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

Ἐλλομενῷ—“probably on the bay of Vlicho (Klimino), on the E. coast of the island” (Oberhummer).

τῆς Λευκαδίας—sc. γῆς. Corcyra, Cephallenia and Zacynthus were already allies of Athens. For a previous attempt on Leucas see c. 7, 5. Sparta had, besides Leucas, Oeniadae, and Ambracia.

ἔξω—sc. τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ, the land they had in Λcarnania. For the isthmus see c. 81, 1.

τὸ ἱερόν—at the southernmost corner of the island.

οἱ δὲ Ἀκαρνᾶνες—Leucas and Anactorium (c. 114, 3) Corinthian colonies, controlled the entrance to the Ambracian gulf.

ἀποτειχίζειν—‘to cut them off from the mainland.’ In c. 95, 2 this projected wall is referred to as περιτείχισις, i.e. wall from sea to sea.

ὑπὸ Μεσσηνίων—the Messenians of Naupactus (see c. 75) probably had Aetolians for immediate neighbours (Woodhouse, Aetolia p. 336).

ὡς καλόν—se. ἐστί.

Ναυπάκτῳ τε . . καὶ ἤν —the second cause is expressed in an independent form—infin. with verb of saying supplied. A good parallel is IV. 3 λιμένος τε προσόντος, καὶ τοὑς Μεσσηνίους . . πλεῖστ᾽ ἂν βλάπτειν.

διὰ πολλοῦ—‘far apart.’

Ἀποδωτοῖς—this tribe is to the NE. of Naupactus.

Ὀφιονεῦσι—N. of the Apodoti.

Εὐρυτᾶσιν—N. and E. of the Ophioneis. All three tribes belong to New Aetolia, Αἰτωλία ἐπίκτητος, as distinct from Old Aetolia, ἡ ἀρχαία, of the Iliad. (All that can be known about the tribes will be found in Woodhouse, Aetolia.）

καὶ τἆλλα προσχωρήσειν “refers back to the expression τὸ ἄλλο ἠπειρωτικὸν τὸ ταύτῃ—by which we must understand the Messenians (or Thucydides) to mean that the Athenian ‘sphere of influence’ in Western Hellas would be enormously extended if the three Aetolian tribes were subjugated. It would be diffienlt, however, to state precisely what tribes were in the historian's mind” (Woodhouse).