Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

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Only on account of their alliance with Athens did they oppose the Persians. We Thebans, however, were then under the rule of oligarchs, who expected advantage from the Persians. Afterwards at Coronea we won Boeotia's independence from Athens.

καί: introduces the second point of consideration.—

ἦλθεν ἐπί: as in l. 5; freq. of going to war. See on i. 78. 7.—2.

μόνοι: see on c. 54. 12. —3.

λοιδοροῦσιν: Schol. μηδίσαντας δηλονότι, which is implied in τούτῳ.

ἡμεῖς δὲ . . . οὐ φαμέν: but we say that they did not medize. For the position of οὐ, which Cl. accents (οὔ) to show that it belongs to μηδίσαι αὐτούς, see Kr. Spr. 67, 1, 2. Cf. c. 64. 2.—4.

Ἀθηναίους: assimilated to the case of αὐτούς, as after ὥσπερ, i. 69. 23; v. 99. 4; vi. 68. 9, and, after a rel. pron., vii. 21. 14.—

τῇ αὐτῇ ἰδέᾳ: on the same principle. Cf. vi. 76. 12. It belongs with μόνους ἀττικίσαι.

ἐν οἵῳ εἴδει: i.e. τρόπῳ πολιτείας, in quo statu. Cf. viii. 90. 2. ἰδέα and εἶδος are here contrasted as representing internal and external conditions, but the meaning common to both words, form, appearance, causes sometimes an interchange of use. Cf. i. 109. 2, where ἰδέα means outward appearance; vi. 77. 15; viii. 56. 7, where εἶδος means mode of action. οἶος in indir. ques., as i. 69. 12; vii. 64. 8. See on c. 47. 1.—7.

ἑκάτεροι ἡμῶν τοῦτο ἔπραξαν: i.e. we sided with the Persians, they with the Athenians. Cf. —

ἡμῖν μὲν kte(.: the remainder of the chapter contains the first part of the explanation announced in καίτοι σκέψασθε κτἑ., c. 63, 64 the second.—8.

κατ̓ ὀλιγαρχίαν ἰσόνομον πολιτεύουσα: the const. πολιτεύειν κατά, as in c. 66. 3; i. 19. 2. An oligarchy is meant, in which all the nobles were ὁμότιμοι or ὅμοιοι. Cf. Arist. Pol. iv. (vi.) 5, who likewise contrasts it with the δυναστεία. —10. τῷ σωφρονεστάτῳ: not (= τοῖς σώφροσιν ἀνδράσιν, Schol.), but the ideal of a well-ordered constitution (respublica optime constituta et temperata), to which is opposed, as the extreme of arbitrariness, the τύραννος.—ἐγγυτάτω δὲ τυράννου κτἑ.: cf. Tac. Ann. vi. 42 paucorum dominatio regiae libidini propior est. Note the bold use of the concrete (τύραννος) for the abstract.—11.

δυναστεία ὀλίγων ἀνδρῶν: cf. Arist. Pol. iv. (vi.) 5 ὅταν . . . ἄρχῃ μὴ ὁ νόμος, ἀλλ̓ οἱ ἄρχοντες . . ., καλοῦσι δὴ τὴν τοιαύτην ὀλιγαρχίαν δυναστείαν. Hdt. (ix. 86. 4) names ἐν πρώτοισι τῶν μηδισάντων Timagenides and Attaginus. —

εἶχε τὰ πράγματα: as c. 72. 3. Cf. ἔχειν τὴν πόλιν, viii. 66. 2; τὴν πολιτείαν, viii. 74. 14; τὴν ἀρχήν, viii. 46. 6; τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, v. 47. 41. See on c. 11. 11; 28. 1.

ἰδίας δυνάμεις . . . σχήσειν: expecting that they will win power of their own in still greater measure. See Lupus, N. Jahrbb. exi. p. 167.— 13.

εἰ . . . κρατήσειε: cf. Hdt. iv. 137. —

κατέχοντες ἰσχύι τὸ πλῆθος: cf. the reverse in ii. 65. 33 κατεῖχε τὸ πλῆθος ἐλευθέρως. ἰσχύς of brute force, as in c. 39. 20; i. 76. 15. On the matter, cf. Plut. Aristid. 18.— 14.

