Note 516 — Chapter LII · SEVENTH YEAR OF THE WAR.—CAPTURE OF SPHAKTERIA.

Thucyd. iv, 13. The Lacedæmonians παρεσκευάζοντο, ἢν ἐσπλέῃ τις, ὡς ἐν τῷ λιμένι ὄντι οὐ σμικρῷ ναυμαχήσοντες.

The expression, “the harbor which was not small,” to designate the spacious bay of Navarino, has excited much remark from Mr. Bloomfield and Dr. Arnold, and was indeed one of the reasons which induced the latter to suspect that the harbor meant by Thucydidês was not the bay of Navarino, but the neighboring lake of Osmyn Aga.

I have already discussed that supposition in a former note: but in reference to the expression οὐ σμικρῷ, we may observe, first, that the use of negative expressions to convey a positive idea would be in the ordinary manner of Thucydidês.

But farther, I have stated in a previous note that it is indispensable, in my judgment, to suppose the island of Sphakteria to have touched the mainland much more closely in the time of Thucydidês than it does now. At that time, therefore, very probably, the basin of Navarino was not so large as we now find it.