Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

δύο τοὺς περιβόλους: the pred. position of δύο perhaps emphasizes the special precaution against an attack also from without.—

πρὸς Πλαταιῶν: on the side toward Plataea. Kr. Spr. 68, 37, 1. Cf. iv. 31. 5; 100. 15; 130. 2.—4.

μάλιστα: as used with statements of quantity implies approximation, though the reality may be more or less. Cf. c. 109. 9; 113. 10; i. 13. 11.

τὸ οὖν μεταξὺ τοῦτο, οἱ ἑκκαίδεκα πόδες . . . ᾠκοδόμητο: this interval, the 16 feet, had been buill up as dwelling-places assigned severally to the guards. οἰκήματα is pred., though Thuc. seems, by a sort of anacoluthon, to have construed ᾠκοδόμητο rather with it than with τὸ μεταξὺ τοῦτο, as the following ξυνεχῆ shows. Cl., who thinks the irregularity is caused by the insertion of οἱ ἑκκαίδεκα πόδες, explains οἰκήματα as the real subj. of both members, with τὸ μεταξὺ τοῦτο as adv. modifier. St. strikes out, with v. H. and Widmann, οἱ ἑκκαίδεκα πόδες, and explains οἰκήματα διανενημένα as accus., after the analogy of ὄνομα ὀνομάζεσθαι, i. 122. 25. Bl. cites a case of appos. similar to οἱ ἑκκαίδεκα πόδες from App. Bell. Civ. iv. 106 τὸ δὲ μέσον τῶν λόφων, τὰ ὀκτὼ στάδια, δίοδος ἦν.—6. διανενημένα: cf. ii. 17. 18, where the more unusual κατανείμασθαι is used.—

καὶ ἦν ξυνεχῆ: sc. τὰ οἰκήματα, though Steup thinks this incompatible with the rest of the sent., and renders, it was continuous (i.e. the περίβολοι were connected), the neut. pl. being indef., as in i. 7. 2; 8. 8; 102. 6.

διὰ δέκα ἐπάλξεων: at intervals of ten battlements, i.e. there were ten battlements or turrets between each two of the greater towers. See Steph. Thes. s. v. διά. G. 1206, 1 c; H. 795, 1 e; Külm. 434, i. 1 b; Kr. Spr. 68, 22, 3. Cf. δἰ ὀλίγου, l. 13; δι<*>έχοντες, c. 22. 8.—8.

ἰσοπλατεῖς: rare word for ἴσοι τὸ πλάτος. Thuc. is fond of compounds in ἰσο- (ἰσοδίαιτος, ἰσοκίνδυνος, ἰσόνομος, ἰσοπαλής, ἰσοπληθής, ἰσόρροπος, ἰσόψηφος). Cf. Aesch. Agam. 1444, 1471.—9.

διήκοντες ἔς τε τὸ ἔσω . . . καὶ τὸ ἔξω: i.e. the towers united the two walls as if by a bridge. The first καί means and, the second also. See on c. 16. 12; 31. 8. ἐς is omitted before τὸ ἔξω with nearly all the Mss. Kühn. 451, 2. See on i. 6. 20; vi. 78. 4. οἱ αὐτοί, which is pred., stands in the second clause, as in i. 23. 13, not in the first, as in c. 47. 18; ii. 40. 12; iv. 17. 3. It seems unnecessary to omit either the first καί with L. Herbst (Philol. xxiv. p. 681), or καὶ οἱ αὐτοί with Cobet. —10.

ὥστε πάροδον μὴ εἶναι παρὰ πύργον: so that it was impossible to pass by a tower, i.e. either on the inner or on the outer side. εἶναι in pregnant sense, = ὑπάρχειν, as often, particularly after a neg. See on i. 2. 5. παρὰ πύργον is bracketed by St., following Naber (in v. H.'s Stud. Thuc. p. 39). But it makes the sense clearer, and the sing. before δἰ αὐτῶν is used collectively.—11.

διῇσαν: sc. οἱ φύλακες, i.e. in going from one μεταπύργιον to another. For change from inf. to finite verb after ὥστε, see GMT. 603.

χειμὼν νοτερός: the adj. is not pred., but forms with χειμών a single conception, rain-storm. Schol. δίυγρος καὶ ὑετὸν ἔχων. The same idea is expressed in c. 22. 2 by χειμέριον ὕδατι καὶ ἀνέμῳ. χειμών is so used iv. 6. 6; 103. 5.—13.

ὄντων: as usual in supplementary causal clauses, placed first. Cf. c. 2. 9; i. 124. 4.—

δἰ ὀλίγου: at a little distance, as c. 43. 14; ii. 89. 41; vii. 71. 9.—14.

περιεφρουροῦντο: found only here in Thuc., and elsewhere only in late writers, e.g. Dio C. x See on c. 17. 10.