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About this time the fleets of the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, which had been lying opposite one another in the Corinthian gulf, fight a battle near Erineus on the coast of Achaia. Each claims the victory, but neither gains a decided advantage. 2. οἱ ἐν ταῖς πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι ναυσίν: cf. c. 17. § 4; 19. § 5; 31. § 4.— 3. ἕνεκα: placed, as in i.57.10 (τῆς Ποτειδαίας ἕνεκα ἀποστάσεως), between the objective and the governing gen., for τῶν ὁλκάδων depends upon τῆς . . . κομιδῆς. ὡς ἐπὶ ναυμαχίᾳ : with the intention of fighting, as in iii.4.6; vi.34.33. Cf. ὡς ἐπὶ ναυμαχίαν in same sense in i.48.2; ii.83.10; 85. 12; 86. 3; iv.13.13. προσπληρώσαντες ἔτι ναῦς: Schol. προσέτι ἄλλας πληρώσαντες. The arrival of fresh ships is implied. Cf. vi.104.12. Ἐρινεόν: a small place on a bay of the gulf of Corinth east of Rhium, the harbour of the town Rhypes or Rhypae. See Curtius. Pelop. I. p. 458; Bursian, II. pp. 313, 330. 7. αὐτοῖς: the dat. placed thus early in the sent. has a general relation to the whole, and is only loosely connected with παρετέτακτο. Cf. i.6.8; 48. 9, etc.—τοῦ χωρίου μηνοειδοῦς ὄντος: the bay itself in which the ships had taken their station, so that the land troops could be drawn up on the promontories on either side, ταῖς προανεχούσαις (Vat., vulgate ἀνεχούσαις）ἄκραις. τῶν αὐτόθεν ξυμμάχων : sc. Ἀχαιῶν, who were already at that time all on the Lacedaemonian side. Cf. ii. 9. § 2. τῶν αὐτόθεν as in vi.25.13 and freq. ἐμφράξασαι: i.e. by their position barring the entrance to the bay. Cf. iv.8.22. 13. τριάκοντα ναυσὶ καὶ τρισί: in addition to the 18 triremes that Conon had, and the 10 given him by Demosthenes and Eurymedon (c. 31. § 4, 5), still others had prob. been brought by Diphilus. See on c, 31, 15. 15. ἀρθέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ σημείου: the raising of a flag or some such signal is implied. The opposite is τὰ σημεῖα κατεσπάσθη (i.63.14). Cf. i.49.1; 63. 11; iv.42.20. 19. ἁπλῶς: outright. Cf. Plat. Phaed. 100 d; Phaedr. 257 b. Not found elsewhere in this sense except in late writers.—ἑπτά τινες: see on c. 33. 17. ἄπλοι: Schol. ἀχρεῖοι πρὸς πλεῦσιν. The word applies primarily to water hard to sail through, but is transferred by Thuc. here, as also in 33 and c. 60. 12, to unseaworthy ships.—ἐμβαλλόμεναι: Schol. ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων νεῶν τυπτόμεναι. It is pass. of ἐμβάλλειν τινί (i.49.28; iv.14.7). In c. 70. 33, 34 the act. and pass. occur together. The pres. partie. indicates repetition, the aor. (ἀναρραγεῖσαι) the immediate result. τὰς παρεξειρεσίας: for the acc. with the pass., see G. 197, N. 2; H. 724 a. The front part of the ship is meant. Schol. παρεξειρεσία ἐστὶ τὸ κατὰ τὴν πρώραν πρὸ τῶν κωπῶν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις τὸ παρὲξ τῆς εἰρεσίας. Cf. c. 40. 18; iv.12.5. It was bored through or ripped up by the violent blows of the ἐπωτίδες. ἀναρρηγνύναι in this sense also in c. 36. 19; 40. 17.—ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τούτῳ: Cl. adopts the dat. (of purpose) from Vat., as in i.74.19, ἐπὶ τῷ . . . νέμεσθαι; ii.29.17, ἐπ᾽ ὠφελίᾳ; vi.31.14, ἐπὶ βραχεῖ πλῷ. But there seems to be no certain example in Thuc. of ἐπὶ τούτῳ expressing purpose, whereas ἐπὶ τοῦτο occurs in c. 36. 3; iv.3.9; v.87.4. τὰς ἐπωτίδας: a sort of calheads. Schol. τὰ ἑκατέρωθεν πρώρας ἐξέχοντα ξύλα. These beams projected like ears on both sides of the prow, and served to strengthen it. 23. ἀντίπαλα: acc. neut. pl. of inner obj. approximating to an adv., as ἀγχώμαλα c. 71. 21; ἐναντία, iii.55.9. See on i.3.18; 38. 6.—ὡς...ἀξιοῦν νικᾶν : ὡς = ὥστε. GMT. 98, 2. N. 1. αὐτοὺς ἑκατέρους (with order as in i.105.23; v.41.16), though referring to the subj. in ναυμαχήσαντες, is in the acc., since the particularizing of the subj. in ἑκατέρους requires an independent const. For the inf. clause expressing a qualification of the action, see Kr. Spr. 55, 3, 3. τὴν τοῦ ἀνέμου ἄπωσιν αὐτῶν: subjective and objective gen. respectively depending on ἄπωσιν. Kr. Spr. 47, 9, 7.—ἐς τὸ πέλαγος: i.e. towards the Athenians, who attacked from without. διὰ τὴν οὐκέτι ἐπαναγωγήν: Schol. διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπανάγεσθαι αὐτοῖς τοὺς Κορινθίους, i.e. abandoned the damaged ships. σὐκέτι in attrib. position modifying the verbal noun as in c. 44. 42. Kühn. 461, 6. See on i.137.26.—διεκρίθησαν ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων: as in i.105.22. The verb διακρίνεσθαι, meaning to desist from combat, occurs also in c. 38. 5; iv.14.22. 29. ῥᾳδίως διεσῴζοντο: (ῥᾳδίως from Vat., for which most of the rest of the Mss. have καί) escaped from pursuit easily, i.e. swam to the land when they were obliged to leave the sinking ships. κατέδυ: to be taken as plpf., as is shown by a comparison with 19. No ship of theirs had been completely destroyed, and hence there had been no opportunity to capture the crew 33. καὶ νομίσαντες αὐτοὶ...νικᾶν : αὐτοί adopted, with St., instead of δἰ αὐτό (Vat. αὐτό), since δἰ αὐτό (for διὰ ταὐτό, or διὰ τοῦτο）δἰ ὅπερ is impossible. Render: and because they themselves considered that they were not defeated (for the very reason) on account of which the others did not claim to be victorious. Cl. explains δἰ ὅπερ . . . νικᾶν, “because the others did not claim to be victorious.” οὐδ᾽ οἱ ἕτεροι νικᾶν: sc. ἐνόμιζον. On the one side, οὐχ ἡσσᾶσθαι=νικᾶν or κρατεῖν; on the other, οὐ νικᾶν = ἡσσᾶσθαι. On this equivalence rests the following explanation, οἵ τε γὰρ Κορίνθιοι . . . ὅτι οὐ πολὺ ἐνίκων. καὶ πολύ : giving strong emphasis, as in c. 41. 14. Kr. Spr. 69, 32, 18. See on i.74.10. 37. ἀποπλευσάντων δὲ τῶν Πελοποννησίων: emphatically contrasted with ἀποπλευσάντων δὲ τῶν Ἀθηναίων in 30. The sailing away of the Peloponnesians signified that they gave up the idea of coping with the Athenians, and the latter therefore now definitely claimed the victory. ἐν τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ: on the coast of Achaia, without exact statement of the place, which is indicated only by the distance of the trophy from Erineus.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 7. Charles F. Smith. 1886. Boston. Ginn and Company.
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