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τοὺς τοξότας (cf. ch. 60; Aesch. Pers. 463). These archers were citizens of the Thetic class (C. I. A. i. 54. 79 τοξόται ἀστικοί), not the Scyths who were first enlisted by Pericles. E. Meyer (iii. 408) suggested that they numbered 800, and thus explained convincingly the redundancy in H.'s total of light-armed troops at Plataea (ch. 29). At the beginning of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. ii. 13; Ath. Pol. 24) these archers numbered 1,600: hence Munro (J. H. S. xxiv. 147) would assign the other 800 at this time to the Athenian fleet, since we learn from Plutarch (Them. 14) that four archers served on each ship at Salamis.

προέχων, ‘being in front of the others’; cf. iv. 120. 3; Hom. Il. xxiii. 453.

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