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

θέρους μεσοῦντος ἤδη—cf. Isaeus 6, 14 τῇ στρατιᾳ ἀφ̓ οὗ ἐξέπλευσαν είς Σικελίαν ἤδη ἐστὶ δύο καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτη, ἀπὸ Ἀρειμνήστου ἄρχοντος. With this date the Schol. on Aristoph. Birds hypoth. 11 agrees. Arimnestus went out of office on the last day of Scirophorion (June-July) 415. Hence the date of the departure is about the end of June.

εἴρητο—often used of military instructions.

Κέρκυραν . . Ἰαπυγίαν—the regular route from Greece to Italy (see on c. 13 § 1) in the time of Thuc. The Durazzo (Epidamnus)-Brindisi route dates from about 200 B.C.

διαβαλοῦσιν—found only in Herod., Thuc., and tragedy in this sense, and in late anthors.

ξυγκατέβη—anaphora of καταβάντες above. Cf. I. 115 ἐπανέστης αν . . άπέστησαν . . ξυναπέστησαν. It is most frequent with compounds of ἀντι-, as in I. 30 ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο . . άντεστρατοπεδεύοντο.

ἄπας ὡς εἰπεῖν—‘almost all,’ the regular use of ὡς (ἔπος) εἰπεῖν being to limit a general statement.

οἱ μὲν ἐπιχώριοι—answered by οἱ δὲ ξένοι κτλ. in c. 31, 1.

προπέμπειν = prosequi.

μετ᾽ ἐλπίδος . . ἰόντες—cf. VII. 57 παιάνων μεθ̓ ὧν ἐξέπλεον. It is strange that Xenophon almost always uses σύν in this particular sense. as λέγεται σὺν πολλοῖς δακρύοις ἀποχωρῆσαι (Cyrop. I. 4, 26), except with abstract nouns in -ια, with which he always writes μετά.

τὰ μὲν ὡς κτήσοιντο—‘(hoping) that they might gain Sicily.’ M.T. §§ 128, 136

τοὺς δ᾽ εἴ ποτε—‘(lamenting) that they might never see their friends again.’ This is the same use of εἰ as appears after verbs of fearing, M.T. § 376; Eur. Med. 184 ἀτὰρ φόβος εἰ πείσω. But metus si = ‘fear lest,’ Tac. An. 1, 11 quibus unus metus si intellegere viderentur.