E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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δὶς μὲν ... ἔπειτα—cf IV. 115 καὶ μίαν μὲν ἡμέραν ἀπεκρούσαντο, τῇ δ᾽ ὑστεραίᾳ. As regards ἔπειτα without δέ, the ordinary use is πρῶτον (πρῶτα) μὲν. ἔπειτα, which Thuc. uses 28 times; see c. 19, 2, 49, 2, 75, 1, 89, 2, 96, 1, 98, 1. He has πρῶτον (πρῶτα) μὲν ... ἔπειτα δὲ 8 times; see c. 55, 84. If καὶ follows ἔπειτα, δὲ is always inserted, e.g. c. 84; IV. 43; VII. 23; VIII. 48; also μάλιστα μὲν is always followed by ἔπειτα δέ, as c. 54; I. 75; VI. 11, 4, 16, 5, 67, 2. If the more emphatic ἔπειτα μέντοι is used, it is preceded by τὸ πρῶτον or τὸ μὲν π., as III. 93, 1, 111, 3; VIII. 75, 1, 86, 2. τὸ μὲν πρῶτον .. ἔπειτα occurs I. 131; V. 41, 3, 84, 2; the same, but ἔπειτα δὲ c. 48; v. 41, 2. πρῶτον alone is always answered by ἔπειτα alone, unless καὶ follows ἔπειτα, as in VII. 23 τὸ μέγιστον πρῶτον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ κ.τ.λ. After other phrases, ἔπειτα is without δὲ in 10 cases, has δὲ in 2, viz. c. 92, 1; I. 18, 3.

κραυγῇ—Moeris says κεκραγμὸς Ἀττικοί, κραυγὴ Ἕλληνες, but κεκραγμός, κέκραγμα and κραυγή are all Attic words. Perhaps Moeris really wrote κραυγασμὸς Ἕλληνες, which would agree with Phrynichus.

καὶ—there is chiasmus here and in λίθοις καὶ κεράμῳ.

ὀλολυγῇ—‘cheering,’ this word is used regularly of women. Pollux I. 28 ὀλολῦξαι καὶ ὀλολυγῇ χρήσασθαι ἐπὶ γυναικῶν. Hence κραυγῇ goes with οἰκετῶν, ὀλολυγῇ with γυναικῶν. Eur. I. T. 1337 ἀνωλόλυξε καὶ κατῇδε of Iphigenia; cf. Aesch. Ag. 587 of Clytaemnestra. Verg. Aen. IV. 667, IX. 477 femineo ululatu.

τε ... τε—these join χρωμένων to βαλλόντων and represent the two actions as going on simultaneously. Cf. c. 22 ἐκκλησίαν τε οὐκ ἐποίει ... τήν τε πόλιν ἐφύλασσε.

λίθοις καὶ κεράμῳ—no doubt the slaves had gathered the stones, while the women removed the tiles. For κέραμος collective, cf. III. 74, 1; IV. 48, 2. So ἔπαλξις c. 13, κάλαμος c. 76. Xen. Mem. III. 1, 7 λίθοι καὶ πλίνθοι καὶ ξύλα καὶ κέραμος.

διὰ νυκτὸς—cf. διὰ παντὸς c. 16, 2.

πολλοῦ—predicate with ἐπιγενομένου Cf. VII. 87 αἱ νύκτες ἐπιγιγνόμεναι μετοπωριναὶ καὶ ψυχραί.

ἐπιγενομένου—expresses any sudden or unexpected phenomenon. Cf. c. 64, 1, 70, 1, 77, 5. The other meaning occurs in 4 below.

οἱ πλείους—the subject is here limited by apposition from all to the majority, Cf. I. 2, 6 οἱ ἐκπίπτοντες ... οἱ δυνατώτατοι. So in Latin, Livy XXI.24, 2 Galli ... aliquot populi.

πηλῷ—so that progress was impeded. Cf. c. 5, 2. This shows that the streets of Plataea were bad, like Greek streets generally. On the outskirts of the town the soil was certainly soft, and the Thebans fled in the direction of the valley of the Asopus, so that the further they went, the worse the road became. Probably in wet weather the streets of the town resembled water-courses carrying down the water from Cithaeron to the Asopus.

τῶν διόδων—belongs like ᾗ χρὴ ς. to ἄπειροι ὄντες.

ᾗ χρὴ— takes the place of a deliberative subj. (why?). Cf. I. 91, 1 οὐκ εἶχον ὅπως χρὴ ἀπιστῆσαι.

καὶ γὰρ—explains only ἐν σκότῳ, πηλῷ being already explained in ὑετοῦ ἅμα. τελευτῶντος τοῦ μηνὸς—there was a new moon on the early morning of the 7th April 431, and, as the Attic months were lunar, assuming the calendar to have been in perfect order (it must have been in fair order), the month Elaphebolion began at sunset on the 6th April. The attempt was made at the end of Anthesterion, on the night of April 4th or 5th. When the calendar month did not correspond with the true lunar month, the true day of the new moon was called νουμηνία κατὰ σελήνην (c. 28).

ἐμπείρους δὲ ἔχοντες τοὺς δ.—for ἐμπείρων δὲ ὄντων τῶν δ. Cf. I. 144 αὐτονόμους ἀφήσομεν εἰ καὶ αὐτονόμους ἔχοντες ἐσπεισάμεθα.

[τοῦ μὴ ἐκφεύγειν—this is taken as ne effugereni. (There is another tradition, due to Kr., that it expresses a consequence, which is not in good Attic.) It must depend on διώκοντας,—which gives the platitude that the enemy pursued them that they might not escape. To avoid this, Cl. explains it as equivalent to τοῦ μὴ ἐᾶν ἐκφεύγειν and constructs it with ἐμπείρους. But (1) there is no other case of gen, of inf. with adjectives in Thuc., (2) ἐμπείρους τοῦ ἐκφεύγειν ought to mean ‘experienced in escaping.’ Supply τῶν διόδων with ἐμπείρους. ὥστε διεφθείροντο οἱ π.]—the article, found in BCEFGM and in A corrected, contradicts τὸ πλεῖστον in 5 below, and ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν c. 5, 7, the number captured out of a force of few over 300 (c. 2, 1), when many others had been killed or had escaped (4 below). Bekker omits οἱ, followed by most edd., and the imitation of Aen. Pol. 2, 6 is quoted οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφυγον ἄπειροι ὄντες ᾗ χρὴ σωθῆναι, οἱ δὲ ἐμπείρως διώκοντες πάνυ πολλοὺς ἔφθειραν. But on reading the whole chap. to 4, it becomes clear that no results of the flight are given till 4, where the fate of the whole number is told: so that these words break the continuity of the narrative.