading is
ὀλίγῳ, but all editors adopt
ὀλίγου.
τῶν πεζῶν—the opposing infantry forces. The infantry on each side is
ὁ πεζός (ch. 25, 49); the plural designates more bodies than one. So
ναυτικά is ‘fleets’, not ‘a fleet’: and in
Ar. Eth. Nic. iii. 7 (10). 9,
τὰ πολιτικά means ‘national forces’ in general, not ‘a national force’.
πεδίου—predicate: Krüger quotes
Dem. Cal. 1274,
τὸ μέσον ὁδός ἐστιν:
Xen. Hell. vi. 4. 10,
πεδίου τοῦ μεταξὐ ὄντος. ἀμφοτἐρων—‘on both sides’, governed by
ἰππῆς.
ἔτυχον...μέλλοντες—cf. ch. 132, 7. For
μισθοῦ ἥξειν cf.
Xen. Mem. ii. 8. 2,
μισθοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι.
καθῆσθαι—so
v. 7,
ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καθημένους, of Cleon's army.
περιορώμενος—here=‘anxious about’, with gen., like
φυλασσομένους τῶν νεῶν, ch. 11, 19.
