[542] Colonel Leake gives an interesting illustration of these particulars in the topography of the island which may even now be verified (Travels in Morea, vol. i, p. 408).
[543] Thucyd. iv, 31.
[544] Thucyd. iv, 32.
[545] Thucyd. iv, 32.
[546] Thucyd. v, 71.
[547] Thucyd. iv, 33.
[548] Thucyd. iv, 33. ὥσπερ ὅτε πρῶτον ἀπέβαινον τῇ γνώμῃ δεδουλωμένοι ὡς ἐπὶ Λακεδαιμονίους, etc.
[549] Thucyd. iv, 34: compare with this the narrative of the destruction of the Lacedæmonian mora near Lechæum, by Iphikratês and the Peltastæ (Xenophon. Hellen. iv, 5, 11).
[550] Thucyd. iv, 34. Τό τε ἔργον ἐνταῦθα χαλεπὸν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις καθίστατο· οὔτε γὰρ οἱ πῖλοι ἔστεγον τὰ τοξεύματα, δοράτιά τε ἐναποκέκλαστο βαλλομένων, εἶχον δὲ οὐδὲν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς χρήσασθαι, ἀποκεκλῃμένοι μὲν τῇ ὄψει τοῦ προορᾷν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς μείζονος βοῆς τῶν πολεμίων τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς παραγγελλόμενα οὐκ ἐσακούοντες, κινδύνου δὲ πανταχόθεν περιεστῶτος, καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα καθ᾽ ὅ,τι χρὴ ἀμυνομένους σωθῆναι.
There has been doubt and difficulty in this passage, even from the time of the Scholiasts. Some commentators have translated πῖλοι caps or hats,—others, padded cuirasses of wool or felt, round the breast and back: see the notes of Duker, Dr. Arnold, Poppo, and Göller. That the word πῖλος is sometimes used for the helmet, or head-piece, is unquestionable,—sometimes even (with or without χαλκοὺς) for a brazen helmet (see Aristophan. Lysis. 562; Antiphanês ap. Athenæ. xi, p. 503); but I cannot think that on this occasion Thucydidês would specially indicate the head of the Lacedæmonian hoplite as his chief vulnerable part. Dr. Arnold, indeed, offers a reason to prove that he might naturally do so; but in my judgment the reason is very insufficient.