CHAPTER CXXX
περιπλείσαντες—the Athenians had hitherto made their attack from the side towards Potidaea. They now sailed round the headland of Posidonium and landed between it and the extreme point of Pallene. Scione was just round this point. For
πρὸς Σκιώνης cf. ch. 31, 6.
ἦν τι καί—so ch. 28, 26,
τι καὶ γέλωτος. στασιασμοῦ—
viii. 94,
πρὸς τὸν παρόντα στασιασμόν: a rare word. We have seen (ch. 123) that the revolutionary party in Mende was small. The Scioneans probably departed to defend their own territory.
ἅμα—this word seems intended to connect the operations of the two commanders: Krüger however takes it simply with
προϊών, ‘as he advanced he laid waste the land’.
τὰς ἄνω πύλας—inland and northwards.
ἔτυχε...κείμενα—‘during a siege the arms of the citizens were kept constantly piled in one or more of the open spaces within the walls, that on any sudden alarm they might assemble there, and at once arm themselves, and be marshalled in their proper divisions. In fact the city for the time became a camp, and therefore, like a camp, had a place where the arms were regularly piled, and which served all the purposes of a parade. Compare
viii. 69, and
Xen. Anab. ii. 2. 20:
iii. 1. 3’ (Arnold) The phrase
τίθεσθαι τὰ ὅπλα has been discussed on ch. 44, 6.
κεῖμαι is equivalent to the perfect passive of
τίθημι.
κατὰ τὸ στασιωτικόν—either generally ‘in the spirit of party’, or particularly referring to the
στάσις prevailing in the town.
οὺδὲ δέοιτο πολεμεῖν—‘and that he (the speaker) did not wish for war’. There is no necessity to take
δέοιτο here as impersonal: see note on ch. 69, 14. Poppo says ‘malis
δέοι’, and Krüger suggests
δέοιντο, making the speaker say
οὐδὲν δεόμεθα: cf.
Xen. Hel. ii. 4. 35,
λέγοντες ὅτι οὐδὲν δέονται τοῖς ἐν τῷ Πειραιεῖ πολεμεῖν. The optative joined with the indicative is one of innumerable instances. Here, the indicative refers to a particular point of time, while the optative is more general; but though such an explanation may often be found, this is by no means always the case, and the variation seems merely due to the Greek dislike of rigid uniformity.
ἐπισπασθέντος—the commander seized the man, to drag him away or drag him on to the gate.
θορυβηθέντος implies rough handling, not mere interruption: cf. ch. 129, 28.
φοβηθέντων—sc.
αὐτῶν: irregular gen. absolute, as in ch. 73, 15.
ἀπὸ προειρημένου—‘from previous arrangement’: so ch. 67, 24,
ἀπὸ ξυνθήματος:
i. 133,
ἀπὸ παρασκευῆς.
αὐτοί—cf. ch. 113, 10.
ἐς τὴν Μένδην πόλιν—the manuscript reading. Dobree and others omit
Μένδην as being a marginal note which has got into the text. The order of words is like
κατὰ τὸν Ἀκεσίνην ποταμόν ch. 25, 33. Classen omits
ἐς, and connects the accusative with the words which follow, comparing ch. 68, 21 etc., where
ἐσπίπτειν alone means to force an entrance.
ἑσπίπτειν ἑς however is quite common, as in
ii. 4.
ἅτε οὐκ—the usual construction, as
ἅτε states a fact.
ἐπικαθίσταντο—I have adopted the emendation which Poppo and Krüger approve, two inferior manuscripts having
ἐπεκαθίσταντο. Most manuscripts however have
ἐπεκαθίσαντο, aor. mid. in transitive sense, ‘established for themselves’. The word is unusual, and the form suspicious, as Thucydides elsewhere writes not
ἐκάθισα but
καθῖσα, as in
vi. 66.
In
Dem. Apatur. 897,
παρεκαθίσατο is read; but apart from this instance
ἐκάθισα and
ἐκαθισάμην have scarcely any authority, as may be seen from Veitch's Greek Verbs.
ἐκαθεζόμην and
ἐκαθήμην on the other hand are quite common.
