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Λόγους ἐποιεῖτο—‘had a conference.’ Livy would have reported this conversation at length. οὐ παρῆσαν— c. 95, 3. The incompetence displayed by Athens against Perdiccas is so strange that the ambassadors sent to Sitalces may have been bribed: for they might easily have sent word when Sitalces really did start. The muddle which followed the death of Pericles is as great as the confusion in the English government during the Bute ministry after the fall of Pitt in 1761. Perhaps it is partly due to the same cause. ἀπιστοῦντες—Sitalces had become an ally two years before, and his promise had been unfulfilled till now. Cf. c. 29. ἔπεμψαν—‘had sent.’
Ἐν π. ἦσαν—c. 80, 3. The Thessalians and the other Greeks rightly regarded Sitalces now as a mere plunderer.
Θρᾷκες—the tribes living in the plains on the lower Strymon, near Amphipolis.
Παρέσχε λόγον—on the analogy of φόβον παρέχειν, as μὴ below shows: ‘even as far as the ... he caused questionings.’ ἐπὶ—denotes distance, as in ἐφ᾽ ὅσον, c. 62, 2. ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀγόμενοι—‘induced by the Athenians.’ κατὰ τὸ ξ.—c. 22, 2. χωρήσωσιν—The change to the plur., suggesting Θρᾶκες, adds a notion of vague terror to the narrative. This small artifice shows how perpetually Thuc. produces pathos by saying the least that cau possibly be said. Cf. Eur. Hec. 277 μή μου τὸ τἐκνον ἐκ χερῶν ἀποσπάση̣ς | μηδὲ κτάνητε.
Ἅμα ἐπέχων—‘as he overran them.’ εἶχεν αὐτῳ —cf. c. 102, 2. ὑπὸ χειμῶνος—one would have supposed that Sitalces would have foreseen this. ἀναπείθεται—c. 14, 1. Σεύθου—he succeeded Sitalces. Spardacus was brother of Sitalces. ὥστ᾽—cf. c. 2, 4. ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ—‘along with.’ Cf. Isaeus, 2, 5 ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδελφῆ̣ προῖκα. προσποιεῖται—sibi conciliat.
Τὰς πάσας—‘in all.’ κατὰ τάχος—again Thuc. contrasts the slightness of the result with the vastness of the plan. Cf. c. 7, 2. ὑπέσχετο—contrast c. 95, 2.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2. E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.
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