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ἔδει παραγενέσθαι—‘ought to have reached Plataea.’ M. T. 415. Cf. c. 92, 7, 95, 3. εἴ τι ἄρα—cf. c. 12, 1. The following are noteworthy: (1) εἴ μὴ ἄρα = nisi forte, e.g. Xen. Mem. I. 2, 8 πῶς ἂν οὖν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀνὴρ διαφθείροι τοὺς νέους; εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἡ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπιμέλεια διαφθορά ἐστιν. (2) εί ἄρα in indirect questions, e.g. Plat. Phaedo, 95 B πειρώμεθα εί ἄρα τι λέγεις. (3) εἰ ἄρα or ἢν ἄρα in protasis, as I. 140 ἢν ἄρα τι καὶ σφαλλώμεθα. ἄρα implies a quite unlikely contingency. προχωροίη—the apodosis is only implied in ἔδει παραγενἐσθαι. M. T. 696. ἢν προχωρῇ might have been kept. προχωρεῖν is a favourite word with Thuc. ἅμα—belongs to ῥηθείσης, as c. 4 ὑετοῦ ἅμα ἐπιγενομένου. ῥηθείσης—more usually ἐλθούσης, but the former is better suited to a hurried announcement to an army on the march. τῶν γεγενημένων —the Theban reinforcements were ignorant of the destruction of their friends when they arrived, see 4 below. Hence these τὰ γεγενημένα told them were not complete. The message was doubtless brought by those who escaped κατὰ πύλας ἐρήμους, who did not know all. ἐπεβοήθουν—‘increased their speed.’ Cf. III. 110, 1.
ἑβδομήκοντα—probably rather over the direct route, but approximately correct measured by the road. γενόμενον —of natural phenomena, as often. Cf. c. 77 ἐγένετο φλόξ, ὕδωρ καὶ βροντὰς γενομένας. ἐρρύη μέγας—cf. c. 75 ᾔρετο μέγα.
τε—‘and so.’ ὕστερον—‘late,’ cf. c. 80 ὕστερον ἦλθον. τῶν ἀνδρῶν—apposition with τῶν μὲν ... τῶν δὲ, as in 4, 4. ζώντων—predicative.
κατασκευή—‘property,’ viz. household effects and farming implements. κατασκευὴ means anything that makes a place habitable and worth living in. See L. and S. οἷα —Ionic for ἅτε. ἐβούλοντο εἴ τινα λάβοιεν κ.τ.λ.—M. T. 695. The second protasis is not co-ordinate with the first. In a more certain form the sentence would run ὅντινα λάβοιειν ὑπάρχειν ἐβούλοντο ἀντὶ τῶν ἔνδον ἐζωγρημένων.
διαβουλευομένων—reciprocal mid., like διαλέγομαι, διαπράττομαι. When a compound of διὰ is not available, the same sense is given by ἐν ἑαυτοῖς or σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, as IV. 25, 9 παρακελευόμενοι ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, VIII. 76 παραινέσεις ἐποιοῦντο ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, sometimes by ἐν ἀλλήλοις, for which see c. 65, 11. ὑποτοπήσαντες—rare and poetical, used by Thuc. 8 times, only in aor. inf. or partic. περὶ τοῖς ἔξω—the dat. with περὶ gradually disappeared in Attic and occurs but once in the orators, Isocr. Ep. 9, 10. It is regular in Thuc. with verbs of fearing. ὁσίως—when used of states, ὅσιος means in accordance with those principles of right dealing universally recognised (jus gentium). Cf. III. 56 ἐτιμωρησάμεθα κατὰ τὸν πᾶσι νόμον καθεστῶτα, τὸν ἐπιόντα πολέμιον ὅσιον εἶναι ἀμύνέσθαι. ib. c. 58, 3. See on c. 52, 3. Eur. Hec. 788. σφῶν —with πόλιν. The position is for the sake of emphasis. πειραθέντες—the Attic aor. of πειρῶμαι is ἐπειράθην, cf. c. 33, 2. But Thuc. uses also the lonic ἐπειρασάμην in c. 44 and 85. ἔλεγον—interrupts the structure of οὔτε ... τε, but the irregularity is very slight. λέγω in sense of κελεύω regularly takes infin., μὴ being the neg. εἰ δὲ μή—cf. I. 28 εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀναγκασθήσεσθαι ἔφασαν. The addition of ἔφασαν, suspected also by Kr. in both places, certainly adds clearness, yet Thuc. proceeds in a quite different way in c. 13. But the difference in the nature of the matter of these chapters (the one narrative, the other reflective) may account for the difference of style. ἀναχωρησάντων ... αὐτοῖς—the use of the gen. abs. in spite of the dat. following, makes the act in the partic. more prominent, and prevents it from being a mere appendage of ἀποδώσειν. A common sacrifice of form to sense in Herod. and Thuc. αὐτοῖς is wrongly bracketed in the text.
ἐπομόσαι—jusjurandum addere. Does not occur elsewhere in Thuc. εὐθὺς—with ἀποδώσειν. as the following words show. ἤν τι ξυμβαίνωσι—closely with γενομένων, ‘with a view to an arrangement.’ ἢν ξυμβῶσι would be ‘if they come to an arrangement.’
δ᾽ οὖν—doubtful statements are dismissed and the narrative of facts resumed. οὐδὲν ἀδικήσαντες—contrast οὐδὲν ἀδικοῦντες=‘guiltless.’ τὰ ἐκ τῆς χώρας ἐσεκομίσαντο —the preposition attracted to the verb, for ἐν. Cf. c. 13, 2, 14, 1. ἀπέκτειναν—assuredly justified as an act of reprisal, but most impolitic, as calculated to provoke Thebes and Sparta. εἷς αὐτῶν ἦν—the so-called partitive gen. is often used thus without εἷς, which is wanting in C. Cf. I. 85 εἷς τῶν ἐφόρων τότε ὤν, v. 59, 5; VIII. 39, 2. πρὸς ὅν ἔπραξαν —so I. 131, I; IV. 114, 3. This is only a variant for πράσσειν with dat., as IV. 110, 2; v. 76, 3. But when many persons are dealt with, πράσσειν ἐς is also used, as I. 132, 4. The same three constructions follow λέγειν: πρός, Andoc. I. 48; dat., ib. I. 69; ἐς, ib., l.c. Eur. Hec. 303 εἷπον εἰς ἅπαντας, ‘proposed in the general assembly.’ οἱ προδιδόντες —see on c. 2, 4.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2. E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.
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