CHAPTER XXV
ἠναγκάσθησαν—though they wished to fight (ch. 24, 8), the action, late in the day and in the narrow strait, was forced upon them by the danger of a friendly ship.
ἀντεπαναγόμενοι— ‘putting out to sea against’,
ἐπί implying that the Syracusans made the attack.
ἐν τῷ Ῥηγίῳ—‘in the territory of Rhegium’, i.e. at some point on the coast where the Locrians had established themselves, Rhegium itself being the headquarters of the Athenians. The Syracusans and allies had thus two naval stations, to which they now fled,
ὡς ἕκαστοι ἔτυχον, i.e. each ship made for the nearer point. Classen however points out that there is no mention of any such naval station friendly to Syracuse near Rhegium, and thinks it possible that Thucydides means that the Syracusans returned to Messene, and the Athenians to Rhegium, the sentence to which
οἱ Συρακόσιοι is the nominative expanding in meaning at this point, and applying to the combatants on both sides: ‘they departed, each combatant making for his own headquarters at Messene and Rhegium respectively’.
For similar cases of what may be called expanded apposition see note on ch. 80, 18,
καὶ προκρίναντες ἐς δισχιλίους..., οἱ μὲν τὰ ἱερὰ περιῆλθον, οἱ δὲ κ.τ.λ. In the sentence before us however
ὡς ἕκαστοι seems more applicable to the beaten Syracusans only, who fled as they best could in different ways. Moreover
ἀπολέσαντες certainly refers to the Syracusan side alone.
ἐπεγένετο τῷ ἔρ γῳ—‘closed upon the action’: so ch. 48, 20,
νὺξ ἐπ. τῷ παθήματι:
iii. 112,
νυκτὸς έπιγενομένης, etc.
ἔργον— ‘action’, i.e. fight:
v. 67,
έν τῇ ἐκείνων τὸ ἔργον ἐγίγνετο, ‘the action was to be fought in their country’.
οἱ μὲν Λόκροι—in ch. 1 we are told that the Locrian army withdrew from Rhegium. They may not have finally evacuated the territory till now, or possibly there may have been two invasions. The land and sea forces were now concentrated at Peloris, the N. E. promontory of Sicily.
χειρὶ σιδηρᾷ—‘a grappling iron’:
vii. 62,
χειρῶν σιδηρῶν ἐπιβολαί. αὐτοὶ ἀπώλεσαν—‘they themselves (the Athenians) lost’. This is plainly right, because of
ἐτέραν ναῦν ἀπολλύουσιν, line 21, and
οὐκ ἔλασσον ἔχοντες, line 23. Otherwise
αὐτοῖς, which has the better authority, might stand, meaning ‘they destroyed for the enemy’. Jowett suggests that
αὐτοῖς may mean ‘they lost at the hands of the enemy’=dat. commodi.
ἀπὸ κάλω—‘with a rope’, i.e. being towed. They kept as near to the shore as possible to have the support of the land forces.
ἀποσιμωσάντων—‘got their ships into the open sea’, according to the scholiast.
σιμός means ‘snub-nosed’, and when applied to ground signifies sloping up hill, as in
Xen. Hell. iv. 3, 23: see Lidd. and Scott. Hence the meaning seems to be that the Syracusans cast off their tow-ropes, and made an oblique movement at an obtuse angle to their former course, thus getting into the open and attacking the Athenians first. The Athenian fleet seems to have been in very incompetent hands since the arrival of Pythodorus (
iii. 115).
προδίδοσθαι—‘news being brought that Camarina was to be betrayed’; impf. like
προδιδομένην, ch. 7, 5. Camarina was a Syracusan colony, but friendly to the Athenian allies (
iii. 86).
Νάξον τὴν Χαλκιδικήν—colonized by the Chalcidians from Euboea, and the first Greek settlement in Sicily (
vi. 3).
τειχήρεις ποιήσαντες—‘having confined them within their walls’: so
ii. 101:
Hdt, i. 162.
περιπλεύσαντες—round a headland which lies to the s. of Naxos.
κατὰ τὸν Ἀκεσίνην—‘by way of’:
iii. 7,
κατὰ τὸν Ἀχελῷον ἔπλευσε (opp. to
κατὰ γῆν): ch. 14, 1,
καθ᾽ ἑκάτερον τὸν ἔͅσπλουν. For the order cf. ch. 43. 3,
έπὶ τὴν Σολύγειαν κώμην
πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐσεβάλλον—if the reading be right, this probably means ‘made an inroad in the direction of the city’,
ἐσβάλλω being used of invading a country, not of attacking a place. (When used with
ές of cavalry attacking a body of troops, as
ii. 100:
vi. 70, it possibly means ‘shooting darts into’ though the meaning of charging seems more appropriate in the former of these passages.) Poppo and others would here read
προσέβαλλον, ‘made an attack’: in
viii. 31 ἐσβολὴν ποιησάμενος τῇ πόλει is the manuscript reading, for which also
προσβολήν is proposed as a correction.
Σικελοί—the non-Greek inhabitants, called
βάρβαροι, line 42.
Σικελιῶται was the general name for the Greek colonists. In
vi. 2 we are told that the
Σικελοί crossed originally from Italy, and being numerous and powerful they gave their name to the island, of which they still possessed the centre and northern portions.
ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄκρων—with
κατέβαινον, ‘came down in numbers over the heights’. Possibly
οἱ ὑπέρ, who dwell beyond the heights', should be read.
βοηθοῦντες <*>τί—to attack the Messenians:
iii. 110,
βοηθεῖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς.
ἐπ᾽ οἴκου—‘homewards’ (with
ἕκασται). The allied fleet was broken up, and the contingents returned to their several ports.
κεκακωμένην—‘having received a severe blow’: ch. 87, 7,
κακούμενοι, ‘sustaining injury’.
προσβάλλοντες applies to the whole allied force, which is divided into
οἱ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι..., ὁ δὲ πεζός. ὲπείρων—‘made their attempt’: ch. 43, 24,
ἐπὶ κώμην πειράοειν:
vii. 72,
ἄλλῃ πειράσειν: usually with gen.,
i. 61,
πειράσαντες τοῦ χωρίου. For
κατά and
πρός see note on line 32.
ὁ πεζός—(adj.) sc.
στρατός, ‘the land army’:
i. 47, etc.
ἐπεκδρομὴν ποιησάμενοι—‘having sallied out against them’; a similar compound to
ἐπεκθεῖν, ch. 34, 3.
τοῦ Δημοτέλους—there seems no reason for the article, which as a rule is used only with names which are well known, or have been mentioned before. The rule however is not invariably observed.
μετὰ τὸ πάθος—i.e. after their disastrous attempt on Naxos.
ἐγκατελείφθησαν φρουροί—‘had been left behind in the city as a garrison’, on the separation of the combined forces.
τροπαῖον στήσαντες—the infinitesimal success thus commemorated seems to have satisfied Pythodorus, who now returned to his headquarters at Rhegium, the Athenians having this year lost Messene and gained no compensating advantage.
