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οὔτε ... μέμφοιτ᾽ ἂν ... τὸ πλῆθος. Artabanos does, however, delicately hint that the army is too large and the ships too numerous.
γῆ τε καὶ θάλασσα. The formula is good but its development disappointing: ‘the further you go the harder it will be to find food, and there are no harbours.’ In the sequel the many advantages the Greeks enjoyed in their land and waters for purposes of defensive warfare are illustrated and set forth, more or less consciously, by the historian. Perhaps Artabanos says as much as he could say, being a stranger to Greece; but his bare remarks would have applied equally well to Skythia. If they are not introduced in the story of the Skythian campaign it is perhaps because they had already done duty here, that story being of later composition than this; cp. 4. 83.
φερέγγυος, a more strongly coloured word than ἱκανός or δυνατός, cp. 5. 30.
ὑποδεξίων, ὑποδέχεσθαι δυναμένων, a curious word, ἅπαξ λ. Valckenaer proposed to read ὑποδεξίμων, but Stein points out that the word is guaranteed by Photius and Suidas, and compares άσπάσιος, ἐπόψιος, θαυμάσιος, καθάρσιος, ῥύσιος, φύξιος, ἀκέσιος, taking ὑποδέξιος from ὑπόδεξις. The ambiguity of this word is, of course, enhanced by the alternatives, δεξιός, δέχομαι (δέξομαι), δείκνυμι (δείξω). μάθε, ‘let me remind thee.’ The imperative seems a little abrupt, but is merely conventional. αἱ συμφοραὶ ... τῶν συμφορέων, an obvious ‘Gnome.’ Cp. 1. 32 πᾶν ἐστι ἄνθρωπος συμφορή, and Sallust, Jug. 1 ad f neque regerentur magis quam regerent casus.
ἔρχομαι ἐρέων, ‘I am going to say’; je vais dire; eo dictum; what may be called a material future, enhanced in this instance by the futurity inherent in ἐρέω itself.
ἀντίξοον, an Ionic word, Hdt. passim, used by Herakleitos ap. Aristot. Eth. N. 8. 1. 6=1155 B5 (τὸ ὰντίξουν συμφέρον).
τὸ πρόσω ἀεὶ κλεπτόμενος, “furtim proficiscens” (Wesseling); “imprudens semper abreptus” (Schweighaeuser); “inscius tu semper ulterius protractus” (Baehr); “jeder Fortschritt erschleichend, dich immer weiter stehlend” (Stein); “indem du das Vorrücken dir immer erschleichst” (Abicht); “as thou proceedest further and further, insensibly allured onwards” (Rawlinson); “being cheated as you go of [real] advance” (sic: Blakesley); “ever stealing on further and further” (Macaulay); “going on blindfold” (L. & S.). The versions differ according as κλεπτόμενος is taken to be passive (Schweighaeuser, Baehr, Rawlinson, Blakesley, L. & S.) or middle (Wesseling, Stein, Abicht, Macaulay). Aristot. Rhet. 3. 7=1408 B5 has κλέπτεται ὁ ἀκροάτης (‘is cajoled’). Xenoph. An. 5. 6. 9 εἰ δὲ καὶ δυνηθεῖτε τά τε ὄρη κλέψαι ἢ φθάσαι λαβόντες κτλ.: ib. 4. 6. 11 πολὺ οὖν κρεῖττον τοῦ ἐρήμου ὄρους καὶ κλέψαι τι πειρᾶσθαι λαθόντας καὶ ἁρπάσαι φθάσαντες, εἰ δυναίμεθα μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς ἰσχυρὰ χωρία καὶ ἄνδρας παρεσκευασμένους μάχεσθαι. In the present case κλεπτ. τ. πρ. may best be taken = πειρώμενος ἀεὶ κλέψαι τι λαθὼν τ. πρ. For the last two words cp. c. 57 infra.
ἀνὴρ δὲ ... εἴη, another sententious ‘gnome’; cp. Hamlet I. iii. 65 ff. “Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee” (Polonius).
τῷ ἔργῳ, contrasted with λόγος, ἔπος, or as here with βούλευμα: cp. 9. 92.
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