Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 7

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In the meantime the Corinthian Gongylus, sailing from Leucas with one ship, arrives at Syracuse, where he revives the sinking courage of the inhabitants by the news of the approach of Gylippus. The latter reaches Epipolae without opposition, ascends it on the side of Euryelus, and then immediately advances, in union with the Syracusans, against the wall of the Athenians, which had been almost completed on the side toward the great harbour.

1. οἱ ἐκ Λευκάδος Κορίνθιοι: cf. vi. 104. § 1.

ὡς εἶχον τάχους: part. gen. depending on adv. of condition. G. 168, N. 3; 11. 757 a; Kr. Spr. 47, 10, 5. Cf. c. 57. 5; i.22.14.—καὶ Γόγγυλος: as if αἱ ἄλλαι τῶν Κορινθίων νῆες had gone before. Acc. to Plut. Nic. 19, this Gongylus fell in the first conflict with the Athenians. On the accent, Γόγγυλος, see App.

μιᾷ...Γυλίππον : he had let the remaining ships (which, acc. to vi. 104. § 1, were to follow Gylippus) set out before himself; but he arrived at Syracuse first of all—probably because he touched at no point on the voyage —and even a little before Gylippus.

5. αὐτούς: sc. τοὺς Συρακοσίους.— ἀπαλλαγῆς: the subst. from ἀπαλλάττεσθαι (not from the act.), as in iv.61.24.

νῆες ἄλλαι: which had started before him. See on 3, above.

ἄρχων: not as commander of the ships merely, but also of the Syracusans (τοῖς Συρακοσίοις, vi.93.9).

10. ἀπαντησόμενοι: the mid. form only in the fut. So also c. 80. 23.— 11. ᾐσθάνοντο: cf. Plut. Nic. 19, ἧκεν ἄγγελος παρὰ τοῦ Γυλίππου κελεύοντος ἀπαντᾶν.

Ἰετάς : see App.— τότε τι: (the reading of Vat.) τότε is to be taken with ἐν τῇ παρόδῳ ἑλών, and refers to the decision of Gylippus κατὰ γῆν ἐλθεῖν, c. 1. 9.—τῶν Σικελῶν: belongs to τεῖχος. As to these Sicels, cf. c. 32. § 1; vi. 88. § 4.— 13. ἑλὼν καὶ ξυνταξάμενος: both partics. represent actions which follow one after the other but precede ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τὰς Ἐπιπολάς, and therefore can prop. be connected by καί. v. H. and St. reject καί. See App.

14. κατὰ τὸν Εὐρύηλον ᾗπερ καὶ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι: cf. vi.97.11.

μετὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων: who had gone out to meet him, and, since the largest part of the Athenian army was occupied in building the double wall (vi. 103. § 1), had been able to pass through the incomplete fortifications of the Athenians to the western part of Epipolae. That the advance of Gylippus and his union with the Syracusans was effected without hindrance, shows how much the energy and watchfulness of Nicias had already abated since the death of Lamachus. See Grote, Hist. of Greece, VII.c.59, p. 106 f.

τὸ τείχισμα: the διπλοῦν τεῖχος of vi.103.7, the condition of which at this time is immediately explained.— ἔτυχε ἐλθών: see App.—κατὰ τοῦτο τοῦ καιροῦ: part. gen. depending on κατὰ τοῦτο, as in c. 69. 16, ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ τοῦ καιροῦ. G. 168; Kr. Spr. 47, 10, 3.

ἑπτὰ μὲν ἢ ὀκτὼ σταδίων: gen. of measure with τεῖχος. G. 167, 5; H. 729 d. The correlative of μέν is δέ in τῷ δὲ ἄλλῳ in 20. Since the shortest distance from the cliff (of Epipolae) to the recess of the great harbour adjacent to the Agrigentine gate was not less than eight stadia, it seems clear that in this measure was included only that part of the wall of circumvallation of the Athenians which was in the low ground by the sea. Leake (in Bloomf. p. 680). Cl. brackets the words without suflicient reasons. See App.

ἀπετετέλεστο: on the form see App.

παρὰ βραχύ τι: so with Vat., instead of κατὰ βραχύ τι, because it indicates more sharply the small remnant that was still unfinished: “the wall was finished except a small portion next to the sea.” παρά as in 23, παρὰ τοσοῦτον, by so much. But St., who reads κατά, objects that the addition of πλήν is opp. to taking παρὰ βραχύ τι with the force of παρὰ τοσοῦτον.

τὸ πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν : adv., not in appos. with διπλοῦν τεῖχος.

τοῦτο δέ : refers to βραχύ τι.—[τοῦ κύκλου πρὸς τὸν Τρώγιλον]: St. and Cl. consider these words a gloss, added through recollection of vi.99.2; though there, as in vi.98.9; 101. 1; 102. 5, κύκλος means the ring-shaped fort (see on vi.98.9), nowhere the wall of circumvallation, as seems to be intended here acc. to the common reading. See App.— 21. λίθοι τε...τῷ πλέονι ἤδη ἦσαν : τῷ πλίονι is in part. appos. to τῷ ἄλλῳ, along the greater part of the remainder. G. 137, N. 2; H. 624 d. So far the preparations for building mentioned in vi.99.2 (λίθους . . . παρέβαλλον) had been completed. Some parts of the wall were already quite finished or only half finished. and when Gylippus arrived were left in this condition. Hence the impf. κατελείπετο, which Herbst (Gegen Cobet, p. 40) rightly defends against Cobet's conjecture κατελέλειπτο.— 23. παρὰ τοσοῦτον κτἑ.: such a narrow escape had Syracuse from danger (destruction). This const., which occurs also in iii.49.18, is to be explained acc. to the analogy of παρὰ τοσοῦτον ἐγένετο or ἦλθε with the inf. (iv.106.18; viii.33.12; 76. 15) “by so much (by so slight a deficiency) it happened, it came to—” (it came so near to). Just so ὅσον οὐ ‘by how much not,’ i.e. by how little not, means ‘almost.’ That to which “it had almost come” stands, when expressed by a clause, in the inf.; when by a subst., in the gen., which is to be construed just as the gen. with ἐγγύς, πλησίον, etc. G. 182, 2; II. 757.