E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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ἔγνωσαν—‘became aware,’ ingressive.

ξυνεστρέφοντο—‘proceeded to rally,’ imperf. expressing difficulty.

σφίσιν αὐτοῖς—in c. 65, 12, 76, 2 Thuc. has the Ionic use of σφᾶς alone as a direct reflexive. See Rutherford, Syntax, p. 11.

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δὶς μὲν ... ἔπειτα—cf IV. 115 καὶ μίαν μὲν ἡμέραν ἀπεκρούσαντο, τῇ δ᾽ ὑστεραίᾳ. As regards ἔπειτα without δέ, the ordinary use is πρῶτον (πρῶτα) μὲν. ἔπειτα, which Thuc. uses 28 times; see c. 19, 2, 49, 2, 75, 1, 89, 2, 96, 1, 98, 1. He has πρῶτον (πρῶτα) μὲν ... ἔπειτα δὲ 8 times; see c. 55, 84. If καὶ follows ἔπειτα, δὲ is always inserted, e.g. c. 84; IV. 43; VII. 23; VIII. 48; also μάλιστα μὲν is always followed by ἔπειτα δέ, as c. 54; I. 75; VI. 11, 4, 16, 5, 67, 2. If the more emphatic ἔπειτα μέντοι is used, it is preceded by τὸ πρῶτον or τὸ μὲν π., as III. 93, 1, 111, 3; VIII. 75, 1, 86, 2. τὸ μὲν πρῶτον .. ἔπειτα occurs I. 131; V. 41, 3, 84, 2; the same, but ἔπειτα δὲ c. 48; v. 41, 2. πρῶτον alone is always answered by ἔπειτα alone, unless καὶ follows ἔπειτα, as in VII. 23 τὸ μέγιστον πρῶτον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ κ.τ.λ. After other phrases, ἔπειτα is without δὲ in 10 cases, has δὲ in 2, viz. c. 92, 1; I. 18, 3.

κραυγῇ—Moeris says κεκραγμὸς Ἀττικοί, κραυγὴ Ἕλληνες, but κεκραγμός, κέκραγμα and κραυγή are all Attic words. Perhaps Moeris really wrote κραυγασμὸς Ἕλληνες, which would agree with Phrynichus.

καὶ—there is chiasmus here and in λίθοις καὶ κεράμῳ.

ὀλολυγῇ—‘cheering,’ this word is used regularly of women. Pollux I. 28 ὀλολῦξαι καὶ ὀλολυγῇ χρήσασθαι ἐπὶ γυναικῶν. Hence κραυγῇ goes with οἰκετῶν, ὀλολυγῇ with γυναικῶν. Eur. I. T. 1337 ἀνωλόλυξε καὶ κατῇδε of Iphigenia; cf. Aesch. Ag. 587 of Clytaemnestra. Verg. Aen. IV. 667, IX. 477 femineo ululatu.

τε ... τε—these join χρωμένων to βαλλόντων and represent the two actions as going on simultaneously. Cf. c. 22 ἐκκλησίαν τε οὐκ ἐποίει ... τήν τε πόλιν ἐφύλασσε.

λίθοις καὶ κεράμῳ—no doubt the slaves had gathered the stones, while the women removed the tiles. For κέραμος collective, cf. III. 74, 1; IV. 48, 2. So ἔπαλξις c. 13, κάλαμος c. 76. Xen. Mem. III. 1, 7 λίθοι καὶ πλίνθοι καὶ ξύλα καὶ κέραμος.

διὰ νυκτὸς—cf. διὰ παντὸς c. 16, 2.

πολλοῦ—predicate with ἐπιγενομένου Cf. VII. 87 αἱ νύκτες ἐπιγιγνόμεναι μετοπωριναὶ καὶ ψυχραί.

ἐπιγενομένου—expresses any sudden or unexpected phenomenon. Cf. c. 64, 1, 70, 1, 77, 5. The other meaning occurs in 4 below.

οἱ πλείους—the subject is here limited by apposition from all to the majority, Cf. I. 2, 6 οἱ ἐκπίπτοντες ... οἱ δυνατώτατοι. So in Latin, Livy XXI.24, 2 Galli ... aliquot populi.

