[385] Plutarch, Nikias, c. 18.
[386] Thucyd. vi, 104. ὡς αὐτοῖς αἱ ἀγγελίαι ἐφοίτων δειναὶ καὶ πᾶσαι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐψευσμέναι, ὡς ἤδη παντελῶς ἀποτετειχισμέναι αἱ Συράκουσαί εἰσι, τῆς μὲν Σικελίας οὐκέτι ἐλπίδα οὐδεμίαν εἶχεν ὁ Γύλιππος, τὴν δὲ Ἰταλίαν βουλόμενος περιποιῆσαι, etc. Compare Plutarch, Nikias. c. 18.
It will be seen from Thucydidês, that Gylippus heard this news while he was yet at Leukas.
[387] Thucyd. vi, 104. Ἄρας (Γύλιππος) παρέπλει τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ ἁρπασθεὶς ὑπ’ ἀνέμου κατὰ τὸν Τεριναῖον κόλπον, ὃς ἐκπνεῖ ταύτῃ μέγας, κατὰ Βορέαν ἑστηκὼς ἀποφέρεται ἐς τὸ πέλαγος, καὶ πάλιν χειμασθεὶς ἐς τὰ μάλιστα Τάραντι προσμίσγει.
Though all the commentators here construe the words κατὰ Βορέαν ἑστηκὼς as if they agreed with ὃς or ἄνεμος, I cannot but think that these words really agree with Γύλιππος. Gylippus is overtaken by this violent off-shore wind while he is sailing southward along the eastern shore of what is now called Calabria Ultra: “setting his ship towards the north or standing to the north (to use the English nautical phrase), he is carried out to sea, from whence, after great difficulties, he again gets into Tarentum.” If Gylippus was carried out to sea when in this position, and trying to get to Tarentum, he would naturally lay his course northward. What is meant by the words κατὰ Βορέαν ἑστηκὼς, as applied to the wind, I confess I do not understand; nor do the critics throw much light upon it. Whenever a point of the compass is mentioned in conjunction with any wind, it always seems to mean the point from whence the wind blows. Now, that κατὰ Βορέαν ἑστηκὼς means “a wind which blows steadily from the north,” as the commentators affirm, I cannot believe without better authority than they produce. Moreover, Gylippus could never have laid his course for Tarentum, if there had been a strong wind in this direction; while such a wind would have forwarded him to Lokri, the very place whither he wanted to go. The mention of the Terinæan gulf is certainly embarrassing. If the words are right (which perhaps may be doubted), the explanation of Dr. Arnold in his note seems the best which can be offered. Perhaps, indeed,—for though improbable, this is not wholly impossible,—Thucydidês may himself have committed a geographical inadvertence, in supposing the Terinæan gulf to be on the east side of Calabria.
[388] Thucyd. vi, 104.
[389] Thucyd. vii, 1.
[390] Thucyd. vii, 2-7.
[391] Thucyd. vi, 103; vii, 2; Plutarch, Nikias, c. 19.
[392] Thucyd. vii, 2.