CHAPTER XXXI
ἐπέσχον—‘delayed’, often used with the acc. of time: ch. 73, 29,
χρόνον δὲ ἐπισχόντες: cf. ch. 5, 4, note.
ὑστεραίᾳ—sc.
ἡμέρᾳ: ch. 25, 32. The termination
-αιος is especially used of a day; so
i. 61,
τριταῖοι ἀφίκοντο, ‘they came on the third day’.
ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγας ναῦς—the heavy armed men were landed first, the rest of the force following at daybreak, ch. 32, 6.
τῆς νήσου ἑκατέρωθεν—‘on both sides of the island’, = ab utraque parte. So words like inde are used of the quarter on which a movement is made: cf. line 13,
ἐκ.
ὧδε γὰρ διετετάχατο—‘the enemy were disposed as follows’:
ατο, an Ionic form, =
ντο as seen in
ἐλέλυντο: so
v. 6 and
vii. 4,
ἐτετάχατο:
iii. 13,
τετάχαται: ib.
έφθάραται i.e.
ἔφθαρ-ν-ται. In
Plat. Rep. 533 B we have
τετράφαται from
τρέπω. These forms are not found in the orators, the substantive verb, as infr.
τεταγμὲνοι ἦσαν, being the usual periphrasis for an unpronounceable third person plural.
μέσον δέ—the absence of articles in this clause is remarkable.
μέσον is indeed often used without
τό for ‘the centre’ of an army, and here is similarly used of the centre of the island or of the Lacedaemonian position. On the same principle the definite sense is to be supplied with
ὁμαλώτατον and
περὶ τὸ ὔδωρ. There seems to have been only one spring, and that was brackish (
ἁλμυρόν), ch. 26, 16.
καὶ γάρ τι—‘for indeed there was also, etc.’; this explains why it was less
ἐπίμαχον. λίθων—‘made of stones’;
i. 93,
οἱ θεμέλιοι παντοίων λίθων ὐπόκεινται, ‘the lower courses consist of stones of all sorts’. Krüger quotes some other instances. For
λογάδην see note on ch. 4, 7.
εἰ καταλαμβἀνοι—‘if they should be hard pressed’: for
καταλαμβάνω see note on ch. 20, 4.
ἀναχώρησις βιαιοτέρα— a retreat unusually hard pressed:
v. 73,
ἡ φυγὴ και ἀποχώρησις οὺ βίαιος οὐδὲ μακρὰ ή̂ν: so
ii. 33,
βιαιότερον ἀναγαγόμενοι, after the failure of a naval attempt.
