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εἰ . . μὴ ἐθέλοιεν . . εἶναι—the Recta would be ἐὰν μὴ ἐθέλωσι . . ἐστι, but ἐὰν is future, not iterative. ‘Even if the enemy should hesitate.’ ἐκεῖνοι—used of ‘the enemy,’ as often; sometimes even when a different pronoun is required by strict grammar. 5 περιορᾶν παροικοδομούμενον—the pres. partic. because the details of the building operation are thought of. ταὐτὸν ἤδη ἐποίει—it would probably come to the same thing whether they fought a series of battles with unbroken success, or did not fight at all. τε . . καὶ are alternative, as often, and the infins. form the subject to ταὐτὸν ἐποίει. νικᾶν—why could not Nicias have attacked the crosswall if he won a series of victories? Thuc., speaking in his own person, seems to represent Nicias as quite blind to this possibility. διὰ παντὸς—continually οὖν—resuming after a long parenthesis. See on c. 42.3.
ἔξω τῶν τειχῶν—i.e. north-west of the κύκλος. With προάγειν ἔξω cf. ἐκπλεῖν, ἐκστρατεύεσθαι ἔξω. μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον—and not as previously. Before, they had fought μεταξὺ τῶν τειχισμάτων. (This use of μᾶλλον is a common meiosis, Cf. II. 41.2 οὐ κόμπος μᾶλλον ἢ ἔργων ἀλήθεια.) προαγαγὼν—as to the exact scene and formation of the battle edd. are unable to agree. The question is of no importance ἐκ πλαγίου—so as to take the A. left in flank. Contrast κατὰ πρόσωπον I. 106.
δι᾽ αὐτὸ—Thuc. constantly uses αὐτὸ thus to denote something which he has just described So too αὐτὸ δρᾶν or ποιεῖν are idiomatic. κατηράχθη—this verb κατ-αράσσω is often used by Dio Cassius; and is found in other late authors, but with ρρ.
νυκτὶ—words expressing time do not need ἐν. Thuc. extends this rule to words like ἐσβολὴ and πόλεμος, which are quasi-temporal. ἔφθασαν παροικοδομήσαντες—notice the rule that wíth φθάνω, τυγχάνω and λανθάνω the aor. partic. does not denote past time relatively to the leading verb. καὶ παρελθόντες—and so they passed. The whole of the passage from this to the end of the c. is an explanation of the words παροικοδομήσαντες. μηκέτι μήτε—more emphatic than μήτε . . ἔτι. μήτε . . τε—so neque . . et. αὐτῶν, ἐκείνους—applying to the same persons, as often in all Attic prose. So hic and ille in Cic. de Fin. 4, 16, 43. 27 ἀπεστερηκέναι . . μὴ—cf. II. 101 ἀπιστοῦντες μὴ ἥξειν. The perf. denotes the completion of the act. ἀπεστερηκέναι . . μὴ ἂν . . ἀποτειχίσαι—virtually oblique fór οὐκ ἂν ἀποτειχίσειαν.
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