C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5

εἴρητο—so ch. 10, 36: iv. 77, 1, etc. Though the construction is passive, Agis is still the subject in sense, and accordingly σφᾶς=Agis' division.

διατάξας—iv. 31, 2, ὧδε γὰρ διετετάχατο: iv. 130, 3, διατάσσει ὡς ἐς μάχην, etc. The compound implies the assignment of different posts or duties.

Σάμινθον—unknown. For ἄλλα cf. ch. 57, 3, τἆλλα. Here however places, not states, are meant. ἡμἑρας ἤδη—so i. 30, 4, χειμῶνος ἤδη: iii. 24, 3, ἐπεὶ ἤδη ἠμέρα ἐγένετο. This gives some support to the reading ὄρθριοι, ch. 58, 22.

οὐ πολλῷ πλείους—appositional, lit. ‘in a rather greater number’; so ch. 115, 4. ἐχώρουν—possibly=‘had been marching’ i.e. during the night; see note on ch. 50, 13: but perhaps simply ‘continued their march.’ They had taken the longer and more level road by Nemea. The tenses throughout, as in all military descriptions, are to be carefully watched.

κατέλαβον—‘found’, sc. there: in this sense, as Classen points out, this verb is generally followed by a participle or some note of place. καταβάντες—sc. the Argives. They had marched down from Nemea at once, and were now getting into battle array.

ἐν μέσῳ δέ—on the south the Spartans under Agis occupied the plain, and cut them off from Argos; to the west the Corinthians occupied the mountain ridges, and threatened their flank; while from the north the Boeotian cavalry and the rest of that division were closing on their rear.

τὸ δέ—iv. 108, 1, τὰ πρὸς Ἠιόνα τηρουμένων. πρὸς Νεμέας—iv. 100, 3, τὸ πρὸς ἑαυτῶν ἄκρον. ἵπποι δέ—there was then no Peloponnesian cavalry on either side. 20 οὐχ οὕτω—as we say ‘not so great’=not very; so non ita: ii. 11, 6, οὐδ̓ ἐπὶ ἀδύνατον οὕτω πόλιν. Such expressions are elliptical, at any rate originally. ἐν καλῷ—under favourable conditions, see ch. 46, 8.

ἀπειληφέναι—sc. αὐτοί: the construction reverts to the original subject, as if the clause with ἀλλά were a mere parenthesis, ἑνόμιζον or ἐδόκουν being supplied.

τῶν πέντε στρατηγῶν—seemingly corresponding to the πέντε λόχοι, ch. 72, 24. Arnold says these were not originally military but political divisions. The strategi at Argos, as at Athens, were probably the heads of the war department.

ὅσον οὐ—iv. 36, 1, ἐς τὸν ὅσον οὐ παρόντα πόλεμον. ξυνιόντων—iv. 94, 2, ἤδη μελλόντων ξυνιέναι. μὴ ποιεῖν μάχην —the active is used of the commander who orders or brings on the battle; so iv. 91, 2. μάχην ποιεῖσθαι is ‘to fight’, as in ch. 65, 20. In construction the infinitive depends on the sense of requesting implied in διελεγέσθην.