ἀφικνοῦνται—sc. τὸ Νικίου στράτευμα. ὅμως means notwithstanding the trouble caused by the disorder of Demosthenes' division.

πρὸς τὴν θ—near to the coast

τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν Ἐλωρινὴν—the ancient road from Syr. to its dependency Helorus, which had been seized from the Sicels in order to prevent them from reaching the S.E. corner of Sicily. N. reached the road at some point north of the Cacyparis. 27

ὅπως—presumably this arrangement had been made with Demosthenes.

Κακυπάρει—the Cassibile.

ἄνω—inland. They still hoped to reach the hill country of the Sicels.

ἤλπιζον—Holm says that this seutence refers to c. 77.6 προπέπεμπται ὡς αὐτούς etc., and that this proves that the A. had not intended to get to Catana, since they had ordered the Sicels to meet them on the Cacyparis But if they had pursued their original route over the Acraean rock, they might have eome out somewhere near the source of the Cacyparis, but quite fourteen miles from where they now crossed the river. If they meant to follow thc river up to some point which they had been trying to reach from the first, still nothing is proved with regard to their ultimate intentions. Freeman thinks that Nicias had sent fresh messages to the Sicels when he changed his route. But it is quite likely that he assumed that the Sicels would march down the stream when they failed to find him higher up.