E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7

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ἣν—with reference to which, accus. de quo.

πυθέσθαι—referring to his own investigations in Sicily.

οὐδ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ἑτέρων—cf. c. 42.6.

ἕκαστα—the details. ἕκαστος is as usual in the subordinate clause, and so is nom., though it is in apposition to ἥν.

ξυνηνέχθη=ξυνέβη. The word is lonic in this meaning. Cf. ξυμφορά. The use is found in Herod., Thuc., and late authors like Lucian, Appian.

σαφέστερα μέν—sc. ἐστὶν ἕκαστα.

οἶδεν—sense requires the sing. here, because οἰ παραγενόμενοι are considered separately; but when the individuals all act alike, the verb with ἕκαστος is in plur.

ἔν γε τῷδε τῷ πολέμῳ—i.e. as contrasted with other wars; whereas ὁ πόλεμος ὅδε implies no antithesis.

πῶς ἄν τις—another question comes in 67, 2. The question is one of the σχήματα διανοίας—figures of thought—like irony, oxymoron. They are not common in early prose; far less so than the σχήματα λέξεως—figures of speech—like antithesis, paronomasia—which themselves become commoner later.

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ἑώρων . . . οὕτως . . . ὡς . . εἰκὸς τὴν μὲν ὄψιν . . . προορᾶν, τὴν δὲ γνῶσιν . . . ἀπιστεῖσθαι—though we have no such idiom, yet in Greek there is certainly not an ellipse of ὸρᾶν after εἰκός, as the edd. say. In the case of correlatives, the explanation which we put in earlier is often deferred to the relative clause. So here the contrast between ὄψιν and γνῶσιν is deferred to the ὡς clause. Traus. ‘as was natural for them to see in the moonlight, they saw the outline of a figure in front without being able to distinguish whether it was that of a friend.’ This idiom is very common with τοσοῦτον . . . ὅσον, and is often misunderstood. (Cf. v. 95 οὐ τοσοῦτον ἡμᾶς βλάπτει ἡ ἔχθρα ὑμῶν ὅσον ἡ φιλία μὲν ἀσθενείας, τὸ δὲ μῖσος δυνάμεως παράδειγμα τοῖς ἀρχομένοις δηλούμενον, where a reference to ἡ φιλία is at first sight expected in the τοσοῦτον clause. The idiom with οὐχ ὥσπερ is similar, as Aristoph. Eq. 784 οὐχ ὥσπερ ἐγὼ ῥαψάμενός σοι τουτὶ φέρω=‘he does bring you this as I do.’）

ὄψιν—outline. Cf. Plat. Rep. 376B ὄψιν φίλην καὶ ἐχθρὰν διακρίνει. 12-3.

τὴν δὲ γνῶσιν τοῦ οἰκείου ἀπιστεῖσθαι—lit. that their recognition of friends should be distrusted τοῦ οἰκείου is neut. collective, as in c. 43.7. Classen takes it to mean what was peculiar in contrast to τοῦ σώματος.

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τῇ πρώτῃ ἐφόδῳ—with their first impulse.

πρὸς ὅ τι χρὴ χωρῆσαι—which division they should join χρὴ after rel. words is very common; e.g. II. 4 ᾗ χρὴ σωθῆναι.

τὰ πρόσθεν—those in front had become completely disorganised and were difficult to distinguish. Cf. c. 14.2 χαλεπαὶ ἄρξαι.

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κραυγῇ . . . χρώμενοι—so c. 71.5 and II. 4.2. There are κεκραγμός, κέκραγμα and κραυγή in Attic.

οἵ τε Ἀθηναῖοι—answers οἵ τε γὰρ Σ. above.

πᾶν τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίας—all who came towards them. For the neut. collective with adverb cf II. 45.1 τὸ μὴ ἐκποδὼν . . . τετίμηται.

τῶν ἤδη πάλιν φευγόντων—belonging to those who were already in flight.

αὐτὸ=τὸ ξύνθημα.

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ἐκείνων—applying to the enemy, as often. Both ἐκεῖνος and αὐτὸς here and again in l. 38 are used of the same people. This is very common.

ἐντύχοιεν—sc. οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι;

διέφευγον—sc. οί πολέμιοι.

ὑποκρίνοιντο—answer; only here in Thuc. It is Ionic; common in Herod.: Aristoph. Acharn. 401, and late authors.

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φόβον παρεῖχε—sc αὐτὸ, i.e. τὸ παιανίζειν.

οἵ τε πολέμιοι—what is to be supplied?

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φίλοι τε φίλοις—polyptoton.

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κατὰ . . . κρημνῶν—ῥίπτειν ἀπὸ is found only in late Greek 52

πάλιν καταβάσεως—cf. c. 62 τὴν πάλιν ἀνάκρουσιν.

τὸ ὁμαλὸν— “the flat ground between the hill and the bay of Trôgilos. The men of the first armament, who had learned the he of the land on both sides of the hill, knew the roads, and contrived to make their way round to the A. quarters.” Freeman . They had ascended Epipolae in 414.

διεφύγγανον—The form φυγγάνω is occasionally found even in the Orators.