[628] Diodor. xii, 70. Προεμάχοντο δὲ πάντων οἱ παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις Ἡνίοχοι καὶ Παραβάται καλούμενοι, ἄνδρες ἐπίλεκτοι τριακόσιοι.... Οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι διαφέροντες ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ῥώμαις, etc.
Compare Plutarch, Pelopidas, c. 18, 19.
[629] Thucyd. iv, 93. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ καλῶς αὐτοῖς εἶχεν, ὑπερεφάνησαν (the Bœotians) τοῦ λόφου καὶ ἔθεντο τὰ ὅπλα τεταγμένοι ὥσπερ ἔμελλον, etc.
I transcribe this passage for the purpose of showing how impossible it is to admit the explanation which Dr. Arnold, Poppo, and Göller give of these words ἔθεντο τὰ ὅπλα (see Notes ad Thucyd. ii, 2). They explain the words to mean, that the soldiers “piled their arms into a heap,” disarmed themselves for the time. But the Bœotians, in the situation here described, cannot possibly have parted with their arms, they were just on the point of charging the enemy: immediately afterwards, Pagondas gives the word, the pæan for charging is sung, and the rush commences. Pagondas had, doubtless, good reason for directing a momentary halt, to see that his ranks were in perfectly good condition before the charge began. But to command his troops to “pile their arms” would be the last thing that he would think of.
In the interpretation of τεταγμένοι ὥσπερ ἔμελλον, I agree with the Scholiast, who understands μαχέσασθαι or μαχεῖσθαι after ἔμελλον (compare Thucyd. v, 66), dissenting from Dr. Arnold and Göller, who would understand τάσσεσθαι; which, as it seems to me, makes a very awkward meaning, and is not sustained by the passage produced as parallel (viii, 51).
The infinitive verb, understood after ἔμελλον, need not necessarily be a verb actually occurring before: it may be a verb suggested by the general scope of the sentence: see ἐμέλλησαν, iv, 123.
[630] Thucyd. iv, 95.
[631] Thucyd. iv, 95, 96. Καθεστώτων δ᾽ ἐς τὴν τάξιν καὶ ἤδη μελλόντων ξυνιέναι, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ στρατηγὸς ἐπιπαριὼν τὸ στρατόπεδον τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρεκελεύετό τε καὶ ἔλεγε τοιάδε.... Τοιαῦτα τοῦ Ἱπποκράτους παρακελευομένου, καὶ μέχρι μὲν μέσου τοῦ στρατοπέδου ἐπελθόντος, τὸ δὲ πλέον οὐκέτι φθάσαντος, οἱ Βοιωτοὶ, παρακελευσαμένου καὶ σφίσιν ὡς διὰ ταχέων καὶ ἐνταῦθα Παγώνδου, παιωνίσαντες ἐπῄεσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου, etc.
This passage contradicts what is affirmed by Dr. Arnold, Poppo, and Göller, to have been a general practice, that the soldiers “piled their arms and always attended the speeches of their generals without them.” (See his note ad Thucyd. iv, 91.)
[632] Thucyd. iv, 96. καρτερᾷ μάχῃ καὶ ὠθισμῷ ἀσπίδων ξυνεστήκει, etc. Compare Xenophon, Cyropæd. vii, 1, 32.