landed at Myus, near the mouth of the Mæander, and marched up the
country to levy contributions on the Karian villages in the plain of
that river: but he was surprised by the Karians, perhaps aided by the
active Samian exiles at Anæa in the neighborhood, and slain, with a
considerable number of his men.[388]
[387] Thucyd. iii, 17. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον, ὃν αἱ νῆες
ἔπλεον, ἐν τοῖς πλεῖσται δὴ νῆες ἅμ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐνεργοὶ κάλλει
ἐγένοντο, παραπλήσιαι δὲ καὶ ἔτι πλείους ἀρχομένου τοῦ πολέμου.
Τήν τε γὰρ Ἀττικὴν καὶ Εὔβοιαν καὶ Σαλαμῖνα ἑκατὸν ἐφύλασσον, καὶ
περὶ Πελοπόννησον ἕτεραι ἑκατὸν ἦσαν, χωρὶς δὲ αἱ περὶ Ποτίδαιαν
καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις χωρίοις, ὥστε αἱ πᾶσαι ἅμα ἐγίγνοντο ἐν ἑνὶ
θέρει διακόσιαι καὶ πεντήκοντα. Καὶ τὰ χρήματα τοῦτο μάλιστα
ὑπανάλωσε μετὰ Ποτιδαίας, etc.
I have endeavored to render as well as I can this obscure and
difficult passage; difficult both as to grammar and as to sense,
and not satisfactorily explained by any of the commentators,—if,
indeed, it can be held to stand now as Thucydidês wrote it.
In the preceding chapter, he had mentioned that this fleet of
one hundred sail was manned largely from the hoplite class of
citizens (iii, 16). Now we know from other passages in his
work (see v, 8; vi, 31) how much difference there was in the
appearance and efficiency of an armament, according to the class
of citizens who served on it. We may then refer the word κάλλος
to the excellence of outfit hence arising: I wish, indeed, that
any instance could be produced of κάλλος in this sense, but we
find the adjective κάλλιστος (Thucyd. v, 60) στρατόπεδον γὰρ δὴ
τοῦτο ~κάλλιστον~ Ἑλληνικὸν τῶν μέχρι τοῦδε ξυνῆλθεν. In v, 8,
Thucydidês employs the word ἀξίωμα to denote the same meaning;
and in vi, 31, he says: παρασκευὴ γὰρ αὑτὴ πρώτη ἐκπλεύσασα μιᾶς
πόλεως δυνάμει Ἑλληνικῇ πολυτελεστάτη δὴ καὶ εὐπρεπεστάτη τῶν
εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἐγένετο. It may be remarked that in that
chapter too, he contrasts the expedition against Sicily with two
other Athenian expeditions, equal to it in number, but inferior
in equipment: the same comparison which I believe he means to
take in this passage.
[388] Thucyd. iii, 19.
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