ἐπηγάγοντο: the verb is regularly used of inviting strangers into one's country. Cf. i. 3. 8; 104. 5; 114. 6; ii. 2. 12; Plato Menex. 243 b.—

καὶ ἡ ξύμπασα πόλις οὔτ̓ αὐτοκράτωρ . . . ἔπραξεν, οὔτ̓ ἄξιον kte(.: the vulg. is οὐκ αὐτοκράτωρ and οὐδ̓ ἄξιον. But the second clause must be a formal antithesis to the first, unless the speakers, in turning from the authorities to the state of Thebes, take into consideration along with the facts also the decision, i.e. pass to something new. Cobet conjectures (Mnem. N.S. viii. p. 140), καὶ οὐχ ἡ ξύμπασα πόλις αὐτοκράτωρ . . . οὐδ̓ ἄξιον κτἑ. But this is inadmissible, since ὧν μὴ μετὰ νόμων ἥμαρτεν requires a positive subject (ἡ ξύμπασα πόλις).—15.

τοῦτ̓ ἔπραξεν: i.e. took the side of the Persians—a mild way of referring to their shameful conduct. As to the matter, see Plutarch's apology for the Thebans, de Malig. Herod. 31. 3.—16.

ὧν: i.e. τούτων ἅ. The gen. with ὀνειδίσαι is rare. In Hdt. i. 90. 16 τούτου ὀνειδίσαι, Stein writes τοῦτο. G. 1126; H. 744; Kr. Spr. 47, 21; Matth. 368.—

μὴ μετὰ νόμων: i.e. ἄνευ νόμων. Cf. c. 40. 30 μὴ ξὺν ἀνάγκῃ. For the effect of the neg., see on i. 91. 28; 141. 24. Kr. Spr. 67, 9 and 10, 4.

τοὺς νόμους ἔλαβε: sc. ἡ πόλις, received its own laws, i.e. a constitution based on laws. Cf. c. 64. 11.— 18.

ἐπιόντων τήν τε ἄλλην . . . τὰ πολλά: the parties. πειρωμένων and ἐχόντων are both subord. to and explanatory of ἐπιόντων. Steup thinks there is a slight anacoluthon, comparing c. 67. 24; 86. 16; ii. 46. 1.— 19.

κατὰ στάσιν . . . τὰ πολλά: after the battle at Oenophyta, 458 B. C. Cf. i. 108. § 2, 3. For κατὰ στάσιν, see on c. 2. 10.—20.

εἰ: in indir. ques., as ii. 53. 10. G. 1605; H. 1016; Kr. Spr. 65, 1, 8.—

μαχόμενοι: see on c. 113. 13.—

ἐν Κορωνείᾳ: 446 B.C. Cf. i. 113. § 2.—21.

ἠλευθερώσαμεν . . . ξυνελευθεροῦμεν: corresponds chiastically to l. 18 above.—22.

προθύμως ξυνελευθεροῦμεν: προθύμως, which, with its cognate forms, is used every where by Thuc. of a self-sacrificing spirit (cf. c. 57. 18; i. 74. 5), is here put into the mouths of the Thebans in order to indicate their hypocritical self-satisfaction. In like manner, ξυνελευθεροῦμεν (cf. c. 13. 10; ii. 72. 4) also claims a share in the doubtful Spartan boast of being the liberators of Greece (see on c. 13. 35; 32. 5; 59. 30).—23.

ἵππους τε παρέχοντες καὶ παρασκευὴν kte(.: cf. ii. 100. 7 ἵπποις καὶ ὅπλοις καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ. —ἵππους παρέχοντες: Thuc. uses the mid. παρέχεσθαί τι, or the act. παρέχειν τι, according as stress is to be laid on the part of the performer or upon the value and extent of the performance,—the mid. twenty-nine times, the act. ninety-one times. See on ii. 9. 9. For the cavalry of the Boeocians, cf. ii. 9. 11; 12. 18; 22. 11. The matter is mentioned here with a view to its effect on the Lacedaemonian judges.—25.

καὶ τὰ μὲν . . . ἀπολογούμεθα: cf. c. 64. 20.