CHAPTER CXII
τὸ ξύνθημα—the signal agreed upon,=
τὸ ξυγκείμενον: so
Hdt. viii. 7: often a watchword, as in
vii. 44.
ἔθει δρόμῳ— so ch. 67, 25.
ἐμβοήσαντα—=
ὂς ἐνεβόησε: Jowett compares
ii. 68,
Ἄργος την ἄλλην ἔκτισε...Ἄργος ὀνομάσας: cf. Poppo on
i. 18.
ἀθρόον is in agreement with
στρατόν: cf. ch. 34, 11: the word is generally used by Thucydides as a predicative adjective. Krüger points out that such constructions as
ἀθρόον ἐμβοήσαντες (Heliodorus), which are found in later Greek, may have come from misunderstanding the Thucydidean construction.
ἐσέπιπτον—so ch. 68, 21, of an enemy rushing in:
Hdt. v. 15,
ἐσπίπτουσι ἐς τὰς πόλιας. κατὰ δοκοὺς τετραγώνους —‘i.e. planks, which formed an inclined plane from the ground to the top of the broken wall, for the purpose of drawing up stones. Thus queen Nitocris laid
ξύλα τετράγωνα, or planks across the piers of her bridge at Babylon (
Hdt. i. 186),
επ᾽ ὦν τὴν διαβασιν ἐποιεῦντο οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι’ (Arnold).
ἀνολκήν—not found elsewhere in classical Greek.
προσκείμεναι—‘put against’,=perf. pass. of
προστίθημι.
καὶ τὸ πλῆθος—‘with the bulk of his troops’ (ch. 100, 25), the construction of participle and verb referring to Brasidas alone.
ἐπὶ τὰ μετέωρα—so
iii. 72: cf. ch. 32, 15.
κατ᾽ ἄκρας—‘from top to bottom’, i.e. utterly:
Hdt. vi. 18,
αἱρέουσι κατ᾽ ἄκρης: Hom. etc., see Lid. and Scott. ‘An expression borrowed from the seizure of the citadel, always situated in ancient towns in the highest part of the city, and the consequent easy reduction of the whole place’ (Arnold). Thucydides uses the phrase in this passage only, where the literal and metaphorical meanings are both applicable.
