τῆς . . ἐπιούσης=τῆς νῦν ἐπιούσης ς. Thuc. often places an attributive partic. after a noun when there are other modifications.
οὔθ̓ . . οὐδ᾽ . . οὔθ̓ ὁπλίτας . . τήν τε ἄλλην—this series really consists of οὔτε . . οὔτε . . τε, with an οὐδέ clause inserted as a climax to the first.
ὁπλίτας—sc. άκολουθήσοντας. They will not have a large force of hoplites, as the hoplites will have come by sea.
αὐταῖς—‘alone’;
κούφαις ‘without lading.’
παρὰ τοσοῦτον γιγνώσκω—the Schol. explains ‘So much do I differ from my opponents.’ But lit. ‘to such an extent I know,’ i.e. ‘so confident am I’ that they are inferior to us. Cf. § 1 ἱκανωτέραν ἡγοῦμαι Σικελίαν κτλ., and below τοσούτῳ τὴν ἡμετέραν παρασκευὴν κρείσσω νομίζω.
μόλις ἄν—with οὐκ ἂν διαφθαρῆναι.
εἰ πόλιν . . ἔλθοιεν ἔχοντες—‘if they brought with them a city great as Syracuse, and set it up upon our borders, and carried on the war from it, scarcely so could they escape utter ruin.’ By πόλις he means, of course, the men and the things necessary to make a permanent hostile settlement.
οἰκίσαντες for οἰκήσαντες is necessary, because the sense required is not ‘settle in’ a place already existing, hut ‘found’ a new settlement. With this change there is no need to bracket ἔλθοιεν or ἔ. ἔχοντες.
ἦ πού γε δὴ κτλ—(the γε only adds further emphasis to ἦ που δή—‘of course, then’;) sc. μόλις δοκοῦσιν οὐκ ἂν διαφθαρῆναι.
ἐν πάσῃ πολεμίᾳ—cf. c. 21, 2 ἐς άλλοτρίαν πᾶσαν.
ξυστήσεται γάρ—‘for Sieily will unite’ against them.
στρατοπέδῳ τε—‘and in (sc. ἐν from above) a camp which they form with what their ships bring.’ στρατοπέδῳ is in contrast with πόλιν above, ἱδρυθέντι with οἰκίσαντες. Stahl gets into endless difficulties (1) by supplying εἰ πόλεμον ποιοῖντο to ἐν πάσῃ π. Σικελίᾳ, (2) by rendering τε ‘both’ instead of ‘and,’ (3) by totally misunderstanding ἐκ νεῶν ἱδρυθέντι.
καὶ ἐκ σκηνιδίων κτλ—‘and when they depend on mere tents and supplies of the barest, while our cavalry prevents them from moving for any distance.’
τό τε ξύμπαν—sums up the whole argument.
κρατῆσαι . . τῆς γῆς—i.e. obtain possession of so much land as is necessary for the στρατόπεδον. Cf. c. 23, 2 εὐθὺς κρατεῖν τῆς γῆς.
