Edgar Carew Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.3

[1] αἰφνιδίως —Thuc. uses ἄφνω, αἰφνιδίως, ἐξαίφνης, and, in the earlier books, ἐξαπίνης and ἐξαπιναίως. The last two are Ionic.

σφίσιν —indirect reflexive, not referring to the subj. of its own clause, but to that of the main clause. Hence σφεῖς is regularly used only in subord. sentences. But (1) Thuc. sometimes uses σφᾶς like Ionic writers, for σφᾶς αὐτοὺς or ἐαυτούς, as II. 65 αὐτοὶ ἐν σφίσι . . . ἐσφάλησαν. (2) He uses ἑαυτῶν, like Attic writers, for σφῶν or σφετέρας, as II. 7 οἱ Λακ. πόλεις ξυμμαχίδας ποιούμενοι ὅσαι ἦσαν ἐκτὸς τῆς ἑαυτῶν δυνάμεως, where εαυτῶν refers to Λακεδαιμόνιοι .

ἐπιόντων —as Thuc. has given no hint that Gyl. had as yet passed the Athenian lines, and as the Syr. had gone out to meet him, we may assume that he was still on the west side of the lines.

ἐθορυβήθησαν μὲν . . . παρετάξαντο δέ —sharp antithesis, as III. 101 ὁμήρους μὲν ἔδοσαν, ἠκολούθουν δὲ οὔ.

θέμενος τὰ ὅπλα —lit. having grounded arms, taken up a position, cum constitisset.

ἐγγὺς —apparently in the plain, before the διπλοῦν τεῖχος.

προσπέμπει —in this use of πἐμπω the historic pres. is commoner than the aor. If the negotiation is elaborate, the imperf. is used.

λέγοντα —contrast II. 85 πέμπουσι ξυμβούλους κελεύοντες. The nom. and accus. are both used. Cf. III. 52 προσπέμπει αὐτοῖς κήρυκα λἐγοντα. (Meineke and Hw. λἐγων or λέξοντα Kr. thinks λέγοντα may be spurious.)

εἰ βούλονται —formal expression in proposing terms; e.g. IV. 37 ἐκήρυξαν εἰ βούλοιντο τὰ ὅπλα παραδοῦναι .

ἡμερῶν —any time within the period, like νυκτός, ἡμέρας.

ἑτοῖμος —as though λέγων had preceded. Cf. V. 41 οὐκ ἐώντων μεμνῆσθαι περὶ αὐτῆς, ἀλλ’ εἰ βούλονται σπένδεσθαι, ἑτοῖμοι εἶναι; VIII. 48.6 .

[2] ἐν ὀλιγωρίᾳ ποιεῖσθαι —sc. αὐτά, the proceeding, as in IV. 5 ἑορτὴν ἔτυχον ἄγοντες καὶ ἐν ὀλιγωρίᾳ ἐποιοῦντο. Cf. ἐν with ἔχω, τίθεσθαι, εἶναι, γίγνεσθαι, as I. 35 ἐν ἀδικήματι θήσονται ; Aesch. PB 239 ἐν οἴκτῳ προθέμενος; ἐν ὀργῇ ἔχειν, etc.

οὐδὲν ἀποκρινάμενοι —Plutarch says the soldiers asked whether the coming of a single Spartan had so emboldened them. Cf. Isocr. Archid. 52 ἀναμνήσθητε ὅτι εἰ πολιορκουμένῃ τινὶ τῶν πόλεων εἷς μόνος Λακεδαιμονίων βοηθήσειεν. ὑπὸ πάντων ἂν ὡμολογεῖτο παρὰ τοῦτον γενέσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς.

ἀλλήλοις —added to show that the subj. is no longer οἱ δέ.

[3] ἐπανῆγε —i.e. further westwards, away from the Athenian lines, and in the review ground west of Lysimeleia. Gyl. had apparently not yet entered Syr. (The edd. say eastwards, and assume that Gyl had passed between the Athenian lines and the walls of Syr As Freeman says, such εὐρυχωρία could have been found only to the west of the A. wall. But he too thinks that Gyl. had been east of the lines till now, and had to march out round the north of the lines, not venturing to meet the A. in the narrow space between their fort and the city walls. Diodorus says nothing; but Plutarch Nic. 19 has προσῆγεν εὐθὺς ὁ Γύλιππος ἐξ ὁδοῦ παρατεταγμένος.)

μᾶλλον —with τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν the more open ground. Cf. III. 107 ἐν τῷ εὐωνύμῳ μᾶλλον .

ἡσύχαζε —the opposite of πολεμῶ, and so means to abstain from acts of hostility. Cf. c. 12.1 .

ἑαυτῶν —plur., as in c. 1.5 .

τείχει —i.e. τὸ διπλοῦν τ.

ᾡς . . ἔγνω — ὅτε is used when two acts are represented as simultaneous; ἐπειδὴ when the act of its verb precedes that of the main verb; ὡς when no connection between the time of the two acts is expressed.

ἀπήγαγε —by marching round the northern extremity of the Athenian lines.

Τεμενῖτιν —it had been taken into the city and fortified in the preceding winter.

[4] ὅπως —by far the commonest final particle in Thuc., and rather commoner than ἵνα in Xen. In all other authors ἵνα very greatly predominates. (See table in M.T. p. 398.)

ὰλλοσε —esp. to Labdalum.

πέμψας —back by the way by which he had come.

τὸ φρούριον —as Gyl. intended to build his cross-wall along the north of Epipolae, it was necessary first to get possession of Labdalum.

τὸ Λάβδαλον —in III. 97 the name means the neighbourhood so called, but here it is the fort built there. Nicias had made no use of L., and did not even keep up proper communications with it. After Gyl. had passed it, it should have been abandoned

αἱρεῖ καὶ . . . ἀπέκτεινεν —cf. II. 67 ξυλλαμβάνει . . . καὶ ἐκέλευσεν; 69 ἀποθνῄσκει . . . καὶ διέφθειρε.

οὐκ ἐπιφανὲς —because the ridge on which the fort stood was lower than the centre of Epipolae.

[5] τριήρης . . . ἁλίσκεται —an event of importance, as this was the first Syracusan success at sea. The Syr. were beginning to think of regaining control of the Great Harbour which they had lost since the A. flcet sailed thither from Thapsus.

ἐφορμοῦσα —sent out from the A. fleet to the mouth of the Harbour.

Edgar Carew Marchant Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7 7.3

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