E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6

αὐτοῖς—the Syr.

καθῖσαν—notice the angment of καθίζω as it is used in old Attic.

ἐς χωρίον ἐπιτήδειον—the position is determined by the description, and recent authorities are in substantial agreement. South of the Anapus lies a plateau, bounded on the west by the marsh round the Cyane, on the east by the harbour. The camp lay on this plateau, SE. of the Olympieium. On one side —the west and north-west—it was covered by the marsh round the Cyane and the trees and buildings that intervened between the camp and the temple, which was held by the Syracusans; north, it was protected by the cliffs running from the temple to the sea.

μάχης ἄρξειν—‘be the first to fight,’ i.e. give battle only when he chose.

ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ—‘during the engagement.’

παρὰ δὲ τό—see c. 45 πρὸς δὲ τούς.

σταύρωμα—a palisade stretching out from the shore into the water.

ἔρυμα—somewhat SE. of the camp.

εὐεφοδώτατον—i.e. open to an attack by sea and land.

λίθοις λογάδην=ἐπιλελεγμένοις λίθοις (Schol.): the adv. does not occur in other Attic writers, and the adj. λογάδες for prose only in Herod., Thuc., and in late writers, Thuc. has a way of placing an adv. next a noun so that it belongs to it rather than to the verb, as in VII. 7 ὅπως στρατιὰ ἔτι περαιωθῇ, ‘remforcements.’ The same occurs in Tacitus and in Lat. poetry.

γέφυραν—the Helorine road crossed the Anapus (Alfeo) by this bridge.

παρασκευαζόμενων—sc. αὐτῶν, the subject often being omitted when it can easily be supplied in the gen. abs. The same occurs in Tac. in the abl. abs. frequently.

ἔπειτα δὲ ὕστερον—frequently used together. So μετὰ ταῦθ̓ ὔστερον several times in Demosth.

διαβάντες—‘that is, they withdrew into the precinet of the temple, or at least into its immediate neighbourhood’ (Freeman). The Syr. must have previously erossed the road to get at the A.