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ἐνόμιζε μὲν—Freeman says rightly, ‘They were, he allowed, in evil case; but it would not do openly to proclaim the fact.’ In his speech in the council N did not disguise his opinion. Hence in ἐνόμιζε μὲν . . . τῷ δὲ λόγῳ the antithesis is not so much between what he thought and what he said, as between what he both thought and admitted in the council and the impression which he wished his words to produce outside the council. His admission was to be kept secret. πόνηρα—here bears the sense calamitous, dangerous, like our word evil, as in the phrase in evil case. Bloomfield. See not. crit., for the accent. τῷ δὲ λόγῳ—by his speech, with ἀποδεικνύναι. It was not to be publicly known that he felt they were in evil case; nor was a report to reach the enemy that they were openly voting for a retreat. ἐμφανῶς—with ψηφιζομένους. This seems to be merely a plea for secrecy by Nieias. He urged that if they voted for retreat, every one would know of it and so the enemy would hear about it. μετὰ πολλῶν—has been thought to refer to a subsequent and larger council to be held, at which the taxiarchs would attend; but prob. N. only means that if they voted for retreat, their vote would accord with the opinion of many in command, and that the enemy would hear that this was so. καταγγέλτους γίγνεσθαι—cf. III. 30.1 ἐκπύστους γενέσθαι, γίγνομαι making a passive with verbal adjs. λαθεῖν—antithesis to ἐμφανῶς and = μὴ φανεροὶ γενέσθαι. τοῦτο ποιοῦντες—the edd. all say this means άναχωροῦντες. But it should be ψηφιζόμενοι τὴν άναχώρησιν. N. urges that no formal vote may be now taken, because every one must know of it. ‘Let us wait, and decide the matter in secret and informally should retreat become necessary’ He is not at present dealing with the question of retreating immediately, but is arguing on the assumption that an immediate retreat is impossible. Cf. c. 50, ll. 30, 31. ποιοῦντες—ἐβούλετο is here lost sight of, and the Obliqua is used. Nicias is part of the subject, and so the nom. is possible.
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