§ 198. treasured up, &c. The suggestion seems to be that Aeschines foresaw the disasters, but concealed his knowledge, 'storing them up' in order to make a reputation out of them later.
§ 204. to leave their land, &c.: i.e. at the time of Xerxes' invasion in 480, when the Athenians abandoned the city and trusted to the 'wooden walls' of their ships.
§ 208. On this magnificent passage, see the treatise On the Sublime, chaps, xvi, xvii.
§ 209. poring pedant: lit. 'one who stoops over writings'. Here used perhaps with reference to Aeschines' having 'worked up' allusions to the past for the purpose of his Speech, while he remained blind to the great issues of the present. Many editors think that the reference is to his earlier occupation as a schoolmaster or a clerk; but this is perhaps less suitable to the context.
§ 210. staff…ticket. The colour of the staff indicated the court in which the juror was to sit; the ticket was exchanged for his pay at the end of the day.
§ 214. a very deluge. He is thinking, no doubt, of the disaster at Chaeroneia and the destruction of Thebes.
§ 215. while their infantry, &c. The Theban forces when prepared for action would naturally camp outside the walls (see Olynth. I, § 27, where Demosthenes similarly thinks of the Athenian army encamping outside Athens). But although they were thus encamped outside, and had left their wives and children unguarded within, they allowed the Athenian soldiers to enter the city freely.
§ 216. the river: probably the Cephisus. Both battles are otherwise unknown. If one of them was in winter, it must have taken place not long after the capture of Elateia, and several months before the battle of Chaeroneia.
§ 219. somewhere to lay the blame: or possibly, 'some opportunity of recovering himself,' or 'some place of retreat'. But the interpretation given (which is that of Harpocration) is supported by the use of [Greek: anenenkein] in § 224.
§ 227. counters all disappear. The calculation was made by taking away, for each item of debt or expenditure, so many counters from the total representing the sum originally possessed. When the frame (or abacus) containing the counters was left clear, it meant that there was no surplus. (The right reading, however, may be [Greek: an kathair_osin], 'if the counters are decisive,' or [Greek: han kathair_osin], 'whatever the counters prove, you concede.')