Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

χωρίον ἐρυμνὸν καὶ δυσπρόσοδον: apparently the southern part of the hill called Alesium, which was a point of considerable strategic importance for Mantinea. See Curtius, Pelopon. I. p. 241. It is therefore called (6) χωρίον καρτερόν.

τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τις: perhaps one of the ten ξύμβουλοι of c. 63. 15.

κακὸν κακῷ ἰᾶσθαι: proverbial. So Hdt.iii. 53. 15, μὴ τῷ κακῷ τὸ κακὸν ἰῶ. Cf. Soph. Aj. 362; Plat. Prot. 340 d. It refers to Agis's words in c. 63. 10 f.—ἐπαιτίου: which had caused him to be blamed. Cf. c. 60. 10; 63. 2. But in vi. 61. 4 we find the pers. use of ἐπαίτιος.

βουλομένην : the partic. with δηλοῦν is used also in i. 21. 12; ii. 50. 4; with δηλοῦσθαι in i. 11. 17. The man called to Agis, pointing out (δηλῶν) that his eagerness wished, etc. See App.

εἴτε καί, εἴτε καί: the adv. καί adds liveliness and force to the expression, as in vi. 60. 11 f. Kühn. 541, 2, N. 2. —τὸ ἐπιβόημα: (cf. ἐπεβόησεν, 5) occurs nowhere else in Thuc. Poll., vi. 208, objects to it as σκληρόν, but Dio C. uses it freq.

ἢ κατὰ τὸ αὐτό: Kr. explains: “than in accordance with the line of action he had begun.” See App.—δόξαν: acc. abs. (aor. partic.), as in viii. 79. 2; 93. 7. The partic. is used in a causal sense, and the whole expression αὐτῷ . . . δόξαν is parallel to διὰ τὸ ἐπιβόημα, giving a second reason for his sudden retreat.—ἐξαίφνης: to be const. with what follows, and therefore separated by a comma (with Cl.) from what precedes. Not that his decision was sudden, but that he executed it suddenly is important. Hence below, 20, the astonishment of the enemy at the αἰφνίδιος ἀναχώρησις. Moreover κατὰ τάχος indicates the rapidity of the march.

πρὸς τὴν Τεγεᾶτιν: to the border of the territory of Tegea.—τὸ ὕδωρ: not the brook Ophis, but a stream which flows northward from the Tegean territory. See Curtius, Pelopon. I. p. 235; Baedeker, Griechenland, p. 274.—ἐξέτρεπεν: impf., he set about turning, etc. This task naturally required some time. See 18 f.

ὁποτέρωσε ἂν ἐσπίπτῃ: since it had no sufficient outlet, and tended to flood the neighbouring land.

τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου: acc. to the wellknown proleptie use for τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ λόφου (i.e. the χωρίον ἐρυμνὸν καὶ δυσπρόσοδον of 2). G. 191, N. 6; H. 788. Const. as obj. with the inf. καταβιβάσαι, with which βοηθοῦντας κτἑ. is to be connected as a pred. adj.: “he wished to make the troops on the hill come down and try to stop the turning aside of the water (βοηθοῦντας ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκτροπήν), as soon as they heard of it, and fight on the plain.” τοὺς Ἀργείους καὶ τοὺς ξυμμάχους is rightly struck out by St., v. Herwerden, and Cl. as a useless gloss.

ἐξ ὀλίγου: this refers apparently to the near approach μέχρι λίθου καὶ ἀκοντίου βολῆς (4), i.e. it is to be taken in a local sense. αἰφνιδίῳ refers to the unexpectedness of the withdrawal. Cf. ἐξαίφνης, 10. See App.

οὐκ εἶχον κτἑ.: on the use of οὐκ ἔχειν with deliberative subjv., see on ii. 52. 11.

ἀπέκρυψαν: ἑαυτοὺς δηλονότι. ἀφανεῖς ἐγένοντο. ἰδίως δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν πλοϊζομένων καὶ οὐκέτι ὁρωμένων λέγεται ὅτι ἀπέκρυψαν, Schol. Of this rare use only two examples are cited; one from Plat. Prot. p. 338 a, φεύγειν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος τῶν λόγων ἀποκρύψαντα γῆν, and one from Luc. Ver. Hist. ii. 38, ἐφεύγομεν . . . ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἀπέκρυψαν (got out of sight of) αὐτούς. Acc. to these examples, we should supply αὐτούς rather than with the Schol. ἑαυτούς.— σφεῖς: is here opp. to ἐκεῖνοι and οἱ μέν, and is equiv. to an emphatic αὐτοί. This is rare in dir. disc.

αὖθις ἐν αἰτίᾳ εἶχον: cf. c. 60. 23.— καλῶς ληφθέντας: “when they had caught them so finely.” Used of the favourable opportunity, as in c. 36. 18, καλῶς σφίσι φίλιον γενέσθαι.—τό τε πρότερον ἀφεθῆναι: see c. 59. § 4; 60. § 5. The inf. depends upon the idea of speaking implied in ἐν αἰτίᾳ εἶχον (i.e. it is the inf. of indir. disc.), and refers to past time. They preferred the charge that the Lacedaemonians had been let off. Cf. vii. 81. 3, ἐν αἰτίᾳ τὸν Γύλιππον εἶχον ἑκόντα ἀφεῖναι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.

καὶ νῦν ὅτι : here introduces the continuation of the indir. disc., but the change from the inf. to ὅτι (which is far less usual than the change from ὅτι to the inf.) gives the following words somewhat the effect of dir. disc. Kr. says ‘ὅτι here means because.’ If Kr. were right, we should have here an example of a causal sent. after a secondary tense and implying that the cause is assigned by other persons than the writer in which the pres. ind. is retained. It would be difficult to find other examples of this const. See GMT. 81, 2, Rem.

καθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν: at their leisure; very ironical, esp. with προδίδονται.

ἐθορυβήθησαν μὲν τὸ παραυτίκα: a higher degree of ἀπορεῖν. For a moment they lost their self-control (or, as we say, lost their heads) on account of the violence of the reproaches.