Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 7

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In the next conflict Gylippus succeeds, by a better arrangement of his troops, in driving the Athenians back behind their fortifications, and immediately thereupon pushes the cross-wall past the wall of the Athenians, so that from this time on the investment of the city is impossible.

1. καὶ εἰ...μὴ ἐθέλοιεν : “even if they should not have the courage.”— 2. μάχης ἄρχειν: as in c. 5. 6, ἄρχειν τῆς ἐφόδου.

περιορᾶν παροικοδο- μούμενον: the pres. partic. with περιορᾶν indicates continued action, as in i.24.17; 25. 10; 86. 8; the aor. partic. a completed fact. GMT. 112, 1. See on ii.18.21.—τὸ τεῖχος: = πρὸς τὸ ἐγκάρσιον τεῖχος ἁπλοῦν of c. 4. 3.— 4. τὴν...τελευτήν : the unfinished northern part of the wall of eireumvallation, begun in the direction of Trogilus (vi.99.1), but stopped (vi.101.1) in order first to complete the other side toward the great harbour. Cf. c. 2. 17 ff.

εἰ παρέλθοι: so Cl. and St. instead of the vulgate προέλθοι, as it was not the advance of the cross-wall, but its passing the Athenian wall, that was to be feared. But the change seems to be hardly necessary, for as the cross-wall had already all but passed the Athenian wall (ἤδη . . . ὅσον οὐ παρεληλύθει), if it moved forward at all, it would pass, and hence it is quite the same whether we have προέλθοι or παρέλθοι. For the mood, see GMT. 77, 1 c.—ταὐτὸν ἤδη ἐποίει...μηδὲ μάχεσθαι : “in that case (ἤδη) it amounted to the same whether they conquered in every battle or did not fight at all”; for only the completion of the wall of circumvallation could bring about the fall of the city. ποιεῖν = valere, effect, amount to, as in ii.89.9, and like δύνασθαι in i.141.6. The impf. expresses the enduring result of the cond. εἰ παρέλθοι.

διὰ παντός : continually, always of time in Thuc. See on i.38.2.

μάχεσθαι: Vat. has ἀμύνεσθαι with μάχεσθαι as marginal reading; but, as St. says, the repetition of μάχεσθαι adds force. — οὖν: after a long parenthesis, as in vi.64.13. See also on iii.95.9.

8. τῶν τειχῶν: = τῶν τειχισμάτων (c. 5. 7).—ἢ πρότερον: than in the former battle (c. 5. 7).

ξυνέμισγεν: prepared for the conflict, impf., as i.62.21.

ἐκ πλαγίου: so that they might at the favourable moment fall upon the flank of the Athenians.

ᾗ...ἔληγον : Cl. thinks the εὐρυχωρία means the space between the τελευταί of the advancing walls. St. adopts Arn.'s view: “The Syracusans front toward the west; their cavalry therefore, being on the right, was on the north of their line. And it was the northern side of Epipolae which presented the greatest extent of clear ground, the finished part of the Athenian line being the southern side towards the cliffs looking to the south.”

13. κατ᾽ αὐτούς: opposite them; cf. i.62.24; v.71.22.

κατηράχθη: (Vat.; most of the Mss. κατερράχθη) was driven back, from καταράσσειν and corresponding to ἀπαράξητε, c. 63. 4.

καὶ...ἔφθασαν : immediate result of the victory, “and the very next night the Syracusans accomplished what the Athenians had so much feared” (cf. 5). The important result is stated with esp. emphasis. Cl. does not agree with St. and Bk. in objecting to the more exact explanation of παροικοδομήσαντες by καὶ παρελθόντες τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἰκοδομίαν, esp. since παρελθεῖν was emphasized above (4, 5).

μήτε αὐτοὶ κωλύεσθαι...ἀποτειχίσαι : their intercourse with the interior could no longer be hindered, and they had deprived the Athenians of all possibility of investing the city. μή after ἀπεστερηκέναι, as i.10.3; ii.101.3; iv.40.5 after ἀπιστεῖν; v.25.11 after ἀπέχεσθαι; iii.32.14 after ἐλπίδα οὐκ ἔχειν. See Rehdantz on Xen. Anab. iii.5.11. GMT. 95, 2; H. 1029; Kr. Spr. 67, 12, 3; Kühn. 516, 3a. For ἄν, see GMT. 41, 4, N. 4.