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ἃ ἐπιστάμενος—sums up the motives that prompted Nicias. Cf. I. 42 ὧν ἐνθυμηθέντες; VI. 60 ὧν ἐνθυμούμενοι. τῷ μὲν ἔργῳ . . . τῷ δ᾽ ἐ. . . . λόγῳ—the antithesis occurs about fifty times in Thuc. ‘In reality he held back, inclining both ways and considering, but in his public speech at the time.’ ἐπ᾽ ἀμφότερα ἔχων—on the analogy of ἔχειν with adverbs. τῷ δ᾽ ἐμφανεῖ—then follows the summary of his official speech. As Thuc has such a clear knowledge of the motives given above, we may assume that Nicias began by making admissions which he did not wish to be taken as part of his ἐμφανὴς λόγος. (We could scarcely suppose that Thuc., sympathising with N., merely inferred his motives) σφῶν—in them; for the constrn. Fr. Muller compares θαυμάζειν τί τινος. ὥστε—introduces the epexegesis of ταῦτα; cf. II. 40.3 διαφερόντως γὰρ καὶ τόδε ἔχομεν ὥστε τολμᾶν, namely that they should depart without an order from them. καὶ γὰρ οὐ τοὺς αὐτοὺς—we shall not, he said, ‘then have the same body of persons both voting about ourselves and making up their minds from seeing the facts with their own eyes as we do instead of merely hearing them from the faultfinding of others.’ For τῶν αύτῶν cf. I. 22.3 οὐ ταὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αύτῶν ἔλεγον, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἑκατέρων τις εὐνοίας ἢ μνήμης ἔχοι; III. 56.7. ὥσπερ καὶ αὐτοὶ—sc. ὁρῶσιν. But the accus. might be used with ὥσπερ, corresponding with ὁρῶντας. ἐξ ὧν ἄν τις—they will let themselves be persuaded by the calumnies of a clever speaker. With εὖ λέγων διαβάλλειν cf. καλῶς ἐπιτιμᾶν III. 38.4; εὖ διαβαλὼν III. 42.2.
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