Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

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The Ambraciots, in order to bring the Amphilochian Argos to terms, occupy Olpae in its territory: the Acarnanians summon to the protection of the place Demosthenes and twenty Athenian ships, which happened to be on the Peloponnesian coast.

ὥσπερ ὑποσχόμενοι: cf. c. 102. § 6, 7.—2.

ἐκστρατεύονται: to be construed only with ὥσπερ ὑποσχόμενοι Εὐρυλόχῳ, for τὴν στρατιὰν κατέσχον expresses merely the result of the promise, and has no effect on ἐκστρατεύονται. The chief emphasis of the sent. is on the partic., as in c. 53. 14. The sense of the passage is, as Jow. renders, “in fulfilment of the promise by which they had induced Eurylochus and his army to remain, the Ambraciots make an expedition—.” —3.

Ἄργος τὸ Ἀμφιλοχικόν: on the inmost recess of the Ambracian gulf. On its relation to Ambracia, cf. ii. 68. § 1.—5.

Ὄλπας: the sing. in c. 107. 13; 111. 5; 113. 2. Cf. Ἰδομενή (c. 112. 2; 113. 14) and Ἰδομεναί (113. 10); Πλαταιαί (ii. 7. 1; 10. 1) and Πλαταιά (everywhere in Thuc. except the two places just cited); Κεγχρειαί (viii. 10. 5; 20. 6; 23. 2), Κεγχρειά (iv. 42. 21; 44. 14). As to the site of this fortress, with which the Ὀλπαῖοι of c. 101. 12 have nothing to do, as well as of Κρῆναι (l. 10), see Bursian i. p. 38, and Oberhummer, Akarnanien, p. 27 f.—

ὃ . . . ἐχρῶντο: ὅ with τειχισάμενοι, from which ᾧ is to be supplied with ἐχρῶντο. The sent. is best explained with Schoemann, Gr. Alterth. ii.^{3} p. 76, that the Acarnanians after fortifying Olpae had once used it as a common place of justice for their alliance. For the impf. with ποτε expressing what formerly existed for some time, cf. ii. 44. 8; viii. 52. 12; 62. 13, and the pres. partic., i. 132. 30; v. 43. 11; vi. 92. 5. Prob. the occupation of the Amphilochian Olpae by the Acarnanians fell in the time of the ξυμφοραί of the Amphilochian Argos, mentioned in ii. 68. 12. After the Amphilochians had joined the Acarnanians (διδόασιν ἑαυτοὺς Ἀκαρνᾶσι, ii. 68. 18), the place was doubtless restored to its former possessors and the federal court removed elsewhere. See App.

οἱ Ἀκαρνᾶνες οἱ μὲν . . . οἱ δέ: part. appos. See on c. 13. 17.— 9.

ξυνεβοήθουν: the impf. represents continuance, whereas ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο in l. 12 simply states the matter as a fact.—

τῆς Ἀμφιλοχίας: the name of the country precedes that of the place, as in c. 19. 6; 89. 7; i. 100. 15.—10.

φυλάσσοντες τοὺς . . . Πελοποννησίους μὴ λάθωσι: proleptic const. as in i. 26. 6; ii. 67. 22. Kr. Spr. 61, 6, 5.—11.

μὴ λάθωσι . . . διελθόντες: ‘for Crenae, now Παλαιὸ Αὐλί, guarded the entrance to the district from the south.’ Bursian (l.c.), after Heuzey, Le Mont Olympe et l'Acarnanie, p. 290. Cf. c. 106. 14. —13.

Δημοσθένην τὸν . . . στρατηγήσαντα: the designation recalls indeed an undertaking unwelcome to the Acarnanians (c. 95. § 1 f.), but better relations had been already restored (c. 102. § 3 f.). Further, the aor. partic. refers only to what had happened in the summer of 426 B.C. (who had led the army of the Athenians to Aetolia), and does not indicate the expiration of the office of strategus. Had Demosthenes been at that time no longer strategus, he could hardly have obeyed the here mentioned invitation of the Acarnanians and hastened with 200 Messenian hoplites and sixty Athenian bowmen to the scene of action (c. 107. 6), and at any rate it could not have been said of him, in iv. 2. 14, ὄντι ἰδιώτῃ μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τὴν ἐξ Ἀκαρνανίας. For clearly, acc. to these words, his term of office did not expire before his return from Acarnania to Athens (c. 114. § 1).—14.

ἡγεμὼν γίγνηται: cf. c. 107. 11, and see on c. 2. 11.—15.

ἐπὶ τὰς εἴκοσι ναῦς Ἀθηναίων: which, after the return of the thirty ships (c. 98. 25), had been sent out again, under the generals named, περὶ Πελοπόννησον, prob. in consequence of news of the operations of Eurylochus against the Ozolian Locrians and Naupactus (c. 101 f.). Their real goal was Naupactus (cf. c. 114. 8), but they turned aside for the moment, in consequence of the appeal of the Acarnanians, to the Ambracian gulf (c. 107. 4).— 16.

ἦρχεν: Bm. proposed ἦρχον. But cf. iv. 37. 1; 38. 9, and see Kr. Spr. 63, 4.—Ἀριστοτέλης: later prob. one of the Thirty. Cf. Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 2.

ἀπέστειλαν δὲ καί: emphatic repetition after πέμπουσι (l. 13). See on c. 18. 8; i. 28. 8; ii. 7. 3.—18.

ἐς τὴν πόλιν: sc. τὴν Ἀμπρακίαν.—19. πανδημεί: i.e. with all the forces which they could raise after sending out the 3000 hoplites (l. 3). For the execution of this request, cf. c. 110. —21. (

μὴ)

ἡ μάχη γένηται: cf. i. 63. 10; v. 51. 2; 59. 18; viii. 80. 19.—

οὐκ ᾖ ἀσφαλές: with indef. subj., as iv. 36. 1 ἀπέραντον ἦν, viii. 105. 7 ἀφανὲς ἦν.