Note 713 — Chapter LIV · TRUCE FOR ONE YEAR.—RENEWAL OF WAR AND BATTLE OF AMPHIPOLIS.—PEACE OF NIKIAS.
Reading edition
Thucyd. iv, 128. It is not possible clearly to understand this passage without some knowledge of the ground to which it refers. I presume that the regular road through the defile, along which the main army of Brasidas passed, was long and winding, making the ascent to the top very gradual, but at the same time exposed on both sides from the heights above. The detachment of three hundred scaled the steep heights on one side, and drove away the enemy, thus making it impossible for him to remain any longer even in the main road. But I do not suppose, with Dr. Arnold, that the main army of Brasidas followed the three hundred, and “broke out of the valley by scaling one of its sides:” they pursued the main road, as soon as it was cleared for them.