E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6

ὄψοιντο—this and c. 34, 5 εἰ ὑποδέξοιντο, are the only two examples of εἰ with fut. opt. in Thuc., and they may both be regarded as interrogative uses of εἰ. In conditional sentences Thuc. almost invariably retains the indic. after εἰ in O.O.

μετὰ κινδύνων—c. 72, 4; ‘in dangerous circuinstances.’

αὐτοὺς ἐσῄει—‘in mentem venit periculorum.’

τὰ δεινά is commonly used of danger.

τῇ παρούσῃ ῥώμῃ . . τῇ ὄψει—cf. VII. 71 ἀπὸ τῶν δρωμένων τῆς ὄψεως καἱ τὴν γνώμην . ἐδουλοῦντο: ib. 75 τῇ τε ὄψει ἑκάστῳ ἀλγεινὰ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ αἰσθέσθαι. In διὰ τὸ πλῆθος . . ἑώρων, which explains ῥώμῃ, we have the cause of the θάρσος in a material form: ‘owing to the strength in which they were present, through the vastness of the forces that they saw, they were cheered by the sight.’ The addition of διὰ . . ἑώρων is due to the fact that ῥώμη is not wholly a concrete word, but means ‘spirit’ as well as ‘strength’ and suggests high nervous tension. This inserted clause enables Thuc. to proceed naturally from τῇ ῥώμῃ to τῇ ὄψει.

ἑκάστων ὧν ἑώρων—cf. II. 59 αἴτιον πάντων ὧν ἔτυχον. The adj. is not often inserted before such noun-relative sentences.

οἱ δὲ ξένοι—strictly speaking, a participle parallel to προπέμποντες above ought to follow. Such an auacoluthon is not uncommon, and is to be found in Tacitus: e.g. Hist. IV. 2 nondum ad curas intentus, sed . . filium principem agebat.

κατὰ θέαν ἧκεν—as in v. 7, 3; cf. Isocr. 7, 32 ἐκπέμπειν κατ᾽ ἐμπορίαν.

διάνοιαν—‘enterprisc’; cf. c. 21, 1.

παρασκευὴ γὰρ αὕτη κτλ—‘this was the first expedition that sailed out from a single city with a Greek force that eclipsed all that had ever been sent out in costlmess and magnificence.’ For πολυτελεστάτη δὴ . . τῶν ἐς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον cf. c. 13, 1. See on this passage Intr. p. XXXII.

ἡ ἐς Ἐπίδαυρον—this expedition was sent out in 430 B.C., and Epidaurus was the most important place the Athenians attacked. It lay on the route to Argos, which was then neutral. The attack failed. The fleet was then sent on to Potidaea, where the Athenians wished to concentrate a force large enough to carry the place by assault. But Hagnon was compelled to return because the plague broke out among the crews.

αὐτῶν Ἀθηναίων—comparing the numbers of the two forces, we get—(1) 430 B C, 4000 Athenian hoplites and 100 triremes, with large forees from the allies in addition; (2) 415 B.C., 51,000 hoplites inclusive of all contributions from allies, and 134 triremes, also inclusive. Hence the numbers of the earlier expedition must have been the greater.

φαύλῃ—‘ordinary,’ as in c. 21, 1.

οὗτος δέ—sc. ὡρμήθη. Then τὸ μὲν ναυτικόν and τὸ δὲ πεζόν are in apposition to στόλος

κατ᾽ ἀμφότερα—explained by καὶ ναυσὶ καὶ πεζῷ. The phrase means, not ‘on both elements,’ but ‘in both ways,’ ‘in both respects,’ as in κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους, κατὰ πάντα, κατὰ πολλά. Cf. Aristoph. Birds 451 δολερὸν κατὰ πάντα δὴ τρόπον. Dinarchus 1, 50 κατὰ δύο τρόπους ποιεῖσθαι τὰς ἀποφάσεις.

οὗ ἂν δέῃ—Poppo takes this with ἐξαρτυθείς = ‘equipped with whatever was necessary’; but οὗ is better explained as local, ‘wherever they might be needed.’ The point is that the army and the fleet could operate separately, though in experience Nieias found that the absence of cavalry prevented his employing the army away from the fleet. The Athenians had not in previous expeditions contemplated the independent action of army and fleet.

μεγάλαις δαπάναις—Gardner and Jevons, p. 659. The trierarchs were selected by the Strategi. The expense to the trierarch came in the extras—the ornamentation of the ship and the comforts and extra pay of the crew.

δραχμήν—this is double the ordinary wage, and is the same as that paid at the siege of Potidaea.

ὑπηρεσίαις—see Gardner and Jevons on the trireme, p. 650.

θρανίταις—(1) they rowed with the longest oars; (2) they were exposed to greater danger than the other sailors.

σημείοις—‘he either means standards strictly, as in the case of armies, or, as some say, the figures outside the vessels’ (Schol.). There were also the σημεῖα, figures of Athena as guardian of the ship, that stood at the stern. Such figures are often referred to; and cf Ovid, Met. XV. 697 Deus eminet alte, | Impositaque premens puppim cervice recurvam | Caeiuleas despectat aquas. See Conington on Vergil, Aen. X. 166. (Cf. Aristoph. Frogs 933.) The outside figures, properly παράσημα, were at the prow. Surely all of these σημεῖα are meant, the ornamentations being unusually elaborate. (Bloomfield misunderstands the Schol.) In the first explanation the Schol. probably alludes to flags, though the exaet meaning of the σημεῖα placed on the general's tent and on certain public buildings is, I believe, unknown.

κατασκευαῖς—‘fittings.’

ἐς τὰ μακρότατα = ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον (Schol.).

αὐτῷ τινι go together and = ‘each for himself.’

καταλόγοις χρηστοῖς—see on c. 26, 2. The Strategi were careful to select the most efficient men from the names on the στῆλαι. The lit, rendering is ‘by honest enrolments,’ for κατάλογος = both ‘list’ and ‘levy.’ χρηστοῖς = ἀληθέσι (Schol.). The lists were not always drawn up χρηστῶς: Aristoph. Eq. 1369 ὁπλίτης ἐντεθεὶς ἐν καταλόγῳ | οὐδεὶς κατὰ σπουδὰς (through influence) μετεγγραφήσεται (get his name placed lower on the list, with the hope of eseaping service), ἀλλ̓ ὥσπερ ἦν τὸ πρῶτον ἐγγραφήσεται (see Kock's note). Cf. Pax 1179 τοὺς μὲν ἐγγράφοντες ἡμῶν, τοὺς δ᾽ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω | ἐξαλείφοντες δὶς ἢ τρίς, of the taxiarehs, who acted for the Strategi. Aelian 13, 12 has a story that Meton, the astronomer, was on the κατάλογος for Sieily, and tried to get off by feigning madness. (On κατάλογος H. Schwartz, ad Athen. rem militarem c. 1.) ἐκκριθέν—δοκιμασθἑν καὶ προκριθέν (Schol.).

σκευῶν—‘clothing,’ or ‘uniform,’ σκευή being used for an official dress, as of soldiers or priests.

ἁμιλληθέν—the verb occurs only here in Thuc.: ‘vying with one another.’ The aor. is more commonly middle in form.

ᾦ τις ἕ. προσετάχθη—‘in their several stations.’ See next note

ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕ—Jowett renders: ‘While at home the Athenians were thus competing with one another in the performance of their several duties, to the rest of Hellas the expedition seemed to be a grand display of their power and greatness’; and the note says: ‘Thuc. presents the expedition under two aspects, of which the connection is not obvious.’ This is all wrong. With both γενέσθαι and εἰκασθῆναι we must supply τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, and the sense is τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις πρός τε σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔρις ἐγένετο ἅμα καὶ ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ἐπίδειξις ᾐκάσθη: ‘The result was that among themselves they fell to quarrelling over the expedition at their posts (as to who was best equipped), while to the Greeks at large (through the splendour of the equipment) a display was portrayed of their (internal) power and (external) influence, rather than a force equipped against an enemy.’ The edd. are mistaken in supplying a subject τοῦτο or τὸν στόλον to εἰκασθῆναι. See Intr. p. xxxiii.

εἰ γάρ τις—the reason of the statement (τοῖς Ἀθηναἰοις) ἐπίδειξις ᾐκάσθη κτλ. is now given. The explanation of the previous clause—ἔρις ἐγένετο—had been already given in what preeeded.

προετετελέκει—i.e. in the preparations, before the expedition was ready.

καὶ τριήραρχος—sc. τις, ‘and, if a trierarch.’

χωρὶς δ̓—‘and besides’; cf. II. 97 χωρὶς δὲ ὅσα ὑφαντά τε καὶ λεῖα. ἄνευ, ‘apart from,’ ‘beside,’ opposite of ξύν, which = ‘including.’

ἐφόδιον—viaticum. μεταβολῇ—ὠνήσεως δή (Schol.), ‘for barter’: ‘not a few looked to profit in the distant land by trade as well as by warfare’ (Freeman). Nicias refers to this fact in VII. 13.

τὰ πάντα—more commonly τὰ ξύμπαντα in this sense.

καί—‘in fact,’ giving the general result.

οὐχ ἧσσον τόλμης τε θάμβει—‘no less through astonishment at its boldness, and through the splendour of its appearance, than the superiority of the foree in eomparison with those against whom they went.’ Cf. II. 65 of this expedition οὐ τοσοῦτον γνώμης ἁμάρτημα ἧν πρὸς οὓς ἐπῆσαν. The τόλμα is the courage shown in undertaking a new war before the Peloponnesian war was done with, as Thuc. explains in VII. 28 that the A. παράλογον ποιῆσαι τοῖς Ελλησι τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τόλμης.

καὶ ὅτι—see on c. 1, 1.

μέγιστος διάπλους—‘this is said because, though Egypt (against which they had formerly gone [460 B.C.] was farther in direct distance, yet the circuitous navigation to Sieily made a greater distance’ (Bloomfield).

ἐπὶ μεγίστῃ ἐ. πρός—‘with the greatest hopes in comparison with their present position.’ The note in Jowett misses the point, which is that they looked forward to an enormous extension of empire: ‘Had Athens succeeded . . she would soon have added to her dominions part of Italy, and perhaps Carthage—the whole of Greece, and perhaps Maeedonia and Thrace’ (Bloomfield). See c. 90, 2.