πρὸς ταῦτα ὦν: pleonastic. The subject of ἐμηχανῶντο is understood, sc. οἱ στρατηγοὶ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ στρατοῦ: cp. the (subsequent) conversation previonsly reported 7. 236. This device (μηχανή), of detaching a squadron (200 strong) to circumnavigate Euboia, and take the Greeks at Artemision (or Thermopylai?) in the rear, is here apparently dated after the arrival of the Persians at Aphetai. But (1) the direction to sail ἔξωθεν Σκιάθοι; (2) the previous knowledge of the Persians concerning the positions occupied by the Greeks; (3) the curious introduction of the word ὰπασέων—i.e. ‘while the ships were still in full force’; (4) the improbability of the Persians dividing their fleet, if they had jnst suffered the colossal losses recorded off Magnesia; (5) the probability that the storm has been duplicated in Hdt.'s narrative, and the Persian losses thereby enhanced; (6) and last, not least, the whole strategic development of the operations, itself so superficially conceived by Hdt., make it probable that the squadron commissioned to circumnavigate Euboia was detached from the Persian fleet not at Aphetai, as Hdt. here seems to imply, but off the Magnesian coast, if not already, still earlier, at the start from Therme.
ἔξωθεν Σκιάθου: the island formed a channel with the Magnesian main, cp. 7. 176, 183, and was the objective of the Persian navy from Therme, 7. 179, and likewise the station of the three Hellenic cruisers on the outlook, ibid., c. 92 infra, and a telegraph station, 7. 182. But from Aphetai, or from Artemision, to sail ‘outside Skiathos’ would be to sail northward between Skiathos and Peparethos, a mysterious, not to say senseless manœuvre, which would be fully in view of the Greeks at Artemision.
ὡς ἂν μὴ ὀφθείησαν. There is no need to prefer (with Blakesley, van H., and others) the v.l. ὀφθέωσι, as Hdt. uses the optative, with ἄν, after final ὠς, ὅκως, rather freely (cp. Heiligenstaedt, de enunt. finalium usu, i. 39).
κατά τε Καφηρέα καὶ περὶ Γεραιστόν. Kaphereus and Geraistos are the two headlands at the south-east end of Euboia, Kaphereus being the northern one, Geraistos the southern. Geraistos is mentioned again, 9. 105, as the burialplace of the Athenian pankratiast, Hermolykos, son of Euthoinos, the hero of Mykale, who fell subsequently in the war with the Karystians. The variation of the prepositions is observable: you might sail περὶ Καφηρέα and even κατὰ Γεραιστόν without getting round Euboia into the Euripos; but cp. App. Crit. The narrative here treats all these places as notorious, perhaps with a touch of Atticism. 7. 182, 5. 77 suggest that the term Euripos is restricted to the straits at Chalkis, though the other passages where the term occurs in Hdt. admit of a more extended reference.
ταύτῃ: sc. ἐς τὸν Εὔριπον.
αὐτῶν: the Greeks, that is, the Greek fleet; for Hdt. treats the contrivance throughout as directed against Artemision.
τὴν ὀπίσω φέρουσαν ὁδόν: by sea, not by land. τῆς ὀπίσω ὀδοῦ in quite a different connexion, 2. 87.
ἐπισπόμενοι ἐξ ἐναντίης: the Greek fleet being assumed to have taken to flight, ἐξ ἐναντίης signifies not so much a ‘frontal attack’ on the Greeks as an ‘advance to meet’ their own squadron.
τὰς ταχθείσας: i.e. the two hundred.
αὐτοί: i.e. the remainder, or rather the main fleet; if Hdt.'s figures were to be trusted, it would still have numbered upwards of 600 vessels.
ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρης: the day of their arrival at Aphetai, and, as afterwards appears, c. 15 infra, the day upon which the frontal attack upon Thermopylai had begun, 7. 210, the first of the great Triduum; cp. c. 15 infra, Appendix V. § 4.
οὐδὲ πρότερον ἢ τὸ σύνθημά σφι: they might have some time to wait for the signal that the circumnavigating squadron had arrived (in the Euripos? or where?). But where was such a signal to come from? No part or point of Euboia was as yet in Persian hands. The signal was to be given from the mainland — an unconscious indication that the circumnavigating squadron was directed rather against Thermopylai than against Artemision. This conclusion supports the theory that 200 ships were detached from the Persian fleet off the Magnesian coast—or earlier. The voyage from Skiathos to the Euripos, round Kaphereus and Geraistos, could not be less than 200 (E.) miles; sailing night and day, under favourable circumstanees, the squadron could hardly arrive at Chalkis, not to say at Thermopylai, in less than thirty-six hours (cp. 4. 86, where a ship is supposed to perform 1300 stades in a νυχθημερον; but we have here 200 ships to move together, and a difficult channel to negotiate). It was, perhaps, hoped that the flying squadron would arrive in the rear of Thermopylai in the course of the third day (assuming it to have been despatched on the afternoon or evening of the first day).
ἔμελλε φανήσεσθαι is rather cnrious, for they must have been intending to await a definite signal, not merely to wait until a signal was about to be displayed. The futurity seems to be purely relative to their intentions at the moment of despatch, not on the eve of arrival.
ἐν τῇσι Ἀφέτῃσι ἐποιεῦντο ἀριθμόν. As had been done at Doriskos, 7. 59, 89, 100. Their losses by the storm were to be computed (cp. 7. 190). It is possible that some reorganization of the fleet was now attempted. Documents may have resulted from this numbering, but there is little to suggest that Hdt. or his authorities made use of them.
