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Γύλιππος—see c. 46. ἡ τοῖς Σ. στάσις φιλία—for the order cf. on c. 23.3. ‘The party favourable to the S. had been expelled.’ Cf. Aesch. PB 127 φιλία γὰρ ἅδε τάξις; Choeph. 458 στάσις δὲ πάγκοινος ἅδ᾽ ἐπιρροθεῖ. τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Π—see c. 19.3.
l 10. ἀπενεχθέντες—by had weather. Εὐεσπερίταις—afterwards one of five towns called the Pentapolis of Cyrene. In 401 it was again attacked by Libyans, and offered citizenship to any Greek who would come to its aid. Many of the Messenians, expelled from Naupactus by the Spartans, went there. Paus. IV. 26; Diod. 14.34. δύο ἡ—gen. of measure and epexegetic of ἐλάχιστον.
ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον χωροῦντα—improving. χαλεπώτερον ἴσχοντα—a substitute for χαλεπωτέρως ἔχοντα. ὁμοίως—as before. ἀλλ᾽ ἢ—except. μὴ φανερῶς . . . ψηφίζεσθαι—see on c. 48.1. No formal vote was to be passed. προεῖπον ὡς ἐδύναντο κ.τ.λ.—they gave notice as secretly as possible to all. παρασκευάσασθαι—to prepare (to depart) when the sign was given. The sentence would be clearer if he had said ὡς ἐδύναντο ἀδηλότατα παρασκευάσασθαι ἔκπλουν ποιησομένους ὅταν τις ς.; but it is easy to supply ἐκπλευσομένους from ἐκπλοῦν after παρασκευάσασθαι. (The preliminary arrangements are not denoted by παρασκευάσασθαι but are implied clearly enough in προεῖπον ἔκπλουν. So in VI. 65 προεῖπον πανδημεὶ πᾶσιν ἐξιέναι Συρακοσίοις. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἑτοῖμα αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ τῆς παρασκευῆς ἦν κ τ.λ.; there too προεῖπον ἐξιέναι implies preparation for the expedition. Here παρασκευάσασθαι applies to such final arrangements as can only be made when the final order is given. There is no need to alter the aor. into the perf., as some of the edd. do.) τις—added to σημήνῃ because the sign was to be given not by herald, but secretly
ἡ σελήνη ἐκλείπει—eclipses of sun or moon were deemed ominous. Plnt. Nic. 23 says that even οὶ πολλοὶ knew in the time of Nicias that eclipses of the sun were a natural phenomenon; but this is very doubtful. What was known about them was due to the teaching of Anaxagoras. Plut. Per. 35; de superstit. c. 7. ἐτύγχανε . . . οὖσα—Thuc. uses the imperf. of τυγχάνω with pres. or perf.; with aor. only in VIII. 105. See on c. 4.3. ἐνθύμιον ποιούμενοι—took it to heart. ἦν . . . προσκείμενος—the tense of εἰμὶ must precede the participle in this periphrasis, as it is emphatic, representing a state of things existing at the time referred to. Cf. II. 67 ἦν . . . πολιορκοῦν; 2.80 ἦσαν . . . ξυμπροθυμούμενοι. τι καὶ ἄγαν κ τ.λ.—cf Intr. p. XXXV. Plutarch says that Stilbides had lately died. οὐδ᾽ ἂν διαβουλεύσασθαι—he would not even enter into any further discussion as to how he should move until . . . πρὶν . . . μεῖναι—here πριν has the infin., though a negative precedes. This happens when something positive is insisted on; as here the fact that he would remain so long. ἐξηγοῦντο—technical word for interpretation by priests. Cf. Andoc. I. 116 ἐξηγῇ Κηρύκων ὤν, οὐχ ὅσιον ὄν. τρὶς ἐννέα—Plutarch says that the priests only required nine days, but Nicias insisted on staying for a whole revolution of the moon. μελλήσασι—refers to the delay that had been rendered necessary by the eclipse, before they had decided how long to remain. ὴ μονὴ on the contrary refers to the definite stay of twenty-seven days. But they had only stayed a few days when they were attacked. ‘And so the A., after delaying for this reason, had resolved to remain.’
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