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

καὶ οὐ πολλῷ κτλ—though expressed paratactically, the section consists of two causes and a result—each introduced by καί—so that καὶ ξύμπαντες=‘and thus in all.’

Συκῆν—this name is found only in Thuc., and the position is unknown. Arnold, Grote, Stahl, Holm, and Freeman place it on the middle of the slope of Epipolae. But Leake and Conradt place it farther south, and this view is probably correct. See c. 101, 1 on ἐτείχιζον τὸν κρημνόν.

ἐτείχισαν τὸν κύκλον—recent authorities agree that this means ‘built (and completed) the (necessary, cf. c. 100, 1) fort,’ and not ‘built the (whole) circle of walls,’ which was never completed. This fort was to be the central point of walls running north to Trogilus and south to the Great Harbour, and from it the A. subsequently established communication with the harbour. (The only recent writer who supports the sense ‘circumvallation’ is Conradt in N. Jahrb. fur Phil. '84 p. 534. The passages in which the κύκλος is referred to are cc. 99, 1, 3; 101, 1; 102, 2; VII. 2, 4. Conradt's only strong point is that in VII. 2 τῷ δὲ ἄλλῳ τοῦ κύκλου πρὸς τὸν Τρώγιλον the sense ‘on the other side of the fortress’ or ‘for the other portion running from the fortress’ cannot be got from the Greek. I read there τῷ δὲ ἄλλῳ <ἄνω> τοῦ κύκλου. But in all the other passages ‘fortress’ is much more suitable. Heitland shows that the sense ‘circumvallation’ belongs to κύκλος when it is used either (a) of defences. (b) offensive works that run all round a place. The reasons appended to Jowett's translation for preferring ‘circumvallation’ have been refuted by Freeman and Heitland.)

ἀντιπαρατασσομένων—with ἑώρων. διεσπασμένον, opposite of ξυντασσόμενον.

μακροτέραν—sc. ὁδόν. All degrees of μακρός are found thus in the fem. accus.

σκίδνασθαι is an Ionic form

φυλή=τάξις. Gardner and Jevons, p. 637. ἓν τάγμα ἀπὸ φυλῆς μιᾶς, Schol.