E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

τόδε—referring to the sentence that follows, ἐκ γάρ κτλ.

τοῦ λόγου—explained by διά, etc.

29. διὰ τὰς μετοικίας κτλ.—that it was owing to the habit of settling elsewhere (to which I have referred) that Greece in other respects (besides population and security) had not advanced so fast (as Attica). μετοικίας is used exactly as in Aesch. Eum. 1019, where the Furies refer to their μετοικία to and in Athens. 1. That ἐκ γάρ κτλ. explains τόδε is proved by the usage of Thuc. 2. διὰ ... αὐξηθῆναι is beset with difficulties. With the MS. reading τὰς μετοικίας ἐς τὰ ἄλλα three explanatious have been proposed: (a) ‘Attica did not grow in other respects so fast as in population.’ But this does not fall in with the general line of the argument. (b) ‘Attica through the presence of μέτοικοι advanced much more (μὴ ὀμοίως) in other respects.’ But neither is this the argument, nor is there any proof that μὴ ὁμοίως can in such a connexion as this mean much more. (c) With regard to the rendering given above, it is denied that Greece can be the subject of αὐξηθῆναι. But, if we examine c. 2 as a whole, this does not appear impossible. The chapter deals with the early condition of Greece in general—ἡ νῦν Ἑλλάς καλουυένη—the smallness of the communities (οὔτε μεγέθει πόλεων ἴσχυον) and their weakness. To these conditions the very fertility of the soil contributed. Attica, which was barren, was an exception in both respects. It did not lose inhabitants by στάσις: it did not excite the cupidity of strangers. On the other hand, strangers settled in Attica because it offered security; and thus the population of Attica was still further increased, and it was able to colonise. These last facts lend further support to my general argument (ὁ λόγος), viz. that the weakness of the early Greeks in all respects is largely accounted for by the shifting nature of the population. ἡ Ἑλλάς is in the writer's mind throughout. ἐς τὰ ἄλλα is explained by many ‘with reference to its other parts’; but it more naturally means in other respects than those points to which I have specifically referied. A striking example of this (ex contrario) is the colonising energy of Attica, the consequence of freedom from migration. Some take ὲς τὰ ἄλλα with μετοικίας—migrations to other parts; but τά is then wrong. Ullrich's emendation, according to which τὰ ἄλλα, other parts of Greece, is subject of αὐξηθῆναι—see crit. 11.—is generally accepted; but it is not absolutely necessary.

2. πολέμῳ—referring to ὑπὸ ἀλλοφύλων ἐπεβουλεύοντο.

3. οἱ δυνατώτατοι—limiting apposition to οἱ ἐκπίπτοντες. This kind of apposition is common in Thuc.—The most conspicuous instance is that of the Alcmaeonidae from Pylus.

ὡς βέβαιον ὄν—taken as (1) accus. abs., with ἀναχωρεῖν παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίους implied; (2) by Classen as governed by παρά, in a loose apposition to Ἀθηναίους. The second, though loose in grammar, gives a better sense.

4. πολῖται γιγνόμενοι—the imperf. partic, points to the many instances in which citizenship was bestowed. Of course this system of conferring civic rights belongs to a time when only the Eupatrids had any political power. They admitted new families freely. In later days, on the contrary, when Athens had attained power and the demos ruled, the Ecclesia was very jealous of the citizenship. Yet this welcome of political exiles remained an houourable tradition, as we see from the plays of Euripides

εὐθὺς ἀπὸ παλαιοῦ with ἐποίησαν, but εὐθύς belongs to ἀπὸ π., being equivalent to ἀρξάμενοι εὐθύς: cf. c. 146 and 142. 7.

7. ἐξέπεμψαν—sc. οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι. The colonising activity of Attica is supposed to have begun in the eleventh cent. B.C.