Note 67 — Chapter VIII

Δεύτερον.] The watchword seems to have been passed from the extremity of one wing (the right I should suppose) to the extremity of the other, and then back again, that the soldiers, by repeating it twice, might be less likely to forget it. But as it would thus be passed only twice, not oftener, it would appear that we should read τὸ δεύτερον. Krüger de Authen. Anab. p. 33. Kühner observes that the article is not absolutely necessary. I have translated "the second time," as the sense seems to require. Some have imagined that the word δεύτερον implies that a second watchword, another given out for the occasion, was passing round; but for this supposition there seems no ground. As there is no answer to the inquiry, τίς παραγγέλλει, Krüger thinks that some words have dropped out of the text.