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

τὸ ἐπιμελές—‘the charge of what is doing’; ch. 102, 4: see note on ch. 9, 14.

τότε δέ—‘on this occasion’, apodosis to the general description just given. κέρας εὐώνυμον—predicate. The article is omitted, as in line 12, and often. αὐτοῖς—ch. 44, 7: see note on ch. 3, 24.

Σκιρῖται—originally the inhabitants of the rugged district of Sciritis, on the northern border of Laconia. ἀεὶ ταύτην ...ἔχοντες—this privilege is only recorded here. though the Sciritae always appear as a separate band. ἐπὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν— ii. 63, 2, ἐπὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν αὐτόνομοι: Hdt. ii. 2, ἐπ̓ ἐωυτῶν κέεσθαι. Xen. An. ii. 4, 10, αὐτοὶ ἐφ̓ ἐαυτῶν ἐχώρουν. The preposition implies rest on, i.e. dependence, and so the phrase means ‘by themselves’, ‘independently’.

παρὰ δ̓ αὐτοῖς—‘by them stood’. ἦσαν is to be supplied rather than καθίσταντο: otherwise we should expect the accusative as in line 7. Poppo compares i. 48, 3, τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν αἱ Μεγαρίδες νῆες εἶχον, κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέσον οἱ ἄλλοι ξύμμαχοι (sc. ἦσαν or ἐτάξαντο). He adds however that ἐν as well as ἑς ‘apud similia verba collocandi et considendi reperitur’.

ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης—the stock phrase for the ‘Thraceward’ regions seems here appropriated to Brasidas' Thracian troops; see ch. 35, 11 and 25. Otherwise we might adopt the correction ἀπό (ch. 35, 33) or ἐκ. νεοδαμώδεις—ch. 34, 8.

αὐτοί—‘veri et proprii, qui discernuntur a superioribus hominibus, quos minus proprie Lacedaemonios nominaveris’ (Poppo). Ἡραιῆς—from Heraea, in the valley of the Alpheus, near the borders of Triphylia. For Μαινάλιοι see ch. 64, 9.

ἐπὶ τῷ δεξιῷ—‘The Tegeatae claimed an honourable post in the Peloponnesian armies, from their services in the times of the invasion by the Heracleidae: see Hdt. ix. 26. But, to save the sovereign dignity of the Lacedaemonians, the most honourable post of all, the extreme right wing, was held by Lacedaemonian soldiers. A similar compliment was paid to the Athenians by the Acarnanians and their confederates at the battle of Olpae; iii. 107, 7’ (Arnold).

ἱππῆς—in 424 the Spartans set up a force of 400 horse παρὰ τὸ εἰωθός (iv. 55, 1). The cavalry was usually placed on the wings.

οἱ ἐναντίοι—appositionally resolved in the following clauses: i. 89 fin. οἰκίαι αἱ μὲν πολλαὶ...ὀλίγαι δέ. Krüger brackets the following αὐτοῖς, as not supported by Thucydidean usage. Note the omission of the article with δεξιὸν κέρας.

τὸ ἔργον—‘the action’: iv. 34, 3 etc. παρὰ δ̓ αὐτούς— here, with ἦσαν, we might expect αὐτοῖς, as παρά with the accusative has the idea of motion to or extent along: cf. however vi. 57, 3, περιέτυχον τῷ Ἱππάρχῳ παρὰ (περὶ?) τὸ Αεωκόριον: Xen. Anab. in. 4, 9, παρ᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν πόλιν ἦν πυραμίς. Or we may say that previous motion is implied, as in iii. 3, 4, τριήρεις αἳ ἔτυχον παρὰ σφᾶς παροῦσαι: παρὰ τὴν ἔπαλξιν κατακείμενος (Ar. Ach. 72) is ‘extended along’. Krüger suggests omitting ἦσαν. Ἀρκάδων is partitive genitive, as in line 7: cf. ch. 37, 25.

λογάδες, οἷς η: πόλις—a regular force, selected from the wealthier classes, and strongly aristocratic in feeling. After this they helped the Spartans to overthrow the democratic constitution: see Arnold. ἐκ πολλοῦ—‘from some time back’; i.e. they were kept in regular training: so ch. 69, 21.

Κλεωναῖοι—Cleone and Orneae lay northwards of Argolis, in the direction of Corinth. The inhabitants appear to have been at this time subject allies, and to have been afterwards absorbed by Argos. The authorities are fully discussed in Arnold.