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διάφοροι ὄντες . . . οἱ μὲν . . . οἱ δὲ . . . ὠφέλουν. The subject of ὠφέλουν is neither grammatically nor κατὰ σύνεσιν the Lacedaemonians, but ‘the parties.’ Instead of saying ‘the difference between the methods of the two parties was of much service to the Athenians,’ Thucydides, putting the matter personally, the concrete for the abstract (cf. δῆλοι ὄντες, etc.), says, ‘for being widely different in their methods . . . they were of the greatest service.’ This is entirely Greek. For its preference of the personal construction cf. vi. 33, οὔτε γὰρ βλάπτειν ἡμᾶς πλείω οἷοί τε ἔσονται ἢ πάσχειν, οὔθ᾽ ὅτι μεγάλῳ στόλῳ ἐπέρχονται ἀνωφελεῖς. ὀξεῖς . . . βραδεῖς Thucydides is fond of comparing the morale of the two peoples. Cf. i. 70, iv. 55, etc. ὁμοιότροποι γενόμενοι κ.τ.λ. Arnold refers to vii. 21 and 55.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 8. T.G. Tucker. London. MacMillan & Company. 1892.
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