[Meaning him who is] defending.
"[That] he who has begun evilly means to do evil - just as in cases of private wrongs the law-makers and the judges relate all the harm that has occurred not to the one warding it off but to the one striking the first blow".[1]
Also [sc. attested is the accusative plural] a)lecome/nous in Herodotus, meaning [them] resisting or aiding. "A third of the Massagetae slaughtered the survivors of Cyrus' army, although they were resisting".[2]
Also [sc. attested is the aorist middle infinitive] a)le/casqai, [meaning] to prevent, to hinder.
"The horses were not useful to him in fleeing with them or in preventing his enemies bearing down upon him."[3]
And elsewhere: "Cyrus used to pray that he would live long enough to be victorious and repay those who had done him [both] good and ill".[4]