E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

ἔτι γάρ—about the middle of September in the previous year the Pel. had turned the siege of Plataea into a blockade They had withdrawn the greater part of their army, leaving a garrison to guard half their lines, while the other half was guarded by the Boeotians.

τῷ τε σίτῳ ἐπιλείποντι—equivalent to τῇ σιτοδείᾳ. ἐπιλιπόντι all MSS.: other aecounts are not deeisive in favour of the present.

τιμωρίας=βοηθείας, as often in Thuc. The Athenians had promised to help Plataea when the siege began, but their hands had since been full owing to the plague, the siege of Potidaea and the revolt of Lesbos. See further, Introd. p. xvi.

ἐσηγησαμένων—cf. VI. 99 οὐχ ἥκιστα Ἑρμοκράτους ἐσηγησαμένου.

ἀνδρὸς μάντεως—together.

ἐστρατήγει—the opinion of a general supported by a μάντις would carry great weight.

ἀπώκνησαν . . τὸν κίνδυνον—cf. c. 30, 4.

ἐς δὲ . . . μάλιστα—the phrase with prep. stands as subject of the verb. In Andoc. I. 37 εἰς τριακοσίους is presently repeated in the form μάλιστα τριακοσίους. For ἐς and μάλιστα often used together cf. e.g. c. 90, 3 περί and μάλιστα, Dem. XXI. 154, περί and ἴσως, Herod. III. 159 μάλιστα ἐς.

ἐνέμειναν—as in ἐμμένειν τοῖς ὅρκοις etc.

τρόπῳ τοιῳδε is added κατὰ σύνεσιν.

ξυνεμετρήσαντο—it is possible to supply τὸ τεῖχος or τὰς κλίμακας, but § 4 strongly favours the latter.

ἐξαληλιμμένον—‘whitewashed.’ The ἐξ- probably denotes completion: the whitewashing had not been finished at one part of the wall.

ἠριθμοῦντο . . ἀριθμοῦντες—for the rapid passage from mid. to act. ef. II. 9 ναυτικὸν παρείχοντο . . πεζὸν παρεῖχον.

ἐς ὃ ἐβούλοντο τοῦ τείχους—sc. καθορᾶν, or perhaps rather ὁρᾶν: τοῦ τείχους agrees with καθορωμένου, and ἐς ὃ έβουλοντο=‘as far as they wanted to see it,’ i.e. a sufficiently wide piece was visible. The objection to this is that ἐς ὅ for ὁσον or ἐς ὅσον does not oecur elsewhere. In Herod. ές ὅ means ‘until’ with aorist or hist. pres. or iterative imperf.; but in Thuc. V. 66 ἐς ὃ ἐμέμνηντο=so far as (of time), a use not found elsewhere; and it is possible by Gk. usage of a prep. and neuter adj. or pron., that the phrase should denote time or place: e.g. ἐξ ὀλίγου of time II. 11, of place II. 91, and so with ἐκ πολλοῦ. Two other views of this passage, not involving change of the text, must be noticed: (a) taking τοῦ τείχους as agreeing with καθορωμἐνου ‘as the wall was completely visible to the desired point’ i e. to the foot of the wall, viewed from above; but we should expect this meaning to be expressed directly and clearly. (b) Taking τοῦ τείχους as depending on ἐς ὅ, ‘as they easily looked down upon the part of the wall that they wished to see,’ i e. καθορωμένου (τούτου) ἐς ὃ τοῦ τείχους ἑβούλοντο (ὁρᾶν). This is very awkward and we should expect καθορῶντες. The alterations proposed are (a) ὅσον for ἐς ὅ, Stahl, or (b) to insert an infin., as ἀναβῆναι after ἐβούλοντο (Stein).

τὴν ξυμμέτρησιν . . ἔλαβον—for the periphrasis with λαβεῖν cf. e.g. Soph. Phil. 1078 φρόνησιν λαβεῖν. Presumably the height arrived at by the majority was accepted as correet.

τῆς πλίνθου—collective; so in II. 9, 4 λίθοις καὶ κεράμῳ, cf. e. 74, 1, II. 76 κάλαμος. The meaning is that, having counted the layers, they found the height of the wall by multiplication.