CHAPTER I
τοῦ δ᾽ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους—the opening words introduced by
δέ complete the sentence which ends the preceding book,
ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ τὸν χειμῶνα τοῦτον ἐγένετο κ.τ.λ. The third and fifth books begin in the same way.
θέρους—‘in the summer’; the genitive denotes the time within the limits of which a thing occurs, and is partitive in character (Madvig, § 66).
Thucydides divides his history into summers and winters, thus reckoning more accurately, as he points out (
v. 20), than by the names of the archons or other officials of the year in different states.
περὶ σίτου ἐκβολήν—lit. ‘putting forth (ears)’. Some time in April is probably denoted: see Arnold's note on
τοῦ σίτου ἀκμάζοντος,
ii. 19; and Jowett on
ii. 1. The latter holds that the terms
ἀκμάζειν and
ἐν ἀκμῇ εἶναι refer to the time when the corn was in full ear, though not ready for harvest. In Attica this would be about May 10—June 10, harvest beginning about June 15.
πλεύσασαι—the order of the sentence shews that this word belongs to
Συρακοσίων δέκα νῆες: the Syracusans put to sea, and after being joined by the Locrians went to Messene.
Λοκρίδες—Locri Epizephyrii, a colony founded by the Locrians of Greece, was in the S.E. of what is now Calabria. It was in alliance with Syracuse (
iii. 86). Messene (now Messina) had been forced to join the Athenian confederacy the year before (
iii. 90). A summary of its history is given
vi. 4.
ἴσαι—‘an equal number’:
iii. 75,
ἴσας πληρώσαντες.
κατέλαβον—‘occupied’, especially used of taking up a military position: cf.
καταλαμβάνων, ch. 3, 18:
iii. 31,
τῶν πόλεων καταλαβεῖν τινά: so
Plato, Gorg. 455 B, speaks of
χωρίων κατά. ληψις as a subject for military debate.
αὐτῶν ἐπαγαγομένων—‘the people themselves having invited them’; the preceding
Μεσσηνην shews to what
αὐτῶν refers: cf.
i. 136,
φεύγει ές Κέρκυραν, ὢν αὐτῶν εὐεργέτης.
ἔπραξαν δἐ—the verb being placed first, the subject is divided into two parts,
οὶ μὲν Συρακόσιοι . . . οἱ δὲ Λοκροί, the respective motives of the allies being thus distinguished: cf. line 17.
ὁρῶντες προσβολὴν ἔχον—‘seeing that the place commanded, or afforded (lit. contained), an approach, or point of landing and attack’, i.e. it was the key of Sicily. So the Messenians are said
έν προσβολῇ εἶναι τῆς Σικελίας,
vi. 48; and an Athenian squadron despatched to the straits of Messene is said
περὶ τὴν προσβολὴν τῆς Σικελίας ναυλοχεῖν,
vii. 4.
ἔχω is used in the same way in ch. 8, 40,
ἀπόβασιν οὐκ ἔχουσαν, ‘not admitting of a landing’. From the idea of ‘containing in itself’ it is often used in the sense of ‘bringing with itself’, and therefore of involving or implying, the equivalent English depending on the context; e.g.
i. 97,
ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει, ‘affords a proof’:
ii. 41,
ἀγανάκτησιν ἔχει, ‘gives ground of complaint’:
ii. 61,
αἴσθησιν ἔχει, ‘causes perception’.
τῆς Σικελίας—objective gen. after
προσβολήν: so ch. 83, 6,
έπὶ τῇ ἐσβολῇ τῆς Λύγκου, ‘at the pass into Lyncus’.
ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὁρμώμενοι—‘making it a base of operations’ against Syracuse, lit. ‘starting from it’: so ch. 3, 22.
ποτέ —‘sooner or later, some day’: so ch. 60, 16. If the Athenians had possession of Messene, their command of the sea would enable them to collect forces and supplies there, so as to attack Syracuse at their own time.
Rhegium was on the Italian side of the straits of Messene. It was in alliance with the Athenians and Leontines (
iii. 86). The Athenian ships under Pythodorus were apparently stationed there at the present time, but made no effort to save Messene. Pythodorus may have been crippled by a defeat he had lately sustained in an attack on a Locrian fortress (
iii. 115).
ἀμφοτέρωθεν—by land and sea: so ch. 11, 9:
iii. 18.
ὲς τὴν Ῥηγίνων—sc.
γῆν:
i. 44,
τῇ α:λλήλων βοηθεῖν.
ἐπιβοηθῶσι—the subjunctive is more graphic than the optative, which according to rule should follow the pluperfect. ‘The historians, especially Thucydides, seem often to have thrown themselves so completely into the past events which they recorded that those events became as present to them, and hence a form of the subjunctive group follows a historic tense. Sometimes indeed forms from both groups occur in a clause dependent on the same historical tense, as
iii. 22,
ὅπως ἀσαφῆ τενσε βψ τηε βεστ αττιξ τὰ σημεῖα τοῖς πολεμίοις ᾖ, καὶ μὴ βοηθοῖεν. In such examples the subjunctive form often expresses the more immediate or more certain contingency, and the optative form the more remote or more uncertain contingency’ (Clyde's Greek Syntax, § 40, obs. 2). Apart from cases which can be thus explained, the subjunctive is constantly used after a historic tense by the best Attic writers, and in later Greek tends to supplant the optative altogether (Clyde, loc. cit.: Madvig, § 131 b).
ξυνεπαγόντων—‘joining in promoting the invasion’. ch. 84, 6.
ξυνεπάγοντες: ch. 79, 11,
αὶ πλησιόχωροι πόλεις ξυνεπῆγον: so ib. line 7,
ἐξήγαγον τὸν στρατόν:
i. 107,
ἐπῆγον. In such instances the active differs from the middle, the latter meaning ‘to invite’, i.e. bring in to one's self. The reasons of the Locrian invasion are given in two clauses of different construction, a final clause,
ἵνα μή..., and a genitive absolute introduced by
ἅμα δέ.
ἐστασίαζε—‘had been for a long while in a state of faction’. The imperfect shews that the state of faction still continued: this corresponds to the well-known use of the present to denote what is still going on, as
νοσεῖ πάλαι, ‘he has been long sick’.
ἀδύνατα ἦν—‘it was impossible’: so
i. 59:
ii. 72:
iii. 86,
εἰ δυνατὰ εἴη. Such neuter plurals are very common; see Shilleto on
i. 7.
ᾗ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπετίθεντο—‘wherefore they attacked them the more’, this was a further reason for choosing this time for their attack: cf.
i. 11,
ᾗ καὶ μᾶλλον οἱ Τρῶες ἀντεῖχον:
iii. 13,
ᾗ καὶ μᾶλλον χρή. With this may be compared the Homeric
τῷ, e.g.
Il. i. 418,
τῷ σε κακῇ αἴσῃ τέκον. ἐπετίθεντο—lit. ‘set on them’: cf.
iii. 72,
ἐπιτίθενται τῷ δήμῳ, ‘they attack the democracy’.
ἄλλαι αἱ πληρούμεναι—lit. ‘others. viz. those which were being manned’, the definite article implying that such ships were in preparation, and contrasting them with those already afloat. Possibly
αἱ has got into the text from the end of
ἄλλαι.
ἕμελλον αὐτόσε ἐγκαθορμισάμεναι—‘were intended to take up their position in the harbour of Messene’, etc.
αὐτόσε implies the idea of motion to the harbour: so
iii. 76,
ὁρμισάμενοι ἐς λιμένα: ch. 8, 26,
ἐφορμίσασθαι ἐς. The place meant is here determined by the preceding
Μεσσήνην: cf. the use of
αὐτόσε, ch. 2, 13.
ὁρμίζω and its compounds mean to bring (ships) to anchor, and in the middle to come to anchor.
έγκαθορμίζομαι, ‘to come to anchor in’ a certain station, is not found elsewhere in Thucydides.
