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

ἐγκατάληψις—not found elsewhere in Thucydides, though ε:γκαταλαμβάνω occurs eight times. The compound implies a place, as in ch. 3, 8 In iv. 35, 2, we have ὅσοι ὑποχωροῦντες ἐγκατελαμβάνοντο ἀπέθνησκον, ‘all who were overtaken, or seized, on the field (or in the retreat) were slain’, an exact parallel to the present use of the substantive. For the use of the verbal see λῆψις ch. 110, 3.

παρερρήγνυντο—iv. 96, 4 τῶν Θηβαίων ἐφεπομένων καὶ παραρρηγνύντων: vi. 70, 2, παρερρήγνυτο ἤδη καὶ τὸ ἄλλο στράτευμα. The ranks were broken by the men being forced from beside their comrades. καὶ ἐφ̓ ἑκάτερα—i.e., as Poppo explains. ‘cum media acies cessisset, tum simul etiam ab utroque latere vicinos ordines dissolutos esse Thucydides indicare censendus est’. Kruger suggests τὰ ἐφ̓ ἑκάτερα, otherwise the subject is the Argive force generally. καὶ goes with ἑκάτερα, as in vi. 80, 1, with ἀμφοτέρων. Classen points out the force of the imperfects in denoting the moment of danger. He however refers this clause to the defeated centre; but it appears to have already broken and fled.

τῷ περιέχοντι σφῶν—cf. ch. 71, 13. αὐτοὑς—the Athenians generally. περιειστήκει—iii. 54 fin., φόβος περιέστη τὴν Σπάρτην: iv. 35, 3, etc.

κυκλουμένους=‘on the point of being hemmed in’; imperfect passive: so in vii. 81, 3, κυκλοῦται is passive, while ten lines before ἐκυκλοῦντο is transitive. ἡσσημένους—these were the παρατεταγμένοι, ch. 72, 26

ἐταλαιπώρησαν—ch. 74, 13, as we say ‘suffered’ to denote actual loss. οἱ ἱππῆς παρόντες—the predicate is similarly used in iv. 44, 1, ἦσαν γὰρ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις οἱ ἱππῆς ὠφέλιμοι ξυμμαχόμενοι. παριόντες, which Classen suggests, is no improvement, for the cavalry were μετ᾽ αὑτῶν (ch. 67, 20).

καὶ ξυνέβη—another ‘concurrent circumstance’ which saved the Athenians. πονοῦν—iv. 96. 4, ἐπόνει τὸ εὐώνυμον.

ἐξέκλινεν—only here in Thucydides: Xen. Cyr. i. 4, 23, ἐκκλίνουσι καὶ φεύγουσι. τὸ ἡσσηθέν—‘which had been beaten’: ἡσσημένος, as in line 7, denotes the resulting condition.

καὶ πλείους—if the text is right, πλείους is a general comparison, lit. more than might be expected, or more than their due proportion, i.e. a large number. In iv. 42, 3, and 103, 3 ἐκ πλείονος has a similar force. καὶ then emphasizes the serious loss of the Mantineans, contrasted with the slight loss of the Argives. Some inferior manuscripts have οἱ πλείους: but the total loss was only 200. In iv. 44, 2, οἱ πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν ἀπέθανον means that their chief loss was at the point spoken of: so vii. 30, 2, ἀποκτείνουσι ἐν τῇ ἐκβάσει τοὺς πλείστους, where the total loss was 250 out of 1300: but such an explanation will not suit the present passage.

τὸ πολύ—iv. 25, 8, τῶν Αεοντίνων τὸ πολύ: iv. 113, 1, τὸ πολὺ ἐθορυβεῖτο. βίαιος—‘hard-pressed’: iv. 31, fin., εἰ καταλαμβάνοι ἀναχώρησις βιαιοτέρα: ii. 33, 3, βιαιότερον ἀναγαγόμενοι of embarking under an enemy's attack. μακρά, like ἐπὶ πολύ below, of distance.