translation: and they are best equipped of all
or: and they are better equipped than all the others
Is it regular for the dative to be used as the complement to comparative-degree, or superlative-degree adjectives and adverbs? I feel somehow that it should be regular, but when the question arose for me, I couldn’t find a rule on just this point.
ἐξαρτ-ύω [ῡ],
get ready, τἄνδον ἐξάρτυε E. El. 422; equip thoroughly, fit out, ἐπίπλουν Th. 2.17:—more freq. in Med., get ready for oneself, fit out, ναυτικόν Id. 1.13, al.; τὰ ἡμέτερα ib. 82; φόνον γε μητρὸς ἐξαρτύσομαι will set about it, E. El. 647: c. inf., οἷον ἐξαρτύεται γάμον γαμεῖν A. Pr. 908:—Pass., to be got ready, πάντα σφι ἐξήρτυτο ἐς τὴν κάτοδον Hdt. 1.61; πόλεμος ἐξαρτύεται is preparing, E. Heracl. 419: esp. in pf. part. Pass., equipped, harnessed, Id. Hipp. 1186: c. dat. rei, furnished or provided with, ἐξηρτῡμένος νεηνίῃσι καὶ κυσί Hdt. 1.43; ὕδατι καὶ σιτίοισι εὖ ἐ. Id. 2.32; τόξοισιν ἐξηρτυμένοι (ἐξηρτημένοι cod. Med.) A. Pr. 711; ναυτικὰ πλοίοις μακροῖς ἐ. Th. 1.14; τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἄριστα ἐ. ib. 80; καὶ ναυσὶ καὶ πεζῷ ἅμα ἐξαρτυθείς Id. 6.31; τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν D.S. 20.4.
You will see that the line is mentioned in the LSJ entry.
So not “than all the others” but as the Loeb puts it “best equipped in all other respects”. This sentence comes at the end of a list of the advantages possessed by a distant enemy.