πηλῷ—so that progress was impeded. Cf. c. 5, 2. This shows that the streets of Plataea were bad, like Greek streets generally. On the outskirts of the town the soil was certainly soft, and the Thebans fled in the direction of the valley of the Asopus, so that the further they went, the worse the road became. Probably in wet weather the streets of the town resembled water-courses carrying down the water from Cithaeron to the Asopus.

τῶν διόδων—belongs like ᾗ χρὴ ς. to ἄπειροι ὄντες.

ᾗ χρὴ— takes the place of a deliberative subj. (why?). Cf. I. 91, 1 οὐκ εἶχον ὅπως χρὴ ἀπιστῆσαι.

καὶ γὰρ—explains only ἐν σκότῳ, πηλῷ being already explained in ὑετοῦ ἅμα. τελευτῶντος τοῦ μηνὸς—there was a new moon on the early morning of the 7th April 431, and, as the Attic months were lunar, assuming the calendar to have been in perfect order (it must have been in fair order), the month Elaphebolion began at sunset on the 6th April. The attempt was made at the end of Anthesterion, on the night of April 4th or 5th. When the calendar month did not correspond with the true lunar month, the true day of the new moon was called νουμηνία κατὰ σελήνην (c. 28).

ἐμπείρους δὲ ἔχοντες τοὺς δ.—for ἐμπείρων δὲ ὄντων τῶν δ. Cf. I. 144 αὐτονόμους ἀφήσομεν εἰ καὶ αὐτονόμους ἔχοντες ἐσπεισάμεθα.

[τοῦ μὴ ἐκφεύγειν—this is taken as ne effugereni. (There is another tradition, due to Kr., that it expresses a consequence, which is not in good Attic.) It must depend on διώκοντας,—which gives the platitude that the enemy pursued them that they might not escape. To avoid this, Cl. explains it as equivalent to τοῦ μὴ ἐᾶν ἐκφεύγειν and constructs it with ἐμπείρους. But (1) there is no other case of gen, of inf. with adjectives in Thuc., (2) ἐμπείρους τοῦ ἐκφεύγειν ought to mean ‘experienced in escaping.’ Supply τῶν διόδων with ἐμπείρους. ὥστε διεφθείροντο οἱ π.]—the article, found in BCEFGM and in A corrected, contradicts τὸ πλεῖστον in 5 below, and ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν c. 5, 7, the number captured out of a force of few over 300 (c. 2, 1), when many others had been killed or had escaped (4 below). Bekker omits οἱ, followed by most edd., and the imitation of Aen. Pol. 2, 6 is quoted οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφυγον ἄπειροι ὄντες ᾗ χρὴ σωθῆναι, οἱ δὲ ἐμπείρως διώκοντες πάνυ πολλοὺς ἔφθειραν. But on reading the whole chap. to 4, it becomes clear that no results of the flight are given till 4, where the fate of the whole number is told: so that these words break the continuity of the narrative.

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στυρακίῳ ἀκοντίου—στυράκιον λαβών τις ἐν τῷ μοχλῷ τῆς θύρας ἐνέβαλεν, Schol. The στυράκιον is the spike at the top of a small javelin for fixing it in the ground; = Homeric σαυρωτήρ. This was used instead of the βάλανος or iron pin which was driven through the μόχλος (bar) and the door, and could not be removed without a key (βαλανάγρα, κλείς), which fitted into it. Arnold remarks that the action is the same as spiking a gun. Cf. Aristoph. Av. 1159 ἅπαντ᾽ ἐκεῖνα πεπύλωται πύλαις καὶ βεβαλάνωται καὶ φυλάττεται κύκλῳ. χρησάμενος ἐς —cf. c. 49 ἔδρασαν ἐς τὰ φρέατα.

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διωκόμενοι .. ἀναβάντες ἔρριψαν—the 1st partic. gives the cause of ἀνάβαντες, while the latter is temporal to ἔρριψαν. Cf. c. 59, 3, 76, 1, 90, 3. The 2nd partic. tends to become a mere adverb to the verb, as c. 90, 1 βουλόμενοι προαγαγεῖν αὐτούς, ἀναγαγόμενοι ἔπλεον. οἱ μέν τινες ... οἱ δὲ ... ἄλλοι δὲ ... τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον—the partic. διωκόμενοι is subdivided. Also οἱ μέν τινες is restricted by οἱ πλείους.

[λαθόντες καὶ]—it is evident that γυναικὸς δούσης πέλεκυν must be joined with διακόψαντες, but καὶ is in the way of this. But, though Stahl's reading is given, perhaps Thuc. wrote γυναικὸς δούσης πέλεκυν καὶ διακόψαντες τὸν μοχλὸν λαθόντες ἐξῆλθον. There would then be no objection to καί. For the want of symmetry in δούσης καὶ διακόψαντες, see c. 25, 1. For the two participles διακόψαντες, λαθόντες, the first temporal, the second defining the verb, see c. 33, 3. The objection to bracketing καὶ only is that Thuc. would have written λάθρᾳ διακόψαντες, as IV. 110; VIII. 84.

ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλῃ τῆς—cf. c. 76 ἄλλας δὲ ἄλλῃ τοῦ τείχους.

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τὸ πλεῖστον ... ἐσπίπτουσιν—plur. verb after a collective, as often. Rutherford, Syntax, p. 21.

ὃ ἦν τοῦ τείχους—cf. I. 134 οἴκημα ὃ ἦν τοῦ ἱεροῦ. It was not usual in early times to have buildings adjacent to the walls. Cf. c. 17, 1 note. Hence the Thebans thought the building was part of the gate-way, supposing it to be double like the Dipylon at Athens. Thebes prided herself on her seven great gates, and it is highly improbable that the pomoerium was thus violated in that city. There cannot have been many such buildings at Plataea, for in c. 76 we see there was room for a curved wall between the τεῖχος and the mass of the buildings.

ἀνεῳγμέναι ἔτυχον—in order to represent the action as complete, the perf. partic., not aor., has to be used with τυγχάνω, λανθάνω, φθάνω, unless the verb is in imperf, or pres. See M. T. 144, 146, 147, 887. Cf. I. 103 Ναύπακτον ἔτυχον ᾑρηκότες. αὐτοῦ—in the second member of a relative sentence the relative is not repeated, but a demonstrative or personal pron. takes its place. Cf. c. 34, 5, 72, 1, 74, 3. Exceptions are c. 43, 3, 44, 1, where the relative is repeated. Cf. ‘Whose fan is in His hand, and He shall throughly purge His floor.’

πύλας—πύλαι τοῦ τείχους, θύραι τοῦ οἴκου Schol. Cf. τεῖχος and τοῖχος. ἄντικρυς—‘right through.’ In VI. 49 it means direct. In all other places in Thuc. downright, complete, as VIII. 64 ἐπὶ τὴν ἄντικρυς ἐλευθερίαν. It is said that ἄντικρυς = φανερῶς, ἄντικρυ (not found in Thuc.) = ἐξ ἐναντίας.

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κατακαύσωσιν—cf. c. 52 οὐκ ἔχοντες ὅ τι γένωνται. ὥσπερ ἔχουσιν—sc. οἱ Θηβαῖοι, on the spot. Often in Thuc., but later Atties use οὕτως in much the same sense.

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τὰ ὅπλα καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς—the phrase is common, and the order is always the same. Cf. IV. 21, 3, 30, 4, 37, 2, 38, 3. Livy XXII. 60, 24 and 26 arma et vos ipsos traditis.

χρήσασθαι ὅ τι ἂν β.—with χρήσασθαι supply σφίσι only. Cf. c. 24, 2. χρήσασθαι expresses purpose, the act. or mid. being regular in this construction even when the pass. might seem more suitable. M. T. 770. The phrase is regular in the terms of a complete surrender. Cf. IV. 69, 3; VII. 85, 1. Andoc. I. 11, 26.

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μὲν δὴ—dismisses the subject.

ἐπεπράγεσαν—the pluperf shows that Thuc. has anticipated: in c. 5 he goes back.