E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

13. δ᾽ οὖν—for MSS. γοῦν: see the same correction at c. 10. 5. Here δ᾽ οὖν suggests a hesitation on the part of Aristeus, the details of which Thuc. has omitted.

14 ὡς ἐς ἐλάχιστον χωρίον—i.e. to concentrate his division so that closely united it might force its way.

16. παρὰ τὴν χηλήν—the object is to enter Potidaea from the south, as it would have been risky with the enemy in the way to have forced a way in at the north. The χηλή is a mole or break-water running out into the sea, which at low tide is shallow, on the east side of the city.

18. ἀποβαλών—this is used specially of losing men by a sudden attack of an enemy.

[2] 19. ἀπέχει—sc. Olynthus; ἀπεῖχε (see crit note) would be a common use of imperf. in giving geographical details; cf. e.g. 2.13 τοῦ ... τείχους στάδιοι ἦσαν κτλ.; many exx. from Anabasis is Kühner's n. on Anab. 1.4.9. Of course the pres. is also possible, and ἔστι favours it here. (The imperf. is equally used when the fact given implies the result of the writer's observation: so that it is not right to draw a distinction here.)

20. ἔστι—sc. the ground between the two cities.

22. ἤρθη—to summon the troops from Olynthus.

26. κατεσπάσθη—plup. in sense.

1. παρεγένοντο —ἐν τῇ μάχῃ.

[3] 6. Ἀθηναίων δέ—the inscription placed over the monument of these men in the Ceramicus is in the Brit. Mus.: Hicks, Manual, p. 59. The last of the three stanzas is:

Ἄνδρας μὲν πόλις η:´δε ποθεῖ καὶ δῆμος Ἐρεχθέως, πρόσθε Ποτειδαίας οἳ θάνον ἐν προμάχοις

παῖδες Ἀθηναίων. ψυχὰς δ᾽ ἀντίρροπα θέντες ἠλλάξαντ᾽ ἀρετήν—καὶ πατρίδ᾽ εὐκλέϊσαν.

αὐτῶν—Thuc. had not heard the numbers of the allies who fell.