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καθεστός—MS. evidence and analogy favour the form in -ός for the neut.; but etymology (-άος) and the ancient grammarians are for -ώς.

τοὺς γάρ—cf. I. 40 τὸν νόμον μὴ καθιστάναι ὤστε τοὺς ἑτέρων ἀφισταμένους δέχεσθαι.

ἐν ἡδονῇ ἔχουσι—so ἐν αἰτίᾳ, ἐν ὀργῇ, ἐν ὀρρωδίᾳ etc., cf. c. 34, 3 and ἐν ἡδονῇ εἶναι I. 99.

χείρους—think worse of them for being traitors.


οὐκ ἄδικος . . ἐστιν, εἰ τύχοιεν—like I. 120 ἀνδρῶν σωφρόνων ἐστίν, εἰ μὴ ἀδικοῖντο, ἡσυχάζειν. Here οὐκ . . . . ἐστιν=δίκαιόν ἐστι χείρους ἡγεῖσθαι, and in such cases (see Goodwin, MT. § 555) the opt. is not seldom found. The idiom should certainly not be regarded as abnormal. Cf. e.g. Plato, Gorg, 482 B ἔγωγε οἶμαι κρεῖττον εἶναι . . διαφωνεῖν χορὸν χορηγοίην. Bayfield on Antig. 666 collects passages from Soph. Presently

διακρίνοιντο is by assimilation to τύχοιεν.

γνώμῃ—‘feeling,’ ‘sentiment’;

εὐνοίᾳ ‘loyalty’ to each other. These words, so frequent in Thuc. and orators, have various shades of meaning; and of γνώμη it would be rash to say that we can always be sure of its precise significance— Classen has discussed γνώμη at length in his Intr.—but here the parallel παρασκευὴ καὶ δύναμις show that the two are closely similar in sense (εὔνοια is the intellectual aspect of γνώμη); and c. 10 ἐν τῷ διαλάσσοντι τῆς γνώμης καὶ αἱ διαφοραὶ τῶν ἔργων, where the meaning of γνώμη is fixed by μετ᾽ ἀρετῆς δοκούσης and ὁμοιότροποι, bears this out. (εὔνοια of course implies ‘between equals’ here, not loyalty to a superior.) Cf. also c. 12, 1.


μηδέ τῳ—here and again at c. 67, 2 there should undoubtedly be only a comma before μηδέ. Thuc. never uses οὐδέ, μηδέ=‘and not,’ unless a neg. clause precedes; and it is quite plain from what precedes—οὐκ ἄδικος αὔτη ἀξίωσις, viz. χείρους ἡγεῖσθαι, εἰ τύχοιεν—that . . οὐκ ἦν and μηδέ τῳ χείρους δόξωμεν εἶναι adhere closely together.

ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς—for Athens; often used of the troubles of war.

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hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (5):
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.120
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.40
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.99
    • Thucydides, Histories, 3.10
    • Thucydides, Histories, 3.34
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