Macedonian surrender

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Paul,once again,the ancient text is not so clear. This is the ancient:

"Οι δε ακούσαντες παρήκον τας ασπίδας οι πλείστοι και τας χείρας ανέσεισαν,δηλούντες προσίεσθαι τα κεκηρυγμένα."

translation:
"them, when they heard this they let down the aspides most of them also waving their hands, showing they agreed to the keryx's sayings."

Why it isn't clear? Because there is not a comma after the "πλήστοι", it is most probable that the meaning is "they let down their shields, and most of them also waved their hands" and not "most of them let down their shields and waved their hands". This implies that letting down the shield is what all of them did and what was customary,but their situation was so difficult that most of them considered the lowering of the shield not enough.
Note that the word used for shield is "aspis" not "hoplon" and that this is the word Thucydides always uses.
How do you find the idea of starting a new thread called "What the description of Sphacteria has to tell us" ? It is in my opinion the most ritch text in Thucydides of information in details. Example,the words used for shiled,for the spartan helmet(their piloi did not protect them from the arrows) or the mention of small javelins that broke and their heads stayed stuck on their shields and thorakes,or the word "ωσασθαι" udes to describe what the Athenians tried to do when they attacked en face the Spartans,and it means "push". etc etc. It's a whole book what one can learn from Sphacteria!
Khaire
Giannis