Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

παλαίτατος: at the earliest time. Cf. c. 13. 12.

ἐκτήσατο: this and the following aors., ἐκράτησε, ἦρξε, of the establishment of his rule, as ἰσχυσάντων, c. 3. 8, while the impf. καθῄρει, 6, describes the gradual extension of his influence.—θαλάσσης: depends on ἐκράτησε, not on ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, which is adv., as in c. 3. 6.

οἰκιστὴς...ἐγένετο : see on c. 35. 12. οἰκίζειν implies the founding of political order, which is not conceived as existing under the barbarous Carians.

παῖδας: their traditional names were Catreus, Deucalion, Androgeus. See Curtius, Hist. of Greece, I. p. 82.— τό τε: τε freq. has the sense of ‘and consequently,’ like que in Latin (inferential τε). Cf. c. 5. 19; 92. 6; 98. 8.

καθῄρει: used of the violent overthrow of an existing state of things or a predominant person. Cf. c. 16. 4; iii.13.33; iv.85.7; v.14.14; vi.11.13. So also in c. 13. 22, of the abolition of piracy; and the addition of ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης is like τὴν τῶν τυράννων κατάλυσιν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, c. 18. 11. Therefore Cobet's conjecture, ἐκάθηρεν (Variae Lectiones, p. 149), is needless, and is also inconsistent with the following ἐφ̓ ὕσον ἐδύνατο.

τοῦ...ἰέναι αὐτῷ : the gen. of the inf. is freq. in Thuc. to express purpose, usually with μή. Cf. c. 23. 22; ii.22.4; 75. 3; 93. 24, etc. Without μή only here and viii.39.25. Cf. Dem. XXIV. 36, 133. GMT. 95, 1; H. 960; Kühn. 478, 4 c. The gen. seems one of ‘relation to,’ and is to be compared with the gerundive const. of Tac. Ann. ii. 59, Aegyptum proficiscitur cognoscendae antiquitatis. See Kühn. Lat. Gram. II. 132, note 3 c. For the dat. with ἰέναι, ἐλθεῖν, see on c. 13. 12. The form αὐτῷ shows that the remark is a suggestion made by Thuc. himself in accordance with εἰκός, whereas αὑτῷ would have represented the purpose as conceived by Minos.