CHAPTER CIX
Μεγαρῆς τε τά—the manuscripts have
τά τε, but as the particles connect the respective operations of the Megarians and of Brasidas, Krüger and others adopt the transposition suggested by Haacke; see note on ch. 77, 11.
ἃ σφῶν—the pronoun is placed in the relative clause: so
ii. 45,
παισί, ὅσοι τῶνδε πάρεστε, where Poppo cites several instances. For the Athenian occupation of the walls, see ch. 69.
ἐς ἔδαφος—so
iii. 68,
καθελόντες ἐς ἔδαφος ἐκ τῶν θεμελίων.
Ἀκτήν—（
ἀκτή, properly a headland or peninsula; see Liddell and Scott) the most easterly peninsula of Chalcidice. It is about 40 miles in length, and averages 4 in width: it is mountainous and rugged, especially towards Mount Athos. The latter name was often applied to the whole peninsula, which is joined to the mainland near Acanthus by a low and narrow isthmus. The following is the description given by Herodotus (
vii. 22),
ὁ γὰρ Ἄθως ἐστὶ ὄρος μέγα τε καὶ οὐνομαστὸν ἐς θάλασσαν κατῆκον οἰκημένον ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων. τῇ δὲ τελευτᾷ ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τὸ ὄρος, χερσονησοειδές τέ ἐστι καὶ ἰσθμὸς ὠς δώδεκα σταδίων: πεδίον δὲ τοῦτο.
τοῦ βασιλέως διορύγματος—the canal made by Xerxes; cf.
Hdt. vii. 22 etc. Distinct traces of it remain.
ἔσω προὔχουσα must mean ‘jutting out inwards’, i.e. into the sea; or according to Haack ‘intra Chersonesum’. Herodotus calls the towns of the peninsula
αἱ ἐντὸς Σάνης. Krüger suggests
ἔξω.
Ἄθως αὐτῆς...τελευτᾷ—αὐτῆς is either geographical gen. ‘situated in, belonging to it’; or is governed by
τελευτᾴ, as in
iii. 104,
ἐτελεύτα τοῦ ἐπαίνου ἐς τάδε τὰ ἔπη, ‘he ended his panegyric with these verses’. Mount Athos ‘forms the extremity of’ the peninsula, rising abruptly from the sea to a height of more than 6000 feet. The phrase
τελευτᾶν ἐς occurs ch. 48, 27.
ἐς τὸ πρὸς Εὔβοιαν—Sane is on the isthmus and looks south: see
Hdt. vii. 22, where the same list of six towns is given, Sane being distinguished as
πόλις Ἑλλάς.
διγλώσσων—speaking Greek besides their own tongue:
viii. 85,
Κᾶρα δίγλωσσον.
Πελασγικόν—See Grote Vol. ii., ch. 2 and 22; and the authorities cited by Poppo and Classen.
Λῆμνον καὶ Ἀθήνας—see the account in
Hdt. vii. 137—140. For the position of
οἰκησάντων cf. note on ch. 5, 10.
