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τὸν ἐν Κύπρῳ πόλεμον: for the Cyprian war see Introduction, p. 20.

Κῦρον τὸν περὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἀμφισβητήσαντα: the reference is to the famous expedition of Cyrus, described by Xenophon (Anab. i), when he attempted to win the kingdom of Persia from his brother Artaxerxes II, and perished at the battle of Cunaxa (401 B.C.).

μέγιστον δὲ τεκμήριον: τοῦ γάρ: see note on § 8 σημεῖον δὲ μέγιστον.

τοῦ μέν: i. e. Cyrus.

μικροῦ δεῖν, ‘almost.’ For the genitive see note on τοσούτου δέω, § 21. The infinitive is an absolute infinitive, used parenthetically with or without ὡς (cp. ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν or ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν); μικροῦ δεῖν is lit. ‘to want but little’, so ‘almost’. By an ellipse we also get μικροῦ and ὀλίγου (δεῖν being omitted); cp. Plato, Rep. 552 D ὀλίγου πάντες, ‘almost all.’

μικροῦ δεῖν ἔλαθεν κτἑ, ‘he almost appeared before his palace before he was aware of him,’ lit. ‘almost escaped notice appearing’, &c. According to Xenophon the battle was fought 360 stades (about 45 miles) from Babylon.

ἐπὶ τὸ βασίλειον ἐπιστάς: for this use of the intrans. tenses of ἐφίστημι cp. de Pace 41 ἐξαίφνης ἐπιστὰς τοῖς γιγνομένοις, ‘suddenly appearing on the scene of action’; it is also used of appearances in dreams (Helen. 65).

πρὸς δὲ τοῦτον: i.e. Evagoras.

ἐκ πολλοῦ: we should say, ‘for a long time.’

μεταξὺ πάσχων εὖ, ‘at a time when he was receiving kindness at his hands.’ μεταξύ is used with a participle when the action of the principal verb occurs at a point of time during the action described by the participle; similarly ἅμα with the participle implies contemporaneous action of the participle and principal verb. The position of εὖ is due to a desire to avoid hiatus; cp. N. C. 7 τοῦ φρονεῖν εὖ.

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Isocrates, Nicocles or the Cyprians, 7
    • Isocrates, On the Peace, 41
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