Note 660 — Chapter LIII · EIGHTH YEAR OF THE WAR.

Thucyd. iv, 104. Ἀπέχει δὲ τὸ πόλισμα πλέον τῆς διαβάσεως, καὶ οὐ καθεῖτο τείχη ὥσπερ νῦν, φυλακὴ δέ τις βραχεῖα καθειστήκει, etc.

Dr. Arnold, with Dobree, Poppo, and most of the commentators, translates these words: “The town (of Amphipolis) is farther off (from Argilus) than the passage of the river.” But this must be of course true, and conveys no new information, seeing that Brasidas had to cross the river to reach the town. Smith and Bloomfield are right, I think, in considering τῆς διαβάσεως as governed by ἀπέχει and not by πλέον,—“the city is at some distance from the crossing:” and the objection which Poppo makes against them, that πλέον must necessarily imply a comparison with something, cannot be sustained: for Thucydidês often uses ἐκ πλείονος (iv, 103; viii, 83), as precisely identical with ἐκ πολλοῦ (i, 68; iv, 67; v, 69); also περὶ πλείονος.

In the following chapter, on occasion of the battle of Amphipolis, some farther remarks will be found on the locality.