Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 6

ἐβούλοντο αὖθις...καταστρέψασθαι : the earlier unsuccessful expeditions from 427 B.C. (3. 86. 1), under Laches and Charoeades, until 424 B.C., under Pythodorus, Sophocles, and Eurymedon (3. 86, 88, 90, 99, 103, 115; 4. 1, 2, 24, 25, 46, 48, 65), are here comprised in τῆς μετὰ Λάχητος καὶ Εὐρυμέδοντος（παρασκευῆς). That even before this the conquest of Sicily had been contemplated is clear not only from 3. 86. 18 πρόπειραν ποιούμενοι εἰ σφίσι δυνατὰ εἴη τὰ ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ πράγματα ὑποχείρια γενέσθαι, but also from the charge against the last-named generals 4. 65. 13 ὡς ἐξὸν αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐν Σικελίᾳ καταστρέψασθαι δώροις πεισθέντες ἀποχωρήσειαν.

μείζονι τῆς : = ἢ τῇ, cf. 1. 85. 5; 3. 83. 7; see on 16. 1.— 3. ἄπειροι οἱ πολλοί: as appos. to Ἀθηναῖοι restricting the whole to the designated part.

τοῦ πλήθους: alien element inserted in the closely connected words τῶν ἐνοικούντων . . . βαρβάρων, as freq. in Thuc.—καὶ ὅτι...ἀνῃροῦντο : note change of const. from ἄπειροι with gen. to ὅτι clause.— οὐ πολλῷ τινι: as in 7 below; not elsewhere in Thuc.; in Hdt. 1. 181. 2; 2. 48. 8, 67. 8. Elsewhere in Thuc. οὐ πολλῷ or οὐ πολύ serves to limit the comp. (5. 59. 5; 7. 19. 8; freq. in the formula οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον, ὕστερον οὐ πολλῷ, see on 1. 45. 3). The modifying τις with οὐ πολύς also 7. 1. 20.

ἀνῃροῦντο: were about to take up. For the thought, cf. 7. 28. 23.

Σικελίας γὰρ περίπλους μὲν κτἑ.: amplification of the two first points designated above as unknown to most Athenians of that time, the rest of this chapter discussing the size of Sicily, 2-5 the barbarian and Hellenic inhabitants of the island. To περίπλους μέν corresponds ᾠκίσθη δέ 2. 1.

οὐκ ἔλασσον : in statements of time or space freq. adv. Cf. 25. 7, 67. 16, 95. 5.— ὀκτὼ ἡμερῶν: acc. to Strabo, p. 266 c, the circumnavigation required five days and nights. To-day a steamer would require at most 60 hours to sail round. See Holm, Gesch. Siziliens I, 330 f., where all the statements of ancient writers are found.—καὶ τοσαύτη οὖσα...εἶναι : the narrowness of the strait geographically contrasted with the extent of the island. Thuc. can hardly have meant to intimate, as Stein thinks, that Sicily as almost belonging to the mainland was esp. difficult to conquer.—ἐν εἴκοσι σταδίων μάλιστα μέτρῳ...διείργεται : in Greek the stretch of sea is conceived as the point wherein a hindrance consists. Cf. ἐν with κωλύεσθαι 2. 8. 17, 64. 10; 4. 14. 13. With διείργειν, an emphasized εἴργειν, cf. διακωλύειν.

τὸ μὴ ἤπειρος εἶναι : so nearly all recent editors for οὖσα of the Mss. The impossible ptc. seems to be due to dittography from οὖσα in 8. For the const., cf. 3. 1. 7; GMT. 811; Kühner-Gerth 479, 1, and 514, N. 9, 1. The inf. without τό, 1. 62. 17; 3. 6. 7. See App.