1.
I have followed Arnold's former interpretation of this very doubtful passage, as appearing less objectionable, on the whole, than any other that has been proposed; though he himself abandons it in his last edition. Göller and Bloomfield put the comma after
ταύτην, and read
ἐσέβαλλον: but to this there is what appears to me an insuperable objection. Often as the verb
ἐσβάλλω occurs in Thucydides, it is never used, when speaking of a
country, to signify a continuance of offensive measures; but always expresses the one definite act of crossing an enemy's borders and invading his territory; and the case is the same with regard to the cognate substantive
ἐσβολή. The imperfect tense therefore, though quite appropriate for expressing the ravages which troops continued to make when once in the country, is inappropriate with reference to the invasion itself; and could only be used with
πάντα τὸν χρόνον on the supposition of the army retreating within its own frontier continually, and invading the country afresh; which is not only improbable in this particular instance, but in direct opposition to the first sentence of the next chapter:
καὶ καθ᾽ ὅν χρόνον ἐν τῇ Ἐπιδαύρῳ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι ἦσαν.
Accordingly, in the very next chapter, sec. 2, we have the aorist
ἐσέβαλον followed by the imperfect
ἐδῄουν; and as all the MSS. but two have the same reading here, there can be no doubt, I think, of its being the genuine one.—Poppo objects to Göller's explanation, but does not propose any thing himself. Bp. Thirlwall adopts that of Portus, Acacius, and Hoffmann;
although they had always kept that day holy.
To this Arnold objects;
but can Thucydides have written
καὶ ἄγοντες as signifying
καίπερ ἄγοντεσ?
I certainly do not see why he could not, since he appears to have used a similar construction elsewhere; see VI. 16. 6,
ἐξ οὗ καὶ περιγενόμενοι τῇ μάχῃ οὐδέπω καὶ νῦν βεβαίως θαρσοῦσι if not also 15. 4. But it is perhaps a more solid objection, that he never uses either
ἄγειν with
ἡμέραν in that sense (though he does with
ἑορτήν); nor
πάντα τὸν χρόνον to signify
the whole course of time,
as distinguished from
the whole of
the time,
i. e. of some definite period; but either
ἀεί or
διὰ παντός. Nor, again, does the statement thus supposed to be made respecting the holy day rest on any thing but assumption.
