E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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λελυμένων—before the attempt on Plataea, each side had interpreted the other's action as σπονδῶν ξύγχυσις (I. 146), but there had been no open violation of the letter of the truce.

λαμπρῶς—cf. I. 49, 7; VIII. 66, 3, 75, 2.

παρεσκευάζοντο δὲ—the anaphora would have been more perfect with παρεσκευάζοντο μὲν preceding, but Thuc. often omits μέν in cases where it is not required, though a writer more careful about symmetry would msert it: perhaps he purposely avoids a rhetorical formula in narrative. The common cases in Thuc. are very simple, as πολλοὶ μὲν ... πολλοὶ δέ, εἰ μὲν .. εἰ δέ, ἅμα μὲν ... ἅμα δέ. Cf. I. 28 with πέμπετε; VI. 20, 4; also c. 41, 3 μόνη γὰρ ... καὶ μόνη. μέλλοντες—belongs to both subjects, as ποιούμενοι below. Probably both intended sending to Persia, though the Athenians did not carry out their intention. See c. 67.

πέμπειν—M. T. 73, 96.

ἀλλόσε—see c. 29.

ἑαυτῶν—for σφετέρας. Cf. c. 92, 4, and see c. 3, 4.

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Λακεδαιμονίοις ... ἐπετάχθη—i.e. Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐπέταξαν. This dat. of the agent is very rare with other parts of the pass. than perf. It occurs in I. 51 τοῖς Κερκυραίοις οὐχ ἑωρῶντο, IV. 64 τίνες ἂν δικαιότερον πᾶσι ... μισοῖντο, ib. 109 πόλεις οἰκοῦνται ξυμμίκτοις ἔθνεσι. There are only two instances in the Orators.

αὐτοῦ—in the harbours of Peloponnese.

ἐξ Ἰ. καὶ Σ.—with τοῖς ἑλομένοις, but placed first for the sake of the antithesis with αὐτοῦ. Cf. c. 18, 3 κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην πορείαν ἡ σχολαιότης. ναῦς ἐπετάχθη—Stahl supports his reading with great ability. It will be noticed that these Dorian cities, reckoned by Sparta among her allies, are not mentioned in c. 9 with the ξύμμαχοι, because there only those who actually contributed to the armament are given, and these cities contributed nothing. III. 86, 2.

ποιεῖσθαι—middle, ναῦς being the object. Cf. I. 14, 2.

ἐς τὸν πάντα ἀ—‘in all.’ When the article precedes πᾶς, the whole is regarded as the sum of its component parts.

πεντακοσίων—by no means realised. The Spartan navy in the Archidamian War was contemptible. See c. 66 and 85. Thuc. speaks with some irony.

τά τ᾽ ἄλλα—perhaps τἆλλα should be read here, the τ᾽ being due to dittography.

ἡσυχάζοντας—the change from the dat. ἑλομένοις is due to the infin. This change from gen. or dat. is always possible except when a word is the predicate to a gen. or dat., as I. 71 βουλομένων ὑμῶν εἶναι προθύμων. See c 24, 1.

μιᾷ νηὶ—“si singulis navibus venissent; nam pluribus venientes timendum esse ne hostiliter agerent,” Pp. This gives an example to show how they were to refrain from hostile acts (ἡσυχάζοντας).

ἕως ἂν— whereas with πρίν, μέχρι and μέχρι οὗ Thuc. occasionally omits ἂν when subjunctive is used, according to the older Attic idiom, this is never the case with ἕως. Cf. c. 72, 3.

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τὰ περὶ Π.—‘in the neighbourhood of P.’ like circa. Cf. c. 99, 3.

μᾶλλον—‘more than elsewhere,’ so ‘especially.’ Cf. c. 15 ἑτέρων μᾶλλον. Κέρκυραν— the places are given in inverse order, the final point reached coming first. Cf. c. 93, 1. Eur. Bach. 13 fol. At present only an ἐπιμαχία existed between Athens and Corcyra. See Intr. p. LXVI.

Κεφαλληνίαν—it took no part in the war at first, but joined Athens towards the end of the summer. See c. 30. Ἀκαρνᾶνας—except the Oeniadae, c. 102, 2, the Acarnanians were reckoned as allies from the first, though no treaty was concluded till the autumn of 430. See c. 68. Ζάκυνθον—its interests and policy coincided with those of Corcyra. Cf. c. 9, 4; I. 47, 2.

εἰ ... εἴη— Recta, ἐὰν ... ᾖ. See 2, 4.

βεβαίως—cf. IV. 20, 3 φίλους γενέσθαι βεβαίως. πέριξ καταπολεμήσοντες—se undique impugnaturos.