Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

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The Lacedaemonians attack the Argives, take and tear down the long walls, and take Hysiae. The Argives make an incursion into the territory of Phlius. The Athenians blockade the coast of Macedonia.

ὡς ᾔσθοντο τειχιζόντων: the gen. with αἰσθάνεσθαι occurs also in i. 57. 14; 72. 3; ii. 81. 31; iv. 108. 31, the partic. in the gen. here only, but freq. in the acc. Cf. c. 37. 15; i. 47. 1. The Lacedaemonians must have heard at once of the doings at Argos; so that ὡς ᾔσθοντο must not be taken too strictly.

ὑπῆρχέ τι αὐτοῖς πρασσόμενον: the use of πράσσειν in καί τι αὐτῷ ἐπράσσετο ἐς τὰς πόλεις (iv. 121. 12) is here combined with that of ὑπάρχειν in ἀσφάλειάν τινα ὑπάρχουσάν οἱ in vi. 59. 7, “there was also a party acting from Argos itself in their interest.”

ἐκ τοῦ Ἄργους αὐτόθεν: an emphatic combination. Cf. ii. 25. 18, αὐτόθεν ἐκ τῆς περιοικίδος Ἠλείων. See Herbst, gegen Cobct, p. 58 ff.

οὐ προυχώρησεν ἔτι: it made no further progress, it failed them.

τὰ οἰκοδομούμενα τείχη: the walls which were building, not τὰ κατεσκευασμένα, as Diod. (xii. 81. 76) wrongly says.

Ὑσίας: Hysiae was near the Arcadian frontier on the road from Argos to Tegea, where its ruins may still be seen. See Curtius, Pelopon. II. p. 367.

ὅτι σφῶν τοὺς φυγάδας ὑπεδέχοντο: const. with ἐστράτευσαν and δῃώσαντες, not with ἀπῆλθον. σφῶν stands before τοὺς φυγάδας with almost the effect of the ethical dat. See on ἐπεὶ σφῶν οἱ ξύμμαχοι ἐπόνουν, i. 30. 14.

Μακεδόνας, Περδίκκᾳ: see App.

τὴν ξυνωμοσίαν: cf. c. 80. 9.— 19. ἔψευστο: violated, “did not preserve.” Cf. iii. 66, 17, τὴν μὴ κτείνειν ψευσθεῖσαν ὑπόσχεσιν.—ἡ στρατεία: see App.—μάλιστα: implies that there were also other reasons.

διελύθη: as in iii. 114. 21, διέλυσαν τὸν πόλεμον.—ἀπάραντος: this reading of the Mss. is certainly wrong. For emendations, see App.