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[54] στησάμενοιμάχην ( Il.18. 533), ‘having set the battle in array.’ Cp. 1 Sam.17. 2.So “φυλόπιδα στήσειν Od.11. 314, “στήσασθαι πολέμουςHdt. 7. 9, 175, 236. It seems better to adopt this construction, for although “ἐμάχοντο μάχην” may be joined, as in Il.15. 414(compare also Il.12. 175; 15. 673, both lines of doubtful authority), στησάμενοι can hardly stand alone, for its use is uniformly transitive; compare “στήσασθαι κρητῆρας Od.2. 431, Il.6. 528, “ἱστόν Il.1. 480, inf. 97, “ἀγῶναh. Hom. Ap. 150. But it is still better to make μάχην the object both of the participle and the verb, as inf. “κλῖναν δαμάσαντες Ἀχαιούς”. The full subject to ἐμάχοντο and βάλλον includes both the Cicones and the men of Odysseus; this explains ἀλλήλους. In πάθοιμεν the reference is limited to Odysseus and his men only; as also in μένομεν.

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