E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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Ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἄνω—‘that the Acarnanians on the coast might not aid those in the interior.’ For the attraction of ἀπὸ θαλάσσης, cf. c. 80, 1. ἄνω adds nothing to the sense, and is in fact synonymous with ἀπὸ θ.

ἠναγκάσθησαν— plur. after ναυτικὸν as often. [

τῆς κ.τ.λ.]—ὁ αὐτὸς always takes the dat.

εἴκοσι—c. 69, 1.

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Παραπλέοντας—‘as they were sailing out of the gulf along the coast,’ i.e. ἔξω belongs to the partic.

ἐν τῇ εὐρυχωρίᾳ—‘in the open sea,’ so as to have space for manœuvring.

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Στρατιωτικώτερον—i.e. ἐπὶ στρατείαν μᾶλλον. Cf. c. 87, 2. They intended to make descents on the coast of Acarnania, cf. c. 80, 1.

κομιζομένων—belongs in sense to ἀντιπαραπλέοντας far more than to ἑώρων αὐτοὺς which only makes a periphrasis for ἀντιπαρέπλεον. Cf. εἶχον ἐμπείρους c. 4, 2.

Πατρῶν—now the largest town in Peloponnese, but its importance only dates from the 1st century A.D. Its greatest distinction is that here the patriots in 1821 first rose against the Turks.

διαβάλλοντες— = διαβαίνοντες. This intrans. use elsew here only in Herod. and poets.

Χαλκίδος—on the coast of Aetolia, now Varassova, at the mouth of the Euenus, now Phidhari. It had belonged to Corinth, but had been taken by the Athenians 456 B.C. It lay at the foot of the mountain of the same name.

Εὐήνου—Ovid, Met. 9, 104 fol. relates how Hercules slew Nessus here.

ἀφορμισάμενοι—‘though they had slipped from their moorings in the night’; in order to elude the Athenians, the fleet tried to cross over to Acarnania before daybreak. The battle took place soon after dawn, c. 84, 2. ἔλαθον precedes κατεῖδον in time, and is plup. in sense.

πορθμόν—i.e. in the middle of the Gulf of Patrae, in the open, as Phormio had planned; and therefore between Patrae and Chalcis.

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Παρεσκευάζοντο—cf. c. 7, 1. The imperf., as Cl. says, is due to the distributive nature of the act described.

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Διδόντες—belongs to ὡς μἐγιστον, the circle was as large as possible without leaving an opening. μὴ shows that the partic. implies preference or prohibition: ‘so as not to afford.’

διέκπλουν—this famous manœuvre consisted of ‘rowing through the intervals of the adversary's line, and thus getting in their rear, ... and before the ship of the adversary could change its position, of striking it either in the stern, or in some weak part.’ Grote. τὸ ἐμβάλλειν καὶ διασχίζειν τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων τάξιν. Schol.

τὰς πρῴρας—sc. ἐτάξαντο. This chiasmus is pronounced by F. Stein to be ‘librarii additamentum prorsus supervacaneum.’ Anyhow it is detestable. (πρῴρα σὺν τῷ ι_, Herodian.)

διὰ βραχέος— with παραγιγνόμενοι, masc. in spite of ναῦς; ‘might be at hand to sail out.’

εἴ πῃ—they were uncertain at what point of the circle the Athenians would attack.