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ἀφανίζεται, ‘is lost to sight’ = ‘is never seen again.’ The tense of ἀποπλέων (not ἀποπλεύσας) should be noted. Of unexplained disappearance also iv. 80, ἠφάνισάν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐδεὶς ᾔσθετο ὅτῳ τρόπῳ ἕκαστος διεφθάρη. In more definite circumstances Xen. Hell. i. 6, 33, Καλλικρατίδας ἐμβαλούσης τῆς νεὼς ἀποπεσὼν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ἠφανίσθη.
Δελφίνιον. Captured by the Lacedaemonians in Xen. Hell. i. 5, 15 (B.C. 407). The modern Delfino marks the site at about seven miles north of the city of Chios. ἄλλως τε . . . καὶ . . . καὶ ἄλλως=‘in any case.’ τε . . . καὶ give the resources of position, ‘a place both strong in any case on the land side, and also possessed of harbours.’ The second καὶ adds the further advantage of nearness. For ἄλλως cf. Aesch. Cho. 680, ἐπείπερ ἄλλως, ὦ ξέν᾽, εἰς Ἄργος κίεις.
πολλαῖς. In c. 24, § 3, three battles are specified, after which οἱ Χῖοι οὐκέτι ἐπεξῇσαν. καὶ . . . τεθνεώτων, καὶ . . . κατεχομένης, two reasons of a similar nature for the suspicious state of parties. ἐπ᾽ ἀττικισμῷ, ‘on the ground of Atticising’; cf. φεύγειν ἐφ᾽ αἵματι and similar phrases. ἐς ὀλίγον κατεχομένης The scholiast explains by ἀναγκαζομένης ὀλιγαρχεῖσθαι. Dobree's ἐς ὀλίγους (after the pattern of v. 81, ἐς ὀλίγους μᾶλλον κατέστησαν; ii. 37, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐς ὀλίγους ἀλλ᾽ ἐς πλέονας οἰκεῖν; and cf. inf. c. 53, § 3, etc.) is unnecessary. κατεχομένης = ‘being kept down,’ ἐς ὀλίγον, ‘till it resulted in (into the condition of) a narrow corporation’ (lit. ‘small dimensions’). τῆς ἄλλης πόλεως is either the ‘body politic in general’ (by a sufficiently familiar use of ἄλλος), or ‘the rest of the city’ (when Tydeus and his party had been executed). The former is the better, ‘and in general public affairs being so far under domination as to result in an oligarchical government.’ διὰ ταῦτα probably belongs only to αὐτοὶ, the reason why the ἐπίκουροι are not ἀξιόμαχοι being their general character and not this particular jealousy of parties. ἐπίκουροι In c. 28, § 5, τὸ παρ᾽ Ἀμόργου ἐπικουρικὸν was sent with Pedaritus.
αὐτοῖς, sc. τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. Ethic. Cf. vii. 19, etc. ἐπεὶ δὲ μὴ ἀντανάγοιεν. μὴ as in ii. 15, ὁπότε μή τι δείσειαν, and inf. c. 53, § 3, ὁπότε δὲ μὴ φαῖεν, the frequentative optative (general condition) representing a set of hypothetical circumstances. ‘And whenever they refused to come out against them,’ implying that they always did so refuse. Of ἀντανάγειν (though not of ἀνάγεσθαι) Thucyd. uses either the middle (i. 117, iv. 13) or the active (as here) in this sense. ἀναχωροῦντες Gender ad sensum, and iterative imperfect tense: for ἀνεχώρουν καὶ ἡσύχαζον.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 8. T.G. Tucker. London. MacMillan & Company. 1892.
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