C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5

οἷς ἦν ἐν βλάβῃ τειχισθέν—‘who would be injured by its construction’; or perhaps ‘who considered that they would be injured’; lit. ‘to whom it was being (was likely to be) injurious’. The imperfect indicative without ἄν is used in certain cases of (generally unfulfilled) condition, e.g. ἐχρῆν, ἔδει, ἠναγκαζόμην, κίνδυνος ἦν etc. (Goodwin § 416 sq.: Kruger's Grammar § 53, 2, 7): ἦν ἐν βλάβῃ is therefore not irregular. For the combination with τειχισθὲν = εἰ ἐτειχίσθη (or τειχισθείη), cf. viii. 92, 10, ἠρώτων εἰ δοκεῖ αὐτῷ τὸ τεῖχος ἀμεῖνον εἶναι καθαιρεθέν = τὸ καθαιρεθῆναι τὸ τεῖχος: so i. 100, 3, οἶς πολέμιον ἦν τὸ χωρίον κτιζόμενον. Dobree, who considered ἄν to be necessary here, proposed to read οἷς ἦν ἃν βλάβη, but ἐν βλάβῃ is an idiomatic phrase, equivalent to an adjective, which should in any case be retained: cf. Hdt. iv. 139, Σκύθῃσί ἐστι ἑν ἡδονῇ: Eur. Iph. T. 494, εἴ σοι τοῦτ᾽ ἐν ἡδονῇ μαθεῖν: so Tac. Ann. xii. 15, nec fuit in arduo societas.

προφάσει μέν—so vi. 76, 2, προφάσει μὲν ..διανοίᾳ δέ: The accusative is also used, as in ch. 80, 21: iii. 111, 1. Here μέν is answered by ἐδόκει δέ. Πυθαέως—from nom. Πυθαεύς: so Μηλιέως, iv. 100, 1. The MSS. have Πυθέως. Arnold believes that a temple at Argos is meant. Poppo and Classen refer the passage to a temple at Asine, which the Aigives, according to Pausanias, left standing after the destruction of the town. In any case a sacrifice seems to have been due from Epidaurus to the temple, in acknowledgement of some privilege of pasturage or the like.

ἀπαγαγεῖν.. ἀπέπεμπον—compounds like ἀποδιδόναι, ‘to pay when due’: Ar. Ach. 643, τὸν φόρον ὑμῖν ἀπάγοντες: so Vesp. 707: cf. reddere rationem, poenas, etc.

βοταμίων—apparently ‘pasture-lands’, but not found elsewhere. Stahl reads βοτανῶν. comparing Plat. Rep. 401 B, ἐν κακῇ βοτάνῃ ‘in bad pasture’; but there the word means food rather than land. Poppo adopts the reading of some manuscripts, παραποταμίων ‘river-side lands’. βωταμίων ‘sacrifices’ (Doric for βουτ.) has also been suggested; with the meaning that Epidaurus neglected to send the necessary victims which entitled them to share in religious rites. No word of the kind is however known, as is shown in Poppo's edition.

τῆς αἰτίας—‘this ground of complaint’, lit. ‘their’, that which they had. For αἰτία cf. iv. 85, 1 etc

τῆς τε Κορίνθου κ.τ.λ.—‘both to ensure the neutrality of Corinth, and because they thought that the Atheuians would thus have a shorter distance to bring forces from Aegina’. The construction in the clause with τε is slightly changed, and ἔσεσθαι depends on the sense supplied from ἐδόκει: so iii. 94, 3, ἀναπείθεται Αἰτωλοῖς ἐπιθέσθαι, Ναυπάκτῳ τε πολεμίοις οὖσι, καὶ. προσποιἡσειν. iv. 3, 3, τῷ δὲ διάφορόν τι ἐδόκει, λιμένος τε προσόντος, καὶ τοὺς Μεσσηνίους...ἔσεσθαι. In all three instances two reasons are given in clauses with τε and καί, and the clause with καί, instead of corresponding to that with τε, is accommodated to the construction which would have followed the main verb. Here ἐδόκει first means ‘seemed good’; then the idea of seeming only is carried on. We have the converse Eur. Iph. T. 279, ἔδοξε δ̓ ἡμῶν εὖ λέγειν τοῖς πλείοσι, θηρᾶν τε τῇ θεῷ σφάγια τἀπιχώρια, i.e. we decided to do so. The Corinthians had taken a suspicious attitude, as we see from the end of ch. 48, and βοήθειαν means aid to the confederacy and Argos in particular.

ἣ .περιπλεῖν—so iv. 66, 3, νομίζοντες ἐλάσσω σφίσι τὸν κίνδυνον ἢ τοὺς ἐκπεσόντας κατελθεῖν: vi. 60, 3, βεβαιοτέραν σωτηρίαν. .ἢ .ἐλθεῖν. In these passages the infinitive is written, without any real construction, when a dative participle or verb with εἰ might be expected. So we might say, ‘it was a shorter distance to send aid than rounding Scyllaeum’. From Aegina to Epidaurus was a straight passage, and the distance by land to Argos was not great.