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ἐπὶ κέρως ‘in column,’ longo agmine, as opposed to ἐπὶ φάλαγγος (Xen. Hell. vi. 2, 30), quadrato agmine.
ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ Ἰδάκου μέχρι Ἀρριανῶν. Nothing is known of Idacus or Arrhiani, nor are the genders of the words certain. The context (ἀρξάμενοι, etc.) seems to imply that Arrhiani is farther up the Hellespont than Idacus. μέχρι with παρέτειναν, not ἀρξάμενοι. νῆες by apposition. ἓξ καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα The seventy-six are made up of the fifty-five ships of Thrasyllus (c. 100, § 1), five of Thrasybulus (ibid § 4), the two which had been returning to Athens (ibid. § 5), and the escaped fourteen out of the eighteen ships of c. 102, § 2. Δαρδάνου probably the origin of the name Dardanelles. The town is frequently named (e.g. Hdt. vi. 43). The line therefore extended some seventy stadia, or about eight miles, giving from ten to eleven ships to the mile. ἓξ καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα This is the total number given above (c. 103, § 1). The MSS. mostly give ὀκτὼ καὶ ἑξήκοντα by a transposition, but two good copies have ὀκτὼ καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα. Inf. § 5 it is said of the Athenians in the middle of the line that they were inferior in numbers, and the remark applies generally.
αἱ ἄριστα πλέουσαι. This left wing is lower down the Hellespont, and the best ships are there to prevent the ontward escape of the Athenians. See inf. § 4. ὡς ἕκαστοι διετάξαντο = ‘had their several posts of command at intervals.’
ὑπερσχόντες. The frame of the sentence is ἐπειγομένων . . . κατὰ μὲν τὸ δεξιὸν . . . ἀποκλῇσαι . . . κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέσον ἐξῶσαι κ.τ.λ. As if ἐβούλοντο had been written instead of the genitive absolute, the nominative ὑπερσχόντες appears. Thus ἐβούλοντο ἀποκλῇσαι αὐτοὺς ὑπερσχόντες (= τῷ ὑπερσχεῖν) is regular (cf. v. 50). For this βουλομένων (in the shape ἐπειγομένων . . . ὑπερσχόντες is substituted. The passage v. 41 quoted by Arnold is not analogous. ἀντεπεξῆγον ‘extended their line in that direction to prevent them.’ Cf. c. 105, § 3, παυσάμενοι τῆς ἐπεξαγωγῆς τοῦ κέρως. περίεγιγνοντο τῷ πλῷ i.e. got before them.
Κυνὸς σῆμα where tradition placed the tomb of Hecuba. Eur. Hec. 1265, κύων γενήσει πύρσ᾽ ἔχουσα δέργματα; 1271, 1273, τύμβῳ δ᾽ ὄνομα σῷ κεκλήσεται κυνὸς ταλαίνης σῆμα, ναυτίλοις τέκμαρ. But the name must have had a less romantic origin. There is a Cynossema also in Caria: cf. Κυνὸς οὐρά, Κυνὸς κεφαλαί.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 8. T.G. Tucker. London. MacMillan & Company. 1892.
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