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ἔμελλον βοηθήσειν, sc. by sailing round. ὑπομείναντας Cf. iv. 30, τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀναγκασθέντων . . . προσίσχοντας ἀριστοποιεῖσθαι. Herwerden and others would write ὑπομείναντες, comparing c. 104, § 4, ἐπειγομένων τῶν Πελοποννησίων . . . ὑπερσχόντες . . . ἀποκλῇσαι. The objective and subjective constructions appear to be both possible Greek. See Shilleto on i. 136. ὑπομείναντας=‘that their men, their side, should, etc.’ διαναυμαχεῖν There are twenty Athenian ships at Lade blockading. Under Phrynichus and his colleagues forty-eight ships have come (including transports, however). On the other side fifty-five ships have jnst arrived, and a fleet of twenty-five had gone into Miletus (c. 17, § 1, cf. c. 28, § 1). The Athenians are therefore at a disadvantage.
ὅπου γὰρ ἔξεστιν κ.τ.λ. Jowett says ‘the simplest way of explaining this passage is to suppose that ἔξεστιν is forgotten in consequence of the length of the sentence and has been repeated in ἔσται.’ But this will not account for the change εἰδότας . . . παρασκευασαμένοις. Rather take from πρὸς ὁπόσας to ἀγωνίσασθαι as so-called indirect question after εἰδότας, and understand ἀγωνίσασθαι with ἔξεστιν as well as with ἔσται Thus εἰδότας is part of the acc. and infin. (Jelf, § 673) construction with ἔξεστιν, the infin. being ἀγωνίσασθαι implied; while παρασκευασαμένοις (αὐτοῖς) is part of the dat. and infin. construction with ἔσται (= ἔξεσται), with the infin. ἀγωνίσασθαι expressed. Literally ‘but where it is possible that men should (fight) at a later time, with a clear knowledge against how many ships of the enemy, and with how many of their own to meet them, they will be in a position to fight after adequate and leisurely preparation . . .’ Any slight awkwardness in this expression is to be attributed to Thucydides. Otherwise expressed it = ‘knowing how many ships they have to meet, and how many they can manage to meet them with, if duly prepared.’ Jowett's rendering is not to be obtained from the text even with his own view of ἔσται. ὅπου causal; cf. c. 96, § 2. ὅπου refers to this particular, and not to a general, case. Otherwise ὅπου ἂν ἐξῇ. ἀγωνίσασθαι After this word Vat. has ὅποι τε βούλονται. P-S reads ὁπότε, the τε being difficult. But ὅποι is defensible by construction praegnans, ‘shifting the scene of action to any place they choose’ (cf. ποι, § 3), and τε may answer to the previous thought, ‘to fight after due preparation and (shifting the scene to) anywhere they choose,’ i.e. = ὅπου ἐν ὑστέρῳ ἱκανῶς παρασκευασαμένοις, ὅποι τε βούλονται, ἔξεστιν ἀγωνίσασθαι. τῷ αἰσχρῷ ὀνείδει Kruger and P-S eject ὀνείδει. Cl. follows and compares τὸ αἰσχρόν, ii. 42, v. 105, vi. 11. The omission of ὄνειδος elsewhere would not in any case be proof of its omission here. In ii. 42 τὸ μὲν αἰσχρὸν τοῦ λόγου is not far removed. Editors do not seem to have noticed that in the other instances τὸ αἰσχρὸν is real disgrace involved (cf. τῷ αἰσχρῷ below), while here special emphasis is laid upon the αἰσχρὸν being only supposititious. Indeed ὀνείδει is said with emphasis, ‘mere reproach of disgrace.’ τῷ αἰσχρῷ εἴξας should mean ‘yielding to the disgrace which the retreat involved’ (this is in contradiction to the next sentence): τῷ αἰσχρῷ ὀνείδει = ‘to the argument about disgrace’ (which they were urging). For αἰσχρῷ active (= ‘disgracing’) cf. Hom. Il. vi. 325, νείκεσσεν . . . αἰσχροῖς ἐπέεσσιν.
ναυτικῷ, after ὑποχωρῆσαι, ‘to give way to a naval force.’ The union of the word with Ἀθηναίους is significant: the sea was the Athenian element. μετὰ καιροῦ . . . μεθ᾽ ὁτουοῦν τρόπου The antithetical effort rather disarranges the sentence. ‘But there would be the deepest dishonour under any circumstances in a defeat’ (J.) καὶ emphasises ὁτουοῦν. μετὰ τρόπου instead of τρόπῳ for the antithesis. αἴσχιον For the comparative opposed to the positive αἰσχρόν cf. ii. 40, τὸ πένεσθαι οὐχ ὁμολογεῖν τινι αἰσχρόν, ἀλλὰ μὴ διαφεύγειν ἔργῳ αἴσχιον. Here αἴσχιον is probably an adverb. ‘It is not disgraceful for Athenians to retire before a navy amid proper circumstances, but it will be a more disgraceful event (no matter what the circumstances) if we are defeated.’ περιπίπτειν P-S and Cl. give κἂν for καὶ in order to obtain a future sense. But Phrynichus said ἡ πόλις περιπίπτει by an imaginary realisation of the result. ‘Our country is entangling itself in . . .’ These words cannot be joined to ξυμβήσεσθαι, inasmuch as μὴ μόνον (not οὐ) would be required. ᾗ . . . ἐνδέχεσθαι the oblique of ᾗ ἐνδέχεται. The more common construction would have been ἣν . . . προτέραν, like the accus. in i. 124, and elsewhere in Thucydides. The dat. here and Xen. Hiero, iv. 9, and Dem. (?) 859 (50). ἢ πάνυ γε ἀνάγκῃ an afterthought qualification. The sense is clear but the expression lax. ‘Our country, after its mishaps, can hardly (even with secure preparation) voluntarily — or at least only under absolute compulsion — take the initiative.’ With καθ᾽ ἑκουσίαν and ἐνδέχεται the qualification comes in illogically, so far as its grammatical position is concerned. The obvious meaning, however, is ‘our state is hardly in a position, even after proper preparation, to take the initiative of its own accord—at any rate only absolute compulsion should drive it to such a step.’ πάνυ qualifies the adverb ἀνάγκῃ = πάνυ ἠναγκασμένῃ; cf. c. 89, § 2, σπουδῇ πάνυ. ποῦ δὴ κ.τ.λ. The various MS. readings other than this can readily be referred to a common origin in ποῦ δὴ, the force of which was not understood. ‘Which you scarcely . . ., how then possibly seek danger when not compelled?’ ποῦ = πῶς in inferential expressions, cf. Soph. Aj. 1100, O. T. 390, Dem. 978 (41), etc., and especially Hdt. ii. 11, κοῦ γε δή, ἐν τῷ προαναισιμωμένῳ χρόνῳ πρότερον ἢ ἐμὲ γενέσθαι, οὐκ ἂν χωσθεἰη κόλπος καὶ πολλῷ μέζων ἔτι τούτου; Lindau and P-S give ἦ που δὴ, comparing i. 142 (ἦ που δὴ = ‘much more’), vi. 37 (ἦ πού γε δὴ=‘much less’). The omission of H after N is very easy, and the parallel passages are very attractive, though not convincing. It must at the same time be confessed that the infinitive construction in the question with ποῦ δὴ is very rare. μὴ βιαζομένῃ γε (‘and without the said preparation’) implied.
ὡς δ᾽ ἔπεισε, καὶ ἔδρασε. Cf. c. 1 (fin.), c. 8 (fin.). ἐς . . . κατέστη Cf. c. 70, § 1, καθιστάμενοι ἐς τὴν ἀρχήν; c. 28, § 5, ἐς τὴν Μίλητον Φίλιππον καθιστᾶσιν. ‘In all other positions of responsibility into which he was brought.’ The double οὐκ goes thus, οὐ — μᾶλλον, and οὐκ ἐς τοῦτο μόνον: ‘and quite as much in after times as on the present occasion did Phrynichus win credit for the possession of good sense,—I do not mean only as regards this matter, but in regard to all other responsible positions into which he was brought.’ The first ἐς = ‘in regard to,’ while the second has this force and also another with κατέστη, and = ἐς τοσαῦτα ἄλλα ἐς ὅσα κατέστη. For the fact cf. c. 68, § 3.
ἀτελεῖ τῇ νίκῃ, circumstantial dative, Jelf, § 603. καὶ πρὸς ὀργὴν τῆς ξυμφορᾶς equally adverbial with κατὰ τάχος. It replaces ὀργιζόμενοι τῇ ξυμφορᾷ. πρὸς ὀργὴν also in ii. 65, Dem. 1251, etc. For the genitive with ὀργὴ cf. Aesch. Ag. 70, ἀπύρων ἱερῶν ὀργάς, and in Latin Livy xx. i. 2, ob iram interfecti domini.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 8. T.G. Tucker. London. MacMillan & Company. 1892.
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