Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/229

 SECOND AND THIRD YEARS OF THE WAR. 207 position which they wished, pinned up against the land, with no room for tactics. On a sudden the signal was given, and the To my view, this latter interpretation renders the whole scheme of the battle confused and unintelligible ; while with the other meaning it is per- fectly clear, and all the circumstances fit in with each other. Dr. Arnold does not seem even to admit that TTJV iavruv yyv can mean anything else but the coast of Peloponnesus. He says : " The Scholiast says that iirl is here used for napa. It would be better to say that it has fi mixed signification of motion towards a place and neighborhood to it : ex- pressing that the Peloponnesians sailed towards their own land (i. e. towards Corinth, Sikyon, and Pellene, to which places the greater number of the ships belonged), instead of standing over to the opposite coast, which be- longei to their enemies : and at the same time kept close upon their own land, in the sense of M with a dative case." It appears to me that Dr. Arnold's supposition of Corinth and Sikyon as ihe meaning of TTJV tavruv yf/v is altogether far-fetched and improbable. As a matter of fact, it would only be true of part of the confederate fleet ; while it would be false with regard to ships from Elis, Lenkas. etc. And if it had been true with regard to all, yet the distance of Corinth from the Peloponnesian station was so very great, that Thucydides would hardly mark direction by referring to a city so very far off. Then again, both the Scholiast and Dr. Arnold do great violence to the meaning of the preposi- tion KTTI with an accusative case, and cite no examples to justify it. What ihe sense of enl is with an accusative case signifying locality, is shown by Thucydides in this very passage, el upa vofiiffag k-rrl TTJV N a v TT a K TOV ai>Toi) TrZelv 6 fyoppiuv, etc. (again, c. 85, t-rrl 'K.vSuviav irAeiaai ; and i, 29, em ''E~i6a/j.vov, etc. tnl TTfv yrjv avrov of Perdikkas, i, 57), that is, against, or to go thither with a hostile purpose. So sensible does the Scho- liast seem to be of this, that he affirms tirl to be used instead of irapa. This is a most violent supposition, for nothing can be more different than the two phrases em TTJV yrjv and irapa TT)V yr/v. Dr. Arnold again assigns to M with an accusative case another sense, -which he himself admits that it only has with a dative. I make these remarks with a view to show that the sense which Dr. Ar nold and others put upon the words of Thucydides, tirfaov fal TTJV eav- TUV yJ/v, departs from the usual, and even from the legitimate meaning of the words. But I have a stronger objection still. If that sense be ad- mitted, it will be found quite inconsistent with the subsequent proceedings, as Thucydides describes ; and any one who will look at the map in reading this chapter, will see plainly that the fact is so. If, as Dr. Arnold supposes, the Peloponnesian fleet kept close along the shore of Peloponnesus, what was there in their movements to alarm Phormio for the safety of Naupak- tns. or to draw him so reluctantly into the strait ? Or if we even grant this, and suppose that Phormio construed the movement alon^ the cojsf