CHAPTER CXX
αἶς ἐπήρχοντο—‘were going to and fro, communicating with each other’. Cobet regards these words as part of an ‘insulsa annotatiuncula’ incorporated with the text, (the remaining words of) the scholiast's note being
είς ἀλλήλους ἑκάτεροι. The imperfect of
ἔρχομαι and its compounds is rarely, if ever, found in Attic Greek, and is considered quite inadmissible in prose by many critics. Some editors accordingly would substitute
ἐπῇσαν. Herbst suggests that
ἐπήρχοντο comes from
ἐπάρχομαι and means ‘making offerings in ratification of the treaty’,
ἐπί implying ‘one after the other’. This view is adopted by Classen. A similar difficulty occurs in ch. 121, 9. The article on
ἔρχομαι in Veitch's Greek Verbs should be carefully studied.
Πελληνῆς—Pellene was the most easterly city in Achaia, not far from Sicyon. The
Πελληνῆς are mentioned in
ii. 9 as allies of Sparta: cf.
v. 58.
κατενεχθῆναι—ch. 3, 9.
τῷ χειμῶνι—cf.
vi. 2,
Φωκέων τινὲς τῶν ἀπὸ Τροίας χειμῶνι...ἐς Σικελίαν κατενεχθέντες. The storm which shattered and dispersed the victorious Grecian armament is an essential part of the tale of Troy.
ἐχρήσαντο —cf.
Dem. de Cor. 293,
χειμῶνι χρησάμενον. Ἀχαιοί is one of the Homeric terms for the Greeks generally:
i. 3,
Δαναοὺς καὶ Ἀργείους καὶ Ἀχαιοὺς ἁνακαλεῖ: so
vi. 2,
Τρώων τινὲς διαφυγόντες Ἀχαιούς.
οἰκῆσαι—the aorist=‘settled, took up their abode’.
τριήρει—dative ‘of accompaniment’, like
ἄρας στρατῷ. Brasidas seems to have crossed from Torone.
ἀποθεν—’at some distance’: many manuscripts have
ἄπωθεν, the older form (see Lid. and Scott).
ἀμὐνῃ—the subj. is the best-supported reading: so
vii. 4,
ὅπως οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, εἰ μὴ δύναιντο κωλῦσαι, μηκέτι οἷοί τε ὦσιν ἀποτειχίσαι: cf. note on ch. 1, 13.
αὐτῷ means the
κέλης, but the pronoun is doubtful, and ought perhaps to be omitted. Most manuscripts have
αὐτῇ, which is plainly wrong; nor is the proposed
αὐτή ‘of itself’ or ’by its mere appearance’ much more satisfactory.
ἀντιπάλου—‘of equal strength’. Note the change of construction in the latter part of the sentence. After the gen. abs., instead of a clause corresponding to
ὄπως ἀμύνῃ, the participle
νομίζων is introduced, in a somewhat similar way to
ὁρῶν, ch. 116, 3: the subject of
τρέψεσθαι is to be supplied from the gen. abs.: while the original subject, Brasidas, is the subject of
διασώσειν.
φάσκων—this participle comes in awkwardly, corresponding to
ἅ τε in the previous clause: the awkwardness is however lessened by the fact that
ἔλεγε is not simply ‘said’, but ‘began a set speech’: ch. 114, 14.
ἐν τῷ ἰσθμῷ—for this use of
ἐν see note on ch. 113, 12.
οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἤ—ch. 14, 20.
προσγενέσθαι—here ‘to be applied, brought to bear’, not ‘to be added’. Compare the language of Brasidas at Acanthus, ch. 87.
εἰ τεθήσεται—if their political wishes can be carried out: cf.
εὖ τίθεσθαι etc. Krüger and Classen read
εἴ τε τεθήσεται, connecting this clause with what follows. For
κατὰ νοῦν=ex sententia, cf.
Soph. O. C. 1768;
κατὰ νόον is not uncommon in Herodotus: cf.
Dem. Ol. i. 14,
κατὰ γνώμην.