Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

οἷς ἔσπειστο: with whom the agreement had been made, not for whom. Cf. 1. 12; 109. 11.—

πρόφασιν: adv. on the pretext, as in v. 80. 17; vi. 33. 9; Eur. I. A. 362; Dem. xviii. 77. Kr. Spr. 46, 3, 5; Kühn. 462 i.

λαχανισμόν: ἅναξ in Thuc. λαχάνων συνάθροισιν, Schol. Cf. Poll. i. 162 ἐξῆλθον ἐπὶ λαχανισμόν, ἐπὶ φρυγανισμόν. λάχανα are wild cabbage, still used in Greece. Gell, Morea, p. 191. See also Leake, Northern Greece, iv. p. 248.—3.

φρυγάνων ξυλλογήν: = φρυγανισμόν, vii. 4. 30; 13. 7. Cf. φρύγανα συλλέγειν, Lycurg. 86.—

ὑπαπῇσαν: withdrew gradually. Cf. v. 9. 17.—4.

κατ̓ ὀλίγους: a few at a time. Cf. c. 78. 2; Hdt. viii. 113. 14. <*>

δῆθεν: “as they pretended.” Cf. c. 68. 4; i. 92. 3; 127. 2; iv. 99. 7.—5.

θᾶσσον ἀπεχώρουν: cf. c. 109. 14 ἀποχωρεῖν κατὰ τάχος. ἀπεχώρουν, impf., covers the time in which the following events occurred.

οἱ ἄλλοι ὅσοι kte(.: the μισθοφόρος ὄχλος of c. 109. 16.—

ὅσοι μεν † ἐτύγχανον οὕτως: the passage is certainly corrupt. See App.—7.

ἁθρόοι ξυνελθόντες: in their critical situation they first came together to take counsel, but when they learned that the Peloponnesians were already withdrawing, they set off also themselves (καὶ αὐτοί), and were hastening to overtake them. But see App.—8.

ἔθεον δρόμῳ: = ἐχώρουν δρόμῳ, v. 3. 7. Cf. iv. 67. 21; 112. 2; v. 10. 26; vi. 100. 14; Xen. Anab. i. 8. 8; iv. 6. 25. —

ἐπικαταλαβεῖν: overtake, as in ii. 90. 23. Cf. Plato Tim. 39 c; Jos. Antiq. xviii. 9. 5; Polyb. i. 66. 4; Diod. xviii. 71.

οἱ δὲ Ἀκαρνᾶνες: since Dem. had let only their leaders into the secret.—10.

καὶ πάντας: i.e. not merely the Ambraciots.—

τοὺς Πελοποννησίους: this and τοὺς Μαντινέας καὶ τοὺς Πελοποννησίους (l. 14) are not quite exact expressions for τοὺς Μαντινέας καὶ οἶς ἔσπειστο (l. 2). See on c. 109. 16. The Ἀμπρακιῶται καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι of l. 6 are not mentioned, perhaps because reference is not yet had to the time when they too set off from Olpae (ὥρμησαν καὶ αὐτοὶ κτἑ.). —11.

αὐτῶν τῶν στρατηγῶν: of the generals themselves, indicating a great degree of excitement, on which account alone indeed the whole occurrence is narrated.—12.

ἠκόντισε: with acc. without prep. Kr. Spr. 47, 14, 1.—13.

τις: the sing, of the partic. νομίσας is against taking τις here in the sense of one and another, as Arn., Goell., and St. do. In Xen. An. i. 8. 20 τοξευθῆναί τις ἐλέγετο, which Arn. compares, τις doubtless refers to a single person.—

σφᾶς: refers to the subj. of the leading clause （τις), though including more than this. For the pl. thus used after a sing. subj., cf. iv. 36. 3; vi. 49. 9. Kr. Spr. 58, 4, 3.—14.

τοὺς Μαντινέας καὶ τοὺς Πελοποννησίους: the same emphasis of the part beside the whole, as in l. 2 οἱ Μαντινῆς καὶ οἶς ἔς<*>στο.<*>ἀφίεσαν: the use of the augment of this verb in Thuc., as well as in other Attic writers, is inconstant. Cf. ἠφίει, ii. 49. 8; ἀφίει, iv. 122. 11; viii. 41. 13. See Kr. on ii. 49. 8. The impf. here, as well as ἔκτεινον (15), because the action is represented as in progress. Cf. ἀπεχώρουν (6), ἔθεον (8), ἐπεδίωκον (11). But in l. 17 the aor. (ἀπέκτειναν) occurs, because only the result is to be stated.

ἐς διακοσίους μέν τινας: about two hundred, as in viii. 21. 4. For the force of τινας, see on c. 68. 16. The prepositional phrase represents the obj., as in c. 114. 22. See on c. 20. 11.—

αὐτῶν: refers only to the Ambraciots, as is clear from οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλοι διέφυγον κτἑ.—18.

ἐς τὴν Ἀγραΐδα: see on c. 106. 10.