Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 7

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But we dare not relax our watchfulness, on account of the difficulty of getting supplies. The army suffers loss, moreover, partly from sudden attacks of the enemy's cavalry, partly from the desertion of those who came with us either through compulsion or in hope of gain.

1. ἐκ πολλῆς περιουσίας νεῶν: lit., from a great numerical superiority in ships, i.e. even if we had such superiority. ἐκ of the consequence as in i.2.17; 75. 7; ii.33.12.

τοῦτο: sc. τὸ ἀποξηραίνειν τὰς ναῦς.

καὶ μὴ ἀναγκαζομένοις : with ἐκ πολλῆς περιονσίας forming the prot. to ἂν ὑπῆρχε. The difficulty attending the ἀνελκύσαντας διαψύξαι even with a greater number of ships (μόλις ἂν τοῦτο ὑπῆρχε) was shown in c. 12. § 4.

ὥσπερ νῦν: sc. ἀναγκαζόμεθα, explained by εἰ γὰρ ἀφαιρήσομέν τι . . . ἐσκομιζόμενοι.

πάσαις : with all (the ships), the military dat., as in i.49.18, and often.—ἀφαιρήσομέν τι καὶ βραχύ: leave off even a little.

παρὰ τὴν ἐκείνων πόλιν: i.e. along by Syracuse, in sailing into the great harbour.

ἐσκομιζόμενοι: sc. τὰ ἐπιτήδεια. Cf. vi.22.6.

τὰ δὲ πληρώματα: see on c. 4. 27.— 6. διὰ τόδε: set forth in the following up to the end of the chap., first in gen. abs. (τῶν μὲν . . . ἀπολλυμένων), then in dir. disc. (οἱ δὲ θεράποντες . . . αὐτομολοῦσι κτἑ.). For similar cases of anacoluthon, see c. 15. § 2; 47. § 2.—ἐφθάρη, φθείρεται: the former referring to the cases that had already occurred (cf. c. 4. § 6), the latter to the continuance of the bad state of affairs.

τῶν ναυτῶν: the part. gen. placed first, including all the following parts, τῶν μέν, οἱ δὲ θεράποντες, and οἱ ξένοι. This last is subdivided into οἱ μέν (10), οἱ δέ (11), and οἱ δέ is further divided into οἱ μέν (15), οἱ δέ (15) and εἰσὶ δ᾽ οἵ (16). The ναῦται include ἐπιβάται as well as ἐρέται. The most of the latter consist of θεράποντες and ξένοι. Cf. i.143.3, τοὺς ξένους τῶν ναυτῶν, and vi.31.23, τοῖς θρανίταις τῶν ναυτῶν. Acc. to this view, τῶν before μέν in 7 is not to be omitted.

μα- κράν: adv. with ἀπολλυμένων (“at a distance from their camp”), and rightly placed in Vat. after ὑδρείαν, not after ἁρπαγήν. It would seem, however, to have esp. reference to ὑδρείαν if we compare c. 4. 29, ὕδατι σπανίῳ χρώμενοι καὶ οὐκ ἐγγύθεν. The Schol. explains, ἁρπαγὴν μακράν: διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ πολλοῦ διαστήματος ἐφ᾽ ἁρπαγὴν ἐξιέναι; but no doubt wrongly.

οἱ θεράποντες: this term, which is used elsewhere (iv.16.9) only of the attendants of the Spartan hoplites, seems to refer here to the θῆτες, who were pressed for rowing, and bondmen. So Cl.; but prob. all, or most, were ἀνδράποδα. See Boeckh, Public Economy of the Athenians, p. 360 ff.

ἐπειδὴ ἐς ἀντίπαλα καθεστήκαμεν: since we are reduced to an equality (with the Syracusans), i.e. since the prospect of a speedy victory has been lost. The same idea is expressed in other words in 13, ἐπειδὴ παρὰ γνώμην . . . ἀνθεστῶτα ὁρῶσιν.— 10. ἀναγκαστοί: pred. with ἐσβάντες, as in c. 58. 17 with στρατεύοντες. G. 138, N. 7; H. 619.

οἰόμενοι χρηματιεῖσθαι: cf. vi.31.42.

ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων: on the part of the enemy.

ἐπ᾽ αὐτομολίας προφάσει: on any occasion for deserting (to the enemy), i.e. whenever the deserters thought themselves unobserved by the Athenians, or found themselves unexpectedly in the neighbourhood of the Syracusan troops. πρόφασις, not of the pretended, but of the real occasion, as in i.23.23; 118. 3, and freq. See App.

ὡς ἕκαστοι δύνανται: i.e. as any opportunity offered of fleeing, without exactly going over to the enemy.—πολλὴ δ᾽ ἡ Σικελία: epexegetical, just as v.110.1. πολλή is here used as in Plat. Phaed. 78 a, πολλὴ ἡ Ἑλλάς; Theocr. 22. 156, πολλά τοι Σπάρτα, πολλὰ δ̓ . . . Ἆλις.

αὐτοὶ ἐμπορευόμενοι : (so Vat., the remaining Mss. αὐτοῦ) while they devote themselves to merchandising, which, acc. to vi.31.42, many had made their object in the expedition. καί belongs to the whole clause ἀνδράποδα . . . ἀφῄρηνται. Kr. Spr. 69, 32, 15.—ἀνδράποδα Ὑκκαρικά: inhabitants of the little town Hyccara, whom Nicias had sold as slaves (vi. 62. § 3). Of the crews, some that had gone out with money for the purpose of trading utilized the opportunity to buy men of Hyccara; and, with the consent of the trierarchs, put them in the naval service in their own places. These occurrences happened, doubt less, in the autumn of 415 B.C., and the mention of them implies a complaint on the part of Nicias against the negligence of some of the trierarchs.

τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ ναυτικοῦ: the strict discipline of the naval service, which was disturbed by the mixing in of strange elements. ἀκρίβεια corresponds to ἀκριβές of vi.55.16. Cf. Arr. Anab. ii.21.9, ἀκριβεστάτοις τοῖς πληρώμασι.