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ξυνανέπειθε δὲ—very difficult: ‘Moreover H. earnestly supported his advice (καὶ only emphasises ξυν-), so that they might not lack spirit to attack by sea, saying as a retort to the A. that even they had no hereditary right to naval skill, nor yet would it last for ever.’ The imperf and the -αν- both denote the difficulty of persuading them. They had before thought of peace. Ἑρμοκράτης—the Themistocles of Syracuse. τοῦ . . . μὴ ἀθυμεῖν—expresses purpose, a construction rare outside Thuc. (So Goodwin; but edd. rightly deny that the words can go directly with ξυνανέπειθε. The remedy is surely to comma them off, not to alter τοῦ.) ταῖς ναυσὶ—not ‘attack the A. fleet,’ but ‘attack with their own fleet’; cf. c. 7.4. ἐπιχειρῆσαι—the MSS. have the fut., but the abbreviations for the aor. and fut. were indistinguishable. (If it is bracketed, ταῖς ναυσι must go with άθυμεῖν.) πρὸς τοὺς Ἀ.—it is always assumed that this goes with ἐπιχειρῆσαι, but there are no instances of ἐπιχειρεῖν προς (L. and S. cite this wrongly as 7, 51): hence we take it with λέγων, as in σκοπεῖν, βουλεύεσθαι πρός. Cf. Andoc. 1, 48 λέγει πρός με, he says, meaning me . . ; Aeschin. 2.42 μνημονικῶς εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὰ . . . in answer to . . . ; Dem. 24.190 πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους προακηκοέναι μικρά. (It is well known how fond Thuc. is of making the leaders of opposing forees answer one another. Here we may imagine Nicias reminding the A. of their naval record, and Hermocrates making this retort.) For πρός cf. Steup on 3.48.2 ἀίδιον—Classen understands this of the future, probably rightly. Cf. II. 41.5 πανταχοῦ μνημεῖα ἀίδια ξυγκατοικίσαντες, that will ‘last for ever.’ ἀλλ᾽—bracketed nedlessly by Stahl and Classen. Do not supply ἔχειν, as edd. say, or you will get no antithesis to πάτριον and ἀίδιον. ἠπειρώτας—i.e. not a naval power. The word is often used of Syr. and indeed of Sicily generally. ὑπὸ Μήδων—because Themistocles persuaded them to build a fleet at the time of the Persian wars. γενέσθαι—does not go after ἀναγκασθέντας, as it is commonly taken, but is parallel with ἔχειν. Thus ναυτικοὺς γ. gives the antithesis we wanted. πρὸς ἄνδρας κ τ.λ.—it is a faet well known in business that ‘bounce’ is best auswered with ‘bounee.’ ‘In dealing with daring men . . . those who in turn show daring appear most formidable.’ οἵους—attracted, as often with short clauses So in Oratio Obliqua short rel. clauses are sometimes attracted into the infin. χαλεπὸς=‘dangerous,’ as in III. 42.3. [αὐτοῖς]—prob. spurious, since πρὸς ἄνδρας τ. seems to be put first so as to refer to all that follows. ᾧ—resumed by τὸ αὐτὸ. ἐκεῖνοι—i.e. ἄνδρες τολμηροί. οὐ δυνάμει ἔστιν ὅτε—for the omission of μὲν cf. c. 1.2, προύχοντες—this is the Attic word. Thuc. also uses προφέρειν which is Ionic in this sense c. 64.2; 77.2. τῷ—their. σφᾶς—when a plur subj. of infin. includes the subj. of the main verb as here, whether in whole or in part, it is put either in nom. or accus. at will. Cf. c. 48.1 ὁ Ν. ἐνόμιζε . . . λαθεῖν ἂν . . . ποιοῦντες. Andoc. 1, 82 has ἐψηφίσασθε . . . δοκιμάσαντας ἁναγράψαι, part of the voters being subj. of the infin. ὑποσχεῖν—we expect rather παρασχεῖν: a rare sense of ὑπ-. See L. and S.; Hesych. ὔπεχε: πάρεχε.